Qiao Sang was stunned for a while before remembering that Yabao's second photo shoot had not yet been completed.
She had originally thought it would start in mid-August; she hadn't expected them to only contact her now. If Song Yuan hadn't called, she feared she would have forgotten about it entirely...
Qiao Sang quickly picked up her phone and answered: "Hello?"
"Qiao Sang, how is the special training going?" Song Yuan's voice came through the speaker.
"Pretty good," Qiao Sang replied.
"That's good. By the way, when do you have time recently? My new autumn sunglasses have been released. Let me know when you're free, and I'll arrange the shoot." After the pleasantries, Song Yuan stated the true purpose of her call.
"Is tonight at 6:30 okay?" Qiao Sang asked.
"Of course, I'll arrange it right now," Song Yuan said briskly.
...
6:42 PM.
18th floor of the Jinyu Building.
Inside the studio, under the spotlights.
"Perfect, simply perfect!" The photographer held the camera and praised Yabao, who was wearing rectangular red sunglasses, frantically.
"Ya." Yabao tilted its head and changed poses.
"Great, just like that!" the photographer praised excitedly.
"These cyberpunk tech-style sunglasses were custom-made based on the image of the Flame-Listening Hound. What do you think?" Song Yuan asked with a smile, looking at the Flame-Listening Hound wearing the futuristic glasses.
The designers at the shop had nearly worked themselves to the point of going grey before finally finalizing the sketch for these sunglasses, all for the sake of capturing the traffic brought in by the Flame-Listening Hound.
She had absolute confidence that these sunglasses would become a bestseller!
"Very nice," Qiao Sang praised sincerely.
Compared to the pink heart-shaped sunglasses from last time, these were a great match for Yabao.
At this moment, everyone was looking at the Flame-Listening Hound under the lights. No one noticed a blue head poking out of the backpack Qiao Sang was wearing, staring intently at Yabao.
Water Luana's deep blue pupils reflected Yabao's image.
"Lulu..."
She didn't expect this guy to have a cool side...
Once the shoot ended.
"To celebrate the success of this shoot, do you want to go grab dinner tonight?" Song Yuan suggested.
Qiao Sang remained silent for two seconds before saying, "I ate before I came here."
Song Yuan: "..."
"Alright." Song Yuan paused and didn't push, then asked casually, "Are you short on money?"
How could she, with a seven-figure sum in her bank account, be short on money... Qiao Sang muttered in her heart, but her mouth was very honest: "Yes."
To be honest, seven figures were just a vanity number; she truly was short on money...
Although the balance in the card looked high, two-thirds of it were food expenses for Yabao and Little Treasure Ghost. Now she had to add Water Luana, and after deducting various miscellaneous costs, the money simply didn't last.
Fortunately, she had a gold finger that allowed her to directly add points to her pets for evolution, meaning she didn't have to buy evolution materials; otherwise, she couldn't afford to raise three pets at all.
"Then how about we continue our cooperation?" Song Yuan's eyes lit up as she asked.
"I can do that," Qiao Sang nodded.
Her cooperation with Song Yuan had been quite pleasant. When Yabao evolved early and violated the contract, Song Yuan hadn't taken the opportunity to blackmail her. Qiao Sang had a very good impression of her.
Song Yuan took a deep breath; she never expected Qiao Sang to be so straightforward.
Many Beast Tamers, once they gained a bit of fame or achievement, would look down their noses at people and raise their prices on the spot, but Qiao Sang was still the same as she was at the beginning; nothing had changed.
For a moment, Song Yuan couldn't help but feel emotional, thinking that a child who had just become a Beast Tamer was indeed different from an adult who had entered society.
Just as Song Yuan was lamenting, Qiao Sang spoke up: "However, I have two conditions."
"Tell me," Song Yuan said seriously.
"First, within the contract period, I hope it's okay even if the Flame-Listening Hound evolves," Qiao Sang said.
"Of course." A smile curled on Song Yuan's lips as she guaranteed, "You don't need to worry about that. In fact, I'd be thrilled if you evolved during the contract period."
As the latest evolution of the Fire-Fang Dog, the evolution of the Flame-Listening Hound was also highly anticipated by the masses.
If the Flame-Listening Hound could evolve during the contract, her online store would absolutely make a guaranteed profit.
"Second," Qiao Sang said with a serious face, "you have to pay more."
Song Yuan: "...Of course."
Forty minutes later, Qiao Sang walked out of the building satisfied, holding a one-year contract worth a million.
...
For the next two days, life continued as usual.
Yabao's anti-dizziness capability had improved significantly. After spinning for half a day and stopping, there was no feeling of swaying. However, it was still a bit weak to spray flame vortices while using telekinesis to spin, often running out of fire midway.
But this was only because the proficiency of the Flame Vortex was not yet high. Once the proficiency of the Flame Vortex was raised to perfection, the counter-attack shield would no longer have any problems.
As for Little Treasure Ghost, aside from spending three hours a day playing with the virtual helmet, it spent the rest of its time exercising its ring. The training could be considered on the right track.
Only Water Luana's situation gave Qiao Sang a headache.
It had watched almost every collection of star pet videos circulating on the internet from the past few hundred years, yet there wasn't a single one it liked.
The fact that Water Luana had high standards was now a proven fact for Qiao Sang.
...
September 1st, the day all high school students started school.
Qiao Sang woke up early, washed up, ate a piece of bread, and headed to school with the backpack containing Water Luana.
There were many people at the start of the term, so for the sake of keeping a low profile, Qiao Sang put Yabao into the Beast Codex.
Since she had spent the entire month of August at Shengshui High School, she was relatively well-acquainted with the terrain.
She walked straight through the crowd to the freshman class assignment board.
She remembered Wang Yao saying that special recruits were all assigned to Class 9.
Class 9...
Qiao Sang scanned the list for Class 9. After reading the list from top to bottom, she paused.
Why isn't it there?
Qiao Sang pondered for a moment, and a dead memory suddenly resurfaced.
Right, when her mom called her for the special training, she mentioned that she had been assigned to the Heavy-Taming Class...
Qiao Sang looked at the list for the Heavy-Taming Class and indeed saw her name at number 39.
Grade 10, Class 1.
The Heavy-Taming Class, also known as the Honors Class.
The students selected for this class had undergone strict screening; they were either recommended students, top scorers in the high school entrance exam, or the cream of the crop among the special recruits.
In short, everyone selected was a genius.
Qiao Sang had imagined that the academic gods of the Shengshui High School Heavy-Taming Class would all be sitting in their seats quietly waiting for the teacher, clutching books brought from home.
As a result, the moment she entered, the classroom was in an uproar. Everyone was chasing pets all over the place, a complete mess.
"White Sand Fox, don't run!"
"Holy crap, whose Sand-Digger Rat is this! Why is it biting my Little Sand!"
"Green-Kitten Meow, hurry up and give those glasses back to them!"
"My god! A Twin-Headed Black Crow! Why is there an Evil-type pet in our class!"
"Can someone get this Chubby Pigeon off my head!"
"Whose Short-Tailed Snake is this! It's crawling on me!"
"Holy crap! Why did my hat suddenly fly away!"
Qiao Sang felt something and looked over. She touched her head—good grief, Little Treasure Ghost had done it...
(End of Chapter)