Strange Life of a Cat
Chapter 395 - Chapter 395 Chapter 382 Picking the Leftovers_2

Chapter 395: Chapter 382: Picking the Leftovers_2 Chapter 395: Chapter 382: Picking the Leftovers_2 The people around couldn’t help but exclaim upon hearing this.

As everyone praised him, Boss Liu felt even prouder. He coughed, restrained the smile on his face, and with the air of a professional expert, he said, “However, when it comes to dogs for hunting, the choice of dog really depends on the terrain and location. Are you hunting in the plains or the hills? Small hills or Dashan? Different terrains require different hunting dogs. For example, if you take a Xi Quan to hunt in Dashan, it won’t be able to handle a wild boar; you’d need a big dog like the Casro. But if you use a dog fit for Dashan to catch foxes or hares in the plains, it might not be fast enough… But then again, honestly, as long as the dog suits you, that’s what matters.”

Then a bunch of people nearby agreed, saying, “Yes, yes, yes.”

“Boss Liu, what’s a Xi Quan?” someone selling vegetables at a nearby stall asked.

Boss Liu, sitting on a chair provided by the stall owner, with one leg crossed, leisurely answered, “Xi Quan, as the name implies, has a slender, streamlined shape, and runs incredibly fast, just like an arrow being shot. The Xi Quan is, in fact, our country’s traditional hunting dog. Do you know the barks-at-heaven dog from the mythology of the Erlang God? Its original form was a Xi Quan.”

Surrounded by amazed “wow” sounds, Boss Liu was quite pleased with his vanity being stroked.

Feeling it was enough, Boss Liu said no more. He stood up, patted the inconspicuous dust off his legs, and said, “But nowadays, good dogs are hard to find. Too much mixing breeds, always not perfect. If you want good dogs, it’s tough.”

After finishing, Boss Liu walked to the stall where someone was selling puppies. The mother dog that was originally squatting beside had already been taken away by her owner. Selling puppies with the mother dog around could lead to trouble. Although the mother dog had come carrying the basket, she might not know the puppies in the basket were to be sold, so it was best to take her away just to be safe.

“How much for this dog?” Boss Liu asked the stall owner, “Just because of what I just said, don’t go charging tens of thousands for it, because I won’t accept that.”

This dog wouldn’t suddenly be priced in the thousands or even tens of thousands just because Boss Liu said so. Sell a dog for tens of thousands? Some people around the market scoffed inwardly, thinking anyone who buys it is a fool. Even for a hundred dollars, no one would buy.

Stories are just stories. As experienced vendors, these people around weren’t going to be swindled by a few words and tales from Boss Liu. How could they manage at the market without that bit of smarts?

Upon hearing Boss Liu’s words, the stall owner chuckled modestly, “How could that be? We were planning to sell it for a hundred and eighty yuan.” In reality, they had initially planned to sell it for just thirty or forty yuan, but they hadn’t expected Boss Liu to give them this opportunity to raise the price.

“Hey, give you a pole and you’ll climb right up it, huh? The price you’re asking is what big dogs go for at the other stalls. But I do fancy your dog’s looks. Eighty yuan, and I’ll take this one,” Boss Liu pointed at the puppy in the basket that almost looked like the mother dog, Hua, and said. Actually, if he pushed the price too low, Boss Liu himself would not be comfortable with it, especially since he had just praised the mother dog and the puppy’s price ought to be somewhat higher than the others. It was for this reason that he didn’t bargain much after hearing the stall owner’s initial price.

“Ah, alright, this dog is definitely much better than the mother dog in my home.” The vendor took the little Hua dog clinging to the edge of the bamboo basket and handed it to Boss Liu.

After paying, Boss Liu looked at the puppy. Since it was about to be sold, the vendor had cleaned it up a bit, and it looked fairly clean. Boss Liu carried it and left.

After Boss Liu left, Boss Wang, who had mentioned wanting a dog to guard his warehouse, pointed to the dog in the basket with mostly black fur and white limbs, “I like this kind of ‘snow-trodden hooves’; this one, wrap it up.”

The people around chuckled, as if he were buying a boxed lunch; he even said “wrap it up.”

The vendor finally found a sack to pack the dog and with a smile, handed it over.

After those two had left, the crowd also dispersed. The vendor looked at the remaining dog in the basket, sighed, and indeed, this one was the hardest to sell. However, the price of the other two had already exceeded expectations, which was a consolation. If the remaining one couldn’t be sold, he might as well slash the price or even sell it to those who would use it as a meat dog, as he couldn’t afford to feed it anymore.

Old Man Lan was also sighing; from the start, he had actually set his eyes on the “snow-trodden hooves” dog. Although it wasn’t purely “snow-trodden hooves,” it looked better than the last remaining dog. Even if he couldn’t buy this one, Old Man Lan had also thought about buying the Hua dog, not expecting that Xiao Hua would be the first to be sold, followed by the “snow-trodden hooves.” With just three dogs, the two that Old Man Lan liked were both snatched up before he could get them, as for the remaining one…

Old Man Lan furrowed his brows, feeling quite unimpressed.

It wasn’t just Old Man Lan who was unimpressed; the people around felt the same.

Actually, if only the fur color changed, there would still be some willing to buy, but the problem was that many despised this current fur color. Moreover, the remaining dog in the basket looked less spirited than the first two, quietly squatting in the basket without much movement even when the other two dogs were causing a ruckus.

With unappealing fur color and lacking liveliness, who would want to buy? Even though it was just a few tens of yuan, the people at the market would rather not waste it, preferring to spend more on some packs of cigarettes instead.

“I know dogs with this kind of fur color, they grow up looking like they’ve got a skin disease, terribly unsightly,” a pork vendor nearby said.

“I think it’s pretty poor-looking too,” another vendor added.

“Indeed not very attractive, all scruffy,” someone in the crowd concurred.

Listening to this, Old Man Lan lost his interest in buying. Firstly, he didn’t like the fur color–perhaps due to his fondness for plants, he preferred more uniform and purer colors, even if not completely solid; a little mix of other colors would do, but he really disliked this scruffy type, as the vendor had said, it looked diseased when the dog grew up. Secondly, this was the one left after others had chosen, and with the remarks from the people around, it just felt like a substandard product.

As Old Man Lan was planning to push his cart away, he didn’t expect to turn his head and see his cat jumping down from the cart, walking over to the bamboo basket.

Although others looked down on it, Zheng Tan felt, this dog actually seemed quite fine. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to visit Qidian (NovelFire.net) to vote for it, submit monthly votes, or just support us. Mobile users, please visit m.NovelFire.net to continue reading.)