Closer to Revealing My True Self-Chapter 176 - 146 The Big Shot’s Aura_1

Feng Yi really felt that his fangs were a waste, but he didn’t know how to deal with them. If he didn’t handle them properly, he might attract visits from the United Security Bureau and certain departments to discuss life, or he could be taken out for "tea."

After visiting Tang Kui’s farm, Bai Lu arrived, and Mo Xiaoguang hurriedly left this place that kept his nerves on edge.

Tang Kui handed fishing gear to Mo Xiaoguang, Feng Yi, and the just-arrived Bai Lu, then led the three to his family’s fish pond.

Although this place was deserted today, one could tell it was frequently visited, as the path had been well maintained. It took only a few minutes to get there by car.

There were chairs and sun umbrellas, and not far away there were several houses with classic tiled roofs that contained a rest area and washrooms.

The place wasn’t big, yet it was fully equipped, indicating that Tang Kui’s family was rather well-off.

It seemed that the breeding farm business was indeed booming.

Having distanced himself from the snake farm, Mo Xiaoguang’s courage had ballooned, and he asked Tang Kui a question that he had been pondering the whole way:

"If I raise a snake from its youth, will it listen to me when it’s grown?"

He dared not look at or get close to the snakes at the farm; that intense fear was still deeply etched in his brain, so the trip to the breeding farm did not help him overcome his fear of snakes. At the same time, he realized that this fear couldn’t be overcome in a short period. Since a quick fix wasn’t an option, why not take a long-term approach?

I can’t face so many snakes at once, nor can I deal with the large ones, especially pythons. Wouldn’t it be better to start with a small, non-venomous snake?

Tang Kui did say his parents’ farm bred many kinds of snakes, including non-venomous ones. If only I could get a good-tempered, good-looking non-venomous snake, starting from a small snake and building a bond over time, would that help me overcome my fear?

Maybe privately raising snakes requires some kind of permit? But Tang Kui’s family must know a lot of people. With his help, applying for a permit shouldn’t be difficult, right?

Mo Xiaoguang looked at Tang Kui with anticipation.

After pondering for a moment, Tang Kui said with less approval, "Putting the difficulty of obtaining permits aside, if you want to treat it as a pet, you first need to understand that snakes are different from animals like dogs and cats. A snake’s brain is quite simple and its nervous system relatively uncomplicated. Over time, it might not react anxiously to familiar smells and behaviors, but if you’re expecting it to feel affection like dogs do with people, it’s unlikely."

Seeing the bewildered expression on Mo Xiaoguang’s face, Tang Kui put it more bluntly, "They are mostly not too bright; sometimes, they will bite regardless."

Mo Xiaoguang... completely gave up the idea of overcoming his fear by raising a snake.

Bai Lu, who’d been listening, was also curious. He missed the trip to the farm in the morning due to some other business and didn’t feel like getting up close to the snakes, but his curiosity was nonetheless palpable.

"My dad said that decades ago, some farms bred snakes to sell directly for people to eat. Some restaurants had snake dishes on their menu, but then a series of wildlife protection laws and regulations were enacted, and eating them was banned, both wild and bred. A while back, Yang City had a dish called ’Dragon and Phoenix Battle’ made with chicken and snake."

Mo Xiaoguang interrupted, "I’ve had that before! Doesn’t your family restaurant serve it? It was in the menu of specialties and quite expensive! Don’t tell me that..."

Bai Lu clarified, "No, no! Before the protection laws, the dish in Yang City was made with snake and chicken, but after the legal and regulatory changes, we switched to different ingredients. My family restaurant uses large swamp eels and Phoenix-tailed chickens."

Continuing, Bai Lu asked Tang Kui, "I heard from Mo Xiaoguang that you have numerous snakes. With such a large breeding operation, are you under a lot of pressure? Are people from the United Security Bureau always watching?"

Tang Kui smiled, "Of course there’s pressure, but it’s not too bad as long as you don’t overstep the regulations.

"My breeding farm has pythons, sharp-nosed pit vipers... that is, five-paced pit vipers, there’s king ratsnakes, rat snakes, king cobras, and so on, but we also collaborate with pharmaceutical companies and laboratories for some rare species and internationally imported breeds.

"Our type of commercial farming is necessary because we can provide alternative resources to derived products, largely satisfying market demands and reducing pressure on wild populations. From another perspective, this has a positive conservation impact on wild species.

"If there are formal channels to purchase from, some pharmaceutical companies and laboratories won’t have to risk capturing snakes illegally. As long as they’re not rare species, the prices are generally not too high, at least better than the consequences of poaching snakes and ending up jailed.

"I’ve even published papers on the identification and differentiation between wild and farmed snakes," said Tang Kui.

"You have to write papers on this?" Mo Xiaoguang exclaimed.

"Of course," Tang Kui seemed contemplative, a hint of pride in his eyes, "It also counts as making a little contribution to the protection of wildlife. Our breeding experience can enhance the effectiveness of certain department-specific activities.

"Some enforcement officers find it hard to determine the origin of snakes, and not every team can invite experts like Brother Yi for assessments. Thus, publishing our experience in journals and magazines lets readers know how to make preliminary distinctions and identifications. There are still many poachers out there."

After chatting for a while, Tang Kui left; he had to keep an eye on the breeding farm himself, particularly since he was not confident in the newly hired staff due to their lack of experience.

