NOVEL WEB Chapter 108: No Way Out
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The middle-aged housewife continued, “Don’t try to fool me! I know your store is going out of business, so you are trying to sell all the stocks. This is such a normal thing. Don’t be sad! Why don’t you sell that dog to me for 1500 Yuan? I will take it home and you don’t have to feed it.”
That was unexpected. Chen Taitong said, “No, madam, please don’t joke around. A purebred border collie for 1500 Yuan? I will lose too much over this deal.”
“That’s fine. Goodbye then!” the middle-aged housewife left without saying anything else.
The atmosphere turned even more embarrassing. The boss had to be really mad at this point. The staff all pretended to be busy so the boss would not scold them.
“You all are rubbish!” Still, Chen Taitong had to let his anger out.
“Welcome! Everything 50% off today!” There came the voice of the workers trying to get customers to come in.
A young lady about 17 or 18 years old walked in the store.
Chen Taitong was excited. The girl was holding the latest iphone and wearing name-brand sneakers! Apparently, she had money to spend. She was young, so she was less likely to be calculating like a grown-up! In a word, she would make a perfect customer.
He stopped his staff and walked up to her himself.
“Welcome, beautiful! What are you looking for?”
The young lady was straightforward. “I am shopping for a cat.”
Chen Taitong laughed. “No problem! We have a large variety of breeds, the best in this city. Do you know what breed you are looking for? If not, I can make some recommendations. I am the owner of this store. Our cats are 100% purebred and delivered from corporate. You will get the best value, one that you could not get anywhere else.”
The young girl took a second, “I don’t know much about cats. Could you recommend one to me?”
Chen Taitong was even happier. This girl must be wealthy and stupid. He was ready to make some big bucks off of her!
He winked at a worker and the worker immediately understood. The worker walked away quickly to the display cabinet for Persian cats and Ragdolls, rapidly replacing the discounted price tag with the old one showing the original price. He wrote “discounted” on the original price tag with a marker.
Chen Taitong walked the girl down slowly on purpose. He talked as he walked. When they reached the display cabinet and he saw the price tag was switched, he winked again to the worker with praise. The worker was happy, looking forward to some rewards after the deal was made.
“Beautiful, look, these are the best cats in our store, Persians and Ragdolls. I would recommend this Ragdoll for you. Look at its cute little face, they are the the most beautiful among cats. Ragdolls are cute and listen well. They are the most wanted cats in the market. Everyone would be jealous of you if had it. It is perfect for you.”
As Chen Taitong had hoped, the young lady glanced at the 21,000 Yuan price tag and then stared at the Ragdoll.
Ragdolls are well-liked by women. They are cute, obedient and perfect for a house cat. However, their disadvantages are also obvious. First, although their hair is a bit shorter than Persians, they are still long-haired cats, which require more frequent maintenance. Second, they are bigger in size. Not everyone likes big cats. Third, they are expensive.
There was only one Ragdoll cat in Chen Taitong’s store, and he used it as a special attraction for customers. Ragdolls were too expensive for his 50% off promotions, so he only wanted one. He used a Ragdoll as a special attraction because he confirmed that Amazing Fate Pet Shop didn’t have Ragdolls.
Chen Taitong smiled. As per his experience, this deal was almost closed.
“This cat is so pretty.” The girl nodded and asked, “Does she have stunts?”
“Excuse me?” Chen Taitong opened his mouth and thought he heard her wrong. “What stunts?”
The worker standing next to him knew what she was looking for. He whispered to Chen Taitong, “Boss…the cats in the Amazing Fate Pet Shop have stunts…”
“Get out of the way! Stop talking nonsense!” Chen Taitong butted the worker away.
He had been in the industry for years and had never heard anything about cats with stunts. Of course, people his age didn’t care about live broadcasts, so he was not aware of Snowy’s show. Since sales had dropped lately, he was busy trying to find a solution.
The sparkle in the girl’s eye faded. Chen Taitong was scared and wanted to close the deal quickly.
“No stunt…What a pity!” The girl wanted to leave, as she was feeling bad.
“Wait wait wait wait wait!” Chen Taitong was mad. He could not understand why people used a circus standard for a pet store. What the f*ck?!
The young lady stopped.
Chen Taitong was upset, but he could not let it out on the customer. He pointed at a worker and said, “It was him! He put up the wrong price tag. Today the Ragdoll is 50% off, only 11,000 Yuan.”
The worker had to take it. He was the boss. He was always right.
“I am sorry. I made a mistake!” He acted along with his boss, took the lower price tag out, and put it up.
The young girl looked at him, then at Chen Taitong, and asked, “So this cat does not have stunts?”
Silence.
An embarrassing silence.
The young lady turned around and walked out of the store quickly.
The worker wanted to slip out, but Chen Taitong grabbed his collar.
“Bo…Boss…” the worker was shaking. This was the first time his boss had gotten this mad. It was scary!
“Tell me,” Chen Taitong said word by word, angrily, “What’s up with the special cat talents?”
…
A few blocks away, Zhang Zian was happily counting money from the day’s sales. Nowadays, not many customers used cash, but today there was one. He was counting the money and feeling thrilled. Fina greedily licked her lips looking at the cash.
“Master, you’ve counted so many times. The cash will break if you continue counting it!” Li Qun looked at Zhang Zian and Fina and felt speechless.
Zhang Zian put down the cash and said, “Remember, a unique product is the best money maker!”
Li Qun thought, Master is all about money now.