Pet King

Petite bourgeoisie, also known as petty bourgeoisie, pointed to a western lifestyle––a pursuit of inner experience, materialism, and spiritual enjoyment. The phrase “Petite Bourgeoisie” was very old, and it had been popular in China since the first half of the last century. But in recent years, the term hadn’t been used much.

Vladimir seemed to have a bad first impression of Zhao Qi, as it bluntly ridiculed her exquisite lifestyle. It just couldn’t understand her style, where she would constantly mention unpopular restaurants, concerts, and romance films.

But it was no surprise. After all, Vladimir had almost no pursuit of material enjoyment. It had repeatedly refused Zhang Zian’s proposal to make a small bed for it, and when it was sleepy, it could just sleep anywhere. Its lifestyle was the complete opposite of Zhao Qi’s lifestyle.

Moreover, Zhang Zian was aware that Zhao Qi’s petite bourgeoisie lifestyle was based on her credit card, which was in overdraft. It may have looked like she was living well, but when her credit card bill arrived, she was going to cry.

Zhao Qi still found it weird, because she had the impression that she was the type cats were attracted to. For ordinary cats that saw her, even if they didn’t come over and rub themselves on her leg, at the very least, they didn’t show such open disgust. It made her feel very hurt. She didn’t know how she had offended it.

There could have been another possibility, which was that Zhang Zian had deliberately trained it to act in such a way just so she would embarrass herself… As long as he was willing to go through the effort of training it, he could definitely have pulled it off.

Zhang Zian noticed that something was wrong based on the look in her eyes. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Why the hell are you here? And you’ve brought a cat along,” she said coldly.

“I’m here to visit Liu Wenying. Is she home?”

Zian didn’t know how he had offended her. Why was she so mad?

“I’m not too sure about that. She should be… Did you not call before coming down?” she asked snappily.

Zhang Zian didn’t necessarily have to see Liu Wenying, but he just happened to have time.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll go up and take a look. If she’s not home, then I’ll just come back down again,” he said casually. Then he asked Vladimir again, “Do you want to go up with me? We’ll be taking the elevator, so there’s no need to climb the stairs.”

Vladimir looked at Zian, then looked at Zhao Qi. It shook its head. “I’ll stay down here and take a look around.”

Zhang Zian knew that Vladimir didn’t want to be in the same elevator as Zhao Qi, so he didn’t force it to come along. He let it play around the community.

Zhao Qi said, “…Are you talking to the cat?”

“Haven’t you spoken to Lan Lan?” Zhang Zian asked her back.

“I have, but…” Zhao Qi had talked to Lan Lan often, but… something just felt weird.

Zhang Zian took a gift out of the car. After all, it wasn’t good to visit empty-handed. He then walked into the elevator and pressed the button for Liu Wenying’s floor. “Are you coming? If you’re not then I’ll head up first.”

Zhao Qi came back to her senses and quickly ran into the elevator. She pressed the button for her own floor.

The elevator door closed and began to go up.

“Right, you’re really leaving the cat outside?” Zhao Qi asked in surprise.

“Don’t worry. It won’t run away.” Zhang Zian wasn’t bothered at all.

“No, I wasn’t talking about that…” Zhao Qi knew that he had misunderstood, so she reminded him, “Since Furry––Sister Wenying’s cat––the people in the community have been chasing stray cats away with clubs. They say that they’re doing that to prevent the stray cats from spreading rabies. I don’t even dare to take Lan Lan out for a walk anymore… So, you leave your cat behind, and it also doesn’t have a collar to prove that it’s a domestic cat. Wouldn’t there be… danger?”

After Zhao Qi brought it up, Zhang Zian remembered that he had also encountered a big and tall young man who was looking for stray cats around the community in an aggressive manner. He claimed that he would kill one if he saw one. Not only that, but the old ladies in the community with too much time on their hands were also spreading around that stray cats were dangerous. They said that the stray cats would bite the elderly, bite children, and bite pregnant women. What would they do when they contracted rabies?

At that time, Zian didn’t agree with their “rather kill a thousand innocents than let one off” method, but a weak arm couldn’t win against a strong thigh. He had to have a death wish if he planned to go against them alone.

He started to feel unsure. Would Vladimir be okay downstairs alone?

But he soon changed his mind and thought that he was worrying too much. Vladimir’s vigilance was very high, and it was also always prepared for a battle… Not to mention that it had the courage to go to battle, and was good at fighting. It couldn’t be compared to ordinary stray cats.

“Thanks for reminding me, but I think that it’ll be okay,” said Zian.

Instead of worrying about Vladimir, it was better to worry about the humans. He hoped that Vladimir wouldn’t go too far with its Meow-Meow Doctrine iron fist… That was a punch that could even crash the game!

“It’s up to you.” Zhao Qi shrugged her shoulders.

The elevator stopped at Liu Wenying’s floor, and Zhang Zian left the elevator. He was finally free from the perfume.

He confirmed the house number, then pressed the doorbell, and cleared his throat.

“Who is it?” a muted response came from behind the door. It sounded like Liu Wenying was home.

“It’s me, Zhang Zian, from the Amazing Fate Pet Shop,” Zian said loudly.

“Coming––coming!” With a click, the door opened. “Oh, it’s Xiao Zhang. How did you find the time to come over? Quick, come on in.” Liu Wenying was surprised, but she still passionately invited him into the house.

They hadn’t met for a while, and Liu Wenying’s face was a lot more languished. It was obvious that she had been deeply hurt by the loss of her beloved cat.

Yue Yue stuck her tiny head out from behind the door. She looked tense and in a blur.

“Sister Wenying, sorry for dropping by without any notice. I was visiting a customer nearby, so I took the chance to come over here.” Zhang Zian laughed. He then waved at Yue Yue and said, “Yue Yue, do remember the handsome Brother Store Manager?”

Yue Yue did seem to remember him. She stared at his face for a while before she murmured, “The cat seller…”

“Yes, I sell cats. This is really a world that looks at appearances!” Zhang Zian was pleased, then he brought out the gift that he had hidden behind him. “Yue Yue, this doll is for you. Do you like it?”

The gift he had prepared was a limited edition Berlin bear doll that he had brought back from the Berlin Film Festival. It was no longer in production. Zhao Qi had tried to ask him for it several times in the elevator, with both threats and promises, but he had turned all of them down.

Seeing the cute Berlin bear doll that was wearing a red scarf, Yue Yue’s eyes lit up. She ran up to hug it, and didn’t want to let it go.

“Hey, you’re just here to visit. You didn’t have to bring a gift…” Liu Wenying noticed that the Berlin bear’s bag was full of German words, and she recalled that Zhang Zian had gone to Germany to receive the prize. She figured that it was a souvenir that he had brought back with him, which meant that it was definitely not cheap.

“Yue Yue, quick, thank uncle,” Liu Wenying said as she rubbed Yue Yue’s tiny head.

“Thank you, uncle,” Yue Yue said childishly. She immediately hugged the Berlin bear and scurried back to her room to play.

Liu Wenying looked at her daughter’s back and sighed. “I haven’t seen her so happy in a long time…”