Pets Chapter 15: A promise; a dream is a promise

Translated by Heather of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Kuneho, UA

 

In the afternoon, XieGuanze and Hou Fanghua checked the remaining classes one more time. As for the dean, he was forgotten a while ago. Hopefully, the dean will enjoy the fun of being a celebrity. 

They went to visit the gym class and saw a group of birds and beasts. 

Gym class for the birds was being taught by Teacher Eagle on the field. He was using his original form to teach the students how to fly.

By the time Xie Guanze got there, there were birds of different shapes and sizes in the air, but there was one young student on the ground who was running after them.

Teacher Eagle quickly saw the student that was lagging behind and flew down.

“Student, what is your original form?”

The student said: “Teacher, I’m an ostrich.”

Teacher Eagle helplessly folded his wings: “Student, I suggest you transfer to the beast class.”

Student Ostrich became angry: “No, don’t insult my dignity as a bird! Even though I can’t fly, at least I have wings! I am an ostrich with a dream! As long as I have a dream, one day, I will be able to fly in the sky!”

Teacher Eagle lifted his head and looked toward Xie Guanze and Hou Fanghua: “What do you guys think?”

“ I say . . .” Xie Guanze looked at Huo Fanghua. Hou Fanghua nodded, “As long as you’re happy, you can stay!”

Student Ostrich: “Yay!”

Teacher Eagle: …..

If he could successfully teach an ostrich to fly, he would defy science . . . .

The teacher of the beast class was a tiger and an old acquaintance. Xie Guanze met her at the driving test center. She was the female yellow spotted tiger who got a C license.

“My Scholar is in the class. Hopefully she wouldn’t be scared by Teacher Tiger.” Hou Fanghua was like a worrying parent, standing on the outer edge of the field observing.

Because the teacher was a tiger, Scholar was obedient and quiet, unlike how she usually was. She didn’t glance over even after seeing Hou Fanghua. This made Hou Fanghua click his tongue in surprise: “She was only this well-behaved when she was small.”

Xie Guanze couldn’t help laughing.

However, not long after, the beast class also encountered a similar problem.

Under Teacher Tiger’s instructions, the students were running and jumping. However, there was again a student that stood out. 

The small girl’s first reaction was to hop on top of another student’s head. Her body was light, much like an acrobat’s. She opened her arms and quickly hopped from one student’s head to another. This caused the students to become angry and they began to protest. 

Teacher Tiger came out to mediate: “Student, what is your original form?”

The small girl fidgeted with her fingers guiltily: “ Teacher, I am a flying squirrel.” 

Teacher Tiger awkwardly looked at the small girl who barely reached up to her chest: “Flying squirrel? I suggest you go to the birds class.”

Student Flying Squirrel: “Hck . . . .”

Xie Guanze helped take Student Flying Squirrel to Teacher Eagle’s class.

Student Owl saw Student Flying Squirrel and instinctively started to salivate. If she was in her original form, she would be drooling much more: “Flying squirrel, sounds tasty.”

Student Flying Squirrel: “Hck . . . .”

Xie Guanze: . . .  

“Luckily we came to check as there are still a lot of problems.” Hou Fanghua said apprehensively.

It seemed that even if they have been domesticated by humans, some animals’’s natural instincts still remained and would start to resurface during class. 

After discovering these problems, Hou Fanghua decided to write a report later that would discuss further improvements with the education department and the school’s administrators.

The two of them didn’t visit the aquatic section because the aquatic and land pets were divided into two different sections. Kong Qin and another colleague were there to check. 

The improvements could not be implemented immediately . Xie Guanze heard the bell ring, signaling the end of class followed by the familiar sound of happy chatter from the students. He looked at his watch and suddenly realized: “It’s already lunchtime!” 

Pet University’s morning classes were finished and lunch break was two hours. The school didn’t provide living accommodation nor food as there was too much variation in the pets’ diets. The pets would all return to their respective houses with their owners. 

After letting the leader know, Xie Guanze went to the cooking class to pick up Xie King while Hou Fanghua went to pick up Scholar.

After walking for a while, Xie Guanze felt that he forgot something.

As for what was missing, he realized that when he first came here, it wasn’t like this…..

“Hurry, I’ll cook for you! I can use the school’s pots!” When he neared the cooking class, Xie King’s loud voice broke Xie Guanze’s train of thought. 

Oh well, nevermind. It’s time to eat lunch.

Outside the classroom door, there were many owners already waiting to pick up their pets. Xie Guanze saw that there was a large age variation among them. The youngest was only thirteen or fourteen years old. 

Unfortunately, this young boy was the owner of Student Cockroach. He was standing by the window calling for Cockroach: “Xiao Qiang, look this way, I’ve come to pick you up!”

Xie Guanze: …..

As expected of an elementary school student, only they could think of keeping a cockroach as a pet.

“You’re in elementary school, I’m in middle school.” The young boy suddenly rolled his eyes at Xie Guanze. Only then did he realize that he accidentally had spoken out loud.

“Haha, sorry, I’ve just never seen a pet cockroach before!”

The middle school student shrugged and said with a very helpless expression on his face: “Every pet I raised died, only Xiao Qiang stayed alive. Maybe God determined that I wouldn’t walk a normal path and made it so that I could only raise cockroaches.”

