In Zongman, the evil spirits are eliminated physically.

39

Chapter 39 Senior likes me.

"Aquarium—Arrived!"

“It’s not quite what I imagined.”

Ouyang Sun looked around.

"The aquarium I imagined would be a place with huge glass and something like an ocean tunnel, but this place..."

There are large water tanks embedded in the walls, with various fish swimming in them, including stonefish, garden eels and lobsters. At first glance, this place does not look like an aquarium, but rather like the seafood section of a vegetable market. Compared to the whales and sharks behind the huge floor-to-ceiling glass pools in movies, comics and animations, these goldfish in the small fish tanks cannot be said to be exactly the same, but at least they are completely unrelated.

"This is Ocean Park, right?"

Ouyang Xuan looked at the introduction in his hand and said, "It's okay to call it an aquarium. After all, it is a miniature aquarium. It just has a lot fewer species. Well, there are still some that you can usually see in the vegetable market."

"Don't say such a spoiler. It's beautiful here, isn't it?"

Qian Shu said nonchalantly, "I like it very much."

Compared with regular large aquariums, this place is indeed very stingy, but thanks to this, it can pay more attention to the decoration style, giving people a very refined feeling. The combination of lighting and the wavy tiles under the feet distributed among the wood-grain tiles are like blue portals opened on the ground. The cool tones here can really make people relax.

A very exquisite vegetable market, Ouyang Xuan thought.

"Qianzhu, you look very familiar. Do you come here often?"

Ouyang Falcon asked.

"Hum hum."

Qian Shu pulled out a card from her bag and held it in front of Ouyang Xuan, "Annual Pass."

"If you like it, come get one too. It's very affordable."

There is no space in such a small place for them to sort them by species. All kinds of fish, shrimps and crabs are placed in one exhibition hall. Next to the fish tank containing lobsters is a group of free-swimming seahorses, and next to the seahorses is a group of yellow and red fish.

"This thing looks like a fish."

Takina slid her phone towards the seahorse in the fish tank.

"Really?"

Qianzhu pressed his head against the glass. "So this guy is a fish?"

"Is there a legitimate reason for it to evolve like this?"

"It's reasonable? Reason?"

A clear color appeared in Qianzhu's eyes, and her head turned back and forth between the fish tank and Takina.

"Eh... eh... eh..."

Qianshu pretended to be thinking. He liked the sea, but he didn't know much about fish. He just liked watching these little elves in the ocean swimming and playing. Just watching them could make people feel relaxed. Qianshu could stare at them for an entire afternoon.

"senior!"

Qianzhu used the skill of seeking off-field support.

"This slenderness evolved to better prey on shrimp larvae that are still in plankton mode. The long mouth is also for better and more silent sucking of these plankton. It is a body shape that has evolved for better predation."

Although he was in the philosophy department, Ouyang Xuan was still a student of the University of Tokyo, so he could use his knowledge of biology to fool the little girl who had never been to school.

"Then why is it standing upright, Senior?"

Curious baby Takina asked the second question.

"This was during the Eocene-Oligocene extinction event, when temperatures plummeted and sea levels dropped. The coral reefs and seaweed they had previously inhabited and fed on withered, replaced by seagrasses. Unlike coral reefs, seagrasses grow vertically like grass on land. To better conceal themselves, they turned their horizontal bodies, which had adapted to the coral reef environment, upright."

"You are also trying hard to live, you are really strong and good children."

After listening to Ouyang Falcon's explanation, Qianshu became even more fond of these little creatures.

"But because their bodies have evolved too much, in order to avoid being eaten, they evolved themselves to be extremely unpalatable."

Ouyang Sun continued, "Even back home, seahorses are used to make chicken soup with Panax notoginseng and other herbs to help children grow. It tastes so bitter that it's hard to swallow."

Even after many years, when Ouyang Xuan recalled the memory of being forced to drink seahorse and Panax notoginseng chicken soup, he still subconsciously frowned and could still savor the slightly bitter taste from the smacking of his lips.

"No, Senior, you can't eat these children!"

Qianshu stood in front of the fish tank with his arms open to protect the seahorses behind him.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Senior will not eat these seahorses."

Takina was speechless.

"Even if we eat it, we use the dried ones to make soup, and we don't eat the fresh ones."

