I Can Talk to Cats C14

Chapter 14: Planning to Open a Shop (Part One)

Translated by Lime

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Recap: Lin Lan met the Cat Boss!

In this chapter: As you can see from the chapter title, Lin Lan is starting to think about her shop!

‘Sister’ and ‘Brother’ are used informally to refer to a friend/close acquaintance, same with ‘Uncle’ or ‘Aunt’. The text directly translates to ‘cat teahouse’, but I’m using ‘cat cafe’ because I think it’s a more widely known term.

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“My family member suddenly fell sick and their treatment requires a large amount of money. I don’t have any left to continue to rent the store, I’m truly sorry.” Sister Yang stood in the doorway, her face full of remorse: “I recognize that I’m breaking the contract by stopping our rental agreement early. I’m causing so much trouble for you, if I had a choice, I wouldn’t want to close down our shop either…” 

“It’s okay.” Father and Mother Lin empathized with her, “Emergencies can’t be prevented or predicted. Don’t worry about us, Sister Yang. We can take care of the breach of contract whenever you have time to file it.”

“Oh! Thank you, Brother and Sister Lin!” Sister Yang gratefully repeated, “Thank you so much, I really am embarrassed to trouble both of you!”

Anxious to leave, Sister Yang focused on finishing the conversation. Immediately after the matter with the lease was settled, she turned left and walked towards the stairway, without noticing the living and breathing human that was standing next to her.

Lin Lan didn’t take offense, concerned about the conversation they were having: “Dad, Mom, Sister Yang wants to stop the rental of her store early?” 

The couple saw Lin Lan standing to the side, long before Sister Yang left. Without thinking twice, Lin Youyu replied, “Correct, two months ago, her husband was diagnosed with uremia when he went in for an examination. The medical fees for one year of treatment were calculated to be around 100,000 yuan, so Sister Yang ultimately decided to close the clothing shop. The remaining rental deposit would go towards the hospital bills.”

_{(T/N: 100,000 yuan ≈ $14,100 USD. ‘租金’ = rent, but rental deposit makes more sense.)}

“In all honesty, there’s one whole year until the lease expires. Your Dad and I thought about it and we ended up agreeing, as a way of doing a good deed.” With a sigh, Wang Xiuzhi faced Lin Youyu: “Oldie, pay more attention to what you eat. If you’re not old, don’t make me take care of you in the hospital!”

“What do you mean?” Lin Youyu felt aggrieved, “I don’t go out to drink with others often, and I mostly eat at home. Why would I fall ill with a costly illness?”

“Are you saying that the ingredients that I buy are not good enough for you?” Wang Xiuzhi latched onto an obscure meaning in her husband’s words, “For every meal there is meat, and I frequently make your favorite foods. Do you still want to eat outside? Look at your pot-belly, can you even go to a restaurant?”

Finally, Mother Lin shamelessly patted Father Lin’s beer belly. 

Lin Lan nodded along to show her approval: “Dad, I agree with Mom. In the future, you should eat less meat. Your belly is getting a little round.” Saying this, she also reached out her hand to rub his belly, “Wow! It’s quite firm! Dad, you really need to eat more vegetables.”

Father Lin: “…”  This supposedly warm jacket was leaky.

_{(T/N: ‘小棉袄’ = affectionate name for a daughter. The direct translation is a ‘little cotton jacket’ and keeps you feeling warm, like a daughter – warms your heart. Father Lin says this because Lin Lan is teasing him and not taking his side, hence ‘leaky’.}

They never mentioned that he was muscular in the past. The fat that he had lost before now came back when he started to rent out apartments. Wang Xiuzhi thought of something else.

“On the topic of Sister Yang stopping her lease, doesn’t the rental contract of the bubble tea shop expire soon?” 

“That’s right.” Father Lin was more proficient with money and business than his wife: “His lease expires in the middle of next month, so there are around thirty days left. At the latest, we need to ask him one week from now if he wants to continue.”

