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

  The New Year’s Day holiday was over.

  The sun had not yet risen. In front of his shop, Zhang Zian was standing against the chilly wind in the early morning. Cupping his hands by placing the roots of his palms together, he then drew his hands slowly to the right of his waist. He squared away his legs and stood steadily as if he was planting himself to the earth.

  He took a deep breath and felt the flow of latent energy inside his body. He brought the infinite energy of the universe to every corner of his body, and then gathered all the energy and concentrated it between his cupped hands.

  His palms suddenly became scorching hot, as if he was holding a miniature nuclear reactor, and if he did not exhaust all his strength to control it, the nuclear reactor might explode at any minute.

  Zhang Zian was practicing the Kamehameha, also known as the “Turtle Destruction Wave”, a signature energy attack in the Dragon Ball series. He was so delighted, because he believed that this time, he was going to successfully shoot out a streaming, powerful beam of energy as in the anime series!

  So, he focused on his front, and uttered the word of Kamehameha slowly!

  “Ka—”


  “Me—”


  “Ha—”


  “Me—”


  “Ha—”


  As he uttered the last “Ha—”, he thrust forward the nuclear reactor in his palms with his full effort!

  In his imagination; his pet shop, the street, and the entire Binhai City would be burned into ashes by such a powerful blast. The atmospheric layer would be ripped open and a terrible hole would appear. Dust, gravel, boulders and buildings would be drawn into the infinite empty space; and a scar as deep as several hundred meters would be seen from the surface of the earth; and everyone in this world would be in awe of him.

  However, nothing happened in reality.

  There was no wind at all. Not even a leaf of the lobular red, sandalwood potted-plant that he placed two meters away from him was shaking.

  “What’s going on?”


  He maintained his posture to contemplate his attempt.

  “Master, you … what are you doing?”


  Wang Qian and Li Kun, who were both carrying a pancake, appeared. They wiped the sauce on their mouths and stared with astonishment at Zhang Zian’s bizarre posture.

  For fear that his gathered energy would be interfered with by moving around; Zhang Zian stood still, glanced at them, and said solemnly, “It is said that if we remain single, we can ultimately master the Kamehameha. So, I will try this attack every year around the New Year’s Day.”


  “Hm… Really?”


  Ordinary people certainly did not believe Zhang Zian’s words, but Wang Qian and Li Kun, who were really stupid, found his words somewhat credible.

  “Of course, it’s true! Being single is a very valuable asset!” Zhang Zian said affirmatively.

  Wang Qian and Li Kun thrillingly stuffed the pancakes into their mouths; ran next to Zhang Zian, and awkwardly imitated Zhang Zian’s posture.

  “You are standing too high! Square away your legs with a wider stance!”


  “Your fingers must exert power; like you are clinging to a cliff. If you don’t hold on tight, you will fall off the cliff!”


  Zhang Zian solemnly instructed the two of them.

  “Have you felt the scorching heat in your palms?” asked Zhang Zian.

  Wang Qian and Li Kun concentrated and vaguely felt the heat in their palms.

  Finally, when they correctly mimicked the essential movements of the Kamehameha, Zhang Zian clapped his hands and said, “All right, listen to me! Ka—”


  “Me—”


  “Ha—”


  “Me—”


  “Ha—”


  Accompanied by the encouraging watchword of the Kamehameha, the three of them thrust their hands forward in unison!

  Of course, still, nothing happened.

  It was a weekday today, and the office workers who were on their way to work were astonished by this peculiar scene in front of the pet shop. Some pedestrians thought this might be a sort of performance art and they even took some pictures with their phones.

  Fortunately, Zhang Zian, Wang Qian and Li Kun didn’t care how the pedestrians perceived them. They enjoyed trying Kamehameha repeatedly.

  “Ha—”


  “Ha—”


  “Ha—”


  “Good morning, Mr. Store Manager. What are you doing?” Lu Yiyun stared blankly at the three of them in the front of the shop. Her cat, Jasmine, stuck its head out from her backpack and meowed.

