After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood – CH80

Chapter 80

The herring freshly hauled up from the sea were still lively and thrashing, carrying the scent of the ocean with them.

Captain Chen went over to take a look at the fish, then shouted for someone to send the herring to the freezer for cold storage. Among them, he picked out around a hundred especially fresh and vigorous ones and had them sent to the kitchen on the spot, asking the kitchen staff to make them into late-night snacks for everyone.

Lu Ao went over to look at the fish.

Captain Chen turned his head and saw him. He immediately burst into laughter. “They said you had good luck, and I didn’t believe it. Look at this. The moment you boarded, my luck came too.”

Zhong Honghai and the others had only rented the ship to go out to sea. Whatever was caught at sea still belonged to Captain Chen.

No wonder he was so happy.

Lu Ao said, “It’s your own good luck.”

“Hahaha, we’re all lucky. Have you eaten dinner yet? Since there are so many herring, I’ll have them fry some for us!”

“Not yet.”

“Come, come, then let’s go eat fish and drink.”

Lu Ao turned and glanced around. “Let me see where my brother is. Can I call him along?”

“Sure.” Captain Chen asked, “You mean the one filming videos? I just saw him on the deck.”

“Yes, him.”

Captain Chen loudly asked his men, “Jianzai, did any of you see that guy filming videos?”

One of the crew members who was dealing with the fish turned his head, straightened up, and shouted, “The one carrying the camera and walking around all the time? I think he went toward the cold storage.”

Lu Ao said, “Please ask someone to call him if you see him. Tell him to find me in the dining room.”

“Sure, wait a moment. We’ll go right now.”

Captain Chen shouted again, “Someone go invite Old Zhong too! Tell him to come to the dining room and eat fish with us!”

“Got it!”

Before long, Lin Qiyan was found and brought over.

He was still carrying his camera, his face full of smiles.

Lu Ao introduced him to the captain.

Lin Qiyan quickly reached out to shake Captain Chen’s hand. “Captain Chen, hello, hello. I’ve heard your name for a long time.”

“What kind of name could a rough man like me have? Don’t be polite. Just call me Brother Chen.” Captain Chen laughed heartily. “Come, come, let’s go drink and eat fish. Let’s taste what freshly caught qingtiao is like.”

Lu Ao said, “Freshly caught sea fish won’t taste bad no matter how it’s cooked.”

“That’s true. Not to mention cooked, even if we take two of them and slice them into sashimi, they’ll taste good.”

The few of them walked toward the dining room while chatting. Lin Qiyan soon got straight to the point.

He asked Captain Chen, “Brother Chen, I’d like to film some videos on the ship. Would that be all right?”

“What do you want to film?”

“I haven’t decided on a theme yet. Mainly, I want to film life on the ship and also take a look at what equipment the ship has and what that equipment is used for.” Lin Qiyan said, “The finished video can be reviewed by you first. If you think there’s no problem, I’ll publish it.”

Lin Qiyan was someone Lu Ao had brought, and he had also been invited by the sea fishing group. Captain Chen was still willing to give him face. After considering it briefly, he agreed readily. “That’s fine.”

Before long, the two of them settled what Lin Qiyan could film and what he could not.

Since Lin Qiyan had started filming videos, it was rare for things to go so smoothly.

Soon, Zhong Honghai came over too, and everyone ate fish together in the dining room.

Lu Ao asked Zhong Honghai about the sea fishing plan for the next few days.

Zhong Honghai said, “Basically, we’ll reach our destination tomorrow morning. We’ll start fishing tomorrow morning. It’ll be around three hours in the morning, three hours in the afternoon, and another three hours at night.”

“Do we have a specific target for this trip? Or do we just catch whatever we can, depending on fate?”

“We definitely have some targets, but whether we can hit those targets isn’t something we can control.”

Zhong Honghai smiled. “This time, we mainly want to catch tuna. It would be best if we could catch bluefin tuna. If we can’t catch bluefin, some yellowfin tuna would be good too. We’ll see how our luck is.”

Captain Chen chimed in, “If it’s about luck, you don’t need to worry. Our Xiao Lu’s luck is first-rate.”

“Hahaha, I’ve heard that too. Whether we can catch anything good tomorrow will all depend on you.”

“I wouldn’t dare claim that.”

The few of them clarified the details of the fishing plan.

During this time, the kitchen brought up the qingtiao. Roasted, fried, pan-fried, boiled, made into soup—all kinds of qingtiao filled the table.

Lu Ao picked up a roasted fish.

Qingtiao was only average in terms of taste, but the fish was fresh and plump, so it had its own special flavor when eaten.

