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

  When Zhang Zian’s car—well, Sun Xiaomeng’s car—drove away, Famous and Old Time Tea left the corner they were hiding at and looked at the wall that was two or three hundred meters away.

  The streetlights in the suburbs weren’t as densely distributed as they were in urban areas. There was only one streetlight far away, and its dismal light could only light up the small area around it. This was better for their operation.

  Since the Lunar New Year was approaching, a string of firecrackers went off not too far away from where they were. When the firecracker sounds stopped, Old Time Tea and Famous secretly reached the wall.

  Old Time Tea turned its head. Its eyes were shining like a blazing fire underneath its bamboo hat. “Should I go first?”


  “Please,” said Famous.

  Old Time Tea climbed up the wall in a zigzag pattern, and in the blink of an eye, leapt to the top of the wall.

  Above the wall, there was a layer of barbed wire. The gap between the wall and the barbed wire was so small that if Old Time Tea tried to go under it, it would get hurt. Tapping the wall with its feet, Old Time Tea leapt up higher and landed on top of the iron stake used to hold the wire.

  Afraid that Famous couldn’t get up, Old Time Tea planned to stay there and watch how Famous managed.

  After estimating the height of the wall, Famous tensed all of its muscles like a spring, and leapt up. As if it was being carried by the mist and clouds, it easily jumped over the barbed wire above the wall and landed steadily on the other side.

  “What are you waiting for?” Famous turned back to look at Old Time Tea, who was still on the top of the iron stake.

  “Your strength is truly amazing!” said Old Time Tea admiringly. It glided down the wall as well.

  “Famous, you have a keen sense of smell, why don’t you lead the way?”


  Although Old Time Tea was confident in its sense of smell, it was inferior to Famous’s in this regard.

  The moment they landed within the wall, they’d already smelled a rancid stench in the air. Meowing and barking came from within the darkness not far off, pointing them in the direction of the breeding farm.

  They were currently in the office area, and nearby was the dormitory area, where the nonlocal employees lived. From inside the simple dorm building, the employees occasionally burst into laughter. The smell of hard liquor and cooked food filled the air.

  Old Time Tea and Famous moved through the shadows, carefully avoiding the staff walking by in their slippers. The area was filled with a strong smell of urine. The drunken men who didn’t have time to reach a toilet just unzipped their pants and peed against the wall. Some drunkards also placed their hands against the wall and vomited. Famous was extremely sensitive to smells, and found the mixed stench of alcohol and bile to be even more disgusting.

  Since Famous didn’t want to step on the nasty vomit or urine stains, Old Time Tea, who could see more clearly in the darkness, began to lead the way instead.

  After going through this area, they ran into an iron fence.

  A warning sign was hung up on the fence: Restricted area guarded by dangerous dogs. No trespassing.

  It was common for a large-scale pet breeding base to use larger dogs as guards. However, Famous and Old Time Tea ignored the warning. They effortlessly jumped over the iron fence and entered the main area of ??the breeding base.

  Following Zhang Zian’s instructions, Old Time Tea extended its claw to switch on the camera on Famous’s neck. The camera started recording.

  Under the dim moonlight, they could see that the farm’s setup was rather simple. The so-called breeding sites were made up of hard plastic ceilings and woven cloth, which looked like it could barely keep away the wind and rain. However, such simple equipment also meant that the company could maximize the farm’s usage.

  Since they couldn’t see what was happening beyond the woven cloth, Famous and Old Time Tea went into one of them, going under the gap between the cloth and the floor.

  This setup was for breeding Poodles—not Teacup Poodles, but ordinary Poodles. Rows of iron cages were arranged in an orderly manner. Famous and Old Time Tea immediately noticed that each cage contained at least two or three puppies, and some cages were even crammed with four or five puppies.

  At the sight of Famous and Old Time Tea, the puppies started barking uneasily.

  Going on ahead, they saw that the female adult Poodles served as the breeding dogs.

  “These people are so immoral!” Old Time Tea’s eyes widened in disbelief.

  The female dogs were lying in their cages lifelessly, not moving or barking. Occasionally, their eyes rolled, which was the only indication that they were still alive. They were extremely skinny. Though they weren’t old enough to be losing teeth, half of their teeth were gone, which was a sign that they were calcium deficient. Female dogs lost a lot of calcium during childbirth. If they didn’t get enough supplements, they’d become lethargic and their teeth would fall out easily.

  Clearly these female dogs were being treated as breeding machines. After giving birth to a litter of puppies, before they could recover their health, they had to immediately become pregnant again and breed another litter of puppies.

  Although the situation looked cruel, it couldn’t be used as evidence. Zhang Zian had expected such a situation and reminded Famous and Old Time Tea in advance that China hadn’t introduced the Small Animals Protection Law or the Anti Cruelty to Animals Law at that time. Just this couldn’t be used as a proof to overthrow the Love Lovely Pet Breeding Base.

  Famous felt deeply helpless, seeing these dogs suffer from such inhumane treatment.

  Clang!

  Not far off, wheels were bumping against the stairs. It sounded like somebody was coming their way.

  Having no time to express their sympathy to the female dogs, Famous and Old Time Tea quickly found a place to hide, and extended their heads from under the cloth to secretly watch.

  A worker who seemed to be a cook was in a dirty apron, pushing a messy dining cart in their direction.

  “Zheng!” another younger employee, who was carrying a plastic bag, called Zheng from behind.

  Zheng stopped walking. “What?”


  The younger employee walked over to the dining cart and looked inside. “It’s plain porridge again.”


  “Are you blind? There are obviously a few chicken heads in it too!” said Zheng rudely.

  The younger employee smiled. “I’m in a good mood today. I’ll go give some meat to the dogs!” He dumped the plastic bag’s contents onto the dining cart.

  “What are they?” asked Zheng.

  “The chicken bones and duck bones my friends left,” The younger employee said drunkenly.

  Zheng cursed him. “You bastard. Don’t throw them in the porridge! The bones could choke the dogs to death!”


  “No way. Zheng, if you’re worried, you can pick the bones out. I’m going to sleep for a while.” The younger employee staggered away.

  “F**k!” Zheng looked at the porridge with disgust. “It’s none of my business anyway. I don’t get commissioned when the breeding base sells more dogs.”


  He pushed the dining cart into the shed, scooped up the porridge with a large spoon, and poured it into the food bowl in each iron cage. His hands were shaking and at least half of the porridge spilled outside of the bowl.

  The Poodle puppies frantically rushed over to eat the porridge. They even licked up the porridge that was on the ground. They were like the hungry Tibetan Mastiffs from Tibetan areas.

  Famous felt sorry for the puppies. They were still growing up and needed nutrition. Obviously, a bucket of porridge with several chicken bones and a few slices of rotten vegetables wasn’t enough.

  When Zheng pushed the cart over to the female dogs, the bucket was empty.

  Facing the hungry dogs, Zheng knocked on the empty bucket with a long spoon. “There’s no more.”