Liu Wenying was sitting in a chair with her daughter Yue Yue on her lap. Fortunately, it was sunny and windless today, so she didn’t feel cold sitting outdoors. The lively and lovely Yue Yue stirred up playfulness in Snowy, who approached her and teased her.
Zhang Zian knew that Zhao Qi was absolutely here for the discounted imported cat food. It seemed that she had overspent on Black Friday and limited funds remained.
He said calmly, "Do not worry, it is absolutely for sale. I do not earn a penny from the cat food."
"Very good, finally you’ve proved you have a little bit of conscience!" Zhao Qi said with delight.
"...I have a great conscience!"
During their conversation, they heard Liu Wenying say in surprise, "Oh, well if it isn’t Sister Deng! What brings you here? So nice to see you!"
Zhang Zian turned around and found that Deng Jie was here too.
Deng Jie and Liu Wenying were acquaintances who also knew Snowy. They said hello to each other, and Deng Jie pointed to Snowy and smiled, "I also heard from this girl that there will be big discounts at this pet shop today, so I’m here to see some puppies and kittens. If suitable, I’m going to buy one."
"What? You haven’t bought a pet yet?" Liu Wenying was surprised, "It's been months since you said you wanted to buy one..."
She and Deng Jie met each other at the Amazing Fate Pet Shop to look at pets a few months ago. She thought Deng Jie must have bought a pet by now, but she hadn’t. What was wrong?
Deng Jie sighed, restating her experience of being cheated in the dog market, and how Zhang Zian and Snowy accompanied her to the dog market to seek the truth. Liu Wenying and Zhao Qi were left speechless upon hearing what happened to her.
Liu Wenying suggested, "Deng Jie, just let it go. A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit. In fact, from the beginning, I thought the cats here were very expensive, but over the past few months, the cat has become a member of our family. I like it, my daughter likes it, and even my husband, who has a straight face all day long, occasionally plays with it, so I think it’s worth it, despite it being a bit pricey."
Deng Jie nodded repeatedly, "I know. Before I came here, I also talked to my husband, in case I buy a pet today."
As the sun rose, increasingly more people arrived at the pet shop.
Suddenly someone shouted, "Wang Haige Group 1! Gather here!"
"Wang Haige Group 2! Anyone here yet? Gather here?"
Zhang Zian recognized several familiar faces—the nice and optimistic Lea, the filial Xiao Niu, the damn single Great Chieftain of Thunder Bluff, and Gu Tianle who had been buying stocks but kept losing money, and the couple, Fried Mushroom and Outman… all of them had bought pets from his shop, and had paid attention to the relevant information from the pet shop. Through the forums on Wang Haige, Weibo, and other channels, they had learned the news that the pet shop would reopen today, so they decided to form visiting groups. This time, however, they were not here to buy pets, but instead to exchange ideas of pet rearing and to share their memories from when they bought the pets.
A delivery cart from a flower shop parked by the roadside. The delivery man was annoyed seeing so many people bustle about the entrance. He glanced at the delivery note and shouted, "Zhang Zian, is Zhang Zian here?"
Zhang Zian answered with confusion, "I am Zhang Zian."
"Your flower baskets, please sign here." The delivery man handed him the delivery note and pulled the flower baskets from the cart.
"Wait a second!" Zhang Zian immediately stopped him, "I did not book any flower baskets! You have the wrong address, don’t you?"
The man shrugged, "How could I mess up both the address and name at the same time? Maybe someone else sent them for you?"
And then he pulled another flower basket from the cart.
Zhang Zian noticed a small card stuck in the bouquet. He reached out and looked at it, reading, "Congratulations on your grand opening! I wish you a good start! I’m currently out of town, so I can’t be there today. I hope you can accept my gifts."
The sender was Xiao Yan.
It was not until now did Zhang Zian know the flower baskets were sent by Xiao Yan. She had been busy tending to her beauty salon business and befriending wives of rich businessmen or bureaucrats, so it was normal that she couldn’t make it to his opening ceremony. He also heard that she was going to open a branch somewhere else, perhaps that was why she was out of town.
He did not inform the news of the opening ceremony to Xiao Yan, nor did he tell anyone specifically — he had only mentioned it in the shop’s WeChat public account. He did not expect to see so many people here, and that so many people cared about him…
He reread at the card a few times. The delivery man had grown impatient and urged him, "What's the matter? Are you signing the note or not? If you don’t want them, I can take them back. But no matter what, you cannot get a refund."
"Of course I want them!" Zhang Zian put the card into his pocket, pointing to the storefront and said, "Move them over there, please."
The delivery man deftly moved the baskets into position and rearranged the bouquets, disheveled from the bumpy car ride. He took the delivery note signed by Zhang Zian and left.
Other people that had not heard the dialogue between Zhang Zian and the delivery man thought that the flower baskets were ordered by Zhang Zian, and ridiculed him for finally being generous for once.
Just when Zhang Zian was going to greet the guests, a private car parked at the roadside.
The car window rolled down and the gentlemanly-looking Meng Li stretched his head out and curiously asked, "Manager Zhang, what’s the occasion with so many people around?"
In the passenger’s seat was a cocker spaniel that barked twice spiritedly towards Zhang Zian.
"Teacher Meng, my shop has finished a renovation, and it’s the reopening ceremony today." Zhang Zian did not know whether Meng Li was a professor or lecturer in the university, or an administrative staff, so it was safe to call him "teacher".
"Are you taking the dog out to play?" Zhang Zian asked.
Meng Li fondly stroked the head of the cocker spaniel and replied: "No, I’m taking it to the clinic for routine examination of its eyes. I was passing by and noticed that your shop was surrounded by people, so I wanted to say hello and ask what’s going on."
Since his cocker spaniel was less than six months old and still in the time period of high incidence of hereditary cataracts, he took it to the clinic for an examination every two to three weeks.
"Oh, then you should go now, I’m fine here." Zhang Zian said.
Meng Li looked at his watch, "I should, for the appointment time is approaching. I shouldn’t keep the doctor waiting. I can come back later when the examination is finished."
"Just go ahead, don’t mind me," Zhang Zian advised.
"It’s the weekend and I have nothing to do. It will be nice to bring it back to its original home." Meng Li waved his hand, "See you later."
He rolled up the window and headed to the clinic.
The cocker spaniel lay back in the chair and kept looking back, as if it still remembered Zhang Zian. As Meng Li said, this was its original home.
Zhang Zian was very happy for it. With such an earnest and responsible owner, it should be very happy for the rest of its life.
"Hey! You! Look over here!"
Zhang Zian heard a very rude greeting from behind. He turned around in puzzlement, thinking that it was someone seeking trouble with him.
Click!
What greeted him was a dazzling flash and the crisp sound of a shutter, making him temporarily blind and unable to open his eyes.
"Tut, a fuzzy image. The photo quality still needs to be improved." Luo Qingyu was carrying a SLR and murmuring to himself. Behind him were several other members of his photography club, and all of them were holding different kinds of cameras and shooting the girls present.
"Why are you here?" Zhang Zian rubbed his nearly-blind eyes and asked.
"As president of the photography club, I was taking my members around to take pictures on the streets. Seeing that a lot of people were gathered here, we decided to come and check it out." With a complacent look, Luo Qingyu lifted the Nikon D850 in his hands and showed it off to Zhang Zian, "The photo I took at the church entrance last time won the photographic exhibition award at our school, and the prize was this brand new SLR that will surely significantly improve my photography skills. I’m bound to become an international photography master in the future!"