After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood – CH68

Chapter 68

After receiving Lu Ao’s reminder, Lai Zhixin hurriedly drove his family to the hospital.

Once they arrived, he told the doctor that his whole family might have eaten sea fish containing ciguatoxin.

The hospital took it very seriously and immediately carried out emergency tests and reported the case. In less than an hour, the test results came out. Sure enough, it was ciguatoxin.

When Lai Zhixin’s family saw the result, they all sucked in a cold breath.

Only after the whole family had received emergency treatment did Lai Zhixin finally find time to call Lu Ao. “Lu Ao, the doctor’s test results are out. It really was ciguatoxin.”

“Are you being treated now?”

“Yes. The doctor said it was fortunate we came in time. Otherwise, the elderly and children would have been in danger. Thank you so much this time. If you hadn’t said anything, I really wouldn’t have known eastern star grouper could be poisonous.”

“It’s not that eastern star grouper itself is poisonous. Wild coral reef fish all carry risks, especially large fish,” Lu Ao said. “Purely farmed eastern star grouper is basically fine.”

“Then maybe the fish we ate was too big. If I’d known earlier, I wouldn’t have been greedy for size.”

“It’s good that nothing serious happened now.”

“It’s fine now. This time, it’s all thanks to you. If you ever need anything in the future, as long as I can help, I definitely won’t refuse!”

“You’re too polite.”

“Ah, I’m not being polite. I mean it. If not for you, my family would have been in big trouble today.”

Lai Zhixin’s gratitude overflowed in his words. He thanked Lu Ao repeatedly and said he would repay him in the future. He even invited Lu Ao to visit his home.

Lu Ao politely declined and only told him to rest well.

Lai Zhixin then went into the WeChat group and said something, refunding all the orders.

Only then did everyone realize there were actually risks to eating large wild fish. They were not dissatisfied about the canceled orders. Instead, they sighed one after another in the group, saying it was fortunate Lu Ao had been there, or else who knew what might have happened.

Seeing that they did not say anything sensitive, Lu Ao did not join the conversation. He played a game for a while, then went to sleep.

Early the next morning, he went fishing. After they finished around nine, everyone returned to shore and chatted while eating some breakfast.

Lin Manzhang took a bite of his bun and asked, “Have you guys still been setting bass hooks these past few days?”

“Mm. Yesterday we set down over one or two hundred bass hooks.”

“Over a hundred! You’re using shrimp to fish? Just the bait alone must cost over a hundred yuan, right?” Lin Guixiao clicked his tongue. “Can you make back the cost with that many?”

“It’s alright,” Lin Gongshang said indistinctly, biting off more than half a bun in one mouthful. “But there really aren’t as many as the first few days. The bass have gotten smart.”

Lin Guixiao said, “I was just about to say I wanted to try too.”

“I feel like you should forget it. Catching bass depends on luck. It’s not like we didn’t try last year. We set forty or fifty bass hooks and only caught three or five. It wasn’t interesting.” Lin Gongshang chuckled. “If you’re fishing, you have to bring Lu Ao.”

“That’s true.”

Lin Guixiao yawned. “Forget it. I’ll just honestly keep spearfishing. The wind direction has changed recently, and there are fewer fish around here. Should we go out to sea to fish?”

These nearby waters where they fished year-round would gradually have fewer fish if they were fished too much.

At times like this, everyone had to look for other waters.

Besides the waters near the village, many outer-sea reefs were very suitable fishing spots.

However, those places were generally much deeper. Not everyone could adapt to diving more than ten meters without equipment. One had to be more careful when fishing in places like that.

Lin Manzhang said, “Depends on everyone. If everyone wants to go out to sea, then we’ll go.”

“I think it’s about time. Today is August third. The offshore water is already very warm, and the fish are relatively active. We can go and try.”

“If we’re going out to sea, I’ll contact a boat.”

Going out to sea to fish was different from fishing near home.

Especially when going to the outer sea, just sailing out could take half a day or a whole day. A round trip could burn through seven or eight hundred yuan in fuel.

Under such circumstances, everyone usually chose to rent a larger fishing boat and spend a full week fishing at sea.

If the fish they caught were still alive, they would keep them alive. If they died, they would freeze them quickly and sell them as chilled fish later.

The texture of fish like that was not much worse than fish freshly pulled out of the water.

Tan Junhao was the first to say, “Let’s go. The earlier we go, the earlier we make money.”

Lin Gongshang said, “I also think it’s about time. We’ll prepare for two or three days, then go take a look at this year’s fish conditions.”

Lu Ao did not object. He had never gone straight out to the outer sea to fish before either and wanted to see what it was like.

Lin Guixiao thought for a moment. “There are a lot of typhoons right now. I’ll call the meteorological bureau later and ask about the weather for the next half month. If there’s no strong wind, then we’ll go.”

Lin Manzhang said, “Alright. I’ll go rent a boat later. Once I’ve contacted some, I’ll send them to the group for everyone to choose.”

After discussing it, everyone sold their fish and went home.

After breakfast, Lu Ao herded the geese to the little river, while he himself went to the field to cut sweet potato vines.

His sweet potato vines had been planted for more than two months. During this period, they had been cut and grown back countless times. The vines had aged early; the leaves they grew were smaller, and their growth speed had slowed.

Lu Ao planned to finish cutting this batch, then clear out this half-mu of land and plant a new crop.