  “We are practicing,” Wang Qian answered straightforwardly.

  “What are you practicing?” She asked again.

  “Kamehameha!” Wang Qian replied.

  Lu Yiyun became silent. She went into the shop quietly.

  After a while, the three of them gave up for the time being and squatted in the storefront to rest. When they rested well enough, Wang Qian and Li Kun went into the shop to start cleaning. Just as Zhang Zian was about to go in, he heard someone shout from afar. “Good morning, Brother Store Manager!

  He turned around and found that it was Little Celery.

  “Good morning, Little Celery! High-five! Yay!” said Zhang Zian.

  Though she had no idea what they were celebrating, Little Celery jumped up happily and high-fived with Zhang Zian.

  “Brother Store Manager, why did you leave so early the other day? Our class program won the school’s best performance award! We also received prizes!” Little Celery said with excitement.

  “Oh, what prizes?” Zhang Zian asked. “PlayStations?”


  “No, stationeries and school bags,” said Little Celery.

  “When will your winter vacation start?” Zhang Zian asked.

  “Well … about two weeks later…” Little Celery thought for a moment and said.

  “Then you are about to take final exams, right?”


  “Uh-huh.”


  Zhang Zian encouraged her. “Study hard for your exams and strive for good grades! After that, you can enjoy your holiday!”


  “Okay!” Little Celery nodded vigorously. “I will go to school after I see Xiao Ling and Er Duo!”


  “All right, go ahead, but don’t spend too much time playing with them.” Zhang Zian reminded her.

  As soon as Little Celery entered the shop, a car parked on the roadside. Sun Xiaomeng knocked on the car window. It seemed like she wanted to say something to Zhang Zian. Zhang Zian trotted towards her and Sun Xiaomeng rolled down the window as he approached.

  “About the gang of dog-trappers several days ago; I heard from my customers, Mr. Qian and Mr. Li, that they have joined a WeChat group established by the people whose dogs were stolen in this incident. Some dogs were sold to other cities; a few dogs have been found by the police and have been returned to their owners, but most of the dogs are… ” She said, sighing.

  The bait used by the dog-trappers contained illegal drugs that were detrimental to the central nervous system of the dogs, thus slowing down the dog’s reaction time. When the dog-trappers used ropes to capture the dogs by their necks, they might have been suffocated during the struggle. Probably, one third of the stolen dogs were already dead before they were re-sold to other cities or the dog meat restaurants. When eating the dog meat, the customers might have unknowingly absorbed the drugs from these dead dogs into their own bodies…


  The task of retrieving the stolen dogs was carried out jointly by the police and the industrial and commercial authorities. On the one hand, the task was to arrest the suspects and retrieve the lost dogs. On the other hand, the authorities were also responsible for punishing those restaurants that accepted dog meat from unknown sources, as well as tracking down the drug dealers who had sold the illegal drugs to the gang of dog-trappers.

  The authenticity of these things narrated by Sun Xiaomeng remained unknown, because she had heard them from her customers, Mr. Qian, and Mr. Li.

  Sun Xiaomeng finally said, “Mr. Li has retrieved his dog. He was too excited that day and forgot to thank you. He asks me, on his behalf, to express his gratitude to you. As for Mr. Qian, I heard that when you found the hideout of the criminals that day, his dog was dead already, right?”


  “Yes, I think so.” Zhang Zian nodded. “He almost hit the gang of dog-trappers at the time.”


  “Here is the thing. He asked me about the address of your shop, and he will come to buy a dog in a few days.” Sun Xiaomeng smiled and said, “You see, you are being rewarded for your good deeds. I should head back to my clinic now; a client has made an appointment for this time slot. Bye!”


  “Bye!”


  Zhang Zian watched as she drove away. A thought once again occurred to him: Just doing good deeds without asking for reward.