Liu Shuo’s pet shop didn’t seem to have been open for long.
Xu Ye knew about this shop because someone in the community owners’ group once posted a fur-trimming package, asking if anyone wanted to split the cost.
The store offered a variety of services. In addition to daily necessities, grooming, and boarding—common services—there were also niche options like matchmaking, photography, and pet detective work.
Liu Shuo explained that the pet detective service was to help find lost cats and dogs, though he would prefer that this service remained unused.
Aside from the busy service area, the rest area was also filled with customers waiting for their pets.
Weekends brought in more traffic than weekdays, and as the shop owner, Liu Shuo was extremely busy, managing only a few words with Xu Ye before answering a call and leaving.
“Are pet shops usually this busy?”, Xu Ye had seen videos of pet shop employees before, and they always seemed much happier than her fellow office workers.
Huo Shuyan glanced at Liu Shuo, who hurriedly walked away, and lightly nodded. At this point, he was far less stiff, his arms naturally resting by his sides.
“His shop has been open for three years. It used to be in the southern part of the city and was even busier back then.”
He told Xu Ye that Liu Shuo had opened the pet shop purely out of passion. Managing the purchase of grooming products, pet food, and handling all the pets’ needs was time-consuming, laborious, and expensive.
At the start, due to his lack of experience, a rival shop once sent a dying dog to him. When the dog died, they turned around and blamed Liu Shuo, forcing him to pay a hefty compensation.
But these setbacks didn’t diminish Liu Shuo’s love for the pet industry.
Because he kept taking in stray animals, the shop was operating at a loss for a long time. It was only thanks to the financial support from his parents that the shop stayed open.
On top of that, Liu Shuo had developed rashes on his hands due to allergies, which left a dense array of pale red marks that still hadn’t faded.
Over time, as he gained more experience, customers gradually came to trust the shop. The shop gained a good reputation, and many customers were also drawn by Liu Shuo’s good looks. People willing to adopt stray cats and dogs often chose his shop as their first stop, helping the business slowly turn around.
The banners and photographs hanging on the wall confirmed what Huo Shuyan said. Most businesses are in it for profit, but Liu Shuo’s uncompromising attitude toward taking in stray cats and dogs could only be described as selfless.
Earlier, Xu Ye had agreed to come purely out of politeness and curiosity about the stray cat incident. Now, out of admiration for their charitable efforts, she began to seriously observe the shop.
As she looked around, Xu Ye couldn’t help but think that people like Huo Shuyan, who worked with pets, seemed to have a remarkably easy way of communicating with the cats on the forum.
Huo Shuyan brought Xu Ye to the grooming area, where a groomer was skillfully trimming the fur of a mostly black dog with a few patches of white.
Amid the mingling sounds of people and dogs, Huo Shuyan kept his voice at a suitable volume, “This breed is called a Schnauzer, a name derived from German, meaning ‘mustache’.”
“What a fitting name.”, Xu Ye squatted down, making eye contact with the Schnauzer’s bright, grape-like eyes.
The dog had short, round legs, and its fur made its face look like a little old man’s.
But the long fur on its face didn’t detract from its handsome appearance. To Xuye, it looked like the kind of dog that naturally seemed very clever.
She even got to witness a corgi’s heart-shaped butt being groomed. The corgi was extremely well-behaved, and its once messy fur was neatly trimmed by the groomer, leaving its bouncy, heart-shaped backside irresistibly cute.
The corgi’s owner was beside it, happily poking at its butt. Xuye refrained from touching but, after getting permission, took a few photos with her phone.
She didn’t see the stray cats that had been rescued near their apartment complex. Huo Shuyan explained that they were still at the pet hospital and would be brought here in a couple of days.
“Hey, Xiao Huo is here today too?”, someone called out to Huo Shuyan just as the corgi left.
A girl carrying a giant orange cat came over, playfully ruffling the cat’s head while giving Xu Ye a curious look.
“Is this your girlfriend, Xiao Huo?”
Xu Ye froze for a moment, then, realizing the girl was referring to her, quickly waved her hands, “No, he’s my junior from school.”
The girl drew out a long “Ohhh” and said, “This is the first time I’ve seen Xiao Huo giving explanations of dog breeds to a girl here in the shop. Usually, when we ask him to introduce things, he refuses outright.”
“I’m not a formal employee here,” Huo Shuyan replied, pulling up his already properly positioned mask, “It’s better to leave the explanations to the professionals.”
The girl gave Huo Shuyan a knowing look and loudly said to Xu Ye, “Goodbye, senior!” before dragging her orange cat away.
Xu Ye found the girl adorable and replied with a smile, “Goodbye, junior!”
Xu Ye didn’t notice that after those two sentences, Huo Shuyan’s ears turned even redder.
After touring the small cat villas that Huo Shuyan and Liu Shuo had built, Xu Ye felt she had stayed in the pet shop for too long and decided it was time to head home.
She pulled out her phone to check the time, trying to figure out a polite way to say goodbye to Huo Shuyan.
“I’m going to grab food at the community entrance. Want to come? It’s on the way,” Huo Shuyan spoke first before Xu Ye could think of the right words.
She immediately agreed, following along with his suggestion, and the two headed toward the community entrance together.
Xu Ye appreciated this junior of hers, he was polite, considerate, and observant.
“Why do you take in the stray cats at Fuli Mansion?”
Xu Ye wanted to know how they got in touch with the “Boss,” so she picked a relatively casual question to see if she could get any information.
Huo Shuyan replied naturally, “We heard that there are many stray cats at Fuli Mansion Community, so we developed a rescue plan. Later, we’ll also take in stray animals from other nearby communities.”
