一路向西 粤语

Chapter 572: Pregnancy

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

Zhang Zian went downstairs with the USB drive containing the contract. There was a printer by the register of Amazing Fate Pet Shop, but he didn’t want Lu Yiyun to think he was writing a novel. So he headed to a printing store further away, and handed over the May Day Model Worker Evaluation Form to the residents’ committee. Grandma Gu from the committee had been nagging him about this matter. She’d come for the form herself if he delayed any further.

“Stop!” As he was passing the cat tree, Fina woke up from a nap, opened its eyes and called him.

“What’s the matter?” Zhang Zian was confused. Fina’s tone wasn’t friendly. He hadn’t offended her recently, and it had been eating and sleeping well. He hadn’t called it fat in quite a while.

“Meow! When Your Majesty tells you to stop, you stop. If I hear any more of your nonsense, I’ll castrate you!” Snowy Lionet waved its paws to intimidate him.

Fina tilted its head and narrowed its eyes at the Abyssinian cats jumping up and down the display cabinet. “What are you going to do with them?”

“What to do with what?” Zhang Zian was focused on Pi’s affair, and couldn’t figure out what it was referring to.

Fina’s face went cold. “Haven’t you noticed that a few of the cats are growing fat?”

Zhang Zian was speechless. “As if I knocked them up?” He looked at them carefully, but couldn’t tell which cats looked different.

“They need a quiet room to give birth,” Fina spoke slowly.

Zhang Zian had briefly studied the breeding book Kathy left, then tentatively followed Kathy’s plan to let a few Abyssinian cats mate. In order not to bother the other cats, the mating took place in the storage room upstairs. He didn’t know how the mating process turned out. With the hassles of Pi’s novel, he totally forgot about it. According to Fina, the mating might’ve been successful?

He walked over and picked up a female Abyssinian cat. After careful examination, he still couldn’t see anything different with its belly. The others were the same. However, if he carefully petted them with his hands, he could feel a small bump.

The gestation period of cats was two months, and the change in figure wasn’t obvious under their fur. A lot of careless owners only found out about the pregnancy after the cat gave birth to kittens.

“Mr. Store Manager, what’s wrong?” Lu Yiyun finished drawing a picture and rubbed her eyes. After seeing Zhang Zian’s serious face, she thought the cat he was holding was sick.

“This cat is pregnant,” Zhang Zian replied.

“What? How come I didn’t notice?” Lu Yiyun circled around the counter in surprise, and stared at the cat’s belly up close.

“I’m a professional,” He answered brazenly. He put down the cat to let it be with the other cats. He called Wang Qian and Li Kun over and asked them to pay special attention to these female Abyssinian cats during feeding, to make sure they were well fed. Generally speaking, it’d be better to separate the pregnant cats from the others, in case the fighting caused them to miscarry, and they needed a quiet place to give birth.

There were a lot of pets in the shop, and there were more to be shipped from Pets’ Home Breeding Base after the Chinese New Year. The storage room upstairs and his parents’ bedroom were relatively quiet. The storage room was full and cluttered, and he didn’t want to use his parents’ room. This was becoming problematic.

After Zhang Zian finished instructing others, he walked out with the USB drive, made a few copies of the contract in the printing store, then handed them to the courier headed to the Qidian office building located in Shanghai. He was a little embarrassed when he printed them out, and felt a weird look from the printing boy, as if he were saying, “I guess anyone can write novels these days?”

After finishing the contract, he went straight to the residents’ committee.　 The Spring Festival was coming soon, so it was festive at the residents’ committee. With her loud voice, Grandma Gu was overseeing the others put up decorations.

“Grandma Gu, here you are, the evaluation form.” He was ready to face the great demon, and handed over the finished form. He smiled. “I’ve been busy and almost forgot about this. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Grandma Gu stared at him, put on her reading glasses, read the form to confirm that everything was fine, then folded it and put it in her pocket. She waved her hands, a signal for him to leave and stay out of her way.

“Right, Grandma Gu, I’m just wondering, is there a store for rent on our street? It would be best if it’s not far from my shop.” He asked.

“Rent?” Grandma Gu lowered her head and looked at him from above her reading glasses. She asked him in confusion, “Zian, are you planning to quit?”

“No, I’m not quitting. I’m wondering if there are other stores for rent because I’d like to take over one,” he explained.

Grandma Gu glanced at him with surprise. “Take over a store?”

“Yes, I want to expand. My shop isn’t big enough,” Zhang Zian spoke seriously. There were more and more pets and elfins in the shop, the place was getting crowded. While searching for a delivery room for the Abyssinian cats, he made the decision to expand his shop. This wasn’t an easy decision. In fact, he had been considering this for a long time, whether he should be content with what he had, or expand using his accumulated wealth.

When he first took over the pet shop, he had neither money, help, nor experience. All he had was knowledge about animals that he subconsciously absorbed from his parents. If he claimed to be confident back then, it was total bullsh*t. He had nothing to rely on, so he had to be extra careful in the beginning, taking each step with great caution.

Back then, he was only confident enough to sell cats and dogs, as those were the most popular pets, and he had to spend his limited funds and energy wisely.

Things were different now.

Zhang Zian was in a different position than when he first returned to Binhai City. He had acquired a lot of knowledge about animals through the internet and books, dealing with all sorts of customers, and employing a few flawed but dependable helpers. He saved some money by being thrifty and being called stingy. Most importantly, he had a few elfins with amazing power.

After careful consideration, he decided to take a chance and expand his business. This time, it’d be more than just cats and dogs. He wanted to introduce pets in greater variety and number to the store, including some less popular but rare pets. All of this would require more space. Since the Abyssinian cats were pregnant and a dog washer was about to be purchased, he had to take over a new store.