Future Pet Shop

Chapter 338: Chapter 338: All-in-One Production and Sales

"If I’m Pigsy, then which demoness does that make you?" Shen Yibin rolled his eyes at her. ’This girl never misses a chance to tease me.’

"The Spider Spirit, of course! Last time we went swimming, didn’t you see everything?" Xia Shixuan shot him a flirtatious wink.

"I might have stared a bit, but you were wearing a swimsuit! How could I have ’seen everything’? You can’t just say things like that." Shen Yibin broke into a cold sweat. ’I can’t get a bad reputation over this.’

"Are you disappointed? If you wanted to see, you just had to ask. It’s not like I wouldn’t let you," Xia Shixuan said, pressing herself against Shen Yibin. Shen Yibin was once again utterly defeated.

"Just focus on driving! Don’t get us into an accident." Shen Yibin quickly pushed Xia Shixuan away and sat bolt upright in the passenger seat, eager to change the subject. "Here, I brought this one back from Emei Mountain. You can just call it Xiaoliu."

"So does that make you its great-uncle-thrice-removed or something? You know, you two actually do look a bit alike." Before Shen Yibin could respond, Xia Shixuan pulled two apples from her bag. She handed one to Xiaoliu and the other to Hah’Er. "Here, this is a welcome gift." She gave Shen Yibin no chance to retaliate, leaving him so frustrated he could only roll his eyes.

Back at the shop, Shen Yibin first went next door to take a look. The renovations there were nearly complete. All that was left was to fill the pool with water, plant the saplings, and tear down the wall separating it from the current shop. Shen Yibin found Li Zhen and made a request. "You’ve done a great job. It looks exactly as I envisioned. There’s just one small thing that needs a little adjustment."

"We’re about to finish up. If it’s a major change, it’s going to be difficult," Li Zhen said, looking troubled. They were on the verge of handing the project over, and he hadn’t expected Shen Yibin to bring up a new issue.

"It’s nothing major. You haven’t started planting the trees yet, so there’s still time. My request is simple: when you’re selecting the trees, remember to find a few that monkeys like, and make sure they have hollows in them." Shen Yibin carefully recalled the tree Xiaoliu had used to make wine on Emei Mountain, described it to Li Zhen, and even took out his phone to show him pictures he’d taken.

"I recognize this kind of tree. I’ll go talk to the nursery and have them do their best to find some." Li Zhen breathed a small sigh of relief. If this was the only issue, it wouldn’t be too hard to handle.

"Great, I’ll be waiting for the good news!" After entrusting the task of finding trees for Xiaoliu to Li Zhen, Shen Yibin returned to the shop. He saw that Xiaoliu had already climbed the large tree by the bamboo grove and was squatting there, happily munching on the apple Xia Shixuan had given it. When it finished, it tossed the core right onto Hah’Er’s head. Hah’Er glared furiously, but Xiaoliu just bared its teeth in a grin.

’Sigh, this one isn’t going to be quiet.’ Shen Yibin started to get a headache thinking about the future of his shop. ’Does the pet shop system have any tools for training monkeys? That would be great.’ Shen Yibin sat down on the second floor, took out his phone, and started scrolling through the store. Unfortunately, after searching for a long time, he couldn’t find the item he wanted.

He asked the Future Pet Shop, but it replied that being mischievous was in a monkey’s nature and couldn’t be changed. Besides, Xiaoliu was already much better behaved than other monkeys and wouldn’t cause any major trouble for Shen Yibin.

’Hm? What’s it doing now?’ He put away his phone and looked up at the big tree, but Xiaoliu was nowhere to be seen. Shen Yibin quickly got up and leaned over the railing, searching everywhere. Then he saw Xiaoliu hobbling over from the front counter, clutching a water cup. Xia Shixuan was chasing after it, fuming.

"What’s going on?" Shen Yibin asked hurriedly.

"I just went to the restroom for a second, and when I came back, I saw it had taken my cup!" Xia Shixuan was very frustrated. ’When Maphario arrived, he stole my succulents. Now Xiaoliu arrives and takes my cup. Why do these little guys love tormenting me so much?’

Clutching the cup in one paw, Xiaoliu climbed the large tree without any trouble. It poured the water from the cup directly into a hollow in a tree fork, then pulled out a ragged cloth from who-knows-where and began wiping the inside of the hollow.

"Boss, what on earth is it doing?" Xiaoliu’s unusual behavior made Xia Shixuan forget about her cup, and she asked with curiosity.

"Uh, it’s probably trying to clean out that tree hollow." ’It just got here and it’s already looking for a place to make wine? I didn’t realize you were so diligent.’ The thought of the delicious Monkey Wine made Shen Yibin swallow hard. "Whatever you do, don’t disturb it. After a while, it’ll give you a huge surprise."

This large tree was quite old, and it had two hollows in its upper forks. At first, Shen Yibin had complained about them, but now he felt nothing but regret. ’Why couldn’t it have grown a few more hollows? Wouldn’t that give Xiaoliu more places to make wine?’

’Hmm, good thing there’s still time. A bit later, I have to tell Li Zhen to let the nursery company know that when we pick out trees this time, the number of hollows is our top priority. If a tree doesn’t have any, we don’t want it, no matter how beautiful or healthy it is!’

For the next half hour, Shen Yibin and Xia Shixuan stared blankly as Xiaoliu climbed up and down, using the cup to fetch water and rinse out the tree hollow. Driven by curiosity, Xia Shixuan was no longer angry. Instead, she started helping Xiaoliu get water, and they continued until it had cleaned the hollow out completely.

’Is it time to go buy some fruit now?’ Shen Yibin glanced at Maphario in the orchard. The little guy was busy working around the saplings; a lot of chores had piled up while they were away.

Unfortunately, these saplings were still very young. Aside from the watermelons, it would probably be a long time before they could eat any of the other fruit. ’Otherwise, once the fruit trees Maphario planted grow up and bear fruit, I could give the fruit to Xiaoliu to make wine. Hah’Er could be in charge of drinking it, and the leftover dregs could be used as fertilizer for the fruit trees. That would create a perfect, self-sustaining loop—production, consumption, and recycling, the whole package. What a cool idea.’

"Hah’Er, Xiaoliu, come on! We’re going out to buy some things!" Shen Yibin called out as he went downstairs. It was almost dinnertime. They had been on the road for so long, and Hah’Er hadn’t had a proper meal in ages. He wanted to cook a delicious feast to reward it and also to properly welcome Xiaoliu.

’Hmm, I should remember to buy a couple of bottles of fruit wine later. I bet this little guy won’t be happy with its meal without some wine.’

Hearing his call, Hah’Er and Xiaoliu came to Shen Yibin’s side. Holding a panda’s paw in his left hand and a monkey’s in his right, Shen Yibin walked out of the shop and over to the fruit and vegetable store next door. He looked at Xiaoliu with a hint of curiosity. ’What kind of fruit will it pick?’