Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The mode of transmission of Mad Cow Disease, also known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, starts from a diseased cow. Any meal which contained bones or diseased cattle organs carried the risk of passing on the disease. If the cattle feed was contaminated, healthy cattle can become infected.
Assuming that there was some kind of dog food that could cause similar problems, a similar transmission pathway would be through a sick dog. A previously healthy dog would’ve become sick, or at least a specific organ system of the dog. Thus, people assume that the dog ate contaminated food.
In developed western countries, the transmission route had come to a stop at this point.
But in some other countries, the route of transmission has not stopped here.
Most Chinese people didn’t eat dog meat, but there were a few people who enjoyed it.
Stray dogs, although not necessarily always from birth, are stray dogs. They may have had owners that loved them at some point but were abandoned by their owners later on due to certain extenuating circumstances. Before they were abandoned, they might also have enjoyed the dog food fed to them by their owners every day. It might have been the domestic dog food that Zhang Zian fed the stray dogs every day, or it may have been the dog food promoted by Qi Tong. Any kind of dog food was a possibility.
Of course, this thought had flashed through Zhang Zian’s mind because he had been to the waste purchase station and saw the filthy environment there for himself. It was filled to the brim with flies, mosquitoes, mice, cockroaches, fleas, and arthropods… In that sort of environment, it wouldn’t be surprising if you left the place with the strangest diseases.
In the past, news broke out that a high-tech security unit had an accident or made a mistake in transporting a batch of sealed drums containing radioactive elements. In short, several sealed drums had been misplaced. Several villagers found and picked them, thinking they were somewhat sacred because they didn’t recognize them. Since they had neither common sense nor much of formal education, they did not know that the brightly colored labels on the sealed were warning signs of radioactive elements. There was nothing sacred or good in them. When they went home, they broke the drums open. As a result, the whole family got sick and died.
Similarly, the people in the waste purchase station were also uneducated. They might also have been affected by the same radioactive material or some other strange diseases. When it came to bags of dog food with an ambiguous ingredient list, immediately suspecting the issue to be the dog produce or meat was a source of serious mockery for them. Since this assumption was not based on actual scientific evidence, it was best left to the professionals to carry out a professional diagnosis.
However, Zhang Zian didn’t want to accept that the dog food origins were ambiguous. If there was any problem, it would affect the reputation of the store. Moreover, he was disgusted with Qi Tong’s behavior of buying competitors’ staff to gain a slight advantage.
Seeing Zhang Zian’s refusal, Qi Tong didn’t give up immediately. He knew that the quantity of dog food purchased in this shop was too large. He didn’t care what the dog food was used for, but he could not lose out on such a major business opportunity.
“Brother, don’t rush to a decision so soon. At least listen to the price before you decide!” Qi Tong pushed the dog food back to him.
“All right then, how much does it cost?”
They looked at each other with a smile. Zhang Zian asked as a matter of routine when he could not avoid people whom he had bumped into and could not run from.
The price caught him off guard. Since this was imported dog food, it couldn’t have been cheaper than domestic dog food in any way.
“For example, this bag is 2.5 pounds, which is about 1 kilogram. The suggested retail price is 69.99 yuan.” Qi Tong said.
Zhang Zian frowned. The price was very cheap, especially because it was imported. Since the tariff was only about USD$10, it should have been cheaper in the United States… However, this may have been done to seize the market, beat the competition, start an early price war. If there were customers who did not have much money but wanted to buy imported dog food, they should’ve been easy to sell to.
But this was still way over his budget because most of his dog food was meant to be fed to stray dogs. The stated price was still too expensive compared with domestic dog food.
“Forget it. It’s better if I use domestic dog food… ” He refused again.
“Do not worry. The suggested retail price is 69.99 yuan, but if you buy from me, I will give you a very favorable purchase price of 50 yuan.” Qi Tong held out a palm.
“That is still expensive,” Zhang Zian said as he shook his head. With only a kilogram of 50 yuan dog food, the stray dogs would’ve quickly eaten enough to make him bankrupt.
Qi Tong looked back at the clerks and saw that they were all busy with the store. They were far away from him and Zhang Zian. He lowered his voice and said, “The purchase price is 50 yuan. If you agree to purchase from me, I will give you a 10 yuan rebate for each bag of dog food sold. How does that sound? If you purchase a large quantity, we can discuss the price some more! ”
“What?”
Zhang Zian was shocked. How much did this dog food cost? How was it possible for him to give such a large rebate ratio?
Qi Tong thought he didn’t hear him clearly and repeated himself.
Zhang Zian finally understood that Qi Tong mistakenly thought he was the store manager because Lu Yiyun called him that.
Generally speaking, the store manager and the boss of a small street store were not necessarily the same person. The boss may have had more than one store or wasn’t too familiar with the operations or products of the stores he owned. He would’ve then hired an expert on that to be the store manager. This was similar to how the boss and the general manager of a company were often not the same people; the former was responsible for paying while the latter was a professional and responsible for bringing in profits.
If Zhang Zian was just the store manager and received a salary and bonus from the boss every month, he would’ve found it hard to refuse such a tempting offer. If he sold a bag of dog food, there would’ve been a 10 yuan rebate. As long as he strongly recommended the dog food to the shop’s customers every day, that would become a large number in a month without the boss knowing.
In similar past cases, medical representatives provided huge drug rebates to doctors with prescription rights in hospitals so that doctors would prescribe especially high rebate drugs to patients for their benefit, regardless of whether they really need them or not. The price of medicine itself would’ve been very expensive; the doctors would be able to make a huge profit in one month.
However, he was both the store manager and the boss, but Lu Yiyun was used to calling him the store manager.
What was the point of his kickback? It was all his own money anyway. It was better to change the purchase price directly to 40 yuan.
It was rather unfortunate that in instances where the manager and boss did not work at the same pet shop, the managers easily fell for kickbacks. The perpetrators would’ve fattened their own pockets by cheating them in any possible way. Even so, they weren’t doing anything particularly harmful by just selling dog food. Compared to the malicious doctors, they still had a good conscience.
To prevent the staff from noticing and reporting the difference, the store manager would even partner with the staff. He would earn a 10 yuan rebate for each bag sold then generously give each staff member two or three yuan.
The more Zhang Zian thought about it, the more he felt a chill travel down his spine. It was only a matter of time before this kind of American dog food swept the national market with such crazy money offensive and sales promotions!
If the dog food was good in quality and cheap in price, then it was a win-win situation. However, it was hard to imagine the quality of dog food if the price was drastically reduced.
If it was only a quality problem such as a false nutrition standard, it would’ve been reasonably fine to discuss it further. However, once the dog food itself had substantially more serious safety risks, the consequences would’ve simply been unthinkable.