He finished more than twenty by himself and ate five bowls of rice. The others mostly watched him eat from the side.

It was Zhong Honghai’s first time witnessing his appetite. He was rather amazed. Such a handsome young man could actually eat so much.

Lu Ao did not care about other people’s gazes at all. Only after he was full did he put down his chopsticks.

Captain Chen looked at him and said with a smile, “When we were young, we were like that too. Running ships outside, each of us could eat more than the next.”

Lin Qiyan smiled. “Still not as much as Lu Ao, right?”

“That’s not necessarily true. In the past, didn’t we sail to foreign countries? They had those buffet things, delicious and affordable.”

“In the past, as soon as we went ashore, we’d go to people’s buffet restaurants and eat with everything we had. After eating like that for three to five months, we ate those buffet restaurants into closure. We asked around and only then found out that the restaurant owners really couldn’t stand us big-bellied men and moved the restaurant elsewhere.”

“Hahaha, is that story true or not?”

“Of course it’s true. If you don’t believe me, go ask around. Nowadays, those foreign devils’ restaurants get scared when they see people like us.”

The more Captain Chen talked, the happier he became. “We also had a young brother back then. It was his first time abroad, and he went to a restaurant to eat buffet. Buffets are so tasty, with oil and meat. He ate in that buffet restaurant for two hours straight, stuffing himself until he sat there and didn’t dare move at all. Only after five or six hours, when the food in his stomach had digested a bit, did he dare slowly shuffle his way out.”

“In that kind of situation, shouldn’t he call a car and go to the hospital?”

“No need. He was just stuffed. Once he digested it, he was fine.”

Captain Chen loved telling old stories. He had told these stories countless times over his long seafaring career. His subordinates had long grown tired of them. Every time they saw him open his mouth, they would look for all sorts of chances to slip away.

Lin Qiyan, however, was very interested in this kind of material. Not only did he listen, he also turned on his camera and recorded these stories.

It was rare for Captain Chen to have someone support him so enthusiastically. The more he talked, the happier he became. The two of them echoed each other back and forth, almost as if they were about to become close confidants on the spot.

After Lu Ao finished eating, Lin Qiyan was still there listening to Captain Chen tell stories. The two of them looked as if they were about to talk by candlelight through the night.

Lu Ao did not bother with them. He had to return to his cabin and make a call.

Before he came out, he had promised to make one call a day. Lu Ao did not intend to break his promise on the first day.

When he called, it was already past eight at night. The call connected, and he said, “It’s me.”

Song Zhou chuckled softly. “I know it’s you. What are you doing now?”

“I just finished dinner and am getting ready to sleep. What about you?”

“Still working overtime, but I’ll be off soon.”

“That sounds a little miserable?”

“Yes, it’s exactly that miserable.” Song Zhou relaxed and chatted with him. “Did anything interesting happen on your side? From your voice, you sound quite happy.”

Lu Ao paused and said, “Nothing much. In the evening, they caught a net of qingtiao, herring. We just had a fish feast.”

“Then it seems your life over there is pretty good, quite colorful.”

“It’s all right.” Lu Ao asked casually, “What about yours?”

It was the first time Song Zhou had heard him ask about his work. He smiled and picked out something more interesting to tell him. “Do you know why we had to work overtime today?”

“I can’t guess. Some kind of sudden incident?”

“More or less. Some time ago, we received a tip that a plant-type yao had entered the drug production industry, directly using its own bodily fluids to research and manufacture drugs. We laid the groundwork for a long time and finally caught it.”

“That can happen?”

“Why not? In fact, many criminal yao use their own abilities to cheat money or enter illegal industries. When we crack down, we focus heavily on those too.”

Lu Ao said, “I thought crimes committed by yao were mainly violent crimes, like eating people or digging out hearts.”

Song Zhou told him, “Those are things fabricated in strange tales and supernatural novels. Human flesh is not tastier than other meat, especially when it has not been cooked. Yao have been integrated into society for so many years. There aren’t many antisocial yao left.”

“Are there yao (demon) murder cases then?”

“Yes. In terms of probability, they’re about the same as murder cases in human society. Most yao are still very restrained.”

The two of them chatted in the cabin until Lu Ao grew sleepy.

In a daze, he said, “I’m not talking to you anymore. I’m going to sleep. I have to get up early tomorrow to fish.”

Song Zhou softened his voice. “All right. Go to sleep. We’ll talk again tomorrow night.”

“Mm.”

Lu Ao did not even know when he fell asleep. When he woke up the next morning and casually picked up the satellite phone beside his pillow, he discovered there was a text message on it.

