Pet King

As soon as the Pomeranian had entered, Zhang Zian had noticed the brown tear marks under its eyes, as well as its brown nose. As he rubbed it in secret while holding it, he realized it was not artificial color. He had an idea about what was going on.

“This is caused by a calcium deficiency,” he said with confidence. “This elderly lady barely takes it outside. Pomeranians don’t need much exercise, so it would have been fine, but going outside isn’t just for exercise. Dogs also get Vitamin D from the sun, and Vitamin D is related to calcium absorption. If a Pomeranian has a calcium deficiency, then these marks will appear. As long as it gets enough sunlight, the brown tear marks will disappear naturally. Its nose will also turn black again.”

Everything depended on the sun to grow––it was a universal truth, especially for humans and animals undergoing growth. They all needed some sunlight to help with calcium absorption.

Walking the dog outside was not only to give the dog enough exercise––it was also an important way to get enough sunlight and, thus, calcium.

As for cats, they didn’t go outside a lot, but cats often searched for sunny spots at home and stayed there, so that their hair would produce Vitamin D under the sun. They would ingest the calcium when they licked their hair. Therefore, a calcium deficiency in cats was rare. Zhang Zian had made sure that the kittens in the delivery room upstairs were getting enough sunlight to avoid problems in growth and development.

As the others heard his explanation, they were all happy for the old lady––even the young male customer was cool about it. After all, it was normal that pet owners didn’t know as much as a pet shop owner.

The old lady was very calm. It made no difference to her whether the dog was a purebred Pomeranian or a mutt as long as it was safe and healthy. She remembered the advice of getting more sunlight, and planned to walk it outside when she had free time at home. She also planned to move its nest to a sunny spot in the house.

“Okay, great. Thank you so much, young man. This trip was worthwhile.” The old lady pressed her cane against the floor, and tried to stand up shakily.

Zhang Zian didn’t do anything. Chu Manhua, who was the closest one to the old lady, was the first to help her stand––even Wang Qian’s arm moved a little, but then he withdrew it in shyness.

After their conversation, they had already knew what kind of person the old lady was. She was independent and self-reliant, and accepted no charity. She would not even take a stray dog for free. How could she rip off other people?

Lu Yiyun put the nutrition cream inside the customized bag with the store’s QR code, then handed it to her.

It was actually Chu Manhua’s turn to check out, but she let the old lady check out first. She could wait a bit longer.

The old lady took out a few wrinkled bills from her pocket, then spread them open on the cashier counter one by one.

Lu Yiyun counted them carefully, then took the money, gave back the change, and printed the receipt.

“This is your change. Please keep it safe.” She handed the change to the old lady. It took much more time than the electronic checkout of regular customers, but none of the waiting customers complained.

“Thank you. Thank you. I’m headed out so that I won’t interrupt your business any longer.” The old lady took the Pomeranian and took two steps outside before she stopped again.

Zhang Zian thought she had more questions to ask, but she bent over slightly, picked up an empty plastic bottle from the trash can next to the cashier, slipped it into her bag, then left slowly. The cane’s noise tapping the ground became more and more distant, then disappeared completely.

The young men over there had some sad feelings as they saw her. The empty plastic bottles that they threw away without thinking turned out to be the main source of income for an elderly lady. The price of any pet in the shop might be her living expenses for a whole year. The difference was just so… It gave them a clear perception of the great gap between the rich and the poor.

Old Time Tea sighed. “I sigh in tears, as I see how hard people’s lives can be…”

In the past, Wang Qian and Li Kun had mocked Welder Zhao wildly for being stingy. But now they realized that maybe Welder Zhao was so keen on saving money because he knew how hard it was to make money, as he worked hard his whole life before he could afford to retire. He would spend every penny as wisely as he could.

“Master! I’ll be out for a while, and will be back soon!” Wang Qian said all of a sudden.

Before Zhang Zian responded, he ran out of the shop as quick as smoke in the same direction as the old lady.

As Lu Yiyun took the nutrition cream from the shelf just now, Chu Manhua suddenly remembered that she had no pet supplies. She would rather buy everything at one time. She had never owned pets before. Getting a dog for the first time––a dog closely related to her own life––made her feel like an elementary student preparing for their first outing in nature. As she glanced over the variety of products on the shelves, she felt that everything was useful, and wanted to get every single item.

Apart from a cage, food, water bowl, leash, and dog shampoo, she also picked some small accessories such as nail clippers, electric pet hair remover, etc.

