Pet King

Zhang Zian stood next to Sihwa and listened for a while. He saw that she was slowly coming out from being shy and immersing herself in the study of Pinyin, and he was worried that standing there would distract her. He quietly went out of the bathroom and shut the bathroom door on the way out.

“Pi, I’m sorry. She’s studying inside there, and it’ll disturb you, right?” Zian apologetically asked Pi.

“Zhi zhi.” Pi smiled and pointed to the keyboard, meaning to say that it doesn’t matter. If anything, the sound of its typing would affect her.

Zhang Zian stood behind Pi and watched it work on its novel for a while, then asked if it had encountered any problems in its recent writing process. After getting an answer that everything was all right, he was relieved and went back downstairs.

When Zian came down to the first floor and walked past Old Time Tea, Old Time Tea’s eyes moved from the television screen, and it looked upstairs as if it was enjoying something. It then said, “So good to hear the sound of people reciting again. Hope that she’s able to persevere.”

Old Time Tea then pointed at the television screen for Zian to look.

The local news was being broadcasted on the television. The anchorwoman smiled and said, “Everyone knows that there’s a celebrity in the city. The dog he trained has won the title of the best actor in the Berlin Film Festival—but did you know? He’s also a good, young man who supports charity and is passionate about public welfare. Please see the detailed report below.”

The scene on the television changed.

What appeared next was actually the picture of when Eddie Lewis came to the pet shop, and in the lower right corner of the screen, there was a “Global Entertainment” watermark. If one just listened to the name, it sounded like some heavyweight media company.

Under the introduction of the voice-over, the female journalist who made things difficult for Zhang Zian under the claim of a suspected donation fraud became a journalist who seemed to have received some exclusive news and went down to witness the arrival of the Matthew Davis Cancer Research Foundation. They didn’t mention anything about her questioning Zhang Zian before that. The video clip was well edited, and if Zhang Zian himself wasn’t present in the scene, he would have believed that she was a good, compassionate journalist with keen instinct.

In the video, Eddie Lewis talked about the process of Zhang Zian making the donation under an impersonation, and the female journalist was moved to tears. It was obviously retaken afterward, but after the editing, it looked as if she was crying at the scene.

Zhang Zian watched and shook his head again and again. The media journalists were really able to do whatever they wanted. The female journalist had finally concocted the big news she had wanted; she would most likely become famous after this.

However, she did at least show the sign of the Amazing Fate Pet Shop, so Zian would just pretend that he had done an advertisement.

After the end of the interview, the scene returned back to the studio.

The anchorwoman smiled and said, “When you read this news, do you feel excited? Do you want to know more about this new celebrity in the city and his best actor dog? Tonight, this station will bring you the exclusive special report from Journalist Liu Ying, titled: ‘Decisive Battle of Berlin: Zhang Zian and Famous’s Road to the Best Actor’! In the program, there will be behind the scenes from Dog Warrior fully presented in front of you, and everyone is welcome to watch it! In other news, there have been constant sightings of whales off the shore of the city. Experts from the capital have come over to the city to investigate the situation of these whales…”

Zhang Zian was about to point out that his photo on the cover was not handsome enough, but Famous looked really cool when he saw a car parked on the side of the road outside of the pet shop.

The engine was not turned off, the window was down, and Sun Xiaomeng waved her hands to call him over.

Old Time Tea continued to watch the news. Zhang Zian hurried out of the shop.

“What is it?” Zian passed on all the formalities and asked her immediately.

Sun Xiaomeng handed him a box.

“What’s this? A present for me? Is today a special day?” Zhang Zian asked. “We’re already so close, you don’t have to be like this…”

“Continue dreaming!” She rolled her eyes. “It’s the ashes of that cat. I just brought it back from the pet burial service provider.”

“Oh…” Only then did Zhang Zian know what was going on.

The box in his hand was unexpectedly light. No matter how big or heavy it was when it was still alive, it was unbelievably light after it was turned into ashes.

It was not his first time holding ashes in his arms. Because it was only a cremation grade worth 200 bucks, the urn that came along with it was not of a high grade. It felt cheap, just like a gray-black plastic box.

Sun Xiaomeng did not say anything more. She just handed over a piece of paper related to the cremation certificate.

“I don’t know the cat owner’s home, so I can only bring it to you,” she said. “You can call the cat owner and ask her to come and pick it up.”

Zhang Zian nodded. “Okay, thank you.”

“I still have something to do, so I’ll take my leave.” She waved her hand and drove away without rolling up her window. After all, it was already spring.

It was not Sun Xiaomeng’s first time euthanizing a pet, nor was it the first time she brought back the ashes. If possible, she didn’t want to face the sad eyes of the pet owner.

Zhang Zian returned to the pet shop with the urn. Wang Qian came up and stared at the urn curiously. He asked, “Master, what nice food is this?”

“Food? This is the ashes of Liu Wenying’s cat,” Zhang Zian said.

Wang Qian stuck out his tongue and quickly slipped back to work.

“Hmph. Would have been better off becoming a mummy,” Fina opened her eyes a little and muttered to herself before it shut its eyes and continued its nap.

Zhang Zian did not continue the conversation with it. He first tried to contact Liu Wenying over WeChat, but after sending a few messages, there was no reply. So he instructed, “Xiao Yun, help me find Liu Wenying’s contact number.”

Lu Yiyun accessed the customer’s folder on her computer and recited out Liu Wenying’s contact number.

Just then, Li Kun rushed in from the aquarium next door. He said: “Master! There’s a customer who’s interested in the fish that Welder Zhao had reserved. He’s planning on buying it. Are we still keeping it for Welder Zhao? It’s already been a few days, and he hasn’t come to collect it yet…”

Zhang Zian was at a loss for what to do.

Indeed, the opening of the aquarium was a few days ago. Welder Zhao had mentioned that he’d be back in just a few days to say whether or not he was going to buy them, but he hadn’t been back yet.

Such customers were not uncommon. In fact, Zhang Zian had already waited for a few days, which was already more than necessary. There was no need to keep it and delay his business any longer.

He also had Welder Zhao’s WeChat, so he sent a message to inquire, but strangely, just like Liu Wenying, Welder Zhao did not respond either.

Liu Wenying lost her loved cat and was facing the potential threat of rabies. So it was understandable if she did not reply, but what about Welder Zhao?

After giving it some thought, he changed his plans and said, “Xiao Yun, find me the address for both Liu Wenying and Welder Zhao. Since there’s nothing going on now, I’ll head over personally.”

Lu Yiyun found the two addresses and sent it to Zian’s phone.