Chapter 8

Bauer brought a camera and took photos of "The Woman with the Golden Drum" from different angles. He also selected a painting from Pinaig's works, "Morning Breeze in the Woods," and took a photo of it.

"I'll send these to my old friend for a professional evaluation," Bauer explained. "He's the art director of the Lisi Auction House in Ottawa, and his eye is top-notch."

Qin Shaou packed away the paintings and arranged them. When Bauer was about to leave, he saw the pickup truck in the yard and nodded, saying, "It's indeed inconvenient to go to town from the fish farm. I overlooked this. You can take my old Ford, and I'll return the pickup to Anderson."

Anderson was the name of the small inn's owner.

Hearing this, Qin Shaou was touched and said, "You're giving me the Ford, what will you drive?"

Bauer replied, "I have a BMW 750, I'll drive that."

Qin Shaou: "..."

After Bauer left, Qin Shaou was alone in the small building with nothing to do, so he took out a vacuum cleaner and a duster to clean up.

The small building had two floors. The first floor had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, a storage room, and a kitchen, with a total area of over 300 square meters, and the living room alone was nearly 100 square meters.

The second floor was slightly smaller, about 250 to 260 square meters, with six bedrooms symmetrically distributed and a 20-square-meter walk-in closet, which was quite spacious. The interior was decorated in a minimalist style, and both the floors and walls were covered with high-quality red maple boards, which were both moisture-resistant and aesthetically pleasing.

During lunch, Qin Shaou decided to change his diet. Cod from the Newfoundland region is very famous, so he transferred his consciousness to the nearby sea to fulfill his wish of cooking a cod.

The beautiful Lake Chenbao gave Qin Shaou great expectations. He thought that if the view of a lake was so splendid, the vast underwater world should be even more impressive.

However, what his consciousness saw disappointed him. Within two meters of the water's surface, the seabed was mostly white, fine sand, with occasional rocks.

His consciousness dove deeper, and at about four to five meters, coral appeared.

Unlike the colorful tropical corals seen on TV, the corals around the fish farm were mostly grayish-white and lifeless.

Qin Shaou thought this was what cold-water corals looked like, but then he accidentally saw a small patch of pink and light yellow coral.

From this coral, Qin Shaou could feel a vibrant life force. Small coral polyps clustered together to form this small coral patch.

This made him realize that the grayish-white corals were not living corals but coral reefs formed by dead coral polyps.

Qin Shaou's consciousness continued to move in the sea but could not travel very far, with a maximum range of about two nautical miles from the fish farm. Despite searching for a long time, he did not see a single fish!

The near-shore waters of the fish farm were lifeless, with a severely damaged seabed environment. The fish had left this area. Additionally, the pollution in this sea area was severe, the water quality was poor, and the water temperature was low, which were the reasons for the fish's departure.

As his consciousness was retracting, Qin Shaou saw a transparent jellyfish tentacle floating towards him.

The jellyfish was about 40 centimeters long and 5 centimeters in diameter, with a spiral arm-like shape, evenly proportioned but slightly thinner at the ends. Its body was composed of an outer and inner wall, with a hollow center, and it was semi-transparent and pale white.

Qin Shaou recognized it as a cup sponge. Although it looked large, its structure was similar to coral, which is made up of countless tiny coral polyps. The cup sponge was made up of countless tiny jellyfish.

Cup sponges are common in the Atlantic Ocean. This particular cup sponge was composed of thousands of tiny jellyfish, each only about 2 millimeters long, which typically live in groups.

Seeing the cup sponge, Qin Shaou was pleased because it could attract fish. It is known as a "shelter for small fish" and can protect them.

As is well known, the marine food chain is based on big fish eating small fish, but cup sponges can grow to several meters long, making them appear monstrous to larger fish, who are hesitant to attack them.

This allows small fish to hide inside and increase their chances of survival. The secretions and waste of the small fish are food for the cup sponges, creating a symbiotic relationship that is a marvel of the ocean.

When Qin Shaou's consciousness approached the cup sponge, he noticed that the small cup sponges were weak, with a hole in the side of the outer wall.

