Chapter 13
Page (1/3)
“Vegetable market...?” Wen Youning nodded, recalling the arowana that was planning to jump out of its tank tonight. She followed the livestream @ tag and clicked into the vendor’s livestream room.
The account had a few thousand followers, with the host online for over ten hours, likely since early morning when the vegetables were gathered.
Because of what she said earlier that day, the vendor’s livestream was now flooded with messages like, “The arowana’s going to jump tonight, keep an eye on it,” “Don’t close up shop, watch the arowana,” “If you pack up and leave, it’ll jump at night and you’ll only find it dead tomorrow.” And so on...
The vendor usually ran an online store and livestreamed sales but hadn’t attracted much attention before.
Thanks to big data promotion, Wen Youning’s livestream followers all got these messages.
At this time, the vendor had already packed up the remaining vegetables and was driving home.
Throughout the afternoon’s livestream, the chat had been advising him to stay at the market, but by now he’d grown somewhat immune.
Waiting at a red light, the vendor responded to the chat: “It won’t really jump, don’t worry. I know my fish well; I’ve had them for a long time. People are just joking. The market’s already closed, I’m almost home, so I’m not going back to check. It’s fine.”
The vendor didn’t take the matter seriously—in fact, he hardly believed it. How could anyone really hear an animal’s thoughts? It was too far-fetched. After learning the other party was a streamer, he thought it was just for show.
So, even though the chat kept urging him to return, he had no intention of going back.
After all, he’d been hearing similar things all day.
The vendor said, “Everyone, check the shopping cart below, if you’re interested, place your orders.”
With such high attention but no sales, where could he argue?
[What if it’s true?]
[Yeah, better to believe than not. Arowanas are expensive.]
[To raise one this big, not counting purchase price, the cost must be tens of thousands.]
[Just satisfy my curiosity.]
Watching the rapidly scrolling comments and the sales surge, the vendor sighed, “Alright, alright, since you all say so, I’ll go back and film it... But I’m warning you, I’ll just check the fish in the tank and leave. If new followers miss it, I won’t come back again.”
For the sake of the fans’ enthusiasm, he turned on his signal and made a U-turn.
“I’ve had these two arowanas in the same tank for a while. If they wanted to jump, it would have happened long ago,” he said, gripping the steering wheel with helplessness. People believed rumors too readily.
The market was dark, the area remote, and the streetlights dim.
Driving back, the headlights illuminated the security guard’s hut. The old man squinted sleepily, “Who’s there?”
The vendor rolled down the window. “Old man, it’s me, from the meat stall. I’m back to get something.”
The old man leisurely shuffled over in slippers. “Register in the book.”
The registration was thorough, taking five or six minutes to complete. “Done, old man.”
The old man put on reading glasses, examined the ID photo carefully, and after confirming it matched, pressed the remote to open a small rolling shutter by the side. “Go in. Come out quickly.”
The market had over a hundred stalls. Staying inside too long might lead to missing belongings.
“Got it, old man.” The vendor handed over a pack of cigarettes through the window. “Thanks for your hard work.”
He drove into the vegetable market’s parking lot, holding his phone’s camera toward the entrance. “Alright, let’s see this much-talked-about arowana.”
The market’s lighting was managed by the district; he only knew the switch near his stall. He had turned on his flashlight upon entering. Luckily, the livestream had a night vision feature, so even if the surroundings were dark, viewers could still see clearly.
“Honestly, although the silver arowana was bought later, these two get along well. In such a large tank, they even swim close and rub against each other. Even if they’re not close, the golden arowana wouldn’t dislike the silver one.”
“And the silver arowana definitely wouldn’t want to jump out to avoid the golden one...”
As he spoke, he reached his stall and clicked on the overhead light.
The next moment, the vendor’s voice abruptly stopped upon seeing the silver arowana leap into the air and fall vertically.
*Splash.*
The silver arowana landed headfirst, its tail slanting as its body twisted, thrashing helplessly out of water.
The vendor bent down, reaching out, but his arm was still some distance away. His fingers trembled stiffly as he tried to beckon; his face twitched in disbelief at what he was witnessing.
“My silver arowana—ahhhh!!!”
His heart-wrenching scream echoed through the empty market.
Page (2/3)
[Ahhh?! It really jumped!]
[The light was just right. I was looking for the silver arowana in the tank, but it had already flown out.]
[Hiss—Is this acting? Like the silver arowana was told beforehand to jump the moment the light turned on? Or is it reversed footage?]
[Sis, don’t you think if it’s reversed footage, that’d be even more amazing?!]
...
Earlier that day, Wen Youning said the silver arowana was planning to jump at night.
Now, just after dark, it couldn’t wait even a minute and a half—its jump was swift and decisive.
The vendor rushed over, wetting his hands quickly with tank water to cool them before grabbing the silver arowana from the ground and placing it back into the tank.
