Chapter 251 Exclusively published on Jinjiang: Massive Poisoning?
The deck of the cruise ship that Yunlu Village took.
The women and some men from the village sat in various positions on the deck, with the newly built rain shelters overhead, and each person had a large basin of fresh seafood in front of them.
A group of people were busy with their work while watching the large fish outside the shed.
After gutting and scaling sea bass and mackerel, they are mashed into mud to make fish balls. Cleaned crabs are gutted to make crab roe sauce/crab roe oil, and some are made into drunken crab.
Crab roe sauce, like mushroom sauce, is simple and delicious to mix with rice or noodles. Drunken crab is even more so; the drunken crab at that seafood feast a few days ago captivated everyone who loves it, especially the men.
Even if each family doesn't have aged Shaoxing wine, the merchants who go out to do business still bring back a lot of Shaoxing wine, which can be used.
Young people like Li Tuo, who were helping out, muttered as they cleaned the crabs, "I'm a nobleman now, and I still have to clean crabs myself? Is that reasonable?"
Miao Jinfeng, standing beside him, smacked him on the head and said irritably, "So what if you have a title? You're just a baron of the lowest rank, what makes you so great? Who says barons can't help with household chores? Do you expect us to serve you like a king, waiting to be served? Is it reasonable to eat and drink for free without doing any work?"
Wu Yinyin glanced at her brother-in-law and said, "If you don't help, with so many fish, it would probably take my mother and me seven or eight days to finish."
A few days ago, after the sea fishing, their family received several thousand kilograms of fish and shrimp. Now, without the help of the Huo family's disaster victims, each family has to send their own people to do the work.
While a meat grinder can be used to remove silt, the cleaning process can only be done manually. Even if they don't process all of the several thousand kilograms of silt, processing just a small portion will keep them busy for several days.
The house also contains a large quantity of various kinds of animal meat obtained during the polar night but not yet processed.
If they were to process the animal meat as well, it would truly be appalling.
Miao Jinfeng scolded, "You don't have to do any work, but you can't eat a single bite of what we've prepared."
Li Tuo chuckled twice, "I was just joking. Of course, I can't leave the two of you to do all the work." With that, he started scrubbing the crab shells even harder.
Miao Jinfeng gave a light snort and turned her head to continue talking to Aunt Zhang next door.
"These brats have gotten too cocky since they got their titles. If we don't teach them a lesson, they'll think they can fly to the moon."
Aunt Zhang laughed and said, "Li Tuo is still young. He'll settle down once he gets married."
Miao Jinfeng sighed helplessly, "I do want him to get married soon, but there's no suitable match yet." Li Tuo spends all his time eating and drinking and busy with the hunting team, but he doesn't seem to have any interest in this area. It's obvious that he's completely clueless.
Other people in the village his age already have children who can run errands.
Well, Lu Xuan is an exception.
Miao Jinfeng glared at her youngest son, who was engrossed in cleaning crabs but was now playing with the crab claws halfway through. "I think he's just bored and looking for trouble these past few days since Ah Xuan isn't around."
Aunt Zhang chuckled and said, "Didn't Ah Xuan come back yesterday? I reckon he'll be taking people out fishing again in the next couple of days."
Hearing this from not far away, Granny Lin couldn't help but sigh, "I wonder what kind of fish they'll catch this time. Sigh, it feels like this work will never end."
Miao Jinfeng smiled and said, "If you feel tired, Auntie, don't bother processing it. You can just leave it and take the fresh fish with you next time they go out to do business."
Grandma Lin shook her head. "Right now, all the disaster victims are at sea. Anyone can get fresh fish. It's better to cook them well and sell them for a better price."
The others nodded in agreement.
"As long as the seawater doesn't recede, there shouldn't be a shortage of fish in any town. If we don't cook them well, we won't be competitive." What if we end up with nothing to show for it?
As they talked, they worked even harder.
But in the end, it's really because they're all too busy to stay still.
The vegetable garden and fields on the boat are much smaller than before. They can't find any work to do every day, and they can't spend their days exploring the boat or playing hide-and-seek like the children, except for going to class.
Meanwhile, back on the cruise ship, Lu Xuan spent some time preparing the seafood that belonged to his family.
With the help of superpowers, large machinery, and a nanny robot, Lu Xuan's efficiency far surpassed that of others. In just one day, he prepared ten large vats of drunken crabs and shrimps, hundreds of kilograms of crab roe oil, and more than a dozen large boxes of fish balls, directly consuming half of the seafood left over from the lottery.
He didn't plan to touch the other half; he wanted to keep it for trading with other disaster victims.
The next day, they notified the hunting team to continue fishing at sea.
The cruise ship remained in its current location, while the hunting team, along with some of the female members of the gathering team who were assisting them, set off in their fishing boats.
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"What kind of fish should we catch today?" Li Tuo asked Lu Xuan excitedly, rubbing his hands together, finally free from the task of cleaning crabs.
Xiong Mao said, "Get more crabs. All the crabs in our family have been processed and there are none left. We haven't sold any of them."
Zhang Chengming suggested, "We can also get more lobsters. Lobsters don't have bones, so it's safer for children to eat them."
