Selling soap

"Come take a look. See if there's one you like."

Qin Yan poked her fluffy head over to look.

Before she could get a clear look, he scooped her into his arms.

"Sticky Rice, Rice Cake, Roundy, Fubao..."

These names really were all adorable, just as Qin Yan had hoped.

"Doggy, which one do you want?"

Qin Yan thought so many of the names sounded lovely, so she held the little black puppy and asked.

Deep in the tiny puppy's jet-black eyes was a dark red that was difficult to notice.

"Woof, woof..."

"Jinbao. Then I'll call you Jinbao from now on."

"Fishy will be called Fubao." In her babyish voice, she settled on a name for the only little fish in the house.

Fu Yunting was fine with anything, as long as she was happy.

Holding Jinbao, Qin Yan was ready to give the puppy a bath.

She took out her grapefruit-scented soap, changed into a little short-sleeved shirt and shorts, put on her cute creamy-yellow slippers, and began working up a lather and scrubbing the puppy all over.

Surprisingly, the puppy wasn't very dirty.

"Doggy is a clean little baby."

She praised the Little Black Dog in her babyish voice, and it wagged its tail, looking very happy.

Watching the two adorable little creatures softened even a grown man like Fu Yunting's heart.

Suddenly, the puppy looked over.

Fu Yunting took back his earlier thought. That Little Black Dog didn't look adorable at all.

How could something so tiny have such a fierce look in its eyes?

After washing and blow-drying the puppy, Qin Yan carried Jinbao straight to bed.

"Good night, Uncle."

Fu Yunting: ...

He was unhappy. His sweet-smelling, soft little niece was gone!

And so, he began to find the little puppy rather disagreeable.

Jinbao paid him no attention whatsoever.

Early the next morning, Qin Yan responsibly took Jinbao outside for a walk to take care of bodily needs.

Then she fed the fish and picked up her little watering can to water the plants she had planted.

She went to her eldest uncle's company with him again that day, bringing all those bars of soap.

Except for Fubao the Butterfly Koi, who couldn't leave the water, she brought Jinbao along too.

"Miss Lin, I brought the soap!"

The pretty little girl remembered what she had promised.

Today, the little baby had turned into a grape-scented cupcake again.

Secretary Lin received a pale pink, round bar of soap.

"This soap looks so pretty!"

Not only did it look good, but more importantly, it smelled wonderful.

Although it had only a single scent, it smelled natural, neither too strong nor too faint, but just right.

Especially for employees like them, whose fussy big boss disliked perfume.

"I'm going to try it."

She couldn't wait.

The other secretaries who had received soap also hurried off to try it.

When they came back out, they carried a light, pleasant fragrance.

Especially one secretary who had a little body odor and needed strong perfume every day to cover it up.

Because of this, she didn't even dare get too close to the boss.

If she hadn't been so capable at her job, she really would have been transferred to another department.

At that moment, she truly wanted to cry.

"This... this works so well."

She had chosen the lemon-scented one. In fact, she had been quite apprehensive while using it, never expecting it to work so well!

A natural, pleasant lemon scent completely covered the slight unpleasant odor on her body.

She just didn't know how long it would last.

Remembering that the little girl had said the scent would last at least a day, and that Secretary Lin had confirmed it, she couldn't help feeling hopeful.

"Sweetie, we can't just take these for free. How much do they cost?"

That was right. They couldn't take such effective soap for free.

Besides, this was the boss's niece. If he found out they had taken advantage of her, wouldn't he remember it and make life difficult for them?

Qin Yan looked bewildered. She didn't know.

In the end, after discussing it, the secretaries each gave Qin Yan a thousand yuan.

A thousand yuan for a bar of soap was certainly not cheap.

"Go on, sweetie, take it. You can use this money to buy whatever you want."

Just like that, Qin Yan gained a little bag, a cute piggy bag one of the secretaries had crocheted from yarn.

She had intended to give it to Qin Yan anyway, and now it held several thousand yuan.

"Wow, you brought a puppy today, sweetie."

"This dog is so black. It'll definitely be handsome when it grows up!"

"But what breed is it? How come I've never seen one before?"

"Probably a mix? It looks a little like a Chinese village dog, but also a bit like a Doberman."

Qin Yan happily held the Little Black Dog and introduced Jinbao to them.

"This is my doggy. The name's Jinbao."

Hearing the name, the secretaries momentarily fell silent.

Wait. The dog among the pets the boss had asked them to name yesterday couldn't be this one, could it?

After Qin Yan grew familiar with the secretaries, whenever her eldest uncle got busy, she would bring Tuantuan and Jinbao over to the secretaries' office to play.

Everyone styled her hair in pretty new ways and dressed her up like a doll.

Then the pretty little girl would head out looking lovely and visit the calico cat at the Pet Hospital.

Strangely, though, the usually lively Pet Hospital fell especially quiet the moment she entered that day.

The dogs and cats all seemed afraid of, or awed by, something, lying obediently or curling up into balls, occasionally lifting their eyes to glance in Qin Yan's direction.

More precisely, they were looking at the little black puppy in her arms.

Doctor Song saw her and walked over with a smile.

"Here to see the cat again? That Calico Cat is recovering very well. In another two days, you can take him home."

A sweet smile immediately appeared on Qin Yan's face. "Thank you, Doctor."

"You're welcome. Oh... this little puppy of yours has quite a fine appearance."

Qin Yan lifted Jinbao up for him to see, eagerly introducing the puppy to everyone she knew.

"The name's Jinbao."

Smiling, Doctor Song was just about to offer some praise.

But when he met the puppy's jet-black eyes, a chill rose in his heart for no reason.

Doctor Song shivered, then looked again, and there seemed to be nothing there.

Had I seen wrong just now? Was I hallucinating?

"That's a lovely name."

Qin Yan politely thanked him, then carried Jinbao onward to see the calico cat.

But the calico cat seemed a little unhappy today?

Even inside his cage, the Calico Cat looked at Jinbao with some fear and hissed from time to time.

Qin Yan scratched her head. "Does Kitty not like Jinbao?"

Was this the legendary rivalry between cats and dogs?

Doctor Song said, "Many cats and dogs don't get along. They can only live together peacefully if they grew up together, or if both of them, or at least one, has a very good, tolerant temperament."

"Oh," Qin Yan said.

Then did that mean I couldn't bring the Calico Cat home?

With the matter on her mind, after returning to her eldest uncle's company, she waited until he was free and told him about it in her soft little voice.

"That male calico?"

Qin Yan nodded. "Kitty is scared of Doggy."

She could sense the Calico Cat's fear.

Fu Yunting said, "That's easy. Once the Calico Cat gets better, we can keep him at the company."

A calico. A male cat.

A Zhaocai cat.

Cats like that weren't common.

He loved making money. Keeping a Zhaocai cat at the company seemed pretty good.

People like them who ran big companies already liked keeping Money Trees, or even building ponds to raise koi and having Golden Toad figures made to put in them.

He had a Golden Pixiu in his office.

Some people even brought in a God of Wealth statue to place at their company.

Even other companies would want to keep a Zhaocai cat if they came across one.

The problem was easily solved.

Whenever Qin Yan wanted to see the Calico Cat in the future, she could simply come to the company.

Qin Yan's eyes curved as she smiled, soft and sweet.

Like a sticky little rice cake, she followed Fu Yunting around, calling him "Uncle" over and over in her soft, sweet voice, leaving him utterly delighted.