After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood – CH76

Chapter 76

Freshly caught razor clams had to be kept in a large basin for a few days so they could spit out the sand.

Lu Ao did not eat them that day. He specially bought nearly half a side of lamb to bring home.

Lamb was warming and nourishing. After bringing it home, he chopped it into large pieces, briefly blanched them, then directly stir-fried them with ginger, garlic cloves, chilies, star anise, bay leaves, and other seasonings. After stir-frying, he let it stew. It was both nourishing and delicious.

There was still some charcoal at home. Lu Ao was too lazy to wait for the lamb to slowly stew, so he simply carried the big pot out and set it on the stove. With charcoal burning underneath, he cooked and ate at the same time.

Song Zhou brought wine over, and the two ate meat while drinking.

After dinner, it was still early, and the sky had not yet gone completely dark.

Lu Ao remembered the skill he had learned today and insisted on taking Song Zhou to the beach to dig razor clams.

There were not as many razor clams on the beach outside their village as there were in Luowu Village, but there were still quite a few. The two also dug up plenty of sand clams.

Lu Ao was full of interest in digging seafood. It was not until the stars had come out that he returned home with Song Zhou.

That night, they dug up half a small bucket of razor clams and sand clams.

After letting these razor clams and sand clams spit out their sand, they could eat them tomorrow evening.

That night, Lu Ao opened the fishing group on WeChat, intending to ask Lin Manzhang if he could borrow his boat.

He had already obtained his certificate. He planned to practice driving a small boat for a few days first, so that when he eventually drove a big boat, he would not panic.

Seeing his message, Lin Manzhang said: I’m going out to sea to fish tomorrow too. Why don’t you come along?

Lu Ao answered without hesitation: Sure. How many people are going tomorrow?

Lin Manzhang privately messaged him: Me, you, and Lin Qiyan. Just the three of us. The others have things to do.

—Then about what time are we leaving?

Lin Manzhang: Around ten in the morning.

—After morning spearfishing?

Lin Manzhang: Yes. We’ll spearfish in the morning, then take the boat out to sea. We won’t spearfish in the afternoon. A trip out to sea will probably take until five or six in the evening before we get back.

—All right. Then I’ll come over in the morning and spearfish with you first.

Lin Manzhang sent him the new spearfishing location. Early the next morning, Lu Ao took his gear and went there.

When he arrived at the meeting place, he saw Lin Qiyan there too.

Lin Qiyan had already put on his wetsuit and was holding his camera, filming the surrounding scenery for footage.

Every day, Lin Qiyan had to think about material, make plans, and edit footage. Strictly speaking, it was no easier than their spearfishing.

When Lu Ao saw him, he would occasionally cooperate with the filming, as long as his face did not appear on camera.

Seeing Lu Ao arrive, Lin Qiyan smiled and asked curiously, “Why are you suddenly interested in going out to net fish?”

“I got my certificate yesterday. I want to practice first.”

“No wonder. I was wondering why you suddenly wanted to go out to sea. It doesn’t earn much and it’s tiring.”

As they spoke, the others arrived too. Only Lin Gongshang was absent.

Today, he had gone to his future mother-in-law’s place to help dig razor clams again.

His future mother-in-law’s razor clams had just finished growing, and they had to be dug out and sold quickly. Otherwise, the longer they were kept, the thinner they would become, and if they kept raising them, they would lose money.

The group privately joked about Lin Gongshang’s attentiveness.

After they finished spearfishing, Lin Guixiao took the initiative to help sell the fish.

Lin Manzhang and the other two were spared the extra trip and each went home to prepare their tools for going out to sea.

Lu Ao had already organized his fishing nets. The net he had previously buried in the soil to rot away the algae had been dug up and washed clean. It looked as good as new, and this time, it was just right to use it in the sea to catch big fish.

He did not expect his first time going out to sea with nets to bring in much harvest, but learning more was always a good thing.

The three gathered at Lin Manzhang’s house.

Lin Manzhang brought five nets, Lu Ao brought two, and Lin Qiyan did not bring any nets at all. He only brought his camera, tripod, and other filming equipment, excitedly preparing to set off with them.

Lin Manzhang’s fishing boat was not particularly large. After the three filled the water tank and fuel tank, Lin Manzhang started the boat and puttered out to sea.

Once the boat started moving, the wind rose, carrying away the heat from their bodies.

Wearing sunglasses, Lin Qiyan stood with his clothes snapping loudly in the wind. As he filmed, he could not help sighing, “Going out to sea really is comfortable.”

