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

  Zhang Zian had never spent Christmas Eve abroad, but he knew how Christmas Eve worked in China. It was nothing more than a easy profit opportunity for business owners, a suffering day for men’s wallets, and a night when all the hotel rooms were booked. So, when Zhang Zian saw Uncle Li wearing a Christmas hat as he was coming through the entrance of the store, he was astonished.

  Uncle Li noticed Zhang Zian’s strange look and took off his Christmas hat embarrassedly. He explained, “My wife forced me to wear it. She says that it’ll get people’s attention and help sales.”


  He nodded. To avoid disrupting the peace between Uncle Li and Aunt Li, he didn’t say anything about it. It was true that wearing a Christmas hat was eye-catching, but it didn’t necessarily guarantee more sales.

  “Why don’t you decorate your store? Even I have a plastic Christmas tree with lights by the doorway to my little old restaurant.” Uncle Li put down the lunch boxes and looked around at Zhang Zian’s store.

  Zhang Zian smiled. “Actually, I was still thinking about decorating my shop for Christmas. But these days I’ve been so busy, I forgot all about it. I woke up this morning and checked the date on my phone and just found out that it was Christmas Eve today.”


  “It’s nice to be busy.” Uncle Li nodded. “That shows that your business is doing good.”


  The Amazing Fate Pet Shop looked no different than usual, which made it stand out among the strong festive spirits of Christmas. At the end of the day, it was only because Zhang Zian was too lazy to put up Christmas decorations. He wasn’t sure if he would have more customers than usual come into his shop on Christmas Eve. The answer was likely not. It was quite common for parents abroad to buy kittens and puppies for their children as Christmas gifts. But in China, Christmas was a holiday for young men and women. It was rare for anyone to bring cats or dogs with them to their hotel rooms. Zhang Zian was feeling pessimistic about his Christmas sales. He might as well concentrate on collecting more lucky money from red packets in WeChat groups.

  Lu Yiyun, who had been immersing herself in her paintings, finally was taking a break. Sitting behind the checkout counter with her cat Jasmine, she was watching the live broadcast of Snowy on her phone. She smiled warmly as she watched.

  Wang Qian and Li Kun went out for lunch with their classmates that day, and they would come back into the shop that afternoon. Because of this, Zhang Zian only ordered two lunch boxes for himself and Lu Yiyun.

  “Yiyun, I’ll need to go out this afternoon. You can get off work early after lunch.” He put her lunch box on the cashier’s desk.

  Lu Yiyun absent-mindedly nodded a few times while still staring at her phone screen. Then she realized what he had said. “What? I can get off work at noon?” she asked blankly.

  Zhang Zian, carrying his lunch box, explained, “I’m going to help Little Celery in the afternoon. Famous and Zhan Tian are going to help pull the sleigh for her.”


  “Then there won’t be anyone watching the shop in the afternoon, right?” Lu Yiyun knew that Zhang Zian was going out today. She was there when they discussed the plans the other day.

  “It’s Christmas Eve anyways. I’m sure that no one wants to come buy pets. You can go home early,” said Zhang Zian, who was pretending to be generous.

  Lu Yiyun simply shook her head and refused. “No, it would be better for me to stay here. This place is warmer than my house. If I go home, I’ll need to turn on the heater and it’ll cost me money. The apartment that I’m renting uses electricity that’s for commercial purposes.”


  The problem is that I’m also using commercial electricity here! Zhang Zian thought.

  The Amazing Fate Pet Shop was a property for both commercial and residential usages facing the street. He would be stressed for days every time he paid the electricity and water bills.

  As a last resort, he had to tell Lu Yiyun the truth. “Actually, I’m planning on bringing some kittens and puppies to Little Celery’s school celebration. At the end of her performance, she’ll appear on stage dressed as Santa Claus riding on a sleigh pulled by the dogs, and she’ll present the kittens and puppies as gifts to her classmates. Initially, she planned on using her own stuffed animals as gifts. I thought that the performance might not be as good if she used fake stuffed animals, especially considering that many boys might hate them. But real kittens and puppies are different.”


  Impressed by his idea, Lu Yiyun praised him. “That’s a brilliant idea! Mr. Store Manager, how’d you think of that? Now, Little Celery’s show is more likely to get a good ranking among all the other programs in the celebration!”


  One could only imagine how excited the audience would get when Santa pulled out a bunch of real animals from the big gift bag.

  “Well, it’s just a good idea that came to me accidently. Besides from being smart, I have no other talents.” Though Zhang Zian was acting modestly, he was quite flattered by Lu Yiyun’s appreciation.

  Lu Yiyun was long used to him bragging, but then she asked, “Are you really going to give your puppies and kittens to Little Celery’s classmates?”


  “How would that be possible?” Zhang Zian asked, feeling insulted. “Of course I’ll retrieve them after the show is over! How am I supposed to earn money if I give them away for free?”


  “Oh…”


  Zhang Zian’s answer was just as Lu Yiyun expected. If he really was going to give those puppies and kittens away for free, Lu Yiyun would wonder if the world was ending.

  “But even so, it’ll be a little annoying trying to get them back, right? Mr. Store Manager, you’re a cat trainer, so you can easily order the kittens not to run around. But what about the puppies?” Lu Yiyun was asking a reasonable question.

  Since Zhang Zian was planning on closing the store that afternoon, he would be bringing a larger number of puppies and kittens to the school, even if it affected his own business. Lu Yiyun imagined that when Santa gave away the kittens and puppies on the stage, they would surely run around, and it would be incredibly difficult to get them all back. If Zhang Zian wasn’t careful enough, he might lose a lot of his pets. If one of his pets got lost, Zhang Zian would have to turn the school upside down trying to find it.

  “Yes, that’s why I planned on bringing Wang Qian and Li Kun with me, to let them help me from behind the stage.” Zhang Zian had already considered this problem.

  Lu Yiyun lowered her head and ate several spoonfuls of rice. On her phone screen, Snowy was frowning and forcing herself to eat some local dish that didn’t look appetizing.

  She hesitated before carefully making her request. “Well, Mr. Store Manager, I’d also like to go with you and see if I can help.”


  Lu Yiyun basically spent all of her time either at home or at the pet shop everyday. She hadn’t visited any other places for a long time. It was Christmas Eve today, so she didn’t have to take any orders and decided to give herself the day off. But what could she actually do on the holiday? The pet shop would be closed in the afternoon, and the live broadcast of Snowy would be ending very soon. For the rest of the day, she would just go home and lie down in her bed, reading a comic book or watching TV. The holidays were no different from her usual days.

  But, she’d been trying to change her ways, even for just a little bit. Although there were a lot of interesting places to go in Binhai City, if she went to those places by herself, she would only feel lonelier. Since Zhang Zian, Wang Qian, and Li Kun were going to Little Celery’s primary school for the celebration, she wanted to go with them and cure her boredom. She also liked Little Celery a lot, so she figured she might as well go and support the kid.

  Of course, Zhang Zian was glad that Lu Yiyun was willing to go with him. With one more person helping him, the probability of him losing his kittens and puppies would be even smaller.

  “You have no other plans today?” He wanted to double-check with her.

  “Nope.” Lu Yiyun shook her head.

  “Well then, we’ll lock up the doors and head out when Wang Qian and Li Kun arrive!”