Pet King

Zhang Zian had been to Binhai University more than once. Every time he went, he saw many stray cats wandering around the student and staff residences. Some even had kittens.

No matter if it was in schools, residential areas, tourist attractions, or even the wilderness, feeding wild and stray animals was not a small thing to be overlooked.

For instance, if someone was feeding monkey in a tourist attraction and made the monkeys fearless, then they might rob the tourists’ bags and food, and bite or injure the tourists.

These circumstances were often reported.

In schools and residential areas, feeding stray animals could make them a nuisance to the residents.

Zhang Zian was a little surprised. “You mean that ever since the new semester started, there have been less stray cats on campus? Where did they go?”

“I don’t know,” Jiang Feifei said with regret. “I need to do my undergraduate project, work part-time, and look for a formal job this semester. I barely paid any attention––nor did my classmates. Everybody is relieved that there are less stray cats… We’ve been getting along in peace for four years. It’s not good to jeopardize our friendship because of feeding stray cats when it’s almost graduation time…”

Zhang Zian nodded thoughtfully in agreement.

“Store Manager, do you think that these stray cats were captured by the management center for stray animals?” Jiang Feifei asked. “Because of the stray cat feeding issue, there have been a few fights in the ladies residence. It was such a fuss that the building administrators reported it to the university. The university said that they would deal with it and avoid similar incidents from happening again. Did they finally take action?”

“Maybe.” Zhang Zian agreed with her. Maybe the university asked for help from the management center for stray animals, then captured most of the stray cats on campus during the winter holidays.

In fact, there were too many possibilities for the diminishing stray cat population on campus. Maybe a group of graduating students adopted them, or perhaps they found a place with more food. Maybe the number didn’t diminish, but some animal protection organization neutered them. They stopped making sounds, creating the illusion of a reduced population.

Of course, maybe they were captured by the management center for stray animals. Or a girl was driven nuts by the meowing and poisoned them… The possibilities were enough to fill an A4 paper when listed. It was hard to know which was the actual reason.

Cat poisoning was not impossible. If someone was driven to madness, they were capable of doing anything, no matter to cats or to roommates.

Apparently, Jiang Feifei had thought about this possibility. She gasped, “People can’t be so cruel, could they?”

“I hope not.” Zhang Zian didn’t agree nor disagree. Jiang Feifei was not a child anymore and didn’t need his meaningless comfort.

“Poisoning is a serious matter, even if it’s just animals. I hope your classmate isn’t stupid enough to do that.” He recollected. “When Famous was filming the movie, there was a law-ignorant person in the production team who tried to poison it, along with two other dogs, for personal reasons. He ended up in prison.”

“Is it that serious?” Jiang Feifei was surprised.

“Of course. It is a threat to public safety, as you can’t be sure if the poison would be ingested by cats, dogs, or children. Some people poison cats and dogs in some residential areas. They should be grateful that they didn’t get caught, otherwise there would be a public prosecution. There are many solutions to the stray animal problem and they chose the worst one,” Zhang Zian said with certainty.

There were many solutions to the stray animal problems, but most of them could not eliminate the root cause. If people were to follow Germany’s example, then making laws to forbid pet abandonment on a national level was the radical solution to the problem.

After feeding the kittens and weighing each one of them, they went downstairs one after the other.

Wang Qian and Li Kun were busy downstairs, making final preparations for the aquarium’s official opening.

According to Zhang Zian’s request, each aquarium tank was labeled with adhesive stickers to mark down the type of the marine creature, their habits and behaviors, and the difficulty level of raising them. The stickers were still blank, however.

Similar to most high-grade aquariums, the lighting on the first floor was dark to bring out the mysteriousness inside the aquarium tanks.

If an insider had seen it, they would surely realize that Zhang Zian had divided the indoor area into two sections. The display cabinets separated them neatly down the middle. One section was for marine creatures that loved the heat, while the other section was the opposite. After the coolers arrived, the cool water could be used to cool off the latter, while the heat generated by the coolers would not go to waste––it would be pumped to heat up the former.

Jiang Feifei rolled up her sleeves to help Wang Qian and Li Kun. They were testing all kinds of aquarium equipment to make sure that they were working properly.

Zhang Zian wanted to ask them if they knew why there were less stray cats on campus, but then he realized that it would be in vain. They would not care about such a thing.

“Keep up with the good work. I’ll head back and see if there’s anything at the shop. You can call me if you have questions,” he told them, then left the aquarium alone.

Eek!

A car stopped on the roadside.

“Your aquarium is about to open? How’s the preparation?” Sun Xiaomeng asked as she rolled down the car window.

“It’s fine. Have to carry on no matter what. We’ll find out after the official opening.” Zhang Zian walked over. “Why are you going to work so early today?”

“I have an patient appointment. It’s an emergency,” she answered. “Her cat’s eye was beaten blind by someone. They are arriving at the clinic soon for emergency treatment.”

“That’s really bad. How was it beaten?” Zhang Zian asked.

She frowned. “I didn’t have time to ask further. Maybe a slingshot.”

“A slingshot? By some stupid kid?” Zhang Zian immediately thought that it could be a naughty kid making trouble again.

“This… I don’t know.” She shook her head. “Her cat slipped out when she was not paying attention. Maybe it was mistaken as a stray cat. When she found it, one eye was already beaten blind.”

“Is that so…” Zhang Zian nodded. “How’s the business in your family’s breeding farm?”

She smiled bitterly. “The Love Lovely Pets chaos is not over yet. Lately, the market demand for cats and dogs has been very low. A lot of people are posting in the forum to give away their pets for adoption. My father has been traveling and trying to sell them to other cities. Your aquatic pet business is a smart move. How did you come up with it?”

“I had a sudden eureka moment. I think I should walk on two legs.” Zhang Zian smiled.

After the small talk, Sun Xiaomeng looked at her watch. “It’s getting late. I’ll head to the clinic now. The customer may have arrived already.”

She rolled up the car window then drove towards the clinic.

Zhang Zian started thinking while he watched the car leave.

It was mistaken for a stray cat…