Zhang Zian was about to give a serious lesson to Snowy Lionet. It could not eat too much Spicy Diced Chicken––it was too hot. Then he heard Old Time Tea shouting for him from downstairs.
He waved the feather duster again to intimidate Richard, then quickly walked downstairs.
“Grandpa Tea, what’s the matter?” he asked as he bent down next to Old Time Tea.
Old Time Tea lifted a front paw, pointed at the TV screen, and asked, “Zian, is this news worth watching?”
Zhang Zian looked at the screen.
The local morning news was on.
In fact, girls in Binhai City, such as the news hostess, were of high quality. She was prettier than the CCTV hostess, except not as nicely presented.
The hostess glanced at the script, then lifted up her head with a smile.
“Here is good news for everyone: the pollution treatment has been proven effective in our city. Minke whales that have not been seen for many years are resurfacing in the sea near our city. Here is the detailed story.”
The screen switched.
On the vast sea, the cameraman seemed to be rising and falling with the waves on a boat. Water drops splashed on the camera lens.
The cameraman pointed the lens somewhere in the distance.
The lens zoomed in.
Among the rolling white waves, a number of giant grey creatures swam on the surface of the deep, blue sea.
They chased each other and jumped out of the water every once in a while. After they turned their bodies in the air and exposed their white bellies, they landed back into the sea with a loud splash, making waves a few meters tall.
Poof!
Poof!
A thin air pillar squirted out of their nostrils. They revealed their identity as whales in a unique way.
A voice-over spoke:
“As reported by fishermen, a pod of whales has recently appeared in the sea near our city. In order to not disturb their games, the cameraman is keeping a distance. The experts have identified them as minke whales, who have not been spotted in decades near our city.”
The screen shifted again. A middle-aged man wearing glasses was standing in front of the camera. Subtitles showed that he was a high-level official in the Ocean and Fishery Bureau of Binhai City.
“Minke whales are very sensitive to the environment. The fact that they are resurfacing the sea nearby is proof that the pollution treatment work in our city is going well. We are heading towards the right direction, taking the right measures, and following the right method. The agencies involved have done a lot of work, but there remains a lot to be done.”
“As instructed by city officials, the Ocean and Fishery Bureau has made an urgent plan to work with other departments to deepen the regional corporation and strengthen the administrative measures on the sea. They will do everything they can to keep the pod of minke whales here and make them beautiful scenery in our city!”
He spoke with resolution. His tone was a bit rusty, as if he had just recited the script.
The screen switched back to the hostess.
“The government offices suggest that everyone should not watch the whales in the sea simply out of curiosity. Just let them roam freely between the water and the air.”
“That’s it for the news today. The weather forecast will follow. Before we end our program today, let’s appreciate the beauty of these minke whales in the waves once again.”
With the subtitles, the screen switched once again to the minke whale pod. The boat and the cameraman never got too close to them, and stayed parallel to the pod. The sea surface was bumpy, so they could not be clearly seen in the camera. Yet, the audience could still feel their happy and relaxed mood.
After the subtitles, the weather forecast was on the television.
“From now into tonight, it will be cloudy, then sunny in the north of our city, with western wind…”
Zhang Zian was speechless…
It turned out that the minke whales’ arrival was due to the effective pollution treatment… I almost believed them!
The experts might know that this was a far-fetched explanation, but since the species had not been seen for decades and were making a comeback, it could be the only plausible explaination.
He had always doubted Sihwa’s claimed ability to communicate with whale pods thousands of kilometers away, but now it seemed to true. She was indeed able to communicate with whales using low-frequency songs inaudible to human ears. It could not have been a coincidence.
Old Time Tea chuckled. “Zian, people seem so thrilled for the arrival of the whales. It’s even on the news.”
“That’s right. Whales are huge and cute and never harm people. There are rumors that whales have saved drowning people. If it were a school of sharks, the news would be saying differently…” Zhang Zian also laughed. “Maybe the government offices will warn people not to swim in the sea.”
Old Time Tea nodded. “Looks like bringing Sihwa back was the right decision.”
He concurred with his mouth, but didn’t fully agree in his heart. What if it were a school of white sharks swimming over? If the girls were too afraid to swim in the sea, it would have been a gloomy summer!
After watching the local news, Old Time Tea switched to the CCTV news channel to watch the national and international news.
Zhang Zian wanted to share the news with Sihwa. He returned upstairs.
The tap in the bathroom was still running to replenish the tub. As soon as he heard the running water, he thought about the water bill, which would certainly be expensive this month. It probably wouldn’t cost less in the future, either.
He didn’t plan to use natural saltwater as the source of the tanks. Instead, he used the purified water treated by reverse-osmosis system and prepared artificial saltwater. Regardless of what the local news reported, the saltwater near the city was surely polluted. The toxic heavy metal would neither evaporate with the water nor degrade on its own. It would only accumulate in the aquarium tanks more and more.
It would take a lot of water to fill up all the tanks he had custom-made. The filters were expensive, too, which made his heart ache.
Sihwa finally cleaned up the chili powder on her body and in her hair. She stopped her tears and mumbled angrily, “Stupid fat orange cat! Just watch me! I’ll turn you into a drowned cat next time!”
It seemed that the war between Shiwa and Fina would not end anytime soon.
She pulled her bikini out to look inside. There seemed to be chili powder inside, as well. She wanted to take the swimsuit off to wash them.
“Ahem!” Zhang Zian coughed at the bathroom entrance.
Sihwa lifted her head and glanced at him with friendly, blue eyes. “Ajeo-an, as the owner, aren’t you responsible for disciplining that fat, orange cat? Didn’t you promise to put a leash on the cat and walk it?”
Zhang Zian was about to clarify that the fat orange cat never saw him as its owner, then Fina yelled in the bedroom, “That stinky, salty fish in the tank… Shall I get you on a hook and turn you into dried fish?”
“Meow meow meow! Your Majesty, don’t bother with that little fish. How about releasing your anger on me? You can knead, bite, scratch… No matter how you trample me, I will never fight back!” Snowy Lionet didn’t forget to become involved.
Sihwa could not take the insult and wanted to yell back.
Zhang Zian saw that things were never-ending between them. Soon, there would be another fist fight. He didn’t want to get the other elfins involved. So he quickly shut the bathroom door and kept Fina’s voice outside.
He said seriously, “Sihwa, I have some good news to share. A pod of minke whales just appeared in the sea near Binhai City…”
“I know that. I knew as soon as they arrived.” Sihwa interrupted him before he finished talking.
She was still angry and said in fury, “They arrived last night. I wanted to tell you this morning, but the fat orange cat interrupted me and I forgot about it!”
“All right. That’s it for me.”
Zhang Zian realized that it made sense. If Sihwa was able to communicate with the whales from such a distance, it would be unreasonable that she didn’t know they were already close by.
As he was about to leave, Sihwa added, “A-jeoan, you can’t possibly think that there’s only a few whales, can you?”
“What?” Zhang Zian was astonished and paused himself.
Sihwa shrugged without letting anything into her heart, as if she took the answer for granted. She said in a laid-back fashion, “This is only the vanguard. The real whale pod is still behind.”
Zhang Zian was speechless.
Merely a few minke whales was enough to make the government offices nervous and to make them announce special instructions on television in an attempt to keep them close as much as possible. If a large pod arrived, it would drive them nuts…