Chapter 82: Bathing Cage (1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Fina was excited about her new bed. Although Black Jack was rude, she only stared at him angrily and didn’t scare him with her nails.
Zhang Zian replied immediately, "Nope."
Fina’s stare frightened Lea. She said softly to Black Jack, "That’s fine. This cat has a strong personality. A normal person could not handle her."
Fina wasn’t a must-have for Black Jack. He sighed and let go of the thought.
Snowy counted the pets in the store and said, "Mr. Manager, did you get more pets?"
There were more than 10 cats playing and chasing each other on the floor. Counting the dogs in the display cabinet, there were over 20 pets in the store. All sorts of soft noises from the pets brought some joy to the store.
Zhang Zian spoke affirmatively, "Yes. I just brought in some great pets."
The pets were from the deal he stole from Stars Pet Chain Supermarket and bought from Pets’ Home. He divided the group into two halves. These pets were the first half. Zhang Zian paid a partial deposit for the other half, but they were still at Pets’ Home. He would not tell anyone the reason for this, but it was because he had capital problems.
[Luo Jiang] tipped two crabs and left a message: "Snowy, I didn’t make it to the last show and missed the cat’s special skill performance. What a pity! Could you ask Mr. Manager if these cats have special skills?"
"Mr. Manager, one of my fans just asked if these cats have special skills?" Snowy thought that was impossible. Those cats were kittens just brought from the breeding base. They could not be trained in such a short time.
In fact, this was a question many people were wondering.
"Yes," Zhang Zian’s response was short and clear.
No kidding! It was a piece of cake for Fina to train them. She only needed to show them a few times. The whole process usually took less than five minutes.
The crowd was suspicious. Zhang Zian clapped three times. All 10+ kittens stopped playing at once and turned around to look at him. They were like a well-trained army.
New fans in the live broadcast room were surprised, and the old fans began to complain. "Again! Mr. Manager is showing off now."
Zhang Zian snapped his fingers and all the kittens started walking in a figure-eight, then resumed to their original position when they were done.
He clapped twice. They went back to playing. The kitten army disappeared.
Last time, there were only a few cats. This time, over 10 kittens of various breeds completed the task at the same time. It was simply overwhelming!
People in the live broadcast room were once again excited.
"Oh no! that was soooo cute!"
"Does Mr, Manager need help? I want to work there for free!"
"I will do whatever Mr. Manager wants. Does Mr. Manager want a friend with benefits? Hehe!"
"Buy buy buy! I couldn’t afford to miss this!"
"I would buy them all if I had the money!"
Lea, Gu Tianle, Xiao Niu and Black Jack were all shocked. Watching it from a live show was totally different from seeing it in person. All of their previous suspicions were gone.
Xiao Yan was also astonished but she tried hard not to show it.
Maybe…this pet store has special talents, she thought.
The crowd separated to search for their own pets.
"Excuse me, Mr. Manager," Xiao Yan walked closer, took off her sunglasses, and said, "I heard you provide a bathing service for cats here?"
Li Kun got closer and spoke in Zhang Zian’s ear with a really low voice, "She is the one with the Mercedes-Benz."
Zhang Zian nodded to acknowledge that he received the information. Li Kun returned to where he was.
"Yes, but we only provide self-service cat bathing, which means the owner has to bathe their cat. If you don’t have experience bathing a cat, I will walk you through the process," he said. In the end, he added, "we charge 300 Yuan each time."
Discussion in the broadcast room was even hotter.
"300 Yuan each time? That is too expensive. I live in Beijing. The luxurious pet store near my home only charges 200 Yuan each time. There might be higher-end ones but I have never been."
"A normal pet store only charges 50 Yuan!"
"That’s not the point, guys! The point is you have to do! It! Yourself! That’s the point."
"Mr. Manager thinks we are stupid or something?"
Zhang Zian had the live show app on his cell phone. He glanced at the conversations and responded, "You get what you pay for. You will not regret bathing your cat in my store."
He continued, "I am sure some of you have pets and have taken your pets to bathing services. I am not sure if you’ve ever noticed the price difference between cats and dogs. Usually cat bathing is twice the price of dog bathing."
In a normal pet store, if bathing a dog is a charge of 50 Yuan, then bathing a cat would cost 100 Yuan. If bathing a dog cost 80 Yuan in another store, then they are likely to charge 150 Yuan to bathe a cat.
Zhang Zian waited until the pop-up conversations slowed down and went on. "Why do you take your pets out for a bath? You can’t do it at home, so you take them to a store. Is the store going to solve your problem? It might or it might not. In one word, you can take your cat here to try it out. It only costs you 300 Yuan and you could choose to never return if you don’t like the service here, right?"
Other might not comprehend, but Xiao Yan totally understood Zhang Zian’s words. She had been to almost every pet store in the city. Most pet stores forcibly bathed cats, sometimes violently. Someone even invented a "bathing cage" for cat bathing.
She couldn’t help asking, "Do you…use a bathing cage?"
That was a weird name. Everyone was confused. Even in the live broadcast room there popped up many question marks.
"What the hell was she talking about?"
"I didn’t hear her."
Zhang Zian raised his eyebrows. He was surprised to hear the question. She seemed to know about the industry.
"Simply speaking, a bathing cage is widely used in pet stores to bathe cats," he found some pictures online as he spoke and showed the pictures to the crowd.
"This is anti-humanity…no, it should be an anti-catity invention. I don’t know who or which country invented it. It was absolutely the worst idea in the world."
Although unwillingly, he continued the explanation. "A bathing cage is similar to the cage people used in old times to punish men and women who were found guilty of infidelity. They were put in a cage like that and submerged into water to kill them. The cage is usually made from thick wires. The pet store usually puts the cat into the bathing cage, locks the door, and places the cage in the bath, leaving only the head above the water. To keep the cat from struggling, people usually make the bathing cage extremely small so the cat cannot move once it is locked in the cage."
Just imagine that from the cat’s perspective. It was extremely scary to be tied to a huge stone and watch the water slowly go up to the legs, stomach, chest and to…the neck!