Chapter 279: So poor they could only eat seafood

A Qing saw the bottom of the water pit and exclaimed, "Old Fu was right after all—this water pit looks wide but isn't deep."

"Old Fu, how did you judge that?"

Old Fu stared at the pit full of splashing fish, so stunned he didn't even hear A Qing speaking.

The old man's head was filled with just one voice.

So many fish.

So many fish.

Wu An stopped the water pump whose Luck Value had already been emptied, found another water pit, tossed the pipe in, then filled the pump's Luck Value again.

Start.

Boom—

The water pump began operation.

Wu An didn't bother with it, quickly got dressed, grabbed a bucket, and went down into the first water pit.

There was still some water at the bottom.

But the deepest part didn't even reach the ankle, and these small pits were full of flopping fish; because there were so many fish, they stirred the water murky.

As the saying goes,

Murky water is easy to catch fish in.

Wu An reached straight into the water, showing the boldness of an expert.

Actually, though he couldn't tell what kind of fish it was, he saw the fish's body was smooth, not like the poisonous scorpionfish with its continuous dorsal fins and well-developed spines.

There were too many fish.

He casually grabbed one and caught a fish.

The fish wasn't big, but it put up a fight; he shook it in the water, washed off the mud, then pulled it out.

Old Fu Tou squatted nearby; when he saw what fish Wu An held, he couldn't help jumping up: "Holy shit, it's black carp—this little broken pit actually yielded black carp!"

He simply couldn't stay calm.

As an old fisherman, he knew well which fish were valuable and which weren't; naturally, the valuable ones were harder to come by and rarely encountered.

He'd worked on the Chen Family trawler for years, rarely catching black carp, and had never even heard of anyone getting black carp from a water pit.

Wu An could pick any water pit at random and still catch black carp.

This luck is truly heaven-defying.

A Qing also got dressed, went down into the water pit, heard Old Fu Tou shouting, and teased: "Old Fu, you're not used to seeing strange things, are you?"

"Before, I and my brother had caught black carp."

"This fish is damn expensive."

"And it's very tasty."

Wu An glanced over: "A Qing, what are you showing off for?"

"Don't go waving a big knife in front of Guan Gong's gate."

"Old Fu, you've been a fisherman for decades—what seafood haven't you eaten? What's black carp to you?"

Old Fu Tou's old face turned red.

He really hasn't eaten it.

Don't look at him as a five-guarantee household with subsidies, still working on the boat for money—actually his life is pretty much settled, and all his money goes to his hobbies.

In his house, besides liquor, it's all liquor.

Even though black carp costs several hundred per catty, if he ever saw someone selling it, he couldn't bring himself to buy it to eat.

With that money, he'd rather buy liquor.

Wu An didn't notice Old Fu Tou's reaction, bent over with his head down in a small puddle catching fish, and quickly tossed the whole family of black carp into the bucket.

A Qing also stuck out his rear to catch fish, happily showing off that he'd caught black carp too.

Wu An smiled and nodded.

The last time he encountered black carp was right after buying the water pump, and he broke even in a day.

In less than half an hour, the water pump's 12 points of Luck Value were instantly drained—this trip could also net a big profit.

Old Fu Tou was still dazed when A Qing shouted: "Old Fu, what are you spacing out for? Hurry up and come down!"

Old Fu Tou quickly responded, got dressed efficiently, and also grabbed a bucket to go down into the water pit.

The result—he stepped down with one foot.

He felt something under his foot, reached down, grabbed it, and pulled out a crushed flower crab, which made him feel terrible.

There's really a lot of stuff in this water pit.

Not long after.

The three of them swept clean one side of the water pit.

Although the water pit wasn't big, the three all had full hauls; though Old Fu Tou went down last, he actually caught the most.

Refreshing.

So refreshing.

Catching fish so happily made Old Fu Tou feel as if he'd returned to his youth.

His family had no boat, so he couldn't go out to sea; being young, he couldn't join a fishing crew, so he often went to Panshuikeng.

Back then marine resources were abundant; just find a water pit and the haul was great—often they hadn't finished gathering seafood before the tide came in.

Although they were dirt poor and hungry, every day they were truly happy.

One round lasted a day; returning home, everyone turned into mud monkeys.

