"It can’t be helped," Li Zhen said, equally helpless. "Renovation noise is unavoidable, no matter what. ’If he understood that,’ he complained internally, ’why the hell didn’t he renovate both places at once? If the shop next door had been done at the same time, this would all be over by now.’"

But he was wrong to blame Shen Yibin. Last time, Shen Yibin only had enough money to rent the adjacent storefront; he wasn’t nearly as well-off as he was now. Hearing Li Zhen’s words gave Shen Yibin a headache. "Isn’t there any other way?"

Last time, he could just close up shop temporarily and take Hah’Er out for fun, but that wasn’t an option now. Never mind whether it was appropriate to close again so soon after reopening—just looking at Maphario’s Happy Farm, they couldn’t leave. The seeds of all sorts of plants had just sprouted. If he took Hah’Er and Maphario with him, the girls left behind probably wouldn’t be able to care for the plants properly. By the time they returned, Maphario would likely be in tears.

"There really isn’t. We can try to move some of the work that doesn’t have to be done on-site elsewhere, like sawing wood or cutting tiles. But that won’t completely eliminate the noise. Smashing floors, using power drills, digging—that kind of work can’t be moved. We can try to be mindful of the hours and not work while you’re resting, but we have to work during your business hours. Doing it this way would also extend the project timeline, and your costs would increase significantly." Li Zhen laid out the numbers for Shen Yibin, his underlying message being that Shen Yibin should just try to endure it for a while.

’If it were just me and the girls in the shop, I’d just let them make all the noise they want next door. But Hah’Er, Maphario, and the other pets we’re selling probably couldn’t take it.’ For the sake of Hah’Er and Maphario’s well-being, Shen Yibin had to find another way. He stood up and paced back and forth on the terrace, but even after a long while, he couldn’t come up with a workable solution.

Li Zhen sat there, shaking his head to himself. ’If there were an easy solution, we would have thought of it long ago. Why else would we have to deal with complaints from the neighbors every time we do a renovation?’

’There really are no good options.’ Shen Yibin proposed several impractical ideas in a row, each shot down by Li Zhen. He had no choice but to sit back down, pull out his phone, and try searching online. He saw a new WeChat notification. It was a recent photo of Sun Qian and Cheeky.

The sight of Cheeky sparked an idea in Shen Yibin’s mind. He recalled the time he took Cheeky and Hah’Er to a karaoke bar. The music inside the KTV was deafening, easily as loud as construction noise, so why couldn’t you hear it from the outside? ’Could we use the same method for the renovation next door?’

So he shared his idea with Li Zhen, who just shook his head again after hearing it. "Mr. Shen, do you have any idea how much soundproofing material goes into a KTV? Do you know how much that material costs? That kind of effect is literally built with stacks of cash. Are you suggesting we first wrap the entire adjacent shop in soundproofing material before we even start the renovation?"

"And why not? Go back and calculate how much this would add to the cost. Also, installing the soundproofing material can’t make any noise either." ’It’s just money,’ he thought. ’As long as the noise doesn’t affect Hah’Er and Maphario, and as long as Hah’Er can get his indoor pool before the summer heat arrives, any extra cost is worth it.’

"Installing the soundproofing material is the easy part. We can pre-assemble the panels outside and then transport them in. Since they’ll be taken down after the renovation anyway, we won’t need to drill into the walls to make them super sturdy. But even so, it’s going to cost a lot!" Li Zhen did some quick math for him. "Based on our experience renovating KTVs, to get a decent soundproofing effect, you’re looking at 200 per square meter for the materials alone. The shop you’re renovating is over five hundred square meters. That’s a hundred thousand just for the materials. Add in auxiliary supplies, labor, and everything else... you won’t get away with anything less than three to five hundred thousand!"

"And here I was thinking it would be a lot of money." Hearing the figure, Shen Yibin breathed a sigh of relief. ’As long as the pet store can stay open, I can make that much during the renovation period. Besides, it seems like the materials can be sold off afterward, right?’

After he expressed this to Li Zhen, the contractor saw how determined Shen Yibin was and stopped trying to argue. "Alright, then. I’ll head back and draw up a proposal and a quote based on your requirements as quickly as possible. We can talk more once you’ve had a look."

’He’ll definitely back down once he sees the final price, right? Then he’ll just ask us to remove the soundproofing materials from the plan. Ugh, what a waste of time and energy this is going to be,’ Li Zhen complained internally.

But dealing with difficult clients was part of the job, and Li Zhen was long used to it. As soon as he got back, he gathered his team to start working on the proposal. His crew, naturally, railed against the unreasonable request. Li Zhen was at a loss for words himself. He could only tap on the two words "Customer First" hanging on the wall to shut them down.

「Three days later.」

Li Zhen arrived at Shen Yibin’s shop with dark circles under his eyes, carrying a stack of renderings, design plans, and price quotes. At that moment, Shen Yibin was squatting by the bamboo grove, carefully examining the plants. In just a few short days, the sprouts Maphario had planted had already grown several centimeters tall. Shen Yibin could even identify the different types of plants, leaving him marveling at the sight.

When he saw Li Zhen enter, Shen Yibin reluctantly stood up and led him to the second floor. Once they were seated and Shen Yibin got a good look at his face, he was taken aback. "Hey, what happened to you?"

"Pulling all-nighters working on your proposal. It’s the first time our company has ever done something like this, so I couldn’t just leave it to my team. I had to stay in the office and supervise them every day. I’ve been sleeping there for the past few days." Li Zhen shook out his clothes. "Haven’t even had time to change."

Shen Yibin instinctively scooted back a bit. The smell was indeed quite strong. "You’ve worked hard. Since you put in so much effort, the proposal must be fantastic."

Once the pleasantries were over, Shen Yibin began to study the proposal in detail as Li Zhen explained it. According to the contractor, their plan would reduce the construction noise to the level Shen Yibin required. The only catch was the rather outrageous price. Including the pool, the rockery, and the other renovations, the grand total came to just over two million.

’That should make you hesitate, right?’ Li Zhen thought, looking at Shen Yibin. But Shen Yibin didn’t even bat an eye. "Alright. Let’s go with this plan."