The Blood Red Dragonfish

Ye Yuan carefully opened the black cloth bag in his hands in the living room and placed the fish tank on the table.

The two "Red Mint Angelfish" in the fish tank were very energetic, showing no signs of wilting.

When Zhao Chuan saw the fish in Ye Yuan's hands, he asked uncertainly, "Are these Red Mint Angelfish?"

Ye Yuan looked at Zhao Chuan meaningfully and slowly said, "Yes and no."

Zhao Chuan gave Ye Yuan a look. "Hey Fourth Brother, can we not play games? You know me, even though we're in the same major, I'm a straightforward guy. As soon as I graduated, I returned everything the school taught me to the teachers. I don't want to owe anyone anything, you know?"

Ye Yuan was amused by Zhao Chuan's thick skin. "These are mutated Red Mint Angelfish. Take a closer look at their bodies, there are words on them."

Hearing Ye Yuan's words, Zhao Chuan handed Ye Yuan a bottle of mineral water and then leaned in to examine the fish tank for a long time.

"Fourth Brother, your skills are impressive! You can carve words onto fish. That's some serious skill."

Ye Yuan almost spat out the water he was drinking.

"Eldest Brother, what are you talking about? Those are natural, I didn't carve them."

Zhao Chuan looked again carefully and said uncertainly, "Are these really natural? Let me tell you, my old man is an expert."

Ye Yuan couldn't be bothered with him and sat down on the sofa. "Speaking of which, this imported genuine leather really is something else."

"You like it? It's yours."

Ye Yuan didn't respond, but instead took out a few pearls from his backpack and placed them on the table.

Seeing the pearls, Zhao Chuan lost interest in the Red Mint Angelfish.

He went straight to the table and looked at the black pearl, the size of a soccer ball, marveling, "My goodness, it's even brighter than in the photos."

As he spoke, Zhao Chuan quickly took out a caliper and a pair of white gloves from a drawer and began to measure it carefully.

"Ah, what a shame. It's just 37mm in diameter, just a little bit short." He muttered to himself after seeing the measurement.

Ye Yuan asked with confusion, "Is there a problem with 37mm? From your expression, is there some hidden meaning to this?"

Zhao Chuan glanced at Ye Yuan impatiently. "Don't you care about your own stuff? The world's largest black pearl is 38mm in diameter. And you have this one." He sighed again as he spoke.

Ye Yuan finally realized that his black pearl was just a tiny bit short of breaking the world record.

"It's not a big deal. Such a large pearl should sell for a lot of money, right?" Ye Yuan was still very concerned about the price of the black pearl.

Speaking of price, Zhao Chuan looked at Ye Yuan seriously. "I've spoken with the appraiser. Our jewelry store will directly purchase your four smaller ones. Each black pearl will fetch 15,000 yuan, and the white ones 5,000. The largest black pearl will be auctioned. Don't worry about not getting a good price; I'll guarantee you a minimum of 3 million."

Ye Yuan was shocked by Zhao Chuan's quote. He knew black pearls were expensive, but he never imagined they were this expensive. Even selling them directly to Zhao Chuan without an auction would be a fortune to him.

Zhao Chuan noticed Ye Yuan's surprise and added, "Because of your black pearl this time, I've sent out many invitations. It should fetch a good price. I can't say for sure, the jewelry business is very deep. If I had enough time, the price could be even higher."

Ye Yuan interrupted Zhao Chuan. "No need. This is fine. I need a sum of money urgently."

Zhao Chuan wanted to say he could lend Ye Yuan the money, but thinking of Ye Yuan's personality, he swallowed the words back.

Zhao Chuan's phone rang. It was Third Brother Deng Kai arriving. Zhao Chuan locked the pearls in the safe and told Ye Yuan that they would need to be taken to the appraiser again tomorrow. Ye Yuan naturally had no objections.

When Deng Kai entered, he gave Ye Yuan a big hug. The four of them had lived in the same dorm for four years. It had been a year since graduation, and this was their first meeting, so they missed each other dearly.

The three of them sat down and chatted about their different experiences over the past year. It soon turned to evening. Zhao Chuan changed cars and took Third Brother and Ye Yuan to the airport to pick up Second Brother Zhang Wujin.

To the surprise of the three of them, a beautiful girl was also there to pick up Second Brother.

After Second Brother introduced her, they learned that she was a senior student at the Shangjing Film Academy. Because of the girl's presence, they didn't drink too much. In the end, only Ye Yuan and Zhao Chuan returned to Zhao Chuan's house.

Second Brother said, "I've already booked a hotel, so I won't be staying at Eldest Brother's place." As they left, their ambiguous glances made everyone understand.

The next day, Zhao Chuan went to his company very early. He had intended to ask Ye Yuan to go with him, but Ye Yuan wanted to visit the fish market himself. He entrusted the matter of the pearls entirely to Eldest Brother. Eldest Brother didn't stand on ceremony and threw a set of car keys to Ye Yuan before leaving.

Ye Yuan drove, first buying a fish tank nearby, then finding a more secluded road to take out some of the ornamental fish from his spatial dimension before heading to the flower, bird, fish, and insect market.

He learned from his conversation with Third Brother yesterday that there were three such markets in Shangjing, and the one Ye Yuan was currently in was one of them.

Ye Yuan thought that since he had nothing to do for the next few days, he would visit all three markets to understand the specific market conditions before making any decisions. He went to a shop selling marine ornamental fish and casually inquired about prices, then browsed a few more shops.

When he arrived at the entrance of a relatively large fish shop, he noticed several people inside arguing about something. Since there was nothing else going on, he walked in to take a look.

"Young lady, you can eat anything, but you can't say anything. When I sold you this Blood Red Dragonfish, it had no problems. Who knows what you did to it after you took it home."

A middle-aged man, who looked like the shop owner, was speaking to a girl who appeared to be around 20 years old with delicate features. The girl was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and carrying a small Hermès handbag.

Hearing the boss's words, she retorted angrily, "You told me this fish needed to be kept between 24 and 28 degrees Celsius. I followed your instructions, and the fish still ended up like this."

As she spoke, the girl pointed to a commercial SUV parked outside.

The SUV's door was open, and inside was a large fish tank containing a Blood Red Dragonfish with blood-red scales. The Blood Red Dragonfish could be considered the supreme among the Arowana family. If the Red Arowana was nobility, then the Blood Red Dragonfish was royalty, extremely noble.

This fish was truly beautiful. Even Ye Yuan, who spent his days in the sea and had seen countless varieties of fish, couldn't help but stare.

The fish was in very poor condition, occasionally floating belly-up and then sinking to the bottom of the tank.

"It looks like it's not going to make it," many knowledgeable onlookers whispered amongst themselves.

The girl, not in a good mood, said to the shop owner, "I'm not blaming you. You sold me this fish yesterday, and now it's like this. I asked you to help me figure out how to cure it, and you can't even do that? I'm not asking for a refund, just for you to cure it. I bought it as a gift, and how can I give it away like this?"

Upon hearing that the girl wasn't asking for a refund, the shop owner's expression softened slightly.

He said to the girl, "Young lady, I understand how you feel, but the fish is already like this. Even a deity couldn't help it, truly. If you still want to buy a fish, you can look around here again. I have many good fish. Which one catches your eye, and I'll give you a 20% discount."