Future Pet Shop

Chapter 248: I’ve Come to See Her Concert

Xu Ye and Hah’Er were no strangers to working together, and since this particular shoot wasn’t very difficult, they wrapped it up in less than a day. Clad in a tracksuit from the Yunzhong City Marathon, Hah’Er was filmed jogging slowly at various scenic spots across Yunzhong City. Shen Yibin was sure that once the video went online, it would attract a flood of people to sign up.

Judging by his speed, though, actually competing was probably out of the question. By the time he finished the half-marathon, it would likely be dark out. He’d just have to do a good job of playing the mascot.

Time flew by, and before long, it was almost time for Sylvie to leave. She was scheduled to return to her home country in a week. With the shop next door still under renovation and business being slow, Shen Yibin decided to give her the week off, hoping she would use the time to properly explore Yunzhong City.

However, this plan was unexpectedly disrupted by Sun Qian. The day after filming wrapped up, she called. "The music festival is this weekend," she said. "Do you and Sylvie want to come see my debut performance?"

Shen Yibin was quite intrigued. After a brief chat, he hung up and went to ask Sylvie for her thoughts. "Sylvie, Sun Qian is performing on stage in Sichuan this weekend. Want to go with me?"

"Of course!" Sylvie immediately agreed. "I’ve already visited all the sights around Yunzhong City, and there’s nowhere else I particularly want to go. Besides, it’s Sun’s first performance! We absolutely have to be there to support her!"

"Great! I’ll book the flights and the hotel. We’ll go on Friday!" Sylvie had handled everything for their trip to Africa, so it was his turn to take charge for this trip to Sichuan. ’But this means booking a luxury hotel again,’ he thought with a slight pang of reluctance. ’My poor wallet...’

Shen Yibin quickly went online to search for hotels near the venue. With the concert just around the corner, most of the mid-range and budget hotels were already fully booked. Fortunately, a few suites were still available at the luxury hotels. Shen Yibin quickly booked two. The five-figure price tag definitely made him wince, but the moment he remembered that Sylvie would be leaving soon, his reluctance completely disappeared.

He didn’t have to worry about the tickets, as Sun Qian would bring them to their hotel. Next up was booking the flights. Shen Yibin found Wang Jing’s number on his phone and gave her a call. He quickly secured three first-class tickets. Hah’Er would, of course, be going with them, and using a contact made things much less of a hassle.

’We won’t need to visit Professor Wu Gui this time. Sylvie still needs to depart from Yunzhong City, so there’s not enough time for a detour. We can take Hah’Er to see him after his cubs are born.’

’If I’m gone, what am I going to do with Shi Gaofei? Bring him along to the music festival in Sichuan? Hmm, better not. There will be at least ten thousand people at the festival, and there’s no way I could keep a close eye on him. If someone messes with Shi Gaofei, or if he decides to mess with someone, it would be a total disaster.’

’Luckily, Shi Gaofei has gotten familiar with the K-9 unit recently. I’ll just leave him with them for the couple of days I’m gone. With so many tough police dogs there for him to fight, he definitely won’t get lonely, right?’

He found the phone number for the head of the K-9 unit and made the call. The person on the other end readily agreed, repeatedly assuring Shen Yibin that they would let Shi Gaofei get his fill of fighting. And just like that, the problem was solved.

He wasn’t too worried about the renovations at the store next door, either. The work was already nearing completion. The transparent, sun-drenched ceiling was installed, and the large trees and bamboo had been moved into the indoor garden. They weren’t ready to be climbed on just yet, as their roots still needed some time to settle and take hold. The rest of the major work was also done, leaving only some minor odds and ends. Additionally, the current shop space needed a small alteration: the wall between the two stores had to be knocked through.

Both Xia Shixuan and Xie Nannan, who were at the store, had experience supervising renovations, so they could easily keep an eye on things. Besides, Shen Yibin was only going to be gone for a couple of days. Even if a problem did arise, he would be able to spot it upon his return.

「On Friday morning,」 Shen Yibin had Xia Shixuan drive him to the K-9 unit to drop off Shi Gaofei. Afterward, he took Hah’Er and Sylvie to Yunzhong City Airport. Wang Jing was already waiting for them and escorted them through a special access channel to the departure hall. They relaxed for a while in the VIP lounge before boarding their Blue Sky Airlines flight. After a two-hour journey, they landed safely in Sichuan.

They took the hotel shuttle and had just settled in for a short rest when Sun Qian called to invite them to dinner. When they met up, the two girls were thrilled to see each other. Cheeky immediately cornered Hah’Er and started roasting him relentlessly, tearing his performance in the promotional video to shreds. But Hah’Er didn’t get angry at all. He just scratched his head with a goofy look on his face, picked an Amazonian fruit—one of Cheeky’s favorites—from the fruit bowl, and offered it to him.

"Hey, I had Qianqian buy you this beer. Wanna try some?" Cheeky said, taking the fruit with his claw and pointing to a nearby can of beer. It seemed that despite his sharp tongue, he was actually happy to see Hah’Er.

After sampling the local delicacies, the group returned to the hotel. They gathered on the enormous garden terrace of Sylvie’s suite, drinking and catching up on each other’s lives. Sun Qian and Cheeky roared with laughter when they heard how Shi Gaofei tormented Shen Yibin and Hah’Er daily, while Shen Yibin and Sylvie were full of admiration when Sun Qian recounted the hardships of her training.

"By the way, I bet a lot of music companies have been contacting you, right? Have you decided which one you’re going to sign with?" Shen Yibin suddenly asked. ’Ever since that promotional video came out,’ he thought, ’a lot of people must have recognized Sun Qian’s talent and potential, right?’

"There have been a few," Sun Qian replied, "but their terms don’t quite align with what I want. Besides, I’ve been so busy preparing for the show that I haven’t had time to think about it. So for now, I haven’t accepted any offers. I’ll deal with it after the music festival." Sun Qian wanted to be a singer or a musician, whereas the companies that had approached her wanted to market her as a celebrity, making it difficult to find common ground.

But she wasn’t in a hurry. She was no longer just a resident singer at a bar. She was confident that more companies would come calling, and eventually, she would find the right partner to work with.

Since the music festival was starting the next day, Sun Qian and Sylvie didn’t drink much, spending most of their time just chatting. That night, Sun Qian decided to stay and rest in Sylvie’s room. They even used the excuse that Cheeky wanted Hah’Er to keep him company, forcing Hah’Er to stay as well. Poor Shen Yibin had no choice but to return to his room alone.