223 No Price Query Please

Fortunately, Chen Fan was not participating in the Long March. He soon walked past the red carpet, which was about ten meters long.

Entering the restaurant lobby, Chen Fan really felt as if he were in an aquarium. He could see lobsters longer than his arms, giant black groupers over 300 kilograms in weight, pot-sized abalones, and a few hundred sea cucumbers over 20 centimeters in length...

A huge fish tank was placed in the center of the lobby, surrounded with red cloth and by four security guards. Beside the tank, there was a sandalwood board which stated, "Not for Sale. No Price Query Please."

The fish tank was about four meters high, four meters wide, and eight meters long. It was filled with rockery, coral, and white sand, giving people the impression they were actually in the sea.

In the expensive fish tank there were six huge fish weighing over 50 kilograms, the largest of which weighed 75 kilograms. Their bodies were covered in slightly golden scales, and their fins and tails were dark yellow.

The huge fish looked ordinary. If a person who was unknowledgeable about fish saw them, he would definitely exclaim, "Wow! Those carp are huge!"

If a person who was knowledgeable saw them, he would surely fall to the ground in shock. Sh*t... Chinese bahaba... would be his only thought.

The Chinese bahaba was the brightest star in the place. In comparison, a pot-sized abalone would cost less than the bahaba's tail!

Actually, the fish was not that expensive. Such a fish could possibly be used to barter for a Ferrari F430!

This exchange could only happen if a fisherman possessing the fish was willing to sell it. If the fish fell into the hands of a rich person, he would only be willing to give it up maybe as ransom for his kidnapped child.

In 1957, a Chinese bahaba weighing 65 kilograms was caught in a village. The fisherman took out its maw, the most expensive part in its body, and dried it. He then happily sent it to Peking to give to Chairman Mao. Later, Chairman Mao asked the General Office to return the maw, which was still in its original state, and thanked the fisherman.

Among the nine most expensive foods in the world, the Chinese bahaba is ranked fifth. It can only be found in China, and its size directly determines its price.

In fact, its flesh is not that delicious, and is just about the same as an ordinary striped bass or osmanthus fish. However, its maw is more costly than gold, as it contains an enormous amount of nutrition. It's like a superfood. It will provide whatever one needs!

The fish's maw can immediately cure reproductive problems in men, make ladies look a few years younger, and is especially useful for women who experience bleeding after giving birth!

Chen Fan planned to treat the six Chinese bahaba at the center of the lobby like Buddha. No matter how much others were willing to pay, he would not sell them. It would be a key highlight in the restaurant.

Of course, just one highlight would not be sufficient. In the coming days, Chen Fan planned to hunt dozens of whale sharks, cut their fins, dry them, and make a shark's fin rockery at the center of the lobby. In addition, when the electric eel ate the sharks, he would make it a habit to bring back the fins and maws. These leftovers from the electric eel would then be provided to the customers for consumption.

It is a common saying that abalone and shark's fin must always go together. Just like shark's fin, abalone is most delicious as a dried food. When Chen Fan had the free time, he would make the electric eel go to Africa's coastal areas and catch thousands of African abalones. After drying them, he would pile them up at the center of the lobby for customers to order.

Furthermore, Japanese sea cucumbers and fish maws were all more expensive when dried. Chen Fan planned to dry them and stack them up like rockeries…

Even the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse could not have done such a thing!

"Boss, don't tell me that you are turned on by those waitresses. You're starting to drool!" Wang Bing was walking beside Chen Fan and poked him. There were quite a number of employees looking at them in the lobby, and Chen Fan's expression was really too awkward.

"Humph, what do you know? I am drooling over the Chinese bahaba!"

"It's just a few fish. Is it worth it for you to place them like they are the skulls of the Peking Man?" Rubbing his face hard, Wang Bing did not know whether he should find it funny or annoying. Obviously, he thought that Chen Fan had gotten the idea from those irresponsible businessmen to use the fish as a gimmick.

It was just like those greedy businessmen to remove the shell from chitons—which are more abundant in the sea than ants are on land—dry them, and sell them to people who lived inland and did not know about the sea. They would pack the chitons together and claim that they were actually nine-tailed abalones.

Chen Fan lifted his head to look at the huge crystal chandelier above him and said to Wang Bing, grinning, "I won't even bother to explain to you. It would lower my IQ. Anyway, just find someone to make sure that the seafood here is secured. If anything goes wrong, I will kill you!"

