After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood – CH45

Chapter 45: Working Together

When Lu Ao bought Old Chen’s fruit trees today, he rarely did not bargain.

There were sixty-four fruit trees in total, and Lu Ao spent 332,500 yuan.

Among them, one eight-year-old fig tree and one five-year-old male ginkgo tree were gifts from Old Chen, so he did not charge for them.

After they finished eating, they signed the contract under the witness of Chenwu Village’s village chief and Lin Dawu.

Both parties agreed to complete the transfer of the fruit trees within half a year. Within that half year, if Lu Ao had not yet taken the trees back, Old Chen would help manage and care for them for free and guarantee their survival. After half a year, Lu Ao would need to pay a certain care-taking fee.

Both sides signed the contract in the presence of witnesses.

Lu Ao did not drag things out either. He transferred all the money to Old Chen’s account on the spot.

The money arrived in real time. Five minutes later, Old Chen’s phone received a bank text message, and the balance had gained a string of zeros.

Old Chen lowered his head and leaned close to look at his phone. He carefully counted the number of zeros behind the balance. As he counted, his eyes turned wet, and he kept wiping them with both hands.

Everyone felt terrible seeing it.

Lin Dawu patted his shoulder and suppressed the sourness in his heart as he said, “Now that you have the money, take sister-in-law to get her illness treated. When you come back, we’ll all live properly.”

“Thank you, thank you—” Before Old Chen could finish speaking, he covered his eyes and crouched down. His voice was choked with sobs. “You’re all good people—Amo has hope now!”

As he spoke, he crouched on the ground and suddenly burst into loud sobs.

Who knew how much grievance and lingering fear were contained in that crying?

Sister-in-law Chen’s eyes reddened as she went over to pull him up. “You really are—stop crying. Dawu and the others are still watching.”

Old Chen could not care about that at all. He crouched on the ground as though his feet had taken root, not moving an inch, his sobs growing more unrestrained with each cry.

Sister-in-law Chen slowly began crying too. She went to get tissues for him.

The couple pressed their heads together, holding each other as they cried.

Lin Dawu and the others looked at this scene and did not feel awkward at all. They only felt indescribably sad.

The village chief of Chenwu Village also reddened around the eyes. He pressed hard at his runny nose and said hoarsely, “I’ll walk you out first.”

Lin Dawu patted Old Chen’s shoulder and took Lu Ao and Lin Qiyan away.

On the road back, all three of them were silent.

When they were almost back in town, Lin Qiyan spoke. “With Brother Chen’s situation, can I call on people to donate some money?”

“They have strong pride. People wanted to donate before too, but they refused.”

“They weren’t in this much difficulty before. Now they really do need help.” Lin Qiyan asked softly, “How about I give it a try?”

Lin Dawu understood his platform to some extent. “Doesn’t your platform forbid posting donation information? It wasn’t easy for you to get this job. You’d better be careful.”

Lin Qiyan fell silent for a moment after hearing that. Then he said, “I won’t mention donations directly. I’ll just talk about Old Chen and his wife’s situation. If anyone privately donates money, I’ll transfer it to Old Chen.”

Lin Dawu did not object.

Lu Ao said, “I’ll think of a way too.”

He did not have many friends, but if he caught one more fish, perhaps he could gather Sister-in-law Chen’s medical expenses.

After going through this matter, all three of them were in a heavy mood.

Once they returned to town, none of them exchanged much small talk. They each went home.

After Lu Ao returned home, he stuffed the groceries he had bought into the refrigerator, then went online to search for valuable seafood in the Qianming sea area.

He spent half the afternoon browsing forums. At around four in the afternoon, someone knocked on the door.

Lu Ao thought Songzhou had arrived. Halfway there, he remembered that if it were Songzhou, he would probably appear directly in the courtyard.

Lu Ao could not think who would be knocking. He went over to open the door and unexpectedly saw a dark, honest-looking face. The man’s eyes were still swollen. It was none other than Old Chen, whom he had parted with not long ago.