Some of the other vegetable seedlings nearby had also aged. The bean, hyacinth bean, pumpkin, winter melon, bitter melon, tomato, and other vines were not doing very well anymore. They were no longer bearing much fruit, so he would have to find time to pull out the old vines and rush to plant new ones.

The weather was too hot now, and many vegetables could not be planted again. For the next crop, Lu Ao planned to plant some autumn corn, scallions, taro, and the like, switching to some new crops so they would grow better.

He busied himself in the field for half the day, used the three-wheeled cart to bring the vegetables back, then returned to look for the geese.

The flock was resting obediently by the river. They had not run around.

When they saw Lu Ao, the lead goose honked and spread its wings, flapping toward him.

The other geese saw the lead goose running and hurriedly stood up as well, honking as they flapped their wings and waddled over to Lu Ao.

For a moment, goose cries rose everywhere, and feathers flew.

The lead goose, Sesame Ball, grew anxious. It directly flapped its wings and glided over.

Surprise appeared in Lu Ao’s eyes. This was the first time he knew his geese could fly.

As Sesame Ball flew over, Lu Ao was quick-eyed and quick-handed. He grabbed its neck.

Sesame Ball honked once. Its mung-bean eyes looked at Lu Ao and blinked. Its wings kept flapping, its entire goose face innocent.

Lu Ao lifted the goose and checked its feathers. Only then did he discover that its wing feathers had already grown in, and its whole body had basically grown waterproof feathers.

This meant they could fully spend long periods moving in the water.

Lu Ao squeezed its goose leg and felt that it was quite plump. It seemed it had been fed well recently.

“Honk.” Sesame Ball called again, uneasily flapping its wings.

Lu Ao put the goose down and stared at it for a good while. “You can spend the night here, then.”

As he spoke, Lu Ao closed his eyes and transmitted the message that they should spend the night here into the flock.

He especially transmitted it to Sesame Ball.

Every goose in the flock received his will.

For a moment, almost all the geese panicked, unable to understand why they had a home but could not return to it.

“Honk, honk, honk.” Their cries connected into one continuous racket. Fifty-one geese flapped their wings and desperately crowded toward Lu Ao, honking miserably, trying to make him change his mind.

Lu Ao continued transmitting the message.

The flock could not resist him.

After a long while, under the leadership of Sesame Ball, the geese reluctantly headed back toward the river.

They continued lying down in the same place.

Lu Ao transmitted more information, telling the flock that if they encountered goose thieves, they should run; if they got hungry, they should continue going upstream to look for food; and they were not allowed to leave the riverbank.

All of this information was transmitted vaguely. Even Lu Ao himself did not know exactly how much had gotten through.

The geese were already this big. They probably would not have any natural enemies. There were no young and strong men in their village, so goose thieves might not even be able to outrun the geese.

If this flock could get used to living in the wild, he would be able to save a lot of trouble in the future.

At the very least, when he went out to sea, he would not have to find someone else to watch over the geese and feed them.

If they could not get used to it, that was fine too. He would experiment for two days first. If it did not work, he could bring them home and keep them penned up again. At worst, he would lose a few geese. With his current assets, even if all the geese were lost, he could afford it.

After comforting the geese, Lu Ao went home. Song Zhou was busy with work and did not come over that night.

In the evening, Lin Manzhang sent information on several fishing boats into the group. After looking them over, everyone chose a large fifteen-meter fishing boat.

Lin Qiyan saw it in the group and popped up to say he wanted to go too, and that he would share the costs with everyone.

No one had any objections.

Thus, this sea trip became a six-person operation: Lu Ao, Lin Qiyan, and Lin Manzhang’s four-person fishing group.

Everyone discussed the specific route for this trip in the group for a while, then confirmed the time and the things they needed to bring.

Lu Ao had no problems on his end.

The vegetables and melons in his field had basically grown to the point where they were ready. When the time came, he could simply dig open the ditches and release water into the field, soaking it for five or six days. It would be fine for him to deal with it after he came home.

He would ask Song Zhou to check on the geese a little.

There was nothing else left.

After calculating everything, Lu Ao soon fell asleep.

The next day, after he finished fishing, he carried a bucket of minced fish and vegetable scraps and planned to feed the geese.

When he arrived, the flock was resting in the middle section of the river.

Seeing him, the geese honked and rushed up again.

Lu Ao poured the goose feed onto the ground, but the flock was not very enthusiastic.

Lu Ao was somewhat puzzled.

He casually grabbed one goose and gently squeezed its crop.

The goose honked and struggled in his hand.

Lu Ao only felt a heavy lump beneath his fingers. Clearly, this goose had already eaten its fill. It had eaten so much that it was completely uninterested in the feed he had mixed.

Lu Ao switched to another goose and felt again.

This goose was also very full. When Lu Ao pinched its crop, its mung-bean eyes were full of confusion.

Lu Ao ignored it and continued switching geese.

After touching five or six geese in a row, Lu Ao could completely confirm that these geese could find food by themselves. If no one fed them, they could still live perfectly well.

This was an unexpected delight.

Lu Ao studied the flock. If the geese no longer needed him to feed them, he would not have to plant so many sweet potato vines in the second half of the year, nor would he have to rack his brains to net fish to feed them. He could save himself quite a lot of work every day.

The only question was whether this flock of geese was smart, or whether the commands he gave them had worked.

If the commands worked, he could try raising something else too.

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