His daughter, Xiuxiu, loves seafood, but unfortunately, she's too young, and he and his wife are always worried that she'll get pricked by fish bones.
Lobsters, on the other hand, are full of meat once the shell is removed. The elders feel at ease feeding them to the children, and the children enjoy them very much.
The others, recalling the cheesy baked lobster they had a few days ago, couldn't help but swallow their saliva frantically.
They caught less than a hundred lobsters that day, but there were so many people in the village that they all ate them in one meal, and not a single one was left.
When divided among them, each person only ate about half a piece, which was not enough to satisfy them at all.
It wasn't just the hunting team members giving feedback; everyone in the live stream was also 'ordering' their food.
Some people want lobster, others want sea urchin, and still others want abalone.
But these are not easy to obtain with fishing nets; the best way is to go down to the seabed and catch fish yourself.
It's not a good time to go fishing in the sea during heavy rain; we can only wait until the rain stops.
Lu Xuan said, "We can definitely get more lobsters."
One of his purposes in coming out today was to get a batch of lobsters.
In addition, if you're lucky enough to come across ribbonfish, you can also get a batch.
At the end of the year, ribbonfish accumulate a lot of fat, making them plump and delicious. They also have fewer bones than other fish, making them easy for children to eat.
It would be a shame not to catch a batch.
However, ribbonfish are not something you can just find whenever you want.
Lu Xuan detected several groups of small fish on the radar, but after checking them with a detector, he found that none of them were ribbonfish.
Of course, they didn't miss out on other fish either, and gradually harvested more than 20,000 catties of fish.
The group came out after breakfast and caught more than 200,000 catties of fish in one morning. They still did not find any ribbonfish, but they did find a group of lobsters. Lu Xuan specially bought a large enough special net for catching lobsters from the mall.
Beforehand, scatter animal entrails obtained from predatory attacks to create a feeding area, ensuring the lobsters gather together, and then immediately cast the net.
Once most of the lobsters are in the net, pull them up.
"Wow—!" The women on the boat exclaimed excitedly when they saw the net teeming with large lobsters being pulled up.
"So many lobsters!"
"There must be at least several hundred lobsters in this net, right?"
Lu Xuan glanced at them briefly and said, "More than that, there should be over a thousand."
"Huh! So many!?" Zhang Chengming, Li Tuo, and the others were also in an uproar.
Lu Xuan continued to look at the detector and said, "There are still quite a few below. It's too early to be happy. Continue to build nests and set up nets."
This swarm of lobsters must have numbered at least five or six thousand. He had never heard of finding so many wild lobsters in one go in modern times.
The environment in ancient times was definitely better than that in modern times.
We need to catch at least three or four thousand lobsters, if not all of them. The rest can continue to reproduce.
Everyone on the ship loved lobster, and they were all incredibly enthusiastic about it.
While setting up the bait and net, I was already thinking about tonight's menu.
Some of the exaggerated ones were almost drool-worthy.
In the end, they caught nearly four thousand lobsters.
At noon, the group ate some ready-made food to fill their stomachs, and continued to wander around the area, still feeling unsatisfied.
Since a group of lobsters has been found, it means that the surrounding waters are very suitable for lobsters. If we wander around a bit more, we might find a new group of lobsters.
Even as the afternoon rain intensified, stinging their raincoats and soaking their clothes through their hat brims, it did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm.
As expected, they actually found two more groups.
During the journey, Lu Xuan also discovered large patches of silver in the water using the detector.
It's ribbonfish!
The ribbonfish caught gleamed brightly under the polar day sun, which even heavy rain couldn't block. Thousands upon thousands of ribbonfish were mixed together in the net, making it seem as if they were catching not a school of fish, but a vast collection of silver jewels.
Not only the women, but even the men couldn't take their eyes off him.
So beautiful!
As everyone admired the dish with amazement, they also imagined the taste of the ribbonfish, and tears streamed down their faces uncontrollably.
Slurp.
When they returned to the cruise ship, the fishing boat's hold and space were filled with a catch of over 600,000 jin (300 tons), which was more than 100,000 jin (50 tons) more than last time.
The net contained over 10,000 lobsters, totaling more than 100,000 jin (50,000 kg), and also over 100,000 jin (50,000 kg) of ribbonfish. Other fish included mackerel, pomfret, yellow croaker, sardines, and other miscellaneous fish, shrimp, and conch, totaling more than twenty different species.
Those who stayed behind were overjoyed when they learned of their harvest.
That evening, the restaurant's food was noticeably more plentiful than it had been the previous two days.
However, seafood can't be eaten every day, so the main dishes for dinner were still home-style meat dishes and cold dishes. For seafood, we only made the much-anticipated steamed lobster, cheese-baked lobster, pan-fried ribbonfish, and tempura shrimp.
Tempura shrimp can be paired with salt, soy sauce, salad dressing, or ketchup as you like; it's suitable for all ages, and the kids in the village absolutely love it.
Lu Chen ate a small bowlful by himself, and then ate a whole baked lobster and a big bowl of fish ball soup. He was so full that he almost had to lie down and get off the table.
