Chapter 992

"It's genuine and authentic, ten thousand jin, only more, not less. But can this price be increased a little? I have two boats there, plus over ten thousand jin of toadfish, and other cargo, odds and ends added up, there's also over a thousand jin."

That person immediately turned serious.

"Cargo dragged back by two large boats? Did you chase down a school of fish? That's doable. We are in the provincial capital, the wharf here is large, there's a lot of cargo traffic, and many fishing boats dock here daily. They all catch good cargo, and once the hold is full, they just happen to come ashore to sell and resupply."

The older one beside him also leaned over and said, "Take me to see it. If the quantity is no problem and the cargo is fresh, the price will definitely be reasonable."

"Let's talk price first. If your price is suitable, I'll take you to see it. Otherwise, I'd feel bad for troubling you to make a wasted trip."

If he led them to see it and then didn't sell to them, letting others earn the money, he would surely be resented. He preferred to let them be a bit annoyed now; at least it would seem less offensive.

"Then tell me, what cargo do you have the most of?" Knowing there were tens of thousands of jin of cargo there, the buyer also gained a bit of patience and was willing to spare time to say a few more words.

"The two boats have the most toadfish, probably around seventeen or eighteen thousand jin, maybe even nearly twenty thousand jin. It hasn't been weighed, so I can only estimate. There's also four or five hundred jin of squid, five or six hundred jin of sword shrimp, and some other white pomfret, meat pomfret, and small yellow croaker. Oh, right, there are 8 devil rays weighing two or three hundred jin each!"

The two men's eyes widened instantly. Nearly ten thousand jin of golden eye snapper only made them surprised at his harvest, but the two or three hundred jin devil rays really astonished them.

The young one Ye Yaodong had first asked was so shocked he shouted out, "Eight devil rays weighing two or three hundred jin?"

Looking at their expressions, it seemed like they were very rare?

Although Ye Yaodong was also very surprised on the surface, he still feigned calmness. "Yes, these few are the heavy hitters. Usually, you can catch ones weighing dozens of jin often, but ones weighing hundreds of jin are not certain. Without immense luck, you can't haul up hundreds of jin. Just like giant grouper, you have to hit the jackpot to catch them."

"You do have to hit the jackpot. Devil rays are good stuff..."

The older one nudged the younger one and gave him a wink.

Ye Yaodong immediately felt suspicious; there was something fishy.

He looked back and forth at the two, smiling thoughtfully as he continued, "Devil rays are naturally good stuff. Who knows how thick and smooth the hundreds of jin of meat are, not to mention the mobula gills on its body..."

"You know about mobula gills!!!" the other party exclaimed in surprise.

Ye Yaodong understood in his heart. So mobula gills were already very expensive now. No wonder the two were being evasive just now. He had thought mobula gills hadn't been hyped up yet and no one knew, thinking they wouldn't become expensive until later.

People from the provincial capital are indeed people from the provincial capital; they just know more than country folk like them.

This makes things easier.

Wealth is rolling in.

"Mobula gills are good stuff, how could I not know? I even have one hanging on my boat drying," Ye Yaodong said, looking at them with a smile.

The two looked at each other, thinking they could pick up a bargain, but not expecting there to be someone who knew the goods.

"You killed a devil ray?"

"I just happened to encounter a school of devil rays fighting with a school of sharks and picked up an injured one with a gap. Knowing mobula gills are good stuff and very expensive, I specifically picked it up to dry."

The two looked at each other again, not speaking immediately.

Ye Yaodong was getting a bit impatient; the two were dawdling, and it was about to get dark.

"Are you buying or not? You can state the prices for the various goods first, and I'll compare them with others. My father and uncle have gone to ask others for prices. After you state the prices, we also need to discuss who to sell to."

Turning passive into active, he just didn't know how much he could sell them for...

He was really a bit unsure. This thing was very rare, and he didn't know what the price was since it hadn't spread yet.

"We haven't seen it, and we don't know if that devil ray is really as big as you say. We can only talk price after seeing it."

"Then quote the purchase price for the other goods. We'll compare the prices of the other goods first and sell those. We can talk about the devil rays after they are lifted ashore later. Probably many people will be interested."

The older one hardened his heart and nodded. "Fine, the price I offer is absolutely the fairest..."

"A-Cheng... come over and take a look at this cargo... What are you two doing there? Hurry over and help..."

At this moment, a voice of someone in their forties or fifties sounded, calling them from there.

