Volume 1, Chapter 462: The Ghost-Faced King and the Squid Monster
Chapter 462 The Ghost-Faced King Squid Monster
They were only two hours away from the shore by sea. During that time, Yu Jinshan used the ship's carrier phone to make a call to Yu Changhe, which lasted for a full hour.
While Fu Gui, Zhou Xuan, and the others were still eating and drinking on the deck, they heard Yu Qi's explanation to Uncle Yu. Zhou Xuan was no longer worried. Uncle Yu should no longer have any prejudice against him. He didn't need to worry that Uncle Yu would blame him for his relationship with Yu Qi. This showed that he was still Yu Qi's savior.
Of course, Zhou Xuan didn't expect the Yu family to repay him; he just hoped to stay on this ship. However, it seems that this is not a big problem now, as the Yu family will soon be embroiled in family disputes and will not have time to deal with his affairs.
More than an hour before reaching the port, a dark line could be seen in the distance. Zhou Xuan suddenly detected a school of fish in the sea, but not a large number. The area was only thirty or forty meters deep, considered shallow water, and the terrain was relatively flat. It was noon, the time when the sun was at its strongest. Although it was March, the beginning of spring, the seawater temperature was much warmer, so it was not surprising that a school of fish was swimming in the warm, shallow water.
However, these schools of fish were not like the ones Zhou Xuan had encountered before, which followed a regular route and passed through in large numbers. Instead, there were more fish in this area than in other places, and they were not the same species.
Zhou Xuan carefully surveyed the area again, then pretended to look at the water from the side of the boat before going to the cabin to find Yu Jinshan and saying, "Second Uncle Yu, there are quite a few fish in this area now, but the number should not be as many as we caught before. Maybe we can catch seven or eight thousand catties in one net. Should we do this haul?"
Yu Jinshan was comforting Yu Qi when he heard Zhou Xuan's words. He paused for a moment, then remembered that they were fishing boats, out at sea to fish. He also remembered Zhou Xuan's skills. After thinking for a moment, he stood up and said, "Let's fish. Should we notify Wu Dehu?"
Yu Jinshan wanted to ask Zhou Xuan if the fish population was widespread and whether Wu Dehu and the others should also cast their nets. A single net could catch seven or eight thousand catties, which would be a considerable income for them, a bountiful harvest. However, compared to Zhou Xuan's previous nets, the quantity would be significantly less.
Moreover, they are currently at sea, and Yuqi's matter is not urgent. He has already discussed it with Yu Changhe, who has not yet reported it to the police. Since Yuqi has not returned home before, it is not strange that she stayed out all night. After he reported it, Yu Changhe was also very angry, but after listening to his words, he decided to keep Yuxiang calm and wait until they return to discuss it further. This would also give them a chance to think carefully about how to handle the matter.
Once Yu Jinshan is in working mode, he immediately becomes a different person. You can't tell that he is over fifty years old. He runs out to the cockpit with light and quick movements to slow down and notify Wu Dehu.
Zhou Xuan took the walkie-talkie to the control room and waited. Without him saying anything more, Uncle Yu was an experienced veteran. Although he couldn't have the same superpower as Zhou Xuan to detect schools of fish underwater, he understood that once the schools of fish were discovered, the opportunity had to be seized quickly, because once the opportunity was missed, it would be gone forever.
Zhou Xuan instructed Uncle Yu to slow down over the walkie-talkie, then adjusted the distance to the left and right before casting the net, and then directed Wu Dehu's boat to cast the net as well.
The results of the two boats casting their nets this time were similar. The fish in this area swam from the deep sea, which is closely related to the water temperature, but luck played a big part as there just happened to be a lot of fish gathered in this area.
Five or six minutes after the net was cast, Zhou Xuan ordered it to be pulled in, and he himself turned on the switch to pull in the net, and the winch began to do so.
The water was only about 30 meters deep, so the time to cast and retrieve the net was much shorter. The net was pulled up in less than ten minutes. The fish in the net were lively and jumping around. There were many kinds of fish, and the number was probably close to 10,000 kilograms.
Unexpectedly, on the way back from the nearshore waters, they were able to catch such a net of fish. This net of fish clearly demonstrates that Zhou Xuan's skills are indeed excellent and far superior to theirs.
The people on both boats began to pack the fish urgently. Zhou Xuan's boat packed 107 baskets, which was estimated to weigh over 10,000 jin, while Wu Dehu's boat packed 120 baskets, which weighed nearly 2,000 jin more fish than Zhou Xuan's boat. On this voyage, they only cast two nets and caught about 35,000 jin of fish.
The harvest at Yujinshan was even more astonishing: over 50,000 jin of fish, more than 100 large pearls, and a giant squid six or seven meters long. If the value of the pearls can be determined, then we'll know the total haul of this voyage, though it's still uncertain at the moment.
This haul took about an hour, but because it was another large catch and we were near the shore, we were excited to see our catch turn into cash and bonuses. The crew on both ships were very excited and worked even faster. After that, the two ships returned to port at full speed.
An hour later, the fishing boat returned to the port. Yu Jinshan had notified Zhao Chengguang half an hour earlier to arrange for people to unload the cargo. In the past, because there was little cargo, the crew members on the boat would unload it themselves and be paid a small handling fee. But now it's different. The harvest is big and the bonus is high. They are already very tired, so they don't need to work harder for a pack or two of cigarettes.
Zhao Chengguang was overjoyed. Of course, he didn't know what had happened between Yuqi and Yuxiang. After receiving Yu Jinshan's report, Yu Changhe also instructed him not to leak the information and to handle everything himself.
