After Zhang Zian returned to Binhai City and took over the pet shop, he had set two small goals. The first was to gain a foothold in the pet industry, and the second was to save some money to renovate the shop. Fortunately, both of these small goals were achieved.
Now he wanted to set a third small goal, which was to introduce more pets, especially rare pets that were rarely seen by ordinary people, and let more people know about the pet shop.
The Amazing Fate Pet Shop was no longer an unknown shop. Its reputation gradually spread, even across the sea to the United States and Japan. More and more people knew that there was such a unique pet shop in Binhai City.
He could have chosen to be content with the status quo. As long as he continued to operate the shop, at least he would not have to worry about food and clothing.
However, many customers came because the shop did not have the pets they wanted, which made him feel like he had missed out on millions of dollars!
Therefore, he decided to expand the shop.
Of course, expanding the shop was risky, but even if he lost money, he could go back to the company and become a nine-to-five office worker.
He could buy a shop or rent a house. Each had its pros and cons. The only principle was to be as close to the pet shop as possible. He did not want to take advantage of the low prices and rents before and after the Spring Festival.
The aunties of the neighborhood committee walked the streets all day collecting protection fees … No, management fees, so they should be more informed. They usually gathered in the neighborhood committee and liked to gossip, so they would be the first to know anything that happened on the street. So Zhang Zian asked Grandma Gu about the situation.
Grandma Gu did not believe it at first. She had lived on this street all her life. She had seen Zhang Zian's parents run the pet shop from dawn to dusk. Other than paying off the mortgage, they did not make much money. Zhang Zian had taken over the pet shop for less than half a year, and he wanted to expand the shop? He wanted to run before learning to walk?
"Forget it, Zhang Zian. You went to college and did not come back for several years. Now that you are back, it is like a fallen leaf returning to its roots. Listen to me, don't think too much. Manage your small land and save some money to buy a car. In two years, I will introduce you to a partner that you will be satisfied with. You will get married and live a good life. Then you will have a handsome daughter or a fat boy. If you can be awarded as the May Day Model Worker in Dongcheng District, your life will not be in vain …" Grandma Gu advised him earnestly.
Grandma Gu chattered on and on. Zhang Zian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He didn't know what to say.
From the perspective of an older generation like her, what she said was right. Moreover, many young people also had the same goal. After all, they had a wife and children.
But Zhang Zian didn't think so. He didn't expand the scale just to make money. He had seen a lot of strange and rare pets from books such as Rare Pet Illustrations. He often felt that just looking at them was not enough. If he could bring these pets into his shop, even if they were not for sale but just for display, it would still bring great satisfaction.
"There are three ways to be unfilial, and having no descendants is the worst. Grandma has been watching you grow up day by day. After the New Year, you're one year older, but you don't even have a partner. Grandma is worried about you … "
As the big boss of the neighborhood committee, Grandma Gu was very good at talking and had a loud voice. Zhang Zian quickly stopped her from continuing. He smiled and said, "Grandma Gu, I still have something to do. Can you tell me if there are any shops for rent or transfer nearby?"
"Hey, you child, why are you so disobedient? Grandma is doing this for your own good …" Grandma Gu shook her head regretfully, sighed and said, "As for transfer … Hey, it seems that the shop next to yours is about to be transferred. Why don't you go over and ask? But grandma still advises you to think twice before you act … "
Zhang Zian was stunned. The shop next to theirs? Speaking of which, he knew the owner of the shop, but he had never heard that the shop was about to be transferred.
"Grandma Gu, are you sure? I live next door. Why haven't I heard that Brother Tao is about to transfer? "he asked suspiciously.
"Hey! You still don't believe grandma? Why would grandma lie to you? " Grandma Gu complained unhappily. "A few days ago, I went to your shop to collect this quarter's sanitation fee and management fee. I also went to Tao's shop, but he refused to pay and said that he was going to transfer the shop. He said that I should collect the fees from whoever bought the shop … Don't you think that's annoying? Zian, you judge for grandma. The whole street has paid, but he refused to pay. Isn't he a holdout? How am I going to help other people in the future … "
"I know. Thank you, Grandma Gu!"
He didn't wait for her to finish and quickly left.
People at Grandma Gu's age always liked to reprimand the younger generation as a life mentor, showing that "I've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice" and "If you don't listen to the advice of the elderly, you'll suffer losses right before your eyes". In fact, they were already behind the times. The neighborhood committee could only collect health fees in cash, for example.
She did want Zhang Zian's good, but the thinking of the older generation could only be conservative and not progressive. In this era of rapid change, many things were like rowing a boat against the current. If you didn't move forward, you would fall behind. If it were up to her, she would definitely not be like Zhang Zian, who would rather spend a lot of effort to introduce an automatic dog washing machine. This opportunity would be gone if she missed it.
