Future Pet Shop

"Huh?" Hah’Er tilted its head. It looked at the elegant and exquisite buildings of the manor, then at the amusement park facilities under construction, and then at the beautiful scenery along the Yunshui Riverfront. But in the end, its eyes settled on the direction of the city, and it started waving its paws and crying out.

"Oh, it’s not what you think." Shen Yibin and Hah’Er had been together for so long that they had developed a tacit understanding. He immediately knew what Hah’Er meant, realizing that it had misunderstood and thought they would stop going to the store now that they were living here. He quickly comforted it, "We’ll still be staying at the store in the future. We’ll just come here to play sometimes. Don’t you like the natural scenery here, too?"

"Mmm! Mmm!" As soon as it heard that it wouldn’t be separated from the other animals at the store, Hah’Er was immediately delighted. It nodded repeatedly in agreement and hugged Shen Yibin’s leg, giggling foolishly.

"My goodness, what kind of tree is this? How come I’ve never seen it before? Were these just planted? How did they grow so tall in such a short time?" While wandering into Shen Yibin’s garden, Director Kong’s eyes were immediately drawn to the few Heaven-Reaching Tree saplings. Among a patch of short seedlings, the four exceptionally tall saplings were particularly striking.

"Heaven-Reaching Trees. See that Totem Pole outside? It was carved from a Heaven-Reaching Tree. The whole tree was over eighty meters tall when it was first cut down, and the part remaining on the ground is still over fifty meters. The seeds for these four saplings were picked from that very tree. In the future, they’ll definitely grow to be over eighty meters tall too! And this is just the beginning!" Shen Yibin explained to Director Kong with immense pride. With Maphario looking after them daily, these saplings were sure to grow up strong and healthy.

’By then, my garden will be one-of-a-kind in the whole world. So what if other people plant all sorts of rare and expensive varieties in their gardens? These four trees of mine can grow to be over eighty meters tall. When I show them off, it’ll absolutely blow people’s minds.’

"Where else can you find seeds like these? Do you think I could plant a couple in my garden?" Hearing how legendary the Heaven-Reaching Trees were, Director Kong’s interest was piqued.

"You can forget about that. Heaven-Reaching Tree seeds have always been rare. I went to the forest farm to look for them several times afterward, but I couldn’t find any. These four are probably the only seeds left from this entire forest. Who knows when the rest will be ready to produce more," Wen Yuan said with regret. He had once had the same idea as Director Kong.

’Heh heh, you guys don’t have a clever little guy like Maphario. How could it be that easy to find them?’ Shen Yibin smiled smugly before starting to introduce the other saplings. "This is an apple tree, this is a peach tree, this is an apricot tree... This whole area is full of fruit trees. In the future, when they bear fruit, we’ll eat half and give the other half to Xiaoliu to make wine. I guarantee it’ll taste amazing!" These were saplings carefully cultivated by Maphario; they were bound to taste good.

"Are these strawberries and watermelons? Does that mean we can eat them in a few months? Can you make wine from strawberries and watermelons too?" Director Kong was getting impatient. He wondered what Monkey Wine made from strawberries and watermelons would taste like.

"It’s not just these. Over there, we also have melons, tomatoes, sugarcane, and sweet corn... There’ll be plenty of fruit to eat in a few months. But as for making wine, I think sugarcane and corn would probably be better, right?" Shen Yibin answered, uncertain. Making wine from sugarcane and corn was a time-honored practice, but it was hard to say about the others.

"You have to let me know when they’re ripe! I’ll come back for a vacation no matter how busy I am." As he spoke, Director Kong’s mouth was practically watering. This time, he was determined to be the first to taste the Monkey Wine made from these fruits.

"No problem. It probably won’t be too long now." Once the weather warmed up, these plants would start to flower and bear fruit. Shen Yibin had great confidence in Maphario’s agricultural skills.

The group continued their tour, soon arriving near the home of Bald Qiang and his mate. Upon seeing such a stunning structure, Director Kong was once again amazed. "You didn’t build this for them?"

"No, no. Beavers are the master architects of the natural world. The work of these two gave me a lot of inspiration. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to create my current designs," Wen Yuan explained while inwardly chuckling. ’Thankfully, we recently corrected Bald Qiang and his mate’s habit of chewing on trees everywhere. Otherwise, I really wouldn’t have dared to bring people on a tour. It would be terrible if a large tree suddenly came crashing down on us while we were walking.’

"Ah, Bin, if you ever get another smart pet like this in your store, you have to consider me." Director Kong was filled with envy. At the same time, an idea flashed in his mind. "Bin, what do you think? Could we make a movie for each of these pets? Like the Marvel World? We could shoot their individual films first, and then bring them all together for a big blockbuster."

"Uh, I don’t think that would work," Shen Yibin said uncertainly. "Marvel has decades of history built up. *Panda Hero* was a huge hit because pandas are cute and popular. Beavers and monkeys might not have that same star power, right?" Besides, the hardships Hah’Er went through while filming and promoting the movie had made Shen Yibin’s heart ache. He couldn’t bear to put Xiaoliu, Maphario, and the others through the same thing.

"I guess you’re right." Director Kong had gotten a little carried away. Now that he had calmed down and thought it over, he realized that, based on his own experience, the risks of casting Maphario, Bald Qiang, and Xiaoliu in a movie were indeed a bit high. The matter was temporarily set aside, and the group headed toward the Disney-esque amusement park facilities.

After touring the exterior, they went inside to see the interior layout. When Director Kong entered his own house, the first thing he saw was a wooden statue. It was a sculpture of none other than himself. Needless to say, this piece was a gift from Shen Yibin, who had specially commissioned Marc to carve it as a housewarming present for Director Kong.

"Haha, it looks just like me! I love this gift!" Director Kong circled the statue admiringly for a good while. He was also very satisfied when he looked at the decor and layout of the other rooms.

As they continued to wander around, the sun gradually began to set. Seeing that everyone still seemed to be enjoying themselves, Shen Yibin asked, "Why don’t we have dinner here? I can have Hah’Er catch some fish from the river, and we can grill them by the bank." Shen Yibin now had a full set of barbecue equipment in his rooms, and the construction crew had some vegetables and meat, so putting together a barbecue dinner would be no problem at all.

The others had no objections, but Scarf seemed a bit upset. It looked at the distant sunset, let out a few anxious cries, and immediately darted over to bite Shen Yibin’s pant leg, trying to drag him toward the car.