Chapter 570: Relaying Messages
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Masanori Suzuhara usually contacted her cla.s.smates and seniors inj.a.pan using Line, but she’d started using Wechat after coming to China.School hadn’t started yet, and she only had a few Wechat contacts,including the counselor and Zhang Zian.
She went back to the international student’s residence, and set up acozy spot for Snoopy. Pets weren’t forbidden in the residence, butotherwise she would have to rent a room outside. Rent in China wascheaper than j.a.pan and there was no need to pay unnecessary money.Still, she wanted to get to know more Chinese friends during her limiteddays in the country.
Although she’d taken care of former Snoopy in the lab for a longtime, technically this was still her first time owning a pet of her own.She didn’t know that beagles often annoyed the neighbors and shestarted to grow anxious after remembering the conversation between ZhangZian and Qian Bowen.
This Snoopy was well trained by Zhang Zian at the pet shop, and onlybarked once or twice since it had arrived at the residence. Sheremembered Zhang Zian’s advice and resisted the urge to look back at it.She stared at her phone, and didn’t even turn her head when it barked.
She received lots of Line greetings from her lab seniors, asking herhow she was doing in China, what it was like around her, and if she wasbeing mistreated by anyone.
Masanori Suzuhara read the messages and smiled. Before coming here,all she knew about China was through TV news and costume dramas, whicheasily could have exaggerated the way things actually were. The seniors’worries were understandable.
Snoopy barked two more times, but she continued to ignore it. Afterthat, it stopped barking, and sniffed around the room the explore thenew territory.
Masanori Suzuhara had been paying attention to its movements, andfelt rea.s.sured after seeing that it had finally stopped barking. Theformer Snoopys were kept in a lab that had good sound insulation, andeven then, n.o.body was there during the night time. n.o.body cared how muchthey barked. But the residence was different.
She responded to all of the greetings from her seniors, and tried herbest to clarify their misunderstandings about China, telling them notto worry as she tried to adapt to her new life.
In addition, some of her close girl friends were asking her if she’dbeen eating properly, and if she could ever get used to the food inChina. They told her to take more local products from j.a.pan with her thenext time she travelled back.
The most frequently asked question, from either her seniors orcla.s.smates, was asking why she hadn’t updated Twitter in such a longtime, and if she had run into any difficulties or trouble.
Regarding this subject, she just told them it was a long story. Shewanted to complain, but she wasn’t able to actually say anything.
After answering all of the greetings, she asked her seniors about thebiomedical device company that had been cooperating with the lab, alongwith inquires about their contact information.
The seniors did some research and sent her the company’s information.
Her phone vibrated. The delivery man had arrived at the internationalstudents’ residence, and was calling for her to pick up her stuff. Thecage she ordered from the pet shop had arrived.
Masanori Suzuhara put aside her other business, picked up the cagedownstairs, paid for the courier, and then started to set up a cozys.p.a.ce for Snoopy. She was following Zhang Zian’s advice. It wasnecessary to use a cage before Snoopy was fully trained.
She put an old blanket in the cage, and put another layer ofwaterproof cloth on top, in case Snoopy peed or p.o.o.ped while inside. Theold blanket was actually only a few days old.
After that, she put a pair of old gloves on top of the old blanket.According to Zhang Zian, when she was not in the room, it would bebetter to let Snoopy keep on smelling her. It would calm the dog down,so it wouldn’t panically bark for its missing owner.
The shopping bag from the pet shop was on the table, and the QR codewas too glaring to be ignored. She took out another item from the bag.It was the last resort to stop the beagle from barking; a dog mask. Thedog couldn’t open its mouth once it was on, thus preventing it frommaking any noise. However, she didn’t want to use this unless she hadto.
The dog mask was much different from a shock collar. It was defensive, practical, and useful.
When Zhang Zian recommended the dog mask to Masanori Suzuhara, he took the time to educate her about the reality of China.
When walking a dog outside, no matter how friendly the dog was, if itwas not as obedient as a police dog, it would always be better to use amask. Apart from preventing bad situations of biting and barking, themask could also prevent the dog from eating unknown food. Every year,many dogs died from poisoning after eating random food from outside.
If some person hated either the dog or the owner, they could placepoisonous bait in their residential areas. The dog would die as soon asit consumed it, leaving no time for medical aid. If a regular dog hadnot been fully trained to resist this type of food, it was necessary toput on a mask when it went outside, before something terrible happened.
She was horrified after hearing this, and immediately agreed to buy the mask.
