After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood – CH54

Chapter 54

Weng Qian had already refused to buy the giant black croaker. He never expected that, right at the end, the old man would come over and trap him.

Hearing his father’s words, he played dumb. “There’s no such thing. Dad, where did you see me bidding on a giant black croaker?”

His father did not buy it. “Where else? I saw your profile picture in the bidding group!”

“Hey, no, did you even join the group? How could you see my profile picture there?”

“Your Uncle Li is in the group. He’s broadcasting this especially fierce fish auction to us.” His father said, “All right, stop chattering. Hurry up and go bid. Giant black croaker maw is good stuff that money can’t even buy. Miss this chance and there won’t be another.”

Weng Qian tried to persuade him. “That’s all superstition. Scientists have analyzed it. Fish maw is all made of the same components. Giant black croaker, large yellow croaker—once the swim bladder is taken out, isn’t the collagen basically the same? This thing is just like cordyceps, an IQ tax!”

“I don’t care whether it’s an IQ tax or not. Buy it first. Worst case, we sell it again later. Plenty of people will take it.”

Weng Qian still wanted to persuade him. With millions, what couldn’t they buy? Why join this madness?

How could his father not know what he was thinking? “Just treat it as buying it for me. Or pull me into the group and I’ll do it myself!”

Weng Qian could only say, “All right, I’ll go bid. But if I can’t outbid the others, don’t blame me.”

His father’s voice rose at the end, anxious now. “What do you mean you can’t outbid them? Is our family poorer than theirs? I think you just don’t want to buy it. Pull me into the group. I’ll do it myself.”

Weng Qian hurriedly stopped him. “No, no, no. Wait for my good news!”

If he bid a few million, that was just a token effort. But if these old men entered the battlefield, with everyone stirring things up, the price might be pushed into the tens of millions.

“Hey, the competition in the group is fierce. I won’t talk to you anymore. I’m going to bid.”

After saying that, Weng Qian did not wait for his father’s reaction and swiftly hung up.

He looked at the WeChat group. The price in the group had already been called up to 5.63 million.

This one fish—who knew if it was worth it?

Weng Qian quickly opened Lu Ao’s WeChat and decided to treat the five million plus as money thrown away, just to make his father happy.

Weng Qian: Lu Ao, my dad has taken a liking to your fish. How about 5.8 million?

Lu Ao stared at the chat interface, cold and unmoved: Please bid in the main group.

—Hey, there’s no telling how many people in the main group are just causing trouble. Even if they bid, they might not pay. You don’t have a deposit system or anything. Maybe they’re just pushing the price up, right?

—Be practical. 5.8 million is already very high. Think about it. You only spent one day catching this fish. A daily wage of over five million—even after tax, you’d still have more than three million. A daily wage of over three million. That’s already very high. How many people in the whole world can beat you?

—Think about it. This fish has a freshness window. Do you have large-scale preservation equipment at home? If it doesn’t sell today, it’ll be much harder to sell tomorrow.

Lu Ao said: I screenshotted your words and sent them to the bidding group.

???

Weng Qian was stunned.

He had not expected Lu Ao to screenshot without warning.

He backed out to check the main group. Sure enough, Lu Ao had already uploaded the screenshot.

What the hell? Did he not care about face at all? He was being publicly executed like this?

As expected, the main group had already exploded.

The old Li his father knew was the first to jump out: Little Weng, this isn’t right. Fair competition means fair competition.

—Exactly. It’s only a few million. As if no one here can afford it. I bid 5.81 million.

—5.815 million.

—5.83 million.

Weng Qian: Everyone, what I said isn’t wrong. It’s just one fish. If we keep bidding bit by bit, the price will be inflated by more than a little. It’s already seriously deviated from the fish’s actual value.

—Nephew is right. I bid 5.85 million.

—5.87 million. To be honest, something good for the body is worth spending a little more money on.

Weng Qian: Hey, you can’t put it that way. Whose money wasn’t earned through hard work? Spending five or six million on one fish is too expensive!

Lu Ao let Weng Qian stir things up and did not moderate the comments.

Some people were persuaded to back out by Weng Qian, but even more people argued and argued until they felt it was worth it, then placed bids one after another.

The price of the giant black croaker kept climbing slowly.

Song Zhou came back with two large bowls of seafood noodles. Seeing him still holding his phone, he leaned over and glanced at it. “What’s the current bid?”

“7.18 million.”

“That’s higher than I imagined.”

“It’s much higher than I imagined too.” Lu Ao’s eyes were full of joy. “Feels like it won’t be a problem to reach eight million.”

“Let them keep bidding. Eat first.”

Lu Ao answered and lifted the bowl, taking a mouthful of noodles.

As soon as the noodles entered his mouth, he realized today’s noodles were exceptionally smooth and springy.

He looked up at Song Zhou.

Song Zhou placed the side dishes on the table in front of him. “I saw there was flour, so I rolled some noodles. Are they all right?”

Lu Ao gave him a thumbs-up. “More than all right. They’re delicious!”

Lu Ao slurped up a big mouthful of noodles. The unique fragrance of fresh flour spread through his mouth, and the flavors of all kinds of seafood blended perfectly into the broth, harmonized by the tomato soup base.

The tomatoes were grown by Lu Ao himself. They had never been sprayed with pesticides, and the only fertilizer used was fermented goose manure.

Tomatoes grown this way were especially juicy, sweet and sour, with a strong tomato flavor.

Song Zhou sat opposite him and ate gracefully. “There’s more in the pot if it isn’t enough.”

“Okay.” Lu Ao swallowed a large mouthful of noodles. “I feel like I could eat five big bowls of these noodles!”

