The Fish I Catch Can Level Up-Chapter 203: An Xiuwen Regretted Not Showing Off Her Daughter-in-Law
Chu Mingcheng's reaction made Jiang Luoluo burst out laughing, and just like that, the incident was over.
Crying was embarrassing, after all, and she didn't want to be teased about it forever.
"You should go take a shower. My clothes are soaked—I need to change."
"Alright!"
Seeing that she was truly fine, Chu Mingcheng relaxed and quickly grabbed his clothes to shower in the bathroom. It was the middle of winter, and he was freezing.
About ten minutes later, he came out to find Jiang Luoluo on the deck, now changed into a tracksuit.
Three swordfish were laid out, arranged by size, looking like a little family of three generations.
One was over sixty jin, another over two hundred, and then there was the super swordfish he had struggled with all morning—the one he'd finally landed with the speargun.
The giant swordfish's head rested on the aft deck, but its tail had to be hoisted into the air by a crane; the deck simply wasn't long enough.
"So how big is this thing?" Chu Mingcheng asked curiously.
"It's 4.21 meters long and weighs 833 jin," Jiang Luoluo answered, her own voice filled with awe as she read out the numbers.
She'd seen a nearly four-meter-long marlin before, but the Indo-Pacific marlin was a slender fish. Even at that length, it wouldn't reach such an exaggerated weight.
But a swordfish was different; its body was cylindrical.
This one was so massive that it would take both Zhang Wei and Chen Yang to wrap their arms around it. The visual impact was on a completely different level.
"Ha! Over eight hundred jin! I wonder what this beast will sell for!" Chu Mingcheng was ecstatic.
The market price for a normal swordfish was quite low. The sixty-something-jin one would probably only fetch about fifty yuan per jin. Since it was almost the New Year and this one was line-caught, the price might be slightly higher.
But for a fish this size, the price didn't necessarily increase. Depending on freshness, it might even sell for less.
How much it would sell for really depended on what the buyers were willing to offer.
At a normal price of fifty yuan per jin, 833 jin would be over forty thousand.
This time of year, it should sell well. Since it was line-caught, it was perfect for sashimi.
With that, Chu Mingcheng steered the fishing boat back. Once he had a signal, he immediately sent a picture of the fish to the group chat.
"Landed a big one this morning. A swordfish, 4.21 meters long, weighing 833 jin. Fresh enough for sashimi. Bosses, feel free to make an offer."
As expected, the group chat exploded.
But while everyone marveled at the fish, only a few made actual offers.
The highest bid so far was a mere forty thousand, just barely meeting his minimum expectation.
So Chu Mingcheng thought of Wei Jianguo. If he were willing to pay forty thousand, he would rather sell it to him.
He was sure that a rare catch like this would definitely interest him.
And sure enough, the moment he sent the picture, Wei Jianguo replied instantly: "Arrange for shipping immediately."
He didn't even ask for the price, simply transferring fifty thousand yuan directly.
The price wasn't particularly high or low; it was just right.
But for someone of Wei Jianguo's status, a few tens of thousands was nothing.
The main thing was, he'd been worrying about what impressive centerpiece to bring to his year-end gathering with his old friends.
He had considered a large yellow croaker, but he hadn't managed to find a rare, massive specimen.
Chu Mingcheng's timing was perfect. Swordfish meat was delicious, and with a top-tier chef, there was no fear of it not being prepared well.
More importantly, a swordfish this size, just laid out on display, was enough to leave anyone breathless.
So when he heard there was a fish that could break the domestic record, he bought it without a second thought.
"Agong bought it?" Jiang Luoluo was right beside Chu Mingcheng and saw the transfer on his phone.
"Yep. I figured he'd have an important gathering at the end of the year, so I asked him. I didn't expect him to be so enthusiastic."
"Haha, looks like Agong's house is getting another fish head specimen," Jiang Luoluo said, covering her mouth to stifle a giggle.
