Pet King

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The residential area where Welder Zhao lived was built before the SOE Reform. Many residents had been living there for 20 to 30 years, some even longer. They knew each other well, always stuck together, and took care of each other when something happened. Even if someone had to leave their child home alone, the neighbors would help out. It was unlike the new residential areas, in which the next door neighbors didn’t even know each other.

However, there was one disadvantage to an old residential area: When there was gossip, everybody knew it the following day.

Welder Zhao saw Carpenter Wang taking the trash out and tried to hide his bag behind his back, but Carpenter Wang saw it anyway.

“Wow, a bobbit worm? Zhao, you have some guts in you to keep such a thing in your tank!” Carpenter Wang said in surprise.

Welder Zhao wondered if Carpenter Wang knew marine creatures really well, since he seemed to know what a bobbit worm was.

He had always known Carpenter Wang, but not very well. They used to work in different sections of the factory. Their acquaintance was nothing more than greeting each other when they saw each other.

“Wang, how do you know about this worm?” he asked with a smirk, not being able to hide it anymore.

“Well, I’ve owned saltwater fish for eight to ten years. How would I not know this worm?” Carpenter Wang kept his head up, looking quite confident.

“Oh, I’ve never heard this before. You are an aquarium pro?” Welder Zhao was astonished.

“I’m not a pro. There’s too much to learn about saltwater fish. I only know a little.” Carpenter Wang’s words were humble, but his tone was not.

He pointed at the bobbit worm in the bag and asked, “Zhao, tell me the truth. Did you get the worm on purpose, or did it follow the eco-bio-block into your tank?”

Welder Zhao blushed. He might be able to trick an amateur, but not a seasoned aquarium lover. Who would be so stupid to keep such a worm?

“Hey! You are right. The eco-bio-block was not clean. The worm did follow it into the tank.” He told the truth.

Carpenter Wang nodded. “I told you. But luckily you found it early. If you had discovered it a few months later, it wouldn’t fit in your plastic bag anymore.”

“Actually, I didn’t discover it. A young man running an aquarium found it…” Welder Zhao glanced left and right, then whispered, “To tell you the truth, it took us quite a while to finally kill the worm. I freaked out…”

“Oh? Tell me more about it.” Carpenter Wang grew curious. His heart started burning for gossip. In fact, he had nothing to do. His wife was cooking at home.

Welder Zhao told him the story in detail––but, of course, he made himself sound better in the story. Carpenter Wang fell into the story. After hearing that Zhang Zian and the others had poured boiling water on the rock to force the bobbit worm out and then burned it to death, he shook his head as if it was nothing.

“Zhao, allow me to be direct with you. In my opinion, that Zhang Zian’s method is questionable. I’d guess that he is an amateur who pretended to be a pro,” he said with confidence.

The way Carpenter Wang talked looked kind of familiar to Welder Zhao. As he thought about it carefully, he remembered that he wore the face of a spectator, like the old men watching others play chess by the street.

“You mean…” Welder Zhao dragged his voice to probe for more information.

“You shouldn’t pour boiling water on it!” Carpenter Wang said regretfully, hitting his right fist into his left hand’s palm.

“Why?” Welder Zhao paused.

“Because rocks are living stones. The internal bacterial colonies and microbes form a mini ecosystem, which helps you improve the water quality. Establishing the algae takes a lot of work in the beginning, but it’ll save you lots of trouble later. The saltwater experts in our city all use live rocks to start the tanks… Look, after you poured boiling water on them, the live rocks become dead rocks. All the beneficial bacteria on the live rocks are killed! It’s ruined… ruined. All the rocks in your tank are finished…” Carpenter Wang shook his head and sighed ceaselessly.

He seemed to be making good points. Welder Zhao didn’t understand it all, but he felt impressed.

Welder Zhao had been raising saltwater fish longer than Electrician Wu, but only by a little bit. He didn’t know everything about fish. After he had heard Carpenter Wang’s comments, his trust in Zhang Zian was kind of shaken.

“Well… What shall I do then?” Welder Zhao asked for help.

“There’s no way back. Your tank of rocks are finished. Just throw them away and get some more live rocks from the aquarium market or an aquarium. Start a new tank!” Carpenter Wang’s tone sounded certain.

He thought about it again and suggested, “Right, don’t go to the aquarium of that Zhang dude. He’s young and inexperienced––an amateur who pretends to be a pro… If you want to continue, I’ll refer you another aquarium. I’ve bought all my live rocks and equipment from that aquarium. It’s an old store with a lot of loyal customers, a good reputation, and reasonable prices. Every aquarium lover in our city knows about it.”

Welder Zhao was hesitant. He was thankful that Zhang Zian had brought a team to his house to solve his bobbit worm problem. He had saved the children from danger. Not only did he not charge any money, but he went back without having a drink. However, his old-schooled thoughts made him trust a reputable old store more. Plus, Zhang Zian’s shop was kind of expensive… In addition, he didn’t want to refuse Carpenter Wang to his face. They lived in the same residential area, after all, and came across each other all the time. It was unwise to jeopardize their relationship.

After careful consideration, he asked Carpenter Wang to write down the other aquarium’s address and promised that he would take a look when he had some time.

They added each other on WeChat. Carpenter Wang sent him the address and told him confidently, “Zhao, stop hesitating. Trust me––go to this store. After you finish restarting your tank, I can introduce you to a WeChat group for aquarium lovers. There are a lot of pros in it. You can learn a lot from them. It’ll be much better than figuring everything out on your own!”

Welder Zhao looked forward to that. Raising fish alone was quite a lonely hobby. His friends who had cats and dogs often posted cat and dog pictures on WeChat moments and received a lot of likes. In comparison, he couldn’t even get a few comments for his saltwater fish and clam worm pictures, not to mention likes. At the end of day, it was an issue of group differences.

He wanted to belong, and wanted to communicate with other fish owners. He nodded in agreement. “Thank you in advance, Mr. Wang.”

“Don’t mention it. You are too kind. You don’t need to thank me, I’m your neighbor!” Carpenter Wang threw his own trash in the designated location, then waved his hands and said to him, “I’ll go home first. Looking forward to your good news.”

“Okay.”

As Carpenter Wang disappeared in the stairwell, Welder Zhao suddenly remembered that he forgot to ask where he should dump the dead worm…

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