The viewers in the live stream also enjoyed another delicious meal.
However, what really excited them was the lottery draw that Lu Xuan did after returning to his room.
Of today's harvest, Lu Xuan received more than three thousand lobsters and also exchanged a considerable amount from public supplies.
He originally wanted to switch them all over, but the others were quick to act, so he only managed to switch half of them in the end.
Lobsters are more difficult to prepare and are less common than other seafood. Four thousand or so may sound like a lot, but they can eat ten or so in one meal, so it's not very efficient.
Therefore, Lu Xuan has no intention of recycling the lobsters, nor does he intend to sell them in bulk.
For acquaintances like Ye Feiluan, Bai Xuefeng, and Xindi, we can consider selling three to five hundred, and keep the rest for our family to eat slowly.
Originally, Lu Xuan didn't want to participate in the live stream giveaway, but he couldn't resist the audience's constant pleading and flattery, and the barrage of lamentations made him reluctantly give away 500 items.
"Five hundred at most. If you keep nagging, I won't smoke any more of these five hundred."
The audience members who wanted to continue bargaining immediately shut up.
Forget it, it's not bad to be able to snatch five hundred from the tiger's mouth.
Lu Xuan, however, drew a little more for the ribbonfish, drawing 5,000 jin (2,500 kg). Each portion consisted of a whole ribbonfish, which could draw about 3,500 people. With the addition of the lobster, there were a total of 4,000 people.
Out of billions of viewers, only 4,000 will be selected; those who win are truly chosen ones.
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For the next three days, Lu Xuan led his hunting team out to sea to fish every day, and each time they caught 500,000 to 600,000 catties of fish.
Over the course of three days, a total of over 180 jin (approximately 90 kg) was harvested. Adding the previous two harvests, the total harvest approached 3 million jin (approximately 1.5 million kg).
During this period, the various settlements that had finally retrieved the supplies that had not been transported from the seabed in time also began to relocate.
Among them, the new emperor specially sent Huo Tiankuo to scout ahead.
This exploration revealed a problem.
Huo Tiankuo called Lu Xuanfa for help that very evening after arriving at a stretch of unsubmerged land in the west.
"Poisoned?" Lu Xuan looked at Huo Tiankuo, whose expression was grave, with surprise. "Were there any other people there before you arrived?"
His first thought was of the insect-controlling tribe that the hunting party had encountered in the southwest.
Although the altitude in the southwest region is not low, it is hard to guarantee that the people there will also migrate westward. If a misunderstanding occurs between the two sides, there are too many poisonous insects, and they can strike in a very subtle way.
Unexpectedly, Huo Tiankuo shook his head and said with a solemn expression, "There is no one else. It's just that, for some reason, only two or three hours after we arrived here, a third of the soldiers developed symptoms such as headaches, chest tightness, nausea, vomiting, and shortness of breath. More than a hundred people even fainted."
Huo Tiankuo said worriedly, "I'm worried that there are a lot of poisonous plants or insects in this land that can cause poisoning. If that's the case, we can't let His Majesty and the disaster victims come here." We must find the poisonous plants in advance and remove them all.
Lu Xuan raised an eyebrow slightly.
This reaction sounds kind of familiar.
"If I'm not mistaken, your soldiers aren't poisoned, but rather suffering from altitude sickness."
Huo Tiankuo looked blank for a moment, then asked in confusion, "Altitude sickness, what does that mean?"
Lu Xuan explained, "People who have lived on the plains for a long time suddenly go to high-altitude areas and experience symptoms because they cannot adapt to the climate there. Simply put, it's a kind of acclimatization problem."
However, altitude sickness is more intense and severe than other symptoms of acclimatization problems.
This is also why Huo Tiankuo didn't think in that direction.
In the past, Huo's army had fought in other regions before, and they often encountered problems due to unfamiliarity with the local environment. However, in most cases, only a few people would have a reaction. How could it be like this time, with thousands of people losing their fighting ability? It was truly chilling.
After Lu Xuan's explanation, Huo Tiankuo's tense nerves finally relaxed, and he asked anxiously, "How do we deal with this altitude sickness?"
Lu Xuan said, "I'll have someone send you a batch of oxygen cylinders. Inhale oxygen first, then take the special medicine. One pill will last you a day if you feel unwell. However..."
Huo Tiankuo understood his unspoken meaning.
If they are to live on this plateau for a long time, they can't take medicine every day; they still need to try their best to adapt to the new environment.
But no matter what, he was relieved as long as it wasn't poisoning.
After telling Lu Xuan the coordinates of their current location, Huo Tiankuo then reported the situation on the western land to the new emperor.
After receiving oxygen cylinders and special medicines from Yunlu Village, the disaster victims from various towns arrived at their new settlements in boats and kayaks of all sizes.
Just then, the heavy rain that had been falling for half a month finally stopped.
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Author's Note: Thanks to "Wow," for the +10 nutrient solution!
"Swallow", irrigate with nutrient solution +1
"Ah Qiong", Irrigate with nutrient solution +1
"Gilles Pudding", Irrigation nutrient solution +1
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