Fu Gui then said "Oh," and continued, "Yes, yes, my second uncle told me to find you. We set sail at ten o'clock this morning. This is the first time we've gone out to sea during the day. We used to go out at dawn, so I'm still not used to it."
Zhou Xuan checked the time; it was only 8:30. If they set sail at 10:00, they would have to arrive before 9:30. There was still an hour left, so they had plenty of time. It would take at most 40 minutes by taxi from the hotel.
"Okay, Brother Fugui, I'll be on the ship before 9:30. See you then."
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Xuan tidied up. Not having luggage was convenient, but there were no clothes to change into on the ship. Since there was enough time, he went to the supermarket and bought a few sets of clothes, three sets in total, before taking a taxi to the port.
When we arrived at the beach, it was only 9:20, ten minutes early, and there was no one on the boat yet.
Zhou Xuan saw that all the boxes and baskets on the boat were packed, which meant that Zhao Chengguang had arranged for people to deliver and put them away. After waiting by the boat for a while, Fu Gui, Fu Bao, and Fu Shan arrived.
The three of them lived very close to each other, so they came together. Old Jiang came next, riding in a small delivery van filled with food and drinks he had bought for the ship.
Zhou Xuan, Fu Gui, and the other three helped move the things into the warehouse, and then they waited for Uncle Yu and the others to arrive.
Fu Gui glanced at his watch; it was almost 9:40. He muttered to himself, "Those two guys, Yu Qiang and Guan Lin, think they're the captain? It might have been possible before, but now with Brother Hu here, who's their turn? Brother Hu is so hardworking; the whole ship relies on him. These two, still acting all high and mighty, they haven't even arrived yet!"
Zhou Xuan smiled faintly, not caring at all, since he didn't consider those two guys as his opponents anyway.
On the last voyage, Zhao Chengguang and Uncle Yu received a bonus of 1.2 million yuan, while Fu Gui and the others only received a bonus of 100,000 yuan. Although it was less than expected, 100,000 yuan was still a huge income. No matter what, they couldn't argue with the boss.
In fact, Zhou Xuan was the only one who didn't receive the bonus. However, it wasn't that Yu Changhe refused to give it to him. They had already discussed it and decided to reward him with a villa worth 3.5 million yuan. It was a property owned by the Yu family. Of course, no property certificate would be issued. It was a cash reward. In the end, Yu Changhe decided to give Zhou Xuan 1.5 million yuan, for a total reward of 5 million yuan.
Although it fell far short of Zhao Chengguang and Uncle Yu's expectations, it was still barely acceptable. The two of them were fighting for Zhou Xuan's bonus for themselves, because only by firmly grasping Zhou Xuan could they obtain more wealth.
Although he only had two short sea voyages, Uncle Yu already knew that he could never match Zhou Xuan's abilities. If he wanted to achieve the same results as before, he could only rely on Zhou Xuan.
The group chatted and laughed on the deck. Nearly ten minutes later, two cars arrived at the shore, one of which was Zhao Chengguang's BMW.
The distance between the shore and the boat was only a few dozen meters, which Zhou Xuan could easily detect with his special ability. After seeing the two cars stop, and there seemed to be quite a few people inside, Zhou Xuan immediately used his special ability to investigate.
In one of the cars were Yu Qiang and Guan Lin, while in Zhao Chengguang's car sat Uncle Yu Er, with a middle-aged man sitting next to him.
When Zhou Xuan's special ability detected the man, he was immediately taken aback.
The other person sitting in Zhao Chengguang's car was actually Xu Juncheng.
Xu Juncheng, General Manager of Zhouxuan Zhou's Jewelry
How did he end up with Zhao Chengguang and Uncle Yu? Did they know his identity and bring him here?
Zhou Xuan was momentarily surprised and uncertain, but he still quickly ran into the cabin. He dared not withdraw his superpower and continued to probe the other side.
As soon as Zhao Chengguang parked the car, he and Uncle Yu and a few others accompanied Xu Juncheng onto the boat. As they walked, Zhao Chengguang said, "Mr. Xu, please come aboard. Hu Yun, who caught the pearl oysters, is on board."
Zhou Xuan was stunned for a moment, then became anxious. It seemed that Zhao Chengguang and Uncle Yu didn't know his true identity. Judging from what they overheard the day before yesterday, the reason they brought Xu Juncheng along was probably because he was a customer of Zhao Chengguang's jewelry friend, a customer from Beijing who came to buy those large pearls.
It can only be described as a series of unfortunate coincidences. Zhou Xuan's mind raced, and he quickly found a diving suit in the warehouse and put it on. He also put on goggles and a mask. In this state, it was almost as if he had put on heavy makeup and a mask, making it difficult to see Zhou Xuan's true face.
Zhao Chengguang accompanied Xu Juncheng onto the boat, then asked Fugui, "Fugui, has Xiao Hu arrived yet?"
Fu Gui pointed to the cabin and said, "We arrived a long time ago, they're in the cabin."
