The fish tank wasn’t large—fifty centimeters long, thirty centimeters high. A layer of fine white sand was spread across the bottom, with six or seven pieces of pine-bark stone arranged inside.
The first fish placed in it had been a few little fortune fish bought by the landlady.
Half a month ago, Lu Jiuling’s roommate had gone mad. After he moved out, the landlady, worried she wouldn’t find a new tenant, bought two feng shui fish and put them in.
They were red arowanas, said to ward the house and bring wealth!
Their gill covers, the scales all over their bodies, and even their fins were all orange-red edged with a faint touch of pale gold, as if the sunset glow of a summer dusk had condensed upon their bodies. They were exceedingly beautiful.
Aside from being too small, plus the water not being changed in time and no oxygen being pumped in, leaving the two red arowanas looking half-dead, there was nothing else wrong with them.
Lu Jiuling walked over to the refrigerator, lifted his head, and stared at the fish tank.
The two red arowanas, whether because they were about to die of illness or because they had no desire to contend with the world, simply drifted slowly in the water, not moving for ages.
“So pretty!”
Lu Jiuling clicked his tongue in admiration, reached out with both hands, and moved the fish tank onto the coffee table. He also found the bag of fish food and sprinkled some in.
The fortune fish floated up and ate happily. Lu Jiuling frowned, then suddenly reached out and plunged his hand into the tank.
A potbellied fortune fish failed to dodge in time and was caught firmly by Lu Jiuling.
Plop!
The unlucky fish was tossed onto the floor by Lu Jiuling, where it flopped desperately, trying to jump back into the tank.
“Eat up!”
Lu Jiuling sprinkled in some more fish food and stared at the red arowanas.
Drip! Drip!
Lu Jiuling did not wipe his right hand. Water droplets fell onto the floor, spreading into a small puddle.
The red arowanas still did not move. Clearly, they were not hungry.
Lu Jiuling curled his lip and suddenly reached out again.
Splash!
Lu Jiuling grabbed out one of the red arowanas.
He pinched its mouth and began stuffing fish food inside, occasionally poking its mouth with his little finger, until its belly bulged. Only then did Lu Jiuling reveal a satisfied smile.
It should be full now, right?
Lu Jiuling walked into the bathroom and stood before the basin. He picked up the Buddha Intestine short sword he had thrown there last night, found the right angle, and stabbed the tip of the blade into the red arowana’s abdomen.
The red arowana struggled. Fresh blood flowed out, making the sunset-glow scales on its body even more brilliant, like burning clouds.
Lu Jiuling was afraid of hurting the fish. His movements were very gentle. Slowly, he drew the blade downward, slicing open the red arowana’s belly. Then he exerted force with his left hand and squeezed out the organs inside.
Plop!
A clump of innards fell into the basin, and red blood flowed toward the drain.
Only after Lu Jiuling had carefully dug out everything in the red arowana’s belly did he finally set it aside in satisfaction, then picked out the intestines from among the organs.
With a flick of the sword tip, then a cut, he split the intestines open, and the undigested, sticky fish food inside burst out.
“As expected, it’s full!”
Lu Jiuling was very satisfied. He returned to the living room, fished out the other red arowana, brought it into the bathroom, and repeated the process.
After confirming that both fish had eaten their fill, Lu Jiuling found needle and thread, stuffed their organs back in, and sewed their bellies shut.
While doing all this, Lu Jiuling was extremely careful, striving to make the distance between every stitch exact to the smallest fraction.
Twenty minutes later,
Plop! Plop!
The two red arowanas were placed back into the fish tank.
Watching them slowly sink toward the bottom of the tank, Lu Jiuling nodded in satisfaction.
Eat their fill, then sleep. They would definitely grow into beautiful feng shui fish!
Lu Jiuling held the Buddha Intestine short sword, feeling somewhat unsated. He glanced at the other fortune fish…
Too small!
Not satisfying!
Lu Jiuling hurriedly washed his hands, found a few exam papers, wrapped up the Buddha Intestine short sword, tucked it into the back of his waistband, went to the entryway to put on his shoes, opened the door, and left.
Tap tap tap!
Lu Jiuling rushed down the stairs in one breath, got on his bicycle, and headed straight for the wet market on Yumin Street.
The morning market had already opened, but there were not many people. It was deathly bleak. Only in front of a breakfast stall selling tofu pudding and fried dough sticks were a few people sitting.
From the steaming baskets just opened at the bun shop drifted the aroma of meat.
Lu Jiuling glanced over. Usually, he would have been hungry by now, but at the moment he had no appetite at all. He rode straight to a fish stall, then suddenly squeezed the brakes and stopped.
The fish stall wasn’t large, only about thirty square meters. A cement pool had been built on the ground, divided into sections and filled with clear water, raising different kinds of fish.
The owner was around forty. His hair was so greasy it probably hadn’t been washed in half a month.
He wore a pair of rain boots and a black waterproof apron, and was unloading goods from a minivan that reeked of fish.
“Buying fish?”
The owner asked, dumping a basket of grass carp into the pool.
Splash! Splash!
The school of fish thrashed, splattering water everywhere.
Lu Jiuling looked around and took the strongest liking to the group of plump snakeheads in the pool on the left. “This one. Give me one… ten!”
One felt like it wouldn’t be enough to kill!
“What are you buying so many fish for?”
The owner wiped his hands on his trouser leg and lit a cigarette.
Lu Jiuling bent down to pick fish and did not respond.
“Fifteen a jin. No returns once you leave the stall!”