“That depends on whether you like it,” Lin Manzhang said. “If you stay at sea too long, you’ll start thinking land is more comfortable.”

“Of course. Brother Zhang, where are we fishing today?”

“Near Niutou Island.” Lin Manzhang mainly explained to Lu Ao, “When netting fish, you generally have to choose places near reef zones, oyster farming areas, seaweed areas, and the like. Fish search for food and rest in these places. If you cast a net randomly in the vast open sea, the catch usually won’t be very good.”

Lu Ao memorized it.

Seeing that he was interested, Lin Manzhang continued, “You also have to look at the wind direction and the tide when fishing. What kind of tide brings what kind of fish—there’s a lot to it. Fish are very sensitive. Generally, when the wind is too strong, there won’t be many fish. When the seawater is muddy, there won’t be many fish either.”

“As for the tide, you also have to see which direction it’s moving from and to. Generally speaking, the tide brings food, and fish follow the tide. You have to move along with the tide to net fish.”

“Which fish stay in which water layer also matters. That determines whether you use a sinking net or a floating net.”

The boat traveled on, and Lin Manzhang explained the whole way, practically telling him everything he knew.

When they arrived at the destination, they cast the floating nets.

Floating nets had buoys attached to them. Every fisherman could recognize his own buoys and would not pull up someone else’s net.

When it was time to retrieve the net, they had to pull up the buoy first, then slowly collect the net by following it.

When Lin Manzhang cast his nets, he did not cast them all in the same patch of sea. He drove the boat while casting, spacing each net apart.

From the first net to the last, Lin Manzhang drove the boat for half an hour.

After casting the final net, they returned to the place where the first net had been set and prepared to pull up the nets in the sea.

Lin Manzhang said, “After the nets are cast, we usually wait two hours before coming back to collect them. If you don’t want to wait, you can knock on the boat and slap the water to startle the nearby fish. Once the fish are frightened, they may panic and crash into the net.”

As he spoke, he picked up a bamboo pole and taught Lu Ao how to knock on the boat.

Lu Ao watched him clanging against the side of the boat and quickly picked up an oar to knock along with him.

This was Lin Qiyan’s first time learning this bit of knowledge. Holding his camera, he filmed with great interest from the side.

They knocked on the boat for more than ten minutes before Lin Manzhang said, “All right. We can pull it up now.”

With that, he looked at the sky, turned his back to the light, hooked the buoy onto the boat with an iron hook, then began pulling the net.

The first net was Lin Manzhang’s.

Lu Ao wanted to go over and help, but Lin Manzhang waved him off. “No need. I’ll pull my own net. Later, when it’s your net, you pull it yourself. Let’s see who catches more fish.”

There was no net hauler on the boat. Pulling in the net relied entirely on Lin Manzhang’s strength.

The net was already large and heavy. Now that it was soaked with water and had caught things underneath, it was even heavier. Lu Ao saw the veins on the side of Lin Manzhang’s neck bulge, and his hands were strangled red by the strain.

Lin Manzhang laboriously pulled the entire net onto the boat. After pulling up the net, they began removing the fish.

“This net’s catch isn’t bad.” After pulling up the net, Lin Manzhang wiped the sweat from his forehead and threw two pairs of gloves to Lu Ao. Panting, he said, “When you remove fish from the net, you must wear gloves. Watch out for the sharp spines on the fish backs. Some fish have venomous spines. If you get pricked, it can hurt for half a month.”

“Got it.” Lu Ao sat on the boat and removed fish with him.

“The first one is a black sea bream. That’s a good sign.” Lin Manzhang removed a half-jin black sea bream from the net and tossed it into the live fish hold. “This net probably has around ten jin of fish.”

Lu Ao also reached out to remove fish. He saw a particularly small fish, only three fingers wide and five or six centimeters long.

Lin Manzhang glanced at it and explained, “That’s a little redfin. Its scientific name is yellowfin seabream. It’s too small right now. Throw it back into the sea and let it grow bigger before catching it.”

“Just throw it?”

“Yes. When fishing at sea, if the fish you catch are too small, you have to throw them back. Try not to catch juvenile fish.”

Lu Ao had no objection. He raised his hand and tossed the fish back into the sea.

Lin Manzhang removed two more black sea bream and also harvested three sea white shrimp the length of a palm.

Today, they had probably run into a school of black sea bream. Lu Ao also removed three black sea bream from his side.

