Chapter 499: with translation of chapter title

The next day, Ye Cheng checked the system.

Luck Value: 20+20

Points: 4800

Savings: 100,000, External Debt: 10,000, Mortgage: 300,000

He spent another 30,000, which he gave in advance to his older brother so the brother could help buy materials.

Fortunately it's just a farmhouse resort, so no high-end renovation materials are needed; otherwise Ye Cheng estimates he'd have to sink all his money into it.

There was an unread message on his phone from Duan Yong, who had just sent another 100 kilograms over today.

But this time Ye Cheng had him squat there to watch, to see how Kong Ge sells the crayfish, whether it's really hard to sell or what's going on.

After finishing morning affairs, Ye Cheng summoned Xiao Hu and Duan Chunsheng to go to Matou.

Duan Chunsheng looked in good spirits today; yesterday Duan Yong had put the shrimp in the farm, so he wasn't disturbed.

Just arrived at Matou, they hadn't boarded the boat yet.

"Lao Er, wait a moment."

A figure came trotting over from the far end of Matou; at a glance it was Lao He.

Ye Cheng planted his feet, waited for Lao He to run up, then teased, "Yo, Lao He, we haven't even gone out to sea yet, and there's no giant grouper waiting for you—why are you running so fast? Don't blame Xiao Hu."

Lao He gave Ye Cheng a white-eye, then curled his lip and said, "It's not giant grouper; I said have you send over ten more free-range chickens—my mother-in-law thought they were delicious, so have me buy some more."

Hearing it was about free-range chickens, Ye Cheng immediately agreed, "Sure, I'll call Zhu Lao Da right away; next time you have this kind of good thing, just give me a call—no need to run all the way here."

"Hehe, I ran over to show sincerity; if there's still giant grouper today, remember to save some for me." Lao He wore a sly merchant's look.

Ye Cheng nodded and said, "Fine, if there's giant grouper I'll save it for you, but I think that's enough—after this long we've only caught one."

Actually, with today's luck value, Ye Cheng doesn't even want to go out to sea.

Just thinking about it, you can tell there definitely won't be any high-end goods.

Ye Cheng called Zhu Liwen in front of Lao He; Zhu Lao Da said he could deliver right down the mountain, and now that he'd bought a motorcycle, going down the mountain was much more convenient.

With the matter settled, the three finally set out to sea in the boat.

Along the way, it was a bit strange—they weren't seeing many returning boats.

"Why are they all coming back now?" Duan Chunsheng looked at them puzzled; they didn't look like they'd just finished fishing.

Just then, a boat came heading toward them—it was Wang Defa's.

Duan Chunsheng stood on the deck and shouted loudly, "Lao Wang, why are you back already? Did you finish?"

Wang Defa lowered the boat's speed, then cupped his hands like a megaphone and said, "No—there are several patrol boats out there today; I don't know what they're up to, but we can't drag our nets."

"Are you going to set out drag nets or fish traps?"

"We're going to collect the fish traps."

"Then it's fine; I'll head back first."

It wasn't clear which department Wang Defa's patrol boats belonged to—maybe the fisheries bureau, maybe the police.

Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu had never encountered this before, so they looked to Duan Chunsheng and asked, "Uncle, what do patrol boats mean? Did something happen, or are they not allowing fishing?"

Duan Chunsheng shook his head. "Hard to say; I've run into this a few times—once they said they were catching smugglers, another time they said they were catching fugitives; either way, it's not good."

"Smugglers? Do we have those around here? Isn't smuggling supposed to happen in the south?"

Ye Cheng remembered from Hong Kong movies that such things only appear in those remote corners—how could they exist here?

Duan Chunsheng waved his hand. "Smuggling is all the same—basically go out to sea, then find a place to land; maybe the south is cracking down too hard, so they've switched to a more distant route."

"Or they might directly offload from offshore and land at various places; it's hard to say."

"Could there be a gunfight?" Ye Cheng asked curiously.

Back in those Hong Kong movies, smuggling was all biubiubiu, with bullets flying everywhere.

"Yeah, yeah, Uncle, in those movies they always speed off in speedboats while the police chase from behind, and even Da Ge Chen has filmed stuff like that—it's exciting." When the topic came up, Xiao Hu also got interested.

"What are you thinking about?" Duan Chunsheng curled his lip. "Anyway, I've never seen anything that exciting; I've just heard people say they pretend to be fishing boats and then load cargo into the hold."

"Ah, that's not exciting at all." Xiao Hu's face fell with disappointment.

Ye Cheng gave him a knock and said, "Damn, you still want us to run into a gunfight? You're asking to die."

He only has the sea‑gathering system, not some god‑level combat system; get into a gunfight and you might take a bullet and be done for—better to earn money honestly and invest steadily.

After the three had been going forward for over half an hour, they really did see a patrol boat far ahead moving past.

"That's police, it looks like there really is a case." Ye Cheng could tell at a glance.

"Brother, why not go over and have a look? If they've caught someone, maybe there's a reward."

"Get lost, hurry up and turn—let's go pull up the fish traps."

"Damn, catching smugglers—you're asking to die."

The spot where they lowered the fish traps wasn't on the main channel, so they quickly turned into a side waterway.

After going forward another half hour, they arrived.

Along the way they didn't encounter any other vessels, until just before reaching the spot when a boat suddenly came head‑on.

It was a 12‑meter fishing boat just like theirs, and it looked a bit aged.

Xiao Hu's first reaction upon seeing the boat was, "Holy crap, are they coming to steal our fish traps again?"

Ye Cheng and Duan Chunsheng hadn't been thinking along those lines, but Xiao Hu's comment made the idea impossible to shake.

"Holy crap, let me have a look."

Ye Cheng rose to his feet and stared blankly at the other boat.

On the other boat were just two people—an old man and a middle‑aged man—who curiously regarded Ye Cheng, then glanced at their own boat, thinking something might be wrong with it.

The two boats passed each other in quick succession; Ye Cheng checked and saw the deck was empty of catch, clean and bare, with just a few baskets placed there.

He waved at the opposite boat and shouted, "You're just heading back?"

The middle-aged man opposite sat on the deck, also silent, just nodding his head, showing an ugly smile.

"Nothing there, stop looking, it's just Xiao Hu scaring people over there." Duan Chunsheng glared at Xiao Hu angrily.

Xiao Hu pursed his lips, "I just happened to think of that; it wasn't intentional."

"Alright, let's look ahead and see if our stuff is still there."

After driving forward a few minutes, we saw a stretch of floats; Xiao Hu let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness, we really weren't stealing the fish trap."

Ye Cheng shook his head, "You, always thinking about something all day—there aren't that many people who bait fish."

Xiao Hu pursed his lips disdainfully, "Tch, you guys are also just staring at other people's boats, like watching thieves; they can't be bothered to deal with you, not even saying a word."