Why bother with dating when you already have a cat?

"Let's catch stray cats!" Little Fish remembered her original intention and then said, "Let's catch the sheriff and the others first to make a show of things."

“Okay,” Ai Qing said with a smile. “And then?”

"Then there's the cat cafe..." Xiaoyu tapped her chin with the tip of her pen, lost in thought for a moment, before saying, "So we need to spend money to rent a shop to turn into a cat cafe, and then we need to figure out where to rent it..."

Following Ai Qing's train of thought, Xiao Yu's thinking also began to expand and extend consciously and in a direction, and she has already learned to try to think for herself.

Thinking about renting a place, Xiaoyu put her tablet aside and started researching related information.

To be honest, from what Ai Qing knows, there are actually fewer and fewer cat cafes in roadside shops these days.

More often, they are placed in remote corners of shopping malls, or even in office buildings.

These are some of the changes brought about by the modernization of the internet.

In other words, from the perspective of attracting customers, the exposure of street-side shops was definitely much greater than that of office rooms in the past.

After all, the constant flow of people in front of the store is itself a form of advertising and influence.

However, if placed in an office building, in the past, there would be absolutely no exposure; at most, one could attract customers by distributing flyers.

But in addition to that, another very important point is the convenience for guests.

If you open your shop on the roadside, people can see it and walk right in without much trouble.

But if it's located in an office building, people have to find the building first, then take the elevator, and then find the corresponding room on the floor, which is much more troublesome.

Many people might just be too lazy to go.

These are all factors that need to be considered.

Although Xiaoyu's initial intention was very simple, she just wanted to do her best to help the stray cats around her.

Xiaoyu is very self-aware and knows that her strength is limited, so she will only help as many stray cats as possible within her ability so that they can have a small home.

From Ai Qing's perspective, if this matter can only last for a few months, then it really doesn't mean much.

Aside from satisfying their own sense of accomplishment and moral pity, not much has changed for stray cats.

However, it's clearly unrealistic to rely solely on Xiaoyu's own livestreaming revenue if she wants to truly achieve long-term sustainability... well... it's not entirely unrealistic.

After all, ever since Xiaoyu played Madoka Magica, Ai Qing was shocked to discover that this thing was incredibly popular.

Xiaoyu reached the 100,000 follower mark by relying on a small surge in traffic and the use of cheats.

Otherwise, relying solely on playing PUBG would result in a pitifully small amount of data usage.

But recently, Xiaoyu simply edited her usual videos of playing Yuan Shen, and with Ai Qing's guidance, extracted the essence and produced several viral videos.

Xiaoyu's fan base also began to grow at an absurd rate.

In just one week, I've already gained 20 followers...

At this rate, Ai Qing doubted whether her royalties could keep up with Xiao Yu's earning power.

If we really think about it this way, it doesn't seem impossible to support a small cat cafe.

However, Ai Qing still prefers to play it safe. In the initial stage, the best option is to optimize all the conditions of the cat café to the current situation so that the cat café can be self-sufficient.

Correct.

His requirements weren't high.

As long as the cat cafe can be self-sufficient, with only a small monthly expense to cover costs, it's enough to maintain normal operations.

"So, brother, which type of store should we choose?" Xiaoyu rested her chin on her hand, looking at the notes in her notebook with a troubled expression, lost in thought.

Ai Qing smiled and looked at her, patted her head and said, "Theory and practice need to be combined, instead of just sitting here and thinking nonsense."

"We'll contact some real estate agents this afternoon to rent out shops and office space, and then we can go and take a look."

After all, while the theory may seem simple, when you actually go to the field, there will definitely be all sorts of problems. You need to discuss these problems in light of the actual situation; otherwise, they will just be castles in the air.

"Okay! So what's next?" Little Fish asked. "Now that we have the cat and the shop, let's open for business!"

"You wish." Ai Qing rolled her eyes at her. "Let me ask you, how did I raise you when you were still a kitten?"

"Hmm..." Little Fish fell into thought, counting on her fingers as she said, "Every day there's cat food, a litter box, I can go to the toilet, and treats like dried fish and freeze-dried food. I also need to have my fur brushed, my nails trimmed, and medicine when I'm sick..."

“Then our rented shop couldn’t have already had these things, right?” Ai Qing reminded her. “Especially since our cat cafe can’t only have one cat, we need to prepare a lot of these things.”

"Ah...this has suddenly become complicated." Little Fish hugged her head, secretly adding a little warmth to her chest. "So we need to rent a shop and prepare all these things, with so many cats..."

“In addition, we also have to consider the nighttime,” Ai Qing added. “After all, we don’t live in the shop, so we can’t let the cats run around at night, so we need to have enclosed cat beds.”

"Of course, you don't need to worry too much about these things. We don't need to overthink the renovation."

"Just take some time to visit a few cat cafes in Hangzhou and do some on-site research to learn from them."

Upon hearing this, Xiaoyu's eyes lit up: "Brother, you're so smart!"

Ai Qing: "...Don't be too happy yet. Put the renovation aside for now; there will be other troubles later."

"Huh? There's more?" Little Fish's cat ears drooped down immediately. She felt that what she thought she had thought through was actually full of difficulties when it came to actually carrying it out.

