Strange as it may sound, but the moment the golden nose ring fell on the ground, the kittens in the shop behaved as if the shackles restraining them had been broken, and as if some sort of beast had disappeared, they soon became active again, playing with each other and rolling around.
Wang Qian and Li Kun just stood there, dumbfounded. All they knew was that after the golden cat and the cat with the bamboo hat meowed at each other, the cat with the bamboo hat had pulled the nose ring off the statue.
Before they understood what had happened, Zhang Zian had come into the shop, followed by Snowy. The first thing they saw was the nose ring lying on the ground, split in half.
"Ah!" Snowy uttered a lamentable loud scream. Anyone would have feel sorry if their recently bought gift was damaged so soon, not to mention that in her eyes, the golden nose ring had the effect of making the finishing touch on the Cat Goddess statue. She bent down, trying to pick up the nose ring to see if she could fix it.
Her small hand was still far away from reaching the nose ring when she felt a cat’s paw pressing heavily on it. She was startled and looked up, and her eyes met with that of Fina’s cold glaring. Snowy had always been a little scared of this golden cat, and she knew how horrible it would be if it were angry, so she just bitterly retracted her hand, gesturing to Zhang Zian with her eyes and asking him what to do.
Zhang Zian was also shocked, not by the nose ring, but by the serious expressions of Fina and Old Time Tea who were gathered around the statue. Apparently, something incredible had just happened. He noticed that the truncation surface of the nose ring was so neat as if it had been cleaved by a knife or an axe. No ordinary knife could have done that, and the only one capable of striking such a blow in his pet shop was Old Time Tea, who was always calm and collected, and would never resort to its abilities impulsively. So, what happened exactly was not as simple as it looked.
"What happened?" He asked Wang Qian and Li Kun directly, "I told you that if the statue was broken, you won’t get paid anymore, didn’t I?"
Wang Qian and Li Kun almost knelt down to prove their innocence. They shouted to defend themselves, "It was not us who did it! The statue was fine when we put it on the ground!"
It was not their wages that they cared about, they just worried that what if their Master lost trust in them since they failed even such a trivial task?
"Then who did it?" asked Zhang Zian. In the face of outsiders, it was not convenient for him to ask Fina and Old Time Tea directly.
The two of them briefly narrated what they had seen and heard, indicating they had no clue of the incident.
Zhang Zian contemplated for a moment, and he remembered that Snowy was still using her cell phone to host the live broadcast, and realizing that it was not a good time to delve further into the incident, he patted his thigh and said firmly, "I know what happened!"
Not only did Wang Qian, Li Kun and Snowy look at him, but Fina and Old Time Tea also gazed at him curiously to hear his conclusion.
Zhang Zian pointed to the nose ring on the ground and said, "It’s an unbranded product with poor quality!"
This reason was somewhat far-fetched, but no one could deny it either. After all, except Fina and Old Time Tea, no one had touched this nose ring and they couldn’t tell whether it was firm or not.
But Snowy was really upset that her gift was said to be an unbranded product.
Zhang Zian immediately comforted her, "But the statue itself is still very good. It’s even more pleasing without the nose ring, don’t you think?"
Following the leadership of Zhang Zian, Wang Qian and Li Kun agreed to everything he said. Even if Zhang Zian called white black, they wouldn’t raise any objections.
Snowy tilted her head in confusion, "Is it?"
Snowy
was not a strong-minded person, and she didn’t know any profound knowledge of art appreciation. Being hoodwinked by Zhang Zian, she started to believe that the nose ring shouldn’t have been on the statue at the first place, and wearing a nose ring was against the principles of building a harmonious society as they were advocating nowadays.
Fina silently glanced at him, kicked the nose ring into the corner, and leaned forward and jumped onto the cat tree, followed by Snowy Lionet. Though Zhang Zian was just making nonsense, he was right about the fact that a Cat Goddess statue shouldn’t be wearing a nose ring, only statues enshrined by evil god worshipers would wear nose rings.
The audience in the live broadcast didn’t understand what happened either, and they just kept discussing it.
Anyhow, Zhang Zian was relieved that he had made up a reason to cover this event. He then asked Snowy, "My shop hasn’t officially reopened yet, so what is your broadcast about?"
"Ah, I almost forgot. I heard Mr. Store Manager has a magical talking parrot?" Snowy's curiosity quickly overwhelmed her doubt, and she asked eagerly.
"That's right." Zhang Zian also wanted to change the subject as soon as possible and shouted upstairs, "Richard, come down to entertain your customers!"
The audience couldn’t help but laugh!
"Are you kidding me? Is this the Amazing Fate Pet Shop or the Amazing Fate Hook Shop?! And who the hell is this virgin Richard?"
"Hello! Police department? I want to report a person involved in prostitution!"
Before Zhang Zian finished his words, a grey shadow fluttered its wings and flew down from the second floor. It landed on Zhang Zian’s shoulder, and turned its black pupils on Snowy to size her up.
Zhang Zian proudly showed off, "Surprise! Surprise!"
"Quack! Quack! I am Richard, who wants to be my first customer?! Big dick is welcome!"
Zhang Zian felt embarrassed and solemnly reprimanded it, "Don’t talk such nonsense in front of girls!"
Richard got even more excited when it realized it was being watched by an audience. It ignored Zhang Zian’s warnings and said aloud, "When I say big, you say dick. Big! Dick!"
Hearing this, the live broadcast audience immediately plunged into the quiet before the storm, followed by the eruption of an intense bullet screen!
"Not surprised at all! This parrot is definitely raised by the perverted store manager!"
"So, you really are a perverted manager!"
"But the manager only harassed girls before, this parrot seems to be harassing boys!"
"Horrible! The manager has revealed his special hobby! Snowy is safe for now!"
"This gay parrot really rocks! Its articulation and pronunciation are so good, like that of a human!"
Snowy awkwardly turned away her face, only focusing her cellphone lens at Richard. She was so embarrassed that sweat was exuding from her forehead. She had never heard such foul words before, and she wondered why Zhang Zian had trained his parrot so dirty. There were so many normal words out there that he could have taught it!
Although she didn’t want to hear them, she couldn’t help but keep listening, as if the door to a new world was opening…
Before this crazy bird caused any trouble, Zhang Zian had to change the topic again. He coughed, "Commercial time! Recently, the kittens in my shop have upgraded their stunts! Anyone interested in that?"
Snowy turned her face towards him in astonishment. When the blush caused by bashfulness disappeared from her face, she asked, "What? Mr. Store Manager, are you serious? They can upgrade their stunts?"
Occasionally, Snowy’s mother would invite other housewives from the villa district to their house to chat, drink tea and play mahjong. Sometimes, she would ask Snowy to lead Snow Ball to perform the figure eights. These rich housewives of businessmen or officials were very lonely, and many of them raised more than one particularly rare cat. Although Snow Ball was a very common Persian cat, it made a hit in front of these housewives and made them envious.
Her mother privately told her that it was important to retain good relations with these rich housewives, whose pillow talks can sometimes even determine the success or failure of a business.
The only pity was that the figure eight was the only stunt Snow Ball had, and these housewives would have an aesthetic fatigue if they watched it performed too many times.
It would be great if Snow Ball could learn new stunts!