Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Upon Zhang Zian’s return to the pet shop, Wang Qian and Lu Yiyun both cast an inquiring look at him. He simply nodded to make them feel at ease, meaning to say that it had all been taken care of.
Snowy was already done with Snowball’s haircut. She saw that Zhang Zian had come back and said with regret, “That cat was really pitiful… Was it euthanized? The audience in the live broadcast wanted to have me broadcast the process of a live euthanasia, but I’m not courageous enough and I’m afraid that I’d have nightmares…”
She hugged Snowball tightly, feeling fortunate that it was not as unfortunate as the Siamese cat.
“Well, there was no other option. Even if it was not euthanized, it was not going to last long. Letting it stay alive was just letting it suffer,” Zhang Zian replied. “Don’t worry––the cases of cats contracting rabies are very rare.”
Snowy sighed. “But I always take Snowball out to play. If stray cats suddenly rush out and bite or scratch…”
“Where would there be so many stray cats? Stray dogs are much more dangerous than stray cats.” Zhang Zian laughed before he recalled the cats that had escaped from the Love Lovely Pets Breeding Base. Although most of them had been adopted, there were still many left as strays. After the adopter’s initial excitement had passed, it was unknown whether or not they would abandon the cats they had gotten for free and further increase the number of stray cats.
In fact, the villa area where Snowy was located was strictly managed, so there were no stray cats or stray dogs at all. The estate owners there were rich, and they all had more than one place to live, so the various reasons that ordinary people abandoned their dogs and cats were not applicable to them.
Snowball was bald now, but it didn’t get any stronger––it just looked slimmer. There was still a lot of shredded hair left on it, so Snowy decided to bathe it with the automatic dog washing machine.
Fina jumped back onto the cat tree, yawned, and went back to sleep.
Old Time Tea was still watching TV; Snowy Lionet was lecherously looking at the beautiful women; Famous was surrounded by a few fans who had just come for its autograph and photo; and Richard was flying around making lots of noise. It was just as if nothing had happened.
Zhang Zian glanced at the stairway. Galaxy was sitting on the highest step of the stairs, blinking it’s gray eyes as it watched the customers that were coming and going. Its eyes were both yearning for and afraid of human beings.
Temporarily, there was nothing going in the pet shop, so he notified Lu Yiyun and went over to the aquarium next door.
“Master Wu, Master Zhao, are you still picking?”
As soon as he entered, Zhang Zian heard Welder Zhao’s sonorous voice. The other customers were quietly admiring the fascinating underwater world, but his voice was the loudest in the entire aquarium.
Compared to Wang Qian and Lu Yiyun, Li Kun and Jiang Feifei, who were in charge of the aquarium business, seemed to be more relaxed. Their workload was at least half that of the other two; they were even a little too free.
The reason for that was that each fish tank had already been labeled with a label that indicated the type of creature in the aquarium and its raising difficulty, so there were not many questions left to ask. Also, most of the people who raised aquatic creatures had only come down after they had done their homework. Unlike those who raise cats and dogs, they often came to the pet store and left with a pet on impulse. It was also undeniable that the number of aquarium creature lovers was much less than that of cats and dogs.
Electrician Wu and Welder Zhao had arrived early. Zhang Zian had been busy in the pet shop for a long time, and he did not expect for the two of them to still be there… It can only be said that retired people had a lot of spare time. If they didn’t have to head back in the afternoon for dinner, then it could be estimated that they would stay for one whole day.
Zhang Zian had actually considered providing coffee and tea in his shop, like the German aquariums and pet shops did; he would also place a few wicker chairs and rattan table for people to sit. He had even thought of working together with Li’s Snack Bar to provide take-away, and in addition to an extra income it would provide, the more time that customers spent in the store, the more likely he’d be able to make money.
Electrician Wu and Welder Zhao stood in front of a drainage box. They seemed to be arguing fiercely about something.
Welder Zhao’s voice was loud, while Electrician Wu’s voice sounded calm but also did not show any weakness. As they got older, they both became more stubborn, and neither of them could convince each other.
When they saw Zhang Zian coming over, Electrician Wu warmly greeted him like he had seen his loved ones. “Xiao Zhang, come over for a moment. You know a lot, so we have a few questions for you.”
Zhang Zian walked over and asked, “Master Wu, what’s the matter?”
“Wu, stop acting so close. I’ll say it: this is the case,” Welder Zhao hurriedly said, “Earlier, when you came to my house to deal with the bobbit worm, didn’t we pour a lot of boiling water into my tank, and it got all over the reef rocks?”
“Yes we did.” Zhang Zian expressed that he had not forgotten.
Electrician Wu pointed to Welder Zhao and complained to Zhang Zian. “Look at this person who doesn’t know how to be grateful. You obviously helped him so much, and now he’s blaming you. If you didn’t help him, who knows what kind of trouble the bobbit worm would have caused…”
“Wu, stop spouting nonsense. Who did I blame?” Welder Zhao interrupted angrily. “Can’t we just talk facts?”
Zhang Zian saw them quarreling again and quickly interjected. “Two grandpas, with the two of you arguing like this, I can’t understand anything. How about we take turns talking?”
“Okay then, I’ll go first,” Welder Zhao took the lead.
It turned out that on that day that Zhang Zian and company had gone down to Welder Zhao’s home to resolve the issue with the bobbit worm, they did not stay for any length of time after they had killed it.
Soon after they left, before Welder Zhao had the time to clean up the scene, his wife had returned back from square dancing. His son and daughter-in-law also came home from work soon after, and when they saw the long and ugly worm in the tank, they all had a bad scare. His wife was so scared that she turned pale and almost fainted.
Welder Zhao felt both awkward and guilty. Of course, he couldn’t mention that he had brought the dangerous bobbit worm into the house because of his ignorance and mistakes––he would be too ashamed and would likely be banned by the rest of his family from raising fish in the future.
He casually made up a few lies, claiming that the worm only looked ugly, but that it was not dangerous. It usually fed on fish waste and he had deliberately kept it.
As for the grandson who knew the truth, he could bribe him with just a few boxes of chocolate.
His family was dubious, but the worm’s body could not be kept at home, so they urged him to throw it away.
Welder Zhao casually found a supermarket plastic bag. He used a pair of pliers to clip the body of the bobbit worm, which caused him to become nauseous and be sick to his stomach. He then stuffed the corpse into the bag, where its corpse was wrapped around itself several times.
He took the bag downstairs to dispose of it. When he walked to the door of the building, he wondered where he should throw the thing. If he were to throw it into the garbage bin, would it scare the garbage cleaner the next morning?
Just then, someone greeted him from behind, and he turned and saw that it was a neighbor from another unit who was also out to throw out their garbage.
The neighbor’s surname was Wang, and he was also a retiree from their factory. He used to be a carpenter.
Carpenter Wang stared at the worm’s corpse in the bag and his eyes lit up.
