565 Masanori Suzuhara In the Lab (1/2)
Chapter 565: Masanori Suzuhara In the Lab
Translator: Nyoi-Bo StudioEditor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian quietly stood aside and watched the confrontation between Qian Bowen and his son with a smile. Although Qian Bowen failed to train his previous dog to be obedient, he still had the opportunity to correct his son's bad habits. He must not grant his son's requests easily every time this kid cried or screamed.
Raising a dog was like raising a son. Conversely, raising a son was like raising a dog.
This family was not suitable for raising Beagles. As the netizens said, if Qian Bowen and his son insisted on raising a Beagle, this decision would benefit no one.
Of course, even if Small Money really wanted to buy a dog with his own lucky money, Zhang Zian would not sell a dog to him because Small Money was a minor with limited legal capacity. The transaction of pets involved more than payments and delivery, Zhang Zian and his customers must also sign the pet sale agreement and go through other formalities. The pet sale agreement would be invalid if a minor signed upon it. Zhang Zian would not allow such a silly thing to happen.
The same was true for Snowy. Instead of asking for rewards, she often reminded her under-age audiences on her live broadcast channel, Weibo, and WeChat public account not to reward her using their parents' money. Snowy's behaviors made her audience like her even more.
Small Money struggled for a long time. On a weighing scale in his mind, Nintendo Switch was placed on one end, while a Beagle was sitting on the other end. Which could bring more happiness to him?
Slowly, the balance tilted in the direction of Switch. Obviously, the weight of Switch in his heart was heavier.
”Then...then...I won't buy it today...Anyway, Lunar New Year is coming. I will come back to buy a dog with this year's lucky money! Even if you don't buy it for me, I will buy it myself!” said Small Money.
”OK, whatever you want. If you want to come again, I will accompany you.” Qian Bowen laughed.
Qian Bowen looked at the time. It was almost time for him to leave. He had to work night shifts tonight, so he had to eat early at noon and go to bed hurriedly after lunch. Now he had to go buy food and cook lunch at home. So, he said goodbye to Zhang Zian, ”Manager Zhang, thank you so much today. Thanks to you, I have learned that there is so much information about raising dogs. And I have never met such a conscientious shop owner like you who would actually persuade his customers not to buy pets ... But you can rest assured, I will buy a dog from your shop eventually—when my son grows up a bit, or when we decide to raise a less troublesome dog. I will definitely come to buy a dog from your place when I am ready to raise a dog again.”
Zhang Zian was also very distressed. But he felt that if this family bought a Beagle, they would either come back to return the dog within a few days, or a hot and new topic would appear on Weibo a while later—”An unscrupulous pet shop owner sold a dog to a customer, causing the customer to encounter major operational accidents on the assembly line” ... In that case, it would be better for Zhang Zian not to sell the dog to them.
”Boy, let's go home.” Qian Bowen said to his son.
Small Money yearningly looked at the Beagle a few more times, and then left with his father dejectedly. Before leaving, he told Zhang Zian, ”Manager, remember to leave this dog for me. When I get my lucky money, I will come and buy it.”
”Let's talk about that when you come back.” Zhang Zian said casually.
When the noisy father and his son left, the store finally quieted down a bit.
Although he had said a lot of words, he failed to close the deal. Zhang Zian picked up a cup of tea that he prepared in advance and drank it, moistening his throat and reducing his internal heat.
Vivi felt that this trip to the pet shop was worthwhile because she seemed to have learned a lot of things. Although it was a pity that she could not be surrounded by a lot of cats…She looked around the shop and laid eyes on Masanori Suzuhara. Vivi felt that there was something wrong with this Japanese girl, then she quietly poked Snowy.
Snowy was interacting with the netizens but reminded by Vivi, Snowy noticed that Masanori Suzuhara was crying in front of a display cabinet that contained a Beagle.
”Hello, Miss Suzuhara, are you uncomfortable?” The warm-hearted Snowy approached Masanori Suzuhara and asked her with concern.
”Ah, no, I am not feeling unwell. I just…have recalled something in the past.” Masanori Suzuhara quickly rubbed her tearful eyes and dredged up a smile.
”Wipe your tears away, or the tear stains will hurt your skin in this cold weather.” Snowy thoughtfully handed Suzuhara a paper towel. Suzuhara repeatedly thanked Snowy, took the paper towel and wiped away her tears.
”Manager, excuse me, can I buy this Beagle?” Masanori Suzuhara asked Zhang Zian.
Zhang Zian was stunned and said to himself. Was today Beagle Day? Why does everyone want to raise a Beagle today?
”You can... but did you hear my conversation with other customers just now? The Beagle has a cute appearance, but it is difficult to raise this breed of dog. If you want to buy it because it's cute, then I advise you...” he said euphemistically.
Masanori Suzuhara clarified, ”No, it's not like that! I like Snoopy very much. I like Beagles. They are very poor...”
”Do you know the characteristics of this breed of dog?” Zhang Zian intended to test her to see if she truly understood Beagles.
”I do. Snoopy loves barking, playing, and being close to human beings. I spent more than two years with Beagles...” As she spoke, she looked increasingly in dismay.
