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

  Zhang Zian thought about Pi’s things while he was absentmindedly cleaning the shop. He had formed the habit of cleaning the shop every morning. Even if he was absent-minded, his body would automatically do what he should do like a robot.

  He took the garbage bags containing food waste from the kitchen on the second floor, opened the shutter door, pushed the door to go out, and then piled the garbage bags to the designated location on the side of the road. When the sanitation workers arrived at this area, they would load these bags into the garbage truck.

  It was foggy this morning and the morning air was extremely cold. Zhang Zian, who was wearing only a woolen sweater, looked around and found that the visibility was poor. Colorful glows surrounded the light bulbs of the streetlights. After standing outside for a while, Zhang Zian’s hair became a little damp. He felt so cold that he kept shivering.

  Hiss…hiss…hiss

  While Zhang Zian was throwing the rubbish, a figure rolled up in a whirlwind, broke the morning fog, and walked past him with a brisk pace. The steady, rhythmic breath of that person sounded like a well-functioning clock and gave Zhang Zian a sense of security.

  Zhang Zian tilted his head to look at that person. The corner of his eye only caught a touch of green, which was the reflective strip on the side of that person’s sneakers. When he looked again, he saw the back of that tall, long-haired girl with a ponytail. She was wearing a hairband, a pair of warm earmuffs, a loose jersey, and a pair of tight warm pants. Her legs were slender, and she was pacing at a stable rate.

  Most of the people who exercised in the morning were the elderly people, and young people were relatively rare. After all, young people were either busy working, studying, or playing games. In autumn, Zhang Zian often encountered young people doing morning exercises. However, few young people could continue running in the morning during the cold days. It was not the first time that Zhang Zian met this girl, who seemed to have run past his pet shop the other day. At that time, Zhang Zian was busy in his shop and barely caught a glimpse of the passing beauty. He was not sure whether the girl he met today was the same girl from the other day. All he could remember was that the fluorescent green on the sneakers was the same.

  Those who were not accustomed to running would pant and drag their leaden feet when they suddenly began running. But this girl was running extremely rhythmically. She was either a long-distance runner or a professional athlete. The vitality within her body emanated into the air along with her every step. Just watching the girl made Zhang Zian want to run with her.

  In the blink of an eye, the running girl had disappeared on the other side of the street in the morning fog. And the sounds of her steps faded away.

  It was good to meet such a young girl full of vitality in the morning. Zhang Zian’s mood seemed to be brightened up by her. He puffed some hot air into his palms, rubbed his hands and trod back to his shop.

  He looked at his cell phone and saw that he had received a message sent by Sun Xiaomeng. She said that the Labrador sent to her clinic by Liu Sanlang and Shi Shi had been examined and observed all night. She could basically determine that the dog had caught a non-contagious common cold that was caused by the sudden changes of temperature. As for the cold medicine that Shi Shi fed to the Labrador without permission, it was the cold medicine for children and was not particularly harmful to dogs. The physical condition of the Labrador had somewhat improved this morning and it should recover from the cold within two or three days.

  In addition, she also said that her client Mr. Qian may visit Zhang Zian’s pet shop to buy a dog one of these days. She hoped that Zhang Zian could give some discounts to Mr. Qian, considering that he was sad due to the death of his previous dog that was stolen by criminals.

  He had not received this information before he left the shop to throw out the garbage, and did not see Sun Xiaomeng driving on the street, which meant that she probably stayed at the pet clinic last night.

  At this moment, a horn was heard outside of the door. With the fog lights flashing, a cargo truck rushed out of the dense fog and slowly stopped at the side of the road.

  It was wet and cold outside. Zhang Zian grabbed a coat and went out.

  The side of the truck was printed with the characters and logo of the “Pets’ Home Breeding Base.” Sun Yinian, wearing a cap, and carrying two iron cages, jumped from the passenger seat.

  “Here. These are the hamsters that you want. I’m giving you all the hamsters that I have.”


  At the sight of Zhang Zian, Sun Yinian handed him the cages. One cage contained Djungarian hamsters, while the other cage contained winter white hamsters. The cages were divided into many smaller compartments, and each compartment contained one hamster. If not separated, the hamsters would fight each other.

  Zhang Zian knew that Little Celery’s class wanted to raise hamsters during the winter vacation, and then they would raise rabbits after the new semester started. He told Sun Yinian in advance and asked if the hamsters and rabbits in the Pets’ Home Breeding Base were sold out. If there were still some hamsters and rabbits in the breeding base, he hoped Sun Yinian could leave some for him so that he could give them away to people.

  “I can send someone to pick them up. You don’t have to deliver them specifically for me so early in the morning,” said Zhang Zian with embarrassment as he took over the cages . The wholesale price of these two cages of hamsters was not worth much. He had planned to ask Wang Qian to take the bus and pick up the hamsters from the breeding base. He had not expected that Sun Yinian would personally deliver the hamsters for him, which have saved him some trouble.

  Sun Yinian patted his truck, pointed to the north, and said, “I’m not specifically delivering the hamsters to you. We are delivering pets to other pet stores today. Besides, my daughter did not come home last night, and my wife told me to check up on her. Since her pet clinic and your pet shop are on the same street, I stopped by your shop on my way there. I am leaving now.”


