The Fish I Catch Can Level Up-Chapter 236: Early Morning Haul

The Fish I Catch Can Level Up-Chapter 236: Early Morning Haul

The next morning, before the sun fully rose, Chu Mingcheng had to get up to collect the shrimp traps and check the buoy lines.
If too many nine-section shrimp piled up in the traps, they could suffocate from lack of oxygen—a complete waste.
As for the buoy fish, after a whole night, some might've worked the hooks loose by flaring their gills. That was the best-case scenario. Worse, the line could've frayed through—a common problem when leaving gear out too long.
Sensing movement beside her, Jiang Luoluo stirred awake groggily.
Noticing how worn out she'd been last night, Chu Mingcheng hadn't pushed things further, simply holding her as they slept peacefully.
As a result, her energy was almost fully restored, allowing her to wake in the early morning.
"Ah Cheng, why are you up so early?"
Jiang Luoluo yawned and slowly sat up. The blanket slipped from her shoulders, revealing her silky nightgown.
Her curves were tightly wrapped by the fabric, yet seemed determined to break free.
Chu Mingcheng turned and caught sight of this, licking his suddenly dry lips before quickly looking away.
This kind of view, especially first thing in the morning, was enough to get him going.
"I need to get the shrimp traps and check the fish. You can sleep longer. I'll come back when I'm done."
"Yawn~!" Jiang Luoluo let out another yawn, then threw off the covers and climbed out of bed. "I'll make breakfast then. I don't feel as tired today."
At her words, Chu Mingcheng felt a pang of embarrassment.
Why had she been so tired? Wasn't that his fault?
He could only hope for that ten percent physical boost after her dive training. By then, Jiang Luoluo probably wouldn't give in so easily.
After washing up, Chu Mingcheng stepped onto the deck. The three sea lions heard the noise, glanced at him, then went back to sleeping.
He had a decent grasp of their habits by now.
As long as their bellies were full, they'd just laze around.
If food was scarce, these sea lions would hunt relentlessly to fill their stomachs. So to keep their wild instincts sharp, he couldn't feed them until they were stuffed every time.
At the very least, Chu Mingcheng wouldn't be feeding them today.
He steered the boat to retrieve the buoys one by one. Overnight, their positions had scattered. Without the heavy lead sinkers he'd attached, he probably would've lost a few.
Of the ten buoys, only six still had fish—thankfully all coral fish and groupers.
Of the remaining four, two were empty, and two had snapped lines.
This didn't surprise him. Leaving gear out too long invited problems, which was why he'd been retrieving fish every two hours yesterday.
Even during the barbecue last night, he'd collected fish three times. Including this morning's haul, his total catch should be around eight hundred jin.
However, this probably still wasn't enough to split among the five restaurant owners.
As for the customers in the group chat, they didn't need fish right now. They'd all bought plenty when he returned from the Nansha Islands, so their stock should last a while.
Seeing the fish, the three sea lions came over, hoping for a piece. Chu Mingcheng chased them off the boat one by one.
The little sea lion barked nonstop, trailing the boat and complaining.
Seeing the boat ignore them, he had no choice but to resignedly lead his companions to the coral reef to hunt.
Resources here were so abundant they didn't need to worry about going hungry.
Sea lions don't just eat fish—they also enjoy squid, cuttlefish, and even some shellfish.
Chu Mingcheng moved to where he'd set the shrimp traps. He'd put out five total.
It wasn't that he didn't want more, but the boat was simply too small. The buoys already took up most of the space, and he still needed room for the fish coolers and foam boxes. Five traps were all he could manage for now.
Once he upgraded to a bigger boat, he'd definitely stock it full of equipment.
A bigger boat would have not only a crane but also a winch mounted on the side, specifically for pulling up large, deep-sea crab pots.
The East China Sea continental shelf was home to many deep-sea crabs and shrimp, and Chu Mingcheng had no intention of passing those up.
But it was a bit early to think about that. He started pulling up the traps.
When he grabbed the rope of the first trap and pulled, Chu Mingcheng paused. It was heavy!
He continued hauling on the rope. When the trap broke the surface, a flurry of scuttling sounds erupted from within.
Countless nine-section shrimp were jumping inside. Not only that, but Chu Mingcheng also spotted quite a few mantis shrimp.
Judging by the forearm-sized ones among them, it seemed some of the neighborhood mantis shrimp had decided to join the party. The catch in this trap was nearly forty jin—a massive haul.
Currently, one fish cooler was occupied solely by the humpback grouper, leaving two others. He placed them nearby, filled them with seawater, and set two foam boxes beside them.
Chu Mingcheng dumped the trap's contents into a foam box, then prioritized picking out the mantis shrimp and putting them into a fish cooler with the oxygen pump running.
There were only five forearm-sized mantis shrimp. He threw all the smaller ones back into the water.
They were still lively and could survive being released. The less active ones, he could only keep with a heavy heart and eat himself.
He did a rough sort of the nine-section shrimp as well, picking out the smaller, still-lively ones and releasing them.
The extra-large ones went into the other fish cooler, also with an oxygen pump running.
