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

  It was Zhang Zian’s idea to do the month trial instead of the security deposit. There were a lot of people who were rich and thought that money solved everything. Even if they had a house, a high income, and were willing to pay the security deposit, how would that prove that they loved animals? On the other hand, there were people who lived in apartments with no stable income, unable to feed their pets high-quality food, but still treated them as a family member. So, if there was a pet available for adoption, would the former be better or worse?

  Money has never been a standard of measuring love for pets.

  A month of volunteer work, visiting the store twice a day, spending at least 60 hours taking care of the seven cats is no easy task. If the person stuck it out the whole month, it showed that he or she had patience. It also was a way to mentally prepare for their own adopted pet.

  Just as Ting Ting and Zhuang were ready to accept the three conditions, they were interrupted by outside noises.

  The noises came from the north and it looked like a large number of people were running. There were cars honking and dogs barking.

  “What happened? Was there a fire?”


  Everyone in the bar stared at one another, looking puzzled. Everyone set down their utensils and left the bar to have a look.

  Whoosh!

  A black figure flashed pass everyone’s eyes.

  As it was too dark outside, no one was able to clearly see what the figure, but they thought that it might’ve been a cat.

  A few more black figures sped past. This time, someone raised his phone and took a picture. Most of the figures were different breeds of kittens and puppies, all around three months old. There were the occasional adult cats and dogs spotted, but all of them were superior breeds.

  “My God! What happened? Which pet store did these pets escape from?”


  Discussions could be heard, everyone was making all kind of guesses.

  Zhang Zian knew that it wasn’t possible for a pet store to have such a large number of animals. It must be from some large-scale breeding base.

  While everyone’s attention was on the animals zipping down the street, Zhang Zian caught sight of a black shadow before a small pebble was thrown at his feet.

  He raised his head to look, and on a roof nearby, Famous looked like it had just run a marathon. Old Time Tea was on its back next to two small dogs, but because he was so far, Zhang Zian couldn’t see clearly.

  Zhang Zian stood there for awhile, and with another look at the animals running down the street, he could guess what had happened. Old Time Tea and Famous must’ve found evidence of Love Lovely Pets’ illegal doings and couldn’t stand them getting away with it, so they decided to wreak some havoc and let the animals out.

  Zhang Zian didn’t make any noise, he just frowned and started to think of what to do.

  The whole situation was a mess. Seeing that the animals were by themselves, some pedestrians tried to bring them home. Some of the young people from the bar were also interested, but were too embarrassed to join in since it was wrong.

  The ones who were scrambling for the pets were older, so their legs weren’t as good as they used to be.

  Across the street, two kittens underneath the street lights. One was a Siamese cat and the other was a foreign shorthair cat, also known as a Garfield cat.

  Right beside Zhang Zian and the others, a figure moved towards the kittens, seemingly trying to catch them.

  Everyone fixed their gaze on the figure, it was the self-righteous girl.

  The cars honking made the kittens scurry off in two different directions. The Siamese kitten went south, while the Shorthair went west.

  Since they were only kittens, they weren’t able to run fast. There was a chance that they’d be caught.

  The self-righteous girl hesitated for a moment before going for the Shorthair. It took only a moment before she had the Garfield in her arms.

  Zhang Zian laughed. “Looks like even a real pet lover knows which breed is more expensive.”


  Everyone burst out in laughter.

  The self-righteous girl heard the laughter, and turned around to glare at them before flaunting the kitten in her arms.

  A pickup truck drove towards them, the people inside all wearing uniforms. The Love Lovely Pets logo was painted on the truck as well as on their uniforms.

  The person next to the driver held up a bullhorn and shouted, “Dear all, I beg you to please return the animals to us! Due to the negligence of company staff, some animals have escaped our breeding base. We have employees that are depending on the sales of the animals so that they can go home and celebrate the New Year. Please, don’t let us go home empty handed, we have families to feed!”


  When they noticed someone holding a dog or cat, the staff would stop them, half pleading and half pressuring them to return the animals.

  Some were polite and returned the animals as soon as they heard their plea, while some were reluctant. There were also those that insisted that the animals were theirs to keep.

  The self-righteous girl took a few steps forward before she saw the truck coming towards her, then she quickly turned into an alley with the kitten in her arms.

  As the truck passed Zhang Zian and the others, the plump young lady gave a wicked grin, raised her hand and shouted, “Someone over there has one of your cats!” She pointed towards the self-righteous girl.

  The girl was hiding in the shadows of the alley, and had planned to hide there until the truck left. If it wasn’t for the lady who gave her away, the staff of Love Lovely Pets might not have found her.

  She was so mad her face turned white. She looked like she wanted to pounce on the lady.

  With distance between them, the plump lady wasn’t afraid, so she gave the girl a smug grin. Even if they were face to face, the plump young lady was still a better bet than the self-righteous girl, she’d never be on the losing end.

  “The cat in your arms is ours, right? Please, return it to us.” The Love Lovely Pets employee had the impression that the self-righteous girl might be a student, so he hopped out the truck and ran towards her.

  The girl wanted to run away with the cat, but she was stopped by a group of men surrounding her.

  “Please, give us back our cat.” The employee stretched out his hand.

  “No! This is my cat, why should I give it to you!” the girl exclaimed.

  The staff pointed at the plump lady, “She’s a witness who saw you pick up this cat.”


  The lady waved from where she stood, a distance away.

  With a witness there, the self-righteous girl wasn’t able to deny the accusation, yet she still said, “All you cold-hearted merchants in the pet breeding industry aren’t true pet lovers, you don’t have the right to own this cat. It’ll have a better life with me!”


  The staff from Love Lovely Pets were stunned. They’ve seen unreasonable people, but not one quite like this.

  Zhang Zian and the others were already used to it. The girl was unbelievable.

  “If you refuse to return the cat to us, we’re going to call the police!”


  “You guys are too much! Yes, I picked up this cat, but who can prove that it belongs to you?” the girl quickly responded.

  Everyone who heard her thought she had a point. Why should they return the animals? Where was the proof that the animals belonged to Love Lovely Pets?

  “The cat is ours, it came from our breeding base. If you refuse to give it back to us, we’ll expose you on WeChat!” The worker raised his phone and pointed the camera at her face.

  “Take my picture if you want, I’m not afraid. I’ll expose you on WeChat, too!” The girl refused to be outdone, so she took out her phone to take pictures of them. “You cold-hearted merchants, you’ll suffer the wrath of true pet lovers!”


  Zhang Zian shook his head as he gave Famous and Old Time Tea a signal with his eyes, telling them to head back to the store, he’d be there soon.

  Zhang Zian wasn’t the slightest bit interested in the dispute that would surely come.