"I'm busy, I'm busy right now. You guys handle the receiving over there yourselves..." The one called A-Cheng shouted back after turning his head, then continued talking to Ye Yaodong.

This was the young one, the person Ye Yaodong had asked first.

The other older one was called A-Shu when they called out to him.

With the devil rays as bait, the two re-quoted the prices. They gave 0.35 for golden eye snapper, accepting all regardless of size; 0.036 for toadfish; 0.33 for squid; 0.40 for sword shrimp, etc., all giving a good price.

Ye Yaodong was also extremely happy. The quoted prices were about the same as the ones he had just asked about outside, and some were even one or two cents higher.

Good fish are more popular, and they like large quantities because they are easy to sell. The larger the quantity, the more they can earn even when reselling. For cheap goods like toadfish, which are as plentiful as rice, the price at a wharf is fixed and basically doesn't fluctuate.

How much others quote depends on the quantity and quality of the goods and the conscience of the buyer. People who speak the local dialect won't be ripped off, but for those like them who speak an outside dialect, it's hard to say. Exploiting outsiders happens everywhere.

"We have such a large receiving point here, the price is very fair. You just said you asked around in advance, so you should have an idea. My price is the most reasonable. If there's no problem, shall we go to the boat and take a look at those fish you mentioned?"

"Fine, the prices for these fish are settled. As for the devil rays, let's look at them first before talking price. If it's suitable, we'll weigh them together; if not, we'll talk again. Anyway, let's go over together now and call people to move those goods down."

After Ye Yaodong finished speaking, he led the two away.

The two also greeted the middle-aged men receiving goods in the open space and then followed him out.

He first went to find his father and Uncle Pei to reunite with them.

After asking a few places, Ye Fu and Pei Fu returned to the original spot and waited there. They didn't expect Ye Yaodong to have brought people over directly after just asking for a price.

"Aren't you going to compare? Why did you bring people over directly? We need to compare goods from three different shops..."

Ye Fu spoke in their local county dialect, which the two couldn't understand, but they could guess the meaning from the tone.

"No need to compare. The price we give is the fairest. Let's hurry to the boat and take a look, otherwise, it will be dark before long."

Ye Yaodong also hurriedly explained to his father and Pei Fu, and the few of them squeezed toward the wharf while talking.

Near dusk, more fishing boats came ashore. Basket after basket of freshly caught seafood was lifted ashore. People were coming and going, and the few of them squeezed through the crowd toward the shore.

"Oh, you're smart. You don't need to squeeze to the front to ask the buyers for prices one by one. Asking the surrounding fishermen directly is faster."

"Yeah, I asked around. After I had an idea in my mind, I found the receiving point where they seemed to have the most people and the most goods, and just negotiated the price myself."

After Ye Yaodong finished speaking, he tilted his head and whispered to his father and Uncle Pei about the value of the devil ray gills, popularizing mobula gills to them, which almost shocked them.

"Really? Then this fish must sell for more than dozens of yuan!"

"Of course. Keep it down, we'll sell it for a high price later."

At this moment, there were noisy sounds and shouting everywhere around. They were whispering here, and the people following beside them couldn't hear clearly, not to mention they were speaking a local dialect.

Pei Fu muttered, "I didn't know the gills of this fish were so valuable. I don't know if the small ones are valuable..."

"I don't know about the small ones. Anyway, didn't I sell them normally when I caught them? It's just that the big ones are rare."

"It's a good thing this is the first time catching such big ones, so they haven't been sold cheaply. It's also a good thing I didn't contact a fresh-receiving boat. If I gave it to a fresh-receiving boat, they would just receive it at the normal devil ray price and then give a discount."

"How do you know, Dongzi? I see you still have one hanging on the boat!"

"I know these gills are useful, but I didn't know they were so expensive."

"How expensive?"

"I don't know."

Ye Fu was choked up. So after talking for a long time, he didn't know how expensive it was or how much it could sell for?

"You don't know, yet you keep saying it's very expensive?"

"Can't I test the waters? Stop talking, we'll know in a while. Anyway, anything sold for more than expected is profit."

Pei Fu also echoed, "Right, it's good to know the price is high. We'll need a few more people to help lift it later. If we lift it ashore, those who know the goods will definitely say so."

"Such a big one, weighing hundreds of jin, it will definitely attract onlookers. This isn't as common as sharks."

"Stop talking for now. Let's get on the boat first, take him to see the goods first, sell off those odds and ends on the boat, and then talk about this devil ray."

