novelraw Chapter 237: Ciguatera Toxin
Chapter 237: Ciguatera Toxin
Chapter 237: Ciguatera Toxin
He hauled the two foreigners aboard first—stubborn enough to cling to their fishing rods even as their boat went down. Once they were safely on deck, Chu Mingcheng secured the sinking bass boat with a rope from the crane to keep it from going under completely. Only then did he turn to ask what had happened.
The pair turned out to be an Australian father and son. The older man looked weathered and sun-beaten; the younger one had that fresh-faced look of someone who hadn't spent too many years outdoors yet.
After a bit of conversation, he learned their names: the father was Noah, and the son was Leo.
Chu Mingcheng had done some homework on Australia before planning his trip there during the fishing ban.
From what he'd read, ordinary Australians were a mixed bag when it came to attitudes toward China, but a decent chunk of them were genuinely friendly.
That was better odds than Taiwan or Japan, at least. Australians in general had a reputation for being enthusiastic, a bit nosy, big on following rules, and pretty fair-minded.
They didn't care much about status and went out of their way to be considerate toward people who were struggling.
Now that they were safe and the bass boat secured, Noah was effusive with gratitude. He invited Chu Mingcheng to visit his home whenever he made it to Australia.
Chu Mingcheng waved it off. Pulling someone out of the water was just the decent thing to do—no need to make a big deal of it.
But he couldn't leave yet; they had to wait for the rescue boat to arrive. So he took the opportunity to pick Noah's brain about Australia, focusing mainly on what to watch out for when sea fishing there.
Noah had clearly noticed the coolers scattered around the deck. After giving him a rundown of the fishing scene in Australia, he asked with obvious interest, "Cheng, can I see your catch? I'm a sea fishing enthusiast myself, you know. Unfortunately, our boat sank today, so..."
"Of course." Chu Mingcheng popped open one of the coolers as he spoke, then asked the question that had been nagging at him. "But Noah, if you're really into sea fishing, why take a bass boat out? Wouldn't a small boat be a lot safer?"
Noah's Chinese was solid enough that communication wasn't a problem.
Chu Mingcheng could have switched to English if needed—that was the main language in Australia, though they had their own distinct accent and slang.
If he'd tried speaking English, though, the conversation probably wouldn't have flowed nearly as smoothly.
Noah looked a bit sheepish. "I've always used my bass boat for sea fishing. The weather looked great today, and the waves were small, so I figured I'd head out a bit farther. Never expected the boat to take on water like that."
As he spoke, his eyes landed on the contents of the cooler, and he froze.
"Oh! My god!"
Then he spotted the puncture wounds from the speargun shaft and let out another exclamation of amazement.
"Cheng, these wounds... you're a spearfisherman?"
"That's right. I'm a big fan of freedive spearfishing," Chu Mingcheng confirmed with a nod.
Hearing it was freediving, Noah immediately gave him a thumbs-up. "Cheng, I think we're going to be great friends. I love fishing, and I love diving too."
"Back in Australia, I even take on some bounty missions with my mates."
"I think you're a very adventurous guy. When you come to Australia, maybe we can do some really interesting things together."
Chu Mingcheng's curiosity was piqued by the mention of "interesting things" and "bounty missions," and he was about to ask more when the rescue boat appeared on the horizon.
He shelved the question for now. They'd exchanged numbers anyway—he could always ask later.
Noah and Leo said their goodbyes and boarded the rescue boat. The crane-suspended bass boat was handed over to the rescue crew to deal with, and Chu Mingcheng continued on his way, reaching the pier well ahead of them.
The delay from the rescue meant the transport truck was already waiting by the time he docked. The driver hopped aboard and got straight to work packing up the seafood, handling the routine with practiced ease.
By the time everything was loaded, the sky had gone dark. After all, the return trip from the small island took four hours, and it had been four-thirty in the afternoon when they'd pulled into the pier.
Chu Mingcheng delivered the humpback grouper to Wei Jiaguo's villa and, under the old man's exasperated gaze, brazenly wheedled him into having the chef make extra food so he could stay for dinner.
Jiang Luoluo looked a little embarrassed by her husband's shamelessness, but Chu Mingcheng's skin was too thick to care, so she had no choice but to follow his lead.
Wei Jiaguo didn't actually mind the dinner mooching—he was far more interested in the humpback grouper. He had Chu Mingcheng help him transfer it into the fish tank.
The tank was only half full, but there was also seawater in the fish transport box. Wei Jiaguo temporarily scooped the humpback grouper out while Chu Mingcheng poured the seawater from the box into the tank. Only then did he gently lower the fish into its new home.
He pulled out his phone and shot a quick little video, then posted it to his Moments.
"Caught a water bucket today, and the water bucket brought me a humpback grouper."
He didn't forget to specifically block Chu Mingcheng—though he did forget about Jiang Luoluo.
When Jiang Luoluo stealthily handed her phone to Chu Mingcheng with a grin, he looked utterly baffled.
"I'm a water bucket?"
"I don't know... maybe Agong caught a water bucket today?"
Jiang Luoluo shrugged, struggling to hold back her laughter. Wei Jiaguo was right beside the fish tank, and if she laughed too loudly, he'd definitely hear.
Chu Mingcheng threw up his hands in surrender. He'd gotten a pretty clear picture of Wei Jiaguo's personality after accidentally seeing that bragging draft about the weasel shark last time.
After dinner, the three of them settled on the living room sofa to relax.
Chu Mingcheng remembered the giant clam shell he'd found underwater and brought it up. "Agong, I came across a giant clam's back shell while diving yesterday."
"The inside of the shell is like white jade—really beautiful. So I wanted to ask: can I bring that thing back, or would it cause trouble?"
Wei Jiaguo paused for a moment. His first thought was: This guy found another treasure?