“The way I see it,” Wang Xiuzhi speculated, “The bubble tea shop, run by Xiao Zhang, doesn’t have many customers. He would be lucky if he can pay back the rent without going into debt this year. Even so, the cost of renovating the shop and buying all the equipment would have been expensive.”

_{(T/N: I’ll say this now before they start interacting with Xiao Zhang: Xiao Zhang is not related to them. ‘Brother’ is used to refer to someone that is around your age.)}

The cost of opening a bubble tea shop wasn’t considered to be too expensive or too cheap and was within the range that many young people looking to start a business could afford. Despite this, the majority of these shops would close down after losing money. Wang Xiuzhi was familiar with this bubble tea shop that had been open for a while, and she could guess the amount of money that flowed in.

Her parents sat and conversed about the matters of the shop, while neither of them noticed Lin Lan, lost in her thoughts, mulling over something.

Sister Yang had a straightforward mindset. A few days later, a banner was hung over the clothing store and a loudspeaker continuously repeated—

【Good news! Good news! The rental agreement is ending, all inventory must go, big discounts! All clothes are 50% off! If you buy two or more items, there is an additional 30% off! The more you buy, the better deal you will get! Good quality and cheap clothing! The quality is guaranteed, we are not cheating you!】

If she claimed that they were randomly clearing out inventory or marking down goods, no one would buy anything.

But, if they mentioned that her lease was up, her credibility increased. Attracted by the noise, a woman, her mother, and her grandmother came down to browse through the selection.

“Wait until the last seven days, the clothes will be marked down another 50%.”

Later, Lin Lan stood neither close nor too far from the noisy clothing store, talking with Lin Youyu.

“If she didn’t initiate a large sale, all her inventory would have gone to waste. It is convenient now to regain at least some of the original value.” Lin Youyu softly whispered, “Let’s go to find Xiao Zhang.”

Xiao Zhang’s bubble tea shop was next to the clothing store. Although it was called a bubble tea shop, it sold freshly baked goods and food, like hot dogs. Inside were seats for the customers to relax while eating, it was a pity that there were no customers. The busy atmosphere of the clothing store emphasized the lonely and isolated atmosphere of the bubble tea shop.

Xiao Zhang had known that the shop next door was closing for a while now and her circumstances were very different from his. 

Just as Mother Lin predicted, the bubble tea shop was closing when their lease expired. Compared with the clothing shop next door, the stuff that needed to be handled was much more troublesome.

At most, Sister Yang would only have several clothes hangers left to easily throw away. Xiao Zhang’s situation was completely different. Disregarding the perishable food, he had the refrigerator, the water purifier, an ice maker, an ice cream machine, a fructose dispenser, various equipment to make snacks, an oven… Wait a minute, all these things were random equipment that cost him around 20,000 yuan.

This experience made Xiao Zhang thoroughly give up on the bubble tea business, and the equipment gave him a headache; it was such a pity.

“Xiao Zhang, good afternoon.” The sudden appearance of the landlord uncle brought the distressed shop owner back from his thoughts.

“Uncle- Uncle Lin, welcome, Lin Lan, welcome! Please take a seat!” Seeing the landlord and his daughter come into his shop, the owner quickly dismissed his thoughts and greeted them.

Lin Lan followed her father inside the shop and gazed at the interior. More than half of the younger people living in the building had tried this shop’s bubble tea before, including Lin Lan. The prevalent evaluation was one word: ordinary.

The drink wasn’t disgusting, but it wasn’t incredibly good. Its level was the kind of drink where you forgot you were drinking it. The interior of the shop was ordinary, the sanitation was so-so. Within all the bubble tea shops in the city, Xiao Zhang’s shop was middling and somewhat declining. 

“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” Lin Youyu watched a flustered Xiao Zhang offer them tea and cake, and said, “You probably know why we are here. In one month, the rental agreement expires, do you intend to keep renting from us?” 