  “This fog is dense. Please drive slowly on the road.” Zhang Zian reminded him.

  “I know.” Sun Yinian sat back on the seat of the truck.

  The truck moved and soon disappeared into the fog in the north.

  Zhang Zian carried the two cages of hamsters back to his shop, wondering if Little Celery had finished her final exams. She was probably busy with the exams and had not come over to his shop these last few days.

  The elves woke up and came to the first floor one after another.

  Old Time Tea switched on the electric blanket, turned on the television with the remote control to watch the morning news, where the announcer’s report on the fog alert and traffic conditions could vaguely be heard.

  Fina liked the strong sunshine and hated the dense fog which would wet its hair. It looked out the door and lazily jumped on the cat tree, having no interest in going out.

  Richard complained of the chilliness and flew wobbly from the second floor. It landed on Zhang Zian’s shoulder, yawned and yelled sleepily, “Quack! ‘Birdy, she’s not a bird; Hazy, she’s not a haze. She comes at midnight hour; She goes with starry rays. She comes like vernal dreams that cannot stay; She goes like morning clouds that melt away.’ Jeff, what did you realize from this poem?”


  Zhang Zian glared at it, “I realized that you haven’t woken up!”


  “Quack!” Richard looked around. “Jeff, the monkey has been here for several days. Why is it always staying on the second floor? Are you bullying it?”


  “You think I am like you? I wouldn’t bully anyone! Pi is writing a novel. Don’t you go to disturb it.” Zhang Zian was busy packing up things and warned this gray parrot who was a troublemaker.

  “Quack? Write a novel? A monkey wants to write a novel? I’m laughing my teeth off!” Richard shouted.

  “You don’t even have teeth; how can you laugh your teeth off?” Zhang Zian bluntly pointed out Richard’s faulty wording. “In addition, Pi is really writing a novel. A novel about the pet shop, about me and you guys.”


  “That’s true. I can testify.” Famous walked down the stairs and squatted beside Zhang Zian’s recliner.

  Fina sharply captured Zhang Zian’s sentence. “What? Do you mean that even I am included in the novel?”


  “Yes, according to Pi’s plan, everyone will be written in the novel. And everything that has happened in the pet shop from the autumn to the present.” explained Zhang Zian.

  “Have I debuted in the novel?” Fina asked with interest.

  “Not yet. At the moment, only Galaxy is written in the novel. You have to wait for a while.” he replied.

  Fina snorted dismissively. “I must be the most popular character in the novel.”


  “Quack! That means I must wait longer than Fina? Can I discuss with the monkey and ask it to introduce me in advance? Does it accept sex deals?” Richard asked a series of stupid questions.

  “This will not work, let’s not interfere with the creation of Pi, let it write according to its own ideas.” Zhang Zian thought for a moment and added, “When it almost finishes the novel and when I am free, I’ll read the story to everyone.”


  As he was speaking, the glass door was pushed open. Lu Yiyun, struck by moisture and chilliness, went into the shop.

  “Good morning, Mr. Store Manager. The fog was so dense outside that I almost lost my way!” she said as she took off her hat. She took Jasmine out of her backpack and let it play in the shop.

  “Aren’t you living in a community across the street? If you still got lost, you had no sense of direction at all…” Zhang Zian ridiculed her.

  After a while, Wang Qian and Li Kun came to the store one after another and yelled, “Master! We’ve passed the made-up exams! Wow! We can finally have fun! By the way, Master, is the dense fog a strategy set up by you?”


  “You are always having fun, aren’t you? Just go to work! Cut the nonsense!” Zhang Zian threw the brooms to them.

  The four of them performed their own duties cleaning up the shop before opening the shop and chatting with each other from time to time.

  “Good morning, Brother Store Manager!”


  With a clear, childish voice, Little Celery burst into the shop.

  “Hey, Little Celery, long time no see.” Zhang Zian set aside his work and smiled. “Have you finished your final exams?”


  Little Celery was still carrying the schoolbag that she normally carried, but judging from her movements, the schoolbag was obviously very light today. There seemed to be no books or anything in it.

  “Uh-huh!” She nodded. “I went back to school today, and the winter vacation will officially begin tomorrow!”


  “Ha-ha! Little Celery, our winter vacation has also begun. Let’s have fun together!” Wang Qian and Li Kun were beaming with joy. They were carefree after passing the make-up exams.

  “What the hell are you talking about?!” Zhang Zian glared at them and picked up the two cages contained with hamsters and handed them to Little Celery. “Little Celery, take these hamsters to your school and raise them with your classmates. I was worried about how I could deliver them to you…”


  “Wow! So many hamsters!”


  The eyes of Little Celery suddenly brightened up.

  “Oh, how much are these hamsters, Brother Store Manager?” as if she suddenly remembered something. Little Celery took out her wallet from her pocket. “My mother wouldn’t let me take anything from someone else for free…”


  “No need. These hamsters were sent to me by others. I transferred them to your school, not to you personally, so you don’t have to pay me.” Zhang Zian said generously.

  “Well… then I would like to thank you on behalf of my classmates!” Little Celery picked up the two cages with excitement. Eyes glowing, she kept observing the cages.

  Zhang Zian intended to remind her of the precautions of keeping the hamsters, but then he thought it would be better to let the kids find the problems and solve the problems on their own, which could better help them improve.