Pet King - Chapter 275

Chapter 275
Zhang Zian reminded Long Xian of the two idiots’ temperaments and didn't care whether she had understood or not . He just walked to the wards of the clinic . His pets were being taken care of by Sun Xiaomeng in the spare wards of her clinic temporarily . He walked a few steps, and he heard cats’ meowing and dogs’ barking .


While walking towards the wards, he observed the sanitary and cleaning conditions here . He had to admit that, though Wang Qian and Li Kun were complete idiots, they were diligent in keeping this place clean . They weren’t lazy while helping out at the pet shop, and they were doing quite well here at the pet clinic . The sanitation and disinfection status was impeccable . There were no strange smells, except for the normal smell of disinfectant . No wonder Sun Xiaomeng had been asking them to work there for longer period . . . Of course she would want that, she didn't need to pay them .
Among the wards, one’s door was open, Zhang Zian peeked inside and saw a middle-aged man in a suit sizing up the pets in the display cases .
Zhang Zian knocked on the door, and the middle-aged man turned around with an inquiring look .
"Excuse me, are you the customer who wants to buy a pet?" Zhang Zian walked into the ward .
"Yes, and you are?" asked the middle-aged men .
Zhang Zian casually pointed to the display cases, "My name is Zhang Zian, and I am the owner of the Amazing Fate Pet Shop . These pets are mine; I’m keeping them at this clinic temporarily . Have you been waiting a long time?"
"Oh . " The man nodded and stuck his hand out towards Zhang Zian politely . "Nice to meet you . No, I haven’t been waiting long, just a couple of minutes, and I got the chance to look at the pets here . "
This man made a good impression on Zhang Zian . The man dressed decently and was very polite . Most importantly, he had the gentle temperament of a scholar .
They shook hands and greeted each other .
"And what's your name?" asked Zhang Zian .
The man took out a business card and handed it over to Zhang Zian, "My name is Meng Li, and I am a teacher at Binhai University . Professor Wei Kang recommended this place to me . "
"Professor Wei Kang . . . " Zhang Zian felt a little bit surprised, "Are you also a biology professor?"
Zhang Zian became alert and thought, was this man pretending to buy pets but in fact was coming for Fina?
"No, no . I'm not from the biology department . " Meng Li clarified, "I just happen to know Professor Wei Kang . I want to buy a dog, but I didn't know where I should go, so I inquired my colleagues about it . Professor Wei Kang recommended your pet shop, and he knew that your shop is upgrading, so the pets are put here temporarily . I guess I might just come straight over to have a look . "
"Oh, no wonder . " Zhang Zian understood .


Other customers who didn’t know the truth would have felt weird that his pets were in Sun Xiaomeng’s pet clinic, and wouldn’t have waited patiently for his arrival . Meng Li was willing to wait there patiently because he believed in Wei Kang's recommendation .
Nowadays, with advanced technology, people had multiple ways to obtain information, but recommendations among friends and colleagues were the most reliable channels, even for intellectuals .

With the misunderstanding being clarified, Zhang Zian let down his guard .
"Sorry that there are no seats here," Zhang Zian said apologetically, "What a bad host of this clinic, she didn't even prepare chairs seeing a customer come in . I will criticize her severely when I see her . Do you want me to bring over a chair?"
"No, I'm fine," Meng Li declined . "I can just stand . "
Zhang Zian was just making a polite gesture . He didn't really plan on bringing the chairs .
"So, you said you were planning to buy a dog?" he got to the point .


"Yes . " Meng Li answered affirmatively and pointed to a display case, "I want the Cocker Spaniel . "
So this man was visiting the clinic with preparation .
There were two kinds of customers of pet shops . The first kind were those customers who barely knew anything about pets, and would decide what they wanted after they saw the pets . The other types of customers came with specific goals, usually looking for commonly-seen breeds of cats or dogs like Husky, Samoyed, American Shorthair and Ragdoll . The display cases were not labeled with the breeds of cats are dogs, and the Cocker Spaniel that Meng Li was pointing to was a rarely seen breed in China . He could not have recognized it by only one glance unless either he had prepared, or that he had seen it or raised such dogs before .
Zhang Zian was quite surprised to see the Cocker Spaniel at the Pet’s Home breeding base . This kind of dog was raised commonly overseas, but few people in China purchased them . Sun Yinian probably had brought the dog in his breeding base because he wanted to have comprehensive breeds . Zhang Zian had been thinking for a while about this dog, and then decided to buy one and give it a try to see whether someone would appreciate this dog .
Normally, if customers had designated their targets and were consented about the pets’ appearance, it should be easily to close the deal, after negotiating the price . But Zhang Zian was in no hurry to close the deal . Instead, he asked a question that seemed officious, "Have you ever raised a Cocker Spaniel before?"
Meng Li shook his head slowly and said in a plain tone, "No, I haven't . "
"I see . " Zhang Zian paused a while and asked, "Do you mind me asking you why you want this kind of dog? Is it because you are a fan of niche things?"
Niche songs, niche software, niche brands, niche novels . . . if there were mainstream markets, there were niche markets . Some people were true fans of niche products — they did not go after the niche trends just to appear different than others — while other people just wanted to show off their unique personalities by using or buying niche things .
Before Meng Li made his answer, Zhang Zian continued, "Make no mistake, I don't mean to pry . It's just that it’s a dog of niche breed, so when it becomes sick, it's more complicated to cure it . That’s why I asked that question . The owner of this clinic can explain more clearly regarding that aspect . "
Meng Li was a little bit confused and didn't know why Zhang Zian asked such a detailed question . After hearing his explanation, Meng Li felt relieved . He didn't feel offended, but he felt that Zhang Zian was very responsible . Professor Wei Kang's recommendation was trustworthy .
"Actually, I didn't raise one by myself, but when I studied in England, my host family raised a Cocker Spaniel . " Meng Li looked at the Cocker Spaniel in the display case and had that nostalgic look in his eyes .
"I was quite an introvert . My host family was very enthusiastic at first, but I couldn't blend in—the social atmosphere and the living habits were so different . " He sighed and then added seriously, "And the food was just like crap, totally inedible . Not only me, but a lot of students from China hate the food there . "
"In that strange new environment, I could only focus on studying, and isolated myself from any social life and entertainment . " He mocked at himself and smiled, "The host family probably felt that I was not that aggregable, and their enthusiasm gradually declined—they still provided whatever I wanted, but they were not as enthusiastic as the beginning . Of course, I am the only one to blame for that . "
"It was a very hard time for me, but I could tell no one else, because every student studying overseas basically experienced the same thing . And you can only blame yourself if you can’t fit into the environment . I cannot regret my decision to study abroad, I didn't even allow myself to have that idea—because I worked so hard, and I defeated numerous people to finally get the chance to study abroad . I couldn't tell my parents either, I didn’t want them to worry about me . The Cocker Spaniel at the host family’s house was very close to me, and I felt my loneliness was alleviated with its company . " He smiled, with his eyes looking into the distance .
"But in the end, you had to leave each other, right?" Zhang Zian said softly . He had figured out the ending of that story . Meng Li was here in China instead of staying in England .
"Yes . Just like my name ‘Li’ means ‘leave’, I had to say goodbye to it," said Meng Li .