Xu Juncheng came aboard the ship to finalize the matter, but Zhou Xuan immediately refused. He thought that might be true; it's not an artificial breeding base, so how could there be a large quantity of such a product in the sea?
Although he looked slightly disappointed, Xu Juncheng still took out a few business cards from his pocket and handed them to Zhou Xuan and Uncle Yu, saying, "Sorry to bother you, there's nothing I can do about it, but if you ever find pearl oysters again, please contact me."
Zhou Xuan nodded and said, "That's no problem. If such an opportunity arises, I promise to contact you."
To others, Zhou Xuan's promise seemed like a casual, polite remark, but Zhou Xuan himself knew it was the truth. Although he had run away from home, how could he not care about his family's affairs?
It's a shame that the Yu family has such a large sum of money, and they would use it to sell their own company at a high price. It doesn't make sense. The key is that Yu Changhe is stingy and scheming. It's normal for a boss to be stingy, but Yu Changhe is definitely one of those who are excessively stingy.
Xu Juncheng looked at Zhou Xuan wearing a diving mask and felt something was off, but he didn't suspect anything. In fact, he couldn't even think of it that way.
After exchanging pleasantries, they said goodbye and left the fishing boat.
Zhao Chengguang chuckled, waved his hand, and then walked away with Xu Juncheng.
Uncle Yu checked the time; it was exactly ten o'clock. With a wave of his hand, he gave the order to set sail.
This time we went out to sea during the day. The sun wasn't high, but the temperature was quite comfortable. It wasn't until after midnight that it got very hot under the sun.
Seeing that Xu Juncheng had left and the boat had set sail again, Zhou Xuan took off his diving suit and said awkwardly, "I was just thinking of trying it out in the water, but I didn't expect to have guests. Did I do anything rude?"
Uncle Yu smiled and shook his head, then said indifferently, "It doesn't matter, these things are none of our business anyway."
If we're talking about being impolite, how could Zhou Xuan's attire not be impolite? But in Yu Jinshan's view, none of that mattered. All he wanted was for Zhou Xuan to fish peacefully on the boat. He didn't need to worry about anything else. Too much contact might spoil Zhou Xuan's heart, making him more likely to be lured away by outside temptations.
Regarding this matter, Yu Jinshan and Zhao Chengguang both felt that Yu Changhe's handling of the bonus was a bit excessive and stingy. Fortunately, Zhou Xuan didn't mind and didn't say much. If it were them, they would definitely have been resentful.
He earned the Yu family over 100 million in one go, so the bonus should have been over 10 million, but Yu Changhe only gave them 5 million. Of that, 3.5 million was for the Yu family's real estate projects, based on their initial selling price. In reality, it wasn't even 3.5 million.
On the ship, seven people chatted and drank on the deck to celebrate. They had won a prize of 100,000 yuan this time, so how could they not be excited?
Fu Gui and the other six didn't know how much the pearls had sold for. It was impossible to get such a high bonus based solely on the weight of the sea fish. Although it was lower than the expected bonus, it was still real income. 100,000 yuan still made them very excited.
Uncle Yu himself was in charge of steering the boat. Guan Lin joined the others on deck for the festivities, but he didn't drink alcohol. This was Uncle Yu's rule; those in charge of steering the boat were strictly prohibited from drinking. Although the sea was much safer than the road, if one wasn't careful, a collision with a reef or another ship could be devastating.
Fu Gui and the others didn't know how much bonus Zhou Xuan had received, so they kept asking him during the conversation. On the ship, money was what they were most interested in. Such income was unimaginable for all of them. Even high-level white-collar workers didn't earn so much so quickly. He had only been at sea twice and had received a bonus of 140,000 to 150,000 yuan in less than a week. It was something to be proud of.
Zhou Xuan simply claimed ignorance about his bonus, and Fu Gui knew that he hadn't been at the Yu family's residence for the past two days.
After eating and drinking for a while, the sun was almost directly overhead and the temperature was rising, so the seven people moved to the cabin. Yuqiang then suggested that they play cards.
Fu Gui and the others immediately laughed and agreed, "Okay, okay, let's play cards!"
Yu Qiang and Guan Lin exchanged a glance, their hearts pounding with excitement. If they played cards this time, wouldn't they win back their houses? Each of them had tens of thousands of dollars in their pockets, so the game would be much more exciting, unlike before when they would have to play all day for just a couple hundred dollars.
Zhou Xuan smiled faintly and said, "I'm going out to take a leak first."
Fu Gui immediately followed him out, laughing as he went, "I'll pee too, so I won't have to hold it in when the gambling gets exciting."
