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

  The fireworks lasted for a fleeting moment.

  Wang Qian and Li Kun had purchased a number of fireworks with the scholarship money they received, but it still wasn’t enough. Everyone was left wanting more.

  Fireworks were so beautiful, even with more money, it wouldn’t have been enough.

  They used the car’s headlights as a light source, but they didn’t want to keep them on for too long because the batteries would die and the car wouldn’t start.

  “That’s it? No more?” Snowy Lionet disappointingly pawed at the plastic bag that contained the fireworks. “I’ve said it before, poor, stingy men aren’t dependable.”


  Richard sat on Zhang Zian’s shoulder and screeched, “Pi, it’s all your fault! We all set off the fireworks one by one, you were the only one who set off two at once.”


  “Zhi zhi.” Pi shrunk its neck. It had so much fun earlier, each hand waved around a sparkler. Richard was jealous, and hated the fact that it wasn’t born with two beaks or else he could’ve done the same.

  Thankfully it didn’t grow two beaks, one was already unbearably noisy.

  It was no fun to bully Pi since it couldn’t argue back. It flew back to Zhang Zian and used its wings to pat his head.”Ga! Did you see what I wrote in the air earlier?”


  Zhang Zian didn’t fall into his trap. “Didn’t see anything.”


  “Ga! Forget it. Let’s go back. I’m about to turn into an ice sculpture.” Richard usually wouldn’t have let Zhang Zian off so easily, but its wings were almost frozen. It dived into Zhang Zian’s hoodie, and quickly wrapped itself.

  Zhang Zian grabbed the iron bucket, and threw the water on the firework remains to extinguish any lingering sparks. He put the bucket back in the trunk while the elfins made their way into the car.

  “It’s cold! Quick, turn on the air-conditioner thing!” Fina leapt into the front seat, and used its paws to fiddle with the vents, but no warm air came out.

  Zhang Zian started the engine. “Just wait…” He paused when he noticed a white and green stain on the windshield.

  Richard cried, “What blind bird actually pooped on the car? If I ever meet that bird, I’ll make it regret it ever messed with us!”


  “What kind of bird poops on a car in the middle of the night?” Zhang Zian asked.

  “Well, there’s quite a few! There’s owls, Night Herons, bats, basically every nocturnal bird. Speaking of, I think I saw a Night Heron flying above us earlier, that must be it!” Richard looked in all directions. “Let me think, which direction did it fly in.” It widened its eyes, as if it could see something in the dark.

  It was too serious, an extreme contrast to how it usually was, it made Zhang Zian certain that it was Richard’s bird waste.

  “First of all, bats aren’t birds. Second of all, since when does Binhai city have Night Herons? Why haven’t I seen them before?” Zhang Zian asked coldly.

  Richard stared at the night sky, and tried to think of an excuse. Zhang Zian grabbed its neck, threw it into the bucket, and placed it upside-down in the trunk next to Famous.

  “Ga! You b*stard!” Richard pecked at the bucket. “What evidence do you have that it was me? Do you know that this is illegal imprisonment? Read me my bird rights. I’m going to the General Assembly of the United Nation for Bird Rights to sue you, and you’re going to be in so much trouble! This is an international incident, a diplomatic dispute, are you aware of that?”


  Zhang Zian closed the trunk and wiped the bird waste from the windshield before he returned to the driver’s seat. As he drove back to the city, he thanked God he didn’t use the windshield wipers or the entire front windshield would be dirty.

  It was a little more than a hour since they left the police dog nursing home, so it was almost 8 pm. Ning Lan and her classmates had also left the nursing home, they might even be home already.

  He turned on the AC, and as the temperature rose, Fina complained less.

  “New year rings amidst the firecrackers bellow, warm in cottages as the spring wind blows,” Old Time Tea sang as it looked at the road and listened to the firecrackers.

  Zhang Zian smiled. “Old Time Tea, now isn’t the best time. Wait until midnight, that’s the best time for fireworks. Last time, it was so loud you couldn’t even hear the TV.”


