Chapter 133: Chapter 127: Encountering Blue Water
Following that, Chu Mingcheng sent a photo of the tiger spot on the scale to Brother Sea King and bragged, “Brother Sea King, what do you think about this tiger spot?”
Brother Sea King must not have been busy because he replied almost the next second.
“!!!∑(ﾟДﾟノ)ノ, is this really a tiger spot? Bro, you didn’t Photoshop this, did you?”
No wonder he was surprised, a wild tiger spot weighing thirty jin is something those gourmet bloggers wouldn’t come across a few times in their lives, let alone one weighing forty jin.
He had specially made a video about it before, and it turned out to be only thirteen jin, which in comparison seemed like a well-behaved great-grandchild.
Seeing him mention Photoshop, Chu Mingcheng laughed as well; Brother Sea King had quite the imagination.
...
“Of course, it’s real. I was originally catching swimming crabs underwater, and then I encountered this guy. In the end, I baited it and pulled it up directly.”
Brother Sea King still seemed a bit skeptical, but he didn’t show it and replied instead, “Bro, I’m very curious about such a big fish! Can you video call, I’d like to take a look.”
“Of course, I can.” Chu Mingcheng immediately agreed.
They weren’t too far from the coast here, the signal was OK, and after connecting the video call, there was a bit of lag, but it wasn’t a big problem.
Brother Sea King raised an eyebrow when he saw that the person in the video was actually a handsome guy.
There were no photos in Chu Mingcheng’s circle of friends, and Jiang Yuqi hadn’t mentioned this before, so Brother Sea King did not know what he looked like.
“I didn’t expect you to be such a handsome guy, Ah Cheng!”
“Haha, Brother Sea King, you’re very handsome too!” Seeing that the other party had the potential to become a major sponsor, Chu Mingcheng also “reluctantly” complimented him.
“Of course, I’m widely recognized as a handsome guy, hahaha…” Brother Sea King was pretty narcissistic, making a little joke and quickly warming up the relationship.
“Right, the fish, let me see it.”
“It’s over here!” Chu Mingcheng switched the camera, changing to the mobile phone’s rear camera for filming.
The one hundred and twenty-litre fish box was exactly one meter long, and this single fish almost filled the entire space of the fish box.
The oxygen pump was running, and the fish seemed fine, opening and closing its mouth to breathe.
With the door to the cockpit as a reference object near the fish box, Brother Sea King could immediately tell the size of the fish, and he took a sharp intake of breath.
“Hiss~ there really is such a big wild tiger spot?”
“Yeah, if I hadn’t pulled it up, I wouldn’t believe it myself,” said Chu Mingcheng, as he filmed the surrounding scenery but did not capture Jiang Luoluo, who was tying rubber bands on the swimming crabs.
This way, Brother Sea King also understood that the fish was indeed freshly caught from the sea.
Everyone was on the boat, surrounded by the sea, and the fish was real—there was nothing left to doubt.
“Bro, I’m really tempted by this fish! How much are you planning to sell it for?”
Chu Mingcheng had taken the trouble to film the fish for him, and Brother Sea King naturally understood the implication. Now that he had seen the actual product, he did not hesitate to directly inquire about the price.
“How about this: if you have time, you can come to Xia City to collaborate with me on a fishing and diving video; then I’ll sell you this fish at market price, but you’ll have to cover the shipping!”
How to attract an audience?
Of course, collaboration is a win-win.
If Brother Sea King comes, he will get material for a video, and he will also get the fish at a cheaper rate.
Chu Mingcheng himself could also gain a lot of popularity and exposure by leveraging him, accumulating early fans.
“Eh, are you also a UP host?” Brother Sea King asked in surprise.
“Yep, I just started. I think filming some fishing and hunting videos might appeal to some people. Plus, it’s a way to meet some customers I can sell the catch to.”
“That’s a great idea, I’m up for the collaboration. I just need to clear some time on my end, and since Xia City is close by, it’ll be easy for me to come over,” Brother Sea King said, his interest piqued.
