Lauren's computer was displaying the YouTube webpage. Tim knew that she liked watching interesting videos when she was free, and he thought she was going to show him another funny video this time—but it was more than just funny.
"Check this out." Lauren pulled him to sit down with her and clicked the play icon.
As the bright rhythm of Little Apple started playing, a group of kittens were dancing to the music.
Eyes wide open, Tim stared at the screen incredibly, "What is going on?"
Lauren didn't answer him. When the song had finished playing, she replayed the video.
"What do you think?" she smiled and asked.
"Is this the trailer of a movie? Please tell me it is computer-generated special effect." Tim was gazing at the picture, still dumbfounded.
Lauren shook her head, "I thought this was a re-combined video from different clips at the beginning, but it seems that it's not, look at this."
She switched to another YouTube page and played another video.
The second video lasted longer. Unlike the previous video, the leading role and camera-person of the second video was a black-haired girl, and the latter video had no subtitles. But the point was that the kittens being recorded in the second video were the same group of kittens as in the former video, with only a black kitten missing.
When the second video had finished playing, Lauren said, "The first video has indeed been edited, but from my perspective, the author only wanted to make the video appear more compact, while the second video has absolutely no traces of being edited."
"So?" Tim forced a smile and shrugged, "Are you saying that these kittens really can dance together? We've been running a cattery for so many years, but I've never heard of such weird things before."
"Tim," Lauren held his big hands and said gently, "Always remain reverence for the things you don't know."
Tim's palms were broad and thick with rough surfaces, just like that of a bear. However, being held by her tiny hands, Tim didn't dare to move a bit.
"Even if it is indeed real, what are you going to do?" he said hesitantly and looked at the still picture on the screen again, "What does it have anything to do with us? For God's sake, it's in China, half a world away."
Lauren smiled and said patiently, "I am thinking, is it possible... that we go to ask the owner of that pet shop how to teach the kittens to dance?"
Tim frowned, "China is enormous with so many people. Where are we going to find that owner?"
"Don't worry about that." Lauren let go of his hands and stuffed a small piece of paper into his palm, "I've left comments to ask these two vloggers. The first vlogger answered in a somewhat disguised manner, but the second vlogger tells me this address without any hesitation."
Tim unfolded the small paper where the address was written in detail.
Lauren continued, "Besides, the second vlogger admits that he has no connection with the former vlogger, and that the video uploaded was not shot by him, but that he had recorded the live broadcast video hosted by a Chinese female anchor. He found that the video was very interesting and uploaded it to YouTube. He didn't expect that it would draw so much attention."
Tim looked at the address on the note for several times and raised his head, "Honey, what do you mean..."
"What I mean is that, maybe it's time to visit China." said Lauren with anticipation in her eyes, "The country that has had civilization since ancient times with thousands of years of history. It has always been covered with a layer of a mysterious veil, and it's time for us to unveil it and to look at how she really is. Don't you want to see for yourself whether these dancing kittens exist or not?"
Tim said with a bitter smile, "Yes. But honey, if we go to China, what about our cattery? Many clients have made reservations to see the kittens. Are we going to cancel all these reservations? This is bad for our reputation."
"Isn't Allen here?" Lauren smiled, "Put him in charge of the cattery."
"Him?" Hearing this, Tim was even more astonished than seeing the kittens dance, "Make him in charge? He will screw up everything!"
"No, I think he's a nice boy, he's just too afraid of you, so he makes mistakes whenever you are around. Give him a chance to learn how to be independent. Boys can only become men gradually if they are being pushed." Lauren's tone was very gentle, but her words had unparalleled persuasive powers towards Tim.
"Okay, okay." said Tim reluctantly, "But have you thought that, let's suppose these two videos are both real, and that unknown pet shop owner does have ways to teach kittens to dance— if I were him, I would keep it a secret and would never reveal anything to anyone even my mouth was pried open, do you see what I mean?"
He was worried that their trip might be fruitless ‚— there was no reason that the pet shop owner in China would tell them the secret of kittens dancing.
"You're right, I've thought of that." Lauren pointed to the still image on the screen, "But look at the kittens in his shop. What are the things that we have and he doesn't?"
"What we have, and he doesn't?" He was stunned. He began to look at the screen, following the direction pointed by his wife's finger.
As a professional breeder operating a cattery for over a decade and attending CFA tournaments many times, Tim was experienced in sharp-sightedness. He had spotted that the kittens in the videos were of more commonly seen breeds, but no Ragdoll kittens—the very popular breed recently were seen in them. As for other breeds, such as Norwegian Forest Cat, Bengal Cat or Bombay Cat, none of them appeared in the videos.
The shocking fact that kittens were dancing together had made Tim ignore these details. Reminded by his wife, he had understood what she meant—that the pet shop had no Ragdoll kittens, and the Ragdoll kittens of Blue Climax enjoyed a high reputation among the pet industry.
"Are you saying..."
Although he understood what his wife meant, he felt pain just thinking of exchanging these Ragdoll kittens, which were the results of his painstaking cultivation for many years, as if he had to send his own kids to others.
"Dear, there's nothing free in this world, as you know." Lauren advised him, "We must accept the following facts— that in this world, there’s only one pet shop that has dancing kittens, but there are other pet shops than our catteries can provide Ragdoll kittens for. Although our cats are in good condition, they are not unique in the industry. If we don't make our move quickly, this rare opportunity will be taken away by others."
His wife was always right, whether it was when she decided to quit her job and run a cattery, or when she decided to breed Ragdoll kittens a long time ago. Though she didn't take part in the daily operation of the cattery, in the big picture, she was more far-sighted than others.
Tim lowered his head. He knew she was right, but as a stubborn person, he couldn't make up his mind right away. He had never been abroad before, and thinking that the destination of his first trip abroad was going to be an unheard-of pet shop in an unknown city in China, he was not sure whether they could succeed in this journey.
Lauren stretched out her hands, held his face, looked into his eyes, "Darling, after we got married, you still owe me a honeymoon tour, remember? Since we began running this cattery, we have had no time to go out for our vacation. Don't take it as a burden, just consider it as our honeymoon vacation, can you promise me that?"
Tim looked at her eyes for quite a while. There were wrinkles in the corners of her eyes because of the passing of time, but this pair of eyes… With God as his witness, this pair of eyes was as clear as they were on the day they met. No matter how time flew, her eyes were just as attractive as before.
"Okay, I promise you." He smiled from ear to ear. He already knew that he could never say no to her.
"You go book the flight tickets online. As for me..." he stood up from the chair and looked at the yard under the bright sunshine through the window, "I'm going to trim the damn lawn."
"Sure." Lauren smiled happily. In his eyes, she would always be a gorgeous young lady.
Tim was that kind of person who didn't make decisions hastily, but when he made up his mind, he would not hesitate anymore.
He stepped out from the study room and yelled out to the porch, "Allen! Come here, you stinky boy! I'm going to punish you these days. If you are smart enough, you should quit and leave right now, otherwise, prepare yourself for days in hell."