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

  Zhang Zian reminded Long Xian of the two idiots’ temperaments and didn’t care whether she had understood or not. He just walked to the wards of the clinic. His pets were being taken care of by Sun Xiaomeng in the spare wards of her clinic temporarily. He walked a few steps, and he heard cats’ meowing and dogs’ barking.

  While walking towards the wards, he observed the sanitary and cleaning conditions here. He had to admit that, though Wang Qian and Li Kun were complete idiots, they were diligent in keeping this place clean. They weren’t lazy while helping out at the pet shop, and they were doing quite well here at the pet clinic. The sanitation and disinfection status was impeccable. There were no strange smells, except for the normal smell of disinfectant. No wonder Sun Xiaomeng had been asking them to work there for longer period… Of course she would want that, she didn’t need to pay them.

  Among the wards, one’s door was open, Zhang Zian peeked inside and saw a middle-aged man in a suit sizing up the pets in the display cases.

  Zhang Zian knocked on the door, and the middle-aged man turned around with an inquiring look.

  “Excuse me, are you the customer who wants to buy a pet?” Zhang Zian walked into the ward.

  “Yes, and you are?” asked the middle-aged men.

  Zhang Zian casually pointed to the display cases, “My name is Zhang Zian, and I am the owner of the Amazing Fate Pet Shop. These pets are mine; I’m keeping them at this clinic temporarily. Have you been waiting a long time?”


  “Oh.” The man nodded and stuck his hand out towards Zhang Zian politely. “Nice to meet you. No, I haven’t been waiting long, just a couple of minutes, and I got the chance to look at the pets here.”


  This man made a good impression on Zhang Zian. The man dressed decently and was very polite. Most importantly, he had the gentle temperament of a scholar.

  They shook hands and greeted each other.

  “And what’s your name?” asked Zhang Zian.

  The man took out a business card and handed it over to Zhang Zian, “My name is Meng Li, and I am a teacher at Binhai University. Professor Wei Kang recommended this place to me.”


  “Professor Wei Kang…” Zhang Zian felt a little bit surprised, “Are you also a biology professor?”


  Zhang Zian became alert and thought, was this man pretending to buy pets but in fact was coming for Fina?

  “No, no. I’m not from the biology department.” Meng Li clarified, “I just happen to know Professor Wei Kang. I want to buy a dog, but I didn’t know where I should go, so I inquired my colleagues about it. Professor Wei Kang recommended your pet shop, and he knew that your shop is upgrading, so the pets are put here temporarily. I guess I might just come straight over to have a look.”


  “Oh, no wonder.” Zhang Zian understood.

  Other customers who didn’t know the truth would have felt weird that his pets were in Sun Xiaomeng’s pet clinic, and wouldn’t have waited patiently for his arrival. Meng Li was willing to wait there patiently because he believed in Wei Kang’s recommendation.

  Nowadays, with advanced technology, people had multiple ways to obtain information, but recommendations among friends and colleagues were the most reliable channels, even for intellectuals.

  With the misunderstanding being clarified, Zhang Zian let down his guard.

  “Sorry that there are no seats here,” Zhang Zian said apologetically, “What a bad host of this clinic, she didn’t even prepare chairs seeing a customer come in. I will criticize her severely when I see her. Do you want me to bring over a chair?”


  “No, I’m fine,” Meng Li declined. “I can just stand.”


  Zhang Zian was just making a polite gesture. He didn’t really plan on bringing the chairs.

  “So, you said you were planning to buy a dog?” he got to the point.

  “Yes.” Meng Li answered affirmatively and pointed to a display case, “I want the Cocker Spaniel.”


  So this man was visiting the clinic with preparation.

  There were two kinds of customers of pet shops. The first kind were those customers who barely knew anything about pets, and would decide what they wanted after they saw the pets. The other types of customers came with specific goals, usually looking for commonly-seen breeds of cats or dogs like Husky, Samoyed, American Shorthair and Ragdoll. The display cases were not labeled with the breeds of cats are dogs, and the Cocker Spaniel that Meng Li was pointing to was a rarely seen breed in China. He could not have recognized it by only one glance unless either he had prepared, or that he had seen it or raised such dogs before.

  Zhang Zian was quite surprised to see the Cocker Spaniel at the Pet’s Home breeding base. This kind of dog was raised commonly overseas, but few people in China purchased them. Sun Yinian probably had brought the dog in his breeding base because he wanted to have comprehensive breeds. Zhang Zian had been thinking for a while about this dog, and then decided to buy one and give it a try to see whether someone would appreciate this dog.

  Normally, if customers had designated their targets and were consented about the pets’ appearance, it should be easily to close the deal, after negotiating the price. But Zhang Zian was in no hurry to close the deal. Instead, he asked a question that seemed officious, “Have you ever raised a Cocker Spaniel before?”


  Meng Li shook his head slowly and said in a plain tone, “No, I haven’t.”


  “I see.” Zhang Zian paused a while and asked, “Do you mind me asking you why you want this kind of dog? Is it because you are a fan of niche things?”


  Niche songs, niche software, niche brands, niche novels… if there were mainstream markets, there were niche markets. Some people were true fans of niche products — they did not go after the niche trends just to appear different than others — while other people just wanted to show off their unique personalities by using or buying niche things.

  Before Meng Li made his answer, Zhang Zian continued, “Make no mistake, I don’t mean to pry. It’s just that it’s a dog of niche breed, so when it becomes sick, it’s more complicated to cure it. That’s why I asked that question. The owner of this clinic can explain more clearly regarding that aspect.”


  Meng Li was a little bit confused and didn’t know why Zhang Zian asked such a detailed question. After hearing his explanation, Meng Li felt relieved. He didn’t feel offended, but he felt that Zhang Zian was very responsible. Professor Wei Kang’s recommendation was trustworthy.

  “Actually, I didn’t raise one by myself, but when I studied in England, my host family raised a Cocker Spaniel.” Meng Li looked at the Cocker Spaniel in the display case and had that nostalgic look in his eyes.

  “I was quite an introvert. My host family was very enthusiastic at first, but I couldn’t blend in—the social atmosphere and the living habits were so different.” He sighed and then added seriously, “And the food was just like crap, totally inedible. Not only me, but a lot of students from China hate the food there.”


  “In that strange new environment, I could only focus on studying, and isolated myself from any social life and entertainment.” He mocked at himself and smiled, “The host family probably felt that I was not that aggregable, and their enthusiasm gradually declined—they still provided whatever I wanted, but they were not as enthusiastic as the beginning. Of course, I am the only one to blame for that.”


  “It was a very hard time for me, but I could tell no one else, because every student studying overseas basically experienced the same thing. And you can only blame yourself if you can’t fit into the environment. I cannot regret my decision to study abroad, I didn’t even allow myself to have that idea—because I worked so hard, and I defeated numerous people to finally get the chance to study abroad. I couldn’t tell my parents either, I didn’t want them to worry about me. The Cocker Spaniel at the host family’s house was very close to me, and I felt my loneliness was alleviated with its company.” He smiled, with his eyes looking into the distance.

  “But in the end, you had to leave each other, right?” Zhang Zian said softly. He had figured out the ending of that story. Meng Li was here in China instead of staying in England.

  “Yes. Just like my name ‘Li’ means ‘leave’, I had to say goodbye to it,” said Meng Li.