Reaching the fourth floor by the elevator, Chen Fan could hear his parents' voices from afar. They were using walkie-talkies to remotely command the rest of the restaurant.

"Son, you came at the right time. The fish that you got here. Are they Chinese bahaba?" Chen Fan's father approached him and asked in a questioning tone.

Chen Fan tilted his head and made up a story. "Of course they are. I saw a fisherman catch them with his net at sea. He thought they were just ordinary yellow croakers, so I bought them at 8000 yuan!"

"Stop lying to me. In my whole life, I have never seen a yellow croaker weighing over ten kilograms!" Chen Fan's father widened his eyes in anger and wanted to slap him to let him know the consequences of lying to his dad. However, he reconsidered, feeling that Chen Fan was already a grown man, and it would be inappropriate to educate him by physical punishment.

"Forget it. I don't really care what fish they are. In any case, they are only there for show. If other people ask what they are, I will tell the waiters to say that they don't know, and we don't sell them. You did not write on the signboard that they are Chinese bahaba, so we are not lying to the consumers anyway!"

Chen Fan's father extended his neck. He had never worn a suit before, and the tight tie was making him uncomfortable. "For these few days, don't you run around and disappear. The restaurant has just opened, and I am worried that your mom and I will not be able to handle everything."

"What's there to handle?" Chen Fan leaned against the wall which had flying eagles painted all over it. "We are on the high-class, high-profit path. How many people have seen lobsters longer than their arms? Who will not be stunned by pot-sized abalones? We can set the price as high as we wish. If they don't want to eat, they can leave."

"Even so, we need to have customers in the first place, right? I have done some calculations. Just the aquarium below will cost us five to six hundred thousand yuan each month. If we don't have customers, wouldn't we have a huge loss?"

"There are more rich people in Zhongyun than Spanish mackerels in the sea. They are only concerned about whether you have expensive things to sell, not whether your things are expensive!" Chen Fan smiled and entered the General Manager's Office. After chatting with his mom, who had been promoted to deputy manager, he left the restaurant while his father was talking to the lobby manager.

"Why did you let him leave" Chen Fan's father dashed angrily into the office and smacked the table. "Didn't we agree that Chen Fan should manage the restaurant instead of the sea and ship stuff?"

Chen Fan's mother, who was using one finger to type on the computer keyboard, asked in a blaming tone, "Why are you blaming me? It's you who have been suspecting all day that our son has been involved in smuggling and crimes. I didn't."

"Then tell me, where did he get all the money from?" Chen Fan's father raised his eyebrows in anger. "If he just had a few ships, no matter what he did, he couldn't have gotten so much money in just over half a year! Your son was also not involved in real estate. What do you think he could have been doing?"

"Didn't he say that he already sold the ships and used the money to buy some shares in Zhongyun's richest man, Ma Rongtao's company? Ma Rongtao himself also said that our son started by doing business with his nephew and earned quite a sum of money. If he is really involved in smuggling, why didn't the police say anything?"

"What can the police tell you? Even if you give them time, they can't tell you sh*t!"

"Even so, our son cannot possibly be involved in smuggling and crimes. What kind of person is Zhongyun's richest man? He is a proper businessman, and even appears on television frequently! Every Chinese New Year, when the city government holds the entrepreneur tea reception, he is always the representative!"

"Nonsense. In the past he made his fortune by smuggling digital watches and radios from Hong Kong using a ship!"

"Then what do you think our son could have been doing?" Chen Fan's mother opened her eyes wide and made a face.

Seeing that Chen Fan's mother was going to be furious, Chen Fan's father quickly relaxed his tone. "It's not that I don't trust Ma Rongtao's character. Instead, I just feel that the source of all the money is unclear. Money will not drop down from the sky. It is better for our son to do something more stable than having to be worried all the time, right?"

"Yes, I think he should find something stable. Last time when the police called, I was so frightened." Chen Fan's mother nodded, haunted by her previous experience. "However, our son is a grown man, and we cannot decide on his behalf. It's even better that he sold his ship. With so much money, we can just sit at home and work on spending the interest!"

......

"Boss, where do we go now?" Sitting in the black BMW, Wang Bing stared at the female greeters at the restaurant doors with interest.