Seeing that they were about to walk down the steps and the noise around them had lessened, Ye Yaodong told his father and the others not to discuss it for now, lest they be overheard and it would be bad if they knew they didn't know the goods.

A-Shu and A-Cheng didn't know if they were brothers, but their ages looked to be ten years apart. One looked to be around thirty, and the other around forty. The two went up to Ye Yaodong's boat one after the other.

The boat workers had already moved all the golden eye snapper out of the fish hold and placed them on the deck. They had already seen the deck full of red goods while on the shore. Seeing is believing, and they were already full of smiles.

The fishermen on the surrounding shore also saw that both of their boats were full of golden eye snapper and had already been pointing and watching for a while.

Large boats like theirs don't dock every day. They only choose to dock when it's on the way and the distance isn't far, otherwise, it's not cost-effective and delays fishing.

But it's not that there aren't any. Of course, the most common are the trawlers that go out and return the same day, and small wooden boats. These types of boats are the most numerous, so the goods received every day are very mixed. It's rare to see something like this with over ten thousand jin, and there aren't many with over a thousand jin.

After all, the fishing industry is not developed yet.

However, after the two looked around the deck, the dried fish hanging and drying on the boat also attracted their attention. However, they didn't see the mobula gills Ye Yaodong said he had hung up to dry, so they had to focus on the goods on the deck first.

These are also good things. With such a large quantity, they can earn a lot by reselling them.

Someone walked around, poking at the fish gills while looking to see if they were fresh.

"There really is ten thousand jin. No lies."

"The quantity of the two boats is about the same. No problem. We'll weigh them boat by boat. I'll have the boat workers lift them directly to your open space."

"Lift them up together and put them in two separate open spaces. We have enough manpower, so they won't get mixed up. Now take us to see the devil rays first, to see if they are really as you said, two or three hundred jin each."

"They are definitely that big. Don't worry, I'll lead you to the fish hold."

"Where are the mobula gills you said you hung up to dry? Where are they?"

"On the rear deck."

Ye Yaodong first led them to see the mobula gills he had hung up to dry. Among the string of dried fish, one had a shape different from the others and was particularly conspicuous—that was the mobula gills.

The two touched the hanging goods and muttered a string of local dialect. Ye Yaodong was confused, only hearing a few words, knowing they were talking about this cargo, such a large fish gill, rare, etc...

He let them mutter. After they finished looking and were convinced, he led them to the fish hold to see the goods.

Ye Fu and Pei Fu had already organized the boat workers to move the goods, and incidentally left people in the open space to watch the goods.

After the two finished looking at the goods on the Dongsheng, they went to the Fengshou to take a look. After verifying the goods, the quantities matched what Ye Yaodong said, and then they followed him ashore with full smiles.

"You guys are lucky this trip. How many days have you been fishing? Looking at these goods, they are still quite fresh. They shouldn't have been left for two days, right?"

"Encountered a school of fish, otherwise how could both boats have caught five or six thousand jin of goods?"

"Is this the first trip out to sea after the New Year? It's a good start..."

"Let me tell you, the whole wharf can handle so much of your cargo. There aren't many who can take all of this away. They probably can't even arrange the trucks..."

"Your boat alone is worth three or four thousand yuan. Two boats are six or seven thousand, seven or eight thousand, and you want to settle immediately. Other buyers would have to partner up to receive it. Our family doesn't need to be so troublesome..."

"Our price is also the fairest, and we are also famous for our integrity..."

The two started to praise themselves incessantly.

Ye Yaodong listened to them talking in turns and nodded along, but didn't speak. After they finished talking, he asked.

"We've already negotiated the prices for those goods, but what price are you going to receive those devil rays at?"

Ye Fu was supervising the boat workers lifting the goods, while Pei Fu had been following them and listening since they came ashore.

He was also very curious, how much is such a big devil ray worth? Since the fish gills are good stuff, it should probably exceed its own value.

"Normally, a devil ray weighing dozens of jin is 0.6 yuan per jin when the price is good. Your specification is already over two hundred jin, so we receive it by quantity, not by weight. After all, you also know the mobula gills on its body are good stuff, and there is only one per fish."

"So how much for one devil ray?"

The middle-aged man named A-Shu held up a finger and made a 'ye' gesture. "Two hundred yuan for one devil ray. Your four are eight hundred yuan, and the other boat is also eight hundred."

Pei Fu widened his eyes in surprise, but he didn't dare to speak, hurriedly retracting his expression. Fortunately, he hadn't spoken and had just been following and listening.

