After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood – CH81

Chapter 81

The fresh hairtail was beheaded, deboned, and stripped of its dorsal fin before finally being sliced into thin pieces and arranged on a plate.

When the plate of hairtail was served, the silver membrane on its back was still gleaming, making it look like a dish of glittering blades.

Captain Chen had prepared wasabi soy sauce and said enthusiastically, “Try it. Fresh hairtail is very tasty. It has a unique flavor.”

Lu Ao picked up a slice of hairtail and held it before his eyes, staring at its shining silver membrane for a long while before slowly putting it into his mouth, half-doubtful.

At first, he was afraid there would be a fishy smell and did not quite dare chew.

Only after he chewed lightly and the tender fish meat melted in his mouth did he realize that this hairtail sashimi not only had no fishy taste, but also carried a special fragrance.

That fragrance, catalyzed by the wasabi soy sauce, turned into an indescribable freshness.

A hint of surprise appeared in Lu Ao’s eyes. He nodded. “It really is good.”

Captain Chen laughed. “I told you, didn’t I? Come, have a few more slices. This kind of hairtail isn’t something you can catch anytime.”

Lu Ao looked at him. “Aren’t hairtail social creatures? If I can catch one, the others should be able to catch some too, right?”

“Hard to say. It depends on luck. Things in the sea—what you end up catching, or whether you catch anything at all—aren’t under human control. It’d be good if we catch a few more. If we catch enough, we can try dry-fried hairtail pieces at noon. Fresh hairtail is also very good when dry-fried.”

“Dry-fried hairtail pieces are good.” Zhong Honghai picked up a slice of hairtail, a nostalgic look appearing on his face. “Speaking of that, I remember when I was in junior high, we had to board at school. Our family was poor back then, and there wasn’t much good food to bring. Every week, my mother would pack me a big box of pan-fried salted hairtail to take to school and eat with rice.”

“Who says otherwise? Back then, I also often brought hairtail to school. The hairtail had to be fried until it was completely dry and hard. After getting to school, I’d use it specifically to go with plain rice. One piece of salted hairtail could go with an entire lunchbox of rice.”

Captain Chen added, “Not just hairtail. Back then, pickled small snails were also popular. Add a bit of yellow rice wine, ginger, and so on, and they counted as pickled. Bring them to school, and they could last half a week.”

“Yes, we had that too. We also ate drunken crab. That also went very well with rice.”

Lu Ao had never experienced that sort of life. He had grown up in a fishing village and had never lacked fish to eat.

Later, when fishery resources had deteriorated too badly, the state began strongly encouraging fishermen to change careers. Even then, his family still often received salted fish, fish balls, crabs, and other things from relatives and friends.

In the past, he had not particularly liked eating these things. Only after becoming a dragon had he improved a little in that regard.

The few of them sat together eating hairtail sashimi. After they finished, Captain Chen asked, “We’ll fish for three hours this morning, then head north, all right?”

“Sure. Let’s see if we’re lucky enough to run into a tuna school this time.”

“I heard from other captains that tuna have been quite active around here lately. We’ll probably run into some.”

“Who knows? The ocean is so vast. Even if we follow the current, we might happen to miss them. Whether we encounter them or not still depends on luck.”

That was indeed the truth. Even the most experienced anglers could not guarantee what they would run into at sea.

This special situation had also given rise to a special way of protecting fish species: catching or netting a protected animal was not illegal, but secretly bringing it ashore was.

If fishermen accidentally hooked or netted protected fish, they had to release them back into the sea in time. Even if the fish were already dead, their bodies had to be thrown back into the sea.

Quite a few marine fish were on the protected list. Many protected fish were occasionally hooked or hauled on board, because once people cast a line or lowered a net at sea, they had absolutely no way of predicting what they would bring up.

Only this kind of special protection mechanism could safeguard the interests of fishermen.

Zhong Honghai and Captain Chen confirmed the route.

Lu Ao listened for a while from the side but did not offer any opinions.

After they finished discussing it, Lu Ao followed them back to the deck to fish.

Their luck that morning was average. Even though everyone threw large amounts of bait into the water, they did not lure up many fish.

