"Uncle Wei, this one's not bad, huh!" Chu Mingcheng stepped forward with a smile.

"Very good. Next time you have a good catch, remember to tell your Uncle Wei first." This boatload of fish made Wei Jianguo see him in an entirely new light.

It was just that all the fish here were quite precious and rare, which left him a little puzzled. Did the hooks specifically seek out the mouths of these premium fish?

Under normal circumstances, shouldn't there be more miscellaneous fish?

Even if they didn't sell for high prices, there was no reason to release them all, right?

But Wei Jianguo couldn't see a single fish of slightly lower value. Maybe the green grouper was a bit disappointing?

"How did you catch all these fish?"

In the end, he couldn't help but ask the question that had been nagging at him.

"Uncle Wei, you know I can dive, right? Yesterday, I went to catch those harlequin mantis shrimp and found a lot of groupers out feeding. So I rigged up a line and sent the bait right to their mouths to lure them onto the hook."

"The hook-up rate is higher that way—it's just that diving is quite tiring."

After hearing this, Wei Jianguo understood what was going on. This kind of selective fishing was indeed only possible for someone who could dive.

Normal fishermen would just set out longlines; what they caught was all up to luck.

Those who could spearfish wouldn't bother with this kind of fishing—a speargun was much more convenient.

The main thing was that this type of fishing required a high level of diving ability and physical fitness, and you had to find an excellent fishing spot.

For a normal spearfisher, being active in the water for an hour was already considered very good stamina.

Wei Jianguo looked at Chu Mingcheng's not particularly exaggerated muscular build, a little surprised that he could achieve such a feat. This kid's future wife would surely be blessed.

He didn't ask about any more doubts or secrets—knowing how the fish were caught was enough.

Afterward, he moved the humphead wrasse to his car and hurried back to put it in a fish tank.

Well, it would need its own separate tank...

Chu Mingcheng watched Wei Jianguo's car disappear in a flash and couldn't help but shake his head with a smile.

When it came to being lavish, none of his current customers could compare to him.

As long as it was a rare and precious fish, or a particularly large one, he really didn't care about the money when buying it.

The transport truck arrived soon, and the driver came down to help pack.

After all, Chu Mingcheng had made him a lot of money. He was a major client and had to be served well.

While they were busy, some of the catch on the boat also attracted the attention of people on the pier.

Some seafood buyers would specifically come to the pier to try their luck.

Just then, a middle-aged man with a few stubborn strands of hair on his head—his shiny pate exposed by the strong sea breeze—saw the catch being loaded at Chu Mingcheng's side, and his eyes instantly lit up as brightly as his head.

Because he hadn't noticed who the boat owner was before, he looked at the handsome young man and the rather thin middle-aged driver on the boat, then asked the driver, "Hello, may I ask how you're selling these fish?"

The driver was stunned for a moment, then pointed at Chu Mingcheng: "You've got the wrong person. This is the boat owner."

The bald middle-aged man was slightly embarrassed, then smiled and stepped forward to shake Chu Mingcheng's hand: "Sorry about that, I didn't expect the boat owner to be young, so I made a mistake."

"It's fine. May I ask what you need?" Chu Mingcheng didn't mind and asked about his intentions.

"It's like this—I'm the owner of a restaurant. This is my business card. I just saw that your fish here are very good, so I'd like to buy some from you."

"Or if you have any rare fish in the future, you can contact me. The price will definitely satisfy you."

"A restaurant owner?" Chu Mingcheng had guessed this person was here to buy fish, but he hadn't expected that the other party was in the restaurant business.

Thinking of the seafood restaurant owner he had been working with, and then looking at the bald man in front of him.

Both were bosses—one had a mistress, the other came to buy fish himself. This was the difference!

He looked at the business card. It turned out the other party was named Xie Xiao.

"All my fish here are sold at market price. Can you accept that?"

But no matter what, since someone had come to buy fish, he had to state his rules first.

And he wasn't set on selling his fish exclusively to the seafood restaurant—having more sales channels was always a good thing.

'Market price?'

Xie Xiao frowned slightly. Coming to the pier to buy fish was mainly for prices cheaper than the market, and secondly, for some rare fish.

But then he understood and nodded. These fish were in high demand, so selling them at market price was reasonable.

He picked a few fish. When he saw the small humphead wrasse, his eyes instantly lit up: "How much for this humphead wrasse?"

An experienced person could tell at a glance that this humphead wrasse was wild. Although it wasn't big, it was a must-buy.

"This one's not for sale." Having sold the large humphead wrasse, Chu Mingcheng had no desire to sell this small one.

Jiang Luoluo was coming back tomorrow, and he wanted to keep it for her to try!

Xie Xiao was stunned, not expecting Chu Mingcheng to refuse so decisively.

He had originally wanted to buy it at a high price, but after mentally calculating the total price of the fish he had picked earlier, he felt a little pained.

Plus, the other party's attitude was firm, so he didn't press the issue.

He only picked four groupers and coral fish, which added up to just two thousand two hundred.

The emperor fish was good value and very fresh—perfect for sashimi.

He certainly wouldn't let that go, and also picked one weighing over twenty-two jin, for one thousand eight hundred, making the total exactly four thousand.

When paying, Chu Mingcheng suspected this guy had already calculated it in his head. How could it be so coincidental—exactly four thousand and some yuan?

But looking at the other party's hairstyle, he understood.

The hairline had already receded to the back of his head, yet he was reluctant to shave it all off. The few long strands on the side couldn't cover it, and they were fluttering in the wind.

This person's restaurant was probably small-scale and struggling financially.

