Daily Life in the Pet Shop Ch. 179

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"Naima, keep working on them. Take them out to play for a bit—I'll head to the backyard and make you guys something tasty," Fang Yi said, giving all three dogs a pat on the head before heading off.

Naiba perked up a lot after Naima comforted her, but still stuck to his side like glue. Pei Datou tried to follow Naima too, but Naiba chased him off. Of course, Naima wasn't going to let Naiba bully Pei Datou like that, so he turned around and said something to Naiba. Eventually, the two dogs followed him—one on the left, one on the right—as they trotted off to the backyard together.

By lunchtime, Fang Yi had just finished steaming the corn buns. Since both Naiba and Pei Datou had been through a rough time, Fang Yi gave them each an extra bun. Naiba noticed Naima really liked the corn buns, so she picked one up from her own bowl and dropped it into his. The buns were freshly steamed, smelled amazing, and tasted pretty good too. Pei Datou was loving it—after scarfing down his two buns, he even went to Pei Daniu's bowl and stole half a bun from her.

"Uncle! Uncle!" Duoduo came over hugging a chubby little puppy and looked up at Fang Yi. "Can I keep this puppy?"

The puppy had already been weaned and was pretty clean. It was one of the ones meant to be adopted out anyway, so Fang Yi didn't really have a problem with Duoduo taking it. But there were some things he felt needed to be said first. "These dogs are super cute when they're small and chubby, but they might not stay that way when they grow up. You guys need to think this through—especially Duoduo. If she thinks it's not cute anymore once it grows up, that could be a problem."

Fang Yi totally got that little kids love cute animals, but this was a Chinese rural dog breed—they weren't exactly considered 'pretty' when they got bigger. If Duoduo started to dislike it later, the poor dog would be heartbroken.

"She won't. They'll grow up together, and Duoduo would never ditch it. Plus, even when it's grown, it'll still be cute," Tang Jingyi chimed in from the side.

"If you're sure, then head over to the front desk and register. I'll have Xiao Yue get you everything you'll need for the puppy. But just so you know—if you guys ever decide not to keep it anymore, you can bring it back here. Just don't expect to adopt anything from us again in the future." Fang Yi figured Tang Jingyi didn't seem like the type to flake, but he still felt he needed to be upfront about it.

"I know, I know. You guys do regular home visits too, right? Just call me ahead of time and send Xiao Yue over to my place," Tang Jingyi said. She'd been following this pet shop for years and knew how things worked.

"Alright." Fang Yi nodded.

"You keep an eye on Duoduo for me. I'm gonna go check if my husband's managed to tame that cat yet." Tang Jingyi was having a blast playing with all the cats and dogs in the backyard—she'd pretty much teased every single one of them. She'd gotten so into it, she'd almost forgotten that Tian Yanming was still trying to talk to that little stray cat.

"Uncle, what's this puppy's name? What does it eat? Do you think it'll like me?" Duoduo asked, bouncing around Fang Yi's side.

"If you like it and treat it well, it'll like you too," Fang Yi said, adjusting the way Duoduo was holding the puppy. Then he explained a few basic things she should watch out for when raising a dog.

Duoduo was still pretty young, so she probably wouldn't remember much. Fang Yi focused on stuff kids tended to mess up, and Duoduo nodded seriously the whole time—though who knew how much of it had actually sunk in.

Tian Jingyi came downstairs with Pei Sisi, and that's when Fang Yi finally remembered she was still around—he'd actually thought she left already.

"Shop manager, are all these little animals rescued by Naima? How come every animal Naima brings back is injured?" Pei Sisi looked around the second floor, which housed twenty to thirty injured cats and dogs. A lot of them looked like they'd just arrived. She was confused about where Naima was even finding so many hurt animals.

"Not all of them were rescued by Naima. It's a busy park—sometimes people accidentally hurt the animals. And some of them are brought here by other people," Fang Yi explained. His pet shop had already built up quite a reputation. A lot of folks would reach out through Weibo or just show up at the store when they found strays. Stray animals often didn't know how to take care of themselves out there, so they'd end up with all kinds of minor issues.

"Who pays for their treatment?" Pei Sisi asked. These animals not only needed food and shelter—they also needed medical care, which couldn't be cheap.

"No one does. These animals don't have owners. Who are we supposed to charge?" Fang Yi gave her a look like she was a little slow. That answer should've been obvious.

"That must cost a lot though," Pei Sisi said, still hung up on the money.

"It's not too bad. Most of these injuries are fairly minor. Back in the day, there was a psycho around here who liked abusing animals. The ones we saved from him were in much worse shape. Those were the ones that cost a lot and were harder to treat." Fang Yi's face darkened as he thought about those cases. Even the ones they managed to save still carried scars that couldn't be healed.

"I know—Peanut and Melon Seed, right? They had it so rough. Melon Seed's such a good cat though, taking care of Peanut like that."

Fang Yue had already told Tang Jingyi about Peanut and Melon Seed. It wasn't just how tragic their backstory was—it was the way Melon Seed looked after Peanut that really got to her. When she came over this time, she made sure to visit them. Peanut couldn't walk, but it was still in great spirits—super gentle and friendly. When it saw her, it even came up to say hi. That nearly made Tang Jingyi cry on the spot.

"Peanut and Melon Seed? What happened? Can you take me to see them?" Pei Sisi noticed Tang Jingyi looked like she was about to cry, so she figured the two cats must have a story behind them.

"The shop owner rescued them from some awful person. They were barely alive when they got here. Luckily, they pulled through, but they were really badly hurt. Melon Seed is blind in one eye, and Peanut can't use his back legs anymore—both of them are disabled. But Melon Seed still takes care of Peanut every single day. Melon Seed brings Peanut food, carries him outside to sunbathe... Peanut's grown to be about the same size as Melon Seed now, and Melon Seed is still doing it all. No idea where Melon Seed gets the strength." Tang Jingyi finished her story and grabbed a tissue to wipe her eyes.

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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