He was also an old hand, knowing Ye Yaodong's glib tongue, he might be able to use his silver tongue to raise it a bit more.

Originally, he thought about just selling it to the fresh-receiving boat. Who knew they would catch so many golden eye snapper later? He couldn't bear to sell them cheaply, so he thought about trying to dock and see. He figured the extra money would probably be enough to subsidize the time delayed, and who knew what the situation was with the goods not caught.

This two hundred yuan was already a great joy among unexpected joys for him.

"You know, if you sold it to a fresh-receiving boat at sea, it might only be 0.3 yuan per jin."

"It's just that you guys are lucky to have caught so many golden eye snapper at the same time, so you can dock and return. Otherwise, if you made a special trip just for those few devil rays, the extra money wouldn't be enough to cover the round trip and the loss of time delayed on the road."

Ye Yaodong said with a smile, and at the same time pulled out two cigarettes for each of them. "For these two or three hundred jin fish, if the fresh-receiving boat is 0.3 yuan per jin, that's seventy or eighty. Doubling it ashore, it's one hundred and fifty per fish. But this doesn't include the value of the mobula gills. If you pay two hundred per fish, then I'll cut off the gills and sell you the fish meat, that's also fine."

"How can that be? This price is the price for the whole fish. If you cut off the gills directly, what's that supposed to mean?"

"These gills weigh three jin when cut off, and can weigh one jin when dried. That should be no problem. Do you think fifty yuan for this one jin of mobula gills is enough?"

Pei Fu was nodding in his heart.

Actually, Ye Yaodong didn't know if it was enough, but he felt fifty yuan per jin was enough.

Pei Fu also felt the same. Selling one jin of fish gills for fifty yuan—if someone told him that before, he wouldn't believe it. Even if they gave it to him, he wouldn't want it. What kind of top-tier fish gills can sell for fifty yuan a jin?

This could buy hundreds of jin of toadfish.

That A-Shu looked at A-Cheng before looking at Ye Yaodong again. "Add another twenty yuan, no more. This is because we see that your fish are really big and rare. Few fishing boats can catch such big devil rays."

"280... the extra eighty yuan, just treat it as the price for you to buy the mobula gills?"

Both of their eyes were almost popping out.

Pei Fu also opened his mouth wide. A-Dong really dared to say that?

One fish gill was just said to be fifty yuan, now add another eighty yuan, that's one hundred and thirty?

Is this gold-plated?

"Why don't you go rob someone? 280, you opened your mouth and raised it by eighty yuan all of a sudden..."

"It didn't raise by eighty yuan. Didn't you call 220? Then I called 280, it only raised by 60."

"Only! You're quite good at talking, and it 'only' raised by sixty."

The young man called A-Cheng bit the word 'only' hard, glaring at him angrily.

"Then why don't you discuss it? We'll talk about the price of the devil rays later. Let's weigh these goods that have been lifted up first?"

"Then let's weigh them first. We only raised the price for you because we saw the devil rays. This is already letting you take advantage. We are very sincere, you should also be sincere, don't quote prices randomly like this."

"Let's weigh these goods first, and you should also think about the price carefully..." A-Shu also said.

Ye Yaodong shrugged, it didn't matter. Anyway, it's fine to sell these goods first.

He was just quoting randomly anyway, and he was also afraid of selling at a loss.

Wait a while. When such a big fish is lifted up, those who know the goods will naturally scramble for it. By then, he will know the true value and quote a higher price. It's better than quoting low, lest he regret it later.

Originally he wanted to quote three hundred, but thinking about it, two hundred and eighty sounds better, be a bit more merciful.

He is an honest man.

They lifted the golden eye snapper basket by basket one after another. At first, it was nothing, but as the quantity lifted more and more, there were more and more onlookers, all pointing and talking there.

"So many of these fish?"

"Must have encountered a school of fish..."

"Everyone caught a little bit today, but how can it be so exaggerated..."

"Those are large boats. They go out for a few days without returning. How can our small boats compare..."

"They happened to have two large boats dock, so they won't receive our scattered goods anymore. Go, go, go, sell to someone else..."

"Anyway, I've already sold my goods. It's rare for two large boats to dock at the wharf today, so I'll just take a look at what goods they have and watch the fun..."

"It's not dark yet, watch for a while, no rush to go home to eat..."

Several middle-aged and elderly men, probably their own family members, were full of joy, directing the men in the open space to lift basket after basket to be weighed.

He and Uncle Pei's goods were weighed at the same time, divided into two sides. The two of them were also staring at the scale there, watching people count.

