Pet King

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Vladimir briefly looked over the slightly complicated title, asking, “What are small animals?”

“The definition of ‘small animals’… In general, most animals like cats, dogs, rabbits, hamsters, anything smaller in size that can be domesticated and reared by humans,” Zhang Zian answered.

“Isn’t that just pets then? Why not just write ‘pets’?” it asked.

“The concepts of pets and small animals overlap a lot, but they are not completely identical,” Zhang Zian patiently answered. “For example, the country has ruled that most types of parrots cannot be reared as personal pets. If we only protect pets, then most parrots would be ruled out of it… Besides, the scope of ‘pets’ is too narrow. If a cat reared in a home by a human is a pet, it would be protected. But if it ran out or got lost and became a stray, then it wouldn’t be protected. That’s not right. Should the law be protecting the cat itself or the family? Bad people would be jumping through loopholes all day if we phrased it this way.

“The most important part of any law that is proposed is that it is stringent and able to be enforced. If we make laws that are unclear in their definitions and conditions, it will be difficult for our law enforcers to work too.

“Pets don’t actually need much protection. Pets are considered private property under the law and are already under the law’s protection. No one is able to illegally harm them. The ones that really need protection are those small animals that are not pets.” Zhang Zian clicked the mouse, minimizing the document and opening another one. This one was full of pictures—not those of pretty ladies, but instead those from his trip to Germany.

“Before you came to the pet shop, I went to Germany. Their animal protection laws in place were very memorable to me.”

He clicked on the photos, scrolling through them for Vladimir to see. Most of them were photos that he had taken when he visited pet shops and the aquarium, as well as the photos of Reina and Karl.

“Back then I thought it would be great if China could have animal protection laws as comprehensive as Germany’s,” he said. “Right now, we have wild animal protection laws, and they are well enforced. People’s understanding of wild animal protection has been increasing too, but we are still lacking when it comes to small animals… The village beside the dog market that you saw yesterday on the television? Their villagers are in the threat of being harmed by leopards, but they are enthusiastically in support of the country’s wildlife protection measures.”

Vladimir opened and closed its mouth, wanting to say something but swallowing the words back into its throat.

“Why did you suddenly think of writing this?” it asked. Could it be that he had heard what Galaxy had said and was trying to reverse the definite end of humans’ reign?

Zhang Zian scratched at his head in embarrassment. “The pressures of life are too great right now—buying a house, buying a car, studies, employment, geriatric healthcare, kids’ education…all these stresses fall on the shoulders of our youth,” he said. “Many youngsters are not interested in our issues in politics, and I’m basically a jobless man now. I only have to feed myself, so there’s not much pressure on me. Even if I don’t earn much, I always pay my taxes on time… Most importantly, I will always vote when there’s an election going on. You may think that that is naive, but I always feel that my one vote could possibly make a difference to this country and possibly this world.”

Vladimir listened carefully, shaking its head. “I don’t think it’s naive.”

“Previously, I was just a common man, no one special,” Zhang Zian said. “I knew that I didn’t have much authority, and the most I could do was to uphold my responsibility to vote, but…Grandma Gu just informed me that I am officially a part of the Municipal Consultative Conference as an additional member, and now I have the authority to take part in their political discussions. So I gave it a thought and felt that I should take the chance to do something with it. They say if you’re not in a position of power, don’t get involved in its politics. But now that I am in a position of power, if I still don’t get involved, then aren’t I just wasting this chance? I might as well just sell sweet potatoes at home… Oh no, I mean, sell pets.” Zhang Zian easily joked and smiled.

“I checked online yesterday. A mere member of the Municipal Consultative Conference has no right to make new laws, but at least they can express their opinions through the organization and be a part of discussions on the direction that the country is taking and major events and changes that will happen. So I wanted to write a bill and present it during my first meeting.” He changed the documents again.

Vladimir’s eyes scanned through every single sentence of the document.

“Do you think it would work?” it asked. “A bill like this would be able to push the country’s laws forward?”

Zhang Zian shook his head. “I don’t know, but if we never try, we’ll never know,” he said. “And I believe that as China’s amount of pets increases, there will one day be a new law specifically geared towards pets and small animals. Someone has to push that first domino down. That person might not be me, but I at least have to try. There’s no success without failure as its foundation, after all.”

Honestly, China was too huge, and the income gap between the rich and poor was beyond anyone’s imagination. Different counties also had different cultures and people. The small animal protection law would definitely be challenging to enforce, but it would be impossible for China, such a huge country, to not have such a law in this, the 21st century. It was just a matter of time.