Xie Guanze: …..

While talking, Student Cockroach walked out of the classroom and saw his owner. He pouted his lips and said upsettingly: “Owner, I don’t want to go to school!”

Xie Guanze felt nervous. It can’t be that he has a grudge against the teacher and wants to report King?

The middle school student was not surprised and said emotionally: “No wonder you’re my pet, you’re the same as me. I don’t want to go to school either …..”

Xie Guanze: ……

Student Cockroach: “Owner, I even have homework!”

The middle school student patted his large backpack: “Xiao Qiang ah, I have even more homework to do than you! I haven’t even finished the homework that was supposed to be done in class!”

Student Cockroach looked at that backpack, his sadness immediately turned into sympathy. 

The middle school student had to return to school for afternoon class so they only had the two hours for lunch. He suggested: “Let’s not go home, we’ll just find something to eat around here and come back to catch up on our homework.”

Student Cockroach nodded his head obediently: “Okay, I’m not a picky eater.”

Xie Guanze curiously asked: “You have homework? Does the cooking class assign homework?”

Student Cockroach remembered Xie Guanze’s face. He heard from the other students that he was responsible for checking up on the classes and was afraid that he would criticize Xie King. He immediately defended Xie King: “Teacher Da is pretty good, the homework is not hard, it’s just cutting potatoes.” 

“Huh?” Xie Guanze wasn’t sure whether to remind the student that the teacher’s last name isn’t Da or that he was the teacher’s owner and wouldn’t hurt him.

“Teacher Da said, to begin learning how to cook, one must first learn how to use a knife so that potatoes could be cut into the right thickness …. Teacher Da said that the potato slices had to be as thin as paper but mine were like bricks……”

Xie Guanze: ….. An exaggeration is just an exaggeration, but it’s good imagery. You can use it to visualize the thickness of the potato…..

Student Cockroach got more excited as he talked and started to gesture with his hands: “Teacher cut them so thinly, like a piece of transparent paper. You could see the light coming through! After cutting them into threads, you could string them through an embroidery needle! I want to be like Teacher so I can make it for Xiao Yong to eat!”

Xie Guanze looked toward Xie King who was still in the classroom, surrounded by students. His feelings were a bit complicated. Recently, he had been busy with his work, after work he had to work overtime. Even at home he was constantly bombarded with phone calls from humans or pets who had complaints. He didn’t have the time to go to the kitchen to see how Xie King prepared dinner for him. 

Without him knowing, Xie King had become so awesome. It seemed that he had gained the respect of his students who welcomed and admired him.

Zhang XiaoYong felt touched and hugged his pet: “Xiao Qiang is the best!”

The owner and pet happily left to eat lunch while Xie King finished talking with his eager students and came out to greet Xie Guanze.

He delightly said: “I asked the principal, I can use the school’s ingredients and cooking utensils to make a big meal for you!”

“Okay, I’ll be waiting.” Xie Guanze decided that today, he would seriously observe how Xie King cooked. He followed him into the classroom and asked, “What are we eating today?”

Xie King: “A potato feast!”

Xie Guanze saw the pile of potatoes that were of various shapes and sizes and went blank.

After eating the thinly sliced potatoes, followed by the potato pancake and then the potato stir fry, Xie Guanze’s mouth almost went numb. At this moment, Student Cockroach and his owner returned. Using the excuse that “children need lots of nutrients and should eat more to grow taller”, he pulled them over and gave them a large portion so they could enjoy the exquisite taste as well. 

With some difficulty, they finished the potato feast. The two students went to look for a seat to do their homework. 

Student Cockroach picked up the vegetable knife and began cutting while Zhang XiaoYong lowered his head and started writing. They looked at each other’s work. Student Cockroach felt that his owner’s homework was too hard and Zhang XiaoYong felt that his pet learning how to use a knife was too scary. They felt that the other’s situation was quite tragic and immediately felt comforted. 

Xie Guanze smiled while watching them and then looked up to watch Xie King. The latter was happily washing the plates and would not let him help. In Xie Guanze’s eyes, it seemed that King just wanted to play with the water. 

Look at him, he’s singing and playing with a frisbee at the same time.

Xie Guanze went over to listen to him but the more he listened, the hungrier he got. 

“Steamed lamb, steamed bearpaw, steamed deer tail, roasted duck, roasted chicken, roasted goose, braised pork, salted duck, chick with soy sauce, bacon, pork stomach, jerk, sausages, assortment of dishes, smoked chicken, steamed pork, duck fermented in glutinous rice …..”

“One day, I will make all the dishes from this song!” After Xie King finished singing, he handsomely flew onto the pile of plates with a plate in his hand, “Then 365 days a year, I can make a different dish for you everyday!”

Xie Guanze felt extremely moved. This was not only a promise that he would stay by his side for a lifetime but it was Xie King’s real feelings for him.

“King, you ….”

“Are so great”. Before he could say these words there was a loud crash. The plates that were not held tightly, fell on the ground and broke. 

Xie King felt awkward. He quickly picked up the pieces and threw them into the garbage: “Haha, it’s not my fault, the plate didn’t listen to me! Yes, if this plate turned into a person, I would send it home! S, so disobedient!”

Xie Guanze: ….

What a way to ruin the mood! His feelings that haven’t fully matured were quickly suffocated…..