Sail Shadows in the Sea of ​​Fog

Chapter 62 Food Determines Everything

"Please come with me"

As Chef Wilton spoke, he was the first to walk out of the spacious hall carved out of the rock wall.

However, he did not go far. He just found a parasol by the incubation pool and asked Cheng Lang to sit down at the table under the parasol.

"I received a letter from the wandering circus several days ago."

Wilton got straight to the point. "They said a captain would come to me and ask me to transplant some dragonfly fins onto his boat."

"That's right." Cheng Lang nodded and admitted that it was true, but he was not in a hurry to say anything.

“I was going to refuse.”

Wilton, on the other hand, seemed to have no intention of hiding anything. "In this day and age, being able to transplant dragonfly fins is a very dangerous skill."

"I understand," Cheng Lang nodded again. This was also a crime of possessing a treasure.

"You should thank the Golden Fin and the Wandering Circus"

Wilton continued, "If he hadn't plundered Dragonfish Island, and if the wandering circus hadn't arrived earlier than you, I would have a hundred ways to reject you."

"So you have no reason to refuse now?" Cheng Lang asked bluntly.

"You saved Dragonfish Island and you saved my family."

Wilton said helplessly, "I really have no reason to refuse you. Besides, I heard from Tinisha that they have promised to help you get some dragonfish fins."

"I will keep it a secret for you."

Cheng Lang made a serious promise, "And I will help you wipe out the remaining sea cavalry."

"I just don't have any reason to say no, but I haven't said yes yet."

Wilton laughed and said, "Young Captain, you must have heard from the wandering circus that I am a gourmet.

So this is in addition to the conditions you just promised. You have to impress me first before I might consider agreeing to help you transplant those fins."

"No problem, I am well prepared for this matter." Cheng Lang's tone was full of confidence this time.

"The last of the Golden Fin's Sea Cavalry left three days ago. They won't be back for four days at the earliest."

Wilton stood up and invited, "Before that, all the islanders of Dragonfly Island will hold a banquet for you.

Captain Cheng Lang, if you want me to transplant dragonfly fins onto your ship, why not take this opportunity to prepare some delicious food for the banquet together?"

"no problem"

Cheng Lang readily agreed. He didn't mind and could even be said to be looking forward to becoming friends with the islanders of Dragonfly Island.

"Do you need me to lend you my restaurant?" Wilton asked casually.

“We have a spacious kitchen on board.”

Cheng Lang changed the subject and asked curiously, "Mr. Wilton, I'm curious why you stayed on Dragonfly Island."

“I was born on Dragonfly Island.”

Wilton smiled and replied, "As for my father, I don't want to talk about him."

"I'm sorry, I asked the wrong question."

Cheng Lang ended the topic apologetically, "When does the banquet start?"

After Dark

Wilton replied, "The food on Dragonfish Island is mainly fish and various edible seaweeds. The wandering circus will occasionally send us some daily necessities and supplies.

So if you need some fresh ingredients, you can come to my restaurant and get them."

Following the direction of the other person's finger, I saw a restaurant not far away. This restaurant had no name, and the word "restaurant" was just written on the job posting.

But through the floor-to-ceiling windows, you can see that the area inside does not seem to be small, almost as big as a cafeteria.

"If necessary, I will borrow some ingredients," Cheng Lang said, looking away.

“The fresh water in Dragonfish Island is not that abundant”

Wilton continued, “Apart from rainfall, our freshwater wells barely provide enough for the islanders’ daily needs.

So I'm sorry, even if you rescue us, for the sake of the lives of the islanders, we can't provide fresh water supplies for your ship."

"It's okay, we don't lack fresh water."

Cheng Lang waved his hand and stood up. "Since time is tight, I will take my crew to prepare for the dinner first."

"I'm looking forward to trying some food I've never had before," Wilton added.

"We don't have a lot of staff, so we may not be able to prepare enough delicious food for everyone." Cheng Lang apologized and gave a warning in advance.

"Of course, you are the guests," Wilton said enthusiastically.

After bidding farewell to the friendly fat uncle, Cheng Lang saw that Yun Ji and the others had gone somewhere unknown, so he simply left the island that looked like a Colosseum alone, walked through the cave and headed towards the Valkyrie.

However, just as he passed through the cave, he found Tinissa sitting on a rock, waiting for him tomorrow.

"So Uncle Wilton wants to try some delicious food?" asked Tinisha.

