Chapter Forty-Two: A Show of Respect

Utter nonsense. Pure, unadulterated nonsense.

Yang Baoqian knew that his plan to get close to Zhu Qingyan had gone up in smoke, so his true nature finally emerged. At this moment, his eyes no longer saw Zhu Qingyan, only Zhang Congwen, the one who had repeatedly outshone him. He had intended to seize the opportunity to mock Zhang Congwen's financial standing, but was never given the chance.

It wasn't until Zhu Qingyan slammed the door and left with Zhang Congwen that Yang Baoqian snapped out of his daze. Zhu Qingyan was not just someone he wanted to pursue—she was also his boss's daughter.

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect Yang Baoqian to be that sort of person," Zhu Qingyan said apologetically to Zhang Congwen as they sat in her car. She had only wanted to treat Zhang Congwen to a meal, but things had turned out this way, and she felt bad about it.

What surprised Zhu Qingyan was that Zhang Congwen didn't seem to mind at all, brushing it off with a repeated, "It's nothing."

"Why don't you seem angry?" she asked, a hint of curiosity in her tone.

"Why should I be angry?" Zhang Congwen replied carelessly. "He didn't just offend me—he offended you too. And your father is his boss. Wait till you get home and tell your dad, embellish it a bit, and he'll be in real trouble."

There's truth in the saying: "You become the company you keep." After spending so much time with Song Jiawei, Zhang Congwen had picked up some of his sly ways.

"So you want to use me as a weapon?" Zhu Qingyan, clever as she was, immediately saw through his little scheme.

"Just returning the favor," Zhang Congwen grinned, not noticing that his smile bore a hint of roguishness, reminiscent of Song Jiawei himself. "I don't know what your temper is like, but if it were me, I wouldn't let this go so easily."

"Hmph." Zhu Qingyan knew Zhang Congwen was trying to stir things up, but she took it as nothing more than a friend's joke.

Truth be told, even without Zhang Congwen's obvious prompting, she’d already resolved to complain to her father as soon as she left Yang Baoqian's house.

Back at his rented apartment, Zhang Congwen felt secretly delighted. He could already imagine Yang Baoqian's fate once Zhu Qingyan told her father what happened. Knowing Zhu Chang’s temper, there was no way he’d tolerate someone with questionable character trying to get close to his precious daughter.

Zhang Congwen recounted the day's events to Song Jiawei, who immediately became animated. He began by enthusiastically approving of Zhang Congwen's actions, then moved on to point out his shortcomings.

"Such a golden opportunity and you didn’t make the most of it. If I were you, and someone tried to cozy up to my girlfriend, the first thing I’d do is head to Zhu Qingyan’s house and tell her father all about that Yang fellow’s disgraceful conduct."

"Enough. Zhu Qingyan and I are just friends—she's not my girlfriend," Zhang Congwen protested at once.

"Alright, alright, she's not," Song Jiawei replied with a look of disdain, then launched into a litany of shady schemes.

Zhang Congwen rolled his eyes. "I'm not as shameless as you. Only someone with your thick skin could pull off what you're suggesting."

Song Jiawei shot him another look of scorn, concluding that Zhang Congwen was hopelessly stubborn, and promptly lost interest in continuing.

Song Jiawei was clearly in a good mood today. It was obvious he’d closed the deal with Boss Xie and made a tidy sum. With a grand gesture, he promised to treat Zhang Congwen to a lavish outing after the next payday.

After a bit more idle chatter, Song Jiawei was soon glued to his phone, chuckling to himself.

Bored, Zhang Congwen retreated to his own room, opened his laptop, and started watching science videos about animals.

His viewing interests were broad, not confined to dogs alone. Astronomy, geography—nothing was off-limits. But animal documentaries always topped the list. Much of Zhang Congwen's knowledge about animals came from these videos.

After he finished, he checked on the two turtles he kept. Living in a southern city, where winters were milder than in the north, he hadn’t put them into traditional hibernation but kept them in their tank. But since the temperature wasn’t yet warm enough for feeding, the turtles remained sluggish.

Turtle keepers are an odd bunch. Reptiles and amphibians interact far less with humans than cats or dogs, yet many reptile enthusiasts still crave that interaction.

Take Zhang Congwen, for instance—he’d often let his turtles chase and nip at his finger before feeding them. Turtles have simpler minds than cats or dogs, and since owners often feed them by hand, it’s easy for turtles to associate fingers with food.

So whenever Zhang Congwen extended his finger, his turtles would try to taste it, curious about its flavor. Sometimes, he’d even mischievously let them bite his finger on purpose.

Given their species, their bite wasn't strong, so even if they managed to nip him, it didn’t hurt much. Besides, once they realized the finger wasn’t food, they’d quickly let go.

It wasn’t just Zhang Congwen who indulged in this slightly masochistic behavior; many turtle owners with weak-biting turtles did the same and even felt a strange sense of satisfaction when nipped.

Such little games between owner and turtle became the pitiful semblance of “interaction” that turtle keepers sought.

Every time he teased his turtles like this, Zhang Congwen felt a deep sense of contentment.

Strangely, he rarely pursued such interaction with cats and dogs; companionship was more important to him there. There’s no hierarchy here—ultimately, it’s all about meeting the owner's needs. Owning one kind of pet doesn’t make you superior to someone who owns another.

This was why Zhang Congwen could calmly and objectively observe canine behavior, understand their temperaments, and resist the urge to attribute human characteristics to them.

On the other hand, this had its downsides. While he understood dogs' behavioral patterns well, he was much less adept at teaching them tricks than at correcting their behavioral problems.

A vivid metaphor: teaching a dog tricks is like a teacher imparting knowledge to students, while correcting problems is more like reforming a troubled youth into a model one. Both are called dog training, but the substance is worlds apart.

After feeding the turtles and still savoring that sense of ease, Zhang Congwen’s phone buzzed with a new message.

He picked it up and saw it was from Xie Caizhe.

"Big Brother Zhang, you’re famous now!"

Zhang Congwen was baffled and quickly replied, "Famous for what?"

After sending a laughing emoji, Xie Caizhe followed up: "I told my buddies about you, and now the whole grade knows there’s someone like you. If you came to our school, you could walk around like a king—there’d be a crowd lining up to be your followers."

Zhang Congwen couldn’t help but laugh. He was far too old to go strutting around Xie Caizhe’s school. "Thanks, but that’s not necessary," he replied.

But Xie Caizhe messaged back at once: "How can you say that? Lots of my classmates want you to come train their dogs!"

Zhang Congwen was taken aback. He hadn’t expected Xie Caizhe to start drumming up business for him.

"If there’s a problem, send it to me and I’ll take a look," Zhang Congwen typed quickly. If there was money to be made, he was all for it.

But the replies made him shake his head in disbelief. Most of Xie Caizhe’s classmates didn’t want him to fix problem dogs—they wanted him to teach their pets tricks. Some just wanted their dogs to learn basic commands like sit, lie down, and shake hands, while others wanted him to train their dogs to shop for groceries by themselves. One even asked him to teach their cat how to do a backflip.

"What kind of nonsense is this? I refuse," Zhang Congwen replied with a laughing-crying emoji.

Yet Xie Caizhe quickly sent another message: "Forget those guys, but there are two people you have to help—do me this favor, big brother!"