However, as the cup sponge approached Qin Shaou's consciousness, its vitality began to recover, and Qin Shaou felt a bit tired. He then realized that his consciousness could heal and aid marine life.

As Qin Shaou's consciousness retracted, the cup sponge followed him and finally stopped near the pink and light yellow coral.

By this time, the cup sponges had recovered their vitality, and Qin Shaou could feel their attachment and gratitude.

After retracting his consciousness, Qin Shaou felt exhausted and very hungry.

He didn't find any cod and was too lazy to cook carp again, so he drove to town and found a restaurant called "Old Hickson's" to eat.

The restaurant looked a bit dilapidated from the outside, but inside it was very clean. An old white man with braided mustaches was busy cleaning, and the oak tables were polished to a shine, clearly well-aged and patinated.

"Hey, buddy, what can I get you?" the old man asked with a smile when he saw Qin Shaou.

Just as Qin Shaou was about to speak, the old man carefully examined him for a moment, then quickly walked over and lightly punched him in the chest. "You're driving old Bauer's car. I heard that old guy brought his grandson to town. Is that you?"

It seems his grandfather was quite popular. Qin Shaou smiled and said, "Yes, I'm Little Qin. The Qin you mentioned is my grandfather."

He hoped the old man would give him a discount like the innkeeper, or even treat him to a meal.

However, the chubby old man laughed and said, "Great, kid. Your grandfather still owes me over a thousand dollars for meals. Remember to pay it off for him."

Qin Shaou was speechless, but then the old man patted his shoulder affectionately and said, "But I'll treat you to your first meal. I promised Qin that I would treat his descendants when they took over the fish farm."

The old man with the braided mustache was quick to act. He made Qin Shaou sit down and rushed into the kitchen. Qin Shaou watched him disappear, speechless, and finally said, "Sir, I haven't even said what I want to eat yet."

A few minutes later, a fragrant plate of fried rice was brought out. The white rice was topped with tender salmon, golden oil droplets, and golden egg slices. The fried rice was surrounded by a layer of red meat sauce, making it look very appetizing.

Qin Shaou scooped up a spoonful of the meat sauce and rice and took a bite. The fresh, tender meat juice mixed with the warm rice, and he gave the old man a thumbs up, saying, "Amazing, this is the best fried rice I've ever had."

Hearing his praise, the old man's eyes narrowed into slits, and he took out a pipe, put it in his mouth, and puffed out a cloud of smoke. "This is my specialty, spicy salmon meat sauce fried rice. Your grandfather used to love it, so I guessed you would too."

"Delicious," Qin Shaou praised.

As soon as he said this, Old Hickson fell silent and carefully examined Qin Shaou, with a hint of moisture in his eyes.

Qin Shaou didn't know what was happening. After a long while, Old Hickson said softly, "Young man, the first time your grandfather ate this fried rice, he used the same words, 'delicious.' Back then, my father was running this restaurant. It's been many years."

Old Hickson didn't say anything more. He stood by the window, biting his pipe and looking at the blue sky, perhaps reminiscing about his younger days.

The blue sky remained, but the old friends were gone.

After the meal, Qin Shaou tried to pay, but Old Hickson insisted on not accepting payment and apologized, "I was thinking about the past just now, which might have made the atmosphere a bit heavy. Come back for lunch tomorrow, and I'll make you another meal, okay?"

Qin Shaou thanked him and returned to the fish farm. In the afternoon, with nothing to do and feeling a bit tired, he lay on the bed and watched TV.

Canada and the United States are closely connected, and as the latter's little brother, Canada can share almost all American TV programs. Qin Shaou watched a TV series that hadn't been introduced in his country, called "X Killer."

X Killer is somewhat inspired by X-Men. The protagonist is a mutant with special abilities. His power is to transform into the appearance of anyone he touches by their DNA. The plot revolves around him using his superpowers to fight evil and punish wrongdoers.

In the evening, Bauer called, saying that his friend from the Lisi Auction House had flown to Newfoundland and would help him appraise the paintings early the next morning.