Eerie

The savory flavors of the seafood and chicken blended perfectly. With a little chili, a little Sichuan pepper, and two juicy red tomatoes, the entire pot of seafood broth gave off an irresistibly enticing aroma.

Lu Ao simmered the broth while Song Zhou helped chop vegetables, first preparing the Black Seabream Lu Ao had given him.

His knife skills were exceptional. The slices of fish beneath his blade were thin and even, nearly translucent when lifted, arranged on a plate like a blooming flower.

Once the meat was sliced and the vegetables washed, the two carried the ingredients into the courtyard and set the hot pot on an induction cooker.

Fresh vegetables and meat were swished in the pot and eaten right away, dipped in whatever sauces they liked and stuffed into their mouths. The meat was faintly hot, and its delicious flavor made them want to swallow their tongues.

Lu Ao narrowed his eyes in satisfaction.

They ate until after eight.

Lu Ao was unusually full and sprawled in his chair, unwilling to move.

Song Zhou cleaned up the mess.

Normally, Lu Ao would never have let a guest do the cleaning.

But today had been far too pleasant. That comfort had drawn the two closer, and Lu Ao unusually did not stand on ceremony with Song Zhou.

After Song Zhou finished washing the dishes, he said goodbye to Lu Ao.

Lu Ao walked him out and asked eagerly, "Song Zhou, when are you free to teach me how to make it rain?"

"Tomorrow afternoon."

"Okay. I'll buy more vegetables tomorrow and save more fish."

After Song Zhou left, Lu Ao turned around, washed up once more, then lay in bed playing on his phone while digesting.

Lin Gongshang had spent two days in the provincial capital looking after Shi Chen and Liu Qiming.

The two had mostly recovered. Once awake, both had been frightened in retrospect, but neither blamed Lin Gongshang.

They settled the lodging and meal expenses for Lin Gongshang's family, repaid the advance Lu Ao had made for the plane rescue, and additionally gave each of the two ten thousand yuan for their trouble.

After Lin Gongshang explained what had happened on WeChat, he left Lu Ao a message: The money is all with me. I'll transfer it to you when I get back.

—Mm, no rush. When are you coming back?

Lin Gongshang was probably on his phone, because he replied quickly: Tomorrow or the day after.

—I could actually go back today, but I'd feel bad leaving. I'll take care of them for another two days.

Lu Ao: Are they okay?

—They're fine. The doctor said they were brought in very promptly. If they'd been delayed another night and suffered organ failure, it would have been a huge problem. They're both very grateful to you. Silly grin JPG.

Lu Ao: It's good that they're okay.

—There's nothing wrong with them now. They can be discharged the day after tomorrow.

—Oh, right, Lu Ao. Mr. Yan asked me about you.

Lu Ao frowned slightly: Asked about what?

—All sorts of things. He said he wanted to be friends with you.

Lu Ao had encountered plenty of pursuers growing up, both men and women. Wanting to be friends was merely the most ordinary excuse.

He replied: Got it.

After thinking for a moment, he added: If Yan Zhengning asks again, just say you don't know.

—Okay. Actually, I didn't say much. Mainly because there's a lot I don't know in the first place. Scratching head JPG.

Lu Ao: Mm. We'll talk when you get back.

—Alright. We really owe you this time. I'll definitely buy you a drink when I get back.

After chatting with Lin Gongshang for a while, Lu Ao no longer felt so stuffed. He turned off his phone and went to sleep.

The next day, he went fishing and sold fish as usual, but received a call from Yan Zhengning at noon.

Yan Zhengning sounded somewhat excited. The moment the call connected, he asked, "Hello, Lu Ao, my friend's fleet has an opening for fishing 'cucumbers.' Are you going?"

"Cucumber" was a local fishermen's term.

Its scientific name was yellow croaker, also called stonehead fish or river fish.

If a wild yellow croaker nowadays weighed a full jin, it sold for over a thousand yuan per jin. For fish above one jin, the price doubled with every additional liang. Large Yellow Croakers over two jin were more expensive than gold.

Last year, a fisherman in their province had caught a six-jin-eight-liang Large Yellow Croaker and sold it for five hundred and seventy thousand yuan.

Yet even at such high prices, wild Large Yellow Croakers were extremely difficult to catch.

Some people rented boats to fish for yellow croaker. They might earn over ten thousand yuan in a day, or go an entire month without catching anything and lose ten or twenty thousand yuan instead.

Even so, countless sea anglers drifted on the ocean every year, hoping to catch a Large Yellow Croaker and become rich overnight.

Lu Ao had never paid attention to this before, so he was somewhat surprised to hear Yan Zhengning mention it.

Yan Zhengning said, "So? Are you coming or not? Your fishing skills are so good. You might earn several hundred thousand in a month."

Lu Ao asked, "Are you going too?"

"I'm going for two days. The company has things to handle, so I can't be away for too long. You can fish for a few more days. My friend is easygoing, so it's fine if you stay longer."

"Where are you fishing?"

"Near Xiding City this year. Isn't your home there?" Yan Zhengning said, "You can go home while you're at it."

Lu Ao was not surprised that he knew where his home was. After thinking it over, Lu Ao said, "I'll consider it first and give you an answer tonight?"

"Sure. I'll save the spot for you, so get back to me soon." Yan Zhengning said, "You don't need to worry about rods, lines, or anything else. If you don't have them, you can use my friend's."

Lu Ao said, "No need. I have them."

"Alright. Then I'll wait for good news tonight."

After hanging up, Lu Ao searched online.

Sure enough, quite a few people were fishing for yellow croaker in the waters near Xiding City this year.

With the Dragon Boat Festival approaching, wild yellow croaker was selling for a high price as well.

Lu Ao estimated that as long as he caught two or three fish a day, earning over ten thousand yuan would not be a problem.

It was an extremely tempting line of work.

Eerie

Lu Ao considered it for the entire noon, but ultimately called Yan Zhengning and declined.

Yan Zhengning sounded disappointed. "You really aren't coming? A fisherman caught a three-jin-seven-or-eight-liang 'cucumber' two days ago and sold it for nearly a hundred thousand."

The regret in his voice was completely sincere. Lu Ao could not quite understand why a boss whose luxury cars each cost several million yuan would be excited over such a small sum as nearly a hundred thousand.

Lu Ao declined, "I want to go with friends. It wouldn't be appropriate to go with you. I might find someone else to go with."