Chapter 29
"Ding—"
Following this sound, two slices of golden toast popped out of the toaster. Not so far next to it, above the bluish flame, an omelet was sizzling on a black frying pan, there was bacon in the kitchen, and the smell of the yellow mustard sauce was dancing. The soft yellow sunshine came in from the window and fell on the island-styled kitchen counter. The sweet and crispy oat cereal fell scattered on the white milk inside the bowl, intermittently dotted with red and purple dried berries.
Rand tilted his head and mixed a Greek salad with yogurt, sweet oranges, and peppermint leaves in a salad bowl (not the one Munster had stayed in). His phone was sandwiched between his shoulder and his ear. Unlike the laid-back and warm atmosphere that was spread throughout the whole kitchen, his expression was actually a little anxious... mixed with a bit of helplessness. His voice was full of restlessness.
"...yes, I'm aware it's awfully troublesome, but I really do need an aquarium... yes, that's right, I don't care about the size, is it a lot bigger than the one before? Oh, no problem, honestly, whatever is better... In short, if you guys could drop by today to install it then that would just be wonderful... Oh, okay... I'm truly grateful, thank you so much!"
He breathed out a long sigh of relief after hanging up the phone. He never thought that there would ever be a day where he would, in spite of everything, feel that his life had been saved because of an aquarium.
Recalling what happened after he woke up this morning... Oh, that was truly a nightmare.
He had yet to recall the affair of being tormented by Munster the night before. He just dragged his still sluggish body and dazedly walked straight into the bathroom as per usual. However, after pulling apart the shower curtain, he instantly saw the little monster floating above the water surface—
Its belly was facing up, its two pectoral-fin-like paws gathered to its chest, its eyes were tightly shut, and it produced an even "snoring" sound from tiny puffs of breath. Its two small antennas tremble from the top of its head every so once in a while.
It slept so peacefully that it was only after Rand blankly stared at it for a moment before he suddenly remembered that at present, his bathtub had already turned into this little monster's residence.
Well then, as a matter of fact, nothing seemed to be a problem at this time— even Rand just supported his forehead with his hand and decided to give up his early morning bath with a hint of resignation.
And it was at this time, he merely thought, perhaps he could take a closer look at this little monster, after all, it just floated so effortlessly on the water surface, so close to him. Rand did indeed want to figure out once and for all what the hell it was too.
So Rand bent down and leaned over, he squinted his eyes a little because of his nearsightedness. He might be a bit too close to Munster, he could even smell the very light fishy smell on the little monster's body...
Yet it was also at this time that Munster too opened its eyes—
It took a quick look at Rand.
Only God knows what was going on in its weird little brain.
"Jiji— Ji—"
Accompanying a miserable shriek, it jumped out of the water, and its tail instantly flapped all over the bathtub. Rand's whole being was immediately drenched. He suspected that Munster was about to jump up to his face, so much so that his face was swatted by its tail. He felt a burst of sudden sharp pain and a large number of splashes of water blurred his vision more so than it was to start with.
Rand frantically shut his eyes and carelessly shoved his hands in front of himself— to put it nicely, this scene was simply straight out of hell— he only touched some slippery things, maybe his fingernails had cut into something, but he did not react.
Until another loud and clear water splash sounded, Munster fell back into the bathtub. Rand casually wiped his face with the shower curtain, he lowered his head with an ashen complexion and saw Munster was scurrying about under the clear water of the bathtub— a few seconds later, it ran into the bathtub wall headfirst and curled up there. It seemed to be attempting to bury itself under the water.
If this was on the real seafloor, his actions may be able to be reluctantly regarded as "camouflage", but for God's sake— this is in Rand's fucking bathtub!
Rand was almost unable to hold back the anger in his mind, he was simply angered to the brink of insanity, after all, he never thought that there would be a day where he would go so far as to be so made such a fool out of by a fish (that perhaps was not even a fish)!
Moreover, it was even twice.
He took in a deep breath of air, gnashing his teeth, and even began to think about the possibility of ridding it from his home. But he then saw a wisp of blue rising in the clear water.
Oh, wait...
Rand frowned. He recalled that this little monster's blood was blue and just now he... seemed to have cut something open?
Looking down, Rand found that his fingernails also had a trace of an already dried blue. He could not help stretching his bottom lip taut, realizing that he might have hurt Munster just now.
He stood there, a little stupidly and lifeless for a bit and then he felt that he may not be able to turn a blind eye to Munster's injury. So he had no choice but to build up the courage to endure his fright and reach into the water.
"Hey, you damn little guy, I don't want to hurt you, so can you calm down too?"
He couldn't help talking to it, and his face that had been previously slapped by its tail still dully ached.
Oh, God, what is it that he 's done to end up where he is now? Rand says in his heart, swearing that he 'll never, ever rescue any fish that seems to be of unknown origin again... or any kind of strange animal.
He doesn't know if Rand's self-mumbling had an impact. Munster did not show panic this time, although Rand had to expend a little effort when he took his head from that corner (can someone tell him why a fish is so strong?!).
Rand then found that one of the antennae on Munster's head had fallen off, and the other one didn't look very good either— it was crooked to one side, half of it was separated from the base and the other half was connected by a thin slip of skin.
From the place where the antennae came off, blue blood slowly seeped out.
"Damn."
Rand cursed in a low voice.
He didn't know what the antennae meant to this weird creature, but it was evident that it was truly hurt by his actions prior to this.
Rand tried to touch the base of Munster's antenna with the layer of skin still attached to them, it was soft to the touch... and Munster cried out immediately.
It violently twisted its body, escaped from Rand's hand, and proceeded to go headfirst into the corner of the bathtub.
