After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood – CH35

Chapter 35: Growing Up

By the time Lu Ao herded the geese back home, it was almost noon. The weather was unbearably hot, stuffy and oppressive. Sweat clung to his body, making him itch all over.

Summer was like this. The sky was bright, but it was hot.

He shut the geese back into the pen, gave them food and water, locked the door, and walked back toward the courtyard.

The first thing he did when he got home was rush to the bathroom for a shower. He washed twice, hair included.

Only after finally feeling fresh all over did he come out to make lunch.

The weather was too hot, and he did not have much of an appetite, so he made a simplified version of cold noodles.

After the noodles were cooked, he fished them out and ran them through ice water. Then he placed them in a bowl, added shredded cucumber, shredded carrot, eggplant strips, and other toppings, poured over the mixed sour-spicy sauce, and finally piled a full bowl of braised meat on top. Then it was ready to eat.

The noodles that had been chilled in ice water were cold and springy. Mixed with the sour-spicy sauce, one bite immediately whetted the appetite.

After one bite of noodles, he had a thick, flavorful slice of braised meat. Every fiber of the meat had soaked up the sauce. It was soft, tender, fragrant, and not tough at all. When his teeth sank into it, all the meat juices were squeezed out.

The rich meat juice spread through his mouth, giving Lu Ao an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

After eating noodles and meat, he took a bite of the vegetable toppings with the noodles. The refreshing vegetables swept away the slight greasiness from before, making his appetite even better, so good that he wanted to keep eating in huge mouthfuls.

Lu Ao was very satisfied with today’s lunch noodles. He ate three large bowls in one go before lazily carrying the bowls and chopsticks away to wash them.

After finishing his noodles, he locked the door and took an afternoon nap.

The room was much cooler than outside. Turning on the fan was enough to sleep.

Lu Ao slept until past two. When he woke, he could hear the cicadas outside crying sharper and louder with each call. Aside from the cicadas, there was almost no other sound.

This kind of weather was simply too hot. Most people did not want to go out.

Lu Ao did not want to either.

He lay on the bed, rarely indulging in staying there and playing with his phone.

In this kind of weather, waking up and not having to get out of bed, just lying there playing on his phone, was already pleasant enough.

He had only played for a short while when he received a call from Lin Manzhang. “Lu Ao, are you home?”

“I am. What’s wrong?”

“This morning, we went to the neighboring county to catch mud crabs. We caught too many and can’t finish them, so I’ll give you some.” Lin Manzhang’s voice carried a smile. “If you’re home, I’ll bring them over.”

Lu Ao quickly said, “No need, Brother Zhang. Keep them for yourselves. I have some here.”

“We have two full buckets. How could we possibly finish them?”

“Then take them to town and sell them? Aren’t mud crabs still quite expensive now?”

“If we sell them, it still won’t be much. They grew up in a muddy pond, and they’re only three or four liang each. They’re only ten or twenty yuan a catty. After selling them all and deducting taxes, we’d only get a little over a hundred yuan. It’s not worth the trouble.” Lin Manzhang did not wait for him to refuse again. “Since you’re home, I’m coming over.”

Lu Ao could only say, “Alright. Thank you, Brother Zhang.”

Lu Ao climbed out of bed and got dressed.

In less than five minutes, the sound of Lin Manzhang’s motorcycle rang outside the courtyard.

Lu Ao opened the courtyard gate and went out. He saw Lin Manzhang had tied a bucket to the back seat of his motorcycle, both feet planted on the ground, and was just about to get off.

“Brother Zhang.” Lu Ao called out and went over to look.

Lin Manzhang turned and saw him. “I only heard this morning that you were back. If I’d known earlier, I would’ve called you to catch mud crabs with us.”

Lu Ao was curious. “Where did you go to catch mud crabs?”