When he heard the question, Xiao Zhang forced a smile and told the truth, “Uncle Lin, it’s clear how my business is. If I continue this shop, I will continue to accumulate more and more debt, so let’s end it next month.”

Lin Youyu long knew that this would be the outcome and nodded, not arguing: “Let’s do it that way. You should try to be like Sister Yang next door, and set up promotions. At least, you could get some money back.”

“I had this in mind as well.” Xiao Zhang bitterly said, “I was considering putting out a poster and advertising a discount.”

“Brother Zhang, I’ll straightforwardly ask you this,” The previously silent Lin Lan opened her mouth and gestured to the counter and machines, “If you don’t want to continue this shop then what are you planning to do with the equipment?”

He sighed and replied, “There’s not much use left for them as I don’t intend to continue making bubble tea. I can only take them home and sell them on a secondhand website.” 

Once machinery was used, the price would drastically fall, including the entirety of Xiao Zhang’s equipment. At the time, the total was 17,000 yuan. Now, a year has passed since. The period of usage was fairly short, however, secondhand equipment rapidly depreciated.

It was commonly said that bubble tea equipment should not be bought secondhand so he would have to suffer another setback. Who knows how long it would take to sell, or how much it would eventually sell for… 

“Brother Zhang, when you close your shop, will you sell this equipment for four thousand yuan?”

What?

Both the men in the shop looked at her in disbelief. Compared to Father Lin’s shocked demeanor, Xiao Zhang recovered faster.

“Lin Lan, do you want them? Four thousand… is still too little.” The price wasn’t equal to one-fourth of the original value.

“Oh, I merely wanted to make bubble tea for myself at home.” Lin Lan seemingly withdrew her intention to buy and with embarrassment, said, “If that’s not enough, forget it.”

Xiao Zhang regretted his words a bit but didn’t speak up. Father Lin finally returned from his daze and scolded his daughter, “What will you do with this equipment? How many times will you drink bubble tea a year? At most, you’ll be interested for a short time and after two days, it will collect dust in our house. Stop wasting money!”

_{(T/N: ‘三分钟热乎劲’ = three minutes of enthusiasm/excitement. It is used to describe the small period of time that someone may be interested in something. I used ‘interested for a short time’ instead.)}

Whether or not these words impacted Lin Lan was unknown, the result was that Xiao Zhang was persuaded: “Don’t say that, Uncle Lin. The equipment that I have here are from well-known brands and the make is of high quality. Altogether, it cost me around 20,000 yuan. If Lin Lan buys them, she can not only make bubble tea, but also ice cream, smoothies, small cakes and bread rolls, waffles, cookies, crackers, and everything else. If you make them yourself at home, it is numerous times better than buying them from outside. This purchase is completely worth it!”

Lin Lan seemed to be persuaded by his words, nevertheless, her father was not so easily convinced. He was there to ask the tenant a question, not to bring his own daughter there to help him clean up the tenant’s mess and refused: “We don’t want it! We don’t have any use for those!”

As he said this, he grabbed his daughter’s hand to run from the shop.

“Lin Lan, don’t go, Lin Lan!” A golden opportunity flashed before his eyes, and Xiao Zhang demonstrated his fast thinking. Decisively ignoring the landlord, he continuously yelled to Lin Lan, “If you buy these, I will teach you how to use the equipment to make bubble tea, cakes, and cookies in the next month!”

Father Lin tried to drag her out of the store and somehow, found that he couldn’t move. He was too late; his foolish daughter already replied: “Agreed!”

If young people wanted to be headstrong, no matter how much their elders opposed them, it would be difficult to change their mind, just like now.

Stunned, he watched as his daughter signed a contract with Xiao Zhang in less than two minutes. She signed the papers and then used her phone to transfer the money from her banking account. Lin Youyu was both outraged and helpless.

Forget it, this amount of money wasn’t that much. He would let his daughter spend four thousand and have her fun, either way, it was her own money.

—Despite telling himself this, the elder was not happy.

