Pet King

Zhang Zian determined the grade and price of the granulated cat food with just a pinch, and at that moment, he felt like Sherlock Holmes. But when he glanced over at Vladimir, it didn’t seem to have any response to him.

At that moment, Zian thought of Wang Qian and Li Kun. With the two of them there, at least someone would’ve shouted “666…”

“Hey! You! What are you doing here?” A sharp and slightly hoarse female voice rang from the bamboo forest, and then a young woman in her twenties walked out and looked at him with doubtful eyes.

Her question had Zhang Zian in a blur. He felt strange when he responded, “Is this a military control zone? Is there a reason I can’t be here?”

The woman wore a gray suit. She had glasses on and a pair of sneakers that didn’t match her suit. Through Zhang Zian’s, who has been possessed by Holmes, observation, he found traces of red on her right fingertip, which of course, wasn’t blood. It seemed to be red ink.

Linking it to her outfit and Shimen Street Primary School that was just next to the bamboo forest, Zhang Zian made a Holmes-like guess: She was a teacher from Shimen Street Primary School.

A normal person’s fingers wouldn’t be stained with red ink; only primary and secondary school teachers, who often marked papers and homework, were likely to have it on their fingers.

Zhang Zian’s question had the female teacher stumped because Zian was right––they were in a public place, so theoretically, everyone had the right to come in. In desperation, however, she could only make something up. “I… I noticed that you were behaving suspiciously!”

The word “suspicious” was really popular that day. Zhang Zian felt countless sheep and alpacas gallop through his heart. He wondered if he didn’t check the almanac before he left that day… Why did everyone feel that he was behaving suspiciously?

The female teacher took a few steps forward and opened her arms in front of Vladimir, then she shouted, “You, be honest––were you planning to abuse this stray cat? Are you also the one responsible for the previous cat abuse incident?”

It was clear that she regarded Vladimir as a stray cat, which was not surprising. After all, only a handful of people brought their pet cats out for a walk, and the cats that were met outside were usually stray cats. Not to mention that Vladimir’s body was covered in dust and dirt, so no matter how one looked at it, it looked just like a stray cat.

Since the cat abuse incident that had occurred a few days ago, a screenshot of the dialogue between the teachers and the parents in their WeChat group had been circulated on the Internet by someone, causing an effect like that of a stone that in the water. Not only did the parents have to bear a lot of pressure, but even Shimen Street Primary School was also under pressure. Pet protectors had violently questioned on Weibo if such a school was even able to fulfill its responsibility of teaching and educating people.

The situation was complicated and the school couldn’t really say anything in response. The only thing they could do was bring together the teachers in the school and hold a meeting to enforce and emphasize the importance of stopping it so they could prevent future incidents. Otherwise, it would have too much impact on the reputation of the school.

With the commands from their superior, those beneath had to comply and execute the plan.

The teachers all grumbled. In addition to strengthening ideological education in the school, they now also had to sacrifice their own break time to patrol the bamboo forest during class or on the weekends. If they were to catch any students playing in the bamboo forest, they would advise them to leave.

The female teacher was a form teacher for a class, and today happened to be her turn on duty.

She was also very depressed with the situation. There was already a lot of pressure being a form teacher, and now she was stuck with patrolling the forest, too. Her wonderful weekend had been ruined.

As she was making her rounds, she just happened to see Zhang Zian crouch down suspiciously as he muttered to himself. There was a blue cat that she had never seen before right next to him, so she immediately linked him to the cat abuse incident. She thought to herself that the culprit for the cat abuse incident might not have actually been their student… Maybe it was him! If that speculation of hers were to be proven, that would mean that she had made a great achievement for the school.

The bamboo forest wasn’t very secluded, and from time to time, some people would pass by. Therefore, she mustered her courage and stepped forward to stop Zhang Zian.

Zhang Zian was utterly dumbfounded. He pointed at Vladimir, who was behind her, and said, “You have misunderstood. This is my cat… I brought it out for a walk.”

“Your cat?” The female teacher didn’t believe him. She quickly turned to look at Vladimir and said, “It doesn’t have a collar or a cat bell on. How can you prove that it’s your cat?”

“I…” Zhang Zian retorted, “No one has said anything about it being necessary for cats to put on a collar and bell, right?”

The female teacher stubbornly asked for him to provide proof. “If it’s your cat, you must have photos of it on your phone, right? I have never seen any cat owner that doesn’t take pictures of their cat.”

In fact, that wasn’t an outrageous request at all. In fact, it was actually really reasonable. There was probably only a handful of cat owners that didn’t take pictures of their cat, and Zhang Zian was one of them.

He hesitated, smiling, and said, “Although I haven’t taken a photo of it before, I can get it to respond to my instructions. If I tell it to go left, it will go to the left, and when I tell it to go right, it will go to the right.”

The female teacher’s face turned colder. “Do you think it’s a dog?”

Zhang Zian was speechless.

While the two of them were still in a stalemate, Zhang Zian heard the sound of footsteps behind him, and a sharp, childish voice said, “Ms. Sun, this cat really is his. I can prove it.”

When Zian turned back to look, Wang Yaning was running towards them. She ran up to the female teacher, then positioned herself with her feet close together and did a military salutation. Her arms stood out under the sunlight.

It was clear that the greeting had a positive impact on the female teacher, as Wang Yaning’s likability increased drastically. She smiled and asked, “What class are you in at our school?”

Wang Yaning shook her head. “My name is Wang Yaning and I’m a member of the Young Pioneers Committee and also a part of the Class Committee at Zhonghua Road Primary School.”

Zhang Zian was stupefied. His days in the Young Pioneers Committee was already the peak of his political career. He had never expected for Wang Yaning’s political specs to crush him!

“Oh?” Ms. Sun was surprised. “So how did you know that my surname is Sun?”

In front of Zhang Zian, Wang Yaning had always been filled with contempt, but now, she had changed into an obedient little girl. She smiled and said, “About half a month ago I came to your school to participate in the Young Pioneers activities and I got the chance to meet you at the event. Your profound knowledge and fluent speech left me with an unforgettable impression––especially the way you managed the class in an orderly manner. It was much better than the other form teachers! Even after we went back, my classmates and I were filled with praises for you!”

Holy sh*t! Zhang Zian’s eyeballs almost popped out from their sockets. D*mn, that bootlicker! No wonder she was the favorite student of Little Celery’s form teacher. She was such a sovereign-like existence in their class…

No one hated words of flattery, and even when she knew that it was fake, Ms. Sun was completely elated. Almost immediately, she regarded Wang Yaning as her own, and now, the boring duty that had been going on for half a day was worth it…

Vladimir looked at him with a faint smile on its face, meaning to say, “Didn’t I say that she had a bright future ahead of her?”