After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood – CH8

Chapter 8: Giant Grouper

After half an afternoon of running around, Lu Ao was hungry again.

The first thing he did after returning home was not shower and sleep, but clean the fish and sea snails, preparing to cook himself a meal.

The snails he had caught had more or less finished spitting out their sand.

He first put the sea snails into a large soup pot and boiled them with clean water, ginger slices, and cooking wine. Then he fished them out, used toothpicks to pick out the snail meat, sliced it, and stir-fried it with green and red chilies.

The plump white croaker was scaled, gutted, and cleaned of its gills. The fish head was chopped off and split into two halves. One half was piled with chopped chili, the other with pickled chili. After adding seasonings, he steamed them in a pot.

As for the body of the white croaker, he directly chopped it into fish pieces and pan-fried them.

The sound of fish frying, the range hood humming, and the spatula stir-frying rang lively through the kitchen. Gradually, the fragrance filled the entire courtyard.

More than half an hour later, all the dishes were done.

On Lu Ao’s dining table were four dishes: fish head with two kinds of chilies, stir-fried snail meat, braised beef, and pan-fried fish pieces.

Beside them, the rice cooker held a full pot of rice.

He took a can of beer from the fridge and opened it with a pop. First, he took a sip of the cold beer, narrowed his eyes, and savored it for a moment before picking up his chopsticks.

He did not know whether it was because the ingredients were especially fresh or because his cooking skills were especially good.

Every dish on the table was delicious.

The fish head with two kinds of chilies was tender, fragrant, and spicy on the chopped chili side, while the pickled chili side was sour, tender, and savory.

The stir-fried snail meat had green and red line peppers as side ingredients. They had been fried in hot oil until slightly wrinkled, spicy and perfect with rice. The snail meat was wrapped in thick sauce; when placed on the tongue, it was fresh, crisp, and hot, making one want to keep reaching for more.

The pan-fried fish was crisp on the outside and tender inside. No special ingredients had been added; what he ate was the original flavor of the white croaker. Each bite was a chunk of meat, with hardly any bones, yet it carried a special fragrance.

The braised beef had soaked in the broth for more than six hours. Now, when taken out and sliced into large pieces, the meat was extremely fragrant and filled with rich juices. Slightly salty and slightly spicy, it was perfect with rice.

Lu Ao sat at the table and slowly finished half a pot of rice and half the dishes with the attitude of someone savoring fine food.

After eating, he rubbed his stomach through his skin, and the expression on his face clearly softened quite a bit.

He put the remaining rice and dishes into the fridge, then took his clothes and went to shower.

After bathing, it was still early, not even eight in the evening.

Lu Ao took out his phone, read the news for a while, scrolled through Moments, then opened his contact list and found Pan Jianbao: Brother Pan, do you have agricultural tricycles over there?

He figured that in the future, he would often need to sell fish. It would be better to prepare this kind of basic equipment for himself.

After receiving his message, Pan Jianbao quickly called him. “Hello, Lu Ao, you want to buy an agricultural tricycle?”

“Yes. Buying one will make transporting things more convenient.”

“Any specific requirements?”

“It needs to have good capacity and enough horsepower.”

“That’s no problem.” Pan Jianbao said on the other end, “I just asked my friend who sells tricycles. A brand-new tricycle, twenty-eight horsepower. The cargo bed is about 2.8 meters long, 1.9 meters wide, and 1.4 meters high. I helped you negotiate the price. If you buy it, they can give it to you for 9,800 yuan, and they can also add a rain canopy for free.”

Lu Ao asked, “What brand?”

“Guanzhong. You can come take a look, or you can check on Taobao. This brand has a decent reputation.”

“Mm. I’ll come take a look tomorrow afternoon.”

The next day, after Lu Ao finished catching fish and selling them, he took a shuttle bus to the county town to find Pan Jianbao.

Pan Jianbao was straightforward and took him to his friend’s vehicle dealership to look at tricycles.

