Chapter 342: Reaching an Agreement
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
There was no doubt that the Ragdoll was the most popular breed in the market in recent years. Because of the stringent control of breeding, the market access threshold was high, and the supply of Ragdoll kittens had always been falling short of the demands.
Normally, a Ragdoll kitten cost RMB 20,000 in China, and the better-conditioned ones might cost over RMB 30,000, while people overseas could buy two Ragdoll kittens in equivalent conditions for the same price—one couls see how Ragdoll kittens were extensively popular in China.
Lauren was also aware of this. She was responsible for communicating with clients, and among the clients who sent emails applying for purchasing Ragdoll kittens, almost 40% were buyers from China, and another 20% were Chinese students living in America, who claimed they were raising the kittens by themselves, but were actually purchasing them for others in China to pocket the price difference. To those sincere Chinese clients, she would elaborate upon the situations and decline them politely; if the clients had tough attitudes or had grammatical errors in their emails, she would just ignore them completely.
Learning from her clients and fellows in the pet industry, she knew why Chinese clients were fond of buying Ragdoll kittens from the catteries in America. Because Ragdoll kittens were very lucrative, the market management was very chaotic in China where numerous peddlers were selling Ragdoll kittens of poor quality to the public. Ragdoll kittens were relatively cheaper in America, and their conditions and purebred bloodlines were guaranteed. Even after adding the international shipping fee and paying commission to overseas shopping agents, it was still a worthy deal compared to buying them in China.
Zhang Zian had become interested in Ragdoll kittens a long time ago. When his parents were still alive, he had heard them mention this name. Unfortunately, most of the professionals in the pet industry considered others as competitors, and the catteries that had Ragdoll kittens had been protecting their breeding cats very well for fear of others stealing the cats from them.
By looking at the picture, he had recognized that this was a Ragdoll kitten in premium conditions, which would cost at least RMB 30,000 in China and he probably had to wait one year before picking it up. If the owner wanted to pick up the kitten sooner, he must pay more money, which was the same as purchasing a luxury car imported from abroad with expedited shipping.
He skimmed through these pictures one by one. On every page was featured a different Ragdoll cat. Some were larger, some were smaller, and some had won the championships in the tournament. They seemed to be riding high with ribbons on their bodies. The most impressive things were their eyes, which were different shades of blue. Some were lighter, while others were darker, but every pair of eyes was clear and breath-taking, No wonder this cattery was called "Blue Climax"!
At the end of the folder were enclosed clear and complete studbooks and the negative diagnostic reports of such infectious and genetic diseases, such as HCM (Hypertrophic Cardio Myopathy), PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease), FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus), and FELV (Feline Leukemia Virus). All of these documents were written in English and looked very standard, although Zhang Zian didn't understand any technical terms...
After browsing through the documents, he closed the folder, handed it back to Lauren and gave a big thumb’s up. Richard cooperated with him and said, "Fantastic cats!"
Lauren and Tim were very confident in their own kittens, so they smiled and said, "So, can we discuss the possibility of our cooperation?"
Richard asked cautiously, "What do you mean?"
Before the couple came here, they had prepared themselves for two possible results: One was that the pet shop owner was willing to share his cat training secrets with them. In that case, they would agree to his demands at whatever cost; if the pet shop owner was reluctant to share, they would have to settle for their second priority.
Lauren came to the point decidedly, "We would like to hire you to train cats for us, to teach our kittens to dance. In exchange, we will provide you with Ragdoll kittens for free, with only one condition: we want an exclusive agreement, which means you can't reach similar agreements with other catteries. This is a win-win deal, and I hope you can consider it carefully."
Richard didn't dare to make a decision on such a big issue. It said, "Excuse me, I need to go upstairs for a while, Please feel free to walk around."
Zhang Zian understood what Richard meant and brought it to the second floor.
Richard repeated the conversation to him.
He thought about it for a moment and came up with a conclusion—this might work!
Just as Lauren had said, this was a proposal beneficial to both sides. Blue Climax was selling cats in America, while Amazing Fate Pet Shop was selling cats in China. With the Pacific Ocean in between them, they were not interfering with each other's businesses, which perfectly adhered to the rules of "befriending the far and attacking the near" left by his ancestors.
In this deal, Blue Climax seemed to be on the slightly disadvantaged side, but the prices of dancing Ragdoll kittens might be several times higher than before, so they shouldn't be worried about their business.