Normally, to preserve a fish, the long bill of a marlin or swordfish had to be cut off.
But all three of Chu Mingcheng's fish were intact. The fact that the heads could be made into specimens after the fish was eaten was an unexpected bonus for the buyer.
It was late afternoon, nearing sunset, when the boat finally arrived at the Wenzhou pier.
Chu Mingcheng immediately had the swordfish shipped out. The four-meter-plus behemoth instantly drew a large crowd at the pier.
For people who considered a twenty-jin fish a big catch, seeing an eight-hundred-jin monster was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
When it was hoisted by the crane, it was taller than two men standing on top of each other.
A large number of customers from Chu Mingcheng's group chat had rushed over, just to see the giant fish with their own eyes.
This also led to his two smaller swordfish and the large yellow croaker from before all being sold.
The two swordfish were sold at fifty yuan per jin, for a total of fourteen thousand.
The large yellow croaker earned him another fifty-three thousand. This little trip had netted Chu Mingcheng a profit of over a hundred thousand yuan.
After selling the fish, the group went into the city for dinner, then spent the night on Yanmen Island.
The next day, Chu Mingcheng took the boat out again to take them back to Hangzhou.
Chen Yang and Zhang Wei came along, because the three brothers were about to embark on a ten-day "Golden Sea Journey."
With only thirteen days left until the New Year, and since Chu Mingcheng had agreed to meet Jiang Luoluo's parents in Hangzhou on the twenty-eighth of the lunar month, he only had about ten days left to fish.
He planned to make a million yuan in these ten days, so he had to work hard.
The days passed, one by one. The fishing boat drifted at sea, only returning to port when the holds were full of fish.
But no matter how many large yellow croakers Chu Mingcheng brought back to the pier, the market demand was insatiable.
He knew, however, that this phenomenon would only last for a few more years. With the help of his Aquatic Species Codex, the yellow croaker population would surely increase, and with the continuous release of fry, the price of yellow croaker would gradually come down.
Time passed without him realizing it. With just a blink, it was already the twenty-seventh of the lunar month.
Only Zhang Wei and Zhao Jun were still with him. Chen Yang, unable to bear it any longer, had gone back long ago.
Whether it was because he couldn't stand being at sea, or because the lack of signal made it difficult to chat with a certain beauty from Taiwan, only he knew!
Looking at the six boxes of large yellow croaker on the boat, Chu Mingcheng decided that this year's "Golden Sea Journey" was officially over.
"Ah Wei, Brother Zhao Jun, get yourselves cleaned up. We're heading back!"
"It's over already?" Zhao Jun looked at the sky, a little disappointed.
In these ten days, not counting this final haul, he had earned a total of two hundred and seventy thousand yuan.
Including this last shipment, he would have no problem reaching three hundred thousand.
Zhao Jun had calculated his annual income. Including the tens of thousands in government subsidies, after deducting costs, his net income was only a little over a hundred thousand—barely reaching one hundred and fifty thousand on a good year.
It might seem like a good day of netting brought in a lot, but the maintenance for the boat and nets was a significant expense.
It was nothing like the easy money he'd made with Chu Mingcheng this year. Fishing for large yellow croaker, he didn't have to worry about a thing. Chu Mingcheng even provided the bait, which made him feel a little embarrassed, so he had made a point of buying groceries several times.
Three hundred thousand yuan—his financial pressure was instantly relieved by who knows how much.
His child was still young, and he didn't need to worry about a car or a house for now. After paying off his debts, his family could finally have a good New Year. He was incredibly grateful to Chu Mingcheng.
If it weren't for him, he never would have had the chance to fish for large yellow croaker.
And Chu Mingcheng's purchase price was not low at all—seventy percent of the market price. No matter how much the market price increased, he always paid seventy percent.
If Zhao Jun had tried to sell a large quantity of yellow croaker on his own, a typical fishmonger would never have offered that price.
