Ever since the new shipment had arrived, the boss had not been idle; he held the invoices in his hands as he checked the quantity and type one by one, then took pictures of the corals with his phone. As he checked them, he couldn’t stop mumbling to himself: “This coral is a little small… that coral’s color isn’t as good as the picture…” After all, he had communicated with the shipper over the internet, so there would be differences between the real object and those in the pictures and videos.
When he heard Zhang Zian calling out to him, he quickly walked over. “Which are the ones that you want?”
“These Caulastrea Furcata, Euphyllia Glabrescens, Plerogyra Sinuosa, Corynactis Viridis, and Euphyllia Divisa…” Zhang Zian pointed at the corals that he had chosen and the boss recorded down their serial numbers.
“You fine-looking gentleman––is it your first time getting involved with corals?” the boss asked as he looked up.
Zhang Zian was in a blur. He had tried his best to cover up the fact that he was a newbie, so he didn’t know how the boss found out.
“It’s very simple. What you mentioned earlier were the coral’s scientific names, but the local coral hobbyists would not address them in such an official manner,” the boss laughed and said.
“Hmph…” the female customer said. “I was in a blur when I heard such a literary word like ‘Caulastrea Furcata,’ and I was wondering what new species of coral that was—but it’s actually just a Bullseye Coral.”
No one had heard the female customer walk over and her tone was full of disdain towards the newbie, Zhang Zian. She was probably done choosing the corals to her liking, so she came over to see what Zhang Zian had picked.
Being exposed by the boss, Zhang Zian was a little embarrassed. He only had theoretical knowledge about the corals, as he’d only seen them in books. The books only had their scientific names and did not include their common names, so he was immediately seen through in front of a veteran.
“If it’s your first time raising corals, your choices of corals are not easy to raise…” the boss reminded him.
“It’s okay, I can treat it as the school fees,” Zhang Zian answered.
Zian’s confidence came from his top-notch equipment––it was all about the equipment when it came to raising marine creatures. The better the equipment, the lower the difficulty for raising them.
“Yes, I like that sentence.” The female customer nodded. “It’s boring if you raise them in the order of how difficult they are.”
“Okay, then.” Of course, the boss didn’t object––whoever paid got the final word.
He turned around to grab the calculator. “Let me calculate the amount…”
“Hold on, there’s this, too.” Zian pointed to the coral attached to the live rock fragment. “I want this, too. How much is it?”
In order to enhance the colors of the aquascaping tanks and the coral tanks, the lighting on the second floor was dimmer than the other floors. The boss and the female customer did not notice that there was a coral hidden between the rocks; puzzled, they got closer just to finally notice the average looking little guy.
“Hm? That’s strange.”
Earlier, the boss had matched the corals with the purchase list, and the numbers of the corals on the purchase list were the same as the numbers of corals he had received… So why was there one extra coral now?
He frowned and counted the numbers again. If it wasn’t for this coral, the numbers would be exact.
Which was to say that the shipper had sent him an extra coral.
In order to import corals, the boss had multiple dealings with Indonesian cultivation farms. He was fully aware that they who only cared about their own profit and would never be so nice. So, the only explanation was that the coral had attached itself to another coral, and because it wasn’t very noticeable, it was packed and sent over with the rest. It even made its way through customs and quarantine control.
Unfortunately, the coral wasn’t some rare, valuable species—corals that are rare and valuable must be beautiful, but the coral was both small and ugly.
But… even with his experience and after taking a closer look, the boss was still unable to recognize what species the coral actually was.
“This thing is…” The boss trailed off and pretended to be deep in thought. He was too embarrassed to admit that he wasn’t sure about the species of the coral.
The female customer, who was beside him, glanced over and said confidently, “Isn’t this a Rose Coral, Boss? You don’t recognize it?”
Although the Rose Coral had a nice and romantic name, it was in fact, one of the uglier species out of all the coral species, and its color was more on the darker side. So, most aquatic hobbyists did not have much interest in the species.