Shaking off his surprise, he saw Chu Mingcheng's questioning expression and explained, "If the inside looks like white jade, it should be a jade-like giant clam. Those can be harvested."
"What's protected in this country are live giant clams. There's no problem with harvesting giant clam fossils or shells."
"If it were an ordinary giant clam shell, I wouldn't recommend bringing it back. If someone with a grudge against you reported it, you'd be in for some trouble."
"But a jade-like giant clam shell is completely fine. Just bring it back. That said, I'm quite interested in it myself. How about you sell it to me?"
Wei Jiaguo had an old friend who was a master carver. A jade-like giant clam like that would be perfect for him to work on, and once it was carved, it would make a rare and precious addition to his collection.
But Chu Mingcheng had already thought of the same thing.
He'd even mentally earmarked it as a backdrop for Jiang Luoluo's underwater dance videos. Once that massive jade-like giant clam was carved, wouldn't it be the perfect stage decoration?
So he tactfully declined and explained his plan for Jiang Luoluo's underwater performances.
Wei Jiaguo understood immediately and didn't take the rejection to heart. A playful old man in his seventies wasn't going to get petty over something like that.
By the time Chu Mingcheng and Jiang Luoluo left the villa, it was already past eight in the evening.
"Ah-Cheng, are you planning to buy a big house and build an indoor swimming pool?"
"Hm? How did you know?"
"I guessed when you mentioned using the giant clam shell as a backdrop. Knowing your personality, you wouldn't put something like that in a rented club pool."
Chu Mingcheng nodded with a smile. "You really do know me."
"I think, based on our current income, it shouldn't take too long to buy a small villa."
"You're really willing to spend that much..." Jiang Luoluo didn't quite know what to say. After all, Chu Mingcheng's starting point was entirely about accommodating her needs.
"What's there to be willing or not willing about? Since we're settling in Xiamen, we definitely need to buy a house. And since we need a pool, we might as well buy something suitable from the start."
Chu Mingcheng wasn't dead set on buying a villa, but if they wanted an indoor pool, a regular apartment wouldn't work. A self-built house in the countryside could work, but if it ever got marked for demolition, there could be all kinds of headaches. He hated dealing with that kind of trouble, so he figured he might as well set his sights on a villa from the beginning.
The night passed quietly. The next day, Chu Mingcheng didn't go out to sea.
It was raining, and the wind had picked up, so he just took the day off at home.
Chu Mingcheng hadn't had dried flat beans in ages, so that evening he made a point of taking out a tiger grouper he hadn't sold.
After dinner, Jiang Luoluo didn't stay idle. She headed to the dance studio to start choreographing a new video.
Around nine o'clock, while she was working on the choreography, she suddenly swayed and sat down hard on the floor, followed by a wave of dry heaves.
Chu Mingcheng's heart leapt. Pregnant?
It had only been a few days—that was impossible!
But he didn't have time to dwell on it. He jumped to his feet.
The moment he stood, Chu Mingcheng felt a surge of dizziness, followed by a wave of nausea.
Food poisoning?
That was his first thought when the symptoms hit. Worried about Jiang Luoluo, he immediately used Life Conversion ten times to eliminate his own symptoms.
Then he rushed over, scooped Jiang Luoluo up in his arms, and was about to bolt out the door.
"Ah-Cheng, take me to the bathroom first!"
Jiang Luoluo covered her mouth, her voice weak.
Chu Mingcheng realized she was nauseous and needed to vomit, so he carried her to the bathroom first.
Once there, Jiang Luoluo tried to throw up but could only manage dry heaves.
"We need to get you to the hospital. Luoluo, just hang on a little longer."
Seeing this wasn't working and afraid that delaying would make things worse, Chu Mingcheng scooped her up again and headed for the stairs.
This time, she didn't protest. She felt so miserable that she didn't even have the strength to speak.
Chu Mingcheng had her at the hospital in no time. After explaining the situation and going through a doctor's examination, the preliminary diagnosis was ciguatera poisoning, with the primary culprit being the tiger grouper they'd eaten.
He was stunned when he heard this, never imagining the tiger grouper could be the cause.
The only good news was that Jiang Luoluo's symptoms weren't too severe. After vomiting was induced, her stomach was pumped, and she was given an injection, her condition improved noticeably.
Chu Mingcheng held her hand, his expression full of regret. "I'm sorry I made you go through this. I never thought that tiger grouper had ciguatera toxin. My streak of good luck made me careless."
Lying in the hospital bed, Jiang Luoluo shook her head. "No one would've thought the tiger grouper had ciguatera toxin. But Ah-Cheng, you need to call those customers right away and have them get their fish tested."
"It's one thing if we get poisoned, but if a customer eats it and this happens, they won't dare buy fish from you again."
"You're right. I need to call them now." Snapping back to reality, Chu Mingcheng immediately pulled out his phone and contacted the restaurant owners, explaining the situation.
He told them to get the fish tested for ciguatera toxin, and he'd cover the cost.
If any tested positive, he'd treat it as a return, and they could just dispose of the fish physically.
Of course, if they brushed him off and didn't take the matter seriously, then whatever happened down the line would have nothing to do with him.
To be cautious, he recorded all the phone calls.
But after this incident, Chu Mingcheng realized he couldn't sell reef fish anymore—at least not for the time being.
Until the ciguatera toxin issue was properly addressed, he had to hold off.
He did some searching online afterward and discovered that imported reef fish were all tested for ciguatera toxin.
As for domestic fish, the fishery authorities paid some attention to it, but people still got ciguatera poisoning every year. It was just that most cases weren't too severe.
Only a few unlucky souls ended up with a tenth-degree disability, and the hotel had been forced to pay them two hundred thousand yuan in compensation.