Xu Ye didn’t get any information about “Boss” or the forum from him. But it made sense; she was just his senior in the same major under the same advisor, so there was no reason for him to spill all his secrets.
They went to a jiaozi shop found along the way. After placing her order, Xu Ye took out her phone.[mfn]Tl’s note: Jiaozi or potsticker, a type of Chinese dumpling that is crescent-shaped and are pan-fried first and then steamed.[/mfn]
The moment she unlocked it, she fell silent, staring at the merchant’s payment code.
She was so used to carrying her old phone that the new one—with the SIM card and payment features—was sitting quietly on her coffee table at home.
Standing beside her, Huo Shuyan didn’t glance at her screen.
He simply noticed her slightly awkward expression and paid for both of their meals.
“I’ll pay for both of us,” Huo Shuyan showed the payment confirmation to the shopkeeper and pulled out a chair for Xu Ye, signaling her to sit and wait for their food.
Feeling embarrassed, Xu Ye explained, “Sorry, I brought the wrong phone today. This one doesn’t have a SIM card, so I can’t pay. Send me your Feixin ID, and I’ll pay you back as soon as I get home.”
“No need, it’s on me.” Huo Shuyan felt he shouldn’t take her money and even refused her request to add him as a contact.
But Xu Ye had ordered a large jiaozi set with side dishes, and she felt it was impolite for Huo Shuyan to pay 60 yuan for her. After her persistent request, Huo Shuyan finally gave her his Feixin ID.
The two parted ways at the community entrance. Huo Shuyan only turned to leave after watching Xu Ye safely enter the complex.
As soon as she got home, Xu Ye entered Huo Shuyan’s ID and sent a friend request.
His profile picture was a cartoon black cat with yellow eyes. Although it was an animated image, Xu Ye felt it inexplicably resembled the cat she had seen at the unit entrance the other night.
Xu Ye didn’t think it was a coincidence that Huo Shuyan used a black cat as his profile picture. After all, he was the human contact for the “Boss” of the stray cats.
Maybe that cat was his. Perhaps her accidental visit to the forum that day was related to the black cat.
As she mulled this over, Huo Shuyan accepted her friend request.
Quickly, she transferred 60 yuan and sent a spinning-cat emoji.
[Ye: Thanks for today.]
[Ye: (Spinning Cat.jpg)]
Huo Shuyan just as quickly refunded the money.
[hsy: No need, senior. You can treat me next time.]
While tallying up cat food inventory, Liu Shuo glanced at Huo Shuyan as he sent the message, then squatted down with peace of mind to cut open another box of dog food.
He couldn’t understand what was going on in Huo Shuyan’s head. Xu Ye had asked to add him as a friend, yet this blockhead had almost refused.
With a solemn tone, Liu Shuo said, “Chasing a girl is a skill. You treat her this time, she treats you next time—there’s a natural exchange. Of course, next time, you’ll treat her again. Got it?”
Looking like a sulky little cat, Huo Shuyan muttered reluctantly, “Got it.”
Xu Ye saved his contact as “Junior—Huo Shuyan” and ended the chat, claiming she was going for a nap.
Huo Shuyan’s Moments in his social media feed were completely empty. Xu Ye, who had gone in with a bowl and come out empty-handed, didn’t get any useful information.
She figured looking through Huo Shuyan’s Moments was less helpful than checking the Cat-Dog Alliance forum.
A night and morning passed, and many new posts had appeared on the forum. Xu Ye scrolled all the way to the bottom and started reading upwards.
Whether it was in the cat section or dog section, the most common posts late at night were about pets snoring:
[My big bro snores so loudly I couldn’t sleep all night.]
[My big bro snores and even shut the bedroom door. Who understands the pain of staring at the ceiling till dawn?]
[This annoying woman snored all night and finally, when I was about to fall asleep at dawn, she yanked me up and asked why I was so tired.]
[Any medics here? This guy held my ear and whispered sleep talk all night. I think I’ve gone deaf.]
There were also complaints about owners stepping on pets while going to the bathroom at night, nearly sending them to the afterlife.
One post stood out: a pet was stuffed into a bag as an umbrella by a half-asleep owner and only rescued during a subway security check.
Xu Ye also noticed a post that seemed related to the corgi she had seen in the shop: [My freshly groomed butt is so cute, I want to take a bite out of it.]
[2F: Get lost! I’m eating here!!!]
While scrolling, Xu Ye realized the forum interface seemed to have been updated. Besides the larger font size for posts, the “experience” column was now listed separately.
She didn’t know what the levels were for, but as a seasoned forum user, she had a natural obsession with leveling up.
Posting earned 5 experience points, while each comment gave 1 point, with a daily cap of 5 comments.
Yesterday, Xu Ye had left two comments on David’s post and had only 2 experience points.
To rack up points, she mimicked other users’ tones and left comments under two casual posts.
The forum now displayed an “experience +1” message for each comment. Once she hit the daily cap of 5 points, she finally reached level 2.
The forum was very basic, with no “featured,” “check-in,” or “share” functions, meaning users couldn’t earn extra points through those features.
As a veteran forum user, Xu Ye knew that gaining experience without posting was a necessary skill.
Just as she finished farming points, she stumbled upon a distress post from a dog:
[I’m stuck in a hole outside the community. Can someone save me?]
The dog explained that it was a small Bichon Frise. A child that is a relative of its owner had taken it out for a walk and stuffed it into a hole. It had been barking for ages, but no one came to help, so it posted to see if anyone nearby could offer assistance.
It couldn’t describe exactly where the hole was, and the other dogs wandering the community with their owners couldn’t guide them over.
Xu Ye immediately put down the half-eaten jiaozi, grabbed her phone, and rushed downstairs.
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