Chapter 678: Borrowing Fish
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Boom! Crack! Pong!
After hearing the fireworks and the door closing, Famous woke up and yawned.
Is Zhang Zian finally back? How long was I asleep?
It was already bright outside. The fireworks also woke the other elfins up, so they were stretching.
Famous followed the sound of footsteps to the bedroom.
Zhang Zian looked exhausted. Fina was right behind him, yawning.
"Did you two just get back?" Famous asked.
"What do you think?" Zhang Zian sat on bed. "It took us the whole night. The first cat gave birth to 5 kittens. Just when we were about to go back to sleep, the other cat went into labor, and gave birth to 6 kittens."
Fina didn't utter a word, it just jumped into its princess bed, closed the curtain, and fell asleep.
God only knew how they survived the night. They had to help two mothers with delivery and take care of the newborn kittens. The mothers must've fallen asleep while the kittens fought over milk.
The kittens were born around the same time, but were quite different in size and strength, especially the first mother's third kitten. It was bigger than all of its siblings, and had reserved the best spot to drink milk. The fifth kitten was the weakest, its eyes weren't even open yet. It searched for milk for a long time, but couldn't find a spot to drink. Zhang Zian had to pick it up, and put it in front of the mother's chest.
After the second mother had finished giving birth, Zhang Zian and Fina thought that they were finally done. However, when the first mother woke up, it favored the third kitten and basically ignored the fifth one. The mother breastfed it, but it wouldn't make the effort to pull it closer. This was a natural instinct of wildlife. The strongest cub in a litter had the highest chance of survival and was the mother's favorite.
The second mother was worrisome as well. It treated all six kittens equally, but it didn't seem to have enough milk to feed all of them.
Fortunately, Zhang Zian had prepared milk in advance. After dissolving the powder in warm water, he added glucose and fed the kittens with a dropper.
He also had to pay attention to the mothers, as they were also weak. In order for them to regain their strength, they needed to consume two times more food than usual.
Zhang Zian opened the cat food and dumped it into their food bowl, so that they could eat in a corner outside their box. He took that moment to change the newspaper in the cardboard box and threw the bloodstained newspaper in the garbage.
Manually feeding the kittens was a short-term solution, as feeding 11 kittens every 3 hours was exhausting. Besides, some mothers were protective of their kittens. If the kittens had too much human interaction, the mothers would hide them. Even though he didn't need to worry about that since Fina was there, it wasn't a good idea to frighten the mothers.
He thought about buying a few Crucian Carps today to make a fish soup. It would help the mothers lactate, and as long as there was enough milk, he didn't need to worry about feeding the kittens.
The problem was that it was New Year's, the food market was closed and the supermarket might not sell Crucian Carps.
By the time dawn broke, he could barely stand. He drew the curtain open, so that there was light in the delivery room. The mothers needed sunlight, as female cats were prone to calcium deficiency after birth.
Sunlight could do a multitude of good. The ultraviolet light killed any germs in the room, and the cats were able to get vitamin D, which was known to facilitate calcium absorption.
When he saw the mothers and kittens fall asleep, he felt relieved, but then a flood of drowsiness overwhelmed him.
Zhang Zian turned to Fina, who had almost passed out from exhaustion."Thank you for helping. Let's head back."
He had never really stayed up all night on New Year's before. Having helped two cats successfully give birth for the first time, and have all 11 kittens survive, he felt a great sense of achievement.
However, this sense of achievement couldn't replace sleep. He stumbled back to the shop, prepared breakfast for the elfins, pulled the blanket over himself, and fell asleep.
He slept until noon. He would've slept longer if someone didn't knock on the door.
"Store Manager, Happy New Year!"
Lu Yiyun stood outside the shop, wearing a brand new jacket. Zhang Zian had asked her to come into work.
"Happy New Year," Zhang Zian replied, scratching his head.
"Did something happen?" Lu Yiyun asked. Usually at this time, Zhang Zian would've opened the shop, and she noticed that the shop hadn't been cleaned yet. He looked like he just woke up.
"No. I mean, the Abyssinian cats gave birth to kittens last light, so I didn't sleep." Zhang Zian yawned. "Come in. You can send a message on Wechat to tell everyone the good news."
"Wow! Really?" Lu Yiyun was surprised. "So many people were asking about it. Are the kittens super cute? I want to see them. How many are there?"
She didn't even put her stuff down, she was already making her way to the shoe store.
"Wait, don't bring Jasmin over there!" Zhang Zian stopped her.
"Oh!" Lu Yiyun put her backpack down, and left Jasmin to play at the shop. She went to the shoe store with her phone to take pictures.
When she came back, she said, "Impressive! I counted, and there's 11 of them? Did you deliver them all by yourself?"
"Kind of," Zhang Zian answered half-heartedly. He couldn't tell her that Fina helped him. He boiled some water, about to make some tea to wake himself up. He was still sleepy, but he there was a lot of work to do.
"I wish I could've witnessed it," she said regretfully.
"No worries. There'll be plenty of opportunities in the future." Zhang Zian rubbed his temple. "Do you know where I can buy Crucian Carps today?"
"Crucian Carps?" she repeated. "You're craving Crucian Carps?"
"It's for the two mothers, to help them lactate," Zhang Zian corrected. "The food market is closed today, and I don't know where to buy Crucian Carps. I don't know if the supermarkets nearby sell them, and even if I ordered them online, there's no way they'll be delivered today."
"Um…I'm so sorry. I have no idea," she answered in low voice, embarrassed.
Lu Yiyun was the wrong person to ask. She commuted everyday from her rented apartment to the pet shop. She didn't know her way around. How would she know where to buy Crucian Carps?
"That's okay." Zhang Zian sighed. "I'll visit the nearby supermarkets, to find out which one sells Crucian Carps."
Lu Yiyun felt guilty for not being able to help. She sat down and turned the computer on. She created a new post, and inserted the Abyssinian kittens' pictures. While she wrote the message, she thought about Zhang Zian's problem.
When she finished writing the article, she went through the comments and answered some customers' questions. If there were questions she couldn't answer, she asked Zhang Zian. If Zhang Zian didn't know the answer, he searched for it and told her.
Suddenly, she had an idea, and suggested, "How about posting an ad on the account, asking everyone to lend us a few Crucian Carps?"
"Lend us fish?" Zhang Zian wasn't fully awake yet, and didn't understand her.
"Yes. The more people we ask, the more help we get. Maybe someone has Crucian Carps at home!" she said. "We can borrow them or buy them from people. As long as we pay for the trips, someone will help."
Zhang Zian thought about it, and believed it was a practical suggestion and the best solution. It was much better than looking for Crucian Carps by himself. It would save him a lot of work. He slapped his thigh and said, "Fantastic idea! Let's do it. Let's borrow some fish!"