He didn’t even clean the dirt off the fish, fearing that a single second’s delay would be fatal.
The vendor’s panic hadn’t subsided; his heart was still pounding with fear.
If he hadn’t listened to the chat and come back to check, the silver arowana would have been a dried-up corpse by morning.
Even hardy goldfish can’t survive long out of water, let alone delicate ornamental fish like silver arowanas.
His heart pounded fiercely. Could it be true that he could hear animals’ thoughts?
After all, these two fish had gotten along well before. Who would have guessed one of them would want to jump the tank? Even if it was a wild guess, it could never be this accurate—and it was!
She said it would jump at night, and sure enough, it jumped after dark.
The timing was perfect!
Huh?
Could such a ridiculous ability really be true?
I’m... not...
The vendor’s gaze went blank; he was completely thrown off.
Oh no, I need to start thinking.
Standing on a chair beside the tank, he stared thoughtfully at the shimmering water surface under the light.
The silver arowana, back in the tank, seemed listless but kept mumbling.
“Almost died, annoying.”
“Stop staring, what are you looking at?”
“Wanna fight?”
...
The silver arowana’s thoughts grew increasingly irritable.
Wen Youning typed a message: [Get down from the chair, stay away from the tank.]
Vendor: “Huh? What?”
Before he could react, a flash of white caught his eye. Next moment, *smack*, his left cheek stung, his head tilted uncontrollably, and the phone he was gripping flew aside.
Everything happened too fast.
The splash from the silver arowana’s flicking tail drenched his face.
Slowly, the vendor raised his hand to touch his stinging, wet cheek. The silver arowana’s strike was spot on; it had already dived back under the water.
*Thud.* His phone hit the floor.
The slap jolted the vendor back to reality.
“...”
Did I just get slapped by a fish?
The fish actually slapped me???
Page (3/3)
Is this for real?
Before the phone flew away, the iconic moment of the silver arowana attacking the human was captured clearly.
[Wow—that must have hurt his head buzzing like crazy.]
[Times have changed so fast; even getting smacked by a fish tail can be seen from a first-person perspective.]
[Hahaha, that slap was so solid.]
[Wen Jie even warned you to dodge, yet your reaction was too slow.]
...
Looking at the silver arowana in the tank, the vendor clenched his jaw in anger but couldn’t do anything to it.
He decided to leave it alone for now. What flashed through his mind were the messages Wen Youning had sent from her streamer account.
Those words seemed almost tangible now.
He really believed the streamer could hear the fish’s thoughts!
Jumping down from the chair, the vendor hurriedly picked up his phone, opened Wen Youning’s livestream, and without hesitation sent several of the most expensive gifts.
If Wen Youning hadn’t warned him about the arowana jumping, no matter how hard he thought, he wouldn’t have guessed such a thing would happen.
If he came tomorrow morning, the silver arowana would be dried out on the floor.
Wen Youning was also watching his livestream. The vendor’s phone screen wouldn’t show his livestream room’s operations, but when she saw the gifts, she realized what he was busy with.
Vendor: [Thank you, streamer, for saving my silver arowana’s life!]
[I’m truly convinced. I believe you can really read pets’ thoughts. The world is vast; I’ve been too narrow-minded.]
After sending the comment, he still felt it wasn’t enough and continued sending gifts.
The livestream was flooded with his gift-sending animation.
If the first jump was a coincidence, the second time—when the fish slapped him and his face still hurt—was even more convincing.
Could it be any more real?
Others might think it was scripted or actors playing a role, but as someone who personally experienced it, the vendor knew the truth all too well.
—Could he be an actor himself? Of course he knew better.
He had doubted the streamer at first and sighed deeply. If he had believed from the start, there wouldn’t have been such a dramatic rescue tonight.
If he had separated the fish immediately when Wen Youning mentioned it, nothing would have happened.
Wen Youning took a sip of water and typed: [Glad it’s saved. Separate the tanks as soon as possible. The silver arowana really annoys the golden one; if you delay, there’ll be trouble.]
Right after sending the message, the vendor’s phone showed a request to join a voice chat.
“Hm?” Wen Youning clicked to accept, suspicious. “Any more questions?”
“Nothing much, just wanted to thank you personally. Also...” The vendor scratched his head and turned the camera back to the tank. “I saw your livestream title says you can treat pets. I want to ask, is my silver arowana okay?”
After all the commotion today, the silver arowana didn’t look well.
Back in the water, it didn’t wag its tail like a healthy one but sank motionless.
The vendor said, “Look, it’s almost at the bottom. Seems down. What’s it thinking?”
The silver arowana’s eyes didn’t move, only its barbels floated with the current.
“Back again.”
“Annoying.”
“Glub glub, scratching my scales. Glub... I’m done for.”
“I’m drowning myself.”