Chapter 241: Academic Significance
Chapter 241: Academic Significance
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The moment he recognized Zhang Zian, Wei Kang instinctively looked at the two cats beside Zhang Zian. His heartbeat suddenly became extremely violent, and his fingers, which remained very still when producing specimens, began to slightly tremble. He ignored the cat that was obviously a Linqing Chausie, but kept staring at the golden one, comparing it with modern Egyptian cats and the cats he had seen in ancient Egyptian murals.
It was real! He was very sure that he was looking at an original Egyptian cat that was believed to have gone extinct a long time ago!
This cat's size, fur, color, the fascinating lines in the shape of a scarab beetle on its forehead, and its squatting posture like it was looking down upon every creature from top of the world, made it very much the same as an original Egyptian cat. This original Egyptian cat must have been worshipped by numerous people in the past, and it must had traveled through two or three thousand years to be in the present time!
He didn't care that others were looking at him surprisingly, and he threw away his demeanor as a professor. He trotted towards the cat, and couldn't wait to closely observe this living fossil of biological history.
Boom!
He just ran a few steps and crashed right into Zhang Zian.
"Professor Wei, long time no see. I never expected that we would meet here." Zhang Zian greeted Wei Kang very politely, while using his body to block Fina. No matter how hard Wei Kang tried to get closer to Fina, he couldn't pass Zhang Zian.
"Yes, long time no see. Can we catch up later? I want to see your cat first." Wei Kang's mind was completely occupied by the original Egyptian cat.
"No, no, let's talk first, because your friend wants to drive my cat out." Zhang Zian pointed to Lϋ Mingyi. Zhang Zian saw that Wei Kang and Lϋ Mingyi had come out together, so he figured that the guest the staff member mentioned earlier was Wei Kang.
"What? Drive the cat out? No way, absolutely not!" Wei Kang was so nervous and excited that the veins on his head became visible.
"Excuse me." Lϋ Mingyi was completely confused, and did not understand Professor Wei's sudden gaffe, so he made a dry cough. "Professor Wei, what's going on? You two know each other? Can you introduce this young man to me?"
Lϋ Mingyi looked at Zhang Zian curiously and guessed the relationship between Professor Wei and this young man—it was unlikely they were teacher and student. From their interaction, it seemed that Zhang Zian's status was higher...
"My name is Zhang Zian, and I run a pet shop in Binhai City." Zhang Zian introduced himself briefly.
"Oh. I am Lϋ Mingyi, the boss here. Mr. Zhang, may I ask the purpose of your visit today?" said Lϋ Mingyi. He glanced at Guo Dongyue, who was beside Zhang Zian, but Guo Dongyue did not intend to introduce himself.
"Your staff member told you, we are here to buy birds." Zhang Zian was still blocking Wei Kang, "But he said we can't go in with our cats, and that we have to leave our cats outside."
Lϋ Mingyi apologized, "Mr. Zhang, I believe you know that cats eat birds. It's in their nature. If you bring the cats inside and any accident occurs, you and I will both look bad and it will be hard to deal with the consequences. I guess your cats are rare and precious. How about this? I will ask my staff member to look after them outside, and I assure you of their safety…"
Lϋ Mingyi waved at the staff member who had informed him about Zhang Zian. In his opinion, how expensive could a cat really be? At most, one cat would cost no more than tens of thousands of Yuan. And he had assigned a person to look after the cats, so nothing bad would happen. Considering that Zhang Zian was an acquaintance of Professor Wei, Lϋ Mingyi generously offered this option, otherwise, he would have never made such an arrangement.
Wei Kang chimed in first before Zhang Zian expressed his dissent.
"No!" Wei Kang shouted excitedly, waving his arms to strengthen his imposing manner, "The cats cannot be left outside! You will be held accountable if they are lost! Trust me, you can't afford that."
Lϋ Mingyi was stunned, and he waved at his staff member, instructing him to stop. "Professor Wei, they are just two cats. Why do you care about them so much? If you want, I can buy you a few cats that look the same as these..."
"Buy a few cats that look like them?" Wei Kang interrupted Lϋ Mingyi. His chest rose and fell vigorously, and he roared almost hysterically, "Do you know how precious these cats are? Buy a few that look the same? You can never buy them no matter how much money you have! "
"Really?" Lϋ Mingyi was surprised, and he re-examined these two cats that were ignored by him moments ago. He ran a bird breeding base, and was a bird enthusiast himself, so since birds and cats were incompatible, he did not like cats, and did not know the breeds of cats. He could see that the two cats in front of him were very beautiful, but he still couldn't understand why Professor Wei treasured them so much.
"Yes!" Wei Kang replied loudly, "The values of all your birds together can't compare with the value of this cat!" He pointed to Fina, "I'm not talking about price, I'm talking about value!"
Fina happily accepted Wei Kang's appraisal. In Fina's eyes, Wei Kang was stating the truth. The aggregated values of all the birds in the world could not rival with its value; in fact, the values of all the people in this world could not match its value. Seeing that Fina was being praised so highly, Snowy Lionet felt so honored, and it straightened its chest proudly.
Lϋ Mingyi was dubious. He knew that Wei Kang was a square-toed person who never joked and would not expose his feelings easily. It was the first time Lϋ Mingyi saw Wei Kang lose his self-control. So, perceptually, he tended to believe Wei Kang's words.
But rationally, he still held a skeptical attitude. Could a cat's value really triumph the total value of the tens of thousands of birds he had here? Many of his birds here were extremely rare and precious, and he got them for very high prices through a variety of legitimate or illegitimate channels. No matter how precious the cat was, it was merely a cat.
Wei Kang had known Lϋ Mingyi for a long time, and from the expression on his face, Wei Kang knew that Lϋ Mingyi wasn't persuaded. "Mr. Lϋ, do you know what kind of cat this is?"
"I know nothing about cats." Lϋ Mingyi answered frankly.
"Even if you know about cats, you would not recognize this one." Wei Kang sighed, "This cat is an original Egyptian cat. In the academic community, the opinion is that it is a species that has been extinct for a long time. Do you see its significance now? As long as its genes are extracted, and compared with the genes of modern house cats and stray cats, a major question—where house cats originate from—that has troubled the academic community for a long time can be solved. Are they from ancient Egypt, or the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia, or somewhere else….?"
Zhang Zian was proud that his cat bore such significant meanings. But he was startled when hearing about gene extraction. This old man was thinking of using Fina for experiments! Though the reasons for experimenting sounded magnificent, he would never agree to use Fina for experiments.
On the other hand, Lϋ Mingyi was stunned hearing Wei Kang's solemn explanation. It didn't seem like Wei Kang was lying. Was the cat really so precious? He decided to be cautious and believed Wei Kang's word. Nowadays, the online media tended to adopt sensational headlines in their reports to attract more readers. What if they made such a title as "Shocking! A Living Fossil with a Significance Comparable to the Peking Man's Skull was Lost in Front of the Gate of a Bird Breeding Base"? He would be miserable and would not be able to defend himself if that really happened.