Pet King

Sihwa doubted Zhang Zian’s remarks; his behavior and the old-fashioned decoration in his bathroom had left her with a shabby impression. Could he guarantee that once the whales entered an exclusive economic zone in China, they would never be hunted by Chinese fishing ships?

Zhang Zian was confident because the Chinese did not traditionally consume whale meat and there was no other body parts worth hunting for illegally.

Despite the fact that many animals were moving towards extinction in China due to the expansion of human activities, the Chinese had been reluctant to hunt massive-sized animals––especially giant whales––since the ancient times. They were sometimes even considered to be the incarnation of the Dragon King, therefore, they were barely hunted. Almost every fisherman who earned a living in the vast ocean was superstitious. Offering a sacrifice and praying for peace to the Dragon King before a fishing trip was a very common practice.

The fishing moratorium was starting in two months. By that time, it would be safe for the whales to stay around the Chinese coast.

The persistent sad songs from the whales left Sihwa with no other options except to try everything she could. She opened her red lips slightly and began to sing silently.

Zhang Zian didn’t even notice that she was singing at first, as he could not hear anything. Only her lips were moving slightly. Maybe she was singing in low-frequency sound waves inaudible to human ear, since only low-frequency sound waves were able to travel over thousands of kilometers.

He waited patiently for a while, but Sihwa didn’t seem as though she was going to stop anytime soon. Fina’s stomach wasn’t interested in waiting. It hurried him to get lunch a few times.

As low-frequency waves carried very little information, she had to sing for a long time in order to transmit all of the information to thousands of kilometers away. The transmission needed some time, as well. Even if the whales started swimming towards China as soon as they received the message, and if the whales traveled at a speed of 15 kilometers/second, it would still take them two to three days to reach the Chinese coastline––given that the whales were indeed located around Korea and not in Japan, Russia, or even further away.

Therefore, it would take at least two to three days to find out whether Sihwa’s songs had worked or not.

Zhang Zian had a lot of things to do today. He needed to look for a car, order some custom-made aquarium tanks at the construction material market, then take a tour in a specialized market to get an appropriate chiller.

Saltwater creatures not only needed heating rods, but they also needed cooling in hot weather, especially the sea angels and the helicid pteropod that Zhang Zian had brought back from Germany. They both lived in cold water close to 0 degrees Celsius. The upcoming spring and summer in Binhai City would kill them within in minutes.

The price of a chiller could range from 1,000 to 10,000 yuan, including wind chillers and water chillers. They were must-haves for an aquarium.

If the requirement on temperature change was not high, it was possible to get an AC from the flea market, then convert it into either a wind chiller or water chiller to save money. Most aquariums did so.

But Zhang Zian didn’t dare do the same. He only had two sea angels and could not breed them if one of them died. He would want to kill himself if anything happened to them!

The sea angels would be used to attract more customers, as they weren’t sold in any other pet shop in the world. He had not yet decided their price, but it would surely be expensive. He would not sell them very easily, either, as he must make sure that the buyer would be able to keep them alive.

He could not sustain his business by selling sea angels alone––he must have a certain amount of regular saltwater creatures as well––but he had not yet figured out where to get those saltwater creatures from. Maybe he needed to make a trip to the aquarium market.

The dog market in Binhai City was big, and fish were sold there as well. But only the cheapest and most common were fish sold there. One must visit the aquarium market to get the better fish.

Just like freshwater fish, saltwater fish had different price points. The more expensive they were, the more money the owners would be willing to pay to make them comfortable. Therefore, high-level saltwater fish owners were usually rich. One set of equipment was enough to buy a high-quality Ragdoll cat.

Counting the space that the tank was occupying and high housing prices these days in the downtown area of big cities, the space occupied by a large aquarium tank alone might be worth 10,000 yuan at least!

Unlike cats and dogs who didn’t need a designated space, raising saltwater fish much more expensive and complicated.

If the aquarium tank was worth 10,000 yuan, one could not put a shabby fish in it, right? Otherwise, it would make them look bad in front of visiting friends and relatives.

According to professional statistics, in the pet market in China, dogs and cats occupied 90% of the market share.

Aquarium pets occupied a very small percentage of the market share––small enough to be ignored––but these statistics only accounted for families. Companies, offices, government agencies, and commercial groups were not included.

Exactly!

It was impossible to raise cats or dogs in companies and government offices. But having fish tanks was totally possible!

In hotel lobbies, one or more fish tanks were often seen containing oscars, silver arowanas, or other fancy fish. They made the hotels more elegant and classy.

Besides, apart from refreshing one’s spirit, another important function of raising fish was harmonizing Feng Shui.

Those who disliked cats would never own a cat.

Those who disliked dogs would never own a dog.

But those who disliked fish might own fish. Dogs and cats could not harmonize Feng Shui, but fish could.

An owner might not like fish at all, but he might insist on placing a fish bowl at home or at work in a spot with excellent Feng Shui. He might appear to be peaceful and visionary. But the fact was that he had a secret ambition of climbing up the ladder and getting rich. This was the typical reason that the Chinese owned fish… though not many people spoke about it explicitly.

Fish could not survive without water. Therefore, a fish bowl was the synonym of “water” in terms of Feng Shui. There was even a special term for it: “Feng Shui Fish.”

According to I Ching, the book of ancestry for Feng Shui, water was the most life-fostering and moisturizing ingredient of all.

According to traditional Feng Shui, placing a fish bowl appropriately and raising fish could block disaster and bring good fortune, especially for those who lacked water in the five elements. Raising fish could help them climb up the ladder and make more money––at least this was the theory of Feng Shui. If it didn’t work, there must have been other reasons.

There were still many people––especially those with power and money––that believed in these theories.

For the Feng Shui theories, if one believed them, they were real. If one didn’t, they were not.

Regardless of whether the Feng Shui theories were true or false, it was a fact that some people could make money out of them.

It was never reflected in the market share statistics, but the profit was extremely high. If the hidden factors were counted, aquarium pets definitely occupied much more than a few percentages of the market share…

Therefore, Zhang Zian believed in the great potential of aquarium pets. Bhe was not lacking water in the five elements––he was lacking money.