Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian was inspired by the three new signatures on the proposal, which meant as much as the moment Zhao Qi first entered the store.
It was not a matter of human relations, one’s face, social status, or an even exchange of interests. It was purely a matter of his sincerity in exchange for the trust of the other party.
The most important thing was that it caused him to have an increased sense of confidence. If there was a first time, couldn’t there be a second time, too?
“How is it, Vladimir? Not bad, right?” He watched the three people leave and chuckled.
Vladimir was noncommutative. He looked up at the sky and vaguely reminded him, “It’s been almost half an hour since you came out, and you’ve only gotten three signatures.”
The proposal still had a large amount of empty space on it.
“It’s slow and inefficient, but it feels very good! Don’t you think so?” Zhang Zian, with a high-spirited look, swept away his previous decadence and said excitedly, “Although, Vladimir––you always say that you should fight physically instead of with words. In the past, when reading novels, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I always felt more comfortable with fights on the bridge that were won by wisdom, or that touched each other with words, rather than the bridge section that oppressed people by force. Fighting may be quicker and more direct, but it’s easier to fight and win the throne than to sit on the throne. In the end, we should persuade people by virtue.”
Vladimir was silent.
“Hello! Do you like pets or small animals?” Zhang Zian saw a white-collar lady walk past and quickly went to follow her. That time, his whole face was full of confidence. He could withstand being rejected by a few more indifferent people before his self-confidence depleted.
As Vladimir looked thoughtfully at the bustling street and the people coming and going, it murmured in a low voice, “Faithfulness is a meowing sorrow. Why were you ever afraid of breaking your head? The world is red all over the world. Who is the guardian of the rivers and mountains?”
It was confident that it would overthrow the rule of mankind as swift as lightning, but what would happen after the overthrow? Did it depend on stray cats taking over civilization? Or would it have to watch the glorious civilization created by mankind disappear in the dust of history?
Vladimir had never thought about it before. He always thought that it was logical to destroy an old world and build a new one. But did he build a new world with the limbs of a stray cat? It was bound to be a new world that was innumerable times behind current human society. Its productivity would be extremely low. Large beasts would run rampant. There would be crises everywhere. The average life expectancy of stray cats would be greatly reduced. Was that really what it wanted to pursue?
It was not an immortal god––it also had a lifespan. When its body was tired, and it recalled autumn, would its long-cherished desire go to waste?
It was suddenly confused.
“Vladimir?” There was someone calling it.
Vladimir returned to his senses, and saw that Zhang Zian was staring at it in concern.
“Vladimir, are you all right?” he asked worriedly. “I called you quite a few times, but you did not respond at all.”
It shook its head. “I’m fine. I was just distracted.”
“Distracted?” Zhang Zian was still not reassured. “You’ve been standing there lost in thought for a while. I thought that you had a heatstroke.”
“Was it very long?” It tried its best to make its mind clear again.
“…Look, I collected four signatures just now.” Zhang Zian let it see the proposal. There were four new signatures and phone numbers on the paper. The handwriting for each name was different. Some were clear, and some were messy. They were obviously from different people.
“That’s good,” it forced itself to smile and say.
Zhang Zian raised his head to look at the sun. The spring days in Binhai City were getting shorter. He felt like winter had just ended and summer had already arrived.
The sun was very strong that day and there were no clouds in the sky. The temperature was rising very fast. Vladimir’s blueish-gray fur had a high heat absorption efficiency. He saw that it did not look well, and he was worried about it having a heatstroke.
“Let’s go into the shop and rest. I recognize the owner of that shop,” he pointed in front of them and said. It was the snack stall of the Li couple.
Vladimir did not oppose. Zhang Zian led it, and they entered the snack bar one in front of the other.
It was still a while until noon, but there were many customers in Li’s Supreme Snack Bar for Cat Fanciers. They were occupying two to three tables in the corner, and were using toys to play with cats excitedly.
Vladimir looked at the cats in the house, and could not help but be stunned.
It spent some time in the pet shop, and it basically knew which cat was purebred and which cat was mixed-race. It could recognize the different at a glance. All the cats in the shop were not valuable, mixed-race cats; they were all mixed-race cats that would have normally been stray cats.
Although there were occasionally purebred cats among the stray cats, they were ones that had escaped from their owner’s houses. The proportion of purebred cats to stray cats as a whole was very low––almost negligible.
Why were the mixed-race cats in the small shop? Their fur was shiny and slippery. It was easy to see that they were eating well––even eating until they were very fat––and they played with customers like they were happy.
Zhang Zian had never brought it there before, and of course, it was not aware of the reason why.
“Store Manager Zhang! You haven’t come to our small shop in very long! Why did you have time to come here today?” Aunt Li smiled and came over to welcome him.
Zhang Zian randomly found an empty table to sit at. He smiled and said, “I just happened to pass by. I realized that I hadn’t come to contribute to your business in a long time, so I came in to take a look.”
“We’re all in the same neighborhood! If you have time in the future, just come on in! But you’re busy now. I don’t feel good wasting your time…” Aunt Li’s gaze landed on Vladimir behind him. “Oh, this cat is… a stray cat you brought?”
“Nope, this a cat from my shop. I brought it out today for a walk so it could recognize its surroundings,” Zhang Zian explained.
“Oh!” Aunt Li nodded. “Store Manager Zhang, do you want anything to eat?”
It was not yet time for lunch, and Zhang Zian was not hungry at all. He was just a bit thirsty and a bit hot.
He took off his jacket and put it to the side. “I’m not hungry. Let’s have a cup of sour plum soup. I want a cold one.”
“All right!” Aunt Li returned to the kitchen at the back, then brought out a cup of iced sour plum soup after a short while. She brought out a plate of small dried fish and put it on the ground in front of Vladimir. That was the special treatment that Zhang Zian received there; if the other customers only ordered a cup of sour plum soup, they would not have received the dried fish.
“Come––eat,” she told it, smiling.
Vladimir was speechless. It did not eat dried fish, but it knew how much stray cats liked it.
Aunt Li saw that it did not move and asked in shock, “Why is it not eating?”
“It’s not hungry. It ate before it came out…” Zhang Zian had yet to finish speaking when he saw Vladimir open its mouth and eat a piece of dried fish.