It was exactly because there were challenges that they had to prepare for the worst.

Vladimir raised a front paw, pointing to one of the lines in the document. “I feel that this phrasing isn’t too accurate.”

“Oh?” Zhang Zian’s attention was piqued. “How do you think I should write it then?”

It gave it a thought before saying, “I think it can be more direct, and the wording can be stronger. Compared to others, you are considered an expert in the field, so don’t sell yourself short.”

Zhang Zian nodded and tried to make changes according to Vladimir’s suggestions, and the document did turn out better. The previous wording had depicted him as a humble nobody, but being humble in this situation might end up getting him dismissed.

As time passed, the sky started to become brighter.

When the first streak of light started to shine in the window from the east, Zhang Zian had just typed the final full stop.

The document wasn’t long in the first place, and it was shortened even more with Vladimir’s help further accentuating the main point. There was a huge empty space left at the end of the document too.

He rubbed at his sore eyes, looking at the time. It was already his usual time to wake up, so he no longer purposefully stayed quiet. He connected the computer to the printer and printed the document out.

“What are you doing now?” Vladimir asked.

“It’s just a bill, and not a draft for a new law. Besides, I’m a newbie to the Municipal Consultative Conference. How can I make sure that my bill will be taken seriously?” He pointed to the empty space below the document. “I want to try and get as many people’s signatures as possible. This is my biggest task today.”

Finishing, he first wrote his own name down neatly.

“I don’t know how many people will be willing to sign this bill…but I hope I can at least fill up the empty space.”

He perused the paper, not too confident about it.

“Alright.” He stood to stretch and have a big, big yawn. “I’m a little sleepy, but we have a lot of places to go, so let’s leave earlier. I’ll go wash up and change first. You woke up pretty early too, Vladimir. Go back to sleep.”

Vladimir shook its head. “It’s alright, I’ll go with you.”

“You’re coming along? We’re going to visit all of the households in the neighbourhood, and we won’t be driving,” he reminded it. “It would be a hassle to start and stop all the time anyway. It’s going to be really tiring.”

Vladimir showed a light smile. “A cat’s not afraid of a tough journey. The world’s waiting for us.”

“…Alright then.”

Seeing that Vladimir had already set its mind to it, Zhang Zian no longer tried to convince it. He placed the bill on the table, going off to wash up.

“Jerk! I was just dreaming that I was staying in a palace! Why did you have to wake me up right now?”

Not too long later, Zhang Zian re-emerged from the bathroom amidst Sihwa’s rage, his pajamas damp with water spots, looking rather unkempt.

“We’ll leave after I change… Be careful. Don’t dirty the bill.” Seeing that Vladimir was still standing on the table, he plucked out the bill from underneath its feet and blew on it. Vladimir was an outdoor cat, after all, and it wasn’t as much of a neat freak as Fina. It wouldn’t look good if the bill got dirty.

He took a look and found that it had still been stained. There was a paw print beside his own signature, but it was faint. If you weren’t specifically looking for it, you might not even notice it, so he probably wouldn’t have to print a new copy, right?

Even printer paper cost money. It didn’t just fall from the sky.

After changing, he folded the bill and placed it in his pocket, leaving the second floor with Vladimir.

After they had left, all of the other elfins woke up as well.

Pi rubbed at its eyes and put on its spectacles. When it saw that the laptop was still on, it jumped off its rattan hanging chair and sat in the computer chair that still retained some body heat.

Its work today was a little heavier. Other than the usual updates, it had wanted to organize the plot summary. For an online novel with over a million words, if there wasn’t a plot summary, it would be easy to forget the content in the beginning chapters the moment they got to the later parts.

All of the other elfins started to wake and wash up, livening up the area and passing by it. But all of this hadn’t distracted it. It had gotten used to the noise in here, and they would start quieting down anyway. The battleground would soon move downstairs.

Time ticked by.

It focused on the outline, organizing the timeline according to each elfin’s order of showing up. All the way from Zhang Zian downloading till today. Each elfin had their own important part in the outline, independent and yet interconnected with one another.

When it started to flesh out the details of Vladimir’s part, Pi started to get a little tired, and it decided to get up and move around. There was still some time before they would get to this part, so there was no need to make a detailed outline. Just a rough outline would do.

So it gave it a thought and summarized the whole portion with a simple sentence. It was pretty satisfied, so it jumped off the chair and went to roam around indoors.

The bright logo said, “Chinese cats are strangely ambitious, daring even to change night and day!”

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