Masanori Suzuhara was a student of a medical school. Because of her outstanding academic achievement, her professors selected her to become an assistant in a laboratory, where she encountered Beagles for the first time. Since she was the youngest student, she was basically responsible for the trivialities, and her main task was to look after the Beagles in the lab.
There was a Beagle that was more than one year old in the laboratory. It highly resembled the Beagle in Zhang Zian's pet shop. They looked almost exactly the same. The professors and the senior students in the lab all called that Beagle Snoopy, so she also called it Snoopy.
Just like Masanori Suzuhara, Snoopy was also a newcomer to the laboratory. Its lively and cheerful personality immediately won her favor.
Every morning, she was always the first one to arrive at the laboratory to prepare the experimental equipment for her professors and the senior students. After that, she would run with Snoopy. There were two treadmills in the lab, one was for people and the other one was for dogs. She and Snoopy ran on the treadmills together and she would record its breathing, heartbeat, body temperature and other data before and after running. Occasionally, she would draw blood from Snoopy and then analyze its feces and urine…She had naively assumed that the aforementioned had covered all the aspects of the experiment.
Seeing Masanori Suzuhara become too close to Snoopy, those senior students had repeatedly and subtly reminded her not to. They suggested that if she likes dogs, she might as well raise a pet dog. However, she did not agree with them, and then she continued playing with Snoopy every day.
One day, when she came to the lab in the morning, she couldn't find Snoopy. In desperation, she notified the security staff in the laboratory right away, asking them to help her find Snoopy. At that moment, she vaguely heard the familiar and penetrating barking from further inside the lab. It was Snoopy's cry.
Masanori Suzuhara followed the sound and found that Snoopy was locked in a sealed experimental apparatus. It was curling up inside the instrument and was foaming at the mouth. When Snoopy heard her footsteps, it raised its head and looked at her through the clear glass as if asking for help. Then, it staggered forward, placing its nose against the glass. Whimpering, its eyes were full of pain.
What's going on?
She was stunned.
Why is Snoopy here?
The senior students who arrived later regretfully told her that this was the fate of Snoopy. Like lab rats, the Beagles in the laboratory were also for experiments.
It was not until then did she truly understand Beagles.
Among all dog breeds, Beagles were basically the healthiest ones with the least genetic diseases. Meanwhile, their sizes were moderate, they were docile and easy to control. The most important thing was that Beagles loved being close to human beings. Even if people beat them or tortured them with the painful experiments, they would not hold any grudge or resentment against human beings. Even after being abused by human beings for thousands of times, Beagles would still treat human beings as their first love.
In addition, the purebred Beagles were not expensive, and they were genetically stable, so they were especially suitable for the researches of pharmacology, toxicology, cyclic physiology, and surgery. It was also convenient for different laboratories in all places to compare the data they had gained through Beagles. Among all experimental dogs in the world, Beagles had accounted for 98%. Thousands of Beagles were sacrificed for the advancement of human medicine every year.
The longer lifespan of human beings was achieved at the expense of Beagles. But Beagles' hardships were more than that. Despite the official prohibitions in many countries, a few cosmetics companies and lifestyle-products company still secretly used Beagles to test the toxicity of their products.
Throughout the day, Masanori Suzuhara shed tears while watching Snoopy as it was injected with a certain dosage of toxic agent in the experimental device. She observed and recorded its toxic reactions, and then injected the antidote to Snoopy to observe and record its reactions as Snoopy gradually returned to normal. In the end, she drew blood from Snoopy and examined its urine every hour, analyzing the toxin residue in its body to obtain such valuable data as the metabolic rate of the toxin... She couldn't bear to look at Snoopy anymore, but those senior students needed her to stay there because her presence could soothe and calm Snoopy.
She told herself repeatedly. This was for the advancement of human medicine. This was to save more people's lives.
Rationally, there was no essential difference between experimenting with a rat and experimenting with a Beagle. But emotionally, it was very difficult for her to accept that Snoopy was used in the experiment.
When the endless experiment was finally over, led by the professors, those senior students eagerly devoted themselves to analyzing the data, looking forward to the completion and publication of a new paper of high-quality. Snoopy dragged its tired body out of the experimental apparatus, smiled at Masanori Suzuhara as if nothing had happened and ran to her cheerfully. It fell halfway and struggled to get up again. Masanori Suzuhara could even see the muscles twitching in Snoopy's legs.
”I'm sorry, Snoopy, I'm sorry!” She held it in her arms and apologized repeatedly.
Snoopy stuck out its warm tongue and licked the tears from her face. It had forgotten all the displeasure, simply because it was happy to be embraced by its owner.
The days after the first experiment went back to normal.
She was still the first one who came to the lab every morning. She fed Snoopy, ran with it, keeping track of such data as breathing, heartbeat, and body temperature. She occasionally drew the blood of Snoopy and tested its feces and urine, but she was more careful and gentler than before. Just like the Japanese society, the laboratory was rigidly stratified. As the youngest student in the lab, she did not know when the next experiment would be held, and no one had told her that. Hence, she could only make the best use of her time to make Snoopy happy.
The second experiment came faster than she expected.
Almost immediately after Snoopy had recovered its health, it was forced to undergo another experiment. This time, Snoopy was to test a new drug that was in the developmental process. This new drug had broad market prospects, but it was still rather immature, for it would sting the stomach strongly and may cause vomiting.