Even Lu Ao, despite his absurdly good luck, did not have much of a start that morning.

He fished for more than two hours and caught only eleven fish in total. The most expensive among them was a giant grouper, estimated to be worth no more than three hundred yuan.

If even he did not catch much, the others caught even less.

At noon, everyone ate a hasty meal. Zhong Honghai then told Old Chen that they should leave this sea area as soon as possible and switch to a different area to fish in the afternoon.

Captain Chen had rented the ship to him, so where the ship went was up to him.

Hearing that they were changing areas, Captain Chen pondered for a moment. “Are we still heading north according to the plan?”

“Yes, north first.”

Just as he finished speaking, Zhong Honghai thought of something and suddenly said, “Wait, let me look at the nautical chart. I remember there’s a giant kelp forest somewhere near here, isn’t there?”

Captain Chen nodded. “There is one nearby, but if we go there, it’ll already count as deviating from our route.”

Zhong Honghai was interested. “Let me see how far off it is. If we set off from here, how long will it take to get there?”

“That depends. At our current speed, it’ll take about two hours.”

“All right, then we’ll go there!”

Captain Chen asked, “We’re really going?”

“Yes. Aren’t we filming promotional material anyway? We can go over and take a look nearby. The footage will look better too.”

“All right, I’ll have them steer that way.”

The two of them went to announce the route change to their respective teams.

The crew members were not surprised and had no particular reaction to the news.

The fishing team, however, was extremely excited. Everyone cheered happily on the deck.

Lu Ao was not familiar with giant kelp and had never heard of this organism. Seeing them shouting and jumping, he was rather puzzled.

Lin Qiyan came over and said, “Giant kelp forests are rarely seen, and they’re very beautiful. This time we can broaden our horizons.”

As he spoke, his eyes shone brightly, his face full of excitement too.

Lu Ao asked, “What is giant kelp?”

“It’s a kind of seaweed. You can imagine it as a giant version of kelp.”

The weather was excellent that day. Their ship changed direction and headed toward the giant kelp forest.

The ship’s sails swelled. Lu Ao stood on the deck and watched the sea.

This stretch of sea was very beautiful. The water was highly transparent, and the entire ocean showed a semi-translucent dark blue, quite different from those gray-green waters.

They were already in the open sea now, and from time to time seabirds could be seen above the surface.

The seabirds often dived down to catch fish.

There were also fish that leapt viciously out of the water and directly dragged seabirds under to eat them.

In the sea, the roles of hunter and prey were often reversed.

Their ship drew closer and closer to the giant kelp forest. The number of fish and seabirds nearby also gradually increased.

Although their numbers were far from forming great flocks, one could still see some seabirds or fish at a glance. It was no longer as barren as before, with nothing but a bare sea surface.

“We’re here.”

Someone called out, and everyone rushed out to look. Many even came out specifically with binoculars.

Lin Qiyan also hurried out and aimed his camera at the sea ahead.

Lu Ao’s exceptional eyesight meant he did not need those things.

He had already clearly seen the sea ahead. In the expanse of azure water, only that particular area showed a peculiar yellow-green color.

His eyes could see the giant kelp floating on the surface.

At first glance, those algae looked a little like kelp. In fact, giant kelp was also known as giant seaweed.

Several hundred square meters of sea surface were covered entirely with these things. It looked extraordinarily spectacular.

“So beautiful!”

Lin Qiyan filmed while exclaiming to the camera, “It’s said that giant kelp can grow to more than five hundred meters in length at most. They take root on the seabed, then keep striving upward until their fronds can reach the sunlight.”

Lu Ao also thought it was very beautiful—beautiful and magical.

Their ship gradually approached, but it did not enter the area of the giant kelp forest. It merely lingered nearby.

As the ship drew closer and closer, everyone could see clearly what the seaweed looked like.

Those strands of seaweed grew upright one after another, like a dense underwater forest.

They could see with their naked eyes fish swimming among the seaweed. There were all kinds of fish in different colors, many of them colorful and very beautiful.

