Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 302 - Chapter 302 Chapter 295 Boss Cai

Chapter 302: Chapter 295 Boss Cai Chapter 302: Chapter 295 Boss Cai After washing his “hair” and taking a bath, Zheng Tan came out from the side of the pool, stayed under the shade of a tree for a while, and only returned to the private room when his fur was mostly dry. This rendered the towel Mr. Jiao had found for him entirely superfluous.

Yuan Zhiyi raised his hand to close the window. With the air conditioning on inside, the hot wind blowing in from outside could be felt even if the window wasn’t completely shut. The window had been left ajar since Zheng Tan had jumped out when they were about to close it, and it was only now that it was truly closed.

“Your cat is really brave. It’s lucky that Mars and Tofu have been trained and are used to mingling with small animals. They hardly bite people and are quite gentle with cats and dogs,” Chairman Shu told Mr. Jiao.

Mr. Jiao did not express agreement or disagreement, merely smiling in response.

In his heart, Zheng Tan snorted disdainfully at Chairman Shu’s words. He had dared to approach Mars and Tofu only because he had discerned that they were amiable and hadn’t shown any hostility towards him. If that hadn’t been the case, he would have been foolish to provoke such large, potentially ferocious creatures that hadn’t been trained; was he looking for trouble?

Yuan Zhiyi, who had finally steered the conversation back to the turmoil in the financial market and wanted to hear more of Chairman Shu’s thoughts, found the topic derailed once again with Zheng Tan’s return. She coughed discreetly and gave Mr. Jiao a wink to quickly steer the conversation back, hoping to learn as much as possible from this rare opportunity.

After a while of discussing the shifts in the financial market, the conversation turned to an incident that had happened at the Ancient Zither House and the person who had committed violence there.

“He’s lost everything now and tends to act more extremely as a result,” Yuan Zhiyi remarked.

“Lost everything?” Chairman Shu said with a scoff, his tone tinged with sarcasm, “He’s not exactly bereft of everything; at the very least, he still has his illness, and it’s a serious one.”

It was evident that Chairman Shu didn’t think much of that person’s behavior, showing considerable disdain.

“I suppose people in that situation can hardly remain calm. The higher you stand, the harder you fall and the more it hurts,” said Yuan Zhiyi.

Zheng Tan glanced at Chairman Shu, feeling that the man seemed more interested in cats than in people. He probably had his fair share of unpleasant experiences. Recently, Zheng Tan had overheard someone saying, “The more people you know, the more you appreciate pets.” Heartfelt kindness repaid with a stab in the back was not uncommon, which probably led some people to become more extremist in their thinking.

However, Zheng Tan felt that Chairman Shu was not as simple as he appeared. Just like Fang Shaokang, who might not look particularly reliable, but who indeed had the capability to lead a major corporation to great success. If he were so easy to read, he wouldn’t have weathered over two decades of invisible battlegrounds.

The conversation veered towards Chuhua City, and Chairman Shu sighed, “Chuhua City is a great place. I have a friend who’s even thinking about opening a shop there.”

Mr. Jiao and Yuan Zhiyi felt a spark of interest–here it comes!

Yuan Zhiyi’s company didn’t have much business interaction with Chairman Shu’s, and they had previously speculated that Chairman Shu’s invitation to tea and chat wasn’t solely because of the cat issue. There had to be another reason.

The friend Chairman Shu mentioned was the owner of this restaurant. Although the place seemed upscale, the owner was genuinely grassroots with limited formal education, having not even completed junior high school. He traveled north and south alone, learning culinary skills from various regions and concocting many dishes. When South City began to develop rapidly, he came to the city to open a restaurant, and with fortuitous connections like Chairman Shu, he managed to establish this high-end establishment. The first restaurant the owner opened never shut down, and over the years, it gained popularity among South City’s residents. Having focused on perfecting his dishes for years without much interest in managing the business, he now had more free time and financial security, so he was considering opening branches in other parts of the country.

The recent incident involving his dog and Zheng Tan scaring each other off gave Chairman Shu the chance to talk with Professor Jiao and Yuan Zhiyi, who were from Chuhua City. This was an opportunity for him to get some insights, as most of his business was abroad, and he only knew a little about domestic operations in Beijing, Mingzhu City, and South City, with other regions remaining unfamiliar.

As Mr. Jiao and Yuan Zhiyi chatted with Chairman Shu about the current development in Chuhua City, they discovered that he was not ignorant about it–able to express his views on several well-known enterprises and local figures of Chuhua City.

Just then, the door to the private room opened, and in walked a man in his forties, nearing fifty, dressed without much care in a sleeveless top and shorts, with a lingering scent of food on him. Judging by the casual manner in which the man greeted Chairman Shu and the affection with which Mars and Tofu greeted him, Zheng Tan surmised this man must be the owner of the restaurant that Chairman Shu had mentioned.

The man came in leading Mars and Tofu, whose fur had already dried, indicating that they must have been taken away from the pool soon after Zheng Tan had returned to the room.

The Great Danes, with their short coats, belong to the category of dogs that don’t mind the cold but dislike the heat. Despite this, during the scorching summertime, they too could feel overpoweringly hot and might suffer from issues like heatstroke. Therefore, Tofu often stayed in air-conditioned rooms during the summer, only venturing to the poolside to play when its owner had a moment to spare.

Upon entering the room, the two dogs, who had been panting heavily, quieted down considerably, enjoying the cool comfort of the air-conditioned interior.

Tofu even shuffled over to the chair where Zheng Tan was squatting and sniffed around, noticing that Zheng Tan ignored it, it then went back and sat down next to the person who had just come in. As for Mars, he had already run over and laid down next to Chairman Shu.

