The flower and bird market they were looking for was hidden in a low-lying alley. There were only gray-blue plastic film banner advertisements pasted at the entrance. If you weren't careful, you could miss it. It gave people a very bad initial impression. However, after entering the alley, the first thing you see is the scattered bonsai, birdcages and goldfish tanks of the flower and fish shop that stretch out, forming a narrow and colorful aisle that leads far to the ice blue plastic roof at the end. Even the noise of the birds and the smell of live fish are pleasant in the summer. Luo Binhan pulled Yu Xiaorong through the barrier composed of spider plants and parrot cages. The level of noise around him was a bit too much for Luo Binhan, but Yu Xiaorong was quite satisfied. She is very interested in the lucky bamboos tied into pagodas, the myna that makes children laugh, and the various Buddha statues in the jade shop.
“The smile on his face is scary,” she said of a statue of Maitreya Buddha. The shopkeeper on the lounge chair craned his neck to glare at her. Luo Binhan quickly pulled her away. They took another two steps forward and found a fish shop that looked quite complete. In front of the door, there are various goldfish in plastic boxes, bubbles like snow foam are constantly pouring out from the air pump, and a basket of large tortoises are crowded together with their necks stretched dizzyingly. It looks both terrifying and fascinating.
Yu Xiaorong wanted to poke the turtle's nose, but Luo Binhan slapped her finger away and warned her about the turtle's stubbornness when biting. He peeked into the store and found that the walls were covered with shelves and fish tanks. The light and shadow of water and algae swayed throughout the room, and various schools of gorgeous or strange fish shuttled back and forth silently. A low lacquered wood frame in the shape of a lotus leaf squats in the corner, and various waterscape stones are piled on the three-story lotus leaf frame.
This is exactly what Luo Binhan was looking for. He walked to the low shelf, touched some lake rocks with holes, and then bent down to look at a resin shield made into a skull shape, feeling a little undecided. Of course, the lake stone is better in concealment, but as long as he thinks of the cannibals hiding in a broken skull, and Yu Xiaorong sticking his face outside the tank and staring, it is really difficult for him to control the smile on his lips.
He called the shop owner twice, and a middle-aged man who had obviously been exposed to the elements emerged from the small door behind the fish tank. He told the other party that he wanted to buy a ready-made ecological tank, a complete set.
"How big a tank do you want?"
"A fifty-fifty square vat. A similar bar vat will do."
"What kind of fish do you raise?"
"Is there any medaka?"
The shopkeeper glanced at him. "Is this the only thing you want?"
"Yes. Just keeping it for fun."
"How many?"
"Let's make seven or eight. Get more water plants and stones." Luo Binhan pointed to the skull on the shelf, "Let's make this a bigger one."
The shop owner asked a few more questions about his preferences in terms of water plants and substrate. Luo Binhan had no objection to this and just asked him to help with the preparation. It would be best to prepare the entire tank at once and then deliver it to his door. When he accepted the quotation, he agreed readily, so the other party went into the room without showing any emotion to find a suitable white tank and bottom sand for him. Luo Binhan guessed that he was thinking that others were free to spend money however they wanted.
While the shopkeeper was getting something, he walked out of the shop again to see if Yu Xiaorong outside had been bitten by a turtle. Turns out she was studying a few grass goldfish in a foam tank.
"How many do you want to take home?" Luo Binhan asked, and saw a sign next to it that said "You can choose ten items for five yuan." "Are you here to raise me?"
“Can these fish be mixed with the species you bought?”
"No. They're too big and wild. I only buy enough fish to fit between their teeth."
"Why don't you raise this one? They look beautiful and they don't look difficult to raise."
"They probably won't survive a week, Fluffy. You see, without an air pump, this fish can't stand such a crowded environment."
Schools of colorful fish swim in groups in the white box. Even though Luo Binhan is well aware of their short-lived life, he has to admit that this scene has an almost natural allure. Just because every kid passing by can't help but want to catch one or two, they are placed outside the store. And even though he warned himself that there was no need to have two heavy fish tanks that took up space at home, his eyes subconsciously looked around. In front of the store on their left hand side, there are all kinds of strange glass bottles hanging, filled with hydroponic plants such as pothos, anthurium or copper money. On the ground under the glass bottles, two blue and white glazed porcelain jars were placed side by side. The surface of the jar was covered with round leaves the size of the mouth of a bowl, but only two or three crimson buds were produced.
These bowls of lotus flowers are not very good looking, but their color is very attractive, as rich as if they were dyed with cinnabar. Luo Binhan couldn't help but think that goldfish would be more beautiful in such a porcelain tank.
"How about we buy a porcelain tank to raise fish?" He asked Yu Xiaorong, "Put it on the balcony of your bedroom, and put some lotus bowls in it."
This proposal seems to be new to Yu Xiaorong. "Keep the fish under the lotus leaves?"
"This was indeed how people raised them in the past. I mean before there were glass tanks."
