There was a tradition of staying up all night on New Year's Eve. The whole family would gather together and stay up all night, waiting for the first light of the new year to shine through the window.
Of course, not sleeping at night was not good for the body. Few modern people would stay up all night. At most, they would stay up until midnight, wait for the loudest sound of the firecrackers to pass, and then fall asleep.
In fact, before midnight, Fina, Snowy Lionet, Richard, and Famous had fallen asleep. Only Old Time Tea, Xinghai, and Pi were still awake.
Old Time Tea had just drunk two cups of hot tea. The caffeine in the tea made it sleepy. It hoped to have a complete modern New Year, so it stayed in front of the TV to watch the Spring Festival Gala.
Xinghai was playing excitedly with the kittens, so it didn't sleep.
Pi, on the other hand, was too excited because of the unexpected good results. It refreshed the author's platform over and over again, getting more and more energetic.
Zhang Zian did all the work in the shop by himself. He took the elfins out to play, and accidentally dug a deep hole to bury the dogs. Although he didn't feel it at the time, the accumulated fatigue in his body suddenly came rushing back. It was not yet midnight, and he was already dozing off by the table.
Boom!
A giant firework bomb exploded not too far away, waking Zhang Zian up.
Although firecrackers were banned in the city, some people still secretly set off fireworks, especially on New Year's Eve. They thought that since they were not the only one setting off fireworks, they wouldn't be caught.
He wiped his face and looked around.
Most of the elfins were already asleep, but they were also woken up by the giant firework. Xinghai went back to the crib and lay down. Old Time Tea yawned, turned off the TV, and walked back to the second floor.
Pi stared at the screen, and the lenses of the pince-nez reflected the light from the screen.
The giant fireworks were like a horn, blowing the general attack of fireworks and firecrackers. In an instant, the deafening sound of firecrackers came from all directions in the suburbs of Binhai City, and some of them came from the old residential areas in the city.
Zhang Zian didn't need to look at his watch to know that it was probably midnight. It was the beginning of the new year.
"Pi, go to sleep," he whispered. "Don't sleep too late, or you won't have the energy to write tomorrow."
Pi nodded, turned off the computer, and jumped into the hammock chair. It didn't close its eyes, and stared at the ceiling with a silly smile.
Zhang Zian also got ready to sleep. He would probably be the only one in the shop tomorrow.
Just as he turned off the light and was about to lie down, he saw two pairs of eyes light up in the darkness at the same time. One pair was dark green, the other was yellow.
"Zian, what's that sound?" Old Time Tea asked curiously. "Did you hear it?"
Zhang Zian was stunned. He had just woken up from a nap, and his mind was not clear. He listened carefully but did not hear anything.
Fina looked at the wall. Behind the wall was the shoe store next door. "It seems that … those cats are about to give birth …"
What?
It took Zhang Zian half a second to understand what Fina meant. Did it mean that the Abyssinian cats next door were about to give birth?
Female cats usually didn't want to be disturbed when they were giving birth, so he prepared a quiet delivery room for them. That being said, no one knew exactly when it would be born, not even the female cat.
These female cats were all first-time mothers, so they had no experience. It was also Zhang Zian's first time experiencing the process of cat birth. That's right, his family used to run a pet shop, but the pets in the shop were all imported from outside.
What he was most worried about was what if the female cats didn't have enough maternal instincts, and suffered from "cyniophilia."
For female cats used for breeding, a female cat that had successfully given birth was the most valuable, because it proved that it could give birth and didn't have cyniophilia.
The cause of cyniophilia was very complicated, and it was still not completely clear. It wasn't just cats that might do it, but dogs, hamsters, rabbits, and other domestic pets might do it as well.
It was generally believed that it was because the female animal was disturbed during breeding, or discovered through smell or touch that the newborn kitten was congenitally stunted, or had some kind of disease. Thus, the female animal decided to ignore or refuse to take care of the newborn kitten, or even push it out of the nest, leaving it to fend for itself. In serious cases, in order to make up for the physical strength lost during childbirth, the female might even eat the stunted or sick kitten.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't cruelty. It was the survival instinct that animals developed under harsh conditions in nature. Even if they were domesticated by humans, some of these instincts were still retained. In order to ensure their own survival, and in order to let the healthy kitten have more milk, they could only eliminate the weak kitten.
However, the problem was that first-time mothers had no experience, and they might misjudge the health of the kitten. They might even think that the healthy kitten was congenitally sick and eat it.
Even if the kitten really did suffer from congenital diseases and stunted growth, it could actually survive with the help of humans, and could even grow up healthily. However, animals didn't know this. The pain and tension during childbirth made them follow their instincts more.
On the other hand, there were a very small number of female cats that ate the kitten not because they judged that the kitten was congenitally sick, but because they simply wanted to eat it. This was a classic case of insufficient maternal instincts.
According to statistics, when a cat gave birth for the first time, the survival rate of the kitten was the lowest. This was because the female cat was inexperienced. If the kitten could safely survive the first birth, the survival rate of the kitten would gradually increase, reaching the highest during the fifth birth, and then rapidly decreasing from the sixth birth. As long as a breeder had a bit of conscience, they generally wouldn't let the cat breed more than five times.
Fortunately, cats and dogs didn't eat their kittens as seriously as hamsters and rabbits. Hamsters and rabbits could eat the whole litter of kittens if they didn't agree. When Zhang Zian heard that Little Celery and the others were going to try to breed hamsters next semester, he secretly kept this in mind and prepared to remind them at the appropriate time. Otherwise, if they made a mistake, it would be a lifelong regret. Little Celery and the others would definitely be very sad.
When Zhang Zian heard Fina's words, he immediately dispelled his sleepiness and thought of the Abyssinian cats next door.
In order not to disturb their birth, he bought a baby monitor online. The transmitter was placed in the cats' delivery room, and the receiver was placed in his bedroom, so that he could keep track of their status at all times and prevent accidents.
Just now, Old Time Tea and Fina had heard an abnormal sound from the baby monitor, and thus determined that the Abyssinian cats might be in labor. Maybe it was because of the earth-shattering giant firework that had just disturbed them.
Thinking of this, Zhang Zian quickly put on his clothes. "You guys sleep first. I'll go next door to take a look."
Fina jumped out of the princess bed. "I'm going too."
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