Logan Bennett waited on the wall about twenty meters from the school gate for seven or eight minutes before the bell signaling the end of class at the affiliated elementary school rang. It wasn’t a sharp “ding-ling-ling” sound, but a lively and cheerful piece of music—very considerate.

A little girl in a floral dress, carrying a Hello Kitty backpack, walked out of the hallway. As soon as she reached the stairwell, she looked straight over at Logan Bennett. When she saw Logan Bennett crouching on the wall, her otherwise emotionless eyes immediately brightened, and she ran over.

“Ryan Carter said they have a quiz in the last period, so we might have to wait a bit longer…”

Before the little girl could finish her sentence, Logan Bennett saw someone burst out of the stairwell, dragging his backpack like a sack, his hair as messy as a bird’s nest. He charged straight toward them, grinning smugly, and flashed a “V” victory sign at Logan Bennett and the little girl. It seemed he did well on the last period’s quiz.

The boy’s name was Ryan Carter, the child of the family currently fostering Logan Bennett, and he was in sixth grade. The little girl was Violet Grant, Ryan Carter’s cousin. After her parents divorced, she was brought back from abroad by Mrs. Carter for certain reasons, and now lived with the The Carter Family, attending second grade at the affiliated elementary school of Chu University.

Ryan Carter took the backpack from Violet Grant, and the two kids and a cat left the school gate, heading toward the family housing complex in the east district.

“Look, the cat from Ryan Carter’s family has come to pick them up again!” someone remarked.

Many people they passed were already used to this scene. It had been nearly three weeks since the start of the school year, and at first, it was a fun topic of conversation for people in the area after meals.

The family housing complex wasn’t far from the affiliated school; it took less than ten minutes to walk there.

The The Carter Family lived on the fifth floor of Building B in the east district complex. Every building here had a security door at the entrance. Ryan Carter tapped his keychain against the card reader, and the iron door opened with a “clang.”

There was a small round tag on Ryan Carter’s keychain—that was the “key” for the security door. Almost everyone living in the complex had one. Logan Bennett also wore one around his neck, but his was a bit special: the front of the tag had Logan Bennett’s current photo, and the back had the The Carter Family’s home address and contact number. The access card and pet tag were combined into one, specially made by Mr. Carter.

When Logan Bennett entered the building, he glanced at the balcony of a first-floor apartment, but didn’t see the chubby guy—probably taken to visit relatives again.

At mealtime, the The Carter Family’s door was always open. After all, this was the school’s family housing, and with the security door and cameras at the entrance, it was much safer than some apartment buildings outside. Mrs. Carter was cooking, but there were voices talking in the living room.

“Well then, I’ll leave the advertisement matter to you, Professor Carter!”

Logan Bennett paused at the door. He recognized that voice—it was the owner of a pet supply store near Chu Hua University, surname Parker. His brother was a veterinarian, and it was his brother who had given Logan Bennett his vaccinations.

Last week, Logan Bennett had heard Mrs. Carter mention that Little Parker wanted Logan Bennett to help shoot a cat food commercial. So, was today’s visit specifically to discuss the ad?

Chapter Two: There’s a Mouse, Can I Borrow Your Cat?

Little Parker’s customers were basically all from Chu Hua University, and doing business with university teachers and students wasn’t easy. Food safety and quality issues were most likely to be exposed here.

People who spent all day cooped up in labs with boring data and equipment sometimes liked to amuse themselves. For example, on a whim, they might take a bus to the snack street to buy a bowl of spicy hot dry noodles, then bring it back to the lab to test whether the chili oil contained Sudan Red, whether the sesame paste had aflatoxins, or if the E. coli count was over the limit.

So, if you wanted to do business with university staff and students and maintain a good reputation, you needed consistently excellent quality.

But for this very reason, Little Parker’s shop had built a solid reputation, gained popularity, and accumulated capital. They took over several nearby storefronts, merged his brother’s pet clinic with his own pet supply store, and established the “Mingming Ruci” Pet Center.

This was what Logan Bennett knew about Little Parker. Overall, Logan Bennett thought Little Parker was a decent person—smart, good at making money, but not a bad guy. At least, he was pretty good to animals.

After Little Parker left, the The Carter Family didn’t mention anything about the cat food commercial. After dinner, Ryan Carter and Violet Grant went to their rooms to do homework, and Mrs. Carter went to the gym with some friends to learn to dance.

Logan Bennett went into the master bedroom, closed the door behind him, jumped up to flip the lock, and locked it. Inside, Mr. Carter was already sitting at the desk, waiting.

Mr. Carter was long used to Logan Bennett’s routine upon entering, and didn’t even look up. When Logan Bennett jumped onto the desk, Mr. Carter closed the folder in his hands.

“Today, Little Parker came by to talk about the cat food commercial. I didn’t agree right away—I wanted to see what you think.” As he spoke, Mr. Carter handed a document to Logan Bennett.

The document detailed the cat food commercial Little Parker had brought up today, as well as Mr. Carter’s analysis of the possible follow-up and benefits based on what Little Parker had said.