Chapter 507: Grand Finale

When this net was hauled up, there was a fish about ten meters long—definitely the net burst.

Ye Cheng was also excited, not knowing what kind of fish it was.

But looking at its size, it was a big fish, not a small one.

The net was lifted, Xiao Hu stepped forward and opened the net's mouth, and immediately a school of fish splashed out.

Each was thirty centimeters long, plump and full of vigor.

"Tuna, it's tuna!" Duan Chunsheng exclaimed, holding onto a fish excitedly.

Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu each grabbed a fish to examine; it was a yellowfin tuna. Ye Cheng held it in his hands, feeling its weight—likely several dozen jin.

This haul filled the entire deck, and the three hurriedly stuffed the fish into the hold.

Needless to say, it was tiring.

Ye Cheng remembered that on those big ships in later times there was an automatic processing assembly line, but his own boat was still small, so they had to do it manually.

The three didn't bother counting exactly how many; they just wanted to get the fish in as quickly as possible.

After finishing, Ye Cheng checked the time; it was about right. They had originally set out late, and after looping around there, it was already past three in the afternoon—time to head back.

Duan Chunsheng and Xiao Hu had no objections, and the three set the boat on a return course.

On the way back, there was no need to detour around that small island; they could just follow the main shipping lane.

After about half an hour of sailing, several patrol boats suddenly appeared ahead.

Ye Cheng quickly reduced speed, but this time the patrol boats didn't blast their sirens.

"Brother, look behind," Xiao Hu said, pointing at the rear of the patrol boat.

Ye Cheng looked back and saw several small fishing boats trailing the patrol boats—the very ones they had seen earlier.

But this time, those aboard were not fishermen; they were police.

"Looks like that smuggling gang has been caught," Duan Chunsheng said.

"Good they got caught, damn it, they delayed our fishing for profit."

After the patrol boat passed, Ye Cheng also sped toward the dock, arriving back at the dock just after five.

The dock wasn't very lively today, all thanks to that smuggling gang, so as soon as Ye Cheng arrived he was treated like a hero.

There was nothing to be done; only those few boats went out to sea.

"Lao Er, you're back this late—surely you've got a haul?" Lao He asked Ye Cheng anxiously.

"Yes, yes, we're counting on you, Lao Er—there's been no activity at the dock these two days."

Several other bosses also started complaining.

"First, don't worry about my catch today; let me share some good news," Ye Cheng announced loudly.

"What good news? Did wages go up? Hahaha."

"Right, or is it that the sea is full of fish waiting for us to catch?"

Ye Cheng shook his head, smiling, and said, "You guys stop talking nonsense; I'm talking serious business. When we returned we saw the patrol boat—they'd already taken the smugglers away, so now we can go fishing without anyone stopping us."

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd burst into cheers.

This is great.

Everyone can finally resume normal fishing at sea.

After the excitement, everyone turned to Ye Cheng and said, "Lao Er, after sharing our good news, do you actually have any catch to show for it?"

"Of course there is! Xiao Hu, open the hold!" Ye Cheng shouted.

Then everyone rushed over and peered into the hold.

Holy cow!

The hold is full of fish!

"Is this tuna?"

"Yes, yellowfin tuna," Ye Cheng affirmed.

Although it's not as valuable as bluefin tuna, it's still decent.

It was just this one boatload of cargo; in the end everyone split it and bought it together.

All told, it came to over 70,000 yuan.

From that money, Ye Cheng gave 20,000 yuan each to Xiao Hu and Duan Yong, kept over 30,000 for himself, and his savings rose again to 100,000 yuan.

After returning, Ye Cheng went to Aunt Qian's place to ask about today's crayfish sales.

He Feiyang had also just returned; seeing Ye Cheng arrive, he hurried out.

"Brother Cheng, sales weren't great today—just 60 jin."

"Sold at 15 yuan per jin?"

"Yeah, that's 900 yuan total," He Feiyang said, pulling out 900 yuan in cash from his pocket.

"No problem—give this money to Duan Yong first so he can keep the books; selling 60 jin on the first day is not bad, and we'll keep going tomorrow."

Despite the shop's terrible location, managing to sell 60 jin gave Ye Cheng confidence that sales would pick up later.

During this period, Ye Cheng had been working out the money issues, originally thinking the farmstead only needed a little fixing up.

