Future Pet Shop

"SQUEAK! SQUEAK!" Shen Yibin was lost in thought when he suddenly heard a noise from his shoulder. He turned to see Maphario climbing up his arm, holding a long, oval fruit in its paws. It was covered in a silvery-gray fuzz and had a few wing-like appendages. The creature was holding it up for him to see.

"What kind of fruit is this? A seed you found at the lumberyard?" Shen Yibin asked curiously, taking it. ’This little guy never forgets to collect seeds, no matter where he goes,’ he thought. ’Knowing Maphario’s taste, any seed it picks has to be extraordinary.’

"SQUEAK! SQUEAK!" Maphario pointed at the nearby Heaven-Reaching Tree, then back at the fruit in Shen Yibin’s hand. It seemed to be saying that the fruit had come from that very tree!

’No way. Isn’t this Heaven-Reaching Tree already dead? Could a fruit have possibly survived? Or did you get this from another Heaven-Reaching Tree?’ Shen Yibin quickly pulled out his phone to do a search. He had never actually paid attention to what the fruit of a Heaven-Reaching Tree looked like before. After pulling up a bunch of photos, he compared them to the one in his hand and saw they were a perfect match.

Oh, right! He remembered now. When the Heaven-Reaching Tree had first been gnawed through by Bald Qiang and the others and came crashing down, Maphario had been the first to rush over. And it seemed like it really had found something, which it then hid in Hah’Er’s pocket. Shen Yibin finally recalled the scene. Seeing how it treasured the item back then, he realized it must have been a seed from the Heaven-Reaching Tree!

"Are you planning to plant it here?" Shen Yibin offered it a peanut and asked. It was obvious this Heaven-Reaching Tree seed couldn’t be planted in the shop. The space from the floor to the transparent ceiling was only a little over ten meters high, while a Heaven-Reaching Tree could grow to be a super-giant of eighty meters. The shop could never accommodate it.

"SQUEAK! SQUEAK!" Maphario nodded after finishing the peanut. It wanted to ask Shen Yibin where the most suitable spot to plant it would be. From the search results earlier, Shen Yibin learned that although Heaven-Reaching Trees grow very tall, they rarely bear fruit. Furthermore, the fruit tends to drop prematurely, making it difficult to collect seeds. Finding an intact one was no easy feat, so what Maphario had accomplished was truly remarkable.

"Let me think," Shen Yibin said, recalling Wen Yuan’s design blueprints. Wen Yuan had already set aside a space for a garden in the plans. Shen Yibin got up and, following his memory, walked over to the garden area. He gently placed Maphario down from his shoulder. "Hm, right here should be good. You can also plant those seeds you collected from the Qinling Mountain Range last time here."

"From here to here, and from there to there—this is all your territory now! You can plant whatever you want!" Shen Yibin gestured, outlining a large area. The plot of land had already been cleared by the workers. Weeds and rubble were gone, and they had even tilled the soil. Maphario could start sowing the seeds directly.

"Oh, and if you don’t have enough seeds, just let me know. I’ll take you to find more! If you think the seeds from the market aren’t good enough, we can go search in the mountains again!" The orchard back at the shop was already full, thanks to Maphario. Shen Yibin had enjoyed its strawberries and watermelons more than once. The other fruit saplings—peaches, apples, oranges, and the like—were growing surprisingly well. It looked like they might even bear fruit as early as next year. Now that he had a chance to expand the orchard, Shen Yibin certainly wasn’t going to miss it.

Once the manor was built, he planned to get a few large trees with hollows from Bai Jingxiang for Xiaoliu to brew wine in. He would also plant a bamboo grove for Hah’Er to play in. The rest of the land would be left for Maphario to manage. It could plant whatever it wanted. Shen Yibin had exceptional faith in it. He was sure that once these seeds sprouted and grew, his manor would become even more beautiful.

"SQUEAK! SQUEAK!" Having found a suitable spot, Maphario immediately climbed down from Shen Yibin, still clutching the seed, and got to work. It first found a shady spot, dug up the soil, and broke the wings off the fruit. Then, it planted the entire fruit upside down—top pointing down, base pointing up—in the freshly dug hole before gently covering it with a thin layer of earth.

After finishing this, Maphario let out a few chirps. Bald Qiang came waddling over to the creek, dunked his tail in the water to soak it, and then returned to Maphario’s side. Maphario used its two paws to collect the droplets of water from Bald Qiang’s tail, slowly watering the seed. Without a watering can, this was how it got the job done.

’I never realized Maphario’s relationship with the other pets was this good,’ Shen Yibin mused. If Hah’Er was the pet most welcomed by humans, then Maphario was the little guy most beloved by the other pets in the shop. Xiaoliu depended on its fruit for brewing wine. Bald Qiang and his mate loved to gnaw on trees, and Maphario planted them. Marc’s carving also depended on wood. As for Hah’Er, the reason went without saying. So, whenever this little fellow needed something, everyone was willing to help.

After sowing and watering, Maphario gathered a few branches from the creekside and stuck them in the ground around the seed. It then draped a thin sheet of plastic over the branches, creating a small sunshade. Heaven-Reaching Trees typically grow in moist ravines and on the terraces at the foot of slopes; they do not like direct sunlight. The seed would grow much stronger in the shade.

Once all this was done, Maphario finally left, though reluctantly. The next step was to wait for the seed to slowly sprout. From now on, Maphario would probably come here every day, splitting its time between assisting Marc with carving the Totem Pole and filling this garden with seeds.

"Alright, let’s head back for today. I estimate the scaffolding and safety netting will be done by tomorrow morning." Seeing that there was nothing else to do, Shen Yibin gathered everyone and returned to the shop.

Upon returning to the shop, Maphario immediately dashed into the storage room and, after a good deal of rummaging, dragged out a whole ton... oh, wait, a whole bag of seeds. Shen Yibin had no idea where it had collected them all. He took a quick look through them. It seemed some were from the Qinling Mountain Range, others were from the forests of Sokovia, and a few looked like specialties from Sakai Kaori’s family forest. There were seeds for all kinds of plants—flowers, fruit trees, shrubs, large trees, and vines. It looked like they wouldn’t need to make a separate trip to the seed market for the time being.

The next morning, Hah’Er helped Maphario carry the bag of seeds to the car. Shen Yibin started the engine and drove everyone toward the construction site. Even before they arrived, they could see from a distance that the Heaven-Reaching Tree was completely enveloped in green safety netting. The scaffolding and netting were already in place.

From a distance, the top of the Heaven-Reaching Tree seemed to pierce the clouds. From now on, Marc, Bald Qiang, Gao Lujie, and Maphario would be working up in the sky. ’I just wonder if they’ll be afraid,’ Shen Yibin thought.