Zheng Tan wasn’t interested in the conversation between Mr. Jiao and Chairman Shu at all. He stared at Tofu’s ears for a moment, glanced at the droopy ears of Mars, and then looked at the four people who had started to introduce themselves and chat. Zheng Tan hopped off the chair and walked over to where Tofu was. After all, no one was paying attention to him, and he was bored sitting there by himself.

Feeling a bit tired from playing with water, Tofu lay on the floor and, in the cool indoor temperature, licked its nose and then closed its eyes to doze off. When Zheng Tan jumped off the chair, Tofu’s ears twitched, but it didn’t open its eyes until Zheng Tan walked up to it. The big fellow then slowly opened a slit of its eye, saw Zheng Tan, but didn’t lift its head, just raised its eyelids to look at Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan stared into Tofu’s eyes for a bit and felt that the creature was in a rather good mood, showing no signs of estrangement or warning. So he leaned in closer, looking at Tofu’s upright ears, curious about how ear cropping was done.

As Zheng Tan approached, Tofu raised its head, opened its mouth, and stuck out its tongue, panting as it looked at Zheng Tan. It seemed very puzzled about what the cat was going to do. When Zheng Tan reached out and touched Tofu’s ears, Tofu shook its head and also raised a paw to rub the area around its ears, probably because Zheng Tan’s action had tickled it. However, Tofu didn’t get angry or let out a warning growl.

What a nice dog. Zheng Tan thought to himself.

The four at the table were discussing a new dish recently conceived by the restaurant’s owner whose surname was Cai. Before this man appeared, Zheng Tan had wondered if the owner would be the typical thick-necked, big-headed type, but it turned out not to be the case. Nearing fifty yet still quite healthy, he had neither a fatty neck nor a big belly and was very easy-going. He didn’t talk much about other topics, but when it came to food, he seemed to light up.

Chairman Shu made a few jokes about Boss Cai’s past before he made his fortune, mentioning how the then impoverished Boss Cai, coming from a farming background and often going hungry, met many who looked down on him when he left the countryside to learn a trade in the city. There was even a landlord who had said that Boss Cai, who was renting a low-cost room at the time, was nothing but a country fly born in an outhouse and fated to die on a dining table–in plain language, meaning he came from a poor background with little education, knowing only how to eat, as good as eating himself to death.

It is said that fortunes can change in thirty years, and one should not despise the young and poor. Many have uttered this impressively arrogant phrase, yet very few can actually achieve it. Therefore, whenever this topic came up, Chairman Shu and some of Boss Cai’s friends would tease him, saying, “When you drive up in a car worth millions and carry millions in cash to crush him with.”

Preventing Chairman Shu from bringing up past stories, Boss Cai spoke about the new dishes he had been working on these past few months.

As Yuan Zhiyi listened to him describe those dishes, he couldn’t stop swallowing his saliva–he too was a foodie. He had heard that “Shiwei” was owned by Boss Cai and immediately his good opinion of Boss Cai skyrocketed. Yuan Zhiyi’s deceased father, Mr. Yuan, had been fond of Shiwei’s cuisine, saying that the food there was not frivolous. Yuan Zhiyi couldn’t understand what a dish had to be frivolous or not, knowing only about eating; as long as it tasted good, that was enough. As for tasting and appreciating food, that was for the experts.

Setting aside the flavor, even just the connection with Mr. Yuan was enough for Yuan Zhiyi to consider offering more advice to this Boss Cai.

Don’t think that opening a restaurant is an easy affair, just like when Jiao Wei and his family opened a small eatery near Chuhua University and faced so many problems. Not to mention Shiwei, which Yuan Zhiyi believed would definitely be successful and was quite sizable.

As the saying goes, even a mighty dragon cannot crush a local snake, and there were indeed quite a few local snakes in Chuhua City. Wanting to expand the restaurant required considering various factors. This was partly why Chairman Shu had invited them after learning about the backgrounds of Mr. Jiao and Yuan Zhiyi. One was a professor who had been teaching at Chuhua University for a long time, and the other was a company owner in Chuhua City. Even if they couldn’t get much useful information out of their mouths, it was good to listen more, since the data he had people collect and research wasn’t comprehensive.

Yuan Zhiyi didn’t think Boss Cai would encounter much difficulty in Chuhua City. Some places just needed a little greasing. Whether or not he could make the branch successful still depended on retaining customers. As long as the quality of the food didn’t decline, that would be fine.

“Don’t worry, there won’t be any problems. I believe in the capabilities of ‘Shiwei.’ Once ‘Shiwei’ opens, I’ll be able to enjoy its dishes often, and I’ll drive there no matter how far it is,” Yuan Zhiyi said with a smile.

“It’s not far. Isn’t Professor Jiao at Chuhua University? The place I shortlisted is nearby,” Boss Cai said, “It’s at, uh… what’s it called… Hengwu Square, that’s the place. I looked around for a long time and thought the newly built Hengwu Square was quite nice, so I decided on it.”

Seeing the expressions of Professor Jiao and Yuan Zhiyi suddenly become complicated, Chairman Shu asked, “What’s wrong, is there a problem?”

Hengwu Square? Isn’t that Ye Hao’s territory? Mr. Jiao and Yuan Zhiyi looked at Zheng Tan simultaneously.

Chairman Shu and Boss Cai followed their gaze and saw the black cat with one paw pressing on Tofu’s head, the other paw flipping Tofu’s ear and inspecting something.

There’s a saying, isn’t there? Good people are bullied by bad, good dogs are bullied by cats.

Mr. Jiao, once again, helplessly covered his face. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (NovelFire.net) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.NovelFire.net to read.)