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

  Outside the kennel, Snowy Lionet was rubbing itself, while Richard was telling the guys dirty jokes, making them too stunned to speak. Pi was having fun swinging among all the agility equipment. Galaxy was going back and forth in the tunnel, as if it was running in a maze. Fina didn’t like the crowd, so it jumped on top of the car and watched over everyone.

  While feeding the dogs, Ning Lan asked curiously, “Store Manager Zhang, your parrot talks really well. Did you train it?”


  “Sort of. It mostly depends on the parrot’s own talent. It doesn’t have much to do with the trainer,” Zhang Zian answered cautiously. He didn’t want to have to train another parrot to talk.

  “I think the monkey is adorable. I want one.” A guy wearing glasses stared out the window at Pi, while pushing the food cart.

  “Don’t get one,” Zhang Zian said. “You have to be qualified to raise a primate. Besides, the monkey doesn’t belong to me, I’m just holding it for someone.”


  “Oh.” The guy wearing glasses was disappointed.

  Zhang Zian noticed that some cages contained different dogs than last time, and that some of the cages that were empty before, were now occupied. He remembered the police dog in Cage #3 was very old and had lost most of its teeth. It had to eat soft dog food pellets, instead of meat or vegetable stew.

  It was lying on its side, eyes slightly open.

  Obviously, Ning Lan and the guy wearing glasses were used to seeing it like that because they skipped its cage when they were feeding the dogs. They fed X in Cage #4, and planned to feed the other dogs before going back to Cage #3.

  Despite having lost half of its back leg and being covered in bullet scratches, X was still strong, and was chewing the food hungrily.

  Famous’ nose was more sensitive than a human’s. It seemed to have sniffed something unusual. The scent was very weak, but Famous was able to catch it.

  It sniffed Cage #3 again, then ran to Zhang Zian and pulled on his pants. It whispered, “The dog in Cage #3 is dead.”


  Zhang Zian was stunned. He looked towards Cage #3, then stopped Fu Tao. “Master Fu, there’s something wrong with the dog in Cage #3. I think it’s dead.”


  He remembered that last time, the dog didn’t have much of an appetite, and he thought that the dog wouldn’t survive very long.

  Fu Tao frowned and looked at Ning Lan and the other guy. “It can’t be. It was fine this morning, right?”


  The kids looked puzzled, thinking that Zhang Zian was mistaken. “Yes, we fed it this morning, it ate more than usual. It was energetic today, it even licked my hands.”


  Fu Tao frowned even harder. “It ate more than usual and licked your hands?”


  Ning Lan nodded.

  Fu Tao figured it out, it was terminal lucidity.

  He opened Cage #3 and squatted down to press on the old dog’s chest.

  Ning Lan and the guy wearing glasses held their breath.

  After a moment, Fu Tao stood up and sighed. “It’s gone. It didn’t survive the Chinese New Year.”


  Ning Lan blamed herself. “I’m sorry. I didn’t notice that there was something with it. I should’ve paid more attention.”


  Fu Tao waved his hand, a signal for her to stop talking, then turned around and walked out of the kennel.

  Ning Lan thought that Fu Tao was angry, which made her blame herself even more.

  “You can’t beat yourself up. Aging, illness, and death are inevitable. There are so many dogs here, you can’t watch over each one.” Zhang Zian comforted Ning Lan. “Besides, this dog died naturally. Look at its face, it’s peaceful. It was able to lick your hands to say goodbye and die among friends.”


  Ning Lan was still upset. “If I noticed earlier, maybe I could’ve stayed with it.”


  “You’re wrong. Don’t forget that it was a police dog, it wouldn’t have wanted others to watch it die. It would’ve wanted to die with dignity, and it did,” Zhang Zian explained.

  Fu Tao came back in, pushing a wheelbarrow with a shovel inside. He picked up the dog and placed it in the wheelbarrow.

  “When the dumplings are ready, you guys can go without me. I’m going up the mountain to bury the dog,” he said quickly, and started to leave again.

  “Wait!” Zhang Zian took the bouquet of carnations out of the vase, shook off the water, and laid it next to the police dog’s body. “I’ll help you.”


  “Me too!” Ning Lan volunteered.

  “Me three!” The guy followed.

  “You guys stay here and clean Cage #3 to make some room. We may have new police dogs come in after the Spring Festival.” Fu Tao covered the dog’s body with plastic, then pushed the wheelbarrow out of the kennel.

  Zhang Zian whispered to the kids, “Don’t tell your classmates about this, it’ll ruin the festive atmosphere.”


  They nodded in agreement, and Zhang Zian hurried off.

  In the yard, some girls were still playing with the cats.

  “Master Fu, the dumplings are almost ready. Where are you going?” a girl asked after seeing Fu Tao leave with a wheel barrel.

  Fu Tao wasn’t good at lying, so Zhang Zian answered, “We’re going to move some stuff, we’ll be back in a minute. You guys can start eating without us.”


  As he spoke, he snapped his fingers to summon the elfins.

  Fina was tired of the noisy students, and gladly jumped off the car roof. Snowy Lionet saw Fina leave, and escaped the girls’ arms to follow Fina.

  Galaxy and Pi also left what they were doing and ran towards Zhang Zian.

  Richard flew to Zhang Zian. “Quack! I’m freezing. Are we leaving?”


  Zhang Zian shook his head. “Not yet, we need to head to the mountain first.”


  “Quack! Mountain? What for?” Richard rolled its eyes, and said mischievously, “When brothers carry dogwood up the mountain, each of them should have a branch, and my branch is missing.”


  Zhang Zian gave Richard a threatening look, and it shut up.