Yu Xiaorong showed a little doubt. She didn't know as much about ornamental fish as she did about mammals. Luo Binhan explained to her the difference between goldfish and tropical fish - it is difficult to get pleasure from raising tropical fish from a bird's eye view, but goldfish have been viewed this way since ancient times. Just as they look most beautiful when they are in the foam tank, looking down from the mouth of the tank to the water waves and the fish playing under the lotus leaves is the angle that people have been accustomed to for thousands of years. The hazy outlines, swimming moments, and highlighted parts are much more beautiful than seeing the whole clearly.
"Then how can you see clearly the condition of the fish? You can only see its back and tail." Yu Xiaorong said.
"What else do you want to see?" Luo Binhan asked, "Aren't these two things the most beautiful thing about it?"
"I want to see if it's sick."
"Goldfish don't live long."
He saw that Yu Xiaorong disagreed with his words. Her attitude towards goldfish viewing is as paranoid as her approach to preserving lobsters. Luo Binhan also admitted that it is a good thing to have a sense of responsibility for pets - but strangely speaking, he is not very able to adhere to this point when it comes to raising fish. Unlike cats, dogs or parrots, the frequent death of ornamental fish seems to be the only way for keepers. You can make every effort to feed it once a day, change the water once every three days, clean the tank once every five days, and change a batch of fish every seven days. No fish can stay with its owner for a long time, and the only thing that really remains is the eternal fish tank. What he raises with care cannot be said to be fish, but that mysterious container that is open-minded and inclusive of all things, a micro-environmental model that reflects the world.
"We should give the fish tank a name." Luo Binhan said to himself. He casually caught a blood-red goldfish with a fishing net, and was about to throw it into the empty plastic goldfish box next to him when someone called him next to him.
The sound was so soft that it was almost drowned out by the noise of birds chirping and dogs barking on the street. Luo Binhan identified it out of sensitivity to his own name. He turned to look for the person who called him. The red fish in the net suddenly flicked its tail and jumped back into the bubble-filled water tank. Water splashed everywhere, and Luo Binhan suddenly jumped back, but the tragedy still happened. A small water stain landed on the most inappropriate place in the middle of the trousers.
"Damn it!" Luo Binhan shouted angrily, reaching into his pocket in vain to find the tissue that didn't exist. Yu Xiaorong smiled secretly, and Luo Binhan immediately made a move to pull her ponytail.
"Why are you laughing!" he said, "Hurry up and block it for me!"
"You shouldn't be fishing in clothes like this." Yu Xiaorong said quickly, but walked over and asked Luo Binhan to put his hand on her back, pretending that the two of them were watching the fish very intimately. As soon as they got into position, the man who called Luo Binhan's name appeared. This person did not come from far away, but suddenly appeared from the aquatic plant shop next door with a bowl of lilies. I must have been standing behind the shelf with glass bottles before, and happened to recognize an acquaintance through the gap.
Luo Binhan pretended to be calm and turned his head, as if he had just heard the call, but he could not get rid of the embarrassment he felt just now. He could only pray that he couldn't see what had just happened from the other person's perspective, although that was somewhat self-deceiving. The person who came was a young woman, wearing a turquoise green silk dress and a wide-brimmed straw hat trimmed with black satin. She was of average height and build, nothing surprising.
She walked hesitantly and raised the brim of her hat slightly to take a closer look at the two people in front of the fish pond. "Luo Binhan?" she asked again.
Luo Binhan smiled at her and said nothing. This is not the first time this problem has arisen. Ever since he touched the soil of his hometown, he has found that he is developing in the direction of prosopagnosia. He almost didn't recognize Lu Jin in the morning, and now he ran into an acquaintance whose name he couldn't name. He had to stare at the face under the hat and try to remember who it was. A colleague? relative? Have you ever had business dealings? Relatives and friends? The daughter of Nan Mingguang’s classmate? There were so many possibilities and so few clues that the man's hair wasn't even revealed.
"It's me." He could only risk asking, "...are you?"
The woman opposite didn't answer immediately, but looked at him and Yu Xiaorong. After a while she said: "I am Shi Qi, the stone of the stone, the Qi of the left and right pages. Remember?"
Yu Xiaorong turned his head and glanced at him from the corner of his eyes. But Luo Binhan still had no impression of this name. "Shi" is not a common surname. If you try hard enough, you should remember it. It seems that I have encountered it before, or maybe I was just confused with the story of Wuyuan Man. He could only put on a smile and say: "Ms. Shi, we..."
A trace of surprise appeared on the face of the woman opposite. She habitually retracted her right arm, crossed it across her chest, and gently grasped the crook of her left arm, as if she was a little overwhelmed. In Luo Binhan's eyes, this action was like suddenly shaking an old cloth covered with dust, revealing a large area of faded embroidery pattern underneath. The memory of the details of the past has been blurred, but the emotion is very clear, like touching the dense threads on an old cloth with your fingers.
"Oh," he quickly recovered, "...Shi Qi?"
"You remember?"
Luo Binhan nodded. "I haven't seen you for a long time." He relaxed and regained his expression of surprise of meeting an old friend. "Where have you been in the past few years?"
"I'm going to another university to study."
"Just came back to look for a job? I haven't heard from you again."
