The word "elegance" tended to give people the impression of fat and lazy, but this cat was different. It was toned and lean with some wild beauty, and it might have even been a stray cat, but it was absolutely not a stray cat. Its almond, aquamarine eyes were like a pair of priceless cat's-eye emeralds, shining with the light of reasoning and wisdom.
The cat had a small face but large eyes. Its body was tall and graceful, which was the legendary nine-headed body scale. If there were models among the cats, it would absolutely be a good one.
The head was wedge-shaped if looked at from the side. The bridge of its nose was very high, with an inverted-triangle red nose tip. Its mouth was very small, with smooth contours. Its ears were large and pointy and looked dignified and charming.
It had muscular limbs, strong toes, and a lightweight body, making its movements extraordinarily flexible, like a well-trained ballet dancer.
In terms of the length of its hair, its hair seemed slightly longer than a British Shorthair’s, but it would still be in the category of short-haired cats.
Its body was covered with various stripes and spots. The cheeks and neck had shallow, wavy stripes, and the limbs had thick, irregular stripes. The tail had round stripes, while the body was covered with tiger spots. All the stripes and spots were dark gold.
In addition to the dark gold stripes, the spots, and the white beard, the rest of its fur was a bright gold that could strike people’s eyes. The gold jewelry store was its natural camouflage.
The cat was squatting on the glass counter, very close to the college-student couple, but neither the couple nor the clerk noticed it.
It seemed that the young couple had started an argument, and their voices were getting louder and louder. It sounded like their argument was about the diamond ring the girl was holding.
Zhang Zian stood there for a moment and heard what was going on. The girl wanted to buy the diamond ring, but the boy didn’t, so the girl accused the boy of no longer loving her, otherwise why did he not want to buy it for her?
Zhang Zian had no sympathy toward the boy. He gave a cold grin and thought, "Sure enough, show your love and die fast!"
There was a shopping guide next to the couple who was afraid that wasn’t enough and asked, "Would you like to try it on?"
The girl opened her eyes in surprise and responded, "Oh? Really?"
The senior staff smiled. "Certainly. If you don't try it, how would you know if it fits you?"
With a low voice, the boy whispered in her ear, "An An, please don’t try it. If you try it, we must buy it, so don’t believe them..."
The senior staff handed the girl a pair of thin gloves. Ignoring the boy, the girl put on the gloves and then put the ring on her left middle finger. The girl raised her left hand so it was facing the sun, letting a ray of light from the diamond reflect the colorful lines.
"How beautiful..." She seemed to enjoy looking at it.
Zhang Zian looked at the cat, which seemed to have great interest in the diamond ring, as the cat was staring at it without blinking. Whether the diamond ring was in the girl’s hand or on her finger, the cat’s eyes were like iron that had met a magnet. The green eyes reflected the diamond ring’s shadow, and occasionally a small pink tongue licked its mouth.
"Is it okay to take a frontal HD photo? The cat is very quiet, so it shouldn’t be difficult to take a picture. I just need to find a right angle..." Zhang Zian thought and got ready to do so.
"Sorry, sir, you can’t take pictures here," Su Min moved a step toward him and blocked his camera.
"Why?" Zhang Zian asked with a puzzled face.
"Because all the jewelry in our store are outstanding pieces designed by masters. In order to prevent competitors from stealing their ideas, please don’t take any pictures." Su Min fluently recited the contents of the staff handbook.
Zhang Zian scratched his head and thought that this was rather difficult. He and these shopping guides had the same occupation—they were all salesman. One was selling pets while the other was selling jewelry. Heart to heart, he didn’t want to embarrass her intentionally. However, he had found a rare pet. It was obviously not his style to return empty handed.
As the saying goes, "Despair gives courage to a coward." Zhang Zian quickly thought of a good idea.
He went through the idea silently in his mind and found it doable.
"I would like to buy something," he said to Su Min.
Su Min couldn’t believe it but still asked with a smile, "Could you tell me which one you like?"
"That." Zhang Zian raised his hand and pointed at the diamond ring on the girl’s hand.
"Um, please wait a moment," Su Min walked over and looked at the counter.
The senior staff saw her coming and was very unhappy.
Su Min apologized by lowering her head and returned to Zhang Zian. "That's the only one left," she said in embarrassment. "Would you wait for a moment? Can you wait for the two customers to take a look at first?"
Zhang Zian didn’t want to embarrass the staff, but as for the loving couple, he would not be polite, and he couldn’t wait. Who knew when the cat would disappear?
"You misunderstood me, I don’t want to ‘look at’ it," he stressed, "I want to ‘buy’ it, now!"
He opened Alipay on his phone and said, "Can I use a money transfer? Or I could go and get cash at the Bank of China ATM."
Su Min was surprised, her mouth half open. "Did this man come here to cause me trouble?"
She didn’t know what to do. She looked back at her supervisor, as the employee handbook didn’t cover how to deal with these kinds of situations.
The supervisor was about 40 years old and very experienced, and she believed this principle: "Whoever is able to pay is God, whoever cannot is garbage. Garbage should be wiped out."
Although she was also a bit surprised, she walked up to the young couple without any hesitation. She knocked on the glass counter with her knuckles, saying with a professional voice, "Sorry, this ring has just been bought by that gentleman. Please take it off."
She pointed at Zhang Zian who was behind her, then opened her palm to the girl, a serious look on her face.
The girl, who was enjoying the diamond’s light, suddenly went from a dream to a nightmare. Her face suddenly turned pale, and her lips kept trembling. While the boy was relieved, like a long drought finally receiving rain, he immediately came to life and said, "Hey, I said I would buy it for you, you see... "
The senior staff was mad, her mouth open wide enough to swallow a mouse, watching the boiled duck fly. How could she not be angry? She dared not show her anger to the customer, instead glaring at Su Min with her round eyes. Su Min lowered her head and was scared to look at the senior staff.
The girl’s actions were as slow as the replays on TV. She took off the diamond ring unwillingly and put it in the supervisor’s hand. The supervisor demanded of Su Min, "Pack this well for the customer!"
The girl stomped on the boy’s foot and left angrily, but the boy responded with a relieved grin, like he had been rescued unexpectedly from a desperate situation. He passed by Zhang Zian and whispered to him, "Hi, thank you so much! I’ll treat you to dinner next time..."
Then the boy left the jewelry store as well, following his girlfriend.