Chapter 44: Brocade Carp

  There were seven or eight little dogs on the stall, with varying shades of fur, chasing and playing with each other, all looking very lively. Xiao Ping stood in front of the stall for a while, then asked the dog seller: "How much are these little dogs?"

  "Brother, your taste is really good!" The dog seller didn't respond to Xiao Ping, but instead praised his dog: "This is a purebred Chinese Rural Dog, which is now rarely seen..."

  Xiao Ping hastily interrupted the other party: "Stop it, isn't the nickname for Chinese Rural Dog just 'grass dog'? Don't think I don't understand!"

  The dog seller who was caught red-handed didn't feel embarrassed at all, and immediately smiled and said: "Since you understand, I won't say more. Fifty yuan per head!"

  "Thirty, take it or leave it!" Xiao Ping was also straightforward.

  Actually, a grass dog for thirty yuan is not cheap either. The dog seller nodded immediately: "Okay, you want to choose one yourself!"

  Xiao Ping chose the most lively little yellow dog, paid the money and was about to leave, but saw another small black dog under the stall. The dog's hind legs seemed to have some problems, dragging on the ground, making it difficult to walk. However, the dog's eyes were very spirited, curiously looking around, and when it found Xiao Ping staring at it, it also lifted its head curiously at Xiao Ping.

  At that moment, Xiao Ping's heart moved and the disabled puppy reminded him of his past self, involuntarily feeling a pang of sympathy. He hastily asked the dog seller: "How much for this little dog?"

  "This one has rickets and won't live much longer." Knowing that Xiao Ping was knowledgeable, the dog seller didn't try to deceive him: "If you really want it, I'll let you take it for 10 bucks."

  As Xiao Ping left the stall, he had two fluffy little dogs in his hands. The yellow dog sniffed around Xiao Ping's body foolishly, while the black dog only sniffed him a few times before turning its head away, constantly sizing up everything around it, seemingly with a very curious expression.

  Xiao Ping was quite satisfied with the two dogs, although they were not some expensive breed, but enough to watch the farm. Moreover, grass dogs are not so delicate, and it's easy to raise them normally, and they don't sell for tens of thousands like those famous dogs, which meets Xiao Ping's requirements.

  After buying the dog, Xiao Ping was about to leave, but when he passed by an aquarium store, he couldn't help but stop in his tracks. This aquarium store was not small, and it only sold one type of fish - goldfish. Large and small fish tanks and pools were all filled with goldfish, at least several thousand.

  This reminded Xiao Ping that there were also two pairs of koi fish on the farm. At first, he had added a few doses of spiritual liquid to the pool where the koi fish were raised to test its effect on fish. After more than a month of feeding, the two pairs of koi fish had grown very large, all exceeding one meter in length, with the largest weighing over thirty kilograms.

  Since he saw such a professional aquarium store, Xiao Ping didn't mind asking how much his few goldfish could be worth. He went into the store and looked around, only to find that the price of goldfish was not cheap at all. Except for those small goldfish, the starting price of slightly larger ones was several hundred yuan. The two pools of goldfish that were about a foot long were sold for over a thousand yuan each, and the largest two-foot-long goldfish were priced at over three thousand yuan.

  "Hmm, I didn't expect that the koi fish wouldn't be much cheaper than the knife fish either." Looking at those several two-foot-long koi fish, Xiao Ping also couldn't help but mutter to himself: "It seems that the koi fish from the farm can also sell for a good price!"

  Xiao Ping's muttering caught the boss's attention, who came over and asked: "What kind of fish do you want?"

  "I'm not here to buy fish." Xiao Ping smiled at the boss: "Do you collect fish here?"

  The boss was stunned by Xiao Ping's question and then shook his head: "Sorry, our store has its own fish farm and does not accept external fish."

  Xiao Ping reluctantly asked: "Not even a big one?"

  Seeing Xiao Ping's confident appearance, the boss couldn't help but ask another question: "How big is it?"

  "It's about this long." Xiao Ping stretched out his arms to demonstrate, then added: "Just a few days ago I weighed them, and the biggest one exceeded 35 kilograms!"

  Xiao Ping's words shocked the boss, ordinary goldfish can only grow to two feet long, and the few in his store are already considered big. If Xiao Ping was telling the truth, selling those goldfish for tens of thousands would be a normal thing. But Xiao Ping didn't look like an expert at raising goldfish, so the owner doubted him, saying: "Young man, goldfish and ordinary carp are not the same, you're not confusing them, are you?"

  Seeing the other person clearly not believing him, Xiao Ping suddenly remembered that he had taken a few videos of the goldfish with his mobile phone some time ago when he was bored. So he quickly flipped through the videos on his phone and handed it to the aquarium store owner, saying "You see for yourself!"

  Xiao Ping is now considered to have some money, and the mobile phone he exchanged is also the latest Ape 4. The video shooting resolution is very high. Several koi fish swimming in the water were captured vividly, and many tiny details on the fish's body were clearly visible. As soon as the boss took over the phone and watched it for a few seconds, his expression changed from being unimpressed to surprised and serious. Only after finishing watching the video did he ask Xiao Ping: "Are these few fish really all over one meter long?"

  Xiao Ping nodded with confidence: "Absolutely true!"

  "Goodness gracious, such a fish..." The boss rubbed his hands together, seemingly having a hard time making up his mind.

  At this moment, two men in suits entered the aquarium store. After looking around the store, one of them smiled and said to his companion: "The fish here are simply trash, it seems that President Guangyuan was right, China doesn't have any good koi that can rival ours in Japan!"

  "Mr. Gaoqiao, you're absolutely right! How can China possibly cultivate top-grade brocade carp?" Another man hastily nodded in agreement, his face full of fawning smiles.

  The two men spoke loudly, especially the Japanese man named Takahashi, who looked arrogant and made people feel uncomfortable. Xiao Ping could barely tolerate it, but the owner of the aquarium store couldn't bear it anymore. They were standing in his store saying that his fish were inferior, which was equivalent to slapping him in the face - how could he tolerate this?

  "Be careful what you say." The fish store owner didn't care which country the other person was from, and with a stern face said to the two of them: "If you don't want to buy fish, then please leave. Don't cause trouble here."

  Takashi said disdainfully to the boss, "Am I wrong? Look at these goldfish here, they can't compare with those in Japan! Wang San, please show this gentleman the album!"

  The Chinese man next to him hastily nodded and handed a beautifully printed album to the boss. The boss took it over, flipped through a few pages, and his angry expression gradually became embarrassed. The album was full of various colorful goldfish, which were indeed extremely rare treasures, much better than those in his store. Although he was very dissatisfied with the arrogant attitude of these two people, the aquarium shop owner couldn't say anything blindly, and for a moment, he couldn't speak.

  Seeing the boss's embarrassed look, Takahashi said with a smirk: "China's brocade carp can't be compared to ours in Japan, what else do you have to say?"

  "Who knows whose fish is better, let's take a look at this first!" The aquarium store owner suddenly had an idea and handed Xiao Ping's phone to the Japanese man.