Pet King

Liu Wenying and Welder Zhao lived in the Dongcheng District, not far from the pet shop. Now that Zhang Zian had a car, it wouldn’t take long to make a trip to see them.

“Master, what about the customer in the aquarium?” Li Kun asked.

“Explain the situation to them and ask him to wait another day. If Welder Zhao doesn’t take it, let’s deliver it to the customer’s door tomorrow at the discounted price,” Zhang Zian said.

“Okay.” Li Kun nodded and returned next door.

Zhang Zian instructed Lu Yiyun and others, then got in the car with the urn. He headed to Liu Wenying’s residential area first. It was inappropriate to visit him with an urn.

Before he drove away, he sent a WeChat message to Zhao Qi, telling her that he was about to deliver the cat’s ashes to Liu Wenying. He also asked how Liu Wenying was doing lately.

It was a working hour, but Zhao Qi replied quickly, saying there was no sign of disease after a few days’ rest. Liu Wenying’s mood was getting better, but to be safe, little Yue Yue was sent to her grandma’s place for a few days. Besides, the event was kept a secret to Liu Wenying’s relatives––gossip could really hurt people. Many people freaked out at the mention of infectious diseases, especially a very deadly one.

Zhao Qi didn’t know anything further. She had been working a lot recently, so she could not visit her at night. She could only greet her online, but she was sure that Liu Wenying had been staying at home. Zhang Zian should be able to find her as long as he visited.

After receiving the news, Zhang Zian was relieved. His biggest concern was finding the house empty after making the trip.

He started the engine, then drove towards the residential area of Liu Wenying and Zhao Qi.

Rush hour had passed. There were not many pedestrians or cars on the street. The traffic was light, so he arrived at the residential area soon.

It was a residential area that was built around ten years ago, so it was neither new nor old. There didn’t seem to be underground parking area in the building, so all cars were parked outside. The security was not as tight as new residential areas.

Zhang Zian had never been there before. He slowed down the car and searched for Liu Wenying’s building according to the numbers, while he tried to avoid pedestrians.

Most of his focus was on the buildings. He passed by one of the pedestrians. After taking a glance in the rearview mirror, he realized the silhouette was Liu Wenying’s.

Zhang Zian stopped the car immediately, then rolled down the window and asked behind him, “Wenying?”

The person stopped and looked back. It was Liu Wenying herself.

“Oh, it’s Zhang. What are you doing here?” Liu Wenying seemed to be a bit lost. She only recognized him after staring at his face for a few seconds. She smiled reluctantly.

Liu Wenying seemed very tired. Her hair was messy and she looked as if she had aged a few years.

Zhang Zian thought she was heading out for groceries, but then noticed it didn’t seem to be so. Nobody would go to the grocery store with a steel bat in their hands… It was as if she was about to rob the supermarket.

“Big Sister Wenying, are you going for… baseball?” he asked hesitantly.

“Baseball?” She paused as she heard it, then followed his eyes to the bat in her hand. “No, I don’t know how to play baseball. This is the bat my husband keeps in his car to protect himself… You never know what might happen outside. Keeping a bat in the car is useful to protect yourself, and the police won’t mistake it as a dangerous weapon.”

Zhang Zian had sensed that her mood was indeed unstable, and her eyes had lost focus. She didn’t answer questions when she was asked, which made him worried about her.

“Big Sister Wenying, do you have anyone else at home? Let me send you back,” he said.

“No. I have other things to do.” She shook her head firmly, then glanced around and held the baseball bat tighter. “I’ll find that stray cat that scratched Fluffy and I’ll kill it so that it will stop harming more lives!”

Ever since the first day that Zhang Zian had met Liu Wenying, he knew that she was a very kind, gentle, and mature lady. While she uttered the words, however, her eyes were filled with a rarely seen anger. Her gnawing teeth made her cheeks look skinny and mean and her eyes sparkled with hatred.

As soon as he saw the bat he had kind of guessed her intentions, but the confirmation uttered from her mouth still made him astonished. Apparently, the Siamese cat’s death was too much of a shock to her. The fact that she almost got rabies and lost her entire family was too terrifying. In the end, she vented all her anger on that stray cat that scratched the Siamese cat.

Zhang Zian didn’t know how to make her feel better. As he was feeling puzzled, someone spoke behind him, “Big Sister Wenying? Who is this guy? Do you know him?” Their tone was a little rough and unfriendly.

As Zhang Zian looked back, he saw a strong man about as old as him, around 1.9 meters tall, and weighing about 95 kilograms. It was still cold, but he was wearing a short sleeve t-shirt and a blue denim shirt hung casually on his shoulder. The tight t-shirt brought out the perfect curves of his abdomen.