“A friend’s village. They have a wild pond there that hasn’t been touched in over ten years. Since we happened to have time now, we used a pump to drain the water.” Lin Manzhang got off the bike, loosened the elastic binding strap, and took the bucket down. “There weren’t many other fish in the pond. Mostly mud crabs. Each of us caught three or four buckets.”

“There are still ponds no one wants?”

“Not exactly no one wants them.” Lin Manzhang explained, “Some ponds originally belonged to the collective. Later, no one managed them, and slowly they became wild ponds.”

Lu Ao understood somewhat.

Lin Manzhang handed him the bucket. “How’s that boat of yours?”

“I’m getting ready to bid on it. I don’t know if I’ll be able to win it.”

Lin Manzhang said with seasoned ease, “For that kind of boat, usually no one will bid. If someone wanted to bid, they wouldn’t wait until now.”

“Hopefully.” Lu Ao smiled and took the bucket. “Thanks, Brother Zhang. Wait a moment. I’ll empty the bucket for you.”

“Alright.”

Lu Ao carried the bucket back inside and poured the grass and mud crabs all into a large basin.

Mud crabs were prone to fighting, so grass had to be used to block their line of sight.

After pouring them into the wooden basin, Lu Ao observed them for a moment and even covered the top with a large wooden board to prevent the crabs from escaping.

He came back and handed the bucket to Lin Manzhang. He had placed a coconut snail inside the crab bucket, covered it with the lid, and brought it out. “Brother Zhang, I’m planning to take the Competency Certificate exam. Is it hard?”

Lin Manzhang took the bucket and casually hung it on the motorcycle handlebar. He did not notice the coconut snail inside and only said, “Not hard. First sign up for the medical checkup, then find a training institution and do some training. I know someone. I’ll send you the contact later.”

That was exactly what Lu Ao had wanted to ask him. Hearing this, he nodded. “Alright.”

The two chatted for a while. Lin Manzhang still had things to do at home, so he left first.

Lu Ao returned home and checked the time. It was not yet three. Song Zhou would only come over around four.

After thinking it over, Lu Ao simply picked up his fish keep net and went to the patch of sea where he usually fished.

That part of the sea rarely had anyone around all year. He could go down and pick up some snails while also checking his dragon form.

His house was not too far from the seaside. In less than ten minutes, he reached the shore.

With his excellent eyesight, he looked around. There was no one above, below, left, or right. Not to mention people, there was not even a bird.

Seeing that no one would notice, Lu Ao finally did a thorough warm-up, took off his clothes, and entered the water.

The seawater was much cooler than land. Lu Ao swam for a while in the shallows, fully loosening up his body and adapting to the temperature before swimming toward water six or seven meters deep.

The sea was very quiet. Aside from the eternal sound of the waves, there were no other sounds.

When the weather was not so hot, a few seabirds would still search for food here. Now, with the weather this hot, even the seabirds were nowhere to be seen.

Lu Ao floated on the sea surface, closed his eyes, and focused on changing back into his dragon form.

The instant the thought moved in his mind, his chest grew hot. Then the burning sensation spread through his limbs and bones.

Suddenly, his body felt light. Lu Ao opened his eyes and instinctively moved. When he turned his head to look, he discovered that he had already become a dragon.

His dragon form was much larger than when it had first appeared.

At the beginning, he had only been about one meter long. Even his claws had been thin and short, making him look like a lizard.

Now, by rough estimate, he was over three meters long. His long body floated on the sea surface, and there was even a hint of majesty to him.

The dark green scales on his body were especially translucent, shimmering brilliantly under the sunlight.

Lu Ao slapped his tail. Unexpectedly, his powerful tail struck the water with a loud “pa,” splashing up a large sheet of water that poured all over him.

Caught off guard, his head and face were soaked.

“???”

How could his own tail cause friendly fire?

He was somewhat speechless after drenching himself. After coming back to his senses, he lightly moved his tail.

His tail was like a built-in propeller. With only the slightest movement, his body instantly shot into the distance.

