"Hmm~ hmm!" Hah'Er leaned in and sniffed at the twice-cooked pork for a long while. At first, he seemed a little unsatisfied, but upon seeing Shen Yibin covered in sweat, he put on a happy look and nodded repeatedly.
"Sigh. If you don't like it, don't force yourself. I'll give it a try. If it's really inedible, we'll just go back to ordering takeout. We can eat my cooking again after I've gotten better." 'Hey, do you have to be so considerate? The more considerate you are, the guiltier I feel, you know?' Shen Yibin was tempted to just grab his phone and order takeout right then and there.
Still, he had made it with his own hands, and Hah'Er had even supervised. It didn't look half bad, either. 'I should at least try it, right?' Lured by the aroma, Shen Yibin couldn't resist picking up a piece with his chopsticks and putting it in his mouth.
'Huh? This isn't as bad as I imagined. While it's no match for the restaurant we had for lunch, it's worlds better than my previous attempts. Could it really be thanks to Hah'Er's guidance? If I keep practicing like this, maybe I actually have a shot at meeting the purchase requirement before Hah'Er is discovered!'
"Mmm! Mmm!" Just then, Hah'Er also picked up the new food bowl Shen Yibin had bought especially for him, lowered his head, and began to eat with loud CHOMPS. He even made happy "mmm" sounds as he ate, seemingly able to grudgingly accept Shen Yibin's current culinary skills.
"Don't force yourself if you don't like it! What if you get a stomachache?" Shen Yibin grew anxious. He got up, opened the fridge, and pulled out two bags. "If you don't want to go back to takeout, I also bought you some fruit. Apples, bananas, pears—see which one you like."
"Nn-nnh~" Hah'Er shook his head insistently, ignoring the fruit Shen Yibin offered, and continued to bury his head in the bowl, devouring the twice-cooked pork.
After failing to persuade him twice, Shen Yibin had no choice but to go back to his own meal. To be honest, the shopping and cooking had completely worn him out, and now he was absolutely starving.
After eating three bowls of rice and cleaning out the twice-cooked pork on his small plate, Shen Yibin let out a satisfied burp. But when he looked over at Hah'Er, there was still a fair amount of pork left in the bowl, and it seemed he wasn't going to finish it.
"Sigh, don't force yourself if you don't like it." Shen Yibin reached out, pulled the food bowl from under Hah'Er's paws, and patted his fluffy head. 'Man, I have to admit, his fur feels ridiculously soft.' "It's not worth it if you get a stomachache. If you get hungry later tonight, there's still fruit here." Shen Yibin had left some fruit for him when he went out shopping, and it was all gone when he returned. Apparently, Hah'Er didn't *only* eat twice-cooked pork.
"Mmm~" Hah'Er blinked sheepishly and held out his two greasy paws.
"Alright, I'll go get some water for you to wash your paws. After they're clean, we'll continue our workout, and then you can help me feed the other pets. The grand opening is tomorrow!" 'Crap, the grand opening is tomorrow! And Qiao Wenqi and the others are all coming. Looks like Hah'Er will have to hide in the bedroom all day. The poor thing! When will I ever be able to take this guy out in public?' Shen Yibin wondered if, after things settled down, he should ask Hah'Er to guide him through making twice-cooked pork a couple more times.
After his paws were clean, Hah'Er went back to hugging Shen Yibin's leg. Shuffling along one step at a time, Shen Yibin went downstairs, came to the sofa, and began their workout. Just like before, he did a few sets of push-ups with Hah'Er on his back. As he exercised, Shen Yibin started daydreaming. 'Sigh, wouldn't it be great if I could take this guy out for walks and exercise? Girls from all over the street would probably swarm us, right?'
But daydreaming alone wouldn't accomplish anything. If he wanted to make that a reality, he had to master his cooking skills first. After their workout, the two of them rested on the sofa for a while, then began feeding the pets in the shop. Since it was a new opening, Shen Yibin hadn't dared to bring in too many animals, just a dozen or so common, popular types like cats and dogs.
He had planned to pivot to a boutique model once the shop was established, focusing on rarer breeds with higher profit margins. But now, that seemed unnecessary. With the Future Pet Shop in the picture, who knew what kind of "shipment" it would send him next.
"WOOF! WOOF WOOF!" For some reason, a Golden Retriever seemed particularly agitated. Just as Shen Yibin was about to open its cage to feed it, the dog lunged forward, barking furiously.
Before Shen Yibin could react, Hah'Er, who was still hugging his leg, grew displeased. He let go of Shen Yibin's leg, waddled over to the cage, and slapped a thick paw forcefully against the bars. He glared at the Golden Retriever, letting out a stream of grunts as if scolding it for its outburst.
"Awooo~" The Golden Retriever's furious barks instantly became a pitiful whimper, clearly intimidated by Hah'Er.
'I'd almost forgotten,' Shen Yibin thought. 'Pandas may make a living by being cute, but they're honest-to-god beasts. Their bite force is second only to a polar bear's and on par with a brown bear's. In mountainous terrain at an altitude of two thousand meters, they can outrun Liu Xiang's top speed on flat ground. They can climb trees over twenty meters tall and can supposedly use three or four wolves as playthings. Bullying a Golden Retriever must be child's play.'
"Hmph! Hmph!" Seeing that the Golden Retriever had calmed down, Hah'Er turned around, sidled up to Shen Yibin, and reached for the bag of dog food in his hands.
'Wait, don't tell me you're planning to help me feed these guys?' Shen Yibin was completely dumbfounded. 'Do you have to be so darn capable?' In the time it took for him to process this, Hah'Er had already taken the dog food, opened the cage, and poured it into the Golden Retriever's bowl. The dog went over, sniffed it twice, and then began to eat with loud CRUNCHES.
"Hmph! Hmph!" Hah'Er seemed very satisfied with the Golden Retriever's performance. He even reached out a paw and patted the dog's head. The Golden Retriever lolled its tongue out in a goofy grin, apparently enjoying the attention.
'Holy crap, that was way easier than when I tried feeding it!' Shen Yibin was at a loss for words. 'Since you're so good at this, you might as well do all of it!' He immediately whipped out his phone and started snapping a flurry of pictures of the two of them. Fortunately, he remembered to turn off the auto-post function for his social media this time, otherwise the internet would have probably exploded again.
Once the Golden Retriever had eaten and drunk its fill, it licked Hah'Er's paw like a sycophant. Hah'Er grunted twice as if in praise, then picked up the cat and dog food to go feed the other pets. Shen Yibin watched him intently and discovered that each time Hah'Er took out food for a pet, he would sniff it first. He gave the right food to the right animal every single time, without making a single mistake.
'And here I thought you were just a foodie. Turns out you're a qualified zookeeper too!' Shen Yibin simply pulled up a chair and leisurely took more photos. 'Well then, this job is all yours from now on!'
After feeding the pets, the two of them played for a bit. At eleven o'clock, they went upstairs together to wash up and rest. Shen Yibin set up a small bed for Hah'Er right beside his own, tucked him in, and patted his head. "Go to sleep now. The shop's grand opening is tomorrow!"