A whole afternoon passed, and working together, they'd caught about forty to fifty jin of large yellow croaker. Unfortunately, not a single one exceeded a jin and a half.

Chu Mingcheng's plan to send a super-sized yellow croaker as a gift had temporarily failed, but that was to be expected.

As darkness fell, they put away their rods and began sorting the afternoon's catch by size.

Then they wrapped the fish in plastic and placed them in specially purchased transparent bags.

The packaged fish went into a foam box with layers of ice for preservation.

A few fish had poorer quality and appearance—looked like they might have escaped from net pens but also showed some wild characteristics.

Chu Mingcheng kept these temporarily. They could sell at lower prices, but since there were only a few, he figured it was easier just to keep them to eat.

For an angler like him, a large yellow croaker was just that—nothing he felt too reluctant to eat.

So that evening, Chu Mingcheng steamed three of them. He and Jiang Luoluo each had one, and the remaining fish meat was flaked off and fed to the cats. Yes, it was that extravagant.

After eating and cleaning up, Chu Mingcheng checked the fish finder.

The afternoon's fish school had already moved on, so he had no choice but to start the fishing boat and continue searching for a new spot.

Most fish liked to move and feed at night, and large yellow croaker were no exception.

After searching for over half an hour, Chu Mingcheng found a fish school near another hidden reef. The density looked excellent—even seemed denser than the afternoon spot.

Water depth here was only seventeen meters, and the fish finder showed the school was mainly concentrated at ten to fifteen meters depth.

This school was staying right at the bottom. Hard to say if they were large yellow croaker, but when you found fish, you had to try fishing first.

The afternoon's rods were just set aside, not put away. Now he just needed to bait hooks with sandworms and start fishing.

After a short while, Jiang Luoluo was the first to get a bite.

She'd become quite skilled at fishing. Seeing the fish bite, she immediately lifted her rod, setting the hook accurately.

But this time, the feel seemed different. She made a small "huh" sound. "Doesn't seem like a large yellow croaker—the feel's different?"

"Really? Then the school at the bottom probably isn't yellow croaker. Pull it up first and see if it's valuable. If it is, we'll fish here. If not, we'll change spots."

Chu Mingcheng hadn't gotten a bite yet, so he placed his rod in the holder and went to Jiang Luoluo's side.

She'd said the feel was different, but in reality, the fish wasn't very large. You could tell from the rod tip's bend.

After a moment, a yellow fish was pulled up.

The fish was only about seven or eight liang. Jiang Luoluo simply grabbed the line and lifted it.

Because the water was shallow, the fish's swim bladder hadn't been squeezed out.

It was still thrashing its tail energetically, mouth opening and closing, making "gugu" sounds.

Originally, Jiang Luoluo had thought this fish probably wasn't a large yellow croaker, but when it suddenly made the same sound as large yellow croaker, she immediately felt uncertain.

"Cheng, is this a large yellow croaker? It looks a little different, but it also makes 'gugu' sounds!"

Chu Mingcheng took the fish and examined it, then shook his head. "This is yellow drum—some places also call it yellow maiden fish or spring fish. But its scientific name is yellow croaker, and it's also in the croaker family, so its swim bladder can make sounds."

"Then is this fish expensive?"

"Seems pretty good. Line-caught fish are already more expensive than net-caught ones. For this size, under a jin, I remember it used to sell for over a hundred per jin. Over a jin was two hundred. Don't know if prices have gone up now."

Seafood prices fluctuated every few days, not to mention at year's end when they changed daily.

Therefore, Chu Mingcheng recently had to check online after docking or ask fishmongers to find out the current prices.

If yellow drum prices were similar to small yellow croaker, Jiang Luoluo wouldn't be interested in fishing for them.

But hearing that line-caught prices were at least a hundred per jin, she immediately decided, "How about we just fish here? If we go somewhere else, we might not find a large yellow croaker, and it'd be a waste of fuel and time."

"That works." Chu Mingcheng nodded in agreement.

However, they only fished for two hours that night before calling it a day. The fish were still there, but they didn't want to continue.

Jiang Luoluo felt that she'd be going home tomorrow, and they'd be separated for a long time. She felt reluctant.

So at only nine in the evening, she pulled Chu Mingcheng back to the cockpit. They each washed up, then snuggled together.

"Cheng, when are you planning to visit my family?"

"That depends on your performance! When you can get your father and mother to agree to see me, I'll go over."

Visiting someone's home definitely required advance notice so they could prepare. Showing up unannounced would be too abrupt and might make them uncomfortable.

Chu Mingcheng seemed to be pushing all the problems onto Jiang Luoluo, but it was true that she had to speak up first and introduce him to her parents.

She understood this herself, but she was also a little nervous.

Based on her understanding of her parents, her mother, after learning about Chu Mingcheng's earning ability, wouldn't object even if it were fishing.

But her father had doted on her since childhood, holding her in the palm of his hand.

Jiang Luoluo only had a sensible mother, which was why she hadn't been spoiled rotten.

