"No. You're currently just a partner on a trial basis. You can't get any more pets until the panda we provided you is sold. If you want new stock, you must sell the panda first," the Future Pet Shop flatly rejected his request.
'Sell Hah'Er?' Shen Yibin turned his head hesitantly, looking at the Panda sprawled bonelessly on the sofa. 'He's just unbelievably cute. Forgetting for a moment whether anyone would even dare to buy him, how could I bear to give such an adorable creature away to someone else?'
'Wait a minute, what's this guy doing now?' Shen Yibin watched as Hah'Er suddenly rolled over onto his stomach. Propping himself up on his front paws, he began to move up and down, up and down. The motion looked rather awkward.
"Ngh~ Ngh~" Noticing Shen Yibin's gaze, Hah'Er grunted a few times, hooking his chin back as if beckoning him over. Seeing no reaction, he simply rolled off the sofa, slowly ambled over, and bit Shen Yibin's pant leg, trying to drag him toward the rug in front of the couch.
"Hah'Er, what in the world are you doin'!" 'Ugh, it's rubbing off on me! Why am I starting to talk with a Sichuan accent too?' Shen Yibin couldn't bear to watch it struggle, so he held onto his phone and shuffled along with Hah'Er. 'Alright, I'll see what you're up to.'
"Ngh! Ngh!" Once on the rug, Hah'Er let go of the pants, flopped back onto his stomach, and assumed that same awkward position. He glanced back and saw Shen Yibin just standing there. Growing a little anxious, he grunted again.
"You want me to do this with you?" Shen Yibin seemed to guess what Hah'Er wanted. He got down on his stomach as well, staring into Hah'Er's black eye patches. 'I must be sick, striking such an embarrassing pose with a Panda.'
"Ngh~~ Ngh!" As if encouraged, Hah'Er planted his two chubby front paws on the ground and strained to push his body up, only to fall flat again with a THUD. He took a couple of heavy breaths and started to repeat the motion.
'Holy crap, you're doing push-ups!' Shen Yibin finally understood the meaning behind Hah'Er's actions. 'It's not that I'm slow on the uptake; who would've guessed, with a Panda's short paws and round belly!'
Shen Yibin glanced at his phone. An hour and a half had passed since dinner, making it the perfect time for some post-meal exercise. Exercising right after eating is generally more harmful than good, as the digestive organs require a large blood supply to do their work. It's best to wait one or two hours until digestion is finished before doing some light exercise. A jog would have been better, but it wasn't very convenient to take Hah'Er outside right now. Push-ups would have to do.
"You little Gua Wa'Er, you have healthier habits than I do," Shen Yibin couldn't help but slip back into the Sichuan dialect. He subconsciously rubbed his own belly; he'd been so busy opening the store that he'd had little time to exercise, and it looked like he was developing a bit of a paunch.
'Being considered fat by a Panda would be a true tragedy.' Without another word, Shen Yibin put down his phone and joined Hah'Er in doing push-ups. "One, two, three, four..."
"Ngh! Ngh! Ngh! Ngh!" Hah'Er grunted along with him, seemingly counting. By the time they reached twenty-five, Hah'Er collapsed onto the ground with a THUMP, panting heavily and refusing to do a single one more.
"Hah'Er, you really need to exercise more! You're giving up after only twenty-five? I used to do four sets for a total of two hundred," Shen Yibin couldn't help but tease the panting, exhausted Hah'Er.
After finishing his first set of fifty, Shen Yibin rested for a bit. Suddenly, a new idea struck him. He rolled over, placed his hands on the rug again, and turned his head to the Panda. "Come on, Hah'Er, climb onto my back. Let's see how many I can do with you on top."
"Ngh!" Hah'Er seemed extremely interested in this idea. He waddled over to Shen Yibin's feet, climbed up his calves and thighs onto his back, then released his front paws and sat up straight.
"Whoa, Hah'Er, you're pretty hefty," Shen Yibin grunted, immediately feeling the strain. With a Panda weighing dozens of pounds on his back, performing standard push-ups was no simple task.
"One~" This was much more difficult than before. Thankfully, Hah'Er stayed relatively still on his back and didn't squirm around, allowing Shen Yibin to slowly begin cranking them out one by one.
"Ngh!" Hah'Er began to count for him from his perch on his back. There was a hint of encouragement in his adorably dopey voice that spurred Shen Yibin on. 'This is more motivating than having a pretty girl cheer for me! I can't let this cute little guy look down on me, can I?'
"...Twenty-nine!... Thirty! Argh, I can't do another one." Shen Yibin collapsed weakly onto the floor, gasping for breath. 'Having dozens of extra pounds on my back really makes a difference. I can usually do two hundred, but today a grand total of eighty has completely wiped me out.'
When Hah'Er saw Shen Yibin stop, he quickly scrambled off his back. Using the sofa for support, he stood up and looked around, then slowly ambled over to the coffee table. He picked up a towel with his paw, draped it over his shoulder, and ambled back.
'Does he have to be so thoughtful?' Shen Yibin was so moved he could have cried. 'There's no way I'm giving him up now!' After wiping his sweat, he quickly grabbed his phone and messaged the Future Pet Shop. "Hey, is it possible for me to buy this panda myself?"
'But I only have 18,000 on my card right now. That's probably not enough to buy a Panda, is it? Am I going to have to max out my credit card?' After sending the message, Shen Yibin waited for the reply, feeling Tentative and anxious.
"Whether you can buy him isn't up to me. It depends on whether your affinity with this panda is high enough," the Future Pet Shop replied quickly. 'Affinity? What the heck is that?'
"Not everyone is suited to own a pet. It's like a relationship—the owner chooses the pet, but the pet also chooses the owner. This shop requires us to consider both sides. We only consider a sale if the affinity score is 80 or higher. If you don't meet that requirement, we won't sell, no matter how much money you offer," the Future Pet Shop quickly explained, sending a QR code along with the message. "You can scan this to download the Pet Affinity Test app and check your score with this panda. If it's over eighty, we can discuss the purchase then."
"Okay, I'll check it right now." He quickly scanned the QR code and downloaded the app. A moment later, a new app with an owl icon appeared on Shen Yibin's phone, its two large eyes particularly striking.
He opened the app and read the instructions. All he had to do was take a picture of the pet and the potential owner, upload them to the app, and then press 'Start Test'.
"Hah'Er, come here for a picture." 'Oh man, I'm getting nervous.' His hand was a little unsteady as he tried to take the photo.
After finally managing to take the photos and load them into the app, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves and pressed 'Start Test'. The result appeared a moment later. "What the fuck? Affinity: 79! Are you kidding me?!"