Chapter 599: Another Bowl, Please
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Cats had different preferences. Some cats liked the red dot from the laser pointer, some liked the cat scratch board, some liked playing the Whack-A-Mole game, and some liked the cat teaser wand. Even the catnip failed to win the favor from all of the cats.
After picking up each toy and playing with the cats, Zhang Zian found out that each cat liked a different toy. He could better distinguish the cats now so that they wouldn’t surround one customer at the same time. He explained to Fina in a far-fetched manner that the toys were for improving the cats’ reaction speed and agility. Fina believed him. It was a bit difficult for him to explain the use of catnip, so he simply said the catnip was to relax the cat after training.
“Then what do you need me for?” asked Fina in confusion.
“What you need to do is very simple. Let the cats play with the toys only. Don’t let them approach the customers, or let the customers hold them. If any of the customers try to hold them, tell the cats to swiftly dodge them,” Zhang Zian explained.
He knew that out of health concerns, many cat cafes required their customers to wash their hands and put on shoe covers after entering the cafes. If customers touched the cats with their dirty hands, the cats would get dirty too and become vulnerable to bacterial infection. In order to allow Uncle Li and his wife enjoy the Spring Festival, Zhang Zian didn’t tell them about these details just yet. Uncle Li’s restaurant just needed to attract more customers at this stage. If there were too many rules in the store, the customers could get upset. That’s why it would be better for now if the cats didn’t approach the customers.
In addition, whether it was at other cat cafes or at Uncle Li’s, the biggest enemy they faced were disobedient kids, who often liked to pull the cats’ tails and grab their necks. It would be an issue if the cats got angry and bit any of the misbehaving kids.
Zhang Zian asked Fina to set rules for the cats, asking them to stay away from the customers, especially the bad children. If the customers didn’t know that cats were deliberately hiding from them, they’d just think that the cats were scared of humans they weren’t familiar with. In that case, the customers would visit Uncle Li’s snack bar often, trying to gain the cats’ affections. As the saying goes, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
Other rules set for the cats were that, if customers fed any food to them, the cats would only eat the small dried fish. They must also not run outside the store or into the kitchen. If the cats obediently stayed inside the dining area, naturally there would be humans there striving to serve them.
The customers could only look at the cats, not touch them. That was why Zhang Zian renamed the restaurant as “Li’s Supreme Snack Bar for Cat Fanciers” rather than “Cat-Stroking Snack Bar.” If he used the words cat-stroking, he would’ve been deceiving the customers.
If any customers really wanted to pet the cats they could adopt them. Theoretically, these cats still belonged to the Spirit Curing Pet Clinic, and Sun Xiaomeng had the responsibility to examine the potential adopter’s qualifications. Therefore, there was no need for Zhang Zian, Uncle Li, or Aunt Li to worry about this issue.
Fina quickly completed instructing the seven cats. Aunt Li served food to the customers, along with some small dried fish and cat toys that were provided to the customers for free.
“Where are the cats? We want to see the cats!”
“That’s right, we’re here for the cats! Where are they?”
The girls weren’t in a hurry to eat. Instead, they urgently required to see the cats that they fancied.
Zhang Zian pouted towards the dining area. Fina understood what he meant and lifted its paw. The seven cats lined up and entered the dining area.
“Wow! Cats! So many cats! They’re in line!”
“It’s the first time I’ve seen cats in a queue!”
The girls yelled in surprise. Having no intention to eat their meals, they picked up the dried fish, cat teaser wands, and laser pointers to attract the cats over.
Having received instructions from Fina, the cats kept the maximum safety distance from the customers and only interacted with the customers beyond their reach. Once some customers put the dried fish or cat toys back to their sides, instead of chasing the fish or the toys, the cats would run to play with another customer.
Since the cats with innocent and shiny eyes didn’t come up to them, some soft-hearted girls threw the small dried fish in their hands to the cats, causing two or three cats to fight against each other.
“Don’t fight! Don’t fight! There’s more!” The girls threw more dried fish to the cats again. When the cats finished eating the fish in no time, they gazed at the girls with their innocent eyes, and the girls threw more fish to them once again.
After repeating this several times, all the small dried fish in the plastic bowls had been used up.
“Sir! Another bowl of small dried fish, please!”
“Two bowls!”
Uncle Li didn’t know what to say.
Aunt Li said with distress, “Look at these girls. They’re so slim! They should eat first before the food gets cold! They can play with the cats after eating their food!”
Zhang Zian interjected quickly. “I’m sorry, our dried fish is not for sale. Please come back next time.”
“Why not? Can I order another combo then? A free bowl of dried fish comes with one order, right?” yelled one girl reluctantly.
Faced with this bargaining customer, Zhang Zian looked into Uncle Li’s eyes for advice.
Uncle Li gently shook his head, because the girl hadn’t taken a bite of the Supreme Combo for Two that she’d ordered with the others. Besides, one combo from his restaurant contained a large amount of food, and might not have been finished by a normal-sized girl. If she ordered another combo, it would be a waste of food. There were still countless people in the world who were starving, and he couldn’t watch the customers waste food in order for him to make money.
Zhang Zian admired Uncle Li so much. Other restaurant owners wouldn’t care about their customers wasting food, only about making money. Although Uncle Li and Aunt Li weren’t rich, they’d never chased after profits by betraying their moral principles, and they’d always purchased fresh goods from the food market and used famous brands of seasonings.
“What? Can’t I place another order?” The girl frowned.
“How about this?” Zhang Zian asked Uncle Li. “How much do you charge for an extra bowl of rice?”
“One Yuan a bowl,” Uncle Li replied truthfully. “It’s a big bowl of rice. The small bowl costs 0.5 Yuan.”
“How about charging 10 Yuan for adding a bowl of dried fish?” Zhang Zian put forward a compromise. “The girls won’t waste food, and you can earn money.”
“What?” Uncle Li couldn’t believe his ears. The small dried fish was practically free at the fish market by the ocean. Uncle Li was very familiar with the fishmonger, and every time Uncle Li bought fish from him he would give a large amount of small dried fish to Uncle Li for free. Now, was he actually going to sell a small bowl of dried fish for 10 Yuan, which was 10 times more expensive than rice was for humans? Uncle Li felt too embarrassed to ask the customer to pay that price.
Noticing Uncle Li’s embarrassment, Zhang Zian said to the girls, “10 Yuan for a bowl of small dried fish. Unlike other cat cafes where the cats live only on the dried fish that customers feed them, our cats have had lunch already, and they’ll be full after eating a few fish. The opportunities to feed them are limited. They won’t eat the food other customers feed them if they’re full after eating your fish.”
“I want another bowl of dried fish!”
“Me too!”
Before he even finished his explanation, the girls had scrambled to raise their hands and ask for extra small dried fish.