Xiaoyu felt she definitely wouldn't have been able to do this without Ai Qing's help.

"You can search online to see what licenses or permits are needed to open a cat cafe," Ai Qing said. "You need to go to the Industry and Commerce Bureau to open a shop."

"For example, business licenses, health permits, fire safety permits, and if we want to serve food and drinks to customers, we also need a food safety permit, and the staff need to have health certificates, and so on."

"Only when all these things are prepared can a cat café be considered complete and ready to open for business."

Xiaoyu's head was spinning from listening, but thankfully, with the warmth of the current, she quickly absorbed all of Ai Qing's information.

However, Ai Qing's next words immediately put her at ease.

"Don't worry, you don't need to worry about the rest." Ai Qing said immediately when she saw her cute troubled look. "For the decoration, you just need to take care of the design drawings and other ideas."

"I'll ask Sister Qian for help and ask her to introduce a renovation team. She'll definitely have cheap sources for things like cat beds and litter boxes for the cat cafe."

"From now on, I can get all the cat food, canned cat food, and cat treats I need from her."

"Then you don't need to worry about the business license and stuff, since you don't have an ID card either. Just use my ID."

“I’ll ask Kong Fugui for a favor. His dad has good connections at the Industry and Commerce Bureau. It’s just a matter of getting some permits to open a shop. If he pulls some strings, it’ll be done quickly.”

This is probably the benefit of having connections.

Although Ai Qing doesn't have many friends, they are all quite reliable.

If it's something like a fire safety permit, even if there are minor issues, Wu Yong should be able to help out.

So suddenly things became much simpler.

After an hour of discussion and planning in the morning, the two of them came up with their next steps.

First, I need to visit about a dozen cat cafes in Hangzhou.

Ideally, the number of roadside shops and shops in office buildings or shopping malls should be evenly distributed.

Then when you go there, observe the interior decoration, as well as the external conditions and environment.

Next, I tried to find out how the cat cafe was actually operating.

At the same time, Xiaoyu can start to imagine what her ideal cat cafe would look like, and roughly how much space it would need.

Then I contacted real estate agents to see if there were any suitable shops for rent in Linping District.

Once the specific store location is confirmed and the contract is finalized, the decoration drawings can be finalized according to the actual situation of the store, and a decoration team can be found to move in.

Meanwhile, Ai Qing and Xiao Yu can also start planning their stray cat capture scheme and prepare to stock up on cat resources for the cat cafe.

However, in addition to this, Ai Qing also came up with a promotional plan for the future cat cafe for Xiao Yu in advance.

“When the time comes, we can put this in the display case at the cat cafe.” Ai Qing pointed to a small box in the glass cabinet behind Xiaoyu.

Xiaoyu turned her head and saw the urn containing ashes; her expression immediately became complicated.

This is the little tabby cat that was hit and killed by a car on the roadside.

After Xiao Youqian took the body to the pet hospital for treatment, Xiaoyu went to see her the next day.

Although Xiao Youqian didn't show her the cat's gruesome state after its death, after much thought, she still had someone take the cat out separately, find a cremation company to cremate it separately, and put its ashes into an urn.

However, Xiao Youqian was worried that Xiaoyu would be even more upset if she saw the urn, so she only told Ai Qing about it secretly.

Later, seeing that Xiaoyu's negative impact wasn't too great, Ai Qing took out the urn containing her ashes.

This is probably what motivated Xiaoyu to decide to open a cat café.

"Yes!" Xiaoyu turned her head and nodded vigorously at Ai Qing, saying, "Not only this little tabby cat, but I will also carefully preserve the urns of all the cats that die in our cat cafe in the future."

“Ahem… there’s no need to be so formal.” Ai Qing coughed twice. “We can make a special display case and put some things related to the cats in the store inside, so that customers will have something to look at.”

In short, the two of them, having finalized their plan, started taking action in the afternoon, driven by Ai Qing's strong drive to act.

It just so happens that Ai Qing has finished her old book but hasn't started a new one yet, so she can accompany Xiao Yu around.

As for the new book, it will naturally have to be put on hold for now.

For my fellow book lovers, it's better to have a girlfriend than a boyfriend.

Chapter 186 Field Investigation

In September, the temperature in Hangzhou remained high.

Although it's said to be autumn, summer still dominates the season.

Under the blazing sun, Ai Qing accompanied Xiao Yu to find this cat cafe.

"Which one is this?" Ai Qing asked.

"It's the seventh one! The second one today!"

The little fish said energetically.

Unlike Ai Qing's exhaustion, Xiao Yu was full of energy and had gained a lot. Her phone's notes were full of her thoughts and experiences from visiting the cat cafe.

However, seeing how tired Ai Qing was, before entering the cat cafe, Xiao Yu pulled Ai Qing to the side aisle, secretly hugged him, and kissed him on tiptoe.

"What are you doing...?"

"Brother, open your mouth, and the little fish will help you regain some strength."

It's basically just transferring some warmth to Ai Qing. Although it doesn't have any cooling effect, it can at least clear her mind and relieve her physical fatigue.