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

  Shi Shi thought that since Zhang Zian had accepted Zhao Qi’s cat, it would not be a problem for him to accept her dog. But when Zhang Zian turned her down, she asked in surprise, “Why?”


  “Because it is ill. Its illness must be cured first.” Zhang Zian answered very simply and firmly, “My pet shop doesn’t provide pet boarding services for sick pets. Even if you go to other stores, those pet shop owners won’t accept it either.”


  “It just caught a cold! A cold!” Shi Shi stressed, lifting the Labrador from the ground. “You see, Xiao La is only coughing and sneezing a little. It’s actually very healthy! And we have already fed the cold medicine to it. It will recover in two days.”


  “Cold medicine? You mean the cold medicine for human beings?” Zhang Zian asked.

  Shi Shi blinked and looked at Zhang Zian as if he had asked an unnecessary question. “Of course, it was a very high-grade imported cold medicine that I would take when I caught a cold.”


  “Dogs can’t take cold medicine for human beings. Before any abnormal reaction occurs to your dog, I suggest you take it to the pet clinic for a checkup as soon as possible.” Zhang Zian said solemnly.

  “What? Why?” asked Shi Shi.

  “Because cold medicine for human beings may contain ingredients harmful to dogs.” Zhang Zian explained patiently, “Of course, not all cold medicines contain such ingredients. To say the least, even if the ingredients of your medicine are harmless to your dog, do you know the dosage of the medicine it should take? The dosage for the pet is based on the pet’s weight—how many micrograms or milligrams of the medicine it should take are based on per kilogram of its body weight. A pet should not simply take one or two pills at a time like a human does. Did you calculate the dosage when you gave the medicine to your dog?”


  “Well…” Shi Shi stuttered, “I was a liberal arts student…”


  “It does not matter whether you were a student who majored in liberal arts or science!” Zhang Zian complained, pointing at the red sweater that the Labrador was wearing. “What is the matter with this sweater?”


  “I bought it for Xiao La! The weather is cold!” She replied with confidence.

  “Did you put the sweater on it before or after it caught a cold?” Zhang Zian asked again.

  Shi Shi placed her fingers onto her forehead and contemplated, “Well…let me think…before it caught a cold?”


  “Well, if I’m right, perhaps it caught a cold precisely because you put the sweater on it!” Zhang Zian said with certainty.

  “Why? She asked with indignation. This was the third time she asked why. The weather worsened several days ago, I was afraid that it would catch a cold, so I bought the sweater for it!”


  Zhang Zian explained, “Because the medium-sized and large-sized dogs don’t need to wear extra clothes, their hair and muscles can generate enough heat for them. We’re not in the freezing Siberia. When you walked your dog outdoors, the thick sweater on it had prevented the heat generated during exercise from leaving its body. When you returned home, you undressed it and it lay its hot belly on the chilly floor. That may be the reason your dog caught a cold.”


  Not convinced by Zhang Zian’s explanation, Shi Shi said, “But I see a lot of people put all sorts of beautiful clothes on their pets…Besides, the Dragon Li cat in your shop is wearing a Mandarin jacket and a bamboo hat!”


  Her voice was a bit sharp. Hearing Shi Shi mention itself, Old Time Tea moved its ears and looked out the door.

  Zhang Zian was speechless.

  Regarding the situation of Old Time Tea, in fact, what Shi Shi said was right. When winter arrived, Zhang Zian often saw people put thick clothing, such as vests, sweaters, hats, scarves, and shoes on their pets. The pets were dressed as human beings, because their owners worried that they might catch a cold.

  Zhao Qi said hesitantly, “In fact, I also want to buy clothes for my Lan Lan…Is it wrong to let pets wear clothes?”


  “It depends. Cats generally stay at home and they rarely go out, and very few cats will lie directly on the ground, so cats don’t need to wear clothes. As for the Dragon Li in my shop, it wears clothes because it is at an advanced age.” To make his explanation more thorough, Zhang Zian added, “Unless we are talking about the Sphinx cats, who basically have no hair and need to wear clothes in the winter.”


  Zhang Zian saw a group of photos uploaded by Xu Junyu, the makeup artist of the Dog Warrior crew, in her WeChat Moments a few days ago. In those photos, Xu Junyu showed that she had made a piece of clothing for her Sphinx cat. Zhang Zian gave those photos a thumb-up. Because Sphinx cats indeed needed to wear clothes in winter, so did some bulldogs, but most young, strong cats did not need clothes in winter.

  Cats were very sensitive animals that relied on their hair to perceive the air flow. Putting on clothes may cause sensory disorders with some cats, and they would act like they were drunk.

  As for the Siberian Forest Cats, Norwegian Forest Cats, Ragdoll Cats, Persian Cats, and other long-haired cats, it was unnecessary to put clothes on them. Even if people were frozen to death, these cats would not die.

  “Besides, most of the dressed-up dogs you see on the street are small-sized dogs like Teddy or Chihuahua, right?” Zhang Zian asked.

  Perplexed, Shi Shi nodded.

  “That’s right. Small-sized dogs may need to wear clothes in winter because they have specific larger surface areas and the heat emits from their bodies quickly, so they need clothes to keep warm. While the large-sized and medium-sized dogs have smaller specific surface areas and their bodies have better capabilities to keep themselves warm,” Zhang Zian pointed to Shi Shi’s Labrador. “Do you think your Labrador is a small-sized dog?”