After entering the cage, Snoopy barked a few more times. Maybe itdidn’t want to be locked up. But Masanori Suzuhara ignored it, openedher laptop, and started writing out an email using the contactinformation provided by her seniors. The email address they gave her wasnot an official company address, but the personal email of a businessmanager whom the seniors knew very well and often had drinks with.
The seniors asked her what her purpose was when they provided her thecontact information. She replied that she had received a favor from apet shop owner in China, and was trying to do something to return thefavor.
She stated her ident.i.ty and intentions in the email, hoping that therecipient would make an exception. After all, this company had only beenselling their automatic dog washers in j.a.pan, and not in othercountries. Transportation was a major issue. An automatic dog washer washeavy and bulky, much bigger than common was.h.i.+ng machines used inhouseholds.
After sending the email, Masanori Suzuhara saw that Snoopy hadalready quieted down, and was staring at her while lying down in thecage. Its eyes looked a bit sad.
“Good job, Snoopy,” she said, praising it.
She let it out of its cage, and sat down on the cold floor with it,as part of her old habits. She trained it to sit, squat, and lie downwith some treats.
Snoopy immediately got excited, and played with her happily. However,it wasn’t responding to her training demands. Beagles were often toolively and difficult to train, as they were not obedient. Still, sheknew that some beagles were trained as police dogs to detect drugs.
“Woof!”
Snoopy jumped to grab the food out of her hands, and barked with disappointment after failing to do so.
Masanori Suzuhara quickly stood up from the ground and went back to her seat. She noticed that a new email had arrived.
The business manager replied to her email, saying that the companywas not planning on expanding the automatic dog washer business in Chinajust yet. But, the company was going to bring a machine to China topartic.i.p.ate in a home technology exhibition. If they didn’t mind, thecompany would consider leaving the washer behind, the one that was goingto be used as a sample for the display. It would spare them the troubleof s.h.i.+pping it back to j.a.pan. However, they needed to discuss thefurther details of the plan and they also couldn’t offer free warrantyservices.
After seeing that its owner was ignoring it, Snoopy heistantly cameover, circled her chair a few times around, sniffed her feet, and thenstood up to put its two front paws on her leg, asking her to play.
Masanori Suzuhara was trying to focus on the email. She had to letSnoopy know that barking meant punishment, which included barking frombeing ignored and being without food or play. She’d heard about thetrouble that Qian Bowen had encountered with his beagle. She must payclose attention, in order not to repeat the same mistakes and to avoidannoying others.
She read the email twice, thought about it, and then texted ZhangZian. She was only the messenger responsible for relaying the message toZhang Zian. Zhang Zian had to make the final decision, and see if hewas willing to accept a sample automatic dog washer from the exhibition.
Snoopy barked two more times and scratched her leg to get herattention. But it was only disappointed. The owner was acting like awooden statue, focused on her work, and not responding to its behavior.
Zhang Zian replied quicker than she had expected.
He texted her back and said, he knew about the challenges froms.h.i.+pping, and didn’t mind if it was a display sample from theexhibition. He was willing to buy it at the price of a new machine. Asfor the warranty, it was a shame, but he couldn’t really do anythingabout it. The company didn’t have a branch in China, and he understoodtheir reasoning. If the machine broke while using, he was willing to payfor the repairs himself.
Masanori Suzuhara incorporated Zhang Zian’s reply in her email, and sent it back to the business manager.
Snoopy laid down by her feet sadly, and looked up at her from time totime. It seemed to have accepted the fact that she did not like to bedisturbed while working, and had to wait for her to finish.
After it had calmed down, Masanori Suzuhara leaned over, placed it onher lap, and combed its hair with a small brush. She said gently,“Snoopy, don’t bark, and don’t annoy other people. Otherwise, I wontplay with you.”
Despite the fact that it was named Snoopy, it was actually a femaledog. Female beagles were quieter than the males. The one that Qian Bowenhad owned was male, and barked more for that reason.
Snoopy laid on her lap comfortably and let her brush its hair. It didn’t bark at all.
The business manager replied to her email again, saying that theyappreciated the accommodation of their Chinese counterparts. He alsobrought along some good news. Since the voltage in j.a.pan was 110V, notcompatible with the voltage in China, to ensure a successfuldemonstration in the exhibition, the company would bring a specialvoltage converter to China and give it to them with the machine for freeafter the exhibtion.
Masanori Suzuhara tapped her forehead, and thanked them for being soconsiderate. She hadn’t thought of this issue before. If they had gottenthe automatic dog washer, but couldn’t use it because of its differentvoltage, she would have been so embarrased.
She informed Zhang Zian of the latest news, and successfully fufilled her role as messenger.
“Great job, Snoopy. You’re being really good,” she said to it gently.