Closer to Revealing My True Self-Chapter 138 - 114 Expert_2

Unfortunately, the other party headed straight this way.

"Boss Liu, business doesn’t seem to be doing well in your shop today!" the visitor said.

The store owner lazily responded, "It’s alright, the market is like this recently. You understand, Old Zhang, right? Otherwise, I wouldn’t have so much time to stroll around."

Old Zhang was the owner of a shop in the flower and bird market. Whenever his shop wasn’t too busy, Old Zhang would leave it to his family to watch, and he’d wander around with a thermos filled with alcohol, chatting about gossip, playing chess, and offering advice to buyers.

Now he was roaming over here, smacking his lips, "My shop’s business is pretty good; I just can’t sit still."

Two young girls came over to look at fish, and Old Zhang edged closer, "What do you want to buy? I’m familiar with the whole market. I know what each shop sells, the quality of their goods, and how trustworthy the owners are."

Other people who weren’t sure which shop to buy fish from heard this and came over.

The fish shop owner rolled his eyes disdainfully at Old Zhang; a flower shop owner who spent his days instructing others on their turf, acting like he’s oh-so-professional.

Old Zhang saw the crowd gathering around and felt quite pleased. He enjoyed the attention, leisurely sipping his drink, "Choosing a koi fish, you see, is quite a complex matter. You need to look carefully, inspect thoroughly, and not just squat there and randomly scoop with a net..."

Right in the midst of this, Feng Yi had already put on plastic gloves, squatting there and scooping one fish after another from the pool with a net.

This was the epitome of squatting down and starting to scoop, disregarding any careful looking.

Old Zhang couldn’t restrain himself, "Hey, hey, hey, that’s not how you choose fish! I was just talking about it, and here you are making mistakes! If this were school, you’d definitely be the kind who doesn’t pay attention in class!

"Every penny spent must be worthwhile. The fish you’re choosing, like this one you just picked, it has a problem with its head shape! And this one, its mouth isn’t positioned properly! With your youth, what kind of eyes do you have?"

The two young girls glanced at Feng Yi, then back at the fish, and finally focused on Feng Yi again.

Old Zhang kept blabbering, but Feng Yi didn’t care much about his words. He was determined to choose fish efficiently – there weren’t many in the pool that satisfied him, only a handful he felt were acceptable by smell. He didn’t plan to only choose from one shop; picking a few satisfactory ones from each would do.

Moreover, his way of choosing fish was different from others; their expertise didn’t apply to him. So he didn’t care at all about Old Zhang’s words.

"I don’t care that much, picking fish is all about a good connection," he said.

As Feng Yi spoke, he continued to scoop through the pool with his net.

Seeing that Feng Yi really wasn’t planning to heed his advice, Old Zhang criticized a few more things and went on chatting with the others. Whether it was the flower and bird market or the pet market here, he could always make a comment about the shops selling cats, dogs, birds, and fish.

As he spoke, he began to talk about the biggest event in the flower and bird market a few years ago.

"This flower and bird market is the largest and most famous in Yang City, but the real big event happened seven or eight years ago. You folks from out of town might not know about it, but back in the day..." Old Zhang intentionally paused, took a sip of his drink and continued, "Back then, there was a big case here. A pet shop owner supposedly sold hamsters and guinea pigs, but in reality, he was keeping a lot of snakes at home! When he got raided, they say, out of a hundred snakes, ninety-nine were protected species!"

"What about the remaining one?" someone asked curiously.

Old Zhang smacked his lips, "The last one wasn’t found, it got lost in the chaos, who knows where it went..."

He leisurely took another swig.

Suddenly, a voice emerged from the side, "Did you end up using that last one to soak in your drink?"

Pfft!

"Cough cough! Cough cough cough!"

This remark caught Old Zhang off guard, causing him to choke, unable to utter a complete word for quite some time. He tried to say something but started coughing again.

With more and more doubtful gazes surrounding him, Old Zhang grew anxious, but the more anxious he became, the more he coughed. It was the first time he felt such torture being the center of attention.