  “Wait a minute. The surface area of a small-sized dog is supposed to be smaller than that of a large-sized or medium-sized dog, isn’t it?” In fact, she had missed the “specific” in that term. Perhaps she had heard it, but she ignored it because she did not understand what the term meant.

  “It’s the specific surface area! The specific surface area is the ratio of surface area to volume! Take a sphere for example, the smaller the radius, the larger the specific surface area; the larger the radius, the smaller the specific surface area. The same principle applies to dogs.” Zhang Zian laboriously imparted some knowledge of mathematics to her.

  “Oh,” Shi Shi nodded, not fully understanding the principle. “I’m a liberal arts student…”


  “”Don’t use liberal arts as an excuse. Liberal arts students should also have common sense!” Zhang Zian doubted that she had forgotten about the math she learned in school long time ago.

  Shi Shi said audaciously with self-confidence, “But I just can’t understand it! If you write a novel, you can write these things in your novel. I guess many people don’t understand these concepts.”


  “I said that I was not writing a novel…But then again, this dog has caught a cold. If you don’t understand how to cure a cold for a dog, don’t try to help it recklessly. You’d better send it to a pet clinic.” Zhang Zian brought the topic back to Shi Shi’s dog.

  “I’m worried that Xiao La will be infected with other diseases if it were sent to a pet clinic…” Shi Shi could not make up her mind. “Manager Zhang, you are so resourceful, can you please cure my Xiao La?”


  “No. First of all, I am not a licensed veterinarian and I have no qualifications to practice medicine. Secondly, I do not dare let your dog into my shop. I am afraid that its cold will be transmitted to my dogs ??in the shop!”


  To be cautious, Zhang Zian had been talking with them outside in the chilly wind and had not invited them into the shop. What he feared was that this Labrador’s cold would be transmitted to other puppies.

  “How could it be? My Xiao La does not have the flu! It has just caught a common cold!” Shi Shi said self-righteously.

  Liu Sanlang thought for a moment and echoed with Shi Shi. “I remember that the pet sales agreement specified that the dogs in your shop had been injected with flu shots. They would still get the flu?”


  Zhang Zian explained, “There are many kinds of influenza, and the flu viruses often mutate. The vaccines they received are only to prevent some respiratory infectious diseases. In addition, the flu and the common cold are difficult to distinguish from their symptoms. Even the common cold is also divided into the contagious and non-contagious common cold. I am not an expert in this regard. When one of my dogs catches a cold, it would also be isolated from other dogs, and then I would quickly send it to a pet clinic.”


  A-choo! While Zhang Zian was speaking, the Labrador sneezed again and lowered its head listlessly. It was obvious that Shi Shi’s Labrador was not as lively as other Labrador dogs.

  Zhang Zian pointed out specifically. “The canine respiratory infectious disease is highly contagious. If one dog is sick, it should be sent for treatment as soon as possible. Otherwise, it is easy to infect other dogs living together. Therefore, the canine respiratory infectious disease is also called the ‘Kennel Cough’, which means that if a dog has contracted the disease, all the dogs in the kennel will be infected very soon. Not only that, if you walk a sick dog outside and encounter someone else’s dogs on the street, the disease may transmit to more dogs.”


  “Okay, I understand now. Sanlang, let’s send Xiao La to a pet clinic now.” Shi Shi finally had nothing else to say to Zhang Zian, who had firmly rejected to accept her dog.

  “Okay.” Liu Sanlang was obedient to Shi Shi’s words.

  “One more thing…when your dog is well, don’t put clothes on it anymore. When it’s snowing, you can make your dog wear a raincoat to prevent the snow from wetting its hair. If you don’t know where you can buy a raincoat suitable for dogs, you can buy it from my shop. And try to keep your room as dry as possible because a humid environment is more likely to harbor bacteria. Try ventilating the indoors more frequently, which can effectively help both human beings and dogs avoid catching a cold.

  Zhang Zian gave them advice as the after-sales service. After all, this Labrador was bought from his pet shop.

  Liu Sanlang nodded frequently and kept Zhang Zian’s suggestion firmly in mind.

  Shi Shi had already picked up Xiao La and got into the car. Zhao Qi had given the air box with Lan Lan in it to Zhang Zian and got into the car, planning to get a free ride back home.

  Liu Sanlang had not gotten into the car yet. He scratched his head and said awkwardly, “Manager Zhang, actually I still have another thing.”


  “What’s the matter? I will not lend money to you!” Zhang Zian refused him vigilantly.

  “I’m not borrowing money! It’s that our Xiao La is a bit naughty,” Liu Sanlang said helplessly. “It likes to bark for no reason. Our neighbors have filed complaints to the property management team several times. Occasionally, it also urinates and defecates in our home or on the corridor…”


  Zhang Zian frowned. “You didn’t train it not to bark or relieve itself everywhere? Didn’t I tell you that unlike raising a cat, you must train your dog?”


  “Yeah…but each time I tried to be harsh on Xiao La, Shi Shi would defend it and say that I was a crazy man who abused dogs. That was why Xiao La has become like this…” Liu Sanlang smiled bitterly. “Manager Zhang, can you help me change its bad habits? I will pay you.”


  Zhang Zian pondered and said, “Let’s talk about that after your dog has recovered from the cold.”