Pan Jianbao’s friend’s dealership was quite large, with all kinds of agricultural vehicles in various brands and models.

His friend personally greeted them. “This way. I’ll show you the tricycle we talked about yesterday.”

As he spoke, he led Pan Jianbao and Lu Ao to a dark blue agricultural tricycle and knocked on the vehicle wall with a dong-dong sound. “This brand is the most popular around here. The body is thickened. Knock on it and listen. It sounds solid.”

Lu Ao tapped it lightly. It did indeed feel sturdy.

The dealership owner observed his expression. Seeing that his expression did not change much, he thought Lu Ao did not like it and hurriedly said, “If you don’t like this brand, we have other brands too.”

“It’s all right.” Lu Ao looked at him. “As you said yesterday, with the canopy and seat added, what’s the lowest price?”

“9,800,” the dealership owner said. “You’re a friend Brother Pan brought over, so I won’t give you empty talk. For this brand and this quality, 9,800 is the lowest. Other than my place, you won’t get this price anywhere else. If you want something cheaper, you can only look at other brands.”

Lu Ao looked at his expression and saw that he really had no intention of lowering the price. “Then 9,800 it is. No need to add the extra seat. Give me an extra pair of gloves and knee guards instead.”

The owner was very pleased. “Sure. Then I’ll add the thick rain canopy and give you a pair of leather gloves and leather knee guards. With those, driving in winter won’t be cold either.”

Lu Ao nodded. “I’ll pay the deposit first. Once the vehicle is ready, I’ll pay the balance.”

“All right. For the deposit, five hundred or one thousand is fine. Adding the canopy is simple. It’ll be done in three to five days. When the time comes, you can just take it and drive it back. Hey, little brother, you know how to drive a tricycle, right?”

“More or less.”

“Hahaha, then you might need to practice a bit these next few days.”

Lu Ao agreed.

The two sides settled everything. Lu Ao paid the deposit, and they agreed that the owner would finish modifying it within five days. Then Lu Ao would come pick up the vehicle and pay the remaining balance.

The next day, after Lu Ao finished catching and selling fish, he specially went to find Lin Manzhang to borrow his tricycle for practice.

Lin Manzhang and the others had just returned from fishing. One by one, they were so tired they were lying around and did not want to move, so they let Lu Ao slowly practice driving in the grain-drying ground while they watched from the side.

After Lu Ao drove two rounds and came back, he felt he had adapted pretty well.

A tricycle was actually quite easy to drive and did not require much skill.

Lin Manzhang stood in front of the vehicle, a cigarette between his fingers, and spoke to him. “How much fish did you catch today?”

Lu Ao stopped the vehicle properly, pulled out the key, and said, “Not much. Forty or fifty jin.”

Hearing this from the side, Lin Gongshang spat out a mouthful of smoke in grief and indignation. “Fuck, forty or fifty jin in one day and you still think it’s little? We only catch twenty-some jin in a day!”

Lu Ao said, “I can eat a lot, and I’m strong.”

As for how much he could eat, Lin Manzhang and the others had all witnessed it.

Every day, Lu Ao spent one or two hundred yuan just buying groceries.

For chickens and ducks, other people bought them by the jin, but Lu Ao bought them by the whole bird. Three to five of them would not even last him two days.

The day before yesterday, Lin Gongshang had helped him buy several bags of rice after selling fish.

To be honest, Lin Gongshang had lived this long, but this was the first time he had seen a single man buy rice by the sack, buying three to five sacks in one breath and piling them in the vehicle bed like he had bought a whole load of cement.

Holding his cigarette, Lin Gongshang sighed. “I think you might as well stop fishing and learn from Lin Qiyan by making videos. Do some kind of eating broadcast. You won’t have to be beaten by wind or rain, and once you get famous, restaurants will invite you to eat every day. Then you won’t have to worry about fishing to feed yourself.”

Lu Ao shook his head without even thinking. He was not willing to make money by pleasing people.