But Sun Baocheng discovered that several old houses were badly deteriorated and needed to be reinforced.

According to Sun Baocheng's budget, an extra 30,000 yuan was required.

Damn it, money is needed everywhere, forcing Ye Cheng to go out to sea every day, specifically heading offshore to cast large nets.

All in all, the haul was okay—about 20,000 yuan over three days.

As for Ye Cheng, the best news was the crayfish sales volume.

Starting from the third day, 200 jin of crayfish sold out immediately, because it was the only such shop in the whole city.

He Feiyang had originally wanted to bring in a bit more each day to sell, but Ye Cheng vetoed it; he wanted that scarcity‑marketing effect.

Starting from the fifth day, people began coming early in the morning just to line up; after buying, they didn't eat it themselves but took it to resell to some restaurants.

Bought for 15 yuan, sold for 20 yuan, earning 5 yuan per jin.

No choice, Ye Cheng could only add a new rule: each person limited to buying 5 jin; as for those 5 jin also being resold, there's nothing that can be done.

On the agritourism front, Sun Baocheng leveled the ground in one month, preparing to build a wall.

Ye Cheng called his older brother Ye Guowei over, had him find people to start building a shade shelter on the ground, plant those climbing plants, then set up tables and chairs underneath—it became a good place for leisure and entertainment.

To be honest, running an agritourism was just a spur-of-the-moment idea; I didn't expect it to involve so many things.

The menu was a big problem; Ye Cheng set two signature dishes: stewed free-range chicken and crayfish.

Then he recalled a few relatively famous dishes from later times, such as chopped chili fish head and big plate chicken—these are often ordered at casual gatherings.

He taught all these to Zhang Guafu and Han Xiaotao; Han Xiaotao's talent was not bad either, and after studying with Zhang Guafu for a while, she could also handle things on her own.

Ye Cheng planned for about three chefs, because the agritourism had low table turnover, and many people ate while playing, so a slight delay in serving dishes didn't matter.

With the opening still a month away, Ye Cheng began to consider publicity.

Selling crayfish in the city itself didn't need publicity, because it was already in the city.

Now opening an agritourism, if there's no publicity, surely no one would know.

He first found the deputy township head Li; upon hearing they wanted to develop industry, Li was very supportive, and through the township he found the city, placing a one-month ad on the city TV station.

Meanwhile, the term 'agritourism' began to spread in Baiyun City, and everyone wanted to see what this agritourism actually was.

To provide a full-range entertainment experience, Ye Cheng found Chen Jinhai, and in the name of the village collective newly developed a beach as a place for tourists to play.

On the opening day, many people came from the city and the township; amid a string of firecrackers, Ye Cheng's long-awaited agritourism finally opened.

That day it was packed; they sold 40 free-range chickens and 300 jin of crayfish.

The seafood caught by the village fishermen now had another outlet: they could directly bring it to Ye Cheng's agritourism to sell.

Moreover, with tourist numbers growing, a single agritourism was far from enough.

Ye Cheng could only invest again; this time he brought along the Chen family people, and together they opened a second agritourism.

In half a year, the entire Baiyun Village transformed from a small fishing village into a tourist hotspot, also bringing a large flow of traffic to the neighboring Liu Village.

Ye Cheng was no longer short of money, so he sold his old boat and bought a new 70-meter medium-sized ocean-going fishing boat, taking Xiao Hu, Duan Chunsheng, and the Zhu Family Four Brothers, and set out again on the fishing voyage.

The open sea.

Ye Cheng reduced the boat's speed and shouted to the deck, 'Pull the nets!'

Zhu Liwen and Xiao Hu pressed the button; the massive winch started turning, and the trawl net several hundred meters long, dragging its catch, was hauled up.

Inside the trawl net, a huge shadow twitched.

Duan Chunsheng shouted excitedly,

"Old Two, it's a bluefin tuna! A bluefin tuna!"

Ye Cheng smiled calmly; a bluefin tuna was nothing—later he would still go to the Arctic to catch king crab.

A fishy-smelling sea breeze blew past.

Ye Cheng took a deep breath.

One year later, a 120-meter-long ocean-going fishing boat appeared in the Bering Strait.

Ye Cheng, face full of beard, stood at the bow, gazing at the surging waves on the sea surface, his heart filled with heroic ambition.

The sea, I have come!

(End of book!)