They were not related, and Zhang Zian was too lazy to listen to her nagging, let alone explain anything to her. He trotted all the way out of the neighborhood committee.
The south side of the Amazing Fate Pet Shop was next to a shoe shop. The history of the shoe shop was longer than that of the Amazing Fate Pet Shop. It seemed to have been opened since the 1980s and had been in business until now. In another ten years, it would be a 50-year-old shop, or a 100-year-old shop. Zhang Zian never expected that this shoe shop would be transferred.
Lu Yi Yun saw Zhang Zian coming back, but he didn't enter the shop. Instead, he turned to the side and blinked in confusion, because Zhang Zian rarely visited his neighbors.
Zhang Zian walked to the door of the shoe shop. He was too familiar with this shoe shop. When he was a child, his family basically bought new shoes from this shop during Chinese New Year holidays, so they usually got along well. The quality of the shoes was average. His parents bought shoes from this shop mainly to take care of the neighbor's business, and also to replace the shoes easily if there was a quality problem.
The dark red gold-lettered sign said "Zhonghua Road Shoe Shop." The old front had not changed for at least a decade. The layout of the shop was almost exactly the same as the Amazing Fate Pet Shop, but the area was larger. The first floor was the shop, and the second floor was a residential and warehouse.
The floor-to-ceiling glass door looked very dirty because it hadn't been cleaned for a long time. It was like a natural and pollution-free camouflage. From the outside, it was almost impossible to see what was going on in the shop. However, because it was not locked, the owner should be inside.
Zhang Zian carefully looked up and down, left and right, but still did not see the "for transfer" sign. He had to push the door and go in to see what was going on.
"Welcome, feel free to take a look."
There were no customers in the shop, only a man, who was the owner, was squatting on the ground with his back to the door, fiddling with a shoe box.
This man was called Xie Tao, and he was a few years older than Zhang Zian. They had known each other since childhood, so Zhang Zian had to call him Brother Tao.
There were many types of shoes on the shelves in the shop, from slippers that cost a few yuan to domestic brand shoes that cost hundreds of yuan. However, the styles were a little old, and most of them seemed to be popular last year or even the year before.
"Brother Tao, it's me."
Xie Tao turned around, "Hey, isn't this Zian? Come in. What's up? "
Zhang Zian smiled, not knowing what to say. If it was a stranger, it would be fine, but if it was an acquaintance, he couldn't just directly ask if the shop was for sale.
"Brother Tao, it seems that you haven't been open recently." He found an excuse to greet him.
Since he returned to Binhai City and took over the pet shop, whether it was cloudy or rainy, whether there was business or not, the shop would be open as usual. On the contrary, the shoe shop next to him was almost always closed, and the days when it was closed were much more than the days when it was open.
"Business is not good, and I can't make money. Now people are buying online." Xie Tao patted the dust on his hands, stood up, kicked the shoe box aside, and smiled helplessly, "And my mind is not here. By the way, I got married a while ago. "
"Brother Tao, why didn't you tell me such a big thing? You are treating me like an outsider! I still want to drink your wedding wine, "Zhang Zian said regretfully.
Xie Tao scratched his head and stammered, "The wedding banquet was held a few days after you came back. I wanted to invite you, but … after some discussion, we decided not to disturb you."
Zhang Zian was stunned for a moment, and then realized what he meant. The day Xie Tao held the wedding was during the period when Zhang Zian was preparing for his parents' funeral, so he was not invited. Xie Tao knew that he would not be in the mood, and even if he was invited, he would not come, so he did not inform him, and let him be alone.
He nodded to show that he understood, "I have to at least make up a gift. Where is sister-in-law from? "
"Don't be so polite." Xie Tao shook his head, "Your sister-in-law is a foreigner, and we got married because we had a baby. Isn't this very popular now? After the wedding, we went on a honeymoon, then had a baby, went back to my parents' home for confinement, and so on. It was very troublesome. I was too tired from running around, and I didn't make much money, so I took a break for a while. After the break, I found that the shop's business was even worse, and many old customers had disappeared. "
Zhang Zian had the same feeling. In the past, the pet shop had been tepid under the management of his parents, but it was still able to maintain a normal business. However, after the accident, the pet shop was closed, and when it reopened, the old customers were all gone … Although the pet shop did not have many old customers, the impact of the closure was real.
At the same time, he also knew why the shoe shop was always closed. It turned out that Xie Tao married a wife from another place, and had a honeymoon, a baby, and confinement. It seemed that the rumor that Grandma Gu said that the shoe shop was going to be transferred was not groundless.
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