As for Zhang Wei, his income was similar to Zhao Jun's.
The main thing was, he was embarrassed to take ninety percent.
How much was the fuel cost?
In the end, he also sold his fish to Chu Mingcheng at seventy percent. He was too embarrassed to take the ninety percent anymore, mainly because fishing for large yellow croaker was so profitable—so much more than his regular job!
This also meant that Chu Mingcheng had earned over two hundred and fifty thousand from these two alone, not even counting today's final haul.
Because of the Fish Gathering function of his Premium Codex, he always caught more large yellow croaker than the other two.
In these ten days, the fish he had caught himself had earned him seven hundred and eighty thousand.
Adding the income from the other two, he had just passed one million, achieving the goal he had set for himself.
And there was even better news: his customer group had grown to over a hundred people, all customers he had accumulated from selling large yellow croaker at the end of the year.
Most of them were from Wenzhou, but they did business all over the country and were quite spread out.
Among them, more than twenty were doing business inland. They loved seafood, but even with money, they couldn't buy fresh fish, which was a source of great frustration for them.
Now that they knew Chu Mingcheng, as long as they were willing to spend the money, they could buy fresh fish, which made them all very happy.
Returning to Wenzhou and selling the last batch of large yellow croaker, Chu Mingcheng checked his savings. It had reached 2.83 million.
It was a little unexpected, yet it felt normal.
Before deciding on these ten days of fishing, he had already sold yellow croaker several times. Adding the income from the past ten days, it wasn't surprising that his savings exceeded the budget for buying the boat.
Back on Yanmen Island, after saying goodbye to Zhao Jun and Zhang Wei, Chu Mingcheng took his dirty laundry and went home.
But as soon as he got home, he noticed that his neighbor's house seemed quite lively.
There was a large group of people by the roadside, and a young couple seemed to be the center of attention.
He didn't pay much attention, drove past, and went to his back door.
But when he walked into the house, he found that An Xiuwen's expression wasn't very good. She was muttering something to a helpless-looking Chu Yongxin.
Seeing this, Chu Mingcheng asked, "Dad, Mom, I'm back. But Mom, what's wrong? You look upset."
When An Xiuwen saw Chu Mingcheng, her eyes instantly lit up. "Son, you're back just in time. Isn't Luoluo coming to visit the day after tomorrow? Remember to use the front door then. And go knock on all the neighbors' doors, one by one!"
Hearing her say this, and thinking of the young couple surrounded by people at the intersection, Chu Mingcheng immediately understood what had happened.
"What, did Auntie Zhao next door show off to you?"
"Of course she did! Going on about how the girl has such a high income and is so beautiful, and how she wouldn't marry anyone but her son. She's decent-looking, I guess, but can she compare to our Luoluo?"
Chu Mingcheng and Chu Yongxin exchanged a wry smile. These women—what was there to compare?
"Didn't Luoluo come to our house a while ago? Why didn't you take her out for a walk?" Chu Mingcheng couldn't help but ask.
At the mention of this, An Xiuwen was filled with regret. "I thought Luoluo had come in such a hurry, and I was afraid she wouldn't get enough rest, so I didn't think of taking her to meet the neighborhood."
"Who knew that Zhao Chunyan would be so shameless? The girl only came to her house once, and she acted like she wanted the whole village to know. She even came to me and asked if I wanted her to introduce a girl to you."
"I told her you have a girlfriend, but she was still being catty, making it sound like Luoluo was someone to be ashamed of. Tell me, how could I not be angry?"
An Xiuwen's words were a bit vague, but Chu Mingcheng knew his neighbor, Auntie Zhao, well enough to know that whatever she'd said must have been unpleasant.
This was why, even when he was home, he usually only used the back door. He really didn't want to deal with these neighbors.
Chapter 203: An Xiuwen Regretted Not Showing Off Her Daughter-in-Law
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