They had only been removing fish for ten minutes, yet they had already harvested five or six jin of fish. Today’s fuel cost had basically been earned back. Looking at the fish, Lin Manzhang’s face was full of smiles.

Fishermen were not afraid of hard work. They were only afraid of not making money.

Lu Ao lowered his head to untangle the net. Suddenly, he took out a palm-sized fish from the net and handed it to Lin Manzhang. “Is this a pufferfish?”

“Yes.” Lin Manzhang took it and gently patted the pufferfish’s belly. “This fish puffs itself up when it encounters enemies. Look at its belly.”

As he spoke, the pufferfish’s belly filled with air, and the soft spines all over its body stood up. It looked like a balloon.

Lin Manzhang smiled. “Pufferfish are very poisonous. No one eats these. Catching them is useless, so they’re usually thrown back into the sea.”

“This fish also has another name: shoe-scrubbing fish. Look at the soft spines on its belly. They’re like a rubber brush. Some people use it to scrub their shoes, though mostly just for fun.”

As he spoke, Lin Manzhang used the pufferfish to scrub his own shoe. Sure enough, it made a squeaky scraping sound.

Lu Ao curiously reached out and took the pufferfish. The pufferfish rested in his palm, heavy and round, with big eyes and a white belly. It looked rather cute.

Curious, he asked, “It’s called river pufferfish, so why is it in the sea? And isn’t pufferfish edible? Why do you say it’s useless?”

Pufferfish were famous. They had even studied poems about pufferfish before.

“The ground is full of artemisia, reed buds short; just when the pufferfish are about to swim upstream.”

That line had made countless people hungry.

“It’s just called river pufferfish. Sometimes it returns to freshwater to spawn. It can live in both the sea and freshwater.”

Lin Manzhang said, “There are many species of pufferfish. The liver, kidneys, blood, and so on are all highly poisonous. Some restaurants onshore used to prepare pufferfish, but those were illegal pufferfish. Pufferfish trading is forbidden. Selling them counts as breaking the law. Of course, a few species have been opened up now, and farmed pufferfish can be traded.”

Lin Qiyan poked his head over and joined in. “Does our city have a habit of eating pufferfish? I read that pufferfish poison is especially strong. In many places that serve pufferfish, for the safety of the diners, when a pufferfish dish is served, the chef has to take the first bite.”

“I don’t know about that.” Lin Manzhang shook his head. “But I do know someone who specializes in raising non-toxic pufferfish. If you’re interested, I can take you over to have a look.”

Lin Qiyan immediately said, “I’m interested! There are non-toxic pufferfish?”

Lin Manzhang understood this fairly well. “Yes, they’re newly bred varieties from recent years. Among the pufferfish species now allowed for trade, they’re those few non-toxic types.”

“I’ve never eaten non-toxic pufferfish either, but apparently their flavor is about the same as poisonous pufferfish. They’ve just had the toxicity completely removed.”

Pufferfish had always been highly poisonous, but from ancient times to the present, there had been no shortage of diners willing to risk death to eat them.

Chefs had also always tried every possible method to remove pufferfish toxins as much as possible.

Most of the time, as long as the highly toxic liver, kidneys, blood, and other parts were discarded, and the remaining toxin level in the pufferfish was kept within a safe range, it could still be eaten. Some diners even deliberately sought out that thrill of mild poisoning.

Lin Qiyan had researched quite a bit for filming videos, but this was his first time hearing of non-toxic pufferfish. “That’s amazing.”

Seeing that they were genuinely interested, Lin Manzhang said, “Someone in our county raises them. If you want to see them, I’ll take you there tomorrow.”

“I’ll treat you guys then. I’ll use the filming budget to eat a meal. I’ll also ask whether they’ll allow filming. I can film an episode about non-toxic pufferfish cuisine and give them some publicity too.”

“All right. After we go back, I’ll help you ask. It should be fine.”

Seeing that Lu Ao was still holding the pufferfish, Lin Manzhang smiled and said, “You can throw this pufferfish away now. I’ll take you to eat non-toxic pufferfish tomorrow.”

Lu Ao looked at it, then gently tossed it away.

The pufferfish floated belly-up in the sea. A moment later, its belly deflated, its tail flicked lightly, its big eyes blinked, and it slipped away.

Lu Ao had never tasted whether it was delicious or not, but this pufferfish really was rather cute.

Lu Ao looked up. “Can I bring one more person tomorrow?”

“Who? Song Zhou?”

“Yes.”

Read More Extra Chapters (EPUB & PDF Format)