Chapter 579 - Don't Believe That Rotten Old Man

“How about I buy you the best seafood tomorrow? Lobster or tuna, or even seal or whale meat if you want?” Luke said.

The dog abruptly lifted its head. It barked, then scampered around the house; clearly, it was very pleased with this reward.

Luke watched it run around in several circles with a smile. Finally, he grabbed the dog and pulled it over. “But remember, you must protect Selina well, or you know what will happen to you.”

As long as Selina was safe, anything was negotiable.

If anything happened to Selina, he would definitely beat the crap out of the dog head.

The dog head pretended to shiver, but it wasn’t actually scared.

That the fiend doted on Selina was an ironclad fact which the dog head despaired over.

The next morning, Luke and Selina got up early and left home before sunrise. They had breakfast in the car.

They were taking the dog to Seafood Paradise Market in Chinatown in San Gabriel Valley.

It was where the gourmets of Los Angeles bought their seafood, and there were a lot of established shops in this place.

They were here to buy Gold Nugget a gift, and for Luke to buy a huge pile of ingredients to try making new dishes. He and Selina rarely went out of their way to specially buy ingredients. Most of the time, they did their shopping at the supermarkets.

But the supermarkets they usually visited didn’t have as much high-quality seafood as a specialized seafood market.

When they entered, most of the shops were busy.

It was still the darkest moment before dawn, but the market was brightly lit.

There were people moving back and forth everywhere. Some were haggling with shop owners, some were talking or joking around with their fellows, and some were leaving with their harvest.

There were puddles of water everywhere on the ground and a strong fishy smell of the sea, which made the place look a little dirty and chaotic.

However, it was bursting with life.

These people here were working hard to make a living Selina was astonished at the scene. “Wow, I had no idea so many L.A. people would get up so early. Are they here just to buy fresh seafood?”

Amused, Luke put one hand on her shoulder and guided her toward the stalls. “Of course. People who really work hard know what Los Angeles looks like at four in the morning.”

Selina subconsciously looked at her watch. “Isn’t it already half past five?”

Luke shrugged. “But we got up at four and drove an hour to get here.”

Selina slapped her forehead. “My bad. Thank you for your hard work, darling.” As they chatted, the alien dog head grew anxious. It pulled at Selina’s trousers and whined frantically.

The two of them didn’t need to look at the dog’s expression to know that it was saying: Hey, didn’t you say you would buy me a present? Hurry up, otherwise it’ll be all gone.

The truth was that this place did indeed do big business.

The customers here were either foodies or those from F&B businesses.

The foodies were here to satisfy their cravings, while the industry workers were here to diligently and professionally make money.

A lot of the stuff here could be sold at prices that were fifty percent higher, or even more if the goods were rare, once they went onto the shelves of Chinese supermarkets. But Luke and Selina weren’t in a hurry.

Luke wasn’t after precious ingredients; he focused on what he liked and what tasted good.

Price wasn’t something that he needed to take into consideration.

Therefore, he decisively gave up on an ingredient if there was a mad scramble for it; his Sharp Nose ensured that the ingredients he bought were fresh and top-quality.

Gold Nugget never stopped drooling.

It really loved seafood, but Luke didn’t make or buy a lot of it.

It was more troublesome to buy seafood than red meat.

Luke also refused to buy low-quality seafood.

Now that the fiend had come to this hallowed place to specially buy it food, the dog was truly mad with joy. Gold Nugget was also uninterested in precious ingredients, and chose purely what it liked.

Selina already had a rapport with the dog. As long as she heard it whine, she would look in the direction of its gaze and know what had caught its attention.

Gold Nugget also had a great sense of smell; Dollar’s nose wasn’t just for show.

Fresh prawns, lobsters, groupers and tuna were purchased in bulk, while stuff like crabs and sea urchins were purchased on a smaller scale.

Gold Nugget was more interested in food like this compared with Luke and Selina.

But there was one thing that both Selina and Gold Nugget liked.

And that was king crab.

Generally speaking, king crabs could only be caught in the Bering Strait every September and October, but Chile king crabs were available on the market in July.

While it was only June 10, a number of Chile king crabs were already available.

But they were sold at much higher prices than they would be a month later.

Listening to the Chinese shopkeeper’s spiel on how delicious the “only two” Chile king crabs were, the mouths of the two gluttons next to Luke dropped open, and Dollar’s drool flowed down into the puddle of water outside the door.

Selina was a little better and remembered to swallow her drool, but her longing expression was also cast that way.

Luke waved his hand. “I’ll take them.”

After that, he leaned in close to the Chinese shopkeeper, who was in his forties, and said in a low voice, “I won’t bargain with you, but you need to give me ten more of these things.”

The Chinese shopkeeper smiled mysteriously. “Those are the only two at the moment.”

Luke raised an eyebrow. “I’ll pay the current price in cash.” He then took out two rolls of hundred-dollar bills and tossed them to the shopkeeper’s wife behind the counter two meters away.

The Chinese shopkeeper’s smile froze.

His wife, who was also Chinese, was even faster at calculating than a money counter machine, and nodded at the boss.

She gripped the two rolls tightly in both hands. Clearly, she didn’t want to let go of them.

The Chinese shopkeeper’s smile widened. “Then wait a minute; I’ll help you ask around at the other stores.”

Luke nodded with a smile and watched the shopkeeper call out to his wife before he walked to the back of the shop.

Selina found it odd. “Didn’t he say that the crabs are rare? Where’s he gonna get more of them?”

Luke whispered in her ear, “Don’t believe him! This rotten old coot has more stock behind his shop, but if he puts all of them out, he won’t be able to say that they’re the ‘only two’ and then jack up the price.”

Selina was speechless.

The price that the shopkeeper quoted was already on the high side for rare seafood; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been interested in the king crabs at all.

Thankfully, on the way here, Luke had already told her that he had earned a hefty amount from his South Pole trip. Otherwise, she would’ve complained about his extravagance for the whole day. Even though they were already very rich, Selina had always been a frugal person. Very soon, the “rotten old man” returned, claiming that it hadn’t been easy for him to gather all the goods together. Luke had no time for that and directly interrupted him. “Enough. I’ve already paid you; don’t tell me you still want to jack up the price?”