Chapter 294: The Rational Leek

Qiao Sang was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed.

She had thought she'd have to wait another month or so, but never expected her mother to be so efficient — it had taken barely a month to get the breeding shop up and running.

One had to understand that a breeding shop was different from other kinds of stores; because it directly involved pet beasts, the review process for an individual business license alone was far stricter than for other physical businesses.

It wasn't impossible for some people to wait half a year for approval.

Truly worthy of an independent career-minded woman!

"Where did you open the shop?" Qiao Sang asked, the corners of her mouth curling up uncontrollably.

"No. 77 Yumin Road, the breeding shop about 200-something meters to the left downstairs from our complex. The owner happened to be looking to transfer the lease, so I took it over. As for the equipment…" Ye Xiangting stopped mid-sentence as if suddenly remembering something, then frowned deeply, stared at Qiao Sang, and said nothing.

Qiao Sang couldn't help asking: "What's wrong with the equipment? Why did you stop?"

Ye Xiangting was silent for two seconds: "What was the song you just had Bingluqiya sing supposed to do?"

"I'm sorry!" Qiao Sang apologized without hesitation.

Entry-level healing sound waves just won't cut it! The duration is way too short!

Ye Xiangting fell silent again for several seconds: "Right, what was it I just asked you?"

Qiao Sang was stunned for a moment: "You asked what the song Bingluqiya sang was supposed to do."

"Not that one." Ye Xiangting glanced at Qiao Sang and said: "It was the question before that. When did your brain domain break through, and why didn't you tell me you contracted a new pet beast?"

Qiao Sang's eyes went blank: "Didn't I just answer those two questions?"

Ye Xiangting's face darkened, and she said coldly: "Look at the answers you gave! They're exactly the same as when I asked you why you didn't tell me about Little Xunbao's evolution — not even a punctuation mark changed! So Little Xunbao's evolution, your brain domain breakthrough, and contracting a new pet beast all happened at the same time, right!"

】

Qiao Sang: "…"

Qiao Sang was left speechless by the rebuke, and only one thought flashed through her mind:

Healing sound waves carry risks — use with caution!

……

The family opening a breeding shop was a big deal. Although Qiao Sang really wanted to go check out the store right away, the excuse she'd given her mother was that she was too busy.

Nothing for it — she'd have to wait until the weekend.

Early Saturday morning, Qiao Sang set off riding on Like Ya Bao's back toward the address her mother had sent.

"Ya!"

All along the way, Like Ya Bao was very excited, walking much faster than usual.

In the understanding of pet beasts raised by humans from birth, contracting with an excellent beast master was a life-changing event.

In a pet beast base, the more precious and promising a pet beast was, the larger the area it was assigned.

Now that her own beast master's family had opened a shop that specialized in raising her kind, that meant the entire area belonged to her kind!

For a moment, Like Ya Bao felt her species had quite a lot of prestige!

But when she arrived at the shop, her wildly wagging tail instantly drooped.

This place was way too small!

What happened to all that prestige?!

"This is way too small!" Qiao Sang couldn't help complaining.

The entire shop was only about 70 square meters; in the glass-panel standing display racks in the center and on both sides sat just over twenty Fire Fang Dog pet beast eggs.

And that was it…

"It's already good enough that we could get it open." Ye Xiangting said: "The family's funds are limited, and I've hired a breeder — the monthly expenses are no small amount."

It was still a matter of being poor.

Qiao Sang understood and sighed.

To open a breeding shop, having a certified breeder was a must.

Just as a restaurant needed a chef and a school needed teachers, only breeding shops with higher-ranked breeders could attract more customers.

Many breeding shops advertised by displaying the honors and detailed credentials of their in-house breeders.

Until the research institute figured out the evolution conditions for Fire Fang Dogs to evolve into Flame Listener Hounds, attracting customers could only rely on the breeder.

And breeders could absolutely be called an ultra-high-salary profession.

