After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood – CH79

Chapter 79

Lu Ao carried the blood eels and slowly made his way home. When he pushed open the courtyard gate, he happened to see a figure lying on the lounge chair reading.

Song Zhou lifted his eyes from the book and looked at him. “You’re back?”

“Mm.” Lu Ao entered, turned around, and closed the courtyard gate. “I caught some blood eels today. We’ll eat blood eels later.”

Song Zhou seemed quite interested. “What are blood eels? Hmm, they look a little like rice field eels.”

“They probably taste about the same. I’ve never eaten them before either. Let’s try them today.”

Lu Ao carried the blood eels into the kitchen, and Song Zhou came over to help him.

He had dug up far too many blood eels today. Even after giving away quite a lot, there were still five or six jin left. When he poured them into a basin, they instantly filled almost half of it. The visual impact was unusually strong.

Lu Ao went to boil water.

Blood eels needed to be washed with warm water at forty to sixty degrees Celsius. If the water was too cool, it would not clean off the layer of slime on their skin. If it was too hot, it would scald their delicate skin open.

This was Lu Ao’s first time making this dish too. All these key points had come from Lin Gongshang and the others.

Lu Ao poured the blood eels into the pot. Heated, the blood eels began to struggle, and the slime slowly came off.

Song Zhou leaned over to look. “Then what should I do?”

“Wait a moment. After I wash the slime off their skin, you can help pick out the gallbladders?”

The blood eel’s gallbladder was between its head and abdomen. It was not hard to pick out.

Aside from the gallbladder, the innards also had to be squeezed out.

Cleaning blood eels was relatively easy. Before long, the two of them had cleaned all the blood eels.

Lu Ao divided the blood eels into two portions. One portion was chopped into sections and placed into a pot with onions and other ingredients laid underneath, then cooked directly into a blood eel claypot. The other portion was first dry-fried in oil, then stir-fried with chili.

The two of them cooked quickly. In less than half an hour, both versions of the blood eels were ready.

At the same time, Lu Ao also made tomato scrambled eggs, winter melon and tofu soup, and reheated a roast duck dish.

For two people, five dishes were carried outside, and they could start eating.

Lu Ao specifically brought out the yellow wine. “I traded some blood eels for this bottle of yellow wine today. It smells pretty good, but I don’t know how it actually tastes. Try it.”

Song Zhou’s eyes curved. “You even specifically thought of me?”

Lu Ao tried hard to hide the awkwardness on his face. He lowered his lashes and said, “Mm.”

Song Zhou smiled again, his eyes seeming to have stars fallen into them.

Lu Ao’s ears heated up. He hurriedly lowered his head to pick up a piece of blood eel.

He first tasted a section of fish from the blood eel claypot.

The fish pieces were tender, soft, and delicious. Compared with rice field eel, they had less earthy smell and were even more fragrant, soft, tender, and smooth. With a gentle press of the tongue, the central bone could be pulled out. Once the bone was removed, only the fragrant, tender, rich flesh remained. It was very satisfying to eat.

Lu Ao roughly understood why blood eels were priced so high. Aside from their nourishing effect, the flavor really was quite good.

Then he tried the dry-fried fish pieces.

The dry-fried blood eel was even tastier than the blood eel claypot. Especially after being fried in hot oil, all the bones inside had turned crisp. When eating this, there was no need to spit out bones at all. One bite was full of meat.

After frying it, he had stir-fried it with seasonings. The fish pieces tasted fresh, spicy, and scalding hot in the mouth, making it feel as though something was rampaging through his mouth.

His eyes widened. Unable to care about anything else, he directly picked up the yellow wine and poured a large mouthful into his mouth.

The bitter, fragrant taste of the yellow wine washed away the spiciness, leaving only its bitter aroma.

Lu Ao could not help frowning as he waited for the force of the yellow wine to fade.

Song Zhou looked at him like this and smiled faintly. “Should I change it to cola for you?”