Once Tang Kui was gone, the fish pond became much quieter, and the three began fishing, though their minds weren’t entirely on the task at hand.

Bai Lu was considering "Dragon and Phoenix Battle," pulling up his phone to look through historical data from decades ago. Eating snakes might be banned now, but satisfying his curiosity by looking at historical materials was permissible.

Mo Xiaoguang pondered how to conquer his fear of snakes.

As for Feng Yi, he was thinking, How should I deal with my fangs?

Half an hour later.

Feng Yi still remained in the same position.

Mo Xiaoguang, wary of encountering snakes and thus staying not far from Feng Yi, hadn’t caught a single fish either.

Over there, Bai Lu, who was multitasking, had already caught his third fish.

Mo Xiaoguang looked at Bai Lu’s catch, then at his own side, and stealthily glanced at Feng Yi.

Mo Xiaoguang moved closer to Bai Lu.

Another half-hour passed.

Mo Xiaoguang finally caught a fish.

Bai Lu caught his fifth.

Feng Yi remained the same, without a single catch.

Mo Xiaoguang sent Bai Lu a message, worried that saying it out loud might be overheard by Feng Yi and hurt his pride.

Mo Xiaoguang: "Feng Yi still hasn’t caught anything."

Bai Lu: "Could he be the legendary ’Air Force’ of the fishing world?"

Mo Xiaoguang: "That’s not the ’Air Force’, that’s a big shot’s aura! He’s scared away all the fish :)"

Mo Xiaoguang thought for a moment and then said to Feng Yi, "Brother Yi, why don’t you try nesting?"

Nesting is casting bait into a fishing spot to increase efficiency.

Since they were in Tang Kui’s private fish pond, and Tang Kui had said there were many fish and they were easy to catch, they hadn’t done any nesting beforehand.

But now, looking at Feng Yi’s situation, was he really going to leave empty-handed?

Mo Xiaoguang hadn’t dragged Feng Yi here to fish just for him to leave without a catch. A successful fishing trip would encourage a future invite. If there was no catch, it would be hard to ask him out again. Without Feng Yi, an expert at snake-catching, Mo Xiaoguang always felt a lack of security. Thinking long term, he hoped Feng Yi would take to fishing and join them often.

"How about I help you? I’ve got a special formula!" Mo Xiaoguang offered.

Feng Yi snapped back to reality, "Thanks, but no need, I’ll keep trying."

"Alright, I’ll keep at it too. I refuse to catch less than Bai!"

Feeling the atmosphere had become too subdued, Mo Xiaoguang tried to liven things up by sharing some fishing stories:

"I used to be part of a fishing squad. There was this guy whose hometown wasn’t in Yang City. He went back home during the holidays, sneaked off to the river during the fishing ban, and ended up suffocating a finless porpoise while nesting, tsk tsk. Heard he got a pretty heavy sentence."

Bai Lu: "...Finless porpoises are a national level-1 protected species, aren’t they?"

"Yeah, the group was shocked when the news broke!"

Feng Yi listened to the conversation between Mo Xiaoguang and Bai Lu and refocused his mind.

Throughout the past hour of fishing, his mind hadn’t been on it at all; he was constantly pondering his teeth, causing his breath to subtly escape, which might have driven the fish away. That explained why initially Mo Xiaoguang, who was close to Feng Yi, couldn’t catch a single fish either.

Feng Yi reflected on his mistake; he’d been so engrossed in thinking about moving his teeth that he lost control of his breath.

He adjusted himself and continued fishing.

Within minutes, he had a bite, which was followed by a rapid pace of catching a fish every few minutes.

Not just Feng Yi, but Mo Xiaoguang too was too busy to continue gossiping with Bai.

"How come it feels like there are suddenly more fish!" exclaimed Mo Xiaoguang excitedly.

Earlier, when Tang Kui told them that his fish pond had plenty of fish and they were easy to catch, Mo Xiaoguang had only caught one fish in the first hour and thought Tang Kui had lied to him. But now, he believed it!

As for why they didn’t catch any fish in the first hour, maybe the fish had swum to the other side of the pond for some reason and now returned.

Who cares!

As long as they were catching fish, that was good!

And there were so many!

When it was time to pack up in the afternoon, Mo Xiaoguang was still reluctant to leave. He had had his fill for the day, having completely forgotten the shadow of his last encounter with a python.

Feng Yi packed up even earlier, but he didn’t leave; he just lay on the grass nearby, with a hat covering his face.

Mo Xiaoguang and Bai Lu thought he hadn’t slept well the night before and was catching up on sleep. But in reality, Feng Yi was just deep in thought.

At lunchtime, Feng Yi didn’t eat much in front of Mo Xiaoguang and Bai Lu and later ate a bit more in the car, though there wasn’t much food there either. In order to save energy and focus more on thinking, Feng Yi packed up early and pretended to sleep on the grass.

Why didn’t he sleep in the car? freewёbnoνel.com

Compared to the car, Feng Yi found the grass to be more comfortable.

The grass here was regularly maintained by a professional. According to Tang Kui, some big clients also came here to fish when discussing business partnerships, so the area was kept in good condition.

Anyway, Feng Yi thought the grass was decent enough for a nap.

The weather today was pleasant, neither cold nor hot, ideal for finding a spot on the grass to zone out and ponder.

Feng Yi had some plans for his two long teeth.

First, he would buy two chickens.