He hadn’t tried hunting and fishing yet, but he was quite interested in it.
Even if Chu Mingcheng hadn’t invited him this time, he had been planning to visit him and have some fun, as well as shoot a video, once he got more familiar with it.
“OK, then it’s settled. This fish weighs forty-three jin and five taels. Based on the market price of 255 per jin, the price comes to a little over eleven thousand, so let’s make it eleven thousand flat.”
“Alright, give me the shipping cost when you get to shore, and I’ll transfer everything to you at once.”
Having sold the fish and agreed on a collaboration, the two chatted for a bit more and then ended the call.
“Don’t you feel a pinch, losing thousands, almost ten thousand?” Jiang Luoluo, who had heard the entire conversation, teased him when she saw the video call was over.
“This fish would probably sell for at most fifteen thousand maximum, after all, it didn’t exceed fifty jin. The probability of finding a boss willing to pay twenty thousand is extremely low,” Chu Mingcheng didn’t think the people buying the fish were fools.
Although the tiger spot is valuable, any product must have a buyer to sell at a high price.
Otherwise, no matter how precious or expensive it is, what’s the point if nobody wants it?
Chu Mingcheng had a clear idea in his mind; eleven thousand was actually quite a bit; that would take two months to earn by screwing bolts!
It was only nine o’clock in the morning, still early, so Chu Mingcheng decided to continue diving for swimming crabs, specifically looking for big ones.
Whenever he spotted a reef, he would check it out to see if there were any fish that slipped through the net.
As it turned out, he actually found two Black Sea Bream weighing three jin each and one five-jin green spot.
The green spot was caught using bait, as it too was hiding in the crevices of rocks.
The Black Sea Bream were speared directly; they were too cautious and didn’t take the bait.
It wasn’t until ten thirty in the morning that Chu Mingcheng ended his crab-catching adventure.
“Luoluo, why don’t you rest for a bit if you’re finished with your work? I’ll go take a shower and then cook.”
“Please go ahead!” Jiang Luoluo once again took the net bag to pour out the swimming crabs inside.
She tied swimming crabs all morning, at least dozens of them; now, she was extremely fast, stepping on the crabs and securing their pincers with rubber bands in just a couple of swift moves—no more than ten seconds needed.
Throw back the skinny ones into the water, but tie up the fatty ones.
Jiang Luoluo brought over a plastic box and an electronic scale, separating the swimming crabs into two buckets by the one-pound mark.
Then, she checked the swimming crabs over one pound and realized that in a short three hours in the morning, Chu Mingcheng had caught twenty-seven pounds of pound-size swimming crabs, and there were also more than sixteen pounds of those under a pound.
The value of these swimming crabs was roughly over one thousand now; she truly understood his earning speed, indeed faster than hers.
After stretching from a long break, Jiang Luoluo returned to the cockpit, about to wash the vegetables she had bought that morning when Chu Mingcheng came out of the bathroom.
“Ah Cheng, what are we having for lunch?”
“Let’s have a meal, I’ll stir-fry a couple of dishes,” said Chu Mingcheng as he entered the kitchen. Thinking of the morning’s catch, he added, “How about we have a couple of swimming crabs we caught ourselves?”
“Sure, how are you going to cook them?” Jiang Luoluo had not noticed before, but through this period of time, she found herself to be a crab enthusiast too, feeling like she could never tire of eating crabs.
“Red-braised, these crabs were lying in the sand, and if you don’t wash them properly, there will be sand inside,” explained Chu Mingcheng. As he said this, he seemed to remember something urgently and quickly left the cockpit.
Seeing that Jiang Luoluo had sorted the swimming crabs into buckets, he slapped his own head.
“I forgot to mention, these swimming crabs need to be kept in a live water tank to spit out the sand.”
“Swimming crabs can have sand in them?” Jiang Luoluo was full of questions. She couldn’t understand why there would be sand inside a crab’s stomach when she hadn’t noticed any when eating them!
