Daily Life in the Pet Shop Ch. 177

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"I'm serious. I majored in finance. Starting a fund? Piece of cake. So how about it—want to hire me?"

"I can't afford you. Your salary could buy me a mountain of dog food." Fang Yi frowned. The money for the fund hadn't even been raised yet, and here he was, being asked to spend it already. No thanks.

"What if I don't want a salary? Will you hire me then?" This was the first time anyone had calculated her salary in bags of dog food. It was honestly kind of impressive—this guy really was a pet shop owner through and through.

"No salary? Then I definitely won't hire you. You'd just be doing it for fun. What if you lose interest and leave halfway? I'd be stuck cleaning up the mess."

"You're unbelievable! I'm offering free help, and you're still turning me down? Come on, Pei Daniu, let's go!" Huffing, Pei Sisi turned to storm out with Pei Daniu in tow—but the dog didn't cooperate. She didn't want to leave.

"I kind of get where the shop manager's coming from," Tang Jingyi said, stepping forward. "You're busy. Helping out now and then is one thing, but if you had to come every day, it'd be a huge waste of your time. Don't be mad."

"With my degree, people would line up to hire me. And he's just... rejecting me?" Pei Sisi was clearly miffed. She felt like Fang Yi seriously lacked vision.

"He never says nice things. Don't take it personally," Ning Feng added with a shrug. Then he turned to Fang Yi. "If you're serious about setting up a fund, I'll help you find someone. And if it gets off the ground, I'll help promote it."

"Sorry, I don't sugarcoat things. Hope you're not offended." Fang Yi still thought he had a point, but for Pei Daniu's sake, he figured an apology wouldn't hurt. If Pei Sisi got mad and stopped bringing the dog around, Naima would be heartbroken.

"It's fine. I was just messing around anyway." After a bit of persuasion from Tang Jingyi, Pei Sisi calmed down. Fang Yi had a point—she couldn't realistically commit to helping out every day. And if he actually set up a fund, it wouldn't be profitable, and his influence wasn't big enough to attract a lot of donors. Honestly, the whole idea felt too small-scale for her to get excited about.

"Uncle, uncle, can we go see the puppies and kittens now? Mommy said I can pick one!" Duoduo looked back and forth between the adults impatiently. Her mom had promised she could choose a puppy to bring home, but the grown-ups had been chatting forever and still hadn't taken her to see any.

"Alright, let's go meet the pups," Fang Yi said with a smile, getting to his feet and leading the group outside. Pei Sisi said she hadn't seen the second floor yet and decided to tag along. Pei Haoyan and Ning Feng stayed behind, making sure to tell Fang Yi to take all the people and dogs out with him. Only Pei Datou and Naiba were allowed to stay in the room.

It was pretty much impossible for Fang Yi to sneak Naima out unnoticed—Naiba was sitting loyally right next to him. So Fang Yi didn't say anything, just patted Naima lightly, signaling for him to follow. As expected, Naiba immediately got up and trotted along behind him.

"You two—keep your dogs in check," Pei Datou got up and followed Naima after seeing him leave. Fang Yi could call Naima over, but getting rid of the other two was a whole different story.

Before Fang Yi could protest, Ning Feng and Pei Haoyan jumped into action, grabbing the two dogs and forcing them to stay behind. As soon as Fang Yi stepped out, they slammed the door shut.

Pei Sisi headed off by herself once they reached the second floor, saying she just wanted to wander and didn't need a tour. Fang Yi gave her a quick rundown of the do's and don'ts, then let her be.

He took Tian Yanming to see the stray kitten first. Unfortunately, they were just in time to catch a visit from the kitten's brother—a near-identical cat sat outside the cage, quietly watching its sibling inside. When it saw Fang Yi approach, it shot him a glance, then silently turned and ran off. Fang Yi noticed it was holding a mouse in its mouth—probably bringing food for the kitten.

"That was... the same cat?" Tian Yanming was caught off guard. For a second, he thought the kitten had escaped, and he got a bit too excited. Now it was gone—how was he supposed to bond with it?

"That's its brother," Fang Yi explained, bringing him over to the cage. The little stray sat calmly inside, tail curled neatly around its front paws. Even as they approached, it didn't budge, eyes fixed on the spot where its brother had vanished.

"It has a brother, huh? Also really pretty." Tian Yanming turned to glance in the same direction.

"Let's worry about this one first." Fang Yi handed him the cage, along with a bag of cat food and some water. He then helped him find a quiet spot upstairs where he could spend some time bonding with the kitten. The whole family had come today—hopefully the kitten would agree to go home with them.

"Wait," Fang Yi said quickly, seeing Tian Yanming start to reach into the cage. "That stray hasn't had a bath in over two months—it's filthy and probably crawling with fleas. Be careful."

"It's okay." Tian Yanming gave him a warm smile and gently lifted the kitten onto his lap anyway. Still, he was a bit wary about it, and asked Fang Yi to take Duoduo elsewhere, just in case she caught fleas.

"Uncle, I heard from Mommy you have sooo many animals! Can I go see them?" Despite Fang Yi's intimidating looks, Tang Jingyi had kept telling Duoduo he was a good person, so she wasn't scared of him at all now.

"Shop manager, can you show me your backyard too? Xiao Yue has told me so much about it," Tang Jingyi said, holding Duoduo's hand.

"You know Xiao Yue?" Fang Yi blinked. He didn't remember Fang Yue mentioning this woman before.

"We're internet friends! Never met in person, but we chat a lot on Weibo. We're pretty close. She's told me a lot about this place. I even saw her earlier when I got here, but someone came to find her, so she left." Tang Jingyi wasn't just a follower of the Chinese Farmyard Pet Shop's Weibo—she had also helped Fang Yue match several pets with adoptive families when she posted about them online.

"Alright then, I'll take you to the backyard," Fang Yi said as he crouched down to talk to Duoduo. "It's a bit of a walk, so how about Uncle carries you there?"

Duoduo turned to look at Tang Jingyi, who gave her a reassuring nod.

"There are a lot of animals back there, and she's still so little—hope it doesn't scare her," Fang Yi muttered with concern. Honestly, he wasn't worried she'd be scared—he was worried she'd scare the animals. She looked about two or three years old, and if she started chasing the animals around, the whole backyard would be chaos.

All credit goes to the original author
Feel free to pinpoint us if there are any grammar error or typos
Please don't use Guazi's translation to re-translate in other languages

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