After lunch, they browsed around briefly. Without a car, they couldn't venture far, and feeling restless, they headed back early.

For the rest of the journey, Chu Mingcheng, unfamiliar with fishing spots in this area and not spotting any schools on the fish finder, headed straight for Wenzhou City.

He made one fuel stop along the way, finally arriving at Wenzhou's pier just before midnight.

But he didn't dock, instead choosing to rest on the water not far from the pier.

Jiang Luoluo had shared a bed with him before, so she was much more comfortable tonight, sleeping more soundly than the previous night.

The next day, Chu Mingcheng refueled and took on fresh water, also calling a sewage truck to handle the boat's wastewater, then set off again.

A little over twenty minutes later, he passed his old home, Yanmen Island, but didn't dock; instead, he headed straight for the large yellow croaker fishing grounds.

Spotted Scat and Barred Knifejaw were just appetizers. If Jiang Luoluo went back without a whole box of large yellow croakers, he'd be failing in his duties as a future son-in-law.

A display of financial capability would help put minds at ease.

Otherwise, what parents would easily entrust their daughter to a poor boy, especially since Jiang Luoluo was an only child!

Chu Mingcheng's strategy was to have her return and put in a good word for him. He wasn't hoping to dazzle his future father-in-law, but he at least needed his future mother-in-law to view him favorably.

As long as one parent was on his side, there'd be basically no obstacles between him and Jiang Luoluo.

Despite Chu Mingcheng's current impressive income, older generations viewed fishing as an unstable profession lacking respectability.

Plus, Jiang Luoluo's family had been wealthy and worldly, so they naturally wouldn't judge him solely on earnings.

This was why Chu Mingcheng felt somewhat worried and insecure. After all, his career had just started, and he hadn't built enough confidence yet.

Jiang Luoluo's family's recent struggles were simply about reduced income, not complete financial ruin.

In reality, her family still owned two properties in Hangzhou, one being a large apartment.

Jiang's father hadn't sold them even during their most difficult times, intending to leave them for Jiang Luoluo. That property had already been transferred to her name after university graduation.

So when Chu Mingcheng said he felt intimidated, he wasn't wrong. This was something even Life Conversion couldn't strengthen—he just had to accept being supported.

A few hours later, the fishing boat arrived near an isolated reef.

Looking across the sea, fishing boats dotted the waters every few dozen meters. These were specialists targeting large yellow croaker.

They say the large yellow croaker is going extinct, but that's not entirely accurate.

The population that experienced devastating overfishing was actually the Zhoushan fishing grounds' large yellow croaker stock. In reality, the Yellow Sea and South China Sea populations were still acceptable.

At least large yellow croakers in Guangxi weren't expensive. Three or four-liang specimens, if wild-caught from Zhoushan, could sell for three hundred fifty yuan per jin in Wenzhou now.

But large yellow croakers from the South China Sea only sold for about sixty yuan per jin locally.

Many people there didn't even realize the 'yellow flower fish' they were eating was the famous large yellow croaker.

Perhaps they were different populations. The large yellow croakers there were paler. Even when caught at night, their body color was only slightly yellow, nowhere near the bright gold of Zhoushan fishing ground specimens.

But many fish dealers still went there to buy large yellow croakers because prices were indeed cheap.

Just that their appearance standards were very high. If the appearance was poor, they wouldn't take them regardless of price, because they'd be hard to sell in the Zhejiang and Fujian regions.

And with today's internet development, it's hard to completely fool buyers.

They had lunch first, then Chu Mingcheng watched the fish finder as he drove to a spot with a fish school.

When he'd first bought the boat, if he'd spotted schools in advance, he usually wouldn't rely much on the fish finder.

An angler could gauge depth themselves, and, knowing fish habits and water layers, could fish without constantly looking.

He'd only fished for large yellow croakers once and needed to fill a small box with them quickly, so the school's location was crucial.

Currently, in the fish finder's upper left corner was a number: 49.7 meters, indicating water depth.

The number fluctuated slightly, mainly because waves made the boat constantly rise and fall, causing small depth changes.

Below the depth number was a vertical column of readings.

The first line showed the water temperature. Water here was currently 16 degrees, while the actual sea surface temperature should be around eleven or twelve degrees.

Water stays warmer in winter and cooler in summer, so higher temperatures than the surface were normal.

Below temperatures were three zeros, indicating boat speed. Currently stopped, so the speed was zero.

Further down was 12.0, indicating the boat's position was at the twelve o'clock direction.

Chu Mingcheng saw many thick red and yellow lines in the fish finder screen's lower-middle section.

This indicated a large fish school at thirty to forty meters.

Besides this location, scattered yellow lines appeared around, also indicating fish, just not as concentrated as those below.

Chu Mingcheng pointed to the screen and explained to Jiang Luoluo the water layer they'd be fishing in, then they prepared their rods.

For large yellow croakers, sandworms—also called sea centipedes—would work perfectly.

Chu Mingcheng used a lure rod, giving the more sensitive jigging rod to Jiang Luoluo.

Size 2 PE main line with a 1.5-meter size 4 carbon leader, with two sandworms on the hook, and they were ready to fish.