"How do you know?" Cheng Lang asked curiously.

"Of course I know"

Tinisha spread her hands. "Ever since I can remember, people have come to Uncle Wilton from time to time to show off their cooking skills and offer him delicious food and supplies, but I rarely see Uncle Wilton satisfied."

"So you're here to make me give up the idea as soon as possible?" Cheng Lang asked as he walked towards the Valkyrie.

"No matter what, you saved us and this island, and I'm afraid you'll need to save us again next time," Tinisha said in a low voice, chasing after us while pushing away the waves. "So I don't mind sharing some inside information."

"What inside information?" Cheng Lang asked with interest.

"First of all, Uncle Wilton doesn't eat fish, any fish."

Tinisa whispered, "He doesn't look like an islander at all. As far as I can remember, he has only eaten aquatic plants and land food, and at most some shrimp and crabs, so you'd better not bring out some fish dishes."

"Do you know why?" Cheng Lang asked curiously.

"How could I possibly know?" Tinisha shook her head, "But I know some other secrets."

"What secret?"

Hearing this, Tinisha looked around, followed Cheng Lang onto the gangplank and onto the Valkyrie, then walked into the stern deck. Only when she entered the captain's office did she whisper, "Uncle Wilton used to be a mixed-race child."

"What did you say?"

Cheng Lang was stunned for a moment, "So he drank Poseidon's blood later?"

“Probably.”

Tinisha whispered, "I heard from my mother that about a few decades ago, a mermaid woman came to Dragonfish Island carrying an oak barrel. Not long after, she gave birth to a mermaid egg, and after that mermaid egg hatched, it became Uncle Wilton."

"Then what?" Cheng Lang asked.

"Then the woman waited for a pirate ship to dock and sold Uncle Wilton onto the ship as a sailor. She used the supplies and gold coins she got in exchange to open a restaurant. It was the first and only restaurant on Dragonfish Island."

Tinisha whispered, "But she passed away more than ten years ago. Before that, Uncle Wilton returned to the island and drank a glass of Poseidon's blood from nowhere in front of many people in the restaurant."

"And he became human?"

Cheng Lang asked, and he lowered his voice accordingly. It was not because he was afraid of being heard by anyone, but just to create an atmosphere of gossip for this beautiful goldfish.

"That's right"

Tinissa said, "He first turned into a large mermaid egg, and then the mermaid egg broke open and he crawled out of it. All the siren characteristics on his body disappeared, but he didn't seem happy."

"And then?" Cheng Lang continued to ask, "And then he inherited the restaurant?"

"No, he's out to sea again."

"He went out to sea shortly after his mother passed away," Tinisa said. "He didn't come back for almost 20 years. I was born then."

“So that’s what we just said.”

“My mother told me everything,” Tinisha said, “except that he never ate fish.”

"Anything else? Any other information?" Cheng Lang asked with a smile.

"besides."

Tinisha thought for a moment and said, "That seems to be all. However, the dragonfly taming was organized after Uncle Wilton came back, and the first leader of the fiddle-tailed fish band to come here was Uncle Wilton's wife."

"What?" Cheng Lang widened his eyes.

"Really, I didn't lie to you."

Tinisa said, "Of course, they didn't have any children. But almost all the lyretail people who came to settle on Dragonfish Island were invited by his wife's band."

"Um, speaking of this"

Cheng Lang asked curiously, "I heard there's a rumor, that is... uh."

"The one with the merman and the male mermaid?" Tinisha asked nonchalantly.

"I didn't say anything." Cheng Lang threw the blame far away like a complete scumbag.

“There are few male mermaids.”

Tinisha spread her hands. "But the smallest unit of the harptail fishmen is a seven-member band. It's rare for a group like Uncle Wilton's wife to be gone, so accidents are inevitable."

"gollum"

Cheng Lang swallowed his saliva. He finally knew where the rumor came from.

"Do you have any other questions?" asked Tinisha.

“No, these are all.”

"How about giving me a barrel of fruit wine?"

Tinisha asked, "We are preparing for the banquet tonight, but we are still short of some wine to make some drinks and desserts."

"No problem at all"

Cheng Lang readily agreed to this small request and asked the gorilla to help carry up a full barrel of fruit wine.

After Tinissa joyfully exchanged all the waves driven away by her beautiful tail for fruit wine and left the Valkyrie, Cheng Lang also went into the lower cabin. He planned to cook some dishes himself to impress Wilton.

"Yafuso, why are you here?"