Yu Jinshan naturally knew that he was protecting his own. After all, they were his children, and it was his business how to handle it. Yu Jinshan didn't need to worry too much. As long as Yu Qi's safety was protected for the time being, his main task was to win over Hu Yun, who was his most important target.
The two ships carried nearly 90,000 catties of sea fish. Because of the large quantity, Zhao Chengguang arranged for nearly 20 workers to come and use more than 10 small manual trailers to transport the goods. Each trailer could carry 12 baskets.
This is much less strenuous and time-consuming than the manual transport that Zhou Xuan and his team used before. In the past, the main problem was that they only harvested a small amount of fish, only two or three thousand catties in total. It was troublesome to transport them by truck or trailer, so it was easier to move them by hand. But now it's definitely not possible. There are too many fish, and manual transport would be exhausting.
After seeing Zhao Chengguang arrange for people to split into two groups to haul cargo to the two ships, Zhou Xuan looked back. Yu Qi was hiding in Uncle Yu's room at the time, so he didn't see her. However, he caught a glimpse of the fishing boat's pool and thought of the giant squid. He had almost forgotten about this thing.
Zhao Chengguang chuckled and shook Zhou Xuan's hand, then stood side by side on the deck. He then said to Yu Jinshan, "Second Uncle, isn't Xiao Huyun a truly capable person? We need to discuss this."
Zhao Chengguang was unaware that there were other gains from this voyage. He thought it was just the nearly 90,000 catties of sea fish. However, even 90,000 catties of sea fish was enough to make him happy. If he could have this much at the end of the year, he could hold his head high in front of Yu Changhe.
And all of this stemmed from this young man named Hu Yun. Without him, there would be nothing, nothing to talk about. Looking back now, it was truly a stroke of luck, a stroke of luck bestowed upon him by God.
Zhao Chengguang looked at the several baskets of clam meat on the deck and asked curiously, "Second Uncle, what are these?"
Yu Jinshan was preoccupied with Yu Qi's matter, so he hadn't mentioned the pearls when informing Zhao Chengguang. Now that Zhao Chengguang was asking about the clam meat, he immediately remembered and quickly said, "Chengguang, right, there's something else I forgot to tell you. It's about these clams. These baskets were caught in the deep sea; they're clam meat."
Zhao Chengguang asked in surprise, "Clam meat? How could there be clams in the deep sea?"
"Well, I'm not sure either, but they were caught in the sea at a depth of over a hundred meters," Yu Jinshan shrugged, then added, "But these clams are all thanks to Xiao Hu; he went into the sea in a diving suit and retrieved them."
"Xiao Hu went to the bottom of the sea and retrieved it all by himself?" Zhao Chengguang was genuinely surprised.
Harvesting clams in water over 100 meters deep is a very difficult task, even with a diving suit and equipment, unless you are a professional diving athlete.
Zhao Chengguang was quite surprised. Although he wasn't a fisherman, he was no stranger to diving. People who could dive to a depth of 100 meters were hard to find. He hadn't expected that Hu Yun's ability to identify fish in the water was so remarkable; he was actually a diving expert.
However, what Yu Jinshan said next shocked him even more.
"Cheng Guang, we've pulled out about a hundred large pearls from these oysters, each about 1.5 centimeters in diameter," Yu Jinshan said, then beckoned to Lao Jiang, who immediately went into the cabin and brought out the box containing the pearls.
Yu Jinshan opened the small box and handed it to Zhao Chengguang.
Zhao Chengguang's eyes lit up the moment his gaze fell on the pearls in the box, and he even held his breath as he held the small box.
Zhao Chengguang used to be in the seafood business, including pearl oysters. He knows the price of pearls very well, and he also has several close pearl merchant friends.
The small box Yu Jinshan handed him contained pearls that Zhao Chengguang could immediately recognize as genuine, large wild marine pearls. Their shape was fundamentally different from cultured pearls; cultured pearls were perfectly round and varied in size, while the pearls in this box weren't perfectly round, and some had more pronounced shapes. However, there was no doubt that the value of these pearls was almost comparable to that of the legendary South Sea Pearl King.
The South Sea Pearl King is the largest saltwater pearl ever discovered. The hundreds of pearls in Zhao Chengguang's small box are only slightly smaller than the South Sea Pearl King, but they have the advantage of being so numerous.
Even if there were only one wild sea pearl of this size, it would be considered extremely lucky. But to have over a hundred of them left Zhao Chengguang speechless and stunned on the spot.
Last time, Zhou Xuan cast his net and caught tens of thousands of catties of sea fish, and also caught twelve tiger sharks. The harvest was great, but the tiger sharks were an unexpected bonus. Such things are rare and can't be expected. It's impossible to have such good luck every time. As long as you can catch so many sea fish every time, it's already an extraordinary achievement.
But this time the surprise was just too great—over a hundred valuable seawater pearls left Zhao Chengguang speechless. Zhou Xuan had given him nothing but surprises.
After a moment of stunned silence, Zhao Chengguang finally came to his senses and quickly said, "Come on, Uncle, Xiao Hu, get in my car and let's go back first. We'll discuss it further when we get back."
After saying that, Zhao Chengguang said to Fugui and the others, "Fugui, don't worry, there will definitely be a bonus, and I guarantee it will be higher than last time. As for the exact amount, I'll have to determine the value of these pearls first, and of course, I'll also need to discuss it with my father-in-law first."
Upon receiving Zhao Chengguang's affirmative reply, Fugui and the others beamed with joy and cheered.