Chapter 413: A Bird Flying in the Strong Wind
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The craze brought by the reopening ceremony lasted throughout the entire weekend, and almost half of the pets in the shop had been purchased by customers. On Sunday, many more customers came and wanted to see the Abyssinian Cats dance.
Wang Qian and Li Kun opened the Wang Haige forum in their cell phones and showed Zhang Zian that the keywords "Amazing Fate Pet Shop" and "Abyssinian cats" were trending in the pet area. Numerous curious netizens had asked where this pet shop was and wanted to see the kittens dance for themselves.
The keywords weren’t just trending on the forum, however — they were also trending on Weibo. Not only were the residents in Binhai City interested, but people living in nearby cities were also intrigued by the pet shop and the dancing cats. Some people even claimed that despite the distance, they would drive to Binhai City and visit the pet shop to have an eye-opening adventure.
The fever had faded by the end of the weekend. After all, most of the people who were interested in high-end pets were young office workers, and no matter how much they were into pets, they must go back to work to support themselves.
Wang Qian and Li Kun were exhausted after the busy weekend. Zhang Zian decided to give them a day off on Monday so that they could have a good rest and recharge their batteries to prepare for another high-volume rush the next weekend.
It was now Monday morning.
Sheng Ke had agreed to meet him at Binhai Studio today. Zhang Zian knew that Sheng Ke was very busy, and he wondered why he would choose to meet on Monday, a day on which he should be extra busy.
In any case, he got up early as usual—he was awakened up by the chilliness, precisely speaking.
The good weather from the weekend had come and gone. When he opened his eyes in the darkness, he heard a whining sound outside the windows, like a strong wind was blowing. Amazing Fate Pet Shop was an old-fashioned structure built twenty years ago, and there were noticeable gaps under the windows. Every time there was wind whistling outside, some wind would pour in. Right now, the curtains were undulating, and the chilly air was blowing against his face.
When he didn’t see Richard on the clothesline, he knew that it was absolutely sleeping under his clothes. He didn’t bother to scold it anymore— it was useless. Richard was so brazen that it would only respond with foul language. He just wished it had wiped its buttocks before going in... He was wearing a sweater today, and the sweater was neither easy to wash nor easy to dry, and it was troublesome to rub off bird droppings.
Zhang Zian sat up from the bed to put on his clothes. He picked up the sweater. There it was Richard, lying on its back, its wings twitching from time to time. He sniffed the sweater, and fortunately he did not smell the stench of bird droppings, otherwise he would have opened the window and thrown Richard out, letting it experience being a bird flying in the strong wind…
Fina, Snowy Lionet and Old Time Tea were still sound asleep. Galaxy had woken up as he sat up, winking at him with its silver-gray eyes and silently saying. "Good morning" before it pulled open the door and went downstairs. Famous was also awake, lying under the blanket and blankly watching the dim night light.
When it heard Zhang Zian wake up, Famous stood up and shook its fur, looking at him with anticipation. From the moment Famous heard that it was going to audition today, it had been restless. It stopped drinking its favorite red wine and lost it appetite, just like a soldier heading to the battlefield.
Zhang Zian nodded at it, meaning that it should rest reassured — the original plan remained unchanged. Even if it was windy today, he would take it to the audition. Famous, after all, was a dog, and constantly being indoors was not good for it. It needed to run around in the space outside to vent out its excessive energy, otherwise it would be upset. Of course, Zhang Zian knew that there were other things causing its dismay too, so whether it would pass the audition today or not, it was time to take Famous out for a walk.
Since he gave Wang Qian and Li Kun a day off, Zhang Zian had to go downstairs to clean the cat litter and dog feces by himself. Fortunately, half of the pets had been sold, so it was a lot easier to clean the shop. When he had just roughly finished cleaning, all the other elves had woken up and came downstairs.
Before he realized it, Richard had fluttered its wings and landed on his shoulder, "Quack! Do you want to hear me recite a poem to start the day?"
Zhang Zian immediately denied it, "Nope."
Richard stared at him speechlessly. "You're supposed to keep the conversation going."
"I'm in no mood to talk to you. You are just going to insert some dirty jokes in the poem, aren’t you?" Zhang Zian angrily picked up a rag and threw to cover its head, "Go to work! Take this piece of rag to wipe the cashier desk and display cases."
"Quack! This is not fair! Why don’t you ask those lazy cats to work?" Richard tried to get out of the rag and mumbled.
"Because they do not talk nonsense." Zhang Zian uttered the truth, "You are the noisiest one!"
