Zhang Zian smiled, "Boss Qin, what did you say? I'm sorry, I did not hear you clearly, can you say that again?"
Qin Jing stared at the sinister smile on his face, reckoning that he was getting revenge on her for spying out his business secrets last time!
She wanted to lose her temper, but she couldn’t afford to do that. She was negotiating for cooperation today, and right now she was lying in the hands of Zhang Zian, so she could only find ways to remedy the situation.
"Wait a minute, if you are not interested in Ragdoll kittens, how about the Scottish fold cats in my cattery? You don’t have Scottish folds, right? Do you want to think about it?" The confidence she had before coming to the pet shop had disappeared. She was basically promoting her cats in any way possible.
Since Zhang Zian already possessed premium-condition Ragdoll kittens, then she would have to find another way—her Scottish fold cats. This time, she carefully looked around, making sure there were no Scottish fold cats hiding in any corner of the shop.
"Scottish fold cats?" Zhang Zian once again glanced at Qin Jing’s business card.
Qin Jing took out her cell phone, finding photos of her Scottish fold cats to show him.
"Look how cute and how good they are! If you agree, I can exchange my Scottish fold breeding cats for your Abyssinian cats… and I will give you more money on top of it," she bit her teeth and said.
Zhang Zian carefully looked at the pictures on her phone. There were a few furry Scottish fold kittens with their ears bent forward, making their small faces look even rounder. There were a few vertical stripes on their foreheads, and clearly visible were dark tiger spots on their grey fur. They may look less lively than other cats, but were more adorable, making people want to stroke their faces dearly.
"Very good indeed," Zhang Zian admitted.
Seeing that there was still hope, Qin Jing was about to talk about further details. "So..."
"Unfortunately, I don’t intend to introduce Scottish fold kittens to my shop," Zhang Zian rejected bluntly.
Qin Jing asked quickly, "Is it because of their genetic diseases? We are both in the pet industry, so you should know that through appropriate pairing, the morbidity of osteochondrodysplasia can be reduced significantly..."
Zhang Zian interrupted her explanation. "I know. I refuse your offer, not because of the genetic disease that plagues Scottish folds, but rather because the disease is incurable."
His gaze swept around the shop, falling on a cocker spaniel in a display case that resembled the one Meng Li had bought. Cocker spaniels also had a high morbidity rate from hereditary cataracts, so their situation was very similar to the Scottish folds’, but the difference was that cataracts could be cured by surgery, while Scottish folds’ osteochondrodysplasia could not. Once the symptoms of the disease began to appear, the trend was irreversible and the Scottish fold cat would definitely die from this.
Zhang Zian sold cocker spaniel dogs, but he would remind the customers in advance that cocker spaniel dogs had the possibility of suffering from cataracts, and if they were concerned, they could wait to buy them until the dogs turned six months old. If symptoms didn’t show up by then, it would be very unlikely for the disease to appear later in its life. Osteochondrodysplasia in Scottish folds was like a bomb. You knew it would explode, you just were not sure when exactly it would.
Almost all purebred cats and dogs had been more or less subjected to human intervention during their evolution. Some species encountered less intervention due to their long history, such as modern Egyptian Mau cats and Abyssinian cats. Other breeds, such as the new breeds cultivated by human beings, were almost completely produced according to human's aesthetic point of views, with the typical example being the Scottish fold.
Qin Jing was still trying to persuade Zhang Zian. She cited many examples, indicating that there was a very low incidence of osteochondrodysplasia in her Scottish fold cats. Through follow-up visits to her customers, she found that there had been only one incident out of over a dozen of cats within two years.
Zhang Zian was not moved by this, since he did not know whether it was true that she actually had set up a follow-up visit system. She might be a responsible cattery owner, but he would not change his mind.
"Boss Qin, if nothing else, please see yourself out."
He ordered her to leave.
Qin Jing came here full of enthusiasm, but Zhang Zian had poured ice cold water on her. She pitifully looked at the Abyssinian cats playing freely inside the shop, shook her head and whispered at Zhang Zian in her heart, "Pig head."
Zhang Zian had already gone back to lying on his recliner and continued to read the breeding manual Cathy had left behind.
Qin Jing stomped out. When she passed the cashier desk, Lu Yiyun, who had been completely immersed in painting, said lightly without raising her head, "We look forward to your next visit..."
"Never!" Qin Jing said angrily.
Lu Yiyun shivered so fiercely that she drew a crooked line on the board. She looked at Qin Jing’s back as the woman stormed out, unsure as to why she was so furious.
Peace and quiet was restored to the pet shop.
While pretending to look at the manual, Zhang Zian knew that Fina would not restrain her exuberant curiosity and would come to ask him about the exchange sooner or later.
Sure enough, Fina jumped off from the cat tree and walked over to him. She asked, "Tell me, what’s the matter with the Scottish fold?"
He sighed and explained, "Actually, Scottish folds were a variant of the British Shorthair. It was normal for British Shorthair cats to have developed a deformity caused by genetic defects during breeding. But because people deemed these deformed ears as cute, they started to consolidate this pattern and bred cats with obvious genetic defects, which became the present-day Scottish fold. Once the disease occurs, it will lead to severe limb deformities and arthritis, and the disease is incurable. Scottish fold cats will suffer from pain until their death, or until they have been abandoned by their owners before that…"
Fina’s expression became cold. She turned and looked at the door, but Qin Jing's figure had disappeared.
"Why didn’t you tell me earlier when that woman was here?" she said, repressing her anger.
Zhang Zian shook his head. "She’s not the one who initiated the trend, and it would have been no use if you scratched her harshly because thousands of people sell Scottish fold cats. But do you know why she came to seek cooperation with me?"
Fina did not answer — she was waiting for Zhang Zian to give her a satisfactory explanation.
"As increasingly more people realized that it is cruel to breed such cats, the Cat Association in Europe removed the Scottish fold from its cat breed categories a long time ago. Right now, only the United States and China are still breeding such cats. Over time, there will be more people who will choose to reject this kind of cat. Qin Jing must have been aware that it’s going to become increasingly difficult to sell Scottish fold cats, and with the intense competition in the Ragdoll kitten market too, she wanted to get Abyssinian cats from me." Zhang Zian tried to analyze the psychological activities of Qin Jing, and his guess was very accurate.
Fina's face smoothed out slightly. Swinging her tail, she leapt back on the cat tree, looking outside blankly.
"Zian." Old Time Tea turned down the volume of the TV with the remote control.
"What's wrong, Grandpa Tea? Has the tea flavor become light? Should I change the tea?" Zhang Zian stood up from the recliner, intending to put new tea leaves in the teapot, and re-brew the tea. In the wintertime, the hot water became cold quickly, even in a thermos bottle, so he had to frequently change the water.
"No." Old Time Tea was gently stroking its whiskers. It seemed to be thinking about something happened a long time ago.
Zhang Zian dared not disturb it. He stood there, waiting for it to speak up.
After a long while, Old Time Tea said, "I feel sorry hearing about what happened to the Scottish fold cats… but there is something I don’t understand, and I hope you may enlighten me about it, Zian. A long time ago, I came across a cat in a jungle and I have never forgotten about it since. Since you are not busy today, I figured that I could share that experience with you."