Ye Fu waited for them to be weighed one by one, then recycled his family's bamboo baskets and had people move them to the boat.

Workers moved back and forth. After all the fish on the boat were moved, leaving a few super-large devil rays, they shouted loudly for everyone to come and help together.

Everyone first tied the fish with ropes, and then used a few sticks on the boat to lift them together. After all, weighing hundreds of jin, lifting them off the boat is not an easy task.

The crowd was attracted by the goods they kept moving ashore, gathering at the receiving point. They didn't look much at the shore. After all, the sun had already set, and most of the fishing boats that should have returned had already returned. There was nothing to see on the shore, but it was quite lively here in the open space, hearing that it was the cargo of two large boats.

Only after they lifted the devil rays off the boat did someone notice, and then exclaimed, attracting the crowd that hadn't left the wharf.

"Holy crap? What fish is this so big? Devil ray? It's a devil ray, such a big devil ray..."

"Ah, there's actually such a big devil ray..."

"I thought those red sea bream were lucky enough to catch so many, but I didn't expect there to be such a big devil ray caught..."

"Is it very valuable to be so big?"

"Of course it's valuable. For a fish of this size, one jin is worth two or three cents, not to mention such a big one."

"Then if it's hundreds of jin, wouldn't it sell for over a hundred yuan? Made a fortune, one fish sells for so much."

"Some fish are just that expensive..."

After they lifted one devil ray up, they threw it in the open space, untied the rope, and continued to lift it on the boat.

Some fishermen nearby were watching, all using their feet, palms, or other baskets, shoulder poles, etc., to measure, wanting to measure the size of this fish.

Just didn't expect that there was something even more shocking. Before long, another one of similar size was thrown on top, and the two were stacked together.

"There are two!"

"There are actually two, made a fortune. No wonder these two boats docked directly. It turns out they caught so many good things. It's a pity to sell them to the fresh-receiving boat at sea..."

"Are there any more?"

"How is that possible? These two are already enough..."

"Ah... there's another one beside..."

As soon as the voice fell, the boat workers on Pei Fu's side also lifted one down, shouting for the crowd nearby to make way and leave some open space.

"There's more?!"

"Is this from the other boat? Are the two boats fishing side by side? How come the goods caught are the same, almost the same?"

"Are there any more?"

"There really are more, look, look, another one is lifted up on the shore over there..."

"Really made a fortune."

"One fish is over a hundred yuan, if there are a few more, wouldn't it be over a thousand?"

"Who told you one is over a hundred? Do you know goods? It can sell for more than a hundred! The fish gills of this fish are called mobula gills. One tael of dried ones sells for twenty or thirty! Those fish gills are the most expensive part of the whole fish. Hundreds of jin of the whole body added together are not as expensive as that fish gill."

As soon as the voice fell, the man walked directly to the boat workers and asked, "Which one is your boat boss? Is it settled that the fish is sold to their family?"

"Don't know, the boat boss is watching the scale over there..." The boat worker pointed in Ye Yaodong's direction.

The middle-aged man immediately walked toward Ye Yaodong.

"Little brother, how many of these devil rays do you have?"

"Eight in total from the two boats, are you interested?"

The middle-aged man slapped his thigh directly and said regretfully, "So many? Sold yet?"

A-Shu immediately said vigilantly, "We are negotiating the price. All the goods in front of him were received by me, and that fish is waiting for us to negotiate the price. Old Hai, don't make trouble. You should know the rule of first come, first served."

"This is not something sold to you yet, and it's not up to you to decide, right?"

Ye Yaodong also looked at it with some difficulty. His goods were still being weighed there, and the accounts were still being calculated. The money hadn't arrived yet, so he couldn't offend anyone.

"We are still negotiating the price, not negotiated yet. We plan to talk after these goods are weighed."

"How much do you plan to sell for? How much did he offer?"

"None of your business. Go back to your own stall. You are not welcome here." A-Cheng glared at him angrily, wanting to drive him away immediately.

"It's rare to encounter such good goods. Can't I watch the fun, take a look, and ask? Let me tell you, this fish will be a loss if it's not 280..."

Ye Yaodong was happy. This person probably has a conflict with his peers.

A-Cheng and A-Shu looked at each other with gnashing teeth, not caring about weighing the goods, and hurriedly called the partners beside them to push him forward.

As he walked, he shouted, "That's mobula gills, mobula gills that are thirty yuan a tael..."

The faces of the people at the stall turned black.