So, regarding her own father, she was indeed a little worried.

The two talked about this topic until late at night before falling asleep.

The next morning, when Jiang Luoluo woke up, Chu Mingcheng, as before, was already driving the boat.

He'd first docked to refuel, then sailed along the Qiantang River mouth toward Hangzhou Bay.

Jiang Luoluo's home was in West Lake District, and he could get there directly by following the Qiantang River.

Along the way, Chu Mingcheng saw many fishermen angling.

The sudden appearance of his fishing boat also made these anglers look over.

As Chu Mingcheng got closer to West Lake District, he also saw some tour boats.

At ten in the morning, the boat stopped at a small pier in West Lake District where they could go ashore.

It was time to part. Jiang Luoluo felt even more reluctant. She rarely threw tantrums like a little girl, hugging him and not letting go.

Chu Mingcheng smiled and held her, stroking her long, smooth hair that had become very soft after conditioning. "Actually, it's very convenient for me to drive the boat here. If you miss me, just call, and I'll come pick you up, how about that?"

Jiang Luoluo's eyes lit up. She lifted her head and said coquettishly, "Then you can't find it troublesome!"

"Of course not!" Seeing her cute expression, Chu Mingcheng finally couldn't help but lower his head and taste her sweetness.

After a long while, they separated, breathing heavily.

No matter how reluctant they were, they still had to part.

Chu Mingcheng called a taxi online, helped her move all her luggage, including the box of large yellow croakers and three Barred Knifejaws and one large Spotted Scat, into the car. "Call me when you get home."

"Mm..." Though Jiang Luoluo was reluctant, thinking that Chu Mingcheng had a boat and could come see her anytime, she didn't feel so bad.

It was normal for couples in the honeymoon phase not to want separation. At this time, couples wished they could stick together every day.

Watching the car leave, Chu Mingcheng finally drove the boat back. He had to go home first today.

After settling things, he'd take Chen Yang and Zhang Wei out to sea for fishing.

There were still several months of rest during next year's fishing moratorium. He naturally had to work hard at this year's end.

On the other side, Jiang Luoluo soon arrived at her residential complex.

After moving her suitcase and fish box down, she first called Chu Mingcheng to tell him she was home safely and put his mind at ease. Then she found her father's number and called him.

Jiang Bo had nothing to do today and was at home with his wife, nagging her about when their precious daughter would return.

His wife was annoyed by his nagging and said, "Just call her and ask—you'll know. What's the point of nagging me?"

Jiang Bo thought that made sense and immediately took out his phone.

Who knew that as soon as he picked it up, the screen lit up, showing the name "Precious Daughter."

He quickly answered, his voice very gentle. "Hello! Luoluo, your mom and I were just talking about when you'd be back, and you called."

Jiang Luoluo hadn't expected her parents to be discussing this. She said playfully, "Really? Then Dad, can you guess where I am now?"

Jiang Bo was surprised to hear this. It sounded like she'd already left Xiamen!

"Are you at Hangzhou airport?"

"No, guess again!"

"Xiamen airport?"

"That's not right either..."

"Downstairs?"

"..."

Jiang Luoluo held her forehead. Since he'd already guessed downstairs, couldn't he guess she was at the complex entrance?

"I'm at the complex entrance. I have lots of luggage—it's hard to carry alone!"

"At the complex entrance?" Jiang Bo's voice suddenly rose an octave, almost reaching a female pitch.

He and his wife, Li Ying, who'd come over, looked at each other and quickly said, "Then wait a moment—Dad will be right there."

After hanging up, he told Li Ying their daughter was already at the complex entrance. The two hurried toward the entrance.

Jiang Luoluo put away her phone and only waited a short while before seeing her parents walking quickly toward her.

She immediately reached out to greet them. Jiang Bo saw this and happily opened his arms. Who knew his daughter would walk right past him and hug his wife. His originally happy smile immediately froze on his face.

That wasn't all. After Jiang Luoluo hugged her mother, she saw her father's expression and wrinkled her nose. "Dad, I'm already so old—you still want to hug me like I'm a child?"

Jiang Bo awkwardly lowered his hands, looking at his still bright and beautiful daughter, and said faintly, "A daughter grows up and is no longer close to her father!"

"How could that be! I'll always be your precious daughter!" Seeing him like this, Jiang Luoluo finally went forward and hugged him, showing her affection.

"That's right!" Jiang Bo's smile returned to his face.

Li Ying shook her head, sighing that her husband was destined to be a daughter's slave.

But it wasn't strange. Seeing how beautiful Jiang Luoluo was now, you could imagine how cute she'd been as a child.

As an old father with such a cute little angel, he'd naturally be very careful and doting.

"Alright, you two, don't just stand at the entrance. Let's take the luggage home first!"

Only then did father and daughter separate and prepare to take the luggage back.

But when they saw the foam box, Jiang Bo and Li Ying were both a little puzzled, curious about what was inside.

But afraid that if they asked now, they'd talk endlessly, they suppressed their doubts for the moment.