一路向西 粤语

Chapter 304: Vlogger

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Wow, your shop is decorated so nicely.” Zhao Qi was quite surprised by the new decoration style of his shop, “If I didn’t see you here, I would really have thought that I went into the wrong place. You really spent heavily on this, didn’t you?”

He hadn’t seen her for a long time, but Zhao Qi hadn’t changed much. She still dressed stylishly. The arrival of winter enabled her to have more options when it came to dress collocation, and today she was wearing a light brown, knee-length, woolen overcoat outside her career suit to make her look more slender.

Zhang Zian felt that he had seen this coat before. It was not that he saw her wear it, but it appeared in her Black Friday overseas shopping list on her Friends’ Moments in WeChat a few days ago—it had probably just been delivered to her, and she couldn’t wait to wear it.

He simply glanced at Zhao Qi and ignored her, avoiding the hand she stretched out demanding a red envelope, and said to the little man behind her, “Hello, I am Zhang Zian, the store manager here. How can I help you today?”

“Hey!” Zhao Qi chimed in, “How can you be so ungrateful? I spent a long time persuading him to come over. Where’s my commission?”

“Commission, right?” Zhang Zian picked up a can of cat food from the shelves and threw it to her, “Here, your commission.”

“Ouch!” Without any preparation, Zhao Qi scrambled to catch the can, glanced at it and immediately threw it back, “I don’t want homemade brands! I’ve just purchased plenty of cat food from overseas shopping websites for their Black Friday deals with my colleagues, and our cats will have enough to eat for some time!”

“Take it or leave it!” Zhang Zian put the canned food back on the shelves.

The young man was curiously staring at the kittens that were playing and chasing each other in the shop, and was not at all intrigued by Zhang Zian and Zhao Qi’s dialogue.

Zhao Qi knew that Zhang Zian was as closed as a clam, and had to give up her attempt. She coughed and introduced the man, “This is my colleague from the Technical Department, Song Bai.”

“Really? From the Technical Department?” Zhang Zian thought for a moment. “Together with that nerd, Liu San Lang, who has a Lolita complex?”

Song Bai stopped looking at the kittens and corrected him, “We are both from the Technical Department, but we don’t work together.”

“Oh.” Zhang Zian nodded, pretending he had understood. To be honest, he didn’t care what Song Bai did for his work, as long as he would buy something in his pet shop. That’s right, money can have it all!

“By the way, how is Liu San Lang recently?” He asked Zhao Qi.

Zhao Qi pouted with resentment, “Don’t ever mention it. Shi Shi has been spending all her time with him and the Labrador Retriever, and I think it’s only a matter of time before she’s completely disconnected from our previous bestie groups—this is all your fault! How can you fall for his lie that he was buying a dog for his younger sister? He doesn’t have a sister at all, okay? I don’t care, but you owe me a bestie!”

“How can I find a bestie for you…” Zhang Zian was really angry that he had believed Liu San Lang’s tricks…but if he could choose again, he would still sell the dog to him, because after all, he had a pet shop to run, and only a fool would turn away business.

Song Bai coughed gently, and Zhang Zian realized it was not the time for him to chat. He quickly apologized to the potential client today, “I’m sorry. Mr. Song, right? What would you like to see today?”

“He is here to buy a cat.” Zhao Qi snapped quickly.

Zhang Zian stared at her, meaning that, I was not asking you, please shut up.

Song Bai was not tall, but appeared very energetic with his small face and short hair. He was wearing a motorcycle leather jacket, a pair of loose overalls that had a lot of pockets, a pair of mittens, with silver studs on his ears. It was obvious that he was one of the fashion-chasing, vigorous young people. What Zhang Zian particularly noticed was that one of his hands was holding a small digital camera, and it seemed to be recording the kittens playing around his shop.

“Uh, may I ask if you are recording?” Zhang Zian asked, pointing to his camera.

Song Bai seemed to have taken it for granted that he could shoot videos there, “Yes. Is recording forbidden in your shop?”

“Well…” Zhang Zian would like to answer that recording videos were also prohibited in his shop, just like in the Dragon and Phoenix Jewelry Shop, but out of what reason? It made sense that Dragon and Phoenix Jewelry Shop didn’t allow filming for fear that its competitors might plagiarize its jewelry designs, but why would a pet shop prohibit its customers from taking pictures of or filming at the pets?

Seeing that Zhang Zian was undecided, Zhao Qi was afraid that they might have unpleasantries, and she quickly explained to Zhang Zian, “Don’t misunderstand him, he did not mean anything else, he is a blogger, holding the camera to shoot is what happens in his daily life.”

“What? Blogger?” Zhang Zian was surprised for a moment, “Like the bloggers on Weibo?”

He seldom checked in his Weibo account, but he knew that Weibo was a platform for picture sharing, and even videos. They were short videos that only lasted for ten seconds or so. But Song Bai seemed to have been filming since he entered the pet shop. And what the hell did “shooting one’s daily life” mean?

“No,” Zhao Qi waved her hand, “He doesn’t use Weibo, that stuff is out of date. He is a vlogger.”

Zhang Zian didn’t understand what “vlogger” meant either, he just got more confused.

Zhao Qi asked, “Have you not heard of vlogging?”

“No,” Zhang Zian answered honestly.

Zhao Qi instantly felt it was too bothered for her to explain, but ultimately, she tried to be patient, “Well, I guess I have to start from the very beginning…vlogging is a very popular video blogging format in foreign countries, especially in the United States in recent years. Instead of writing down their daily lives with words, people record videos as blogging. People who like this type of blogging are known as vloggers, and Song Bai is one of them.”

Song Bai nodded, agreeing to what she said.

“Very popular?” Zhang Zian was very good at capturing such key words.

“That’s right,” said Zhao Qi.

“But I have never heard of it. Is it really that popular?” Zhang Zian doubted it.

Zhao Qi further explained, “It is very popular abroad, but only few people are vloggers in our country. I didn’t learn about it until I met Song Bai—I felt strange seeing him hold a camera to film at any time, on his way to work, on unch break, or on his way home. So I asked him about it.”

“Oh, now it makes sense.” Zhang Zian nodded in relief. Turned out it was popular abroad, no wonder he had never heard of it.

Zhao Qi looked at him as he was a primitive man, “I think you really need to find a proper job. You are completely out of touch with the trends.”

“Wait a second!” Zhang Zian was displeased, “I don’t believe many people in China know what the so-called ‘vlogger’ is about. Besides, you didn’t know that before either, so you are in no position to judge me!”

Song Bai coughed again to interrupt their conversation, “Can I shoot the pets or not?”

Zhang Zian pondered for a moment. He wouldn’t suffer any material loss from the video shooting, and he said in a very generous manner, “Here are the rules of this pet shop. Customers can shoot videos only if they buy pets. No purchasing, no shooting.”

Zhao Qi couldn’t help but complained, “How pragmatic! How come I have never heard of such rules?”

“Because these are the rules I just set out,” Zhang Zian stared at her in a defiant manner, “This is my shop. I am the boss. You have a problem with that?”

Zhao Qi knew that Zhang Zian was obsessed with money, but she couldn’t embarrass herself in front of her colleagues, or else she might be looked down upon by them. Just when she was about to argue with Zhang Zian, Song Bai waved his hand and said, “It’s okay, I promise I will buy pets. Do I have your permission now?”

Zhang Zian had been waiting for this sentence, and his anger was swept away by sheer joy, “Customers are always right. Shoot anywhere you want!”