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

  In the early morning, it was still dark. Zhang Zian was still the first one to wake up in the pet shop. To expand the space, the walls between the bedroom and the living room had been removed in the last renovation. From his single bed, he could see the basket hammock chair and the desk. Sitting up in bed, he found that Pi had not yet woken up. It was still crouching like a baby and sleeping in the basket hammock chair. Its pince-nez was placed on the desk. It only took off its glasses when it was asleep.

  When it was wearing the glasses, Pi appeared to be somewhat precocious, and Zhang Zian often ignored its age. Without the glasses on its nose, Pi was clearly a young monkey. If it was a wild monkey, it may have just left its mother’s back at this age and would have been trying to explore this strange and unknown world.

  The single bed creaked gently with Zhang Zian’s movements. Several elves were startled, but then they continued to sleep. Only Galaxy and Pi blinked and sat up, probably because they were both imaginative elves and they did not need too much sleep. As for Snowy Lionet, theoretically, this cat was also an imaginative elfin. But Zhang Zian suspected that something must have gone wrong, because Snowy Lionet kept sleeping all day long.

  Pi jumped out of the hanging basket, put on its pince-nez, sat in the swivel chair, and opened the laptop eagerly.

  After uploading the first chapter of a new novel, the author must face the review of the website regarding the new book. The review editor would check whether the content of the first chapter had the tendency for violating the regulations, such as forwarding the articles from the forums of the underworld gangs or publishing some contents that would incite people to commit crimes. But Pi’s novel did not violate these two aspects, so there should be no problem in passing the review.

  Zhang Zian knew that after turning off the lights last night, Pi had been staying up till very late. He heard that it was tossing and turning restlessly and rubbing the blankets in the basket hammock chair from time to time. It must have been waiting anxiously for the results of the review.

  When the old computer finally opened, Pi entered its user-name and password into the platform for writers on the Chinese version of the Qidian Website. Sure enough, a short message sent by the website immediately popped up on the platform—Pet King has passed the review; we wish you enjoy your writing!

  Zhang Zian also gave Pi a thumbs-up to encourage it. Anyhow, he hoped Pi could be happy.

  Zhang Zian dressed up and got out of bed, but in the blink of an eye, Pi’s face had turned gloomy. It was staring at the screen with its mouth half open. Zhang Zian did not know what had happened. He stepped lightly forward and drew a question mark on the desk with his finger to ask Pi.

  The screen displayed the “work management section” of the website. From this section, he could see some simple data of the novels and the pen name of the writers. At present, there was only one book under the pseudonym of Pi. And that very book was Pet King. Pi pointed at one column of the data for Zhang Zian to see.

  Add to Library: 2

  This number indicated that only two readers had noticed this book and put it in their library after the first chapter was published. One of the readers was Pi itself, and the other reader would probably be the review editor.

  Zhang Zian understood why Pi was suddenly frustrated. To be honest, this result was what he had expected, so he typed on the computer to encourage it: It doesn’t matter. Web novels usually have millions of words, if you are the readers, would you read the novel that only has one chapter? Keep going! Perseverance prevails!

  His encouragement worked to some extent. Pi dredged up a smile and typed: Okay.

  It was not convenient to write directly on the website. Pi took a deep breath and tried to forget about the fact that only two people had put its novel into their library. It opened the Word document and started writing the second chapter.

  Seeing Pi like this, Zhang Zian was even more worried about it.

  Zhang Zian was not sure whether it was wise for him to encourage Pi to abandon the popular genre and choose to write the niche genre instead. When parents knew that their kids were taking a wrong path or heading toward a dead end, should they encourage their kids to continue bravely regardless of the potentially harsh obstacles, or should they persuade their children to change their paths?

  Zhang Zian did not know what the parents in the foreign countries would do, but most parents in China would choose the latter method wisely, hoping to build an easy path leading to “happiness” for their children. They hoped that their children would walk straight on this path without taking a wrong way or suffering any kind of harm.

  If Fina or Old Time Tea encountered such a setback, they would not mind at all. Their arrogance and strength had equipped them with unparalleled confidence. They did not accept interference from anyone, not even the interference from their owners.

  Even if they failed, they would smile, lick their wounds, and move on. However, Pi was different from them. Pi was an introverted and sensitive elfin who was not good at communicating with other elves, and was barely a powerful elfin. Could it withstand the pain of failure?

  When he got up in the morning, Zhang Zian usually went downstairs to clean up the shop and start the routine operation of the day. However, today was a rare exception. He stood still behind Pi for a long time, weighing the pros and cons repeatedly and could not make up his mind.

  Pi turned its head in confusion. It typed to ask: What’s wrong?

  Zhang Zian pretended to smile with ease, bent down and wrote the character of “people” (人) on the desk with his fingers, and then typed: Did you see that? The Chinese character of “people” means that people support each other. Pi, I want to tell you something. No matter what kind of novel you write, we will always stand behind you to support you.

  Pi turned to look at Zhang Zian. It silently grinned and clenched its fist.

  Under the light of the display screen, its face was filled with excitement.

  Normally, after waking up, Galaxy would also go downstairs and play hide-and-seek with Wendy and other kittens. But today, Galaxy also stayed on the second floor. It jumped to the desk, waved its front paws to Pi, and expressed its support.

  Pi smiled happily and typed: Thank you.

  As if gaining some sort of intangible power, Pi kept its body upright and continued to type in the typing posture and method that Zhang Zian had instructed it. It was still typing at a very low speed.

  Zhang Zian silently watched the back of Pi. When he typed those words, he had made a decision in his heart. Taking the wrong way was not necessarily a bad thing. The experience of taking the detour routes would become a valuable asset for the children. When they faced junctions the next time, the kids may be able to recognize the detour and choose the right path. Parents could not stay with their children forever. They would eventually have to let their kids go on alone. All that parents could do was to watch the children’s backs in silence just like Zhang Zian was watching the back of Pi. And then when their kids ran into major setbacks on the wrong path, parents would help wrap the wounds so that the kids could prepare for the next journey.

  Under the glimmering rays of the morning sun, he turned slightly and looked at the black and white portraits of his late parents on the chest of drawers. They were smiling at him. They had never interfered in the path he had chosen, nor had they asked him to inherit the pet shop. The bones recovered from fracture would be thicker and sturdier; the hearts that were injured would become stronger. His parents must have felt this way before.

  However, standing behind Pi did not mean that he wanted to be a pure spectator. There were so many things he could do to better support Pi.