The Fish I Catch Can Level Up-Chapter 189: I Must Win Back Face for My Father-in-Law
As night fell, Chu Mingcheng once again arrived at the large yellow croaker fishing grounds.
Without rushing to find a fish school, he took out a yellow drum fish of just over five liang, cooked some rice, and made dinner first.
He hadn't caught many yellow drum with Jiang Luoluo the night before—only about thirty, totaling around twenty jin.
He'd try one now. If the yellow drum tasted good, he'd save a few to take back for his parents to try.
If he didn't like the taste, he'd sell them all. At over a hundred yuan per jin, they weren't cheap.
After cleaning the fish, Chu Mingcheng had originally planned to steam it.
But he'd been eating steamed fish frequently recently and was getting tired of it. He hesitated with the fish in his hand and finally decided to braise it.
Braising had a special characteristic—if you pan-fried both sides of the fish until slightly crispy, it would be exceptionally fragrant.
For dinner, he had braised fish, stir-fried vegetables, and a large bowl of rice, which he finished.
How to describe the yellow drum? The meat was somewhat coarse, definitely not as good as large or small yellow croaker. No wonder it ranked third among croakers.
It was only because its yield wasn't as high as small yellow croaker and it grew larger that its price was relatively high.
But that was only compared to large and small yellow croaker. In reality, its taste was still quite good.
Chu Mingcheng personally thought it was decent—his parents would like it.
After all, they were family, and their tastes were more or less similar. If anything, he was the pickier one.
Chu Mingcheng selected six seven-or eight-liang yellow drums, put them in a plastic bag, and placed them in the refrigerator. These would go back home.
Afterward, he drove the boat to find a suitable fishing spot. Basically, by circling an isolated reef, he had a good chance of encountering fish schools.
But quite a few people were fishing for large yellow croaker, and many prime spots were already taken by other boats. He had to circle for over half an hour before finding a decent location.
Without Jiang Luoluo here, he used the jigging rod to fish alone.
He still had plenty of sandworms. Basically, by baiting with two or three, he could fish for extended periods.
He tied his rig and went to the deck to start fishing. He tossed the baited hook into the water, and it sank quickly. When the line reached about fifteen meters in depth, he locked the spool.
The fish finder showed the school was in the fifteen-meter water layer. At night, when large yellow croakers came out to feed, they'd swim to shallower waters.
After a brief wait, the rod tip trembled slightly—a fish was biting.
Chu Mingcheng focused intently and, the moment the rod tip bent down, immediately lifted the rod, successfully hooking the fish.
"Hey, it's a big one."
The more the rod bent, the happier Chu Mingcheng became. He quickly lifted the rod and reeled in line. In just moments, a golden fish appeared on the surface.
At night, under the lights, the large yellow croaker's form was truly beautiful, gleaming golden.
His luck tonight was exceptional. The first one was a jin-class fish—at least a thousand yuan in his pocket.
Because the large yellow croaker had swum to shallow water, its swim bladder hadn't been expelled when pulled up, and it was still lively.
Therefore, Chu Mingcheng carefully used a landing net to scoop it up. If he just pulled it up and the fish struggled and fell off, how heartbreaking that would be.
He lifted it with a fish grip and saw it was exactly one jin and two liang. This weight could sell for fifteen hundred per jin now. This large yellow croaker could fetch eighteen hundred.
Fishing for large yellow croaker now was really like panning for gold—basically legalized robbery.
He put the fish in the fish box. Hearing the "gugu" sounds from inside, Chu Mingcheng found them very pleasant.
When he was a child, he'd heard his grandfather say he could often hear "gugu" sounds by the sea, that it was fish making noise. He hadn't believed it at the time.
Because he'd just watched Ultraman Tiga, he'd argued with his grandfather that it was a monster called Gatanozoa. Thinking about it now, it was quite amusing.
He snapped back to reality and continued fishing.
In the next half hour, he easily caught five large yellow croakers. Although none exceeded a jin, this efficiency was much higher than yesterday at noon. He was as efficient as two people by himself.
But the sandworm was also mangled and needed replacing.
Chu Mingcheng removed the remaining pieces of sandworm from the hook and threw them into the sea, then baited with fresh ones.
Because bait kept appearing here, plus the luminous bead on the hook, he'd successfully attracted large yellow croakers to gather under his boat.
When his baited hook sank to the bottom again, a large yellow croaker immediately approached to bite.
But before it could even open its mouth, a black shadow shot over and swallowed the sandworm first.
But the moment its mouth closed, the pain let it know it had been tricked. It immediately began shaking its head and gills, trying to spit out the foreign object.
Who knew that a huge force would suddenly come, not only failing to expel the foreign object but making it pierce deeper.
At this moment, the fish that had stolen the food was filled with regret, but there was no medicine for regret.
Chu Mingcheng looked at the rod, bent so sharply. The heavy feeling in his hand told him the fish was large, which immediately made his adrenaline spike. How big a yellow croaker could cause such commotion!
Excited, he quickly reeled in line, feeling like he was going to strike it rich tonight!
But when he pulled the fish to the surface, he found it was just a red-spotted grouper, which immediately disappointed him.
This red-spotted grouper wasn't small—probably about three jin.
If Chu Mingcheng had just started fishing, he would've been thrilled to catch this fish. But now, compared to the large yellow croaker, the difference was naturally huge.
But honestly, in terms of eating, he personally felt red-spotted grouper was better.
He scooped it up with a landing net, unhooked it, and put the fish in the livewell.
