Opening a New World for Second Brother

Wang Shouzhe did not take this minor episode to heart, instead steering the conversation toward the main topic. "By the way, Second Brother, the live fish in your stall are the most valuable, aren't they?"

"That's right. Aside from spirit fish, high-quality live fish fetch the highest prices. Bass, yellowhead catfish, mandarin fish, shad, and icefish are all prized for their tenderness and are quite popular among the noble clans and wealthy merchants. The only requirement is that they must be fresh and alive." Wang Shouyi frowned as he spoke. "Sixth Uncle's fishing fleet has live-water tanks, but once they are brought ashore, they must be rushed overnight by specialized carriages to Changning Guard city. We then have to deliver them to the buyers in the shortest time possible. Even with such speed, there are many mishaps; six or seven out of every ten die. Once they die, their value drops by half, and they can only be sold as fresh fish."

Wang Shouzhe pondered for a moment before saying, "In that case, the transportation costs and the mortality rate of the live fish are the two critical factors. If we can solve these, even without increasing the catch, we could earn quite a bit more each year."

The reason he was traveling around to inspect the various family industries was to examine every link in the production chain. If he could apply his modern Earthling mindset to optimize them, he could increase the output of the clan's assets.

"If Fourth Brother can find a way to stop the fish from dying, I'm confident we could conservatively earn an extra seventy or eighty Qian Gold every year." Wang Shouyi's face was etched with visible heartache. "Everything that dies is pure profit lost."

"It's hard to say for now. I need to see your original setup, Second Brother."

"Follow me, Fourth Brother." Wang Shouyi led Wang Shouzhe to the backyard of the villa, where two carriages were parked. Unlike ordinary carriages, they lacked passenger cabins; instead, each was fitted with a large round wooden barrel. "One carriage carries live water and fish, while the other carries only live water," he explained. "Every hour, we have to replace part of the water in the fish barrel. Even so, if there are too many fish, they still die. I've been considering adding a third carriage just for water, but that would significantly increase our operating costs."

Upon seeing Wang Shouyi's method of transporting live fish, Wang Shouzhe's eyelids twitched. The amount of valuable live fish Sixth Uncle could catch daily was already limited—at most, one or two thousand catties a day.

To think they had to resort to such an astonishingly inefficient method for transport! The fish barrels were unexpectedly crude—no oxygenation, no filtration, nothing. It was just two words: change water!

To change the water, they actually used an entire carriage just to haul it. And it wasn't enough; Wang Shouyi was even planning to add another carriage?

However, Wang Shouzhe knew this wasn't really Wang Shouyi's fault. This was the Profound Martial World, where everyone focused solely on improving their cultivation realm and personal martial prowess.

Of course, it wasn't that all human elites ignored the natural sciences. It was just that even if some achieved results, they kept them as closely guarded secrets, unwilling to let such knowledge spread.

He couldn't blame them. Even the knowledge Wang Shouzhe developed would be kept for the family's exclusive use; the idea of him spreading it to benefit other clans was out of the question.

In his past life, Wang Shouzhe had been a listless office worker who often went fishing with friends on holidays. When he caught too many, he had bought oxygen pumps and the like, trying to keep the fish alive to eat later. He discovered that oxygenation alone didn't stop them from dying quickly, but after doing some research and learning, he had grasped a few simple principles.

To keep fish alive for a while, the water tank had to satisfy three conditions.

The first was dissolved oxygen. Fish need oxygen to survive, and the amount in the water is limited. The more fish in a barrel, the faster the oxygen is consumed; this could be solved through aeration.

Second was water cleanliness. Fish excrement and food scraps produce ammonia and nitrites, while respiration produces nitrogen—all factors that lead to fish mortality. This could be solved through water changes and filtration.

Third was temperature. The higher the temperature, the more active the fish, which increases oxygen consumption and the production of toxic substances like ammonia. Therefore, keeping the water relatively cool was also very effective.

After discussing these three points, the two entered Wang Shouyi's study. Wang Shouzhe thought for a moment and drew a simple sketch on paper: the top layer of the fish barrel would filter the water, which would then drip into the barrel like rain. This utilized the simplest principle of drip-aeration.

He then used the simplest language possible to explain the principles of oxygen and toxic substances to Wang Shouyi.