Especially under the sunlight, this stretch of giant kelp forest seemed like an elven forest. If humans had never seen it, they would absolutely find it hard to imagine that such a place existed on Earth.

This giant kelp forest was truly too beautiful. The sea anglers watched for a long time before gradually calming down.

So much giant kelp meant there were also plenty of fish. As long as they baited the area here, they definitely would not have to worry about having no prey today.

Lu Ao chose a direction, took a bucket of chum, and slowly began chumming.

He did not have any particular obsession with fishing. As long as he could catch something, it was fine.

He had come on this trip using Lin Qiyan’s spot and did not need to pay. Even if he really could not catch anything, it did not matter.

Of course, with his abilities, situations where he truly could not catch fish were rare.

He was chumming on this side, and the people nearby were also chumming.

This time, Zhong Honghai had brought twenty-four sea anglers out. Lu Ao and Lin Qiyan were not counted among them.

More than twenty anglers spread out across the sixty-meter-long ship, enough for each of them to maintain a distance of two to three meters.

Everyone was not too close together either, to avoid their fishing lines tangling if a fish ran after taking the bait.

After chumming, Lu Ao sat down and began fishing with his rod. The rod was his own.

He was familiar with the characteristics of the rod in his hands, which helped him fish better.

There were indeed many fish beside the giant kelp forest. As soon as everyone sat down, they began catching fish one after another.

Within ten minutes, Lu Ao caught two groupers in succession.

There were truly too many kinds of groupers in the sea. He looked them over but could not tell exactly which species they were. Judging from their shape and features, they should be groupers.

The others also each had their own catches and handed the fish over to the crew.

The fish they caught would later be sent together into the freezer hold and sold once they returned to shore.

There were truly too many fish here, and everyone continuously caught quite a few big ones.

The atmosphere on the deck grew hotter and hotter. Many people stared at the sea with blazing eyes, all hoping to hook something large.

Among them, Lu Ao’s results were not particularly eye-catching.

His luck this afternoon was average, and he did not catch that many fish. But judging by the price of the fish he caught, his performance was still very outstanding.

The sun was just right now. Lu Ao sat on the deck, growing a little sleepy.

As he fished, Lu Ao suddenly felt the rod in his hand sink. The fish was too strong. He instinctively tightened his grip on the rod, and the rod nearly snapped under the force.

The person beside him knew his stuff. Seeing his movement, he immediately shouted, “Damn, it’s definitely a big one! Play the fish, play the fish! Don’t let it snap the rod!”

Lu Ao did not speak.

He had some experience catching large fish and did not need anyone else’s guidance.

Once the rod steadied, he immediately stood, let out the line, and slowly played the fish.

His fishing line was rather special. The front section was transparent, high-strength nylon, while the back section was a rope with almost no elasticity.

This kind of line was specially configured for catching large fish.

His rod could withstand the pulling force of a two-hundred-kilogram fish. It was more than enough for catching fish weighing two or three hundred jin.

If it were anyone else, the thing to worry about would not be whether the rod was strong enough, but whether they themselves had enough strength.

Soon, everyone knew Lu Ao had hooked something big and crowded around to watch.

“What did he hook? It can’t be tuna, can it?”

“No way. Don’t tuna travel in schools? And I haven’t heard of tuna living beside giant kelp forests.”

Lu Ao drew in the line from the side, the veins on his arm bulging.

Seeing him like that, everyone quickly asked, “Do you need help?”

Lu Ao stared intently at the water surface and said, “I’m still fine for now.”

Old Chen and Zhong Honghai hurried over when they heard the news.

Everyone waited to see what fish Lu Ao had caught.

Seven minutes later, the fish gradually surfaced.

Someone sharp-eyed saw the fish’s round body and shouted, “Ocean sunfish! It looks like an ocean sunfish!”

There were not many fish in the sea with this kind of round body. The ocean sunfish was one of the most famous.

Captain Chen and Zhong Honghai stood nearby watching, their hands gripping the railing so tightly that veins stood out.

After a long while, Zhong Honghai said, “It’s not an ocean sunfish. It’s an opah.”

After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood [Farming]