Pet King

The old lady was wearing plain and old clothes. She told them that she collected empty bottled outside every day. They didn’t know if she had other sources of income, but as she told her story, she seemed so peaceful, smiley, and cheerful. She didn’t feel ashamed of collecting bottles, nor did she feel inferior to anyone.

Ever since Chu Manhua was diagnosed with type I diabetes, quit her job, and broke up with her boyfriend, she felt as if her world had collapsed. Her life was dark and grey and without any hope; she had even given up on herself because of it. Yet, as she compared her life with the old lady who collected empty bottles each day under the scorching sun and freezing wind, she realized how fortunate she actually was.

At first, Chu Manhua felt sympathy towards the old lady. But later on, she realized that the old lady didn’t need anyone’s sympathy. She didn’t steal, rob, or beg. Instead, she fed herself with her hands and her hard work. Why should she feel ashamed of anything? How was she inferior to anyone else?

It was Chu Manhua herself who needed sympathy. She blamed the world for some small things, pitying herself for being diagnosed with diabetes at such a young age. If she switched places with the old lady, she might have died of self-pity. She could never be as optimistic and cheerful as the old lady was.

After telling the whole story, the old lady was a little out of breath.

Zhang Zian realized something and asked her, “All that to say… You came here to ask if this dog is sick?”

The old lady nodded. “I know it needs a vet if it’s sick, but pet clinics are quite expensive and I can’t afford it. I figured if you own a pet store, you might know what’s wrong with it. If it’s something minor, I’ll buy some meds and treat it. But if it’s something serious…”

She paused and said, “If it’s something serious, it’ll die if it stays with me. I’d better find its owner. If not, I’ll look for a social welfare agency that would take it and get it treated…”

As she spoke, she felt that what she mentioned was not easy to do. The dog had been with her for a long time, after all, and they had developed an affection for each other. She became used to having a living creature greeting her after she came home from bottle collecting. She was no longer alone at home.

However, if the treatment was delayed because of her selfishness, she would rather give it away to someone who could afford to treat it––the best one would be its old owner.

The Pomeranian laid quietly on the floor without moving or barking, not knowing it was about to say goodbye to its current owner.

Chu Manhua could not watch it any longer. She held her phone tightly and wanted to help by offering money to treat the little dog. She was not rich, but ever since she had been diagnosed with diabetes, she had looked at money differently.

Yet, she hesitated on activating her phone screen. First, she was not sure if the old lady’s phone was a smart phone, and if it could accept an e-transaction. Second, she didn’t know if she would hurt the old lady’s self-esteem, making her feel as if she was begging.

Zhang Zian said without hesitation, “Madam, you don’t need to waste your energy looking for its owner. It doesn’t have an owner at all. If my guessing is correct, it escaped from a breeding base a while ago.”

“What? Is that so… Then I should return it to the breeding base!” the old lady said in surprise.

Zhang Zian pointed at the mini poodle and said with a smile, “That breeding base is very immoral. They were very cruel to their pets. For example, they wanted to sell this mini poodle for a high price, so they starved it so that it wouldn’t grow too big.”

The old lady took a deep breath, shook her head, and sighed, “Cruel. So cruel… People nowadays…”

“Also, even if you want to return it, there’s nowhere to return it to. After they were exposed by the media, that breeding base went bankrupt. Even the ones in charge have run away. There were some pets left, but now they have been divided by the unpaid employees to make up for their unpaid salaries.” Zhang Zian added more information, so that the old lady would totally give up on the idea of returning the dog.

“Oh. I heard about this…” the male customer interrupted. “How come I never come across such good luck? I’ve been searching outside for free cats and dogs ever since I heard about it. But I was too late, and I didn’t even find a hair! I spent the whole night freezing for nothing!”

As she heard the dog didn’t have any owner to be returned to at all, the old lady was indeed relieved, but then she became more worried. If the treatment was expensive, would she have to send it to some social welfare agency that adopted pets?

As Zhang Zian spoke, he kept his eyes busy observing this Pomeranian. Although it was very quiet and obedient, he didn’t dare carry it up for observation. One should never touch a strange dog, unless one was absolutely sure. It was just common sense. Otherwise, one could not blame anyone if they got bitten.

As he confirmed that it really didn’t have any urge to bite, he stretched his hands carefully under its arm to hold it up and observe it carefully from all perspectives.

As he held the dog, his first impression was how skinny it was. Its body temperature was also higher than normal dogs––he could sense that without actually measuring its temperature. One could only develop such sensitivity by touching different dogs every day.

Small dogs had a higher body temperature than big dogs did, and big dogs had a higher one than humans. If he measured the Pomeranian’s body temperature by inserting a thermometer into its butthole, it might be as high as 39 to 40 degrees, which was slightly higher than normal.

In addition, the muscles in its four limbs seemed weaker than dogs of the same age. Of course, that might be a sign of malnutrition due to its poor appetite.

The old lady stared at the Pomeranian with her cloudy eyes. She wanted to know if Zhang Zian had found out anything, but she didn’t ask for fear of interrupting him.

It only took a two to three minute brief examination before Zhang Zian put the Pomeranian back to the floor gently. He said, “Don’t worry. You don’t need to send it to any welfare agency. It is sick indeed, but the treatment will be cheap. It won’t cost you a lot of money. All you need to do is take better care of it.”

The old lady breathed in a great sigh of relief as she heard his words. She asked him in surprise, “Well… What kind of illness does it have?”

“Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar,” Zhang Zian said firmly.

“What?”

“What?”

A few people uttered the word at the same time. They all looked at Chu Manhua. They were too familiar with the word “hypoglycemia,” as they still had a fresh memory of when Chu Manhua’s life was threatened by hypoglycemia, as if it had just happened yesterday.

Wang Qian’s mouth was open the widest. His eyeballs almost fell out.

Even Chu Manhua was shocked. She covered her mouth in disbelief. What a coincidence that the Pomeranian also had hypoglycemia!