Instructing what Richard should pay attention to, Zhang Zian brought it back to the first floor.
Lauren and Tim clenched their fists nervously, waiting for his reply.
"I agree to your proposal in general." said Richard on behalf of Zhang Zian. Without waiting for their cheers, it added immediately, "But I want to revise the condition regarding exclusiveness—I can only promise you that I will not reach similar agreements with other catteries in America, but you have no rights to interfere with the catteries in other countries."
Lauren and Tim hesitated for a moment, but then they nodded to agree.
Richard continued, "Two more things. First, you should pay for the shipping fees of the cats. Second... You should send over some high-quality cat food regularly, and I will cover the fees for that, agreed?"
Zhang Zian had been thinking how he can find the supplier of imported cat food, now he can tackle that problem together.
These two aspects were no proble to the Kellers. Since they were going to send several Ragdoll kittens to China in one time, the shipping fee wouldn't be very expensive for one kitten. Besides, Blue Climax had always had cooperation with cat food manufacturers, who sometimes would rent the championed cats from them to shoot commercials, so they were able to obtain high-quality cat food with low prices from the manufacturers.
After agreeing to the proposal in general, they started to discuss some detailed problems, for example, Lauren requested Zhang Zian to pay attention to the reviews of the qualifications of potential buyers of Ragdoll kittens, their cats must not be sold to clients who had poor or unstable living conditions, and Zhang Zian agreed to that. He also took pictures with his cell phone of the diagnostic reports of infectious and genetic diseases provided by them. He sent those pictures to Sun Xiaomeng, asking her to see if there were any problems with the documents or whether they were falsified.
As they reached a consensus with the details, the atmosphere became relaxed, and they started to have conversations without too many concerns. Tim, who was quiet before suddenly asked, "Jeff, how long does it take for you to complete training the cats?"
Lauren also wanted to know the answer to this question.
Richard answered vaguely, "Not long, I only need a few days."
Lauren and Tim were dumbfounded. It only took him a few days to teach kittens to dance…???
"When will you come to America?" asked Tim.
This was an easy sentence that Zhang Zian understood. He and Richard were stunned at the same time, "To America?"
"Yes, too many forces need to be mobilized if we send a group of kittens back and forth, and it's not good for the kittens to change their environment frequently. The temperature difference between Los Angeles and Binhai City is significant, especially in this season," said Lauren, who worriedly looked outside.
Though it was not snowing heavily, there was no indication that the snow was going to stop soon. With the snowflakes flying, the earth had been dyed a silvery-white.
Zhang Zian admitted that what they said made sense. Transporting a group of kittens from America to the freezing Binhai City, after they had learned dancing, then back to the warm Los Angeles, would make the kittens susceptible to diseases due to such repetitive and drastic temperature changes. He hadn't thought about it before, but now, he realized that he must go to America to train the cats.
Honestly, he wasn't averse to the idea, he was anticipating it. He had never gone abroad before. Staying in America for a few days would be an eye-opening experience for him.
"When do you think I should go there?" asked Richard.
Lauren and Tim looked at each other and answered at the same time, "The sooner the better!"
"Why the rush?" Richard wanted to figure it out.
Lauren explained, "It's going to be Thanksgiving soon, and afterwards will be Christmas and New Year’s. A lot of kids must be looking forward to having dancing kittens as presents...We won't rush you if it takes you a long time to train the kittens, but since you can do that in only a few days, we hope you can come to the US sooner. And after the holiday season, you can go there once about every three months."
Zhang Zian gave it a thought and looked at his shoulder, signaling to Richard with his eyes.
Richard put forward the question Zhang Zian and it had prepared in advance: "Then when will you send over the Ragdoll kittens in the agreement?"
The couple answered without hesitation, "When you arrive in America, as long as the training was successful, we will arrange the matters of delivering the Ragdoll kittens and cat food immediately."
Richard didn't think there was anything wrong in this. Seeing that Zhang Zian was in no intention to object, it answered for him, "Fair enough, I agree to work with you."
Zhang Zian stood up and shook hands with them respectively. Richard said, "Look forward to our cooperation."
Lauren and Tim finally felt relieved. Their exhaustion and worries all the way long had been paid off.
Zhang Zian was looking forward to his trip to America. If he was lucky enough, he might run into some interesting elfin across the ocean!