“Brother Chen, why are you here?” Lu Ao greeted him. “Come in and have some tea.”

“No, no. Didn’t you say you wanted peaches? I forgot to pick them earlier, so I brought some over for you. There’s also a jar of termite mushroom oil inside.” Old Chen was very embarrassed. As he spoke, he lifted a nylon bag from behind him and forced it into Lu Ao’s hands. “There isn’t much. Just taste it.”

Lu Ao held the heavy nylon bag, not knowing what to feel.

Old Chen looked embarrassed. He waved his hand, seeming as though he wanted to flee. “There’s still work in the fields. I’ll go back first.”

“Wait!” Lu Ao carried the nylon bag inside, strode into the kitchen, took a large piece of braised meat from the refrigerator, then stuffed all the remaining milk into the bag. He ran back out and pushed it toward Old Chen. “Take these back and try them too.”

Old Chen was unwilling to accept them.

Lu Ao said, “If you don’t take them, I won’t take yours either.”

Old Chen could only accept them. “Thank you. You’re all good people.”

“Ahem, it’s all right.” Lu Ao asked, “Which hospital is sister-in-law going to? Has it been decided? I can help ask around.”

“Not yet. Maybe the provincial hospital. Everyone says the provincial hospital has the best medical skills.” Hope flashed in Old Chen’s eyes. “I asked my nephew to help make an appointment. We’ll go this Sunday night. When we arrive there, it’ll be Monday, just in time to be admitted.”

As soon as Lu Ao heard that, he understood.

Today was already Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, hospitals generally did not admit inpatients. If they went to Xinluzhou now, they would still have to pay for two days of lodging.

That was why the two of them would rather take an overnight bus on Sunday night.

Lu Ao said, “I’ll ask my friend whether he knows anyone at the provincial hospital. We’ll see if things can be made a little more convenient then.”

Old Chen was overjoyed. “All right. Thank you in advance.”

It was Lu Ao’s first time doing this kind of backdoor favor, and he felt very uncomfortable. He quickly said there was no need to thank him.

Old Chen still had work in the fields. After hastily saying a few more words, he picked up the bag Lu Ao had given him, got on his motorcycle, and went home.

Lu Ao carried the nylon bag into the courtyard and began taking out the things inside.

On top were honey peaches. Probably to cushion them, each peach had been wrapped very tightly in straw. When picked up, each one was like a ball of straw.

Only after gently removing the straw covering could he smell the fragrance of the peaches underneath.

These peaches were all of excellent quality. Their bodies were pinkish white, with only a touch of red at the tip. They felt heavy and watery in the hand, extremely tempting.

There were thirty straw balls in total.

After removing the straw balls, underneath were two mineral water bottles filled with honey. Judging from the color, it should be local wild honey.

Next to the honey were two canned jars. Inside was something that looked like fried shredded meat. Lu Ao opened one and smelled it. The fragrance of termite mushrooms immediately rushed out.

This gift might not be expensive, but every detail showed the giver’s thoughtfulness.

Lu Ao stared at the things spread across the table in silence for a long time. Then he took out his phone, opened WeChat, and sent the same message in both the Qianming casual chat group Xiao Du had pulled him into and the volunteer group Xiang Xingchang had added him to:

Does anyone know a doctor at the provincial hospital, or a doctor who treats brain tumors? Please DM me. Paid consultation.

He almost never sent messages like this. As soon as the message was sent, a large group of people were quickly stirred up and began asking him what had happened.

He replied that a family member was sick and he wanted to consult a doctor.

Everyone began offering suggestions.

Lu Ao scrolled through the messages and noted down some key points.

Xiang Xingchang called him. “Lu Ao, what’s going on with your family member being sick? I have a brother at the provincial hospital. He can help take a look.”

“It’s actually a fellow villager.” Lu Ao told him about Brother Chen and his wife, then said, “His family is relatively poor, and he doesn’t have much education. I’m afraid it’ll be inconvenient for him to go to a big city, so I wanted to find someone to look after them a little.”

