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

  Zhang Zian’s statement made every customer put down their chopsticks and cat toys, and stare at him in disbelief.

  Although the self-righteous girl’s speech disgusted everybody, and Xiao Zhuang’s ridiculous story caused everyone not to know whether to laugh or cry, they still believed that they were just individual cases. What the young lady and the Agency A and B did was kind of extreme, but at least they started off with good intentions. However, Zhang Zian’s brief comment made them rethink their judgement.

  “No way! True pet-lovers like us aren’t capable of that!” The self-righteous girl hit the table and stood up eagerly, almost crying in her anger.

  Zhang Zian gently smiled. He knew that being the loudest didn’t make someone right, and that people still had their own judgments. Everybody there were adults with a normal IQ, and didn’t need an elaborated speech to understand everything.

  Xiao Zhuang realized something. “A corrupted pet adoption business? No wonder! Something I couldn’t understand earlier makes sense now. I told the guy in charge of Agency B that I understood why they designated brands. But why did they have to designate the place to buy them? Couldn’t I buy them at other places where they’re cheaper? The guy’s reasoning was that the cat food from the designated distributor was the authentic product from overseas, whereas the food sold in other places was counterfeit. He even took out two empty packages and explained how to tell the difference between the real and fake. He claimed that one of them was counterfeit from another distributor, and made some adopted cats sick or die. I can’t believe that I was fooled by this mother f*cker!”


  Another male customer interrupted. “I’m guessing that the property ownership paper and the income statement was to prove that you were capable of paying for the expensive cat food on a long-term basis. He emphasized repeatedly how pathetic that stray cat was in order to arouse your sympathy, and to make you a willing victim. Was the cat really a stray cat like he claimed? Who can prove it? If they ask the adopter to provide all sorts of paperwork, it would only be reasonable to ask them to provide proof that the cat was stray, right?”


  The self-righteous girl was in tears, and said emotionally, “How do they prove that? The agency must have rescued it as soon as they saw it outside. Do they record a video beforehand to prove it?”


  The male customer smirked. Apparently he didn’t believe her.

  Everybody thought that his request to provide proof wasn’t realistic. However, since the self-righteous girl had offended almost everybody there, nobody was willing to speak up for her.

  Two girls who looked like university students were eating together in a corner. They hadn’t gotten involved in the argument earlier between Zhang Zian and the self-righteous girl. But one of them could not help interrupting. “Speaking of cat food…”


  Everyone turned to look at her.

  She blushed slightly. “When it was snowing a while ago, there were often dozens of stray cats gathering around the hot water pipe under our residence building. The girls in our dorm felt sorry for them, so we all contributed 20 to 30 RMB and bought a bag of cat food made in China to feed them. They ate it happily. At least they didn’t starve, right?”


  Everybody nodded.

  “But one day, when it was my turn, I was feeding the cats the cat food we bought. A student that I didn’t know passed by. She gave me sh*t right to my face, accusing me of being irresponsible, and asking why was I feeding it crappy domestic cat food, instead of the Yearning 6 Fish brand,” she explained. “But we were just poor students. My roommates come from the poor countryside and none of us are rich. We can’t possibly feed dozens of stray cats expensive imported cat food.”


  Her friend with her frowned. “Why haven’t you mentioned it before?”


  She shook her head and smiled bitterly. “Why should I have said anything just to make everybody upset?”


  Her friend sighed. “One day it my turn to feed the cats. I saw someone too, but I’m not sure if it was the same person. She saw me feeding the cats. First, she accused me of using domestic cat food. Then she accused me of feeding stray cats and causing an ecological imbalance. And then she accused me for not neutering them.”


  She looked sad as she spoke, but everyone couldn’t help but laugh. It was just too ridiculous.

  Zhang Zian said, “We can say whatever we want. But if I can’t give any real life examples, you might think that I’m talking my way out of this. That’s fine. Just search the words ‘pet rescue business chain’ yourselves. The first few results will surprise you.”


  Everybody had a smartphone, and opened up their browser one by one to search the words Zhang Zian mentioned.

  Shocking search results popped up on their phone screens. The so-called largest pet rescue organization turns out to be a scam taking advantage of kindness.

  This article mentioned a Weibo account from a well-known pet rescue website in Shanghai, which was certified and had nearly 20,000 followers. They had a lot of pictures of cats and dogs, and each post was calling for people to adopt hundreds of stray cats and dogs. They also organized charity events for cat and dog food. There were even photos of the rescued animals and their adopters. It looked very legitimate and popular.

  But in reality, the organization was using pet rescue as a disguise, and secretly carrying out inhumane deals. The adoption itself was free, but the adopters had to pay a large sponsorship fee, which was claimed to be used to rescue more dogs. Many people paid the fee out of kindness and support. But the pets they adopted were dead within a week.

  Up until then, many people were still being tricked by posts from this website. It was a terrible experience for the real and loving rescuers.

  When the scammed adopters went back, they were told that they signed an adoption agreement, not a sales contract. At the end of the day, animal adoption and rescue had not yet been legalized in the country. Nothing could be done, even if they called the police.

  The article was eyeopening to everybody there.

  Xiao Zhuang sighed. “I guess Agency B is similar to this one. The adoption agreement of Agency B said that the signature agrees that the adopter has accepted the terms above, and will pay a security deposit of 6800 RMB. As soon as they break the terms, not only will the pet be taken back, but so will the security deposit.”


  “A security deposit of 6800 RMB? Why not just rob me instead?”


  Everybody was discussing the shocking number. The terms of adoption were so rigorous at Agency B, it was almost impossible not to violate them, like for the sudden house visits. Everybody went out to visit friends or travel sometimes. If a house visit occured when they happened to be out, the 6800 RMB would be taken away?

  Zhang Zian said, “Maybe this is a special case. I believe that most adoption agencies are legitimate. But you still need to pay close attention and check them out. Don’t let anyone take advantage of your kindness. As for the ID and income statement, I still support adoption. I’m not joking. But everything must be done without compromising the citizens’ privacy and the right to information.”