Lu Ao seriously considered his suggestion, then pushed the yellow wine away. “Change it.”

Song Zhou could not stop laughing. He stood up and walked into the kitchen on his long legs to bring back iced cola for him.

After switching the yellow wine for cola, the tasting experience improved greatly.

Lu Ao drank a large mouthful of cola and narrowed his eyes in satisfaction.

The dry-fried fish pieces were rich, fresh, and fragrant when eaten on their own. Paired with rice, they were even better.

Lu Ao ate eight bowls of rice in one go.

When he finished eating, Song Zhou had not finished yet.

Song Zhou was holding the yellow wine, eating slowly. Lu Ao did not rush him. After eating, he sat in his chair, playing on his phone while keeping him company in the breeze.

Song Zhou’s whole person carried a refined, scholarly elegance. Even when he ate, he was very graceful.

Lu Ao often played on his phone, but as he played, his gaze would unconsciously drift to Song Zhou.

Song Zhou noticed it. Most of the time, he ignored it, until Lu Ao once again stared in a daze. Only then did Song Zhou extend his slender fingers and wave them in front of his eyes.

“What are you looking at?”

Lu Ao looked up and saw that Song Zhou’s eyes were full of amusement.

“Cough, nothing.” Lu Ao acted as though nothing had happened and changed the subject. “I just remembered something. Lin Qiyan and I agreed that on August 24, I’ll go with him to join a sea fishing event.”

“How many days will you be gone?”

“They said we’ll return on September 1.” Lu Ao reported everything of his own accord. “I checked online. The organizer of that sea fishing event seems fairly reliable. They’ve been to quite a few countries before too. This time, the sea fishing spot is in international waters, so there shouldn’t be any problem.”

Song Zhou hummed in acknowledgment and did not give much of an opinion.

That night was the same as before. After eating dinner at Lu Ao’s house, Song Zhou considerately washed the dishes before leaving.

Lu Ao slowly returned to his room to sleep. Then, on WeChat, he continued confirming the details of this sea fishing trip with Lin Qiyan.

He had already provided his information to the organizer. After reviewing it, the organizer notified them that there was no issue. They only needed to depart on time.

The organizer would provide fishing rods and related equipment. They only needed to bring their personal clothes and identity documents. It would be best to bring some relevant medicine too, and then they could set off.

Lu Ao was already very used to going out now. Packing a suitcase would not take him long.

The organizer said they would provide fishing rods, but he still packed all his own rods with him. He got hungry easily. If he brought fishing gear, he could fish in time when he got hungry at sea and hunt for food.

Aside from the fishing rods, he also brought a large amount of dried meat. If it was inconvenient to trouble others at sea, he could eat some dried meat to get by.

Everything was ready. He only had to wait for the date to arrive.

The night before Lu Ao’s departure, Song Zhou came over to eat with him and brought him something special—a satellite phone.

Lu Ao was a little stunned. He held the satellite phone, turning it over and over to examine it.

Song Zhou’s eyes curved as he said, “A gift for knowing each other for three months. The call credit has already been topped up. Bringing it will make you safer.”

“Oh.” Lu Ao looked at it for a long time, then put the satellite phone away. He had not expected Song Zhou to prepare this for him. “Isn’t a satellite phone especially expensive?”

“It’s all right. Just over ten thousand.” Song Zhou smiled. “I bought the phone, so it’s your turn to pay the phone bill. After you go out to sea, remember to call me more often.”

Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Ao said, “No problem. I’ll definitely guarantee at least one call a day.”

“I should record that. Then we can count it together later and see whether you break your word.”

Breaking his word was impossible.

Early in the morning on August 24, Lu Ao and Lin Qiyan set off from the county together.

The port they were departing from was in Xinluzhou, so they had to take a car there.

The two of them hurried all the way and finally boarded the ship at two in the afternoon.