After all, wasn't going bald supposed to be part of becoming a successful businessman?

Xie Xiao left with the fish. Chu Mingcheng looked at the business card in his hand and still put it away.

At least he was a customer who had spent several thousand on fish. He had potential, and there might be opportunities for cooperation in the future.

When the fish were almost packed, Chu Mingcheng made a call to the seafood restaurant.

Selling the remaining catch to them wasn't bad, and they were quite satisfied with his fish.

Not to mention how rare they were—they were all quite large.

The four emperor fish added up to nearly a hundred jin. Plus the remaining groupers, they still sold for thirteen thousand.

The fish bought from him for thirteen thousand, after being processed and sold in the seafood restaurant, could easily be flipped for more than double the price, and they were easier to sell than ordinary fish. How could they not be satisfied?

After all, he had promised to provide large enough fish, and Chu Mingcheng's fish had indeed always been very large.

Calculating his income for the day, he was surprised to find that his catch had sold for a total of over seventy thousand.

After deducting costs, his savings had reached a little over two hundred fifteen thousand.

After getting his license, in just a few days, Chu Mingcheng sighed helplessly: "Money is so damn easy to make!"

Look at that—is that what a human would say!

The middle-aged driver carrying the last box heard this and rolled his eyes speechlessly, but recently, Chu Mingcheng's catch had indeed all been loaded by him.

He wasn't sure exactly how much he had earned, but he guessed it couldn't be less than a hundred thousand. This was a man with potential.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a daughter, so he couldn't set him up with anyone he knew. Such a promising catch would have to find someone else to play matchmaker!

Chu Mingcheng didn't know the other party's thoughts. He was humming a tune, leisurely taking a water hose to rinse the boat.

Then he went into the cockpit to clean up and would take the bedding home to dry later.

There was still a humphead wrasse in the fish box. Beside it in the mesh bag were a dozen or so mantis shrimp under twenty centimeters and an ornate spiny lobster. These were all to be eaten tomorrow.

He moved the fish box to the car. Chu Mingcheng didn't drive home immediately but went to the seafood market.

Although he sold seafood, there were still many types of seafood he couldn't get.

The raw marinated crabs from before showed that Jiang Luoluo liked them, so he planned to make another batch of raw marinade tonight.

She was flying in at ten tomorrow morning—he wouldn't have time to make it then.

This time he was going to marinate shrimp, because raw marinated shrimp was even more delicious than crab.

Chu Mingcheng walked into a seafood shop, browsed around, and happened to find a few particularly large Norway lobsters in an aerated water tank—and they were alive.

"Boss, what's the price on these Norway lobsters?"

"Six hundred and fifty per jin," the seafood shop owner said, coming to Chu Mingcheng's side.

"Hiss~!" Even with some mental preparation, Chu Mingcheng was still shocked by this price.

But considering how difficult they were to transport live and their exceptional size—probably five liang each—the price was somewhat justifiable.

But he still had to haggle: "Boss, this price is too expensive. There are only seven in total. How about six hundred per jin for all of them?"

Who knew that the boss would immediately shake his head and refuse: "This can't be reduced. It's not easy to transport live Norway lobsters to the country. I only have fifty jin of stock in total, and in just two hours, only these seven are left."

"They're all being snatched up. These few wouldn't have been left either, but I specifically limited purchases so my regular customers could all have a taste. If you don't want them, someone else will later."

Hearing this, it was clear he wouldn't lower the price by a single cent.

But Chu Mingcheng didn't doubt the boss's words. Just for their size and freshness, they were indeed being snatched up.

For rich people, spending one or two thousand on a few shrimp was nothing.

Seeing this, Chu Mingcheng didn't say any more and took all seven Norway lobsters.

Norway lobsters were also found in the East China Sea and the South China Sea—just a different variety. They could also grow this large. He could try them in the future to see the difference.

Seven Norway lobsters, weighing three jin and three liang, cost over two thousand one hundred. The boss kindly rounded off forty-five yuan, only charging him two thousand one hundred.

At that moment, Chu Mingcheng suddenly understood why Xie Xiao had looked so pained when paying.

Receiving thousands or tens of thousands from selling fish only brought him joy, but when it was his turn to shell out that kind of money, it stung.

After paying, Chu Mingcheng sighed inwardly. He was still far from being truly wealthy.

The seven Norway lobsters were placed in a thick plastic bag with water and pumped oxygen to keep them alive for the trip home.

"Boss, do you have any Spanish red shrimp? I want the jumbo ones."

Since he was already splurging on premium seafood, he might as well go all out.

"Yes, yes, I just got some in stock. How many do you want?"

The boss nodded repeatedly. He was sure that this good-looking young man was well-off, after all. Perhaps he could offer a small discount to secure him as a regular customer.

"How do you sell them here?"

"For the 26-centimeter-plus size, it's five hundred per jin."

"How much does one weigh approximately?"

"About three liang or so!"

"Then give me two jin."

Six red shrimp, one thousand yuan.

These were flash-frozen at ultra-low temperatures. If you wanted to eat them fresh, you could only go to Spain.

As for tiger prawns and the like, Chu Mingcheng didn't plan to buy them. He still had mantis shrimp and lobster at home—the ingredients for raw marinade were sufficient.

He spent three thousand one hundred at the seafood market, then went to buy two good-quality steaks before heading home.

In the afternoon, he washed all his clothes and maintained his speargun and other equipment.

Then he took out the shrimp he had bought to make a raw marinade. He kept half the mantis shrimp for a different dish tomorrow night. It was a bit extravagant to marinate them all.

The day passed without him realizing it.