"Whoa, put that down! Put it down! I'll take care of this! You go get some rest!" The moment he returned to the store, Shen Yibin saw that Hah'Er had already fed all the pets. Now, the panda was struggling to mop the floor, dragging the mop with his two chubby paws. The sight broke Shen Yibin's heart. He rushed forward, snatched the mop away, and carried Hah'Er to the sofa to rest.
"Hmph~" Hah'Er looked rather reluctant. With a THUMP, he rolled onto the floor beneath the sofa and slowly began to shuffle back to continue his work.
'If I let you do this kind of work, I'd be cursed to death by every panda fan in the world.' Shen Yibin refused, no matter what. After much coaxing, he finally persuaded Hah'Er to stay on the sofa. He then hurried to put the purchased ingredients away in the refrigerator before coming back down to tidy up the main hall.
Once he finished his chores, he began to understand the reason for Hah'Er's earlier actions. 'Sigh, the little guy must have gone stir-crazy after being cooped up in the bedroom all day yesterday,' he thought. 'He was probably afraid I'd leave him alone again today, so this was his way of trying to butter me up.'
"Sigh, don't worry. I'm not opening the store today. I'll just stay here and keep you company!" Shen Yibin sighed. He couldn't bear to lock Hah'Er up again. As for business, delaying for a day or two wasn't a big deal. Besides, there was only a day and a half left before the relevant authorities could trace Hah'Er from those photos. If he didn't resolve the issue of Hah'Er's legal status, he wouldn't have to worry about business anymore—there was plenty of free room and board in prison.
"Mmm! Mmm!" Upon hearing this, the roly-poly panda instantly cheered up. He rolled onto Shen Yibin's lap and nuzzled his furry head against his chest for a long while.
And so, Shen Yibin tossed business aside. He ignored the calls of Mrs. Wang and others at the door and started playing games with Hah'Er in the main hall. As they played, Shen Yibin noticed that although Hah'Er was much happier than the day before, his eyes still frequently drifted toward the door and windows. 'He must be longing for the outside world,' Shen Yibin thought.
When noon arrived, Shen Yibin put the other pets back in their cages and took Hah'Er upstairs to freshen up. Then, he resumed his culinary training under Hah'Er's guidance. His current affinity score with Hah'Er was 79, just one point shy of the passing score of 80. 'Maybe all I need to do is cook a plate of twice-cooked pork that Hah'Er finds genuinely delicious?'
He sliced ginger and green onions, boiled water, stewed the pork, and then prepped the other ingredients. After two days of practice, Shen Yibin's technique had become more and more adept. He was gradually getting the hang of it. The sound of his knife on the cutting board was rhythmic and quite pleasant to the ear. The ginger slices and green onion sections were all uniform in size and thickness.
'Logically speaking, even if I really had a talent for cooking, I shouldn't be improving this fast, should I? Could this be Hah'Er's subtle influence, just from being near me?' Shen Yibin attributed it all to the special abilities of a "Future Pet."
This was incredibly beneficial for him. The faster his cooking skills improved, the better his chances of raising the affinity score to the passing level before time ran out, thereby earning the qualification to purchase Hah'Er.
"Have a taste. See if today's is to your liking." In no time at all, the twice-cooked pork was ready. Whether judging by its color, aroma, or flavor, Shen Yibin's creation this time was a marked improvement over yesterday's. 'I hope Hah'Er is satisfied!'
"Mmm!" Wearing his bib and holding a fork, Hah'Er buried his face in his food bowl and began to devour his meal. He seemed to be eating much faster than he had yesterday.
Watching Hah'Er devour his food, Shen Yibin's own mouth began to water. He quickly picked up a piece of the twice-cooked pork, which had curled perfectly into the shape of a lantern socket, and popped it into his mouth. Both the texture and flavor seemed to have improved significantly since yesterday. It was now just as good as the version he had first ordered from that takeout place. In other words, for this one dish, Shen Yibin's culinary skill had reached the level of a small restaurant's head chef.
'But it seems it's still not enough,' he thought. It was just very tasty; it hadn't reached that can't-put-your-chopsticks-down level of deliciousness. 'Looks like this batch still won't be enough to truly satisfy Hah'Er.'
And sure enough, although Hah'Er ate every last bite Shen Yibin had prepared, when Shen Yibin checked the affinity-testing app after the meal, the number was still stuck at 79. It hadn't moved one bit!
'Just what is the problem?' Shen Yibin was baffled. He had, for the most part, selected the best possible ingredients. His technique followed Hah'Er's guidance perfectly. His knife skills and heat control were nearly flawless. So why couldn't he produce a plate of twice-cooked pork that would truly satisfy Hah'Er?
'Maybe my technique still isn't perfect enough?' Shen Yibin could only console himself with this thought. He decided to try again in the afternoon, this time slicing the pork without refrigerating it first. 'Perhaps that short time in the cold is affecting the texture of the twice-cooked pork.' After mulling it over for ages, it was the only explanation he could come up with.
To his disappointment, however, when he tried again that afternoon, things didn't change. He had improved his technique, slicing the stewed pork directly into thin, uniform pieces without refrigeration, perfectly meeting the requirements for the dish. Hah'Er certainly seemed to enjoy it, eating with great gusto, but the affinity score remained stubbornly at 79.
This new failure left Shen Yibin so agitated he couldn't sleep. Lying in bed, he opened his phone, only to be bombarded by the photos he had posted on Weibo. They were everywhere. The Sichuan Panda breeding centers and zoos across the country had all issued statements, denying that this panda belonged to them. This only fueled the public's curiosity. Some netizens even scoured the websites of foreign institutions that leased pandas, comparing photos one by one, but no one could find a panda that looked exactly like Hah'Er.
'At this rate, they're really going to dig me up!' Shen Yibin was on the verge of tears. He tossed and turned until midnight, his eyes bloodshot, before finally drifting off, only to be jolted awake in the morning by a nightmare of the police breaking down his door to arrest him.
'Only half a day left! If I can't sort this out, I'm probably going to end up in a cell.' Ignoring his groggy mind, Shen Yibin immediately got out of bed to make Hah'Er breakfast. He told the panda to be good and stay home, then flew out the door and hailed a cab to the market. He was determined to find the absolute freshest ingredients for Hah'Er.
"Bin, you're here again! So, did your girlfriend praise you yesterday?" He just so happened to run into Fan Bao at the market, the same man who had advised him on choosing ingredients.
"Fan, we both thought it tasted better than the food from those little restaurants, but I don't know why... it just feels like it's missing something!" Shen Yibin explained his predicament, frustrated. A faint glimmer of hope sparked within him. This Fan Bao seemed to be a skilled cook; maybe he would know what the problem was?