Chapter 175: An Artistic Designer
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was late in the morning.
Since Zhang Zian had closed the store for a few days, there were not as many people outside to seek the martial arts learning opportunity. Only a few people were waiting there. They crowded up as soon as they saw Zhang Zian come out of the store.
“Master Zhang, please teach me Kung Fu! I have waited here for several days!”
“Master Zhang, I am willing to pay. How about 100 thousand a year? 200? As long as you teach me real martial arts that could beat up 7 people at the same time, I am willing to pay more.”
Zhang Zian cleared his throat, “I am sorry to disappoint you but my family has our own rules. I am not allowed to take students before I turn 40. I am not the only one in this world who knows martial arts anyways. Please find someone else.”
Some people were still pushing, “Well, Master Zhang, don’t fool us. Don’t you have two students already?”
Zhang Zian clarified, “Who told you that? They are not my students. They work in my store. Don’t let others mislead you.”
They looked at each other and thought to themselves, those two guys must be on top of the waiting list.
“Master Zhang, we want to work here too, okay?” They asked, “We won’t charge a penny.”
Zhang Zian was sick of talking to them. He pointed at the store, “Look, my store doesn’t need more workers. Please go home.” He waved his hand and stopped talking to them.
While he was about to turn around and get back to the store, he saw Xiao Yan’s Mercedes Benz pull over and stop.
Xiao Yan parked the car. There was a person with a ponytail sitting in the passenger’s seat. Was that a… man?
The ponytailed man and she both got out of the car. Zhang Zian walked up to them. In his mind, he was still trying to decide whether this ponytailed person was a man or woman.
The man was rather thin with small shoulders. His eyes looked sad, yet he dressed quite fashionably. There were a few bracelets on his wrists and necklaces on his neck. In a word, he looked like an artist.
Xiao Yan introduced the person, “This is Guo Dongyue, the designing director from Haitian Home Interior Designs. They are the ones who designed my store. This is Zhang Zian, the owner of the Amazing Fate Pet Shop that I mentioned to you.”
Zhang Zian had mentioned to Xiao Yan that he wanted to renovate the store, but he had never thought it through. He didn’t expect Xiao Yan to be so efficient as to bring an interior designer here… He looked quite expensive, which made Zhang Zian wonder about the cost to work with him.
“Hello, my name is Zhang Zian. I am the owner of this store.” He reached out for a handshake.
“Guo Dongyue, Dong means winter and Yue means mountains.” The ponytailed man ignored his handshake and nodded coldly.
Zhang Zian took his hand back, embarrassed. Xiao Yan seemed not to be surprised. She smiled.
“Yan, this is the store you talk about? This is so tiny!” Guo Dongyue started complaining in front of Zhang Zian. It sounded like he was quite a close friend of Xiao Yan.
“Yue, don’t bullsh*t. Mr. Zhang is a friend of mine. Go inside and look,” Xiao Yan said.
She stepped back and said to Zhang Zian quietly, “Don’t worry. That’s just his personality.”
Zhang Zian understood. Everyone was different. Some artistic people had especially distinguished characteristics compared to others.
Guo Dongyue walked around the outside of the store, and kept looking up and down and murmuring to himself. He then walked into the store, looked around and patted the wall with his hand.
“He is good at what he does. I heard he was educated in Great Britain.” Standing outside of the store, Xiao Yan spoke to Zhang Zian.
“No wonder,” Zhang Zian said. He could understand why Guo acted so arrogant now: He went to school overseas.
Guo Dongyue walked out of the store and showed no interest, “This store is too small. Not enough room to show my talent at all!”
“Look, why are you so humble? Haven’t you always said that you can build a palace inside a snail’s shell? Was that just a joke?” Xiao Yan laughed.
“Hey, hey. Are you challenging me? Okay, if you think I was joking, I will prove you wrong.” He would not take any criticism.
“You are the owner, right?” He asked Zhang Zian.
Zhang Zian nodded.
“Tell me what you want – but don’t ask for too much!” Guo Dongyue said.
Zhang Zian started, “Well, first of all, I need a backdoor on the first floor. That’s the most important.”
Xiao Yan was confused, so she interrupted, “Why?”
Zhang Zian didn’t want to tell her about practicing martial arts on the green, so he said, “If I am ever robbed again and there are too many robbers, I could at least leave from the backdoor.”
Xiao Yan nodded and agreed. Although Zhang Zian was a master in martial arts, if the opponent had too many people or had weapons, escaping was the best solution.
Zhang Zian continued, “The door only needs to be a normal door at an apartment. I am planning on putting in an alarmed door. I will only turn it on when there is an emergency. As for other things… Please come inside to discuss them.”
He took them both inside the store and walked upstairs.
“The second floor doesn’t need much work. I only want to remove the wall between the 2nd bedroom and living room.”
Guo Dongyue walked up to the wall, patted it and observed for a bit.
Xiao Yan asked, “Is it a bearing wall?”
Guo shook his head, “Nope, it could be removed. I recommend keeping some of it. Don’t remove it completely.”
Zhang Zian said, “That’s fine. You can decide on that.”
“How about the other rooms? No changes at all? I am telling you, if you want to make changes, tell me now. Don’t tell me you want something else when the project is halfway through,” Guo Dongyue was looking at the other side of the 2nd floor which was the master bedroom and storage room. The doors were both closed.
Zhang Zian was thinking about it.
Xiao Yan asked, “What’s going on? Does someone live in there?”
“Well, no. That was my parents’ bedroom. I haven’t changed a thing since they died. I have not decided what to do with it yet.” Zhang Zian was honest.
“Oh…” Although Xiao Yan was a decisive lady, she didn’t want to make a decision for Zhang Zian this time.
“Oh, you are quite a nice son!” Guo Dongyue praised him. This was the first time he really looked at Zhang Zian since he arrived.
“Well, I will break the rules for you. You think about what you want to do and let me know.” Guo Dongyue walked back downstairs and started seriously looking at the layout.
“What is that?” He pointed at the pet’s bathing room.
“It is a bathing room for pets,” Xiao Yan replied.
“Okay, do you want to keep it?”
“Yes, please,” Zhang Zian said.
Touching his chin, Guo Dongyue wandered around in deep thought.
