Chapter 301: Chief Li's Private Affairs

But how could this senior leader suddenly come looking for me? It couldn't be anything major, could it?

He quickly ran through the recent cases in his mind; it seemed there was nothing major.

"Chief Li, it's you. I didn't notice the number just now; I just interrogated a petty thief, and my tone wasn't quite right. I'll definitely pay attention next time, definitely. Chief Li, what instructions do you have for me?" Chief Liu felt a bit uneasy and asked tentatively.

"Oh, you don't need to be so formal. I'm contacting you today in a private capacity to inquire about something." On the other end of the phone, Chief Li didn't dwell on his earlier attitude but got straight to the point.

Upon hearing it was a private matter, Chief Liu's heart tightened. Damn, private matters are harder to handle than public ones.

Still, the more it's a private matter, the less he dares to refuse; he can only accept it, hoping it's not something troublesome.

But handling private affairs isn't without benefits—when a leader assigns you a private task, it's a chance to get closer to the leader.

"Leader, whatever you say counts as an instruction. Whether it's public or private, just tell me and I'll get on it right away." While cursing inside, he spoke sweetly, and Chief Liu couldn't help but admire his own acting.

Indeed, the leader on the other end was very pleased, cleared his throat, and softened his tone,

"It's just a small matter—wasn't there a case of food poisoning from eating crayfish recently? That case was handled by you, right?"

"Ah, I handled that, Leader. We've already signed the mediation agreement, and both sides agreed."

"I'm not asking about work stuff. It's like this: I have a relative who runs a restaurant. He heard crayfish are all the rage lately, so he asked me to find out where to get a supplier. That's why I thought of that case."

"Oh, Leader, rest assured—I know this. It's the crayfish from Baiyun Village in our town; I mediated their case." As soon as he heard it was about inquiring, that was easy to handle.

"Baiyun Village, right? That's fine, but you also need to find out whether those crayfish cause food poisoning. You know, for a restaurant, safety is the most important."

"Sure, Leader. I'll take care of it right away and get back to you as soon as possible."

After hanging up, Chief Liu felt much more at ease; he of course knew the food poisoning issue didn't actually exist.

But he didn't reply immediately; one reason was that he couldn't let the leader think he was speaking without having looked into it.

Another reason was that he wanted to use this opportunity to have more contact with the leader; he had been a bureau chief for several years and already met the promotion criteria.

Who knows...

Now that I think about it, it's fortunate I haven't fallen out with Ye Cheng; otherwise this would be troublesome.

The next day, after Ye Cheng got up, he first checked the system.

Luck Value: 30+20

Points: 7100

Savings: 160,000, External Debt: 30,000, Mortgage: 300,000 (including interest)

This Luck Value is a bit low, but Ye Cheng checked the weather—today it's cloudy turning overcast, so going out to sea is fine.

He hasn't been out for several days, his skills are rusty, but Ye Cheng still plans to go out for a trip.

He called Xiao Hu, packed some food and drink, and the two headed to the dock.

Although the weather isn't great today, it's the best day in these few days, so quite a few people are heading out to sea; Duan Chunsheng's boat is already gone.

"Uncle Duan is absolutely a model worker—he doesn't even need to rest." Ye Cheng muttered.

This guy is really too diligent; back when he didn't have a boat to compare with, it was fine, but now seeing him often makes Ye Cheng feel a bit lazy in comparison.

He started his own boat and puttered out of the dock.

And don't get me started—after not sailing for a few days, he really feels a bit rusty.

"Brother, where should we trawl today?" As the boat left the dock, Xiao Hu asked casually.

"Let's go to No. 2 Fishing Ground; there are more fish there."

Xiao Hu gave a hehe smile and looked at Ye Cheng teasingly,

"Brother, I don't think it's about more fish; it's about more pretty girls, right? You're hoping to run into your school belle."

Having his thought exposed, Ye Cheng's old face flushed, he stuck out his neck and said, "What's wrong with that? We're classmates; if someone needs help, I can give them a pointer. You're just too lewd."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm lewd, and I don't know who downloaded all those videos."

Ye Cheng's expression stiffened, he gritted his teeth and stared at Xiao Hu,

"If you keep sneaking a look at my stuff, next time I'll just change the computer password!"

"No, bro, why don't you buy me one too next time?"

"Get lost, your mind isn't pure at all—computers are for looking up information and studying, you just want to watch videos."

"No, bro, if I had a computer I could study too."

"Study what? Japanese."

"Hehe, actually I prefer studying English." Xiao Hu wore a lecherous grin.

The weather at sea wasn't too good; the farther out they went, the thicker the cloud layer became, with patches of dark clouds.

However, as long as there's no strong wind or heavy rain, it basically doesn't affect fishing.

After Ye Cheng reached No. 2 Fishing Ground, he had Xiao Hu lower the trawl net, then he began pulling the net in a orderly yet erratic fashion—left, then right—making Xiao Hu shake his head in disbelief.

"Brother, if you're just here to look for people, then go look for them; driving around like this, we won't catch any fish."

"You don't know squat—I'm setting up a formation, ever heard of the Eight Trigrams Formation? Just wait; soon a big fish will come and blow the net apart."

Although he said that, Ye Cheng also knew his Luck Value was a bit low today, so the odds of hauling in something good weren't high.

Ye Cheng hauled the first net for a full hour, but when it came up, the net held only half a load, and it was densely packed with something he couldn't make out.

He opened the latch and dumped the net's contents out; instantly they piled up like a small hill.

Xiao Hu and Ye Cheng stood before the little hill, both speechless.

This net, aside from some trash, was mostly filled with snails.

They weren't the fragrant snails or cat's-eye snails from before, but rather long, worthless bamboo shoot snails.

Bamboo shoot snail shells are slender, shaped like a pointed cone or bamboo shoot, with smooth surfaces or vertical and horizontal ridges, resembling screws.

This is a typical meat‑removed, shell‑retained variety: not only is there little meat, some are poisonous, and aside from using the shells for crafts, basically nobody eats them.

And even as craft material, they're the lowest grade.

So, for fishermen, if they catch these, the usual disposal method is to scoop them up with a big shovel and toss them back into the sea.

"Look, there's still quite a lot of stuff," Ye Cheng said stubbornly.

"Brother, there's a lot, it's a lot that's been thrown back into the sea." Xiao Hu helplessly picked up a shovel and started working; this kind of odd job has always been his.

There were too many bamboo shoot snails; Xiao Hu shoveled seven or eight shovelfuls before basically clearing them out.

Ye Cheng, meanwhile, sat aside and began sorting the other catch.