The fish shop owner sized up Old Zhang, weighing his thoughts. The people of the market knew Old Zhang’s temperament; if he weren’t guilty, he wouldn’t have reacted like this. If he hadn’t done something wrong, he’d stand his ground with confidence. But now, this situation...

A few of the market’s old-timers exchanged glances and picked up their phones.

"It’s not cough... you’re slandering cough cough cough!"

Old Zhang’s face turned red with anger and urgency. The thermos he usually used to show off was now hard for him to hold steady, and he even spilled some of his drink.

Old Zhang shakily raised his finger, pointing at Feng Yi who had just spoken, his eyes bloodshot with emotion, "You..."

Feng Yi scooped up another fish, stood up, removed his gloves, and said, "Seems like it was a python, wasn’t it? How does python wine taste?"

"You cough cough cough—"

Feng Yi ignored him and took the fish he had chosen to the owner to pay.

The fish shop owner quickly calculated the amount. He wouldn’t usually be so enthusiastic about such a small purchase of cheap fish, but now his attention was focused on what Feng Yi had just said.

"Were you just scaring him with what you said, or do you know something?" he asked.

"I smelled the wine in his cup," Feng Yi said. "It’s soaked with python, could be from a tree python."

"Really?!"

"Shouldn’t be wrong."

After dropping a bombshell, Feng Yi carried his few fish to the next shop to continue picking fish.

And Old Zhang, whether out of guilt or something else, didn’t continue wandering around the market. He went straight back home.

But even quicker was the market manager.

Perhaps because Old Zhang had made too many enemies, catching him in the act like this was rare, so someone passed the news to the market manager.

This matter could be big or small. If only a few people knew, it could be kept low-key, but so many had heard it. If it was a rumor, he’d need to squash it. If it was true, then it had to be reported higher up.

Indeed, a python had gone missing years ago and not many people knew about it. The fact that the young man could outright say "python" gave some credibility to his words.

On the other hand, Feng Yi efficiently picked out fish from several stores and ran into an old classmate halfway.

"Feng Yi? You’re back in Yang City?" The person sized up Feng Yi’s getup.

Because he came to the flower and bird market to pick fish personally, Feng Yi dressed casually, not as fancy, and when people saw him, he was squatting by a pool where fish were ten yuan each, holding a cheap net and wearing disposable plastic gloves. He looked nothing like the rich young master from before.

He seemed to be down on his luck, the classmate thought.

"Yeah. Just got back not long ago," Feng Yi replied.

After picking his fish, Feng Yi didn’t plan on staying at the flower and bird market any longer. He made small talk with the old classmate without much conversation. They hadn’t been in touch for so many years and had nothing in common to talk about.

As soon as Feng Yi left, the old classmate quickly spread the news of Feng Yi’s return to Yang City in several chat groups.

He also shared the photo he had sneakily taken earlier – the scene of Feng Yi squatting by the fish pool.

Feng Yi walked out of the market, finished with his fish selection and ready to head back.

He had just gotten into the car when he received a call. It was from Captain Yuan of the United Security Bureau.

"You’re in Yang City?" Captain Yuan asked.

"How did you know?" Feng Yi was curious.

"I just heard some news about a related incident at the flower and bird market from a previous case. There are also sideview candid photos."

"Oh, that’s me."

"If you’re free now, I have a favor to ask of you."

"What is it?"

"There’s a batch of Snake Gallbladders, help identify them."

Feng Yi thought for a moment, "I’ve never verified Snake Gallbladders before, not sure how accurate I’ll be."

"Trust your own abilities."

"If you don’t mind, I don’t either."

"Okay, head straight to the Yang City branch of the United Security Bureau. I’ll send you the location."

Feng Yi let Jia drive him to the Yang City branch of the United Security Bureau.

When they arrived at the location, someone was waiting there, wearing the badge of the United Security Bureau, quite young. A young errand runner.

"Are you the expert referred by Captain Yuan?" The man looked Feng Yi up and down.

He didn’t look the part, still carrying a faint smell of fish.

Fishy smell?

Doubt flickered in the man’s eyes.

But Feng Yi didn’t care.

Touching his chin, Feng Yi said, "That’s me."

And so, one day, I also became an expert.