340 Good Teamwork (2/2)
”Yes, it was my bad to undertake such a difficult task. I shall help you show off today.” Richard said reluctantly, ”What should we do?”
Zhang Zian had made his decision. ”You go into the invisible state and stand on my shoulder. When you are about to talk, pinch my shoulder with your claws, and I will synchronize my lips with your words, as if I'm the one talking.”
Richard gave it a thought, ”I think it might work, but what am I going to say?”
”You need to improvise. Just ask them why they're here and what they want, and strive for the best interests for us.”
”...All right, but what accent should I use?” asked Richard.
”What accent?” asked Zhang Zian perplexedly.
”There are different accents in English, which accent do you want me to use?”
Zhang Zian hadn't thought about this. ”Anything is fine... What are theirs?”
Tim and Lauren were walking around on the first floor of the pet shop, their eyes stopping on Fina frequently. They whispered in English from time to time, discussing the breed of this golden cat.
Richard listened to them carefully for a while, ”Though they are speaking American English, the woman has some sort of rustic Australian accent, while the man has a Texas dialect from time to time.”
”I don't understand what you're talking about. Just do as you see fit.” Zhang Zian waved at Richard, leaving it in charge of this matter. He then read the demand from the game, ”Dr. Irene Pepperberg's lovebird, invisible!”
Richard entered the invisible state and was brought downstairs by Zhang Zian.
”Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long, I needed to handle some urgent issues.” Richard clenched Zhang Zian's shoulder with its claws and imitated his tone.
Zhang Zian felt pain from its clenching! Damn it! I didn't ask you to pinch me so hard! This is absolutely retaliation! I will punish you when I have time!
Cursing Richard in his heart, he opened his mouth to synchronize with Richard's speaking.
Tim and Lauren looked at each other in confusion. They didn't notice before that this pet shop owner was speaking English in a native London accent.
Richard chose the British accent for Zhang Zian because it knew that many Americans were fond of, and some were even obsessed with, the London accent. Some Americans even mocked that their accent was lame. Using the British accent catered to Zhang Zian's pretentious personality.
”It's us who need to apologize for taking up your time without making an appointment,” Lauren said apologetically. ”We've watched videos on YouTube showing the kittens in your shop dancing. We got so excited, but we couldn't find a contact number for you, so we had to pay a visit based on the address we got. Before we came here, we worried that we wouldn’t be able to communicate well because of different languages, but your English is well beyond our imagination...”
Richard pinched Zhang Zian's shoulder with its claws and talked recklessly, ”Quack...well, in fact, I lived abroad in England for many years. During that period, I was granted a doctorate degree in English and Applied Linguistics from the University of Cambridge.”
”...A PhD from the University of Cambridge is running a pet shop? How fierce is the competition in the pet industry in China?”
Zhang Zian's cheeks ached from the lip synchronization and smiling. Although he was poor in speaking, he could understand parts of the conversation in English. He knew that Richard was playing pranks on him. This lie had gone too far!
”It's my honor to host guests from so far away. Please, sit down to talk.” Richard pinched at Zhang Zian again.
Hearing the word ”sit”, Zhang Zian raised his arm to point at the chairs for customers in his pet shop. These were the bar stools brought by Guo Dongyue during renovation, and previously, there was only one broken four-legged steel chair in the shop.
He looked at Tim's butt nervously, praying to God that the new chair wouldn't collapse.
Luckily, the chair just made a creaking sound. It survived the weight.
Richard seemed to have misunderstood his gazing, and uttered some low-pitched secret laughter.