"Eh? Senior, are you really eating?"

"No, senior, please don't eat these strong children."

In the end, even if Qianshu did not resist, Ouyang Xuan would not eat the fish here, because they would not sell them at all. Not only seahorses, but even the lobsters and scallops in the fish tank next door would not be sold. Compared to the unpalatable seahorses, Ouyang Xuan was more interested in the delicious edible ones nearby.

“Is this a live lobster?”

Takina looked up information on her phone while reading, looking like a hard-working top student. "Australian lobsters are found in Australian waters and are very abundant."

"Well, it's not a rare species. Why would an aquarium keep these?"

In Takina's understanding, things like aquariums and zoos should collect and raise various animals that people cannot come into contact with in daily life. Although Takina has rarely seen live Australian lobsters, she has seen dead or cooked ones many times.

"You should raise something you can see often so that you can feel familiar with it. That's the best way, Takina-senpai."

"What do you think, senior?"

Takina was asking about the sense of intimacy that Qianshu mentioned, and Ouyang Falcon's answer was somewhat consistent with the personality of the Baiyue people on the mainland.

"Let's steam half and bake half. Pan-fry and bake with rosemary, garlic and butter. For the steamed version, just use ginger slices, oil and salt."

Ouyang Sun looked at the lobsters in the fish tank and said, "The lobsters raised in this aquarium are really good, better than the ones I found in the market."

As a Baiyue ethnic group, Ouyang Xuan's family has always had the tradition of boys cooking and boys going to the vegetable market. When at home, during festivals or when his mother feels like it, she will drag Ouyang Xuan to the vegetable market to buy vegetables. Seafood and chicken are indispensable for Baiyue family banquets, so Ouyang Xuan is very familiar with the seafood area of the vegetable market.

The lively lobsters in the fish tank, their claws snapping vigorously, look very strong and sturdy. After steaming them, smash the whole crab claw meat open and dip it in mustard soy sauce, which is very delicious.

"What about this, Senior?"

Takina pointed at the octopus in another fish tank.

"Octopus?"

Ouyang Xuan recalled the octopus dishes in his mind. "Hmm, it's best to just blend it, boil it in boiling water, and then dip it in seafood sauce. It's sweet and delicious. But you have to be careful when preparing it to remove the ink sac."

"An octopus's ink sac?"

Takina thought for a moment and then said, "The ink sac can be used to make squid ink pasta. Paired with the blanched octopus that you mentioned, it should be delicious, right?"

"Then let's try it next time, or maybe tonight."

Ouyang Xuan was also interested. "I'll make some arrangements. Octopus and pasta are easy to buy. We can just pick some up on the way home. I just don't know if Yang Nai and the others like them."

"Then you can buy another fish."

As someone who doesn't have an ID but is a true islander, Takina suggested, "As the saying goes, as long as there's rice and fish, islanders can finish a meal."

"Fish? If it's in season, I'd prefer Pacific saury, grilled with salt."

"Saury is delicious whether grilled with salt or with sauce."

Takina herself also likes saury. "This aquarium has so many fish that you can usually see in the market. Will there be saury? I haven't seen a living saury yet."

Not to mention live saury, Takina had never even seen raw saury. The head chef of Licorice was from the Imperial Household Agency, so he was naturally proficient in basic island dishes such as salt-grilled saury. Having eaten saury so many times, Takina was also very interested in this delicious fish.

While Ouyang Xuan and Takina were talking animatedly about how to cook the fish in the aquarium, Qianzhu Zhen was watching from behind with his cheeks puffed out, his dissatisfied eyes constantly scanning between Ouyang Xuan and Takina.

Too much! Too much! What are these two doing? Are they planning to eat these adorable children? I'm hungry too, but Senior, this is going too far. No, I have to show Senior how adorable these children are. Oh, and that means using those adorable garden eels, the museum's treasures.

"senior--"

Qianzhu put on her cute and energetic smile again.

"Senior, are these kids also fish?"

Takina's fingers swiped across the phone, surprised by the garden eel in front of her.

"They're completely different from the eels we eat. They're so white and look so much better. They're so tiny, half of their body is buried in the sand, and the other half is held high. I'm curious how they evolved this habit."

