It was a brand-new morning.
Thanks to Wang Qian and Li Kun coming over to clean up every night, the workload wasn’t too bad for Zhang Zian in the morning. He only needed to clean the puppies’ display cabinets, give the pets water and food, and open the store. Wang Qian and Li Kun came to clean the cat litter at noon.
Hiking Mt. Hidden Fog made Zhang Zian sore for a few days.
"Let’s begin the 9th generation broadcast gymnastics! March on the spot…Go!"
"Stretching…Ready? Set! Go!"
Zhang Zian started to exercise along with the music.
It was a work day morning. Cars and pedestrians were passing by quickly. Everyone was busy with work and school. They kept themselves busy in the hope of a better future.
Fina was majestically watching her territory and people.
Old Time Tea was happily enjoying her first tea of the morning.
Xinghai was sitting by the door, looking at the passersby curiously and waiting for Zhang Zian to play hide-and-seek after his exercise.
What a peaceful moment! Zhang Zian wished time would freeze right there.
It was getting cooler and cooler, especially in the morning. Zhang Zian could not exercise with his thin t-shirt anymore. Before warming up, he had to put on a jacket.
"Brother store manager, good morning!" With a backpack on her back, Little Celery walked over joyfully. After putting down her backpack, she started doing broadcast gymnastics as well.
"Little Celery, may I ask you a question?" Zhang Zian said without stopping.
"What is it, Brother store manager? Hmmm…if it is a math problem…" Little Celery was upset.
"No, no, no…. I just wanted to ask if you will turn into a naughty kid sometime and hurt my feelings?" Zhang Zian came across two naughty kids in such a short time, which made him scared of them.
"Oh… What are naughty kids? What do they do?" tilting her head, she asked.
Zhang Zian was pleased, "That’s okay. You don’t have to know."
"Relax…One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…stop!"
"I have got to go!" As soon as the broadcast gymnastics music stopped, Little Celery picked up her backpack and rushed out of the store. She missed the hamsters and mini lops.
Zhang Zian was going for a second round of broadcast gymnastics, when he heard the noise of tires breaking on the ground.
Sun Xiaomeng parked on the side of the road. Instead of getting out of the car, she stuck her head out and asked, "Are you joking? You know how to train cats to do stunts and teach them new ones from time to time?" She looked at him as if he was a scammer.
Zhang Zian made a heart-breaking face and said, "You are out of the loop!"
He stopped the music, walked to her car and started preaching, "Young lady, it is good to focus on your profession. It is also important to keep up with new stuff and stay in trend."
Sun Xiaomeng was speechless, "I haven’t seen you for a few days. Why do you talk like an old man? Are you trying to trick people into believing you’re a sophisticated gentleman?"
Zhang Zian knew that it was because he was talking to Old Time Tea all the time these days. Birds of a feather flock together...
He waved, "You should do your homework. Go search on a video website or local BBS. Use keywords like Amazing Fate, stunt and cat. You should be able to find something. Facts speak louder than words."
If it was a few days ago, she would not believe a word he said. However, even her father told her about the cat stunts, which made her curious.
"Are you serious? How did you train the cats?" She continued questioning.
Zhang Zian’s nose was in the air, "It’s our family’s secret method!"
"Bullsh*t! I have never heard about that."
"Well, cat and dog training has been around since ancient times. It is a part of the Chinese culture. Don’t you agree?" Zhang Zian stated his theory in a big way.
Sun Xiaomeng knew him well enough now, "Well, stop playing your tricks on me. I am smarter than that. Pet training in ancient times had never made it to official history records. There are some stories about training cats to steal or even kill people. Those kinds of stories are not only popular in China, but in many other countries as well. There are many detective novels about pets killing people… don’t feel like you can fool me yet. I have never heard of any example of training cats in bulk."
She totally got the point. Animal training was mostly a one-on-one activity. There were a lot of stories about how people trained their pets to extremely smart. Those people trained their pets to serve them, for instance, stealing, killing or sending messages. They didn’t train those smart pets to sell.
"It is up to you if you believe me. It is a family secret," Zhang Zian was thick-skinned so he insisted.
He knew there was no way he could explain everything to her. The more she knew, the more confused she would get. So, let it be.
In the modern world, information spread so quickly that it was almost like a virus. If more people knew that his cats knew stunts, he would get more questions.
The only way he could get by was to insist it was a family secret that he could not reveal to other people. The secret could only be passed along by teaching in person. There wasn’t any documentation.
Training pets was nothing serious. He should be fine.
Sun Xiaomeng could do nothing about him. She shook her head and said, "Okay. Fine."
Zhang Zian was relieved. Frankly, he could not handle any more questions from her. He quickly changed the subject and said, "Look, my business is doing quite well. How about the membership discount matter?"
She said as she rolled up the window, "I will think about it." She took off.
Sun Xiaomeng decided to do her homework first and figure out what to do.
She got to her store in a few seconds, parked the car and jumped off.
"Hey, beautiful! Morning!’’
The owner of the auto parts store rolled up the curtain door. He was wearing a tank top. His belly was so big that his belly button was showing. The cool morning wind woke him up.
"Uncle Niu, good morning," she nodded.
"Well, how many time did I tell you? Don’t call me Uncle Niu. I have a mature face but I am only… a bit over 30 years old. Call me Brother Niu," the owner said and patted his belly.
"Okay, Uncle Niu. I have to go."
Uncle Niu was speechless. Was she even listening?
Sun Xiaomeng unlocked the clinic, put on the "open" sign and started her day.
She learned how to cure pets’ illnesses at school, but she never learned how to deal with annoying neighbors.
There are tons of advantages of being a woman but there are also plenty more troubles.
Whatever, it doesn’t help being sad. I should make more money and change to a better location.
She walked into her office and looked at her appointment table. The first appointment was at 10 o’clock. She had plenty of time.
She turned on the computer, she started searching using the keywords Amazing Fate, stunt and cat.
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