As soon as he entered the lower cabin, Cheng Lang saw Yafuso hiding on an oak barrel, staring at another oak barrel next to it in a daze.

"Yafuso, why are you here?" Cheng Lang asked curiously.

"Captain, come and see, I found some strange things!" When Yafuso saw Cheng Lang coming, she immediately waved enthusiastically.

"What is it?" Cheng Lang asked curiously.

Corpse Mushroom

Before Yafusuo finished speaking, Cheng Lang subconsciously stopped.

“Safe Corpse Mushrooms”

"Safe corpse-discarding mushrooms? What are safe corpse-discarding mushrooms?" Cheng Lang asked vigilantly. He was really afraid of this little girl who grew mushrooms.

"You'll know when you come and see"

Yafuso greeted, "I was thinking that this mushroom might be edible. The smell is so tempting."

"Bring it to eat?"

Cheng Lang hesitated for a while before moving closer.

Before he even reached Yafuso's side, he smelled a rich and fresh fragrance.

The smell has the unique aroma of fermented soybeans and mushrooms, but it is completely different from the various chicken essences, MSG, soy sauce, and light soy sauce that he was used to.

He peeked into the oak barrel and saw that it contained beans that he had previously tried to ferment but had failed.

But on the inner wall of the oak barrel above the half bucket of beans, black mushrooms grew.

Each of these shiny black mushrooms is only the size of a thumb, and the fragrance emanates from its body.

"gollum"

Cheng Lang and Yafusuo swallowed their saliva at the same time. The smell was so tempting.

"I heard that some prisoners were captured this time?" Cheng Lang asked.

"He's being held aboard the Honest Man," Yafuso replied immediately.

"Go there yourself and have the sailors send over the worst-condition captive." Cheng Lang thought for a moment and said, "See if there are any mixed-bloods among the captives. Pick the one who looks most like a human."

"I'm going right now!"

Yafuso had obviously realized what her captain was going to do, and she quickly jumped off the oak barrel and ran away.

So what is this? Soy sauce mushrooms? Light soy sauce mushrooms? Wei Ji Xian mushrooms?
Cheng Lang muttered to himself, then wisely took a few steps back to create some distance, and began to check the bean sprouts and other things planted in the lower cabin.

Fortunately, although the Valkyrie experienced a massive outbreak of corpse mushrooms due to the previous battle, thanks to the sunlight introduced into various parts of the cabin through the magic mirror, neither the bean sprouts nor the "samples" for experimenting with hairy tofu and stinky tofu, nor the tofu stored in the compartment with the ice core hanging on it seemed to be affected.

He had just taken a tour of the food warehouse when Yafuso came back with two small sailors from the Honest Man and a prisoner.

This captive was indeed a mixed-race, and his condition was indeed not very good. His entire body, or rather the entire fish, was bruised and swollen, and even the gill opening on one side of his neck was closed due to swelling.

"Pick a black mushroom for him to taste," Cheng Lang said without mercy.

"Make him open his mouth!"

Before Yafuso finished speaking, she had already reached out and picked a mushroom from the inner wall of the oak barrel and threw it into the prisoner's mouth, "Let him chew it."

After saying this, the two small sailors also hugged the prisoner's head, and the other helped him close and open his cheeks.

After being forced to chew for only a few times, the panic expression on the prisoner's face was replaced by astonishment. Then, he subconsciously began to chew it himself, and then swallowed it into his stomach with a "gulp".

"Is it delicious?" asked Yafuso.

"good to eat"

The prisoner answered subconsciously, and then seemed to react and asked in panic, "What did you feed me?!"

"Poisonous mushrooms, you're going to die soon."

Yafuso rolled her eyes and replied, and the prisoner's face showed fear again.

"You two take him to the animal pen upstairs and keep an eye on him. Don't give him any food or water." Cheng Lang said, "Remember to tell me if he dies of poisoning."

"Yes!" The two small sailors immediately responded to Cheng Lang's order, carried the bruised and swollen prisoner out of the lower cabin and went upstairs to wait for death.

"Leave these mushrooms alone."

Cheng Lang called out to Yafuso, who was about to continue studying mushrooms, "Come to the kitchen with me. We need to prepare some delicious food that will impress Mr. Wilton."

"Is he willing to help us?" Yafuso asked as she ran upstairs happily.

"If we can impress him with delicious food," Cheng Lang said, "then he will be willing to help us."

(End of this chapter)