Each had a box of sandworms at their feet. Chu Mingcheng had originally wanted to help her bait hooks, but didn't expect the current Jiang Luoluo would no longer be grossed out by their appearance.

Having an angler boyfriend, her resistance to certain things had clearly grown much stronger.

Today, with overcast skies, it was perfect weather for large yellow croaker fishing. After all, when the sun shone, a large yellow croaker would turn into a large silver croaker, with only its fins retaining some yellow.

"Cheng, didn't they say wild large yellow croakers are very rare now? How come I see people on those boats catching one every few minutes?" Jiang Luoluo had been on deck most of the day and occasionally saw golden fish being pulled up in the distance.

At this rate, the few visible boats could catch over a thousand jin daily. After all, there was more than one person per boat, which was why she felt so confused.

"The rarity mentioned online is probably compared to quantities from decades ago! Compared to back then, today's wild, large yellow croakers are indeed rare," Chu Mingcheng thought for a moment and replied.

They say wild, large yellow croakers are rare, on the verge of extinction.

But realistically, if a wild animal in the country were truly near extinction, it would definitely be put on the protected list.

For example, the Chinese bahaba, Napoleon wrasse, and more recently, wild leopard coral grouper and ornate spiny lobster.

At least many people here specialize in large yellow croaker fishing could catch dozens or even hundreds of jin daily. It wasn't an exaggeration to say a boat with several people could pull up over a thousand jin in a day.

But whether these large yellow croakers were purely wild or farmed and then released, that was unknown.

Many different opinions existed online, with no definitive answer.

At least none of Chu Mingcheng's encyclopedias had clear explanations on this point.

To the extent that he sometimes suspected the topic of wild large yellow croakers being near extinction was entirely hyped up by the Zhejiang and Fujian regions.

The goal was to drive up fish prices. The interests involved were clearly very complex.

But Chu Mingcheng never intended to dig deeper. After all, he was a beneficiary.

Wild large yellow croaker did indeed taste excellent, but for ordinary people, the price was too high and the value too low. It was completely not worth spending big money to try.

But you couldn't stop wealthy people from loving it!

Fishing for large yellow croakers to sell to rich people—Chu Mingcheng liked that arrangement too.

However, his Aquatic Species Codex could increase large yellow croaker survival, reproduction, and growth rates.

In ten years or so, whether large yellow croakers could still command sky-high prices would be hard to predict.

He tossed the baited hook into the water, opened the bail, and let out line until over thirty meters had been released before locking it again.

After a brief wait, a bite transmitted through the rod tip.

Then, just seconds later, another pull came through the rod tip, accompanied by a series of twitches.

Chu Mingcheng lifted his hand and raised the rod. The hook in the water immediately sank deep into the fish's mouth, with the hook point even piercing through to the outside.

The fish, in pain, immediately thrashed its tail violently, making the rod tip shake even faster.

Constantly lifting the rod and reeling in line, at over thirty meters depth, it took a while to pull the fish up.

Soon, a fish with a silver-white body showing some yellow, and belly and fins that were golden, was pulled to the surface—a large yellow croaker of about four or five liang.

After being brought up, due to water pressure, the large yellow croaker had expelled most of its pink swim bladder from its mouth.

The fish was motionless. Clearly, it had died when pulled to the surface.

The fish wasn't large and was already dead. Chu Mingcheng simply grabbed the line and lifted it up.

"Cheng, how much can a yellow croaker this size sell for per jin?" Jiang Luoluo had also hooked one. She held the rod under her arm and kept pulling, asking when she saw he'd already caught one.

"Let me check first." Chu Mingcheng first examined the fish to confirm it was wild.

Then he used a fish grip to weigh it accurately—a little over two hundred twenty grams, just short of five liang. What a pity.

Large yellow croaker prices had already increased. The 3-5 liang size was selling for 350 yuan per jin.

Of course, this price was only for fresh large yellow croakers from Zhejiang province. Large yellow croakers from other regions couldn't command this price.

Well, provided the buyer could tell the difference.

"Mine's not even five liang, so it can only sell for three hundred fifty per jin."

"That expensive? Then you want me to take a whole box back? Wouldn't that be tens of thousands?" Jiang Luoluo clicked her tongue, then felt concerned. "How about I just take a few? You can sell the rest?"

"My parents have eaten everything—they don't need a few large yellow croakers."

"Luoluo, you can't let your parents hear you say that." Chu Mingcheng nearly died laughing seeing her like this.

If his father-in-law heard this, wouldn't he be heartbroken? His precious daughter was already putting her boyfriend's interests first!

Jiang Luoluo laughed. "Of course not, but I'm also thinking of you. You're giving way too much!"

"Don't worry! I'll be fishing here for a while. I'll definitely make good money by year's end. I don't need this little bit."

"These small ones—if our father-in-law is hosting a few tables for New Year's, he won't need to buy fish. Isn't that perfect?"

"And if we catch a particularly big one, it'll be even more impressive for our father-in-law, right!"

"If our father-in-law is impressed, his attitude toward the person who stole his precious daughter will naturally soften. He won't be too hard on me, and then I can marry you sooner!"

Chu Mingcheng kept saying 'our father-in-law,' making Jiang Luoluo's cheeks flush. She protested, "What 'your father-in-law’? Nothing's even decided yet!"