"Hmm~"

As for garden eels, Ouyang Sun wasn't very familiar with them, so he could only speak from his own familiar territory. "I'm not sure about the quality of the meat of this type of eel, and its slender shape doesn't lend itself to the usual cooking methods."

"How to cook a garden eel? Let me look it up."

Wearing a cute yet stiff smile, Qianshu's face was full of joy but there was not a single glimmer in her eyes. Her originally bright orange-red eyes were now covered with a layer of shadow, and the glint seemed to have disappeared from these beautiful big eyes.

Qianshu's hands pressed on Ouyang Falcon and Takina's shoulders, immediately diverting their attention from the garden eel to Qianshu. The reason was that Qianshu's hands were too strong at this moment. On the back of her white little hand, blue veins were faintly visible, which showed how much strength Qianshu was using at this moment.

"You two bastards, shut up."

Qianshu smiled happily, but there was no emotional fluctuation in his tone.

"Thousands of bunches——"

Takina was puzzled and was about to speak when Chizuka tilted her head slightly, looked at Takina with creepy eyes and said, "Is there something you want to confess, you sneaky cat?"

The cat eats fish. Takina is thinking about eating these cute fish, so she is a cat. Because she is observing outside the fish tank and thinking about how to eat the fish, she is doing it secretly, so she is a fish-stealing cat.

Takina wanted to say something to Qianshu, but Ouyang Falcon made Takina swallow her anger temporarily with just a glance. Ouyang Falcon seemed to be able to vaguely see the materialized twisted and roaring black energy behind Qianshu, like a golden lion roaring behind Qianshu. Ouyang Falcon was a Taoist disciple and did not know any Qiankun Da Nv Shift, so he could not defeat Qianshu, the Golden Lion King. He could not defeat him, so he could only pull Takina back a little.

Very angry, very furious, very disappointed.

I have a favorite senpai and a favorite partner, and I even went to my favorite aquarium with them, but why are they talking about eating these adorable little fish? Chizuki eats fish too, and doesn't object to others eating fish, but can you two assholes please understand the atmosphere! Is this a market?! You're cosplaying Hannibal at the job market, picking out ingredients!

"Are you angry? Chizuki."

Ouyang Jun asked. Qin Ziyang and the others would express their anger directly and would not suppress it with smiles or anything like that, which made Ouyang Jun a little unsure about Qian Shu's mood at the moment.

"Isn't it obvious, you jerk-senpai?"

"Look, these kids are so cute, why are you discussing how to eat it?! Too much, too much!"

Qianshu excitedly pointed at the garden eels swaying back and forth in the fish tank.

“Because eel is delicious.”

"So cute eels are more delicious, huh? You idiot senior!"

Qian Shu stood in front of Ouyang Falcon with a sullen look on his face, grabbing a handful of his hair. "I'm also light blonde, and I'm cute too. Does that jerk senior think I'm delicious too?!"

“The taste of grapefruit and pomelo.”

Ouyang Xuan accurately reported the smell of the shower gel used by Qian Shu.

"It's a flavor I quite like. It's refreshing but not too overpowering or sweet, and the texture is very good."

Ouyang Xuan was talking about pomelo.

"Asshole Senior, I... I'm asking you, Asshole Senior, do you think I'm delicious too? Ah, haha, don't change the subject, Asshole Senior."

A slight blush appeared on her cheeks, which didn't suit Qianshu, and Qianshu was a little stumped when speaking.

"As for the taste, it should be... delicious."

Ouyang Xuan thought Qianshu was a large grapefruit, because he had seen grapefruits become spirits and shared them with his fellow apprentices, so the graphics card in his brain would be able to render it.

"tasty!?"

Although it was clearly the question he asked, Qian Shu felt as if he had been hit by a heavy hammer in his heart when he received the answer.

"Yeah, I like it."

Ouyang Xuan really likes eating grapefruit.

"Senior... likes... me!"

40

Chapter 40 It’s time to replace the strongest Rikolis.

"Ha... ahahaha... Senior, come on, you suddenly said you like me, ahahaha."

Qianshu had completely disappeared. The aggressive look he had shown at the beginning, wanting to get something out of Ouyang Xuan, now had unsteady steps. He took a few steps back and almost tripped over his left foot and fell down. This was incredible for Qianshu, who could walk freely among the debris and rubble.

"Oh no, I'm talking about your—"