Based on how things were going, today's nine-section shrimp harvest was going to be huge.
He didn't have enough coolers to keep all of them alive, so he had to sacrifice the smaller ones to ensure the extra-large ones survived.
Just as he was about to pull up the next trap, Jiang Luoluo announced breakfast was ready.
Chu Mingcheng wasn't in a rush. He washed his hands, ate breakfast, and then went back to pull up the remaining four traps.
With Jiang Luoluo helping to sort, his efficiency increased significantly.
The other four traps were much like the first—some had catches of over half a trap, while others had a bit less.
At a minimum, after setting aside the specially selected mantis shrimp and nine-section shrimp, the remaining smaller nine-section shrimp filled two foam boxes, definitely over a hundred jin.
There were twenty-three forearm-sized mantis shrimp, totaling just over twenty-five jin.
There were plenty of palm-sized nine-section shrimp. He didn't count them carefully, but they weighed forty-seven jin. At about three liang per shrimp, there were probably around one hundred and fifty of them.
Catching so many large shrimp was clear evidence that this area was virtually untouched.
However, Chu Mingcheng estimated that after a few more trips, the harvest would gradually diminish until the fishing ban passed. It would likely take until the second half of the year for the population to see significant recovery.
He wondered if, even with the enhanced growth and reproduction rates, the shrimp population here could withstand his one-man operation.
As for the mantis shrimp, he really couldn't say how many were here.
He'd caught some before using his Fish Gathering ability, but the attraction rate was only thirteen percent. He'd been busy with other things and hadn't specifically focused on catching them, so he figured there were still many large ones left.
In any case, for the near future, he could maintain a stable income from these two types of shrimp alone, stopping only when the numbers of large nine-section shrimp and mantis shrimp noticeably decreased.
Overfishing these extra-large shrimp wouldn't necessarily affect overall population reproduction, as long as he didn't wipe out the medium and small ones too.
After organizing everything, Jiang Luoluo stood up, stretched, and looked around.
"Where are Xiao Hei and the others?" she asked, puzzled.
Chu Mingcheng explained, "They were begging me for fish this morning, so I chased them off the boat. Feeding them occasionally is fine, but if I feed them this much every day, I'm afraid they'll forget how to hunt."
Jiang Luoluo understood. The three sea lions weren't with them all the time, after all.
They lived in the wild. If they were raised to be useless, their only option would probably be an aquarium.
Although the inshore waters seemed relatively safe, survival in the wild is never easy.
By now, the sun was high in the sky, and the temperature was gradually rising. Chu Mingcheng had Jiang Luoluo practice diving for half an hour, then carried her into the bathroom…
After a simple lunch, he started the boat back.
As for Jiang Luoluo, she was napping again. Diving is exhausting, after all.
As they neared the marina, Chu Mingcheng, as usual, messaged his customers about his two-day harvest.
Eight hundred jin of fish and nearly two hundred jin of shrimp. It seemed like a lot, but wasn't much when divided among five businesses.
They quickly worked out the division of the thousand-or-so jin of goods, with each taking an even share of about two hundred jin.
Selling to them was hassle-free for Chu Mingcheng. He didn't even need to sort the catch—he could just pack everything up and ship it to Wenzhou for them to divide amongst themselves.
As for the humpback grouper, Chu Mingcheng also sent a photo to Wei Jiaguo to ask if he wanted it.
How could Wei Jiaguo possibly refuse such a rare find?
The last humpback grouper had given him half a month of leisure, but it eventually died because he hadn't cared for it properly.
He felt a bit of regret about that, so now that he had another chance, he certainly wouldn't let it slip by.
Without Chu Mingcheng even needing to mention a price, Wei Jiaguo immediately transferred twenty thousand yuan.
Upon receiving it, Chu Mingcheng couldn't help but marvel—rich people are truly rich.
With buyers confirmed for all his goods, he had Jiang Luoluo, now awake from her nap, steer the boat while he went outside to organize the cargo for packing once they reached the marina.
Just then, the boat's speed suddenly began to decrease.
Chu Mingcheng found it strange and was about to ask what was happening when he heard cries for help.
He went to the side of the boat and saw a bass boat, already half-submerged, with two people on board calling for help.
Chu Mingcheng was a little speechless. These two were truly reckless, daring to take a bass boat so far out.
Bass boats are designed for small rivers and lakes. Their ability to handle wind and waves is extremely poor—they can't even handle some of the more turbulent major rivers. How did these two dare to venture so far out to sea?
As the fishing boat drew closer, he saw they were two blonde-haired, blue-eyed foreigners. Chu Mingcheng instantly understood.
From a distance, he'd thought they were just two young guys with dyed hair, especially since their cries for help were in Chinese.
Seeing they were foreigners, it was no longer surprising they'd do something so death-defying. There's a reason their populations are small.
Seeing a boat approaching, one of the foreigners quickly called to his friend, "The fishing rods, the fishing rods! Grab the rods and bring them!"

Chapter 236: Early Morning Haul