The owner had run this fish stall for twenty years. He had seen students come to buy fish early in the morning before, but he had never seen one buy this many at once.
“Can I scoop them myself?”
Lu Jiuling could not wait any longer.
The owner took a dip net and handed it to this handsome boy. “Put the fish in the basket on the scale!”
After some fussing, Lu Jiuling scooped up ten fish, totaling twenty-six jin and one liang.
“Altogether three hundred ninety-one yuan and fifty cents. I’ll wipe off the fifty cents. Pay three hundred ninety-one!”
This was a big order!
The owner was in a very good mood. Seeing Lu Jiuling take out his phone to pay, proving that the boy was not messing with him, put him at ease. Then he saw the watch on Lu Jiuling’s left wrist.
“Whoa? Patek Philippe?”
The owner let out a heh and burst out laughing. “Young people these days really dare to show off without knowing anything!”
Look at this high schooler’s clothes, his secondhand phone, and that bicycle. Forget being from a rich family—his living conditions probably weren’t even those of an ordinary household. Yet he dared to wear a Patek Philippe worth over a million. Even an idiot would know it was a fake watch.
“But your watch is really exquisitely made. Where’d you buy it?”
Middle-aged men only liked a few things. Once they could no longer handle women, what remained was nothing but luxury cars and famous watches.
The fish stall owner was also a watch lover. He could not afford real famous watches, so he wanted to get a few fakes to wear. He thought the replica on Lu Jiuling’s wrist was very well made and wanted to ask about it, so he could later get himself a Rolex to play around with.
“How much did it cost? That shop has Rolexes, right?”
As the fish stall owner spoke, he reached out to grab Lu Jiuling’s wrist, wanting to examine it.
He also felt that Lu Jiuling looked like a student from head to toe, so his words and actions lacked respect.
Lu Jiuling stepped back.
Damn!
He had forgotten to take off the watch.
“Tch. It’s just a fake watch. You don’t let me see it, and I won’t know it’s fake?”
The fish stall owner took a drag on his cigarette, bent down, picked up the plastic basket on the scale, and walked toward the chopping board.
“What are you doing?”
Lu Jiuling frowned.
“Nonsense. Killing the fish!”
The fish stall owner was amused. “What, don’t tell me you’re planning to carry them back and kill them yourself?”
Business was hard to do these days!
When you ran into picky customers, it wouldn’t do if the fish weren’t killed cleanly. Not a single scale could remain, and they had to be rinsed thoroughly with water too.
“Don’t kill them. Just pack them up for me!”
Lu Jiuling hurriedly instructed.
If you kill the fish, what am I supposed to kill?
“You’re insane, aren’t you?”
The fish stall owner muttered, but the customer had paid, and whether he wanted them killed was his own business. Besides, the owner was happy to save the effort, so he grabbed a black plastic bag and began packing the fish.
“Wait. If you do it like that, won’t these fish be dead by the time I get home?”
If they were dead, what meaning would there be in killing them?
The fish stall owner glanced at the Anzhou No. 2 High School uniform on Lu Jiuling. “How about this? I’ll find a bucket and pack them in that for you. When you go to school tomorrow, bring the bucket back to me!”
“Thank you, boss!”
Lu Jiuling felt that he was seriously ill. Right now, his mind was filled entirely with killing fish and turning out intestines. He didn’t even want to go to school.
“No need to thank me. Tell me where you bought that watch.”
The fish stall owner found a plastic bucket one meter tall and as thick as an adult’s waist. “It’s really well replicated!”
“A friend gave it to me!”
Lu Jiuling replied perfunctorily.
“A girlfriend?”
The fish stall owner first poured in half a bucket of water, then put the fish inside. After covering the top with a black plastic sleeve, he tied the opening tight.
“No!”
Lu Jiuling went to carry the bucket. He had always been busy studying, getting into a big company; before he hit the jackpot, he had never been in a relationship.
The fish stall owner helped secure the bucket to the bicycle, but his eyes remained fixed on the Patek Philippe on Lu Jiuling’s left wrist.
Holy crap!
Why did this watch look more and more exquisite and expensive the longer he looked at it?
It couldn’t be real, could it?
“Hey, sell it to me. I’ll pay five hundred!”
The fish stall owner wore a Rolex Submariner “Hulk” on his wrist, but it was fake.
“Not selling!”
Lu Jiuling swung onto the bicycle seat, ready to leave.
“Eight hundred!”
The fish stall owner grabbed the handlebars and refused to let go. “One thousand. One thousand is fine, right?”
“Give it up. Mine is real!”
Lu Jiuling pulled away the fish stall owner’s hand, stomped hard on the pedal with his right foot, and shot forward.
“Real?”
The fish stall owner spat. “Real my ass!”
But…
The fish stall owner watched the handsome, clean-cut back of that boy, then thought of that pretty little face of his. Maybe he had served some rich female patron so well that she had casually taken off the watch and given it to him.
No, that wasn’t right either!
This kid was indeed good-looking, but he wasn’t worth a Patek Philippe worth over a million, was he?
Just how good would he have to make a rich woman feel?
Even wearing out eight steel-wool balls wouldn’t manage that, right?
…
Lu Jiuling pedaled the bicycle furiously.
He knew that with this school uniform he had worn for nearly three years until it had faded from washing, together with that secondhand phone worth only a few hundred yuan, even if he truly wore a famous watch, people would still think it was fake.
But it didn’t matter what he wore. Lu Jiuling touched the Buddha Intestine sword tucked into the back of his waistband. Right now, all he wanted was to kill fish and turn out intestines!