Future Pet Shop

"Bamboo shoots? The individual layers of a shoot aren’t easy to weave. It’ll take some time." As she spoke, Li took green and yellow cords from her bag and began to weave. "Just give me a little while. I figure it’ll take about an hour, more or less!"

’Whoa, I was just making a suggestion! You don’t have to be so earnest about it!’ Shen Yibin felt a little embarrassed. He knew Li wanted to express her gratitude this way. After all, he had helped her solve a major problem yesterday. Her granddaughter’s living expenses, tuition, and book fees were now covered for a long time to come. Li didn’t have any other special skills, so she could only use her signature craft to fulfill Shen Yibin’s request.

Shen Yibin, Xia Shixuan, and the others all fell silent, their eyes fixed on Li’s hands, not even blinking. Her movements seemed slow, but they were incredibly nimble. Her fingers hooked, pulled, threaded, and tugged. In no time at all, the base of the bamboo shoot began to take shape. The blend of green and yellow was utterly adorable.

Shen Yibin figured the bamboo shoot would still take a while to finish. His neck was getting sore from sitting on the sofa and watching, so he rubbed his spine, stood up quietly, and pulled Xia Shixuan aside to whisper a few instructions. "I’m going to take Hah’Er and the others out for some exercise. Can you keep an eye on Li for me? Refill her tea if it gets low, and put out some snacks and a fruit platter or something."

"No problem. But, boss, could I ask Li to make a phone charm or something for me later?" Xia Shixuan readily agreed; she also had a favor to ask of Li.

"No problem, but you have to pay her for it. She’s getting on in years; we can’t keep taking advantage of her, can we?" Shen Yibin nodded in agreement, then called for Hah’Er, Xiaoliu, and the others to go outside. Hah’Er, Xiaoliu, and Maphario set off without hesitation, but Scarf stayed put on the coffee table, staring intently at Li’s movements. It refused to get up, clearly fascinated by her skill.

’Oh, well. If you like it that much, just stay here. We’ll go have fun by ourselves!’ Shen Yibin didn’t force it, casually taking Hah’Er and the others to the park. Once there, he greeted familiar faces like Nuomituan and chatted for a bit, then led Hah’Er on a slow jog along the lakeside path. Shen Yibin ran effortlessly up ahead, Hah’Er followed behind, HUFFING AND PUFFING, and Maphario perched casually on Hah’Er’s head.

After two laps, Hah’Er couldn’t take it anymore. He flopped onto the lawn, panting heavily, and refused to get up no matter what was said. Shen Yibin smiled, picked up his pace, and kept running. After another three laps, he finally stopped, drank some water, and sat on the lawn to rest for a moment before getting up to leave with Hah’Er.

"Bye-bye, Hah’Er!" the adorable Nuomituan called out, waving her little hand to say goodbye to Shen Yibin. Her puppy yapped twice at her feet. It seemed she had trained the dog quite well recently.

"Mmm!" Hah’Er waved back in response. They said goodbye to all the familiar faces along the way and slowly made their way back to the pet store. Just as they walked in, they heard Xia Shixuan calling from upstairs, her voice filled with excitement, "Boss! Li finished the bamboo shoots! You have to come up and see, they’re absolutely gorgeous!"

"Coming right up." Shen Yibin couldn’t be bothered to rest now. He took Hah’Er up to the second floor, gave the ice cream he’d bought on the way to Scarf, and glanced at the coffee table. He saw two completed bamboo shoots, interwoven with green and yellow, sitting there.

"Are these supposed to hang on his collar? Is there a spot? Do you need me to sew them on with a couple of stitches?" Li stood up, walked over to Hah’Er, and bent down with some effort to examine his collar, searching for a place to attach the bamboo shoots.

"Li, please sit down! You don’t want to throw out your back." Shen Yibin didn’t dare let her bend over for too long, so he quickly helped her sit down and reassured her, "No need, no need. Hah’Er’s collar happens to have two buttons. We can just tie the bamboo shoots right onto them." With that, Shen Yibin and Xia Shixuan each picked up a bamboo shoot and easily fastened them to Hah’Er’s collar.

"Hmm?" Hah’Er looked from side to side, then reached up and tugged on them a couple of times before breaking into a wide grin. He absolutely loved eating bamboo shoots, so having two little trinkets that looked like them on his clothes felt wonderful. He could glance down at them from time to time.

"Li, these are so beautiful! Hah’Er absolutely loves them!" Shen Yibin said, thanking her with a smile. On the coffee table, Scarf also gave a slight nod, apparently very satisfied with the new accessories.

"I’m glad you like them. This old woman’s craft is about the only presentable skill I have left." Li smiled too, revealing the few teeth she had left. Being able to help Shen Yibin and Hah’Er made her feel deeply gratified, so she decided she might as well keep going. "Come, let me weave a celestial peach for that little monkey to hang around its neck. And what about you young ladies, would you like something made?"

"Of course they do! But Li, we have to get this straight first. I’ll accept these two bamboo shoots as a gift, but for everything that follows, we have to pay you. Don’t worry, the girls here make a good living; a few hundred yuan is nothing to them." With Shen Yibin’s insistence and the chorus of agreement from the young women, Li had no choice but to accept Shen Yibin’s arrangement and set to work.

Li ate lunch at the store. Shen Yibin had planned to have her call her granddaughter over, but Li said her granddaughter was boarding at school and the school was responsible for lunch, so he had to let it go for the time being. When it was time for dinner, however, at Shen Yibin’s strong insistence, Li got into his car and they headed to the granddaughter’s school to pick her up for dinner.

"Come, this is Mr. Shen. He’s the one who helped sell all those things yesterday. Quick, thank Mr. Shen." After meeting her granddaughter, Lv Tiantian, at the school gate, Li immediately urged her to express her gratitude.

"Thank you, Shen." The title made Shen Yibin feel incredibly dejected. ’Sigh, in the blink of an eye, I’m already old enough for someone to call me ’Uncle’. Time sure flies.’

Once they were back at the store, without any prompting from Li, the sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girl took the initiative to help Xia Shixuan and the others clear the table, bring out the food, and set out the bowls and chopsticks. She looked extremely well-behaved and instantly won the affection of Xia Shixuan and the others.

During the meal, Lv Tiantian was poised and at ease, both polite and generous. After they finished eating and she had helped clear the table, Lv Tiantian sat down beside Li. "Grandma, what do you need to make next? I can help you with it."

’Hm? You know this craft too?’ Shen Yibin froze for a second. ’What a pleasant surprise!’