"It should be fine. It's not like we're going fishing with him. We'll just cast our nets and crab pots, and then retrieve them a few hours later. How simple is that!"
"That simple?"
"Yeah, it's very simple. Look at those videos on Douyin, they're all like that. They even talk about huge hauls, making a lot of money."
"Then... let's do it!"
At this moment, Li Haochen was lost in the joy of catching fish continuously, completely unaware that he had inadvertently influenced the future of two young men. Whether it was for good or ill, only fate would tell.
Time flew by. Without realizing it, he had been fishing for over three hours. Li Haochen was exhausted, and his stomach began to rumble. He had no choice but to stop fishing and sail the boat to a calm area about a kilometer away from Dunhuang Island before anchoring.
He checked his catch. It was excellent: dozens of black rockfish, with two weighing over ten pounds, most others around seven or eight taels, and a few large black sea bream weighing three to four pounds.
"This is great. It seems I need to seek out more challenging spots in the future."
He took about ten small black rockfish into the spatial ocean and then cleaned the deck.
While showering, he happily sang a children's song, "Xi Yangyang, Mei Yangyang, Lan Yangyang, Fei Yangyang, Man Yangyang, Ruan Mianmian, Hong Tailang, Hui Tailang... Man Yangyang, Ruan Mianmian, Hong Tailang, Hui Tailang, la la la la la la...!"
Fortunately, no one in the vast ocean could hear him, or else... he might have capsized.
For dinner, he steamed a black rockfish weighing about a pound. Indeed, the flesh was delicate and sweet, comparable to groupers that cost hundreds of yuan per pound.
After dinner and cleaning up, it was only eight o'clock. He was tired of watching movies and novels felt dull. Unlike Captain Lu, who had his pickled vegetables for company every day, he felt lonely. The long night was indeed difficult to endure.
Since he was bored, he decided to go fishing again.
It was late at night, and he didn't want to overexert himself. He used only two fishing rods, placed side by side. The water depth was only seven or eight meters, so there was no fear of tangling the lines.
Wanting to relax, Li Haochen didn't pay attention to whether he was getting any bites. Instead, he went into the cabin and took a bottle of iced beer from the refrigerator. He had bought it at a convenience store next to the tackle shop before setting sail.
He sat on the recliner, shelled peanuts, and drank beer, enjoying the leisurely moment.
Peanuts only tasted good when shelled by hand. Plain peanuts lacked that certain feeling, just like Li Haochen's fishing with the electric reel during this period – it was tedious and uninteresting.
About ten minutes later, he finally caught the first fish, a very good one, a butterfly rockfish weighing over two pounds.
Time slipped away. It was past ten o'clock without him realizing it. The deck was covered with a bag full of peanut shells. Well, shelling peanuts was like cracking sunflower seeds; once you started, you couldn't stop until the last one.
The catch was quite good: seven or eight rockfish, all weighing two to three pounds, living up to the reputation of Dunhuang Island. He also caught a large crab weighing over a pound, but he threw it back into the spatial ocean to have baby crabs.
Under a sky full of stars, the roaring sound of the surging waves crashing against the island's reefs, and the howling sea breeze, Li Haochen's state of mind was further tempered that night.
After tidying up and taking a shower, he quickly fell asleep. That night, Li Haochen had a strange dream. In his dream, he stood on a mountain peak ten thousand meters high, overlooking the boundless ocean, and all marine life obeyed his commands...!
The next day, he woke up to the same monotonous life.
After breakfast, he sailed the boat to the side where he had seen the beach. Unfortunately, two fishing boats were already there. After honking the horn, he changed position, circumnavigated the island for a few hundred meters, and stopped. This spot was at the eastern windward side, where the waves were more turbulent than yesterday.
Li Haochen cast the anchor and stopped steadily before starting his day's work.
Yesterday's experience of fishing in rough waves had brought Li Haochen many benefits. Today, in such turbulent conditions, although he couldn't walk as if on level ground, he could still stand steadily without falling.
"Swoosh~ Ring, ring, ring~"
As soon as the bell rang, Li Haochen went over and pressed the button. It was effortless and comfortable. What he reeled in was a black sea bream weighing about a pound.
Seven or eight minutes later, he caught the second fish, not a very large yellow croaker. The third fish was caught only an hour later, and it was just a small stonefish weighing over two taels.
Although the biting rate was very low, Li Haochen resisted the urge to leave. He couldn't see what was happening underwater, and whether there were fish was all a matter of luck. Changing locations might yield the same result, or perhaps even worse.
Li Haochen's persistence was rewarded by his golden finger physique. Before long, he hooked a sea bass weighing four to five pounds.
The biting rate increased significantly. Although it wasn't continuous, it was sporadic, and the fish caught were not small, mostly weighing one to two pounds.
The late October sun was still fierce. Despite being fully equipped, Li Haochen found it very uncomfortable to stay on deck for several hours. Even with sunglasses, the light reflected from the sea surface still bothered his eyes.
The catch was very satisfactory. He didn't continue, packed up his fishing gear, cleaned the deck, and sailed to the calmer waters a few hundred meters away, anchoring the boat.
After showering, Li Haochen, wearing only shorts and with his upper body bare, busied himself in the kitchen. Since no one was around, he could have run around naked.
For this meal, Li Haochen didn't cook rice. He took a black sea bream weighing over two pounds, cleaned it, and then removed the flesh from the back, slicing it thinly. He used the fish bones to make a pot of clear soup. After removing the fish bones, he added soaked rice to the fish soup and simmered it slowly. After about half an hour, a rich, fresh aroma filled the kitchen.
He dipped the fish slices into the boiling congee for a few seconds, being careful not to overcook them, which would make them less tender.
The fish meat was fresh, sweet, elastic, and crisp, with an excellent texture. A piece of fish, a spoonful of congee, and it was better than dragon meat.
He had been out for almost three days, and Li Haochen began to miss home. So, he tidied up and set the course for home.
Although he was eager to return, he didn't have much fuel, so he sailed at an economical speed.
The seafood congee was delicious, but it wasn't filling. It had only been two hours, and Li Haochen's stomach was rumbling again. However, the Binhai Wharf was not far away, so he had to eat some snacks and fruits to tide him over.
The harvest from this trip was huge. The golden croaker alone had already made him a fortune, even if he couldn't sell it. Considering this, it would be a blessing if this trip simply broke even.
Not long after, his phone finally got a signal. As soon as he opened it, it buzzed incessantly, mostly with messages from Murong Yanran and Xie Baolian. He also received a message from Yang Tao stating the income from sea fish and conch was 63,000 yuan.
Li Haochen did not call Murong Yanran. Upon returning to the wharf, his boat, the Starlight, immediately attracted attention. It couldn't be helped, as the harvests from the previous two times were too astonishing. Li Pengfei and his appraisal team were eagerly anticipating this appraisal, and there were also many onlookers. Only Yang Tao was present as a merchant, as everyone knew his fish catch went to the Binhai Grand Hotel, so going there would be useless.