Having worked at the fish stall for over a decade, Wang Shouyi quickly grasped Wang Shouzhe's logic. He suddenly realized, "Hearing you put it this way, Fourth Brother, I suddenly understand so much. Our elders only passed down that we had to change the water because the fish needed the 'living energy' in it. If there wasn't enough, the water became 'dead,' and the fish died. You mean to say that the rain-drip method increases this 'living energy' in the water? I never thought of that."

"I read it in an ancient text. It's hard to say how effective it will be, so you'll need to run some comparative tests, Second Brother." Wang Shouzhe nodded inwardly; let it be 'living energy'—it was easier to understand than the clunky word 'oxygen.'

"The fish consume the 'living energy' and exhale 'dead energy,' and their waste creates 'poisonous energy' in the water. By using layers of cotton, crushed charcoal, and gravel to filter out the waste and toxins, the water becomes clean, and the fish naturally won't die. Why didn't I think of that?"

Wang Shouyi grew more excited as he spoke. "And what you said about temperature makes perfect sense, too. The colder it is, the fewer fish die during transport; in summer, they die in droves. So it's because the fish are more active in the heat, meaning they need more 'living energy'... No wonder daytime transport isn't as good as nighttime! If we added some cellar-stored ice to the water..."

The theory Wang Shouzhe imparted was like opening a door to a new world for Wang Shouyi. Many things that had baffled him for years suddenly made perfect sense.

"As long as you understand, Second Brother, you can have the craftsmen make a few small devices to test it out." Wang Shouzhe glanced at the sky. "It's getting late, and I have other matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave."

As the Clan Leader, Wang Shouzhe wasn't here to be an inventor. Besides, knowing is easy, but doing is hard; if he tried to tinker with those things himself, he might not do a very good job.

As long as Wang Shouyi understood the principles, he was more than capable of handling the rest.

"Don't be in such a rush to leave, Fourth Brother." Wang Shouyi held him back. "It's rare for you to visit the stall; I haven't properly hosted you yet. Let's have lunch at the Hundred Flavors Pavilion. That restaurant uses our fish, and their dishes are superb. There are still a few things I don't quite grasp—this 'siphon effect' drainage you mentioned? And what is the principle behind using a pump to add 'living energy' to the tank, and how do you make water flow upward..."

Good grief!

Wang Shouzhe listened to his "ten thousand whys." Although his head throbbed, he knew this was a good thing. Wang Shouyi had managed the fish stall for years; if he could truly immerse himself in this, the business would only get better, which would be a huge contribution to the family.

In Changning Guard, the Wang Clan wasn't the only one in the fish business; over ten noble clans were involved. The Liu and Zhao clans, in particular, operated on a much larger scale than the Wangs.

The better their own stall performed, the more wealth they would create, and in reality, it would squeeze the living space of their competitors.

Therefore, Wang Shouzhe spent more time giving Wang Shouyi a proper "enlightenment education." Both the siphon effect and manual pumps required pipes. The world's use of piping was quite crude—only bamboo, pottery, and copper pipes were available—but they would barely suffice.

It didn't matter if they couldn't make a manual pump for now; they could use the simple siphon principle to draw water from the bottom and have the staff manually pour it into the filtration layer. This alone would greatly increase the transport capacity of a single carriage and significantly raise the survival rate of the fish.

Wang Shouyi was mesmerized, and even while dining at the Hundred Flavors Pavilion at noon, he kept pestering Wang Shouzhe with questions.

"Second Brother, is this Hundred Flavors Pavilion really one of the best restaurants in Changning Guard?" Wang Shouzhe ate the dishes, finding the taste mediocre; it only excelled because of the high-quality ingredients.

Of course, the seasoning was better than what the Wang family's cooks could manage, but there was still a significant gap compared to the flavors on Earth.

"Fourth Brother, this meal cost 32 large copper coins and 73 small ones..." Wang Shouyi's face darkened as he complained. "This is private money I've saved up with such hard work! With such delicious food, how can you still be unsatisfied?"

Wang Shouzhe rubbed his chin. He suspected the discrepancy was due to monosodium glutamate. In his past life on Earth, MSG and chicken essence were everywhere, which had raised the threshold for "deliciousness" in his soul's memory to a very high level.

If he could produce MSG, could that also become an industry?