245: Passing through Dongsha

One old man spoke first, with an air of being an expert, saying, "I’ve bought this Tiger Grouper at the market before. One this size goes for 400 yuan a catty. Yours was just caught, so it must be wild. I’ll offer 500 yuan a catty. What do you think?"

Yang Qi immediately broke into a smile. "Damn, the wholesale price for one this big is only 200 yuan a catty! You should have said something earlier. How can I refuse this?"

"Alright then! As the saying goes, distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors. We're all neighbors, so since you want to eat fish, pick some! Pick the good ones."

Yang Qi quickly changed the subject and said.

"I know this one too, isn't it a Sesame Grouper? 800 yuan a catty is about right. What do you think, young man?" another old man said.

Yang Qi nodded, secretly thinking, "You should have told me the price earlier! I can't refuse this price!"

"Sirs, why don't we go to my house! There's no scale here!"

"Good, good, good! Let's go!"

So Yang Qi led the old men home. Along the way, several more old men and women gathered, and when they heard there was fresh wild Sea Fish for sale, they all followed.

"Bai Xue, Bai Xue, bring out the scale and bags."

Yang Qi stood at the door, calling out loudly to Bai Xue.

When Bai Xue came out with the scale and bags, she began weighing the fish for the old men.

Yang Qi had a sudden idea and created a group, adding all these old men and women to it. At the same time, he said, "From now on, sirs and madams, if you want fresh fish, just post it in this group. Or if I catch any good fish in the future, I'll post it in the group too."

"If you want them, I’ll definitely prioritize our neighbors. If no one wants them, I’ll sell them to others at a high price."

Yang Qi's words touched these old men and women a little. They all expressed that they would have to trouble Yang Qi in the future.

Finally, after seeing off all the neighbors, the two calculated their income: 5600 yuan.

"These people are rich, quality customers. We can develop them. We need to maintain a good relationship with them in the future," Yang Qi said to Bai Xue earnestly.

Bai Xue chuckled, not responding to his topic.

The next morning, after breakfast, Yang Qi went alone to the jewelry store in the The City and picked up the melo pearl necklace he had custom-ordered a few days ago.

Back home, he didn't tell Bai Xue. He put it in the safe room. As he pressed the switch, the large fish tank slowly returned to its original position.

Standing in front of the fish tank, one couldn't even tell there was a safe room inside. It had to be said that the design was clever, and it must have cost a lot of money.

Bai Xue had already placed all the carefully selected jewelry in the safe and dressing room in the second-floor bedroom.

After lunch, the two decided to go fishing at sea for seven days, targeting the waters near the South China Sea.

Since they had already made all their calls in the morning, at one in the afternoon, Yang Qi and Bai Xue took their pre-packed luggage and drove the "setting sail" to the dock.

Fuel, ice, bait, food, and fresh water were all replenished.

Especially fuel and fresh water; in addition to filling the fuel tank and water tank, they also brought a good amount of spares.

To reduce weight, they didn't even bring frozen bait this time, planning to catch and use it fresh.

The two called their respective relatives and friends, informing them that they were going to Dongsha for a trip tentatively set for seven days.

Otherwise, disappearing for seven days without a word would be too terrifying; they might even have to call the police.

All preparations complete, the "setting sail" slowly sailed out of the dock after reporting its departure.

Facing the distant orange-red sunset, it headed towards its destination.

The "setting sail" arrived in the vicinity of the Dongsha Islands, its first designated fishing spot, in the early hours of the morning.

Since they were going to fish continuously for so many days, both felt there was no need to stay up all night on the first night.

After washing up, the two embraced and fell asleep in the warm covers.

The next morning, after lingering in bed for a while, they got up to make breakfast.

Yang Qi went to the deck and began to use his ability to check the underwater situation.

The water here was about 50 meters deep, and the seawater was exceptionally clear.

The seabed was a coral reef, with many colorful small fish darting in and out of the coral, making it very lively.

The fish schools near the coral reef were dazzling. Yang Qi saw no less than five types of bream alone: red seabream, stone bream (type of fish), Black Seabream, red bream, and Bigeye Snapper.

There were also countless Sea Cucumber, Crab, lobsters, and various shells.

Even more exaggerated, in a short while, he saw several East Star Grouper swimming by, a species rarely seen in the East China Sea.

It truly lived up to its reputation as a treasure land of the motherland—the South China Sea.

Such valuable fish species were everywhere. If he could fish here every day, it would be hard not to get rich!

Yang Qi quickly assembled his fishing gear, immediately baited and cast his rod. On the first cast, a red seabream weighing over four catties was hooked.

Delivering precisely to the door, the second one to come up was the East Star Grouper he had been longing for, weighing about five or six catties. The East Star Grouper definitely needed special treatment.

He still adhered to the principle of stopping every 10 meters, carefully sending it into the live fish hold.

After putting down the fish, he immediately started his third cast, a stone bream (type of fish), very good.

By the time Bai Xue came to call him for breakfast, Yang Qi had already caught two East Star Grouper, two stone bream (type of fish), and three red seabream.

Upon learning of Yang Qi's great harvest, Bai Xue eagerly urged him to eat quickly and finish up fast.

After the meal, with Bai Xue's joining, the speed of catching fish increased even more.

Yang Qi looked at a spiny pufferfish on the hook, grinned, took it off, and threw it into the live fish hold.

However, the fish Bai Xue caught were more varied. Sometimes a red seabream, sometimes a Black Seabream, sometimes a Mahi-Mahi.

But it was clear that Bai Xue was fishing very happily, almost catching a fish every few seconds.

The two put the valuable fish into the live fish hold, and similar ones into a fish box.

Some less desirable trash fish, like Mahi-Mahi, were thrown into another foam box; these would be used for chumming later.

The two stayed in this spot, fishing until noon. They caught the most Black Carp, over forty of them, over thirty pufferfish, over twenty ruby fish, and fifteen East Star Grouper.

As for common fish like various bream, pineapple fish, Jinmu Sea Bass, and Mahi-Mahi, they didn't even bother to count how many there were.

If these catches were in the East China Sea before, they would definitely be considered a bumper harvest.

However, this was the South China Sea, rich in fishery resources, and Yang Qi felt it was only average.

However, although the Dongsha Islands belong to China's waters, they have always been garrisoned by Taiwanese people. Yang Qi estimated that going a little further east would likely lead to people from the other side coming to drive them away.

The two discussed for a while and decided it was better to avoid trouble. At most, they would just come and get a little each time and leave.

"A gentleman does not stand under a precarious wall, does not walk on an unfamiliar road, does not enter deep water, and does not sit under a collapsing eaves."

There was indeed truth in this saying.