Zhao Chengguang immediately called out towards the cabin, "Xiao Hu, come out here. I'd like to introduce you to a guest who wants to ask you about how you obtained the pearl oyster."
Volume 1, Chapter 467: Xu Juncheng's Intentions
Chapter 467 Xu Juncheng's Intentions
Uncle Yu's shouts on the deck made Zhou Xuan a little flustered, but fortunately he was prepared. He was wearing a diving suit from head to toe and a blindfold on his face, leaving only his mouth exposed, so his original appearance could not be seen.
Zhou Xuan calmed himself down, then went outside. On the deck, he was still a little excited to see Xu Juncheng.
The people on the boat were all surprised to see Zhou Xuan walk out in this state.
Uncle Yu asked, "Little Hu, what are you doing?"
Zhou Xuan reached up and touched his throat, coughed, and said, "After we set sail, I'd like to go underwater first to take a look around and prepare in advance. Nothing more."
Uncle Yu said "Oh," and then asked with concern, "Xiao Hu, why does your voice sound a little hoarse? Are you sick?"
"No, no," Zhou Xuan quickly shook his head and replied, "I ate too much hot pot with my friends yesterday, it was too spicy, so my voice is a little hoarse. It will be fine in a day or two."
Uncle Yu was relieved, then pointed to Xu Juncheng and introduced him: "Xiao Hu, this is Mr. Xu, a customer from Beijing who is here to discuss pearl-related matters with you."
"About pearls?" Zhou Xuan feigned surprise, then shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, I know nothing about pearls, Mr. Xu. You'd better ask someone else."
Xu Juncheng smiled faintly and said, "Mr. Hu, I'm not here to talk about my understanding of pearls. I want to ask you if there are any pearl oysters left in the area where you last fished out those seawater pearl oysters?"
Seeing Zhou Xuan remain silent, Xu Juncheng quickly explained, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to take us to that place. I meant for you to continue the salvage, and I'll buy it from you at a high price. If you're willing, we can sign a cooperation agreement. I guarantee I'll buy it from you at a slightly higher price than the market price, and I'll definitely pay in cash. Is that okay?"
Zhou Xuan paused, then shook his head and said, "There's nothing we can do, Mr. Xu. The pearl oysters at that place we went to last time have all been harvested. They're not artificially cultivated anymore; once they're gone, they're gone. So even if we go back there, we won't get anything. I'm sorry we can't help you, but if possible, we would certainly be willing to cooperate with Mr. Xu."
Xu Juncheng said "Oh," with a slightly disappointed look on his face, nodded, and then said nothing more.
Zhou Xuan had previously heard Xu Juncheng report to him that he wanted to introduce more pearl jewelry products. However, the current pearl jewelry market is dominated by low-end products, which are not profitable. Therefore, he wanted to introduce high-end products. This time, the seawater pearls are of such high quality and large size, which is exactly what he wanted.
Upon seeing the 104 large seawater pearls, Xu Juncheng was overjoyed. He then traced the pearls' origin and learned that they were the result of a single haul from a fishing boat. He was delighted again, thinking that since they were caught in one go, the pearl oysters might be a cluster of pearl oysters. If he could contact them, he could acquire all the pearl oysters in the entire line, which would be even more beneficial to his plan to develop a high-end market.
The smaller pearls that Zhou Xuan and his team obtained from the pearl oysters were also precious, though far inferior to the larger pearls. However, they were still much better than ordinary cultured pearls. That batch weighed over ten kilograms, providing Xu Juncheng with a solid foundation.
Although Xu Juncheng didn't say it aloud, and of course, he couldn't possibly tell them about the company's development plans in front of them, Zhou Xuan still understood that there were definitely still quite a few pearl oysters left in the trench where they were harvesting pearl oysters. However, he had basically harvested all the large ones, and what remained were slightly smaller ones. But the largest pearls inside the oysters could still be worth tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan. The remaining quantity was far more than what had been harvested. Last time, Zhou Xuan was just worried that the people on the boat would be concerned because he had been underwater for too long. Also, because the pearls weren't directly picked up from the seabed and put into the net, but rather had to be repeatedly swam from the trench to the surface to put them into the net, and then back into the trench to harvest them, which took a particularly long time.
If they want to salvage the entire vessel, Zhou Xuan needs to have Uncle Yu purchase a good set of diving equipment, at least one with enough air tanks to last a long time, so they can get away with it.
Zhou Xuan couldn't agree to it in front of Xu Juncheng right now. He knew that if he agreed, he might have to deal with Xu Juncheng again, which would be too dangerous.
Of course, if Zhou Xuan had the chance, he would still have to retrieve those pearl oysters and have Zhao Chengguang contact Xu Juncheng directly. He also had Xu Juncheng's number, but he would have to wait a while. Xu Juncheng had already acquired such a large quantity of high-quality sea pearls that it would be enough to last for several months. By then, Zhou Xuan would have found an opportunity to retrieve the remaining pearl oysters.