When he looked back again, Lu Ao found that he was already more than ten meters from his original spot.

Moving his tail once sent him more than ten meters away. Wasn’t this speed a little impressive?

Lu Ao became interested and began tossing himself around in the sea.

He had not used his dragon form for a long time and was not very used to this appearance anymore. It took him quite a while to slowly adapt and finally get a bit of a feel for it.

Turning into a dragon felt very good. He darted back and forth on and under the sea, and he was actually having quite a lot of fun.

When Song Zhou arrived, he saw a little dragon rolling back and forth on the sea surface, playing to its heart’s content.

Lu Ao was much more sensitive in dragon form. He immediately sensed someone onshore, and his mind tightened.

When he turned his head and saw it was Song Zhou, he instantly relaxed again, changing from a stiff dragon stick back into a soft dragon rope.

He swam toward the shore. He had just been about to turn back into human form to speak, but unexpectedly, he could speak in dragon form. “Song Zhou?”

His voice in dragon form was still his own voice, only a little more childish.

He found it a bit strange, but quickly ignored that strangeness.

He swam to the shore, looked at Song Zhou, and raised his head. “Is it four already?”

“No. My subordinates sensed your fluctuation, so I came to take a look.” Song Zhou squatted down to look at him at eye level, his eyes smiling. “I thought you were fishing.”

“I originally wanted to pick up some snails, but with this much movement, the snails probably all ran away.” Lu Ao stretched his head into the shallow water and rested it on the rock in front of Song Zhou to chat with him. “Didn’t you tell me to get used to my dragon identity? I haven’t used my dragon form in a long time. Since I had time today, I came to try it.”

Song Zhou raised his hand and gently touched his cool head. “How does it feel?”

“Very novel.” Lu Ao blinked. His large dark green eyes flickered, making him look especially adorable. He lifted his left front claw. “I thought I wouldn’t be used to it, but unexpectedly, I adapted pretty well.”

“Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”

“I don’t think so. Apart from having a lot more strength, there isn’t much difference.” Lu Ao curved his body and bent the tip of his tail over for Song Zhou to look at. “I accidentally slapped my tail against a reef just now, and the reef cracked.”

As he spoke, his lively eyes gestured for Song Zhou to look at the reef beside them.

Song Zhou looked over. Sure enough, a small piece of the reef beside them had shattered.

That reef looked quite hard too. It was hard to know how he had managed to slap it apart.

Song Zhou gently touched his tail, amused. “Doesn’t your tail hurt?”

Lu Ao pulled his tail back with a “whoosh” and swayed it left and right on the water surface. “It’s fine. I don’t feel any pain for now.”

“It’ll probably hurt later.” Song Zhou glanced at the time. “What time did you come?”

“Around three.”

“It’s three fifty-four now. Come ashore first. Using your dragon form consumes quite a lot. When you change back into human form later, you might feel uncomfortable.”

Lu Ao listened to him. He backed away a little and changed back into human form in the water.

Song Zhou politely turned around.

Lu Ao swam ashore. The moment he stepped onto the hard ground, his whole body indeed went weak and sore, and both feet hurt.

He lowered his head and saw that both feet had been scraped, the redness and swelling spreading from the tops of his feet up to his calves. Because his skin was so pale, the wounds looked especially obvious.

He had probably been too excited earlier and had not noticed he was injured. Now, he felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Lu Ao frowned slightly, went to the nearby reef, and picked up his clothes to put them on.

Song Zhou heard that he had finished dressing and turned back. At a glance, he saw Lu Ao’s injured feet.

“Does it hurt?”

“It’s alright. I can bear it. No bones are injured. Compared to this—” Lu Ao frowned and rubbed his stomach. “I think I’m hungrier. So hungry it feels like my blood sugar is low.”

“That’s normal. You were too excited just now.” Song Zhou looked somewhat helpless. He spread his palm, indicating for Lu Ao to place his hand on it. “Come on. I’ll take you home to eat.”

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