Rand was really unsure whether those two small wounds should be allowed to be left alone... and... he was really awfully reluctant to have his bathtub soaked with unknown blood from an unknown creature.
After thinking it over for a while, he fetched the first aid kit from his room, and in his mind the thought of "I'm actually treating a fish now" incessantly echoed in his train of thought. He disinfected the scissors with alcohol and then carefully and cautiously fished the little monster out and trimmed the layer of skin connected to its antennae as gently as possible.
He had thought that Munster would screech or struggle just as it did before, but strangely this time it just lays on the edge of the bathtub wet and motionless, permitting Rand's actions. It let out something like faint "jiu jiu" sounds from its mouth.
(TN: This one looks like it also sounds like chirps, like tweets, like a chu chu maybe? It also says wailing of a child is a possibility lmao.)
This is the first time Rand has heard anything other than "jiji" from its mouth.
He has to say that Munster looks way cuter now than before.
Rand hoped that its character could also come up to speed with its current appearance...
He stared at Munster for a short while before sighing deeply.
He reached out a finger and patted Munster's smooth head, the latter made a modified sound of "Jiu... ji", and then freed itself and slipped into the water.
All in all, this is what Rand did all morning— fighting with his pet fish and treating it.
By the way, he was still deprived of the bathing place by the other party.
To sum it up, in Rand's current life, he found that the thing he needed most had become an aquarium. So as a result, he called the shop where he had placed the order before and asked if they could install it on the same day. This request can be seen as being completely unreasonable. After all, the initial agreement was a week from now. In fact, Rand didn't actually give it too much hope, but after hearing that Rand was willing to part with that fairly hefty deposit, the other person happily stated that he could introduce a Szechuan restaurant in Chinatown to Rand.
Yes, it sounds somewhat crazy, but in fact, this restaurant has exactly the aquariums that Rand needs in stock: they had just ordered a large number of aquariums in Chinatown, and for the money, they are more than happy to part with one for Rand, although the aquarium may be slightly larger in size than what he needs (actually this is in line with Rand's desires, after all, even he is not sure whether Munster will continue to grow bigger in the future). What is most gratifying is that those diligent Chinese people are willing to drop in to help with the installation that day.
Rand finally felt that Lady Luck had paid him a visit at last.
That afternoon, the people of the Szechuan restaurant rang Rand's doorbell as arranged. The aquarium they brought, in theory, was to display the live fish to the crowds of customers in the restaurant— it is said that they always did it like that in their hometown, after all, only the freshest fish can make the most delicious Sichuan-style Poached Fish in Chili Oil.
The size of the aquarium was actually larger than Rand had imagined— the Chinese workers responsible for the installation took a little time to completely finish installing it. Of course, it looks a bit cruder than a common commercially marketed aquarium, but...
"Very useful... very... strong..."
The leading Chinese worker stuttered to Rand in English with a Taiwanese accent.
"Ah, thank you," Rand said to him with a bit of gratitude, then he looked at the aquarium, which looked a bit ridiculous in comparison to the size of the living room area, and softly mumbled to himself in a self-hypnotizing voice, "And I don't think it's that ugly after looking at it for a long time."
In fact, even the most beautiful aquarium, as far as Rand is currently concerned... and the true resident of the aquarium, that little monster called Munster, is meaningless. At the end of the day, Munster in it of itself is not a creature that is pleasing to the eye either.
After he finished filling it up, Rand fished Munster out of the bathtub and put it in the aquarium.
During this course of events, a young worker who was still adjusting the water supply equipment kept a steady gaze on Munster.
"Is there something wrong?"
Rand couldn't help asking.
The worker shook his head a bit shyly. His English was not very good, but he quickly spoke to his friend in Chinese— the leading worker said something.
"He said... this is a pike..."
(TN: Kind of fish, looks fairly ugly, look it up or I'll see if I can figure out how to insert pictures lol.)
The lead worker translates.
Rand feels very surprised. He thought that Munster was a weird deep-sea variety, yet he did not expect that a Chinese person could recognize it.
"Haha... he said... he's actually not very sure, but it looks a bit like it..."
The other party continued.
Rand repeated that odd word again and decided to search for some information on the Internet later.
"Thank you," he thanked him thoroughly sincerely, in all fairness, after knowing that Munster wasn't really a little monster, he felt the burden sagging his shoulders be lifted, "I thought I would never figure out what it was."
"In China... it's precious, it makes sounds... but some people raise them to eat, it's said to be really delicious ..."
After the worker finished speaking, as if he realized something wasn't right, he donned an embarrassed smile.
"This one of yours looks very nice..."
He hurriedly explained himself, signaling that he really had no other meaning. Rand pulled back the corners of his mouth, showing that he didn't mind, although, from the start, he was shocked by that Chinese man's words.
After paying the fees in full and sending the workers off, he returned to the front of the aquarium and attentively observed Munster— the latter of which was clearly a bit put off with its new home and was floating up and down. Its faint blue scales radiated a pearl-like sheen under the water.
Rand felt that, for such a creature, even if he killed it, he would not have an appetite.
The author has something to say: After researching a bit of information, I found that Taiwan doesn't seem to have Chinese giant salamanders and the lead worker is Taiwanese... When he proposed that Munster was a pike (another name for Chinese giant salamanders), there was no rebuttal, and the other Chinese only have a rough idea of what a Chinese giant salamander looks like... so naturally... It's misunderstanding ORZ
(TN: There was a mistranslation, Chinese giant salamanders still look kinda ugly tho lmao.)
And, Munster's new home is indeed... (silently lighting candles)
(TN: Munster has not been a good child at all lately! Someone discipline it!)