  Usually, the second it hit 8 pm on New Year’s Eve, families sat together in front of the TV to watch the New Year’s Gala on the CCTV channel. However, with the advancement of technology, New Year’s Eve was no longer as significant as it used to be. Teenagers now were often seen by the road in groups, enjoying nightlife.

  Zhang Zian parked the car right outside the pet store, turned off the engine, and got out the car. He took down the piece of paper that he had previously stuck on the doors before he opened it to let the elfins in the store. After he locked the car and closed the doors, he realized he forgot Richard. He went back out and brought in the bucket, or else Richard would’ve froze to death.

  The doors and windows of the store were shut all day, so even though the heat wasn’t on, the temperature inside was much warmer than outside.

  Fina was the first to run in the store, and it flung two heat pads at Zhang Zian’s feet, which was her way of asking him to stuff them into the cat tree for her.

  Pi quickly ran to the second floor.

  Richard, who escaped the bucket, started to verbally attack Zhang Zian.

  Old Time Tea eagerly turned on the TV. It had heard that everyone in the country would be watching the New Year’s Gala, so, in order to experience a modern New Year’s, it wanted to watch as well.

  Famous yawned and laid beside the reclining chair

  Galaxy, on the other hand, started a new game of hide-and-seek with his little kitten companions.

  Snowy Lionet remembered the beef minced filling in the dumplings, and clung to Zhang Zian’s pants as it cried out for a taste.

  Zhang Zian stuffed the heat pads into Fina’s tree before he went upstairs to boil water for tea. He also took out a raw beef brisket from the fridge to distract Snowy Lionet and some nuts to shut Richard up. Only once everything was done, did he stop to take a breather.

  It didn’t last long though, as he poured a cup of tea for Old Time Tea and a cup for himself before he made his way to the second floor.

  Pi was already in front of the computer.

  Zhang Zian knew that even though Pi had a lot of fun today, it still got lost in thought and worried about its novel.

  He had confidence in Pi’s novel because he saw users on the Wang Haige Forum who were jealous about the novel, so he wasn’t worried.

  “Pi, what’s going on?” Zhang Zian looked at the time. It had only been 20 hours since the novel went premium, there shouldn’t have been any substantial changes.

  “Zhi zhi…” Pi had opened the platform, but its eyes were covered. It pointed at the screen, so that Zhang Zian would look at the results.

  Zhang Zian couldn’t help but laugh, Pi acted as if it was opening a letter that said whether or not it got into college. “Okay, let me take a look.”


  Zhang Zian sat down and looked at the screen with confidence.

  Zhang Zian almost spilled his tea when he saw the number of adds. What is going on? Why are the results so bad? Only 1,000 people subscribed?

  Zhang Zian didn’t know why the results were so much worse than expected.

  “Zhi zhi?” Pi noticed Zian’s surprised expression and became even more nervous.

  Zhang Zian set his teacup down and took another look. “Pi, hold on. 1, 2, 3…4?”


  He had missed a zero? There were actually 4 zeroes?

  Holy cow! This can’t be real!

  Zhang Zian’s first thought was that he had counted wrong or there was some error with the site because it wasn’t possible to have four zeroes.

  He rubbed his eyes, refreshed the page, and counted again.

  It still had 4 zeroes.

  Zhang Zian had thought that if 3,000 people subscribed to Pi’s novel, it would be a dream come true. The novel would have been added to the Hall of Fame to be remembered forever. The actual results were jaw-dropping.

  Zhang Zian straightened his face.”Pi, I need you to do something for me”


  “Zhi zhi?” Pi had a bad feeling and its face turned pale.

  Zhang Zian grabbed a blank book and a pen, and handed them to Pi. “You’ll have a lot of fans in the future. As your first fan, can I have your autograph?”


  Pi blinked, completely at a loss.

  Zhang Zian burst out laughing and held onto Pi’s shoulders, “Congratulations, Pi! There are 10,000 people who subscribed to your novel. 10,000 people!”


  Pi turned its head, saw the five-figure number on the screen, and froze like a statue.