32 An Unfinished Business Deal (1/2)
Chapter 32: An Unfinished Business Deal
Translator: Nyoi_Bo_StudioEditor: Tennesh
Previously, Liu Wenying had gone through a similar experience, but Deng Jie knew she shouldn’t let someone else’s experience prejudice her own. Because of this, she wanted everything to be open, so she asked Zhang Zian to help her find a cat.
”I’d like to buy a cat. On the forum, I saw that your store’s British Shorthair was quite nice, and other customers have said you provided quality cats. I am also interested in purchasing one of your British Shorthairs, but I would still like to ask you to help me think about this decision. You can laugh all you want, but my husband and I have no children, and this cat will be like my child. It will help take my mind off my loneliness. In your experience, for my situation, is the British Shorthair a good choice for me?”
Zhang Zian guessed the woman to be in her late thirties based on her appearance. When she mentioned that she didn’t have any children, she seemed sad, so it seemed to be a topic that should not be broached.
”What’s your budget?” he asked.
”Um… Around four or five thousand, but a lower price would be best…” she answered vaguely.
”The British Shorthairs I sell are normally ¥6000. If you also want to buy kitty litter, a cage, and food, you might consider some different types of cats,” he responded.
”Six thousand?” Her eyebrows went up in shock while she backed away. ”¥6000 is… it’s too expensive.”
She had seen British Shorthairs at the Wang Haige forum, but she had never known the prices. From her conversation with Liu Wenying about her Siamese cat, she knew that a Siamese cat cost around ¥4000, so she had guessed a British Shorthair would be more or less the same, falling perfectly in her price range. Never in a million years would she have thought that a British Shorthair would cost her six thousand!
It wasn’t that she couldn’t afford to spend six thousand, but that she saved wherever she could to keep her family and household running.
”Sir, to tell you the truth, six thousand is way too much for me.” She started to bargain for a better price, because she knew that the cats from this store were high quality. If she could get the price down, she would be willing to buy from here.
She was serious as she said, ”Before I came here, I looked online. For six thousand, you could buy two British Shorthairs! Even at other pet stores, no one else sells these cats for six thousand!”
Zhang Zian calmly waited for her to finish her little rant before pointing to his clothes and saying, ”Look at my shirt, I also bought it online. It was somehow a brand-name piece. The pictures and descriptions showed ‘apricot yellow,’ but only when it arrived did I realize that it was a khaki color. The seller wouldn’t let me return it because he said there were always slight variations in color between a computer screen and reality. It didn’t matter that much, so I still kept the shirt, since it was cheap. If worst came to worst, I’d throw it out. If you buy an expensive pet, would you be willing to throw it out?”
He was on a roll as he continued, ”Online shopping may be cheap, but you can’t tell from photos or videos the shine of a pet’s fur, the elasticity of its muscles, or the light in its eyes. You can’t tell if there are problems with its nose and ear secretions, whether or not it’s healthy, its attitude—whether it’s friendly or irritable—or if the pet shown in the photo is even the pet you will receive.”
He pointed to the seemingly crestfallen Samoyed. ”When the farm sent new litters of puppies, the nearby pet shops screened them and kept those of the highest quality. Could the farm throw the lower grade puppies away? Of course not, they can’t afford to do that, so they put them online, for lower-level sellers to buy them, or they sell them to pet hunters, who sell the puppies at extremely high prices. Cheap things are cheap for a reason, just as expensive things are expensive for a reason. I advise you not to buy a pet online.”
It wasn’t as if Deng Jie had never shopped online, of course she had been fooled by the internet at times. She agreed with what Zhang Zian said because it was relevant and true. She had heard that even for clothes and shoes, the quality of the final products would depend on where they were sold, such as via the internet or in a store.
”I’ve looked at different pet shops, and yes, they’re more expensive than online shopping, but they are all considerably cheaper than yours! Even the Stars Pet Chain Supermarket, that large business, is still cheaper than yours!” she stiffly replied.