一路向西 粤语

Chapter 61: Occupational Illness

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

There were not many people on the bus heading towards the center of the city due to it being business hours. There were handfuls of empty seats. He sat in a corner, picked up his phone, and took out a business card from his wallet.

Longfeng Jewelry Store Shop Guide

Su Min

Telephone: xxxxxxxxxxx

After he had obtained this business card last time, he had casually stuffed it into his wallet. He had originally thought that it was useless, but in the end it had come into use very quickly. If he did not have this business card, he really would not know the name of the female shop guide, as her appearance was a bit blurred in his mind. He remembered that the female shop guide had told him that if he came again next time, he could get a discount if he looked for her. No matter how much the discount, one dollar was still money. He could save a little and count a little; even mosquito legs were meat! He dialed the phone number.

“Hey?” The counterparty picked up.

“Hi, is this Su Min from Longfeng Jewelry Store?” he asked.

“Yes, who is this?” The speech was very respectful.

“My surname is Zhang. It’s like this, I bought stuff from you last time,” he said.

“Oh, Mr. Zhang. May I ask if there are any problems?” The other party’s tone immediately became anxious. She probably had thought that maybe some quality issues had appeared for the jewelry that was bought.

“No problems, but you gave me a business card when I left, and said that there would be a discount the next time I came…”

The other party suddenly felt at a loss, and even stuttered when speaking.

“Ah, oh, that…yes, if you buy a second time, then I can give you a discount of two percent,” the tone became stiff, as if reading a script.

“Ok, then I will go over there right now. I will arrive in a moment,” he replied.

“All right. I will wait for you.” She waited for him to take the initiative to hang up the phone after she had finished talking.

It was cloudy, and the winds were strong too. The flags on the flagpoles at the entrance of public institutions were blowing to and fro from the wind. In solar terms, it seemed to have already entered the beginning of the autumn season.

It wasn’t cold during the day; a long-sleeved shirt would be enough if one did not go bike riding. Fashionable women on the street would add shawls or velvet vests; it was too early to put away skirts and dresses. In the past, Zhang Zian’s eyes would never stray from beautiful women when he strolled the streets. But now, he would involuntarily look around for pets at the ends of alleys, no matter if their owners led them along, or if they were strays. He really wanted to wake himself up by slapping himself: “Was this a f*cking occupational hazard?” he thought.

Pet cats and dogs raised by Chinese families add up to at least thousands, millions, and maybe even more than a hundred million. Among them, the majority were mixed breeds. The rate of purebreds for dogs was higher, and even lower for cats.

Of course, there was nothing bad about mixed breed pets, but in accordance with the increase in spare money people had, the demand for purebred pets also rapidly increased. After all, people would want prestige when they have money. This was the same logic as how people want to wear name-brand clothes and live in villas once they have money. If everyone had no pursuits, they could just raise a random pet, and Zhang Zian would have to just fiercely chug the northwest wind. [1]

At this time, there were not a lot of people nor cars; the roads were not jammed, and the bus arrived at the bus stop not long after. Amazing Fate Pet Shop was at the Dongcheng district, adjacent to Binghai University. Dongcheng district was the cultural and educational district, and educational resources and historical sites were more concentrated, but it was relatively desolate. There was a lot more bustling in the business district at the center of the city. The population was a few times more than the population of Dongcheng district, but the most important thing was that beautiful women were gathered like clouds…

For example, there was a young woman dressed in professional clothing not far away in the front. Her figure and disposition were pretty good, but her makeup was a bit thick, and made her look a bit tacky instead. Really should have Zhao Qi teach her how to put on makeup. In her WeChat Moment, Zhao Qi would either be showing off her cat,showing off herself the whole day, or showing off her new clothes or makeup. Could there be other unique pursuits? Only when she showed off her credit card bills at the end of the month did people love to see and hear about it.

Hm? This girl seemed to look a bit familiar?

Su Min stood at the entrance of the jewelry store with her hands twisted, and waited uneasily for the person who had called.

Jewelry was not cabbages, jewelry stores were not restaurants, and returning customers were few. Even the richer people would only generally wear one ring on their finger. No matter how lovey-dovey, no one would wear two rings on their ring finger to prove that their love was double…bigamy was a crime in China.

At the store branch where Su Min was, only an elder with the surname of Yuan was a regular returning customer. That was because elder Yuan knew a wealthy lady, and the wealthy lady would sometimes bring her close girl friends to buy jewelry at the store.

Su Min had heard rumors from the other elders behind her back, saying how the wealthy lady’s husband had long already had an affair with a female college student or something. The wealthy lady was well aware of this, and treated her husband as a stranger, but she had always kept silent because of her greed for her husband’s money. Her husband also felt sorry for her, and thus had never made things difficult for her in relation to money as long as she didn’t go out to find other men, or else they would break up in a heartbeat.

The wealthy lady’s close girl friends were generally the same as well. They had lost inner sustenance, and were filling the empty space in their hearts with a large amount of shopping.

She wasn’t sure whether or not those rumors were true, and so what if they were true? The wealthy lady satisfied her consumer’s desire, elder Yuan earned a commission, the jewelry store made a profit, the nation earned taxes, and it seemed beneficial for everyone, even you and me. Everything was fine, right?

She was very surprised when she received Zhang Zian’s phone call. In her impression, the customers she had received were not wealthy ladies nor wealthy businessmen. Those people were snatched away by her elders before she even realized it. When Zhang Zian saw her, she also saw Zhang Zian. In fact, her impression of Zhang Zian was much deeper than Zhang Zian’s impression of her. After all, it was her lucky day that day.

Zhang Zian also recognized Su Min; he recognized that she was the shop guide that had received him that day. He also felt very surprised: he did not think that Su Min would actually be waiting outside of the store entrance to welcome him in. This courtesy was a little too high—he was just purchasing jewelry, not purchasing a house. Recalling his manner of receiving customers while lying on a deck chair, there was really no harm in not comparing.

“Hello, you are Mr. Zhang, right? Please come in!” Su Min slightly bowed, and made an “inside please” gesture. Although Zhang Zian was still dressed very casually and average, she dared not to neglect anything. Upon receiving such respectful treatment, Zhang Zian who had thought that he himself was thick skinned, was actually a little embarrassed instead. “Resplendent and magnificent fitted styles still blind damned eyes!” he thought.

It was too early, and there were not a lot of customers in the jewelry store. Seeing this, Zhang Zian’s mentality was a little more balanced: “It was not my fault that there were few customers at my shop; the world is the one at fault!”

He had thought it was unlikely, but just in case, he still opened the game’s catch interface and scanned the store—didn’t the navigation elfin say that there was more than one lucky cat? Maybe another one could be found with sheer luck?

In the end, there was nothing. Tips for detecting rare pets did not pop up on the game radar. This was also good; one gold-worshipping cat had already almost emptied his body—how horrible would it be if another came?

As for his strange actions, Su Min had tentatively treated them as his quirks. She was just about to stop him from filming, but he had already put his phone away. The expressions of the other shop guides in the store were somewhat unhappy. They had heard Su Min when she was answering the phone, and they had also seen that Su Min had gone to the door to welcome him in. How could a newbie who had only worked for a few months get a returning customer?

Footnotes:

[1] To drink the northwest wind refers to a broke person who has no choice but to live off of air—on nothing.