Chapter 352: A Recent Incident
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Whether it was the pet shop in China or the cattery in the U.S, the operators needed to get up early, like hard-working bees. They had to ventilate the room, do some cleaning, change the cat litter, and prepare for the clients’ visits. Though a cat was a creature that had good hygiene, the smell of its feces could be very pungent. Imagine how strong the smells would be when dozens of cats were together!
Tim had gotten up before dawn. He walked out of the bedroom on tiptoes so that he wouldn’t wake up his wife. In the kitchen, he was frying eggs and toasting bread so that when his wife woke up, she could enjoy a hot breakfast. Through the window, the morning sunshine was casting light on his shoulders, softening the rough profile of this big guy.
Ding!
The toaster made a sizzling sound, and two pieces of bread that were adequately toasted bounced up.
As Tim heard some noise approaching, he narrowed his eyes and looked up to survey the distance in the neighborhood.
A van truck was turning from the corner. The body of the truck was marked with the words "Blue Climax".
Putting aside everything, Tim quickly opened the door and ran towards the vehicle.
"Hey! Jeff!"
He waved his hand towards the truck.
Zhang Zian parked the truck on the sidewalk and got out, full of energy. His driver’s license in China could be temporarily used in California, saving him a lot of trouble. He slept very early last night, for there was no television in the wilderness to keep him up, and the network signal was very poor. Without any entertainment, he could only go to sleep.
"Tim, good morning!" the invisible Richard on his shoulder responded to Tim's greeting.
"You're back in time. Come in and have some breakfast." Although Tim was eager to know the condition of his kittens, he still managed not to inquire.
Zhang Zian waved his hand, "There’s no hurry for breakfast. Come help me unload the kittens from the truck. Let the kittens go in first."
That was also what Tim intended to do. Pulling open the truck's rear door and seeing that all his kittens were safe and sound, he was finally relieved. He picked up two air boxes and went towards the house, followed by Zhang Zian, who also picked up two air boxes.
"How was it, Jeff? Did the training go well?" asked Tim casually.
"Very well. These cats are really smart, and they learn fast," Richard replied, "I think they’ll be able to fully master the dancing in another two to three days. "
"Really? My God! Jeff, are you serious?" Upon hearing this, Tim’s heart pounded heavily. Although Zhang Zian had said the process would only take a few days from the beginning, such a rapid development was beyond his expectation.
"Of course, I’m not joking." Actually, Zhang Zian had already finished training the cats. He just extended the length so that these foreigners wouldn’t be over-astonished. He could not stay in the United States for a long time, and therefore he did not teach the special instructions of the transfer of ownership to the kittens.
Going back and forth to unload the air boxes, he and Tim soon moved all the kittens into the house.
Lauren also got up at this time. She dressed up, went downstairs and enthusiastically said hello to Zhang Zian. Tim told her the good news that the training was faring well. She was also very pleasantly surprised because it meant the training could be accomplished before Thanksgiving. They were going to throw a party in their own backyard on Thanksgiving Day, and would be inviting relatives to come and play. The dancing kittens would absolutely make a sensation.
Tim and Lauren invited Zhang Zian to sit together to eat breakfast, and Zhang Zian didn’t reject the invitation. Since all he ate yesterday was barbecue, his body was urgently craving carbohydrates. Gobbling bread, fried eggs, bacon and orange juice, he was very much missing the steamed buns, skewers, tea eggs, soy milk and fried dough sticks on Zhonghua Road...
"Excuse me, Tim, when is the CFA Tournament?" While eating, he moved his shoulders, indicating that Richard should confirm this matter.
Since he was in the United States, in addition to visiting the famous attractions in Los Angeles, it would be nice if he could participate in the CFA Tournament. Although the CFA Tournament had been hosted in China, it had never been hosted in Binhai City. Now that the CFA had certified his pet shop, why not seize the opportunity to enrich his experience? Perhaps he could boast about it in front of others in the future!
Since 2016, the CFA had officially separated China from other regions and had set a sole region for it — the China region — while the rest of the world, including the United States, belonged to the international region. The message was clear: the Chinese had gone too far and the rest of the world complained about them. Setting up their own region, the Chinese could entertain themselves.
This incident was triggered by more gossip.
Some famous catteries in China that specialized in breeding Ragdoll kittens had attained tremendous scores by counterfeiting fake licenses, bringing more cats to the competition, and having the female cats give birth frequently in short periods. Their scores were so high that no catteries from other countries could rival with them. Under strong protests from other countries, the CFA made the resolute decision and cut China region off.
Faking licenses was a traditional means of counterfeiting, and was similar to faking driving licenses. Bringing more cats to the competition was a malicious abuse of CFA’s rules—the higher the number of cats participating in the game, the higher scores the champion cat could get. Letting female cats conceive and give birth frequently were odious means. It was said that after the first litter, in less than two months, some female cats had given birth to their second litter. Such catteries just treated the female cats as birth machines, and they were severely punished by the CFA.
Therefore, even with the premium-conditioned Ragdoll kittens provided by Blue Climax, Zhang Zian was not interested in participating in China's CFA competition, which was completely a game designed for people who could exploitoopholes, come up with fraudulent methods, and be more ruthless to their cats. When the game was related to their interests, many people could go very low. These so-called standard catteries, in private, were not as good as the Pets’ Home Breeding Base.
However, he was still interested in participating in the CFA competition in the United States. After all, here was still a pure land for fair competition.
Tim stood up from the table and walked to the wall to check the hanging calendar, upon which some important days had been marked up.
"If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would have forgotten—that’s today." Tim sat back and had the last bite of the omelette, "What’s the matter, Jeff? Did you want to attend the tournament?"
"Is it today?" Shocked, Zhang Zian was almost choked by the bread in his mouth. He quickly drank some orange juice to suppress his astonishment.
Damn it! What went wrong? When in China, he asked Tim about this question, and Tim's answer was tomorrow. How could it suddenly change to today? Did the CFA change the schedule last minute?
"Wait a second, Tim, I remember you saying it was going to be held tomorrow. How come it has changed to today?" Richard asked him.
"Sorry, my fault." Tim apologized and waved his hand. "When I flew to China from the United States, my mind was muddled, and I mistook the date, so I told you it would be held tomorrow."
Oh! Zhang Zian also thought for a few seconds before he understood. After flying over the international date change line, Tim was confused by the date? That made sense.
He had always thought that the competition would be held tomorrow. Fortunately, he had asked Richard to confirm today, or else he would have missed it.
"I remember the venue is not far from here?" asked Richard.
"Not very far, you can arrive there very quickly by driving. If you want to go, I can tell you the routes." Said Tim. Hesitating for a moment, then he asked again: "Jeff, are you going to take the golden cat to participate?"
Seeing the strange look on Tim’s face, Zhang Zian wondered what he had thought of. Richard replied for him, "That's right, but just for fun, not thinking of winning any awards."
"I see..." Tim and Lauren glanced at each other.
"Is there a problem?" Richard asked, and Zhang Zian put up his puzzled expression.
Tim said somewhat embarrassedly, "Jeff, do you mind if I ask you something? If I'm right, your cat is an Egyptian Mau?"
"It is indeed," Zhang Zian nodded.
Tim sighed, "Then does it have a studbook? You know, cats without studbooks are not eligible for the CFA Tournament."
Zhang Zian was dumbfounded. He didn’t have one of those for Fina!
His awkward look had confirmed Tim's suspicions—that the cat was not a purebred Egyptian Mau, so it didn’t possess a studbook.