Magical

The group went inside.

Niu Deyu gently placed the Butter Crab on the scale. The display quickly showed the exact weight. "A little over one pound and eight liang. Take off the rope, and it should be one pound eight liang. Three thousand six hundred."

Lu Ao nodded.

Niu Deyu smiled. "I'll put that down first, then weigh the other Mud Crabs."

Mud Crabs were priced differently depending on their sex and size.

Lu Ao's remaining crabs sold for a total of thirteen hundred.

After taxes, his total income for the day was 2,695 yuan. That was quite good.

Lin Manzhang and the others had each earned several hundred yuan as well. With the money in hand, everyone was delighted.

Niu Deyu took them to a restaurant nearby for dinner, where he brought up the wealthy boss.

Lu Ao had refused to host them, which Niu Deyu found rather regrettable. "Didn't you catch a huge Giant Grouper before? They heard about you and specifically asked to stay at your place. They even said money wasn't an issue. You really won't consider it?"

Lu Ao swallowed his food and said, "I don't like having other people in my house."

Niu Deyu pressed on. "Then they don't have to stay at your place. How about you take them around instead?"

Lu Ao still refused. "I don't have time. I have to fish morning and evening, and I need to tend the vegetables in the fields the rest of the time."

"How much can your vegetables possibly be worth? The rich guy is offering three thousand a day!"

No matter how much Niu Deyu pleaded and persuaded, Lu Ao would not budge. He did not like making a living by catering to others.

Out of options, Niu Deyu could only settle for the next best thing and ask Lin Manzhang and Lin Gongshang, "Do either of you want to host them? Though in your case, they might need to interview you first."

Lin Gongshang paused with his chopsticks in hand and immediately said, "Of course! Why wouldn't I? Three thousand yuan a day—how could money be this easy to earn?"

Lin Manzhang hesitated before saying, "I'll pass. My wife and children are at home, so it wouldn't be convenient to bring strangers back. But if they want to go out to sea, I can help take them."

Niu Deyu said, "That works too. I'll submit your names and have them look into things. If you pass, I'll let you know."

Lu Ao did not take the matter to heart. Once he heard it, he tossed it to the back of his mind.

Chongxin Village was simply too remote. After looking into it, the odds of them choosing their village were probably slim.

That was what he thought. A few days later, he bought a pile of cement and sand in town and hauled it back to the village, planning to fix up the dilapidated woodshed beside his house into a goose shed. On the way back, several luxury cars suddenly appeared behind him.

The kind worth tens of millions.

The provincial highway was not wide, and Lu Ao's tricycle was relatively large, blocking more than half the road.

The luxury cars behind him grew impatient and honked as they followed him.

Lu Ao pulled over, parking one set of wheels on the grass by the roadside to let the three cars behind him pass first.

The luxury cars did not stand on ceremony. They drove straight past him, blasting Lu Ao with exhaust.

One look told Lu Ao that these were probably the wealthy people coming to the fishing village to experience authentic fisherman life. Otherwise, their village would not see cars like these in eight hundred years.

Lu Ao calmly watched the three cars drive away.

Among the people he knew were not only tycoons worth billions, but also gods whose true forms were entire states.

Luxury cars of this level were nothing special.

Lu Ao had thought he would have no dealings with these people. Unexpectedly, two days later, the richest among them narrowly escaped death because of him.

Magical

Lu Ao did not spare a thought for the wealthy people from Lin Family Village. For the past two days, after finishing his fishing, he had been busy with the fields.

By late June, the sun was scorching. The weeds and wild trees outside had wilted in the heat, let alone the vegetables in the fields.

The fruits and vegetables Lu Ao had planted were all still young and extremely fragile.

He had to water them twice a day: once after fishing in the morning, and again after fishing in the evening.

Besides watering, he also had to weed, fertilize, remove pests, and spray pesticides.

Before he started growing vegetables, he had always mistakenly thought that homegrown crops needed no pesticides or fertilizer. He thought that as long as they were planted, he could simply wait to eat them.

In reality, that was not the case. There were countless diseases and pests in the wild. Without suitable pesticides and fertilizer, after planting a crop, there would not be much left for him to eat.

Besides the necessary pesticide and fertilizer, the hardy weeds also gave Lu Ao a terrible headache.

These weeds could not be pulled out completely or killed off. Their vitality was far stronger than that of vegetables. Vegetables might grow an inch in ten days, while weeds grew half a foot in three. They grew so fast that it was almost like watching them shoot up with the naked eye.

Even Lu Ao, an unscientific little Dragon, had no way to deal with them.

That afternoon, Lu Ao finally finished cleaning out the goose pen at home.

He had converted the woodshed into the goose pen. The floor had been covered with cement, a faucet had been installed in the corner, and even the windows had been replaced with large, bright ones for better ventilation.

After cleaning the goose pen, he called the family in Tuanbao Town that raised geese.

When the call connected, the owner, Li Xinyong, recognized him and greeted him enthusiastically. "Hey, we've already caught all the geese. Fifty-one in total, just as you asked: forty-five females and six males. When can you come pick them up?"

"I'm free now. Is the price still twenty-eight per bird?"

"That's right. You get what you pay for. We picked the good ones for you. You'll see when you get here."

"Okay. I'll be there soon."

Lu Ao rode his tricycle straight to Tuanbao Town. Li Xinyong, the goose farmer, lived in a village. His family had contracted a large stretch of fishponds and woodland, raising geese and fish at the same time.

When Li Xinyong saw Lu Ao arrive, he welcomed him warmly. "Come in. The yard's a bit messy. Sorry about that."

"It's fine." Lu Ao swept his gaze across the courtyard of the red-brick house. "Let's see the geese first. Where are the goslings?"

"They're in the backyard. I'll take you to them."

Li Xinyong led Lu Ao through the main room to the backyard.

The backyard was fenced off with bamboo. A flock of fluffy gray goslings rested in the shade. Hearing people approach, they immediately stirred, honking as they scattered in every direction.

Li Xinyong said, "All the geese you wanted are here. Count them and check them over. If everything's fine, I'll pack them up for you."