Pet King

Reina went to comfort and encourage the mistreated employee. Zhang Zian stepped back and whispered to Reina, “Why are you making such a fuss? Did that ball python offend you?”

After the Chinese customer took the ball python away, Fina turned its eyes towards the other snakes in the shop, such as the gold python, the green tree python, and more. Its eyes were as fierce as a knife and sharp enough to slice them open.

Fina glared at Zhang Zian and said coldly, “I hate snakes. Every one of them deserves to die!”

Zhang Zian was astonished at Fina’s words before he realized that, according to the legend, Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, died from a deadly snake bite. The movie followed the legend and ended in the same way. Could that be the reason Fina hated snakes?

Before he could think further, Reina called him up front. “Jeff, come here. I’ll show you the aquarium tanks.”

“Coming,” he responded, and winked at Fina to make it hold its temper. He then walked over to Reina with quick steps.

Zhang Zian was startled as soon as he arrived at the aquarium zone. A massive tank was standing at the entrance, which was essentially just a wall. He had never seen a fish tank of this size. More than that, he was very puzzled that there was only one fish inside the enormous tank.

Yet, after he clearly saw what kind of fish was in the tank, he became even more astonished. It was an Atlantic sturgeon, around 30-40 centimeters in length. It was a European sea sturgeon––not Chinese––but it was still just as rare. People were driven by their quest for caviar, which caused the Atlantic sturgeon to be almost extinct in the wild.

According to the label, this Atlantic sturgeon was from Poland and was sold at the price of 4000 euros. It was the superstar of the aquarium, without a doubt.

Its body was light grey, with a streamlined shape. Its eyes were so tiny that one might mistake them as nostrils. It was swimming swiftly in the tank like a cloud of smoke.

In fact, there were some small fish in the same tank, but they appeared to just be food for the sturgeon. It chased after them like a sword, biting them with small, sharp teeth, and swallowed them swiftly into its stomach.

Zhang Zian finally understood why there was only one fish in this massive tank––it was because this fish could reach two to three meters in length.

“What do you think? Do you like my Atlantic sturgeon?” Reina asked in a high-spirited tone. “If you are interested, I can keep an eye out and get one for you. I’m sure it will draw a lot of customers to your pet shop.”

“I like it,” Zhang Zian answered earnestly. “But no, thanks. I can’t claim a free meal ticket that’s valid for 20 years.”

Behind this massive fish tank was a small pond built with pebble stones. Hundreds of Koi fish, after they saw people approaching, swarmed over, stretched their mouths out of the water, and blew bubbles. The water stirred so vigorously that it almost seemed to be boiling. Red, white, yellow, and black… a few bright colors mixed together and looked very pretty.

As they walked, the Koi fish followed them, waiting patiently to be fed. They only swam back to the bottom of the water in disappointment after Reina and Zhang Zian were far from the pond.

It seemed as though Koi fish were just as popular among the Germans as they were with the Chinese.

In addition to the Koi fish, there were other varieties of common, tropical fish, and cold water fish. For example, Germany had some of the top breeders of cichlids in the world. By selecting cichlid parents with vibrant colors, they were subject to have repeated purification. At the same time, German fish farms were constantly introducing new blood to avoid inbreeding. The cichlids that were bred in such conditions were beyond comparison to those sold online in China, which were fed with colored food in order to be sold at a higher price.

There were two major trends in ornamental fish worldwide: one was with breeders, which was led in popularity by Germany, while the other was with naturalists, which was led in popularity by Japan. The Germans concentrated on improving the bloodline of freshwater fish, while the Japanese focused on keeping the fish in their original, natural state. As a result, German aquariums were more expensive than the Japanese. In China, the domestic ornamental fish market seemed to favor the Japanese trend.

Fish were not the only species in the aquarium zone. Zhang Zian saw a strange creature that looked like a fish, but had limbs; it also looked like a lizard, but had a gill. It had a pale pink color and cute, innocent eyes. Its fat body was completely disproportionate to its skinny limbs. The most striking characteristic was its three pairs of feather-shaped external gills on each side.

The label on the tank read: “Axolotl, or Mexican salamander from Mexico.”

This species was listed in the 2016 Endangered Species Red list by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and was classified as “extremely endangered.” This rare species was sold in Reina’s shop at 9.99 euros each.

Imagine having a couple of these at home. They would definitely catch more eyeballs than those expensive gold or silver Arowana fish. These would be enough to make the guests’ jaws drop.

These creatures could not only be kept as pets. Since they were able to regrow their broken limbs, scientists throughout the world were using them to study tissue repair and development.

Unfortunately, China did not allow people to buy or sell them. But if one was planning on keeping it in secret, then they just needed to keep a low profile and they needed to never post the fish on their WeChat moments.

In 2017, an article titled, “A pet shop in Xiamen selling ‘dinosaur’ Mexican salamander,” was posted on Xinhua. Zhang Zian didn’t want to earn his fame in such a way. He could imagine the title on a United States browser––”Shock! Crazy pet shop owner making huge profit by selling Mexican salamander. Will be thrown into jail and get his a** busted.”

Zhang Zian took a tour of the aquarium zone with Reina. Soon, he realized a problem. Most of the aquarium tanks were freshwater tanks; there were very few saltwater tanks. Were the Germans not fond of saltwater fish?

He threw the question to Reina.

“No, no, Jeff. You misunderstood,” Reina explained. “It’s just that we are running out of space here. We can’t fit any more aquarium tanks.”

Her words were true. The entire second floor was pretty much occupied; there was very little extra space.

“Do you remember what I told you just now?” She smiled. “My father has retired by the beach to enjoy his life and he left this shop to me. But he is not completely free, as he still focuses on the sales of saltwater fish and equipment. If you are interested, I can give you his address and you can pay him a visit when you have time. His temper is a little bit odd, but he is a nice guy.”

Zhang Zian thought about it. He could neither keep nor sell Mexican salamanders or Atlantic sturgeons. The online shops had messed up the market for freshwater fish, such as cichlids. Saltwater fish were a safer bet, as he would be less likely to break any laws or rules.

It was getting late. The entire morning had passed by without him realizing it.

There was a rehearsal scheduled in the afternoon, and Director Feng Xuan might get anxious if he didn’t get back soon.

Zhang Zian asked for the address and contact information for Reina’s father. He was planning to try his luck until the events were over with the film festival. Of course, he didn’t forget to pay for the super expensive pair of sunglasses for Famous. The safety goggle set was a gift from Reina, but he still need to pay for the sunglasses.