Zhou Xuan did it on purpose. Fu Gui was going out anyway, so he didn't call him. If Fu Gui didn't get up, he would have to find an excuse to call him.
At the ship's side, Fu Gui urinated into the seawater. Turning his head, he saw that Zhou Xuan hadn't urinated and asked in surprise, "Brother, what are you doing?"
Zhou Xuan grinned and took out a deck of cards from his pocket. He had stolen a deck when Yu Qiang and Guan Lin weren't looking.
He opened the seal and whispered to Fugui, "Brother Fugui, I didn't come out to urinate, but to give you a heads-up. There's a hidden meaning in this card game."
Fu Gui paused for a moment, then asked, "What's the mystery?"
Zhou Xuan immediately pointed out the patterns on the back of the cards to him, "Look, these patterns are hidden marks on the upper left corner of each playing card, corresponding to the face of the card."
He then explained the differences between the hidden marks one by one to Fugui. Fugui looked at them and verified them, then suddenly realized and immediately exclaimed angrily, "Damn it... so there's a trick to these cards! No wonder I always lose money..."
Fu Gui suddenly remembered the past. Every time they lost money, it turned out they had fallen into someone else's trick and trap.
Fu Gui gritted his teeth, turned around angrily, and was about to rush into the cabin. It was obvious that Guan Lin and Yu Qiang had bought the playing cards, and strangely enough, they were always the ones who won money, no matter how much. The last time they didn't win, he was the one who won.
Zhou Xuan grabbed Fu Gui tightly and whispered, "Don't be impulsive."
"Why not?" Fugui said angrily, "I'm going in to expose their treacherous scheme. Those two bastards are just bullying their master..."
Zhou Xuan waved his hand and said softly, "Don't do something so foolish. If you rush in and yell at them now, what can you do if they don't admit it? Besides, do you think you can get back the money you lost before?"
Fu Gui thought about it and realized it made sense. His anger subsided, and he asked, "Then... brother, what do you suggest we do?"
Zhou Xuan said calmly, "Just do as I say. Last time, didn't you win money? Let me tell you, Guan Lin cheated in that round. He had already set a trap when shuffling the cards, but you just didn't notice. The cards he dealt to you were dealt face up, but the cards he dealt to Yu Qiang were dealt from the bottom. In that hand, he dealt you three tens and gave Yu Qiang three aces. Do you remember?"
Fu Gui was taken aback. That was the only time he had ever won the most money in his life, so how could he not remember it? But when Zhou Xuan said that Guan Lin had set a trap, giving him three tens, but giving Yu Qiang three aces, how did he end up winning?
Looking back now, Yuqiang's hand was a pair of Aces, not three Aces. So how did that happen?
Zhou Xuan chuckled and said, "Don't think it was just good luck. I secretly tampered with that hand, but Guan Lin and Yu Qiang didn't know. I changed the card he played earlier, so he played a pair of Aces instead of three Aces."
Fu Gui stared blankly for a long while before finally saying, "So, you were secretly helping me with all of this? Why didn't you tell me? I should have given you half the money!"
“I don’t care about money at all, Brother Fugui. You’ve been the best to me on this ship. Everyone has a few close friends, right? I know Guan Lin and Yu Qiang set you up, so how can I let them continue like this?”
Zhou Xuan said calmly, "Brother Fugui, it's pointless to fight them head-on, and you won't get your money back. You'd better pretend you don't know anything, and then secretly give the cards to Fubao and Fushan one by one. Lao Jiang and the other two know, but make sure they don't tell anyone. That way, you can all recognize the hidden marks on the back of the cards, and they won't have an advantage. Their only advantage is that they'll set up traps when dealing and shuffling the cards. I'll be in charge of that. I'll keep an eye on them and secretly sabotage their schemes. You guys just play your cards."
Fu Gui nodded and replied in a low voice, "Okay, whatever you say goes."
Fu Gui had an inexplicable trust in Zhou Xuan. Indeed, not only had Zhou Xuan brought them so much prize money since joining the ship, but Fu Gui had also tried to treat him to lavish meals after winning money. However, Zhou Xuan had never gone with him. So far, he had only treated him to one meal. Compared to his previous cronies, those people were just fair-weather friends. They were friends when there was food and drink, but when there was no money, they were worse than dogs.
Zhou Xuan then gave Fu Gui some instructions before they went inside one after the other.
Fu Gui had a better understanding of the situation and became much more careful around Guan Lin and Yu Qiang. As soon as he had this in mind, he immediately noticed the differences.
Guan Lin and Yu Qiang were always smiling smugly at each other. Seeing that they were indeed making moves while shuffling the cards, they realized they had truly been tricked.