Seeing that he was not interested in this, Lin Manzhang changed the topic and asked, “Have you seen any giant groupers these past two days?”

Lu Ao frowned. “I have. The small ones were too small, so I didn’t shoot them. I missed the big ones.”

He had not yet trained his accuracy.

Lin Gongshang chuckled, his expression somewhat smug. “Then you’d better hurry. I’ve caught three giant groupers in these two days.”

The three giant groupers had been sent to Niu Deyu and exchanged for more than two thousand yuan. Lin Gongshang had been feeling proud about it for the past two days.

Lin Manzhang reminded him from the side, “Lu Ao, if you want to catch giant grouper, do it soon. Brother Niu said the hotel has almost collected enough giant grouper.”

“Mm.”

“How about you come fish with us after all? With a group of people together, we can look after each other.”

Lu Ao shook his head. “Forget it. I’m still used to being alone.”

“What’s good about being alone? Besides, the place you chose is simply wrong.” Lin Gongshang complained, “There are indeed quite a lot of fish there, but the current is too fast, and the water is relatively murky. Aside from when you get lucky, it’s usually very hard to catch fish there.”

Lu Ao said, “I think it’s all right. If I can’t catch anything, it won’t be too late to change places then.”

“If you can catch more, then catch more. The stretch of sea we usually go to is so much easier to fish in. Black sea bream, white sea bream, stone snapper, golden conger, pomfret, sea wolf, giant grouper… In that stretch of sea you go to, you can barely even see fish shadows. What the hell are you catching?”

“Thanks. I’ll keep trying for now.” Lu Ao returned the vehicle to Lin Manzhang. “I’m going home to cook.”

Lin Manzhang quickly nodded. “Go, go. If you need us to bring you vegetables, just say so on WeChat. Anyway, we go to town every day to sell fish.”

Lu Ao waved his hand, indicating that he understood.

In truth, Lu Ao already had a target.

These past few days, he had been chasing a large giant grouper, estimated visually to weigh around seventy or eighty jin.

There was no need to catch the smaller giant groupers. He only needed to catch that one.

Early that morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, Lu Ao arrived at the seaside.

The sea at dawn was different from the morning and afternoon sea. The temperature had dropped quite a bit, and the sea breeze was strong, tugging at his clothes until they flapped noisily.

Lu Ao took a deep breath, and his whole body became clear-headed.

He changed into his gear, put on his mask, bit down on the snorkel, and jumped into the water.

The current gurgled around him. Beneath the surface, it was much quieter than on land.

Lu Ao moved his hands and feet a little, then swam lightly toward the place where he had seen the giant grouper yesterday.

As he swam forward, he saw quite a few red snappers and golden congers along the way, but he did not spear any of them. This morning’s target was the giant grouper, and Lu Ao did not want to be distracted.

After circling this sea area for more than half an hour, Lu Ao finally discovered traces of the large giant grouper he had been tracking these past few days.

Old fish became spirits.

A giant grouper this large had weathered countless storms and was extremely cautious by nature.

Even though Lu Ao moved so lightly, he had still been unable to get within five meters of this giant grouper over the past few days.

Only a non-human like Lu Ao, who could hold his breath for more than ten minutes, could track this giant grouper.

If it had been anyone else, they would have been shaken off by the grouper long ago.

Lu Ao trailed behind the giant grouper at a careful distance, following it all the way.

The giant grouper did not notice him and leisurely hunted small fish and shrimp along the seabed.

Lu Ao gently surfaced to take a breath, then returned.

His movements were extremely light. The large giant grouper still did not sense danger and continued hiding beside the rocks to hunt.

Lu Ao slowly approached.

Ten meters.

Eight meters.

Five meters.

Raise his hand.

Aim.

Fire.

The steel arrow carried tremendous force as it silently cut through the seawater and shot fiercely into the giant grouper. The huge impact directly pierced through it.

He hit it!

Lu Ao had no time to feel delighted.