Even though they brought back lots of seafood, back home they still couldn't avoid a beating.

Why?

Because he got his clothes dirty, jumping up and down on Panshuikeng also easily tears clothes.

At that time seafood was worthless, and sometimes they worried about having too much seafood they couldn't eat; to avoid waste, they could only feed it to poultry.

He often felt ashamed for only being able to eat sea cucumber and abalone, mocked by villagers who said his family was so poor they could only eat these seafood.

Sometimes he ate rice while chatting idly, sighing how great life is now! Every day there was white rice. Back then it was bitter, eating only abalone every day, and even young people said he was showing off.

The three climbed out of the pit.

A Qing poured out the seafood in the bucket, he and Lao Fu simply sorted it, while Wu An went to check the situation in the second pit.

Luck Value cleared again!

Wu An was overjoyed.

Looking eagerly at the pit where the water level had dropped a lot, he wondered what good stuff might be inside.

After the second pit dried up, A Qing and Lao Fu Tou had finished sorting, carrying their buckets over, seeing the small puddles splashing everywhere, both were delighted.

The three went down into the pit together.

A Qing saw a fish breaking the surface, reached out and grabbed it, lifted it up and shouted, "Brother, look what this is."

Wu An and Lao Fu Tou looked over.

"Three-knife!"

The two shouted in unison.

Wu An suddenly realized, the significance of cleared Luck Value was indeed extraordinary.

"Huo Ming Dao" really has good resources.

"It's a three-knife, right?"

"I didn't see wrong, did I?"

"Last time trawling also caught some, over a thousand per catty!"

Lao Fu Tou shouted somewhat excitedly.

Wu An glanced at the three-knife fish a few more times and said, "A Qing caught this one, it's over a catty, could sell for 1500 per catty."

Lao Fu Tou looked at Wu An speaking confidently and asked doubtfully, "You've caught them before?"

Wu An smiled and nodded.

Lao Fu Tou opened his mouth slightly, then closed it, not knowing what to say.

Compared to Wu An and A Qing, he seems like a novice who's never seen the world.

Then they continued to inspect.

The three spread out to search; only when they needed to move a stone together did they call out. A Qing soon found another three-knife, Wu An's luck was also good—he caught the biggest three-knife, weighing over three catties, which made him extremely happy.

Lao Fu Tou, being an old fisherman, was skilled at catching fish and shrimp, had caught the most seafood, but hadn't yet found a three-knife fish; hearing A Qing and Wu An shout from time to time, he scanned the puddles sharply, also wanting to catch a three-knife.

Finally.

The three climbed out of the pit.

"Lao Fu, awesome, awesome, you caught the most again, the seafood in the bucket is piling up." A Qing saw this and laughed, praising him.

Lao Fu Tou snorted, feeling A Qing was mocking him.

Wu An went to check the third pit's situation; the result was a great disappointment, only reducing Luck Value by 2, showing this pit wasn't good.

After the three searched around, together they still hadn't caught half a bucket of seafood.

The fourth pit wasn't good either, mostly stone crabs; after being busy for over an hour, Wu An couldn't help feeling anxious.

There are still several points of Luck Value unused.

A Qing, seeing this, volunteered to pick a pit; the result was also poor, only consuming 2 Luck Value, fortunately the pit wasn't big, so it didn't take long.

Even a mosquito, small as it is, is still meat.

The three still went into the puddles to search; A Qing was greatly disappointed, turned to Lao Fu Tou and said, "Lao Fu, the tide is coming in soon."

"Probably we can only inspect one more pit."

"Hurry up and take a look."

"Pick a pit."

Lao Fu Tou looked toward Wu An.

Wu An nodded and said, "What A Qing said is correct."

"A Qing and I are just guessing blindly; you have experience, please pick a reliable one."

After finishing inspecting the pits here, it's almost past three o'clock; next we go to collect the longline fishing gear, after collecting it we must rush back nonstop, with no time to fish and consume Luck Value.

Although the remaining Luck Value isn't much, after all there are still several points; if converted to money, it's at least several hundred.

If it's just wasted like this, he feels it's a pity.

Upon hearing this, Lao Fu Tou instantly felt like an Alexander.