As he spoke, he quickly finished one bowl and went into the kitchen to get more.

Song Zhou had estimated his appetite and had deliberately made extra. There was still half a pot of noodles left, filled with shrimp, crab, and fish.

Song Zhou ate very slowly, and compared with Lu Ao, his appetite was also small.

By the time Lu Ao finished five bowls, Song Zhou had only finished one.

There was still half a bowl left in the pot. Song Zhou said, “I won’t eat anymore. You eat it.”

“Oh, okay.” Lu Ao quickly finished the remaining noodles, then eagerly took Song Zhou’s bowl. “You sit. I’ll wash the dishes.”

Song Zhou did not stand on ceremony. “I’ll check how much the price has risen to.”

“Take a look. It should be almost eight million.”

Song Zhou took his phone and looked. The price in the auction group had indeed risen to 8.03 million. That was the price from three minutes ago.

“8.03 million. No one has bid again for now.”

“8.03 million is already not bad. I thought it would only sell for a little over two million. This is far beyond what I expected.” Lu Ao dried his hands with a tissue, walked over, sat beside Song Zhou, and took the phone. “The auction is almost over.”

Lu Ao tagged everyone in the main group: Attention, everyone. This auction uses an extended bidding rule. If someone bids within the final five minutes, the transaction will automatically be delayed by another five minutes. If there are no bids within five minutes, the auction will be considered successful.

—It has been four minutes since the last bid. The auction is about to close.

Lu Ao’s words stimulated everyone. Just before it ended, someone added another five thousand, raising the bid to 8.035 million.

A new round of bidding began.

When the price reached 8.12 million, it finally stopped moving.

Lu Ao did not hesitate. The moment time was up, he announced that the auction had ended and asked the successful bidder, a wealthy buyer surnamed Gui, to message him privately.

The person who won the fish was named Gui Yaoyao, a woman.

Lu Ao called her privately. Gui Yaoyao said straightforwardly, “My family is in Wubaixia District, Jiazhuang City, Yuannan Province. The address is Number 19, Zheyi Mountain Villa. Just send the fish here.”

Lu Ao asked, “All right. I’ll deliver it by helicopter. Is there a helipad nearby?”

“Yes. Wait a moment. I’ll arrange it.”

While waiting for her message, Lu Ao contacted a helicopter service.

Helicopters were not hard to arrange. As long as one had money, plenty of companies were willing to fly.

Lu Ao chose a transport company that could quickly apply for a flight route and told them to come to the threshing ground in Linwu Village.

A helicopter trip would cost eighty thousand yuan. Usually, Lu Ao would have had to consider it carefully, but now that several million were about to enter his account, eighty thousand did not feel like much.

Gui Yaoyao quickly finished coordinating the helipad. Lu Ao gave the information back to the transport company, and the company began arranging the helicopter.

Lu Ao went to check the giant black croaker in the large water basin.

The fish no longer had much vitality left.

Song Zhou also came over. “How much did this fish sell for in the end?”

“8.12 million. After tax, it should be about 4.46 million.”

“That’s quite good.” Song Zhou packed it with Lu Ao and casually tapped the fish. “The buyer has good judgment.”

Something invisible flowed into the fish. The fish’s vitality strengthened considerably and it began struggling.

Lu Ao was splashed with ice all over his face, and some even slid down his collar. He looked helplessly at Song Zhou.

Song Zhou’s eyes curved. “If it’s alive, the customer will be happier.”

“If it’s too lively, it’ll be dangerous on the helicopter.”

“It’s fine. Add ice and it won’t struggle.” Song Zhou took over the oxygen machine. “Give it some oxygen first?”

“Do it. With oxygen, it should survive until Yuannan Province.”

As Lu Ao spoke, he brought over a foam box, placed a large plastic bag inside, then dragged the giant black croaker into the bag with some effort.

While moving the fish, he discovered that the few bloody holes he had bitten into it that afternoon had disappeared.

The fish’s body was intact, and there was no way to tell how it had been caught.

Meeting his puzzled gaze, Song Zhou said, “It’s safer to keep a low profile.”

Only then did Lu Ao understand. Song Zhou was helping him cover things up. He gave a quiet hum and continued sealing the fish.

After oxygen was pumped into the bag, Lu Ao sealed the plastic bag, spread a layer of ice outside it, and finally sealed the foam box.

He often caught big fish, so the spare foam box at home was just barely large enough. A fish of over a hundred jin could fit inside, but this tightly packed foam box looked a little like a coffin.

When the helicopter arrived and Lu Ao showed the foam box to the pilot and co-pilot, their expressions immediately changed.

Lu Ao emphasized, “It really is a fish. We’ll open the box at the destination.”

Lin Manzhang and the others who had come to help also testified, “This is how we pack our fish. If we don’t pack it properly, it’ll struggle on the way.”

The pilot looked into his eyes for several seconds before barely compromising. “All right. When we reach the destination, we’ll open the box together.”

Lu Ao nodded, and everyone helped move the large foam box onto the helicopter.

Lin Gongshang looked at the big box enviously. “This fish sure is heavy.”

“It’s over a hundred jin. Of course it’s heavy.” Lu Ao waved at them. “We’re going to sell the fish first. When we come back, I’ll treat everyone to drinks.”

Lu Ao got onto the helicopter, and Song Zhou followed behind him.

The two put on headsets, fastened their seat belts, and sat properly.

The helicopter slowly took off and flew toward the southwest.

At that moment, Gui Yaoyao was waiting anxiously with her assistant at the city’s helipad for the fish to arrive.

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