After Xiang Xingchang heard it, he immediately said, “Leave this to me. I’ll ask my brother. What’s your fellow villager’s name, and whose appointment did he get? Send everything to me, and I’ll ask my brother.”

Lu Ao said, “One moment. I’ll ask Brother Chen to contact you. Sorry to trouble you.”

“No trouble. It’s just a small favor.” Xiang Xingchang had not expected Lu Ao to be this warmhearted. It somewhat overturned his impression of him.

Lu Ao did not know what he was thinking and said, “Then I’ll trouble you with Brother Chen’s matter. I bought some fruit saplings. Come to my place next year to eat fruit.”

“Hahahaha, sure. Next year I’ll bring a few brothers over too.”

“You’re welcome to. If Brother Chen and his wife don’t have enough money during hospitalization, please tell me too. I’ll think of a way.”

“All right. If it comes to that, we’ll think of something together.”

After Lu Ao hung up, a notification popped up. Xiao Du was asking with concern what had happened.

Lu Ao told him about Old Chen’s family too.

Xiao Du also called. “Brother Lu, in their situation, they can apply for assistance. There are several aid programs with policies specifically for cases like theirs. I’ll send you the websites and the responsible contacts later. See if you can help them apply for some aid. If their situation is real and the application goes through, there will even be volunteers in Xinluzhou to guide and look after them.”

“All right, thank you. I’ll study it later.” Lu Ao said, “This information is very useful.”

“No need to be polite. I’m just providing channels. Oh, right, your ‘Outstanding Youth’ title application has already been submitted. The captain said there should basically be no problem. When the title is approved and you come to receive the award, let’s have a drink.”

“No problem. I’ll treat you all to a meal then.”

While Lu Ao was speaking, a figure appeared in the courtyard.

It was Songzhou. Songzhou set down the things in his hand and went to the kitchen to wash his hands.

Lu Ao held the phone between his shoulder and ear, said a few simple words, and quickly ended the call. He walked quickly to the kitchen door and poked his head in to ask Songzhou, “What did you bring back?”

“Lychees and longans. Try them.”

Now, whenever Lu Ao heard the word “dragon,” he subconsciously pricked up his ears. Especially the word “longan,” which sounded particularly brutal to him. He paused for a second before reacting, covered his eyes, and went to open the bag.

Inside the bag were two boxes of beautifully packaged lychees and longans. Unlike ordinary lychees and longans with branches attached, these had all been removed from the stems and arranged neatly one by one in lacquerware, with a few green leaves placed on top as decoration.

Just looking at them made one hungry.

Lu Ao reached out and gently picked up a lychee. As his hand approached the lacquerware, he immediately felt a chill.

His eyes widened slightly in surprise. He lightly touched the wall of the lacquerware and discovered that cool air was actually flowing out of it continuously.

Compared with the chill inside a refrigerator, this cool air was not much different.

Songzhou came out. Seeing his eyes full of surprise, he explained, “Crushed ice is packed inside. It’s specially used to chill fruit.”

“It can be done like this?”

“People used to chill fruit this way.”

Lu Ao sighed. “They really knew how to enjoy themselves.”

“Try it and see if it tastes good.” Songzhou noticed that something was off with his mood, came over to sit down, and asked, “What happened?”

“I met a family today.” Lu Ao pointed at the honey on the table and told him about Old Chen’s family. Finally, he asked, “In Sister-in-law Chen’s situation, is there a way among non-humans?”

“There is.”

Lu Ao’s eyes lit up.

“But we generally don’t use it. Interfering with another person’s life at will brings heavy karma. In serious cases, it can even bring divine punishment.”

Lu Ao was startled. “It’s that serious?”

“Mm.” Songzhou peeled a crystal-clear lychee and handed it to him, using the shell to hold it. “There is a destined order in the unseen. Non-humans are now bound by many restrictions too.”