Qiao Sang looked around, saw no one, and asked: "Where's the breeder you hired?"

"Hasn't started work yet." Ye Xiangting took out her phone and pointed it at Qiao Sang and Like Ya Bao: "Give me a smile, I'm going to make a promotional poster."

Qiao Sang instinctively flashed her big white teeth.

"Ya…"

Like Ya Bao also opened her mouth wide, putting on an "awkward yet polite" smile.

"Good." Ye Xiangting said, satisfied with the photo on her phone.

Qiao Sang was quiet for a moment, then suddenly said: "Mom, remember to photoshop it."

"Ya."

Like Ya Bao nodded in agreement.

Ye Xiangting: "…"

……

Evening.

Qiao Sang lay in bed, her thoughts drifting.

She remembered the vice principal saying that from application to approval, a research project took at least three months.

And that was only the beginning of the research project — who knew when in the blue moon the results would actually come out.

Although her mother hadn't mentioned the family's financial situation, Qiao Sang figured that if they kept a breeder on payroll, they probably wouldn't last until the research results came in.

Qiao Sang had a bit of a headache, so she took out her phone to scroll through something and change her mood.

After replying to a few messages from acquaintances, she opened Chao Bo and logged into her account.

Plenty of people were interested in Yanling Hounds; even though she hadn't posted in a long time, there were still quite a few new comments every day.

Her most recent post was still the photo from last time of Ya Bao wearing the cyberpunk tech-style ink accessory.

Qiao Sang tapped on the comments.

【Got dragged into how cool that is!】

【Alas, I have no culture, all I can say is "damn, you're so handsome"】

【It's been ages, why haven't the evolution conditions for Yanling Hound been released yet! My Fire Fang Dog can barely hold it in!】

【Feels like there are tons of fake videos online, all of Yanling Hound flying in the sky, with obvious signs of compositing still left in. Have you seen them, blogger?】

【Don't even mention flying, I even saw a video of a Yanling Hound using telekinesis and teleportation. Now everyone's saying online that Yanling Hound also has a Psychic-type attribute. I bet those beast dealers are so desperate for money they've gone this far — Fire-type plus Psychic-type, treating us like leeks ready to be harvested. Only fools would fall for it】

Qiao Sang suddenly realized that a big part of the reason Yanling Hound's hype had died down was that everyone didn't know Yanling Hound actually also possessed the Psychic-type.

If everyone learned and believed that Yanling Hound had the Psychic-type, would it get pushed back into the spotlight without having to wait for the evolution research results?

Qiao Sang thought for a moment, then replied to the comment questioning whether Yanling Hound had the Psychic-type.

【It's true, Yanling Hound really does have the Psychic-type】

Less than two minutes after posting, the comments below exploded.

【Unfollowed. I took you for talent, you took me for a leek】

【Holy crap? How much did the blogger get paid?】

【Cut the crap. If Yanling Hound really had both Fire-type and Psychic-type, the market price would've started at a million ages ago】

【Awesome! The blogger actually came out and replied!】

【Did the blogger get hacked?】

【I don't believe it, unless you post a video!】

【You can't trust videos either. Are there still few fake videos out there?】

【We are all rational leeks】

This string of comments made Qiao Sang's brief urge to post a video die down.

Without official certification or seeing it with their own eyes, even if she posted a video, the vast majority would still only trust their own judgment.

Qiao Sang thought for a while, closed Chao Bo, and dialed the vice principal's number.

After two "doo-doo" sounds, the call connected.

"Hello." The vice principal's deep voice came through the speaker: "What's up? Want to take leave again?"

Is she that kind of person... Qiao Sang was a bit speechless. She cleared her throat and said: "Not taking leave, Vice Principal. I wanted to ask what exact date the National Campus Beast-Taming League starts?"

"October 27th." Liu Yao answered.

"Will there be media coming then?" Qiao Sang asked.