What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 88 Bargaining

For a brief moment, Xiang Kun felt like a king “ruling over the world” , seemingly perceiving the “emotion” of the giant owl in its memory images.

In contrast, when he had looked at these images before, he’d felt as if he was watching a first-person VR movie.

Looking at the canary that dared not move in the cage in front of him, Xiang Kun knew that if he simply left, it would recover in a few minutes.

But he didn’t leave. Instead, he continued to watch the canary, relaxing his body and emptying his mind.

The canary still didn’t change.

So Xiang Kun started to imagine himself, in his mind’s eye, wearing beach shorts, dozing off on a lounge chair outside a seaside cottage, with a gentle sea breeze and the sound of waves, utterly content.

About ten seconds later, the sound of birds gradually rose around him, and the canary in front of him seemed to have the “magic” lifted, hopping around in the cage, making short chirping sounds.

Xiang Kun pulled out his phone, recorded these chirping sounds, and then sent them to the blind girl he also knew as “Xiao Pingguo”, whom he met last month, asking her what the bird was expressing.

Last month, after killing the “giant owl”, drinking its blood, and receiving many memory images, he went into the mountains to search for the owl’s former habitat. On his way back, he hitched a ride. Besides Detective Li Sheng and Associate Professor Li Yang, Li Yang’s daughter, the blind girl “Xiao Pingguo”, was also in the car.

“Xiao Pingguo” really liked listening to various bird calls and could distinguish what many bird calls meant, making her a uniquely talented “birdspeaker.”

During this time, Xiang Kun would occasionally use WeChat to discuss bird knowledge with her.

Although “Xiao Pingguo” is blind, both Android and IOS systems now have vocal modes to assist blind people in using them. Therefore, she also has her own phone and using WeChat to send and receive voice messages is not a problem.

After listening to the bird call sent by Xiang Kun, Xiao Pingguo quickly replied with a voice message:

“Is it a canary? Could you record a bit more? It’s not very easy to judge based on that snippet alone.”

Just as Xiang Kun was about to record again, the owner of the bird shop came out and said with a grin, “The bird looks good, doesn’t it? This color of feathers is very beautiful, she’s sure to be liked if you intend to give her as a gift to a Clearly, he heard the girl’s voice from Xiang Kun’s phone and thought he wanted to buy a bird as a gift for someone.

Since the owner was talking from the side, Xiang Kun naturally couldn’t continue recording the bird’s calls, so he asked, “How much is this bird? Including the cage.”

The boss first praised the quality of the canary, and then said, “If I raised it for another two months, I could sell it for 600. But it really seems like you and this bird have a bond, so let’s do 500, I’ll throw in the cage and some bird food.”

Although Xiang Kun had no idea about the price of these ornamental birds, since he had done no research beforehand, it was obvious that the price quoted had substantial padding.

“Boss, give me a fair price, if it’s right I’ll take it.” Xiang Kun said. The owner appeared hesitant, after a pause he said, “How about this, if you bought this one and the one next to it, 700.”

Xiang Kun shook his head, “I only want this one.”

The owner gritted his teeth and struggled for a moment, then sighed, “Alright, 450 then. You see, this bird has a beautiful singing voice, this kind of canary, you must not only look at its appearance but also listen to its singing. Usually, if you buy a bird that’s too young and hasn’t learnt much from older birds, it’ll either not sing or not sing well…”

While the owner was speaking, Xiang Kun continuously observed his changing expressions. Using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) he had learned, combined with a comprehensive sensory information assessment of the man’s heartbeat, breath, and smell, he could determine the owner’s state when he spoke and therefore analyze his real feelings about the price.

“Still too expensive.” Xiang Kun shook his head.

The owner frowned, “How about looking at the others? Like this one, just a regular small cage. 100 yuan. And then there’s this one…”

“How about 100 yuan for this one?” Xiang Kun asked, pointing to the original canary.

The boss’s eyes widened, the corner of his mouth twitched to the side, he gave a huff, shaking his head and said, “Bro, that’s not how you haggle in a bargain. Why don’t you go check out some other shops first, have a looksie, ask around?”

Judging by the boss’s facial expressions and the subtle changes in his heartbeat and breathing, Xiang Kun guessed that he really could not accept this price. So he added, “I mean the bird for 100, including the cage a total of150.”

The boss’s eyebrows were still tightly knitted, but they loosened up slightly. He sighed, “I’m really selling at a loss here. Come on… give me a little more, 180, this bird really is of top quality, otherwise I wouldn’t have put it up here.” Xiang Kun didn’t haggle any further, he directly sent the money via WeChat Pay.

He guessed that the boss would reluctantly accept 150. If he held on to this price, it was highly likely they could make a deal.

He had noticed before, that several streets in the Flower and Bird Market seemed somewhat desolate with low foot traffic. Many shops had signs of transfer and clearance sale displayed outside.

As long as the price difference isn’t too much, every transaction will be completed as much as possible to recover funds.

However, he was waiting for a reply from Xiao Pingguo on WeChat, and he had just recorded the song of this canary. He didn’t want to waste any more time switching targets.

When he had gone some distance from the store with the birdcage in hand, Xiang Kun overheard the boss returning to the shop and complaining to a companion, “Everyone these days is too stingy, so stingy. So hard to deal with…”

Xiang Kun shook his head and smiled. If it had been him before the mutation, he wouldn’t have bargained at all.

Before buying anything, he would have researched to know the approximate price of the item and set a budget according to that.

If he had encountered a situation like today, he would at most ask, “Can you give me a little discount?” If the boss’s asking price was within his budget range, he would buy it. If it exceeded his budget range, he would leave, and either come back when he had more money or assess whether he needed to increase his budget.

He was not accustomed to nor good at this type of negotiation, even within his areas of expertise.

That’s not to say he enjoys interacting with people now. The main purpose of his bargaining with the boss today was not to lower the price, but to apply and test the knowledge and abilities he has gained.

Like having bought an expensive performance car, faced with good road conditions, you can’t help but want to step on the gas and experience the pushback. After purchasing a rugged phone, upon seeing a walnut, you can’t help but want to try breaking it…

And through actual use, one can learn where improvements need to be made.

Xiang Kun carried the birdcage and recorded a longer call audio to send to Xiao Pingguo.

Then he noticed that Tang Baona was asking him in the group chat if he wanted to go swimming in the afternoon. It was Sunday and the three girls were together again.

“I can’t, I have something to do this afternoon,” Xiang Kun replied.

Yang Zhen’er proposed in the group chat, “Chef! How about we come to you for lunch? Just cook a couple dishes, we’ll bring whatever ingredients you need.”

“I’m out at the moment, probably won’t have time to cook at lunch.” Although he had found a way to let ordinary food linger in his stomach for a while, the process really was uncomfortable. Occasional meals with others were fine, but eating together frequently was indeed torturous.

“Where are you off to on this fine weekend?” asked a curious Yang Zhen’er.

“Flower and Bird Market.” Xiang Kun simply replied.

Yang Zhen’er sent a shocked emoji: “You… you’re not starting to study cooking bird meat, are you?” She initially wanted to add “I don’t eat bird meat”, but after hesitating, she decided not to.

Xiang Kun was taken aback, and sent back a speechless emoji: “What are you thinking about, the birds sold in the Flower and Bird Market are ornamental birds, why do you always think about eating?

But he silently added in his heart:

And besides, bird blood doesn’t taste that good…

Except for the mutated owl….