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

  Upon seeing Meng Li leave the clinic with the Cocker Spaniel, Zhang Zian felt sorry for the graduate students that would need to walk the dog. Zhang Zian said goodbye to Long Xian, left the clinic and walked fast forward his pet shop. On his way back to the pet shop, he wondered what took Sun Xiaomeng so long. He just asked her to open door for Guo Dongyue. No matter how slow she walked, half an hour would be enough. And it’s unlikely that she finally got the chance to play with Galaxy as she always wanted to.

  On the first floor of his shop, a few renovation workers were there. He didn’t see Guo Dongyue. He asked one person and knew that after telling them about the necessary details, Guo Dongyue had left in advance. They were following the construction graph, and nothing would go wrong.

  Zhang Zian pretended he was an expert on their work and stood there and watched them for a while. They seemed very concentrated, and he didn’t see any flaws, judging from his knowledge. Since Fina was not on the first floor, he took some bottles of Evian spring water to the workers, so that they wouldn’t feel thirsty. He decided to buy beverages for them later.

  He went up to the second floor and saw Galaxy sitting in the corridor with its head tilted, as if it was waiting for him to come back.

  “I’m back. Galaxy, what are you doing?” he asked.

  “Meow, playing hide-and seek!” said Galaxy.

  “You’re playing hide-and-seek…” Zhang Zian felt confused, shouldn’t it be either hiding or seeking in this game? How could Galaxy just stand there and do nothing? Galaxy had played hide-and-seek many times, and except when it faced the wall to count down, it had never stood still during the game.

  Galaxy shook its head, raised its claw and pointed to the kitchen, “Galaxy is not playing hide-and-seek; Richard is playing-hide and-seek.”


  Richard?

  Zhang Zian remembered now. When he left the pet shop, Richard and the two red-headed lovebirds were still in the kitchen. He pushed open the kitchen door, only to find that Sun Xiaomeng was standing there with some spice jars and a stainless-steel soup pot on the kitchen sink. He noticed that Sun Xiaomeng’s expression was complicated, like she had been thinking about very difficult question, and probably had not got the answer that she wanted.

  “What are you doing?” Zhang Zian asked, “Are you playing house?”


  Sun Xiaomeng was speechless. When she was about to explain, her cell phone rang.

  “Hello?” she answered the phone right away after seeing the phone number.

  “Sister Xiaomeng, when will you be back? The client who has made an appointment is here,” Long Xian said on the other side of the phone.

  Sun Xiaomeng pinched between her eyebrows like she was having a headache. She was totally surprised by Richard and forgot about the appointment schedule of her client.

  “I’m heading back right away, please tell the client to wait a minute,” she said quickly.

  “Okay, got it, I’ll hang up then.” Long Xian hung up the phone.

  Though she cared a lot about Richard’s injuries, she was not a scientist all in all. She was a veterinarian, and no matter how Richard’s experience intrigued her, she needed to go back to her clinic and do her job.

  “I just borrowed your kitchen tools, but not for playing. See you later.” She spoke briefly to Zhang Zian, but looked at Richard dearly and waved, “Goodbye, Richard, I will come back to see you again.”


  Richard gazed at her affectionately, “Goodbye, Doctor.”


  Sun Xiaomeng was astonished and didn’t say anything. She walked out of the kitchen and saw that Galaxy was staring at her from the bedroom door far away.

  “Goodbye, Galaxy,” she smiled and waved.

  “Meow, meow.”


  After Sun Xiaomeng left, Zhang Zian still couldn’t figure out what had happened.

  “Richard, why do you call her ‘Doctor’ now?” he asked curiously. “Don’t you always call her ‘Beauty’?”


  Richard remained silent, and after a few seconds, it fluttered its wings and yelled, “Quack, quack! You moron! She is a doctor, isn’t she? Don’t you know what doctor means in English?”


  “Yes, she is…” Zhang Zian still felt strange, mainly because Richard’s attitude towards Sun Xiaomeng was completely different.

  Even though he was an English idiot, he understood that ‘doctor’ could mean both ‘physician’ and ‘PhD’—since Richard really liked puns.

  However, He wondered if he had overthought it. Though he was not clear about Sun Xiaomeng’s specific education level, she probably didn’t possess a PhD degree. Most normal people received their PhD degrees when they were about to become 30 years old, and apparently Sun Xiaomeng wasn’t that old… She might be a genius that went to college before 18 years old, but she didn’t look like a one… Besides, if she really had a PhD degree, then she would have numerous ways to earn big money, so why would she degrade herself into opening a pet clinic?

  Therefore, there was no reason Richard would call Sun Xiaomeng “Doctor” as in “PhD”.

  He must have overthought Richard’s word.

  “What did you guys talk about?” Zhang Zian asked while putting the spice jars back on the storage rack.

  “Quack, quack! She seemed to have doubts of my abilities and wanted to test me,” Richard said like it didn’t give a damn—which was how it usually acted.

  “Oh. How did she test you?” he asked as he put the stainless-steel soup pot back in the cupboard.

  “I think it was through playing hide-and-seek, which is not challenging to me at all!” Richard raised its eyes, “You idiot, you forgot to close the cupboard door. What if mice go in there!”


  Zhang Zian did forget to close the cupboard door. His thinking was interrupted when he heard the words “hide-and-seek”. So, the five spice jars were used for playing hide and seek? How?

  “You didn’t act too weird, right?” he alerted Richard, “I’ve told you before, if your behavior is too conspicuous, some people in black uniforms might take you away and you will be sliced into samples for experiments! Do you know what slices look like? Have you seen slices of Peking Roast Duck before?”


  “You idiot. Stop worrying about me so much. Just mind your own business,” Richard said impatiently and waved one of its wings outwards to drive him away. “If you are done lecturing, just leave, I need to hurry up and teach these stupid birds to speak now.”


  What else could Zhang Zian do apart from warning it? He could not always bind Richard’s beak and not let it talk.

  He left the kitchen and heard Richard’s hoarse voice behind him.

  “Pot! Bowl! Basin!”


  And then he heard the voices of the red-headed lovebirds.

  “Per…Boo…Base…”


  Wrong pronunciations, incorrect tones, Richard still had a long way to go.

  Galaxy was still sitting on the corridor, blinking its silver-grey eyes to look at him, seeming like it had never moved.

  Zhang Zian squatted down and asked it, “Galaxy, you told me that Richard needs Sun Xiaomeng’s help, right?”


  Galaxy nodded, “Meow, yes.”


  “So Sun Xiaomeng will not hurt it, right?” he asked the question which was his real concern.

  No matter how marvelous Galaxy, Fina, and Old Time Tea were to him, other people just treated them as normal animals that were either very low-key or very cold. As for Richard, it was just like a time bomb that would cause big trouble someday. He worried that if Richard could not restrain itself from showing off its abilities in front of Sun Xiaomeng, she might generate the idea of turning Richard in to the country for experimentation—and that would be a catastrophe.

  Galaxy shook its head, “Don’t worry, Zian. The Doctor won’t hurt it.”


  “Do you mean ‘doctor’ as in a ‘physician’ or as in a person with a ‘PhD degree’?” Zhang Zian knew that his question was strange, but he believed that Galaxy could understand him. He still couldn’t figure out what it meant when they addressed her as “Doctor”.

  “For Richard, Sun Xiaomeng is a ‘doctor’ doctor, but also a doctor with PhD degree.” Galaxy said confidently. “Don’t you worry, Zian.”


  “I hope I won’t have to.” Zhang Zian believed in Galaxy.