Shi Qi smiled slightly, a little awkwardly, and put his right hand back to its original position. "I came back a year ago."
"Didn't you tell anyone else? You never seem to talk to your classmates."
"I don't know the active people in the group. I always feel that it would be awkward to speak up."
They looked at each other and smiled, then fell into silence with nothing to say. Luo Binhan wanted to ask her what major she studied or what job she was doing, but it seemed a bit risky. In fact, he and the other party were not very familiar with each other, not to the extent that it was necessary to understand each other's current situation.
"What do you think of it here?" He chose the safest topic, "How does it compare with a few years ago?"
"It has changed a lot. Did you know that the road next to the school has been rebuilt?"
"Really? I haven't heard of it."
"It's been widened quite a bit, and it's been smoothed out. It's no longer bumpy when you ride on it."
"Not bad." Luo Binhan said. He found that he was still holding the fishing net in his hand, and quickly and quietly threw it back to the pool. Yu Xiaorong was still standing in front of him, very close to him.
"Have you not gone back to school to see it?" Shi Qi asked.
"Not yet...I have been abroad for the past two years."
"So you just came back last month?"
"Yes." Luo Binhan replied. Then he felt that this question was quite strange. But Shi Qi didn't explain, just smiled a little mysteriously, and then looked at Yu Xiaorong who was standing in front of Luo Binhan. "Who is this?"
"My sister." Luo Binhan said. He saw Shi Qi's hesitation, but felt there was no need to explain. Not many classmates knew about his family situation, and it was not something worth publicizing. "She has been living abroad and came to my place for two days."
Yu Xiaorong raised his hand and shook it towards Shi Qi as a greeting. She seemed to be pretending to be a foreigner who didn't understand Chinese, so Luo Binhan just let her go.
Shi Qi looked at Yu Xiaorong. "You guys look alike," she said. "Are you here to buy fish?"
"Yes. What about you? Picking out potted plants?"
"Just strolling around."
She wanted to say something more. But the owner of the fish shop came out and asked Luo Binhan to go in and see if he was satisfied with the food. This is a good time for Luo Binhan to get out of his predicament. He patted Yu Xiaorong who was standing in front of him: "Let's go and see what kind of aquatic plants are suitable for the fish tank." Then he raised his head and smiled at Shi Qi. "Let's go now. I'll contact you later."
Shi Qi nodded silently and said goodbye. Luo Binhan pushed Yu Xiaorong into the store to check out the vat paving materials that the store owner selected for them. Everything was suitable, but out of selfish motives to enhance concealment, Luo Binhan asked for two more thick and lush snapdragons. Yu Xiaorong discovered the skull covering he personally designated and dismissed his taste.
"Not satisfied?" Luo Binhan poked the eye holes of the simulated skull, "Don't you want to see a skull? I'll put one at home for you."
"Just put it next to your bed," Yu Xiaorong countered, "I think you are quite happy to sleep with the dead."
"This is resin." Luo Binhan said nonchalantly. They sat in the store for another ten minutes, until all the water stains on Luo Binhan's body were dry, and then they wrote down the delivery address to the store owner and asked him to send it to his home.
When they finally walked out of the store, Shi Qi had disappeared. The bowl of lotus in the celadon vat is also missing two flowers, showing a somewhat lonely and deserted look. Luo Binhan asked Yu Xiaorong if he still wanted to buy goldfish, but the latter shook his head and walked behind the wall full of aquatic plants to take a look.
"She's gone." Yu Xiaorong said.
"Who? Shi Qi?"
"Who is she?"
"My high school classmate. We were in the same class, but we're not close to each other."
These words were true words, but Yu Xiaorong still stared at him with twinkling eyes. "The way you talk is weird."
"What's weird?" Luo Binhan avoided her gaze uncomfortably, "We haven't seen each other for many years. She has changed so much that I didn't even recognize her."
"What happened between you two?"
"Don't make blind guesses."
"She dumped you." Yu Xiaorong said calmly. Now Luo Binhan could no longer pretend not to hear. He pretended to pinch Yu Xiaorong's cheeks, and continued to fight all the way to the car. Yu Xiaorong still clung to the problem.
"What happened between you two?" she asked relentlessly, even coming to snatch his car keys. "You didn't even dare to look into her eyes!"
Luo Binhan tried his best to slap her hand away: "There is a reason!"
"You lied to her." Yu Xiaorong said, "You pretended to go on a date with her, and then disappeared."
"This is a personal grudge!" Luo Binhan accused, "Who do you think I am?"
"Then why do you have to hide it?"
Luo Binhan had no choice but to reveal the truth. He can't just turn into an infatuated person who has been sad for many years, or a fraudster who is worse than a beast.
"There was a dance organized by the school before," he said to Yu Xiaorong while starting the engine. "Boys and girls danced together, but my original partner just took one look at me and immediately vomited on me. The scene made me so confused. It was a bit embarrassing. At this time, another girl came out to save me."
"is her?"
"She's Zhou Yu's fiancée." Luo Binhan said slowly, "She vomited on me."
(End of chapter)
