Chapter 88: The New Direction
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zhang Zian had been immune to their crazy teenager thoughts. "Well, you guys would stay in your dorms and play online games anyways. Why not use that time to do something that is, in fact, meaningful? Here is my offer: you have to work two hours a day. One hour at noon and one hour at night. Your major responsibility is to clean, do odds and ends, and run errands for me. The hourly wage is 50 Yuan an hour and you can also eat two meals with me. That’s all for now. We can discuss further in the future. Who is interested?"
100 Yuan and two meals a day?! Sounds like a good deal! They could make 3000 Yuan a month by only working two hours a day. That was almost as much as what people made working full time. Who would reject such an attractive offer? Like Zhang Zian said, if they stayed at their dorms, all they did all day was play online games and talk on the BBS.
Li Kun elbowed Wang Qian, meaning, "Look, great achievements begin with basic training. We will get Master’s attention if we continue working hard. This is a trick!"
The two immediately said, "We both will come, with or without pay."
The store had been getting busy. Zhang Zian could no longer handle it on his own.
Cats were fine. Although Fina had been a great help keeping the cats calm, someone still needed to change the litter. There were less dogs than cats, but they required more attention.
When there was only one person in the store, he could not even get out of the store to get some food. Also, he came up with the membership system today. He was obligated to research and develop the system. It was time to get some extra help; however, it happened much sooner than he had anticipated.
Through getting along with Wang Qian and Li Kun these days, he found that although they were crazy at times, they were reliable, kind people. They also had pets at home, so they could work with pets. It was not a highly skillful job, but the job required dealing with cat and dog waste, so he offered a good wage.
Zhang Zian asked them to go home and think over the offer. If they were willing to accept, they could come the next day at noon and in the evening. In that case, their job would not interfere with school work. Even though they claimed that no further consideration was needed, Zhang Zian kicked them out anyways.
It was a shame that the cashier desk was not really helpful. His parents were old-fashioned and had been writing down all transactions by hand. There wasn’t even a computer in the store. Therefore, if he wanted to start the membership system, he would need a computer, or at least a desktop.
Zhang Zian checked the price on his cell phone. Desktops were fairly reasonable. However, the membership system seemed quite complicated. There were so many versions. He was completely lost on which one was the best fit. It would not be fun to find out the system didn’t work after installation.
At this time, a notification popped up on his cell phone.
[Game Tips]:The Maneki-neko’s friendliness increased to friendly. She could go out with player. Congratulations! Keep up the good work! Continuous improvement on the pet’s friendliness will further release the pet’s capability.
Zhang Zian was speechless.
Seriously? This had to be a trick. Normally, the improvement on friendliness would be harder and harder. How many diamonds would it take to fully release Fina’s friendliness? It is going to be an endless investment.
He was thinking about the setting of the game. All of a sudden, a golden light flashed in front of his eyes. Fina jumped from her princess bed to the recliner.
"Zhang Zian, I am hungry," she stared at him and said.
"Okay, Madam. I am going to cook," Zhang Zian stood up from the recliner. Haixing came down from upstairs and was playing hide and seek with the kittens.
This was the first time she called his name. Although it sounded blunt, it was much better than before. She had never even called his name before. Maybe this was a sign of improvement of friendliness?
He went upstairs and got in his bedroom. Aunt Liu’s American shorthair meowed as she walked up to him asking for food. Since he had been adding chicken and fish in addition to her normal cat food, she recovered quickly. Her leg got much better these days.
"Okay, okay. I am going to cook now." He lightly flicked his fingers on her head.
He planned to make a pumpkin, carrot and chicken stir fry, heat up the chicken liver and heart that he cooked before, and make a seaweed and egg soup with some dry shrimp. Both cats and humans could eat it. Although it was going to be a bit too light for humans, he would just eat it because he didn’t want to cook two separate meals. He wasn’t a good cook anyways. As long as the food was cooked, it would be served.
My Lord, please give me a girlfriend, someone who can cook!
His cell phone rang. He was hoping that it was a game tip that said a girlfriend was waiting for you. To his disappointment, it was a message from Xiao Yan.
"Mr. Manager, I am not sure what kind of membership system you are going to use. If you need help you can let me know. The system I use is pretty good. You are welcome to take a look."
He responded immediately, "That’s great. Where is it?"
Xiao Yan sent him an address. Zhang Zian found out that it was a beauty salon called Glamour.
"Okay. I will come over in a day or two," he replied.
He put his laptop in the kitchen and watched a movie as he cooked.
It was an old movie from 1963 called Cleopatra by Elizabeth Taylor. He remembered seeing it on the Movie Channel. He forgot most of the story, but only remembered the fascinating setup and Taylor’s beautiful bathing scene.
The movie was four hours long. It was a great movie with lots of famous stars and extraordinary scenery. It was the best of the best. In his opinion, the movie still lived up to today’s standards.
After cooking, eating and resting, his whole afternoon was contributed to that movie. He paused the movie when customers stopped by and continued after they left.
In the first 10 minutes of the movie, Cleopatra’s brother and rival Ptolemy XIII was holding a cat which looked like a pure white Persian cat.
The movie didn’t show Cleopatra holding a cat; however, in the beginning of the second half, there were two variations of cat sculptures on her chair, one on each side. In the meantime, the Goddess alligators and coyotes were carved on the deck. All in all, cats were highly appreciated and had an extremely high social status at that time.
The Chinese Emperors used dragons on their chairs. Egyptian Pharaohs used cats on theirs. It was not difficult to tell that they honored cats.
At some point, Fina came to Zhang Zian quietly and watched the movie with him where current actors and actresses were trying to present a story that happened over 2000 years ago. Zhang Zian was anxious. He knew the movie to Fina was like Chinese people watching a Kung Fu movie performed by Caucasians. It had to be ridiculous to her.
It turned dark when the movie ended.
Fina jumped back to her princess bed, only leaving one simple comment: "That lady was ugly."