“Yes, swimming crabs like lying in sand and might accidentally ingest some. They will spit it out when they are in clean waters. If you buy crabs that were just caught, you must soak them in water, or the grit would greatly affect the taste,” he informed her.
While Chu Mingcheng provided this information, he also emptied the two buckets of swimming crabs into the live water tank, planning to retrieve them after returning.
Jiang Luoluo’s beautiful eyes watched him quietly.
A man who excels in any aspect easily attracts the opposite sex.
She found Chu Mingcheng to be a natural fit with the sea; his fishing, spearfishing, and knowledge about marine life were profoundly thorough.
Even if it were just a profession relying on the sea, she believed that one day he would stand at the pinnacle of this career.
After lunch, the boat started again, heading off towards more distant waters.
This time, Chu Mingcheng didn’t have a specific destination. He just picked a random coordinate and let the boat navigate automatically.
He stayed at the helm, occasionally observing the sea surface and the sonar for any signs of fish activity.
At 1 p.m., to his delight, he discovered that near a signal tower, there were numerous large fish active.
In fact, even if there hadn’t been any fish, he had been prepared to head towards the nearest solitary island or reef because continuing on would mean not having enough fuel to return to shore, which would be problematic.
“Luoluo, I’m going to dive for fish. Do you want to try fishing from the boat? I’ll prepare the fishing rod for you first, and I can teach you how to spearfish later,” he proposed.
“Sure, I haven’t tried catching big fish before!” Jiang Luoluo was eager to try. She had already gotten a taste of the joy of fishing.
The fish finder showed many large fish in this area. Chu Mingcheng took out an 80-sized fishing rod for her to use and attached the Dali Ma Line before placing the rod in the fishing holder.
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“Just hang a whole squid and cast it down later. The fish here are quite big and hard to pull up, so don’t take the rod out. Just pull back on the rod while holding it with both hands, then reel in,” he instructed.
“If the line snaps, that’s no big deal, but don’t take the fishing rod out.”
Chu Mingcheng reiterated this point several times, worried that Jiang Luoluo might catch something big with her luck; her petite frame might not be able to withstand it.
Even a thirty-pound sailfish would be enough to drag her away.
But Jiang Luoluo wasn’t one to act recklessly. Seeing how Chu Mingcheng insisted, she wouldn’t remove the fishing rod.
Once everything was ready, Chu Mingcheng got his gear on and dived into the water again.
He hadn’t noticed before, but as soon as he entered the water, he realized something was off—this place was blue water, with visibility reaching up to fifteen meters.
This was both good and bad for him.
Fish also have vision, and the more cautious ones would not approach if they saw him from a distance of over a dozen meters.
Currently, Chu Mingcheng still didn’t have a high hit rate even from a distance of seven or eight meters, let alone beyond ten meters.
His catch of the day would likely depend on whether he had a high hit rate or not.
First, he turned on the dive mode on his dive watch, then cocked his speargun by pulling back the rubber band.
He looked around under the boat first and saw no sign of any fish.
Chu Mingcheng observed the direction of the ocean current from under the water, noting that it flowed toward his eleven o’clock, and swam in that direction.
The fish finder indicated the presence of fish nearby, but it couldn’t provide an exact location since fish are always moving.
After swimming about one thousand meters, he noticed the water current becoming increasingly strong.
He didn’t even have to swim; the water was pushing him along.
He also saw a lot of small fish frolicking here and even schools of green sea bream swimming back and forth.
Green sea bream is an excellent ingredient for sashimi. If it couldn’t be sold in a group, he could still sell it to a Japanese restaurant, making it an attractive fish species.
Unfortunately, these fish were on the smaller side, lacking rich fats, and even if he hit them, they wouldn’t fetch a high price.
The richer the fish in fat, the better the taste and the more delicious it is to eat.
If fishing brings up unwanted or too small fish, they are often released back into the water.
Spearfishing as a free-diving sport goes without saying; most participants tacitly follow basic hunting principles.
They only target the species they need, ensuring the fish populations can keep thriving.