Pet King

Zhang Zian and Vladimir went downstairs. Zhang Zian had woken up very early, and had busily typed the whole morning. He opened the door even later than usual, and the job he needed to do was more troublesome. He had no time to help the shop employees clean up.

When he opened the door, Wang Qian, Li Kun, Lu Yiyun, and Jiang Feifei were already waiting outside.

“Master, why did you open the door so late today?” They all rushed in. “Is it that you were trying to become a deity and did too much yesterday? You have to watch out for your health!”

“Whatever! Wait, come over to sign.” Zhang Zian saw that they were gathering to supplies they needed to clean the shop. He stopped them, and had all of them gather next to the cashier counter.

“Sign?” They curiously circled around. “What’s this? A contract to sell our bodies?”

“Why are you asking so many questions? I asked you all to sign, so you all should sign!” Zhang Zian said arrogantly.

Jiang Feifei gave a thumbs up. “The shop manager just became a member of the Municipal Consultative Conference, and is already showing his domineering CEO aura!”

“Haha! That’s confirmed. In the future, I’ll be the domineering shopkeeper. Whoever doesn’t listen to me, I’ll deduct your salary!” Zhang Zian flipped his hair.

“Tch! Admiral Zhang, you have such a big, official authority!” Jiang Feifei said, imitating the tone from Stephen Chow’s movie.

Wang Qian and Li Kun stretched their necks and took a look. “Oh! Small Animal Protection Act? Master, you’re applying strict measures as a new official!”

The content of the proposal was not long; it was very concise. After a few glances, they had a general idea of the content.

“Master, you’re… collecting signatures?” Li Kun asked.

Zhang Zian nodded. “That’s right! Selling insurance has to start from relatives and friends, and collecting signatures has to start from shop employees. Stop talking rubbish and sign!”

“…Isn’t it said that a good rabbit doesn’t eat the grass by its nest?” Wang Qian asked hesitantly.

While they were chatting, Lu Yiyun picked up a pen and signed her name behind Zhang Zian’s name.

“If there had been such a law before, the former tenant might not have abandoned Jasmine.” She took Jasmine out of her bag and let her run into the shop and play freely. “So I’m glad there was no such law before, but I don’t want cats to be abandoned in rental houses anymore.”

“Admiral Zhang, what counts as a ‘small animal…?’ Does it include fish, turtles, prawns, crabs––those kinds of animals?” Jiang Feifei asked.

“About this… I haven’t totally thought everything through yet, but from the successful cases overseas, they are normally not included,” Zhang Zian said, “Everything must be done from easy to difficult. The more things we include, the greater the resistance. Besides, fewer people eat cats, dogs, and parrots, but many people eat fish, shrimp, and crabs. How to define them is a difficult problem.”

Jiang Feifei smiled. “I was just asking. Even though I like aquatic animals, asking people to not eat fish is a little drastic. It’s good that the poor have fish to eat. There’s nothing to be picky about.” After saying that, she signed her name as well.

“Tai! Eating me?” Richard suddenly swooped in and pressed his claw on Zhang Zian’s head. “Somebody wants to eat me?”

Zhang Zian rolled his eyes. He turned around, wanting to deck it, but it had already escaped.

Jiang Feifei’s question was not unreasonable. In fact, some countries did extend the definition of “small animals” to aquatic organisms. For example, Switzerland stipulated that it was illegal to own only one goldfish, because goldfish often felt lonely… Likewise, if one owned a cat, they had to make sure that they let the cat outdoors, that it could see through the window, or that they owned two cats.

But that kind of law in China was obviously unrealistic. There was no way it could be implemented.

Wang Qian and Li Kun were done playing around and signed their names.

Jiang Feifei took the key for the aquarium next door from Zhang Zian, and the four of them split up to clean.

“I might be out the whole day today, and I won’t be too close. You guys just watch the shop,” Zhang Zian instructed. The shop employees were now able to hold the fort down, and there was no need for him to stay in the shop to watch them.

Zian headed towards the door, and Vladimir quietly followed behind him. Zian gave it a look to signal that they could leave.

However, as soon as he walked out of the shop he saw two short, small figures run over from a distance.

“Brother Store Manager! Good morning!” Little Celery ran in front of him, full of energy, and turned her head back once in a while to call out, “Yaning, come over quickly! Run faster!”

Wang Yaning was an indoor person, and what she hated most was physical education and running. She was very far behind Little Celery, holding her stomach and continuously panting, like she had run out of breath.

“Wait… wait for me. Why did you need to run? Isn’t walking to school good too?” she yelled, her face full of pain.

Zhang Zian also greeted them. “Good morning, Little Celery! You two are going to school? Isn’t it Golden Week? Why do primary school students need to go back for additional lessons during the holidays?”

“No! It’s our turn to take care of the hamsters today! Yaning and I are a group!” Little Celery said, full of energy. Her gaze landed on the paper Zhang Zian was holding. “What’s this?”

“Oh, I wrote a proposal to protect small animals, and I am preparing to go and collect more signatures,” Zhang Zian explained. “There are a lot of people who hurt little animals for no reason, and I want to stop them from doing that.”

Little Celery’s eyeballs turned back to his face. “Does that include hamsters and rabbits?”

“Of course,” Zhang Zian nodded.

“Then… Can I sign?” Little Celery raised her hand and said.

“You can.” Zhang Zian thought about it. It seemed like there was no rule that primary school students could not sign a proposal, so passed her a pen.

“Ah! I almost wrote it as Little Celery again! I’ve written it wrong a few times on my schoolwork, and I’ve been scolded by the teacher!” She poked out her tongue, and noticed that there was something wrong when she was going to write. She hurriedly changed it to her actual name, Cai Xiaoqin.

“Yaning! Come over quickly! You sign too!” She turned around to call out.

Wang Yaning had run until her forehead was dripping with sweat. She stopped in front of them, panting heavily. “Sign… sign what?”

“Oh, Brother Store Manager is collecting signatures for the protection of small animals.” Little Celery pointed at the proposal, then forcefully pushed the pen into Wang Yaning’s hand.

When Zhang Zian saw Wang Yaning, his head started to hurt. He thought she was probably going to mock him again. He did not expect for her to look at him, look at the proposal, then sign without saying anything.

What the heck! This little girl changed her personality? That’s impossible, right? Zhang Zian was staring at her, stunned. He wondered if he was dreaming.

People were influenced by close association. Maybe because of how often she hung out with Little Celery she somehow became more polite.

“Don’t be too arrogant and forget yourself! I just heard that you became a member of the Municipal Consultative Conference, so I gave you the bit of respect that is suitable for your position,” she said, gesturing to the nail of her little thumb.

The f*ck! As expected, the mischievous child was not cute at all!