The giant grouper suddenly struggled violently, instantly stirring up a large patch of muddy seawater.

Its enormous strength directly dragged Lu Ao forward.

Caught off guard, Lu Ao was pulled several meters and rolled several times underwater.

Even with his excellent swimming ability, he still spat out several streams of bubbles and nearly choked on water.

This giant grouper was even bigger than Lu Ao had imagined, and its strength was especially great.

Lu Ao was already very strong, but underwater, he could not overpower this giant grouper at all.

The giant grouper rushed forward at high speed, dragging Lu Ao along with it.

He did not dare pull too tightly, afraid that the arrow line would snap and that he would lose the fish arrow along with it.

The ropes attached to these fish arrows were specially made and could withstand several hundred kilograms of pulling force. They were enough for Lu Ao to slowly play this giant grouper and wear down its strength.

Lu Ao barely stabilized himself so he would not be dragged around and rolled underwater.

Soon, he discovered that this giant grouper was swimming toward the open sea.

Lu Ao’s heart tightened. He hurriedly and deliberately tugged on the fishing line in his hand, quickly swam to the side, and closed in on the giant grouper, trying to drive it toward the shore.

His ability to hold his breath was extremely powerful. He could stay underwater for more than ten minutes at a time.

For a while, he could not subdue the giant grouper, and the giant grouper could not break free from the rope attached to the steel arrow in its body. The two sides remained locked in a stalemate, circling back and forth.

During this, Lu Ao found chances to surface and breathe twice, while the giant grouper broke through his blockade several times, trying to escape toward the open sea.

This large giant grouper was incredibly strong and cunning.

Lu Ao did not know how long he had been locked in a stalemate with it.

He was already exhausted and was now only holding on through sheer willpower.

If he still could not hold out after a while, he could only give up on this large giant grouper, use his diving knife to cut the rope, and throw away the fish arrow along with it.

Lu Ao’s mind was very clear, but his body was so tired that he did not even want to lift a finger. Still, he gritted his teeth desperately and persisted.

The giant grouper was also utterly exhausted.

The two sides remained at a deadlock in the sea, almost motionless.

Lu Ao quietly breathed a sigh of relief, let out more line, and silently floated to the surface to breathe. The giant grouper suddenly struggled madly again, directly dragging Lu Ao toward the seabed.

Lu Ao did not even have time to finish taking a breath before he was pulled rolling back into the seawater.

The giant grouper moved extremely fast. Lu Ao tumbled in the water, completely unable to steady himself.

The fish arrow line wrapped around him, and he could not break free at all.

He reached for the diving knife at his lower back, but failed to touch it twice in a row.

Lu Ao tried his best to calm down, but his vision was already beginning to blur.

Making such violent movements underwater consumed too much oxygen. He was reaching his limit.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Lu Ao struggled underwater and finally managed to touch the diving knife at his lower back.

Unexpectedly, just as he was about to pull it out, the giant grouper struggled again. The position of Lu Ao’s diving knife was flung to the center of his lower back, and he could no longer reach it.

Lu Ao grew anxious. This stretch of seawater was extremely deep, at least more than ten meters.

He no longer had the conditions to keep holding on. No matter how unwilling he was, he had to let this large giant grouper go.

Lu Ao worked hard to untangle the line wrapped around his body.

Thinking that if he let go now, he would have wasted most of the morning for nothing and also lost a fish arrow, he felt extremely unwilling.

But unwilling or not, there was nothing he could do. His life mattered more.

Feeling stifled, Lu Ao spat out a bubble from his throat.

He gritted his teeth and untangled the fishing line. Halfway through, his chest suddenly began to heat up.

Lu Ao sensed something was wrong and hurriedly sped up his movements. Unexpectedly, before he could finish untangling the line, his vision blurred, and pain shot through all four limbs and every bone in his body.

When he became conscious again, the pair of slender hands before his eyes had turned back into short little claws!

He had turned into a lizard again!

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