Time unknowingly reached ten at night. Chu Mingcheng didn't know how many large yellow croakers he'd caught, but quite a few. Unfortunately, the hook-up rate was getting slower and slower.
He returned to the cockpit to check the situation. He'd thought the fish had returned to the bottom, but it turned out he'd almost fished them all out. Only two or three remained. No wonder the bite rate was slowing.
For night fishing, it was still early. Chu Mingcheng was about to continue looking for fish schools when the satellite phone rang.
He immediately remembered he hadn't told Jiang Luoluo about fishing, so he quickly answered.
Sure enough, her crisp voice came through the phone.
"Hello, Cheng, you're not home yet?"
"Mm, I was originally heading home. But then I thought I should bring back some yellow croakers, so I changed course and went fishing."
"I figured as much. I couldn't get through on your phone."
At this time, Jiang Luoluo, who'd already washed up and was lying in her room, showed an "as expected" expression.
"Hehe, sorry, I forgot to tell you this afternoon!"
"It's fine. Then I won't disturb your fishing. Remember to sleep early tonight."
Jiang Luoluo had originally wanted to tell him that her parents had initially accepted their relationship, and now they just needed to arrange a time for him to visit.
But since Chu Mingcheng was fishing, she felt embarrassed to continue bothering him.
She was about to hang up, but Chu Mingcheng hadn't forgotten about this. He quickly asked, "Luoluo, have you told them about us?"
"I have."
"Then what did your parents say?"
Chu Mingcheng's heart beat faster, a little nervous.
Jiang Luoluo seemed to sense his emotions and immediately encouraged him, "Of course, they agreed! You're so outstanding—how could they not be satisfied? So when are you planning to visit?"
Hearing her say this, Chu Mingcheng finally exhaled in relief.
His mood soared with Jiang Luoluo's encouragement, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.
"Then remember to send me your father's and mother's preferences. I need to buy suitable gifts."
"Mm, I'll send them to you later. You should also remember to send me uncle and auntie's preferences. After you meet my parents, I'm visiting your house too."
"Also, my parents really loved the large yellow croakers you sent. Last year, my dad was so embarrassed..."
Jiang Luoluo didn't react much to "your father and mother" anymore, clearly having accepted it.
At the same time, she mentioned her father's embarrassment last year because of the large yellow croakers.
Chu Mingcheng was surprised to hear this. His future father-in-law had lost face because of this—that wouldn't do.
"Then I'll have to search the sea properly these next few days. At the very least, I have to get your father a large yellow croaker over five jin to win back some face for him."
"It's fine—the box of large yellow croakers you gave me will earn back face this year!"
Jiang Luoluo said sweetly, very happy that Chu Mingcheng cared so much about her family.
"That won't do—face must be won back. By the way, the box of large yellow croakers I sent, tell your parents they can give them away as gifts. It's too long to keep until year's end, and they won't be fresh."
"I'm not doing anything else when I go home. I was originally planning to come out and fish for large yellow croakers, so I definitely won't be short of them."
"If you're hosting New Year's Eve dinner at year's end, I'll pick some of a similar size and send them to you, so it won't look awkward on the table if they're different sizes."
"Mm, mm, I know." Regarding Chu Mingcheng's thoughtfulness, Jiang Luoluo was smart not to refuse.
These were all to deepen her parents' good impression of her boyfriend. Although it cost considerable money, if it could bring him closer to her family, it would be very meaningful.
Afterward, they discussed some details about the visit before hanging up.
"YES!" Chu Mingcheng pumped his fist as soon as he hung up, looking extremely excited.
The most difficult step was now settled. Everything would go smoothly from here.
Humming a tune, he drove the boat to continue looking for fish schools.
He'd originally planned to fish until twelve and go back to sleep, but now he had to change his plan. He'd use Life Conversion to refresh himself and fish all night.
His luck this time was decent. He only searched for about ten minutes before finding a large fish school.
He tried fishing first and confirmed it was indeed a large yellow croaker. Now he wouldn't need to look elsewhere tonight.
Currently, Life Conversion was abundant. He fished until sunrise before using it once. He still had to drive the boat back later, so he needed to stay alert.
As for how many large yellow croakers he'd caught, Chu Mingcheng himself didn't know.
The crushed ice was all used up, and two large foam boxes were already full of fish. The third foam box also had twenty or thirty jin. The value should be around a hundred thousand yuan.
Unfortunately, he hadn't caught any truly large ones. The heaviest caught at night was only two and a half jin, and there was only one over two jin. What a pity.
There were quite a few jin-class ones—about twenty—and the rest were all under a jin.
Chu Mingcheng put away his fishing rod, went to the bathroom to wash his face, then ate two pieces of bread before coming out to sort the large yellow croakers.
The appearance and weight of large yellow croakers affected price, so they had to be carefully selected.
He was busy for over two hours. The sun was already high in the sky before he'd sorted all the large yellow croakers.
Thirteen had a poor appearance, which he kept for himself to eat.
The remaining one hundred seventeen jin could all be sold at premium prices.
However, he didn't know if prices had fluctuated today. He had to go ashore and wait for the signal to check.
So Chu Mingcheng first went ashore to refuel, then sent photos of the two boxes of large yellow croakers to the group chat.
"I've already returned from Xiamen. I'll be at Wenzhou pier around three this afternoon. Anyone wanting to buy large yellow croakers, remember to come to the pier. They were all caught by me at night."
As soon as this was posted, the group, which had been quiet for a long time, immediately became lively.
Chapter 189: I Must Win Back Face for My Father-in-Law
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