"Okay, fine. Since the first day I came here, I have known that you prefer cats to birds. You idiot, one day you will pay for your snobbish attitude!" Richard shouted.
"Why are you saying?" Famous heard its threat and ran over, waiting for Richard to give it an explanation.
Richard peeked at Famous’s fangs and red tongue and decided it would be better to shut up and wipe off the desk...
Zhang Zian almost laughed his a** off! He knew from the very beginning that Richard would bring scourge to itself because of its loquaciousness.
Richard flew to the cashier desk, clutching the rag to wipe the desk barely clean.
Zhang Zian did not expect it to do a good job cleaning, and Lu Yiyun would wipe the desk again anyway. She was a girl who liked good hygiene, and every night before going home, she would clean the desk, and she would wipe the desk down again the next morning, even cleaning the gaps between the keys with a small piece of rag.
Fina yawned and came down from the second floor. She jumped onto her exclusive tier of the cat tree and continued napping. Sometimes, Zhang Zian wondered why it even bothered to come downstairs instead of just sleeping upstairs… Snowy Lionet came down after Fina. Among all the residents in his pet shop, Snowy Lionet probably had the best cold-resistant ability.
Old Time Tea was still lying with its forepaws folding into its chest in front of the TV, watching the news enjoyingly.
While listening to the weather forecast, Zhang Zian heard the host estimate the decrease in temperatures. The highest temperature during the day would drop below 5 degrees Celsius, and the nighttime lowest temperature will drop to -10 degrees Celsius. Soon, the water will start to freeze.
Zhang Zian intended to take Famous with him to the audition today. On such a cold and windy day, Fina absolutely was unwilling to go out, for its fur would become disheveled by the wind. If Fina didn’t go, it was certain that Snowy Lionet wouldn’t go either. Galaxy was afraid of people, so it can’t go. And it’s unnecessary for Old Time Tea to go with him. So, why not just let them stay warm at home?
When he pulled open the shutter door, he saw that Lu Yiyun had been waiting outside, stamping her feet to fight against the chilliness.
"Come in quickly. It’s freezing outside, isn’t it?" Zhang Zian quickly pushed open the glass door to let her in.
"It’s not that bad..." Lu Yiyun pretended to be strong despite the fact that her face was extremely pale. Since she hadn’t taken off her coat long after entering the pet shop, Zhang Zian could tell that she was really cold.
"You don’t have to be here so early, there are no customers yet anyway." Zhang Zian said, "You could have arrived half an hour later."
Lu Yiyun shook her head, "It’s okay, I like to come here early to draw."
"I'm just afraid you will catch a cold! I’m warning you, I won’t grant your request off easily!" Zhang Zian warned her in a joking manner.
"Mr. Store Manager, are you going to Binhai Studio today?" After a moment, a little redness finally restored to her face.
"Yes, in such a bloody bad weather." Zhang Zian looked outside, and saw that all the passers-by were struggling to walk in the chilliness, their faces looking pale.
"In other words, am I going to have to be here all alone today?" she whispered.
Zhang Zian looked at her, "Are you scared?"
"No..." Lu Yiyun's face clearly indicated that she was frightened, but it was him she feared. "Mr. Store Manager, I want to..."
"What?" Zhang Zian thought she had something particularly difficult for her to speak of.
She muttered, "Today I’m here alone. IfI want to bring my cat with me sometimes, can I?"
"Uh... this is what you want to say?" Zhang Zian was dumbfounded yet relieved, "Of course you can, there are so many cats here."
"Great! In fact, I have brought..." Lu Yiyun was carrying a backpack today, she turned around, opened the bag a little bit. A small beige head stuck out. It was her hybrid cat Jasmine.
She bowed and apologized, "I'm sorry, I took it with me without letting you know in advance... Jasmine, say hello to the manager."
Jasmine seemed to be as timid and shy as its owner. After muttering a weak meowing sound, it withdrew its head into the bag, revealing only a pair of eyes.
After seeing the kittens in the shop dance, Lu Yiyun hoped that Zhang Zian could teach her Jasmine to dance—even if it couldn’t master ballet, even ordinary dance moves would do.
In her mind, it was difficult to teach kittens to dance. She even said she was willing to give up this month's wages, as long as Jasmine can learn dancing.
Zhang Zian agreed to such a trivial request. For him, Lu Yiyun was a rare, talented, and indispensable artist for publishing content on his shop’s WeChat public account. As long as she was willing to stay here and work for him, He would even try to teach Jasmine ballet, let alone simple dance moves.
Having his word, Lu Yiyun finally smiled with relief.