Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

  If the green space behind the shop was a good choice, maybe he could take advantage of the renovation and create a back door in the back wall of the pet shop. Just in case he encountered any danger later on, he could escape from the back door, unlike last time, where he was blocked. In order to prevent the theft, the windows of the first and the second floor were equipped with protective fences which he could not escape from.

  He went back to his bedroom and saw Fina stretching.

  “Old Time Tea and I are going to check out the green land in the back. Would you like to come with us?” he asked Fina, pointing out of the window.

  Fina yawned, jumped on the table in front of window, looked outside without any interest and said, “It is kind of boring now, always staying in this shrine. I would like to go out and take a walk.”


  Zhang Zian thought, “…When will you change your attitude, Fina?”


  He went downstairs.

  Most of the pets on the first floor had been placed in Sun Xiaomeng’s clinic, so only a few were left in the store.

  “You!” Zhang Zian pointed at a ready-to-move Chow Chow. “Do not eat your own sh*t!”


  But it was too late. The Chow Chow quickly lowered its head, fearing Zhang Zian would stop it, and the lump of feces disappeared.

  It licked its mouth and barked at Zhang Zian twice, as if to say, “Look at me! How good am I that I have saved your time by cleaning up my own sh*t. This is self-circulation. Hurry up and compliment me!”


  Zhang Zian was speechless.

  “Dog can’t change their habit of eating their own feces.” This saying was not a joke, and the reason was still very complex. It could be because of congenital genetic and acquired stress factors, or maybe it was suffering from intestinal diseases or parasites, or maybe it was even too bored to find something fun to do…


  Dogs did not think that eating feces was that bad, but it would bother their owners a lot, especially when they used their tongues to lick them enthusiastically after eating their own sh*t…


  Zhang Zian sometimes thought it would nice to capture a dog elf that could rule all the dogs.

  But that was only wishful thinking.

  Dogs were so different from cats.

  Cats originated in West Asia and North Africa, and every cat all over the world came from that area. Dogs didn’t have a single source of origin and were domesticated by ancient people all over the world.

  Cats were first domesticated in the Middle East rather than in other ancient civilizations because African desert wild cats were originally curious, sensitive and not afraid of people, which made them very suitable for domestication.

  Asian wild cats in Central Asia and East Asia were too rebellious, making them difficult to be domesticated. Chinese civet cats inherited part of their descent from the wild, making them one of the largest and most unlovable house cats. There was no way to tame them if their genes were like that.

  In addition, the “Pet Hunter” game was set up based on the power of faith.

  There seemed to be no country in the world that worshipped dogs as the ancient Egyptians worshipped cats…


  At night, Zhang Zian usually would not pull down the shutter door, so that Galaxy could sleep under the stars, but now the glass door was broken, so he had to pull down the shutter door. Galaxy was playing around with the kittens, bored to death.

  “Good morning, Galaxy.”


  “Good morning, Zian. Want to play hide and seek?” Galaxy saw him coming downstairs, very happily came over, and stopped one meter in front of him.

  At first, Galaxy hid from him three or four meters away. Slowly, it became more comfortable and came as far as one meter away now. Zhang Zian believed that one day, he could finally pat Galaxy’s head, and tell it that it did not matter, that there was no need to fear anymore.

  “Galaxy, let’s go outside and play today?”


  “Go outside?” For a moment, Galaxy exposed its fear and gave a retreating look.

  He explained, “There is a place close to home where there is nobody. We can play hide and seek there.”


  “A place with no one there?” It tilted its head and tried to confirm.

  “Yes, there will probably only be me and you there.”


  “Oh, let’s go outside to play hide and seek! Let’s go outside to play hide and seek!” Galaxy was very excited, jumping up and down.

  Zhang Zian went to the corner of the shop. Old Time Tea was lying on the electric blanket, its chest and abdomen going up and down. The rhythms and the intervals in between each breath were quite long. They seemed even longer than Zhang Zian’s. He was wondering how he did not notice this little detail before, which clearly proved that Old Time Tea’s heart and lung functions were still very good. This gave him inexplicable peace of mind.

  The power indicator on the wire flashed green, indicating that the electric blanket was working properly.

  He was not sure whether Old Time Tea had woken up or not. When he was about to turn and leave, Old Time Tea opened its mouth and asked, “Did you find a place?”


  While it said this, Old Time Tea sat up and put on its hat, looking at Zhang Zian with its shiny eyes.

  Zhang Zian pointed behind him. “Behind the shop, there is a lawn where usually very few people go. The environment is generally normal, maybe a little bit dirty… I’m not sure whether it would be ok or not?”


  Old Time Tea slightly nodded and said, “Let’s go and take a look. Of course, it would be great if we could practice at a place close to home.”


  Zhang Zian used his hands to surround his mouth, and shouted towards the upstairs, “Let’s go, Fina!”


  Zhang Zian opened the shutter door, went out, then pulled the door down and locked it.

  The autumn wind in the morning was really quite cold.

  He pulled his jacket zipper to the top and put his hands near his mouth, thinking of wearing gloves pretty soon.

  Damn it!

  He should write a message on paper and put it on the door like before, in case of any customers… there might be no customers temporarily, but what if Chen Tai Tong’s lawyer or Captain Sheng came?

  But on this freezing day, he really did not want to touch the cold copper lock again.

  He was about to open the door into the room to grab a pen and paper when he heard a voice from behind shout, “Master Zhang! Master Zhang!”


  Zhang Zian looked back and saw that it was Uncle Li of the breakfast cart crossing the street, cheerfully trotting towards him and waving, “Master Zhang!”


  Zhang Zian thought to himself, “…It sounded like a crook big day was so-called really enough shame, sounds like a lakes and rivers crooks.

  He temporarily stopped fiddling with his key, close a few steps to go up.

  “Uncle Li, what’s the matter?”


  Uncle Li made a “please” gesture, bowed very respectfully and said, “Master Zhang, did you not eat breakfast yet? If not, would you like to have some?”


  Honestly, Zhang Zian had not eaten breakfast yet, and now really felt a little bit hungry at this mentioning.

  Walking to the food stand, he asked, “Uncle Li, can I make payment once a week for the skewers I ordered yesterday?

  Uncle Li waved again and again, “No, no! You don’t have to pay me at all, Master Zhang. It is my luck to have you as my customer. How could I charge you?”


  Zhang Zian responded, “I can’t do this. You work so hard starting from the morning. I can’t eat breakfast for free.”


  Aunt Li stared at her husband, and starting cursing from her heart, “You are so useless, not even knowing what to say!”


  She said earnestly, “Master Zhang, I told you that our old store had been smashed before.”


  Zhang Zian nodded and remembered what she had told him.

  She sighed and spaced out a little, “I am honest to tell you that neither of us has a high education background, nor any skills. Our life will be as this is, but we do not want our son to follow us everywhere and he can’t get into a good school… ”


  Zhang Zian agreed that the treatment for those local kids outside the city were so different. Being the parents, their whole purpose of living was to raise their child and give him a good environment in which to grow and have a better future.

  He looked at Aunt Li’s sun-tanned dark red face and Uncle Li’s white sideburns and could not help but think of a sentence – long breaths cover the tears of sad peoples’ difficult lives.