As she checked out, Zhang Zian was happy that she had bought a lot of stuff. He still pointed out, “You can skip the electric pet hair remover. You won’t need it.”

Chu Manhua paused as she heard his words. In her impression, all dogs and cats shed. When she visited her friends with pets in the past, she had to spend hours removing the cat or dog hair from her sweater, which was why she had chosen an electric pet hair remover to save time. Why did Zhang Zian say that she would not need it?

Another customer was also lining up to pay for an electric pet hair remover. He started hesitating as he heard Zhang Zian. He had just gotten a new golden retriever from a friend. It was a lovely dog, but the shedding was insufferable. He wanted to buy an electric pet hair remover to solve his problem as much as he could. He wondered if the shop owner said this because electric pet hair removers were not useful.

Zhang Zian explained, “Of course electric pet hair removers are useful. But poodles don’t need them, as purebred poodles are among the few dog breeds that don’t shed. Since it doesn’t shed, you won’t need an electric pet hair remover. It will end up collecting dust.”

He put the electric pet hair remover in Chu Manhua’s hand back to the shelf, then put a grooming tool set for long hair dogs into her hands. “Purebred poodles don’t shed, but they need daily brushing. So a grooming tool set is more useful. There are special combs for the top and under coat. You also need to pay attention to the order of grooming. If you want your dog to look prettier, just read the user’s manual carefully.”

Many customers had dogs at home, but that was the first time they heard about poodle’s advantage. Some customers started to regret choosing a small dog that shed heavily. If they wanted a small dog, it would be wiser to have a poodle, to spare themselves from the dog hairs floating around everywhere. They could even get dog hairs in their mouth while they talked. The shedding was insufferable.

Some customers felt even worse. They also had poodles, but why did their poodles still shed? Clearly, as they heard Zhang Zian emphasize the word “purebred,” they realized that they had been ripped off by immoral breeders. They had brought mixed poodles…

“In fact, they still shed seasonally, but their hair doesn’t float around all year long like golden retrievers and Samoyeds. Poodles have curly hair, so their hair doesn’t fall off during shedding season. Instead, it stays inside the follicles, and only ends up on the comb when you brush. Therefore, you need to brush them more often during shedding season,” Zhang Zian explained further.

He did wish to sell as many items as possible in his shop; however, he didn’t want to sell customers what they didn’t need for the sake of a tiny profit. The customers would hate him if they realized that the pet supplies ended up collecting dust.

Chu Manhua understood everything. Although poodles needed daily brushing, it was still better than having dog hair on the floor, bed, couch, clothes, and everywhere else. The latter was worse in comparison.

During her brief hospitalization for observation, she laid on the hospital bed and browsed through her phone in boredom, searching for dog raising information and tips shared by other dog owners, especially poodle owners. She saw that many owners groomed their poodles so nicely that they looked just like toys. She wanted to groom her dog nicely after she took it home. Brushing it was only a simple task, after all.

At that moment, Wang Qian ran back into the shop out of breath, saying, “Master, I just followed that old lady, and I found out which area she lives in. Of course, I was discreet and she didn’t see me, but I think that Pomeranian saw me. It was looking back all the time…” He was proud about what he just did.

“Since when did you become a stalker?” Zhang Zian asked with despise. “A stalker with teenage syndrome… I guess you need to quit the group.”

Others also gave Wang Qian a strange look.

“No, no. I’m not a stalker. I’m planning to collect all the empty plastic bottles in the shop’s trash, then put them near her house. She will walk her dog near the green grassland every day in the future, so she can pick them up on her way,” Wang Qian explained in embarrassment.

They couldn’t believe that he had denied about being a stalker, instead of denying his teenage syndrome.

Zhang Zian was quite surprised to hear that Wang Qian was capable of such a nice deed. He said gladly, “Sure. I hope you keep doing it, and don’t give it up after three minutes.”

“Rest assured: I’ll absolutely keep doing it. As for the aquarium, I’ll ask Li Kun to help collect the bottles. He will follow my orders, as I’m older than him.” Wang Qian was full of confidence. He then remembered something and asked curiously, “Right, Master, you mentioned in the past that the old residential area beside the green grassland was supposed to be demolished a long time ago, but it hadn’t happened for all sorts of reasons. If one day it really gets demolished, will that old lady get a huge sum of compensation and become rich over night?”

“This might happen!” Zhang Zian laughed. “Demolishing changes lives!”