The message reminded him that yesterday’s call had lasted one hundred and three minutes. The rate was eight yuan per minute. A total of eight hundred and twenty-four yuan had been deducted.

The current remaining balance was nine thousand one hundred and seventy-six yuan.

Lu Ao stared at the message for a long time, unsure whether he should complain about spending over eight hundred yuan on one call in one night, or about Song Zhou directly topping up ten thousand yuan in call credit.

He stared at it for a long while before putting down the satellite phone, washing up, and going to eat breakfast.

When he appeared on the deck to fish, it was only a little past seven in the morning. There were already quite a few people fishing on the deck.

Seeing Lu Ao, everyone greeted him one after another.

The people on board had already heard of his reputation for good luck and also knew about his deeds in the sea rescue. Their impression of him was quite good.

Someone shouted, “Lu Ao, are you going to fish? There are rods here.”

“Thanks, I brought my own too.” Lu Ao asked, “What fish have you all caught?”

“Black porgy.”

“Chunzi.”

“Puffer Fish.”

Everyone’s answers were all over the place. There were not many fish in this sea area, and no one had caught anything particularly valuable yet.

Lu Ao casually found a spot, hooked on a sea shrimp, and lowered his rod.

The people around him were very enthusiastic and gave him a small stool.

Lu Ao sat there fishing, dozing a little while listening to the people around him brag.

Less than five minutes later, the rod in Lu Ao’s hand suddenly sank. Something had clearly bitten.

The people chatting nearby saw it and gathered over with interest. “Something’s on! Something’s on! Let’s see what your luck brings up.”

Lu Ao stood and calmly played the fish.

Someone beside him saw the slight bend in his rod and quickly asked, “Is it heavy? Do you need a landing net?”

“It’s all right, not too heavy.” Lu Ao said, “Bring the landing net over first.”

“What did you catch? Can you see it?”

“Not yet.”

As Lu Ao spoke, he slowly pulled the fish upward. Soon, through the surface of the water, a bright flash of silver could be seen.

“Wow, hairtail! It’s hairtail!”

“Pull slowly!”

Hairtail generally swam in deeper waters. If pulled up too quickly, the water pressure changed too fast, and it would die the moment it left the water.

Only by pulling slowly could a live hairtail be brought up.

Lu Ao’s movements were not fast to begin with. Only after pulling for quite a while did he fully bring the hairtail up.

The person beside him had already been waiting with the landing net. As soon as the hairtail appeared, he hurriedly scooped it up.

The hairtail Lu Ao caught was very large, about one meter long.

Unlike the grayish-white hairtail seen near shore, this hairtail was bright silver all over, its body like a silver mirror, flashing with light.

That light was like the first break of dawn, its brilliant color like the flash of a blade.

Everyone felt as if their eyes had been stabbed by the brightness.

It was Lu Ao’s first time seeing a live hairtail too. He had not expected a live hairtail to be this beautiful—so beautiful it was like a moving piece of mirror.

The hairtail struggled in the net.

Lu Ao went to unhook it, and someone beside him quickly reminded him, “Careful, its teeth are sharp.”

“Mm.”

It was rare for the ship to catch such a large, living hairtail. Someone went to call Zhong Honghai out.

When Lin Qiyan heard the news, he hurried out to film too.

Zhong Honghai looked at the large hairtail and could not help saying, “This big hairtail is really beautiful. Let’s film a segment first?”

“Either way is fine.” Lu Ao stepped back.

Zhong Honghai hurriedly called the members over to take photos.

After they finished taking photos, Zhong Honghai said, “This hairtail is very beautiful, but it dies easily. It won’t be easy to bring it back. How do you want to deal with it? Why not sell it to me?”

Hairtail was not particularly valuable, and Lu Ao was not interested in earning such a small amount. Holding the heavy large hairtail in his hand, he thought for a moment. “Why don’t we take it to the kitchen and eat it?”

“Hahahaha, that’s a good idea too. This hairtail is so large. How about we cut part of it for dry-fried hairtail and use the other part for sashimi?”

It was Lu Ao’s first time hearing that hairtail could also be used for sashimi. Surprise appeared in his eyes. “Hairtail works too?”

“It does. It has a special flavor. It’s just that hairtail transported to shore is no longer fresh, so very few people dare to eat it.” Zhong Honghai said, “Why don’t you keep fishing for a while? I’ll take the fish inside. Later, everyone can taste my cooking?”

Lu Ao handed him the fish. “Thank you.”

“Hahahaha, no trouble, no trouble. I’ll see what else they’ve caught and make a bit more sashimi. Today, we’ll have a sashimi platter.”

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