He glanced at Zhang Zian, whom he had never met, with a skeptical face.

Liu Wenying hurried to introduce them. “This is my friend; he came over to visit me. A Hui, how’s everything on your end?”

A Hui was still cautious about Zhang Zian. He answered, “We’ve looked everywhere, but didn’t find the mad cat.”

“Oh. Just go home then. It’s almost lunch time,” Liu Wenying said.

Although A Hui didn’t seem to be fond of him, Zhang Zian interrupted them and asked, “Are you looking for a mad cat?”

“Yeah… What? You have a problem with it?” A Hui’s tone was very hostile. He was a tall and strong man, very chivalrous and generous. Many knew him in the area.

“No, I’m just asking.” Zhang Zian came to deliver the ashes and was not to looking for trouble. He smiled. “I’m very curious. What kind of mad cat are you looking for?”

A Hui stared at him. “Since you are Big Sister Wenying’s friend, haven’t you heard about her tragedy lately? A mad cat carrying rabid scratched her cat. Then her cat died of rabies.”

“I know this. But…” Zhang Zian was interrupted before he could finish.

A Hui said indignantly, “A mad cat carrying rabies is loose in this residential area, and it scratches whoever it encounters. How is this acceptable? There are many elderly people walking in this area, and a lot of parents playing with young kids. If the mad cat can scratch a pet cat, then it can hurt the elderly and the kids, too! The adults are stronger, so they can get a rabies shot. But the elderly and the kids are weak. How can they bear a rabies shot?”

Liu Wenying sighed.

The day the incident happened, Snowy happened to be live broadcasting in his shop. 70 percent of Snowy’s fans were Binhai City locals. Bad news always traveled much faster than the good news. Soon, everybody knew about it. There was no way to hide it. Everybody knew there was a rabid, stray cat lurking in this area, and everyone panicked.

Nobody knew if the stray cat was dead or not. Nobody knew if it had passed on rabies to more stray cats before it died.

Some old men––or in fact, many old men––were very uneducated. There were many reports of the elderly forcing people to remove mobile base stations in their residential area simply because they were afraid of radiation. As a result, nobody could use cellphones in their residential areas.

If they could do that to invisible radiation, how could they not do something about a rabid cat in the residential area?

The elderly had their own ways of communication. After a brief discussion, they acted together with very high efficiency. At first, they called the city Dog Hunters, but they had told them they were only responsible to exterminate dogs, not cats.

Then, a few aggressive old men took the lead and organized the available young men to search for stray cats in the area. As soon as they found one, they killed one. One should never underestimate the old men’s ability to do big things. They had a lot of money and time. Plus, nobody wanted to get into trouble with them. They knew how to make good use of their age to rip off young people. Old men could be very scary if they got serious.

Zhang Zian could not stop himself from asking, “Do you know which stray cat has rabies? Besides, not all rabid cats are aggressive…”

“I don’t know, and I don’t need to know!” A Hui said in contempt. “We’ll just kill every one that we meet. Do you have a problem? If a mad cat hurts the elderly and the kids in the neighborhood, would you take responsibility?”

Zhang Zian was speechless. He wasn’t able to take such responsibility––nobody was.

For a sick cat that might not be alive, they made a simple and savage decision of killing every single stray cat in the neighborhood.

It was better to kill a thousand wrong ones than miss the right one.

Education would not work to them. They didn’t believe in the truth, nor did they care about the truth. They only wanted to solve a problem with the simplest solution. The law was useless to them.

Most residents in that area were nice people and thought their plan was a bad idea, but they chose to remain silent. It was impossible for them to speak out for the truth. Life was exhausting enough; nobody wanted an extra portion of trouble.

Not to mention that many people didn’t like pets at all. Cats and dogs more no different from bugs in their eyes, and their lives didn’t mean anything.

“Don’t kill anyone’s pet cat…” Liu Wenying said, sighing. “Some pet cats are naughty and often sneak out of the house. Don’t mistake a pet cat as a stray cat…”

“Big Sister Wenying, stop worrying about this! Just take good care of yourself! I suggest that you stop wandering outside with a bat. As far as I can see, you couldn’t bear to harm a stray cat even if you saw one. Just let us do it!” A Hui said, tapping his belly.

Liu Wenying bowed her head in sadness. The aggression that she faked against her true nature suddenly disappeared. “Okay. I’ll go home then. Thank you.”

She seemed troubled and lost, and was about to head home. She suddenly realized that Zhang Zian was still there. She had not yet asked what he was there for.

“Oh right, Zhang, I’m so confused. You are here today for…?”

Zhang Zian took out the urn from the car. “This is your cat’s ashes. I’m here to bring it to you.”