The organizer of this sea fishing trip was named Zhong Honghai, a man in his forties.

He had already organized dozens of sea fishing events and now had his own sea fishing team. Usually, he made a living by leading teams out to sea to fish.

The ship was not their own. They had specially rented this ship for the sea fishing trip.

Lu Ao knew the owner, Captain Chen. To say he knew him was not entirely accurate. They were not very familiar. The two had only spoken before in the group chat of ship captains.

In any case, having someone familiar on board was still something worth being happy about.

After Lin Qiyan boarded the ship and looked at the sixty-plus-meter vessel, he could not help touching Lu Ao’s arm and whispering, “Your friends are so rich. They just buy a sixty-plus-meter ship like it’s nothing. Can I film the specific details of this ship?”

“I’ll ask later.”

“Great. I’ll go with you later.”

A sixty-plus-meter ship was nothing much among large vessels, but compared with most large vessels, this ship was Captain Chen’s private ship, and he himself was the captain. That was impressive.

Such a ship had to be purchased and maintained. Crew members also had to be hired, and routes had to be applied for before going out to sea. Without assets worth tens of millions, it basically could not be taken down.

Most ship captains were quite wealthy. Even if they did not have their own ships and went out to work for others, their annual salary could reach three or four million.

And that was under the condition that they did not work year-round.

The wage structure for maritime workers was rather strange. Generally speaking, their monthly salary was much higher than the average wage, but they could not receive it all year round.

They usually had a salary while on board. Once they disembarked, there was no salary.

Many maritime workers could only receive wages for a little over half the year. During the remaining months on shore, they only had expenses and no income.

Going out to sea was extremely hard. In particular, most sea areas had no internet connection. Satellite phone fees were too expensive, and most people could not afford to use them. They only made calls when something urgent happened and could not possibly chat endlessly over the phone.

Once maritime workers went out to sea, they faced endless monotonous life. Especially being separated from family, while the work intensity was also high. Working more than ten hours a day was common. Over time, many people were prone to developing psychological issues.

When Lin Qiyan was younger, he had once considered applying to a relevant maritime college. After gathering the relevant information, he gave up the idea.

He still had his grandmother to care for. If he drifted outside for more than half the year without any news, the old lady would worry herself to death.

Lu Ao agreed to help Lin Qiyan ask the captain later.

They had only just set sail and had not left the port yet.

The ship was busy at the moment. Crew members were shouting all over the deck and in the cabins. It was not suitable to go disturb them now.

Lin Qiyan was not in a hurry either. This trip would last many days. They could go film anytime.

After the two of them finished tidying up, they returned to their own cabins to rest.

Ocean-going ships were fairly considerate. Basically, everyone could be assigned a bedroom with its own bathroom.

Lu Ao put down his things and first slept in the cabin. He did not wake until after six in the evening. Then he planned to find Lin Qiyan first before going to the dining room for something to eat.

He had just gone up and had not yet found Lin Qiyan on the deck when he heard someone shout happily, “Get ready! The ultrasonic fish finder just detected a huge school of fish below!”

Someone shouted back, “What kind of fish?!”

“Don’t know. Judging from the current image, it’s very likely qingtiao!”

Qingtiao, at sea, referred to herring.

They loved swimming together in schools. Generally, one net could catch a whole large group. When there were many, it could reach several tons.

The unit price of qingtiao was not high, but such a huge school of fish still had great total value. No wonder everyone was so happy.

Running into a school of fish on the very first day was no different from picking up money.

The crew bustled about with lively excitement, and the deck was full of human voices.

Lu Ao watched as they prepared the enormous net and began lowering it to catch fish. More than ten minutes later, the towing machine on board dragged a huge net into the groove.

The net was densely packed with fish, giving off a strong fishy smell.

Seeing this, the crew cheered and called out, shouting to their companions to untangle the fish.

Read More Extra Chapters (EPUB & PDF Format)