In addition, the Rose Coral’s appearance was known for being unconventional and unrestricted. In the ‘Rose Coral’ family, some Rose Corals looked just like other coral species, while there were also some Rose Corals that looked very different. The difference in their look caused confusion for the coral researchers during their classification––they were obviously from the same species, but they looked very different. They are said to be the Chameleon of the coral world.
“Um…”
The boss only had a very faint impression of the Rose Coral. He had previously brought in a batch that he couldn’t sell off and he had already forgotten what he did to them in the end.
Some corals were easier to distinguish only when they were clustered, and Rose Coral was one of them
“The lighting is too dark… I didn’t see it clearly earlier, but it is, indeed, a Rose Coral,” he smiled and said calmly.
Rose Coral?
Zhang Zian hesitated a little.
Earlier, Zian had suspected that this coral was similar to the Rose Coral and might be one of the subspecies, but after taking a closer look, he wasn’t too sure. After all, he had never seen a real one before, and the Rose Coral was notorious for being hard to distinguish, so he didn’t dare to jump to any conclusions.
But since the boss and the female customer had confirmed that it was a Rose Coral, then it probably was. After all, they were the ones with more experience, while he was just the newbie.
“Okay, then. So how much for this Rose Coral?” Zian asked.
“…You can take it home for 50 dollars,” the boss said.
“Hmph.” The female customer sneered with a faint hissing sound that could be heard coming from her nose. Because such a small Rose Coral wasn’t worth any money, and since Zhang Zian had bought some other corals, he could’ve asked to get it for free. Otherwise, it would rot in the hands of the boss.
A newbie is a newbie; taking is as paying for the school fees, then.
“Although the appearance of a Rose Coral isn’t much, it’s still easy to raise, and is a good choice to start with,” the boss smiled and said. He quickly calculated the amount and reported the total price.
Zhang Zian did not try to bargain. Ever since he was exposed to be a rookie, there was no way for him to bargain; he would just be asking to be shamed.
The netizens on the broadcast channel were quite sympathetic towards him.
“This time, the Stingy Store Manager is probably going to bleed.”
“Listening to him earlier, I thought that the Weak Bird Manager was also an expert in the aquatic matters… His acting is really good!”
“50 dollars is also money! Tipping Snowy is also good!”
Zhang Zian made his payment. The boss then prepared a smaller cooler box for Zian, placing all the corals Zian had chosen into the box before filling it up with oxygen. “The weather is still cold now,” he reminded Zian, “So the water temperature drops quickly. Remember to keep them warm once you’re back, otherwise they would easily perish.”
“Got it. Thank you.”
Zhang Zian carried the cooler box and left the coral specialty shop with Snowy.
The female customer also left after making her payment.
“I don’t have the time to walk around the first floor with you anymore,” Zhang Zian said apologetically to Snowy. “I have to bring the corals back immediately. I spent a lot of money on them, so I’ll be suffering a great loss if they perish.”
The first floor was filled with a variety of fish, prawns, crabs, octopuses, and other marine creatures. Their initial plan was to go through everything, but things happen and they had been delayed due to some small accidents.
Actually, the aquarium in his store was also not ready yet, so for the time being, Zian was not in a rush to bring in such creatures. However, the imported corals that had just arrived could only be met and not sought after, so how could he leave empty handed?
“Ah, it’s okay. It’s not early, either.” Snowy looked at the time. She had a great time playing, but she couldn’t get too carried away or she’d be scolded again.
After hearing that they were going to have to say goodbye to Snowy again, the netizens on the broadcast channel pulled out a variety of stunts that included getting Zhang Zian involved in their fury.
“Okay then, today’s live broadcast shall end here, and to all the new friends, please remember to subscribe to Snowy’s broadcast channel and WeChat. The timing for the next live broadcast shall be made known on WeChat in advance—if there are no accidents, then for the next broadcast, I will be taking everyone around the Amazing Fate Aquarium! And don’t forget about the Holy Cat statue––if any one of you were to see it, remember to notify us for the reward provided by Mr Store Manager!” Snowy did her signature pose to end off the broadcast. “See you next time!”
With the last word, she exited from the app and ended the day’s live broadcast.
Zhang Zian and Snowy said their goodbyes to each other and took separate taxis home.