“Dad, don’t be angry anymore, I have a plan.” When she saw her father’s long face, Lin Lan knew exactly what he was thinking. She hooked her arm through his and acted spoiled, “I have something to talk to you and Mom about.”

A few minutes later from the Lin family’s shop, two shouts could be heard, one male, one female.

“What? You want to open your own shop!?”

“It’s not just one shop.” Lin Lan looked at her parents and pointed with her fingers, “I want two, the clothing store and the bubble tea shop, so I can have access to double the space. I want to open a cat cafe.”

Wang Xiuzhi and Lin Youyu froze at the same time, not expecting their white-collar daughter to suddenly have plans to start a business.

“This, this…” Wang Xiuzhi momentarily forgot how to speak. She was not opposed to the idea of her daughter opening a shop, rather worried: “Lan Lan, you have never opened a store before. Isn’t using the space for two stores too large of a step?”

Thinking the same way, Lin Youyu glanced at his wife and said, “Wang Xiuzhi, I thought that you would immediately refuse.”

“How could I dare to oppose her?” Wang Xiuzhi rolled her eyes at her husband and continued, “Our family has one daughter, I can bear to part with two stores. I’m concerned with her incurring a loss!”

“Dad, Mom, I know what you’re worried about.” Lin Lan walked behind her parents and started to massage their backs, intending to flatter them. 

“After staying at home for so long, I have decided to open a shop. Luckily, the conditions are perfect here, and I don’t need to pay rent like other people. Can you please let me try it?”

The first floor had six shops, two of them combined would be comparable to the area of one apartment on the upper floors, letting the cafe appear illustrious and spacious. The four thousand yuan equipment that she bought earlier conveniently included a teacher to instruct her on how to make the baked goods and drinks. In exchange for learning the basics, this amount of money was not very much at all.

Listening to her daughter’s plans, Wang Xiuzhi fell silent for a moment, then spoke, “Lan Lan, you say that you want to open a cat cafe. Are you doing this for those cats at home?” Perhaps her daughter came up with this plan, sensing that she was fed up with all the cats inside their house. Without Grandmother Lin’s approval, she would have long kicked them out. 

“Yep, this was one of the reasons.” Lin Lan didn’t contradict her, “But the main reason was that I wanted to find something to do. Dad, Mom, you both know that my luck with cats is good lately, and I might bring more home in the future. There will be no problem raising them, so why not put them to work? They will act cute and capture the hearts of customers, all the while making money for me. This way, you won’t be unhappy, right?”

Simply raising a bunch of cats was a constant depletion of cash, while opening a cat cafe with these cats would create a source of income. The difference between these two scenarios was huge, and after thinking about it, Wang Xiuzhi’s opposition died down.

“Lan Lan, what if…” Lin Youyu started to unconsciously help his daughter think of more shortcomings: “Those cat cafes or whatever, I have heard of them. Those with a prosperous business are those that have valuable and well-known breeds of cats. Other than Sapphire, the rest of our cats are ordinary domestic shorthairs. Who would be attracted to come see them? Additionally, we only have a total of eight cats, that’s probably not enough?”

Don’t tell me that they had to go to the animal clinic to buy some more expensive cats to up the shop’s prestige? The cost of opening the cafe would immensely increase.

“Dad, don’t worry. I’ve already thought about it.” One week ago, when Sister Yang first came to talk to her parents about the lease, Lin Lan had started to think about the cat cafe. 

“I know a way to obtain valuable and famed cats. It doesn’t even cost any money.”

In all honesty, she imagined herself as a Boss, leading a group of stray cats.

Finding and bringing home Sapphire gave Lin Lan an epiphany. Most likely, numerous valuable cats that ran away from home, were now wandering on the streets as a stray cat. Using Cat Boss’ vast network to find kitties to join her harem… Pei, her cafe, would be very easy.

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Sorry for the delay, I was busy updating this website/cleaning up a couple chapters. Hope you enjoyed! We are finally progressing to the cat cafe part of the novel!

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