Chapter 280: If You

Lao Fu Tou nervously walked back and forth between several water pits, and even lay down to look.

A Qing followed and watched.

He really wanted to learn.

While looking, he kept asking, "Lao Fu, this water pit looks okay."

"How did it go?"

"What about this one?"

"I think this one's no good; the water surface is as calm as a mirror—there's no way there'd be a catch."

"Hey, why are you still sniffing… what could you possibly smell?"

Lao Fu Tou was already nervous; hearing A Qing chatter on like a mosquito beside him, he directly shoved A Qing to the side.

Wu An shouted at A Qing, telling him not to cause trouble.

He could see Lao Fu Tou was under a lot of pressure; to be absolutely sure, he even stuck out his tongue and tasted the seawater.

Whether it helped or not, he was really giving it his all.

Lao Fu Tou finally picked a water pit.

Wu An and A Qing brought over the water pump, started it up, and began pumping water.

Lao Fu Tou squatted at the edge, keeping watch.

If the water pit he picked turned out to have a poor catch, then this old fisherman's reputation would be ruined.

Wu An watched, noticed the Luck Value beginning to drop, gave a slight nod, and thought, "An old fisherman is an old fisherman—he really does have some skill."

A Qing asked, "Brother, do you think this water pit has potential?"

He nodded.

A Qing patted Lao Fu Tou's shoulder, smiling and said, "Lao Fu, don't be nervous—my brother says your water pit has potential."

Lao Fu Tou didn't utter a sound, still nervous, didn't take A Qing's words to heart, and Wu An's mouth hadn't been blessed—whatever he said was useless.

Of course.

He also hoped there would be a harvest.

A Qing turned and asked, "Brother, how did you figure that out?"

"I didn't figure it out." Wu An casually said, "Just a guess."

A Qing then said to Lao Fu Tou, "Then it's settled—my brother guessed it, and his guesses are always accurate."

Lao Fu Tou: "……"

I'm old, but not deaf—I don't need you as a mouthpiece.

Wu An laughed and cried at the same time.

A Qing really knows how to hype him up.

After the tide began to rise, the water pit also became visible.

The water pit Lao Fu Tou chose was far from the shore; the tide would take a while to reach it. Wu An saw the Luck Value empty, then left, calling to go down into the water pit.

"We've got water, we've got water."

"It's black bream—hey, not bad."

Lao Fu Tou also laughed and said, "I caught a small grouper."

Wu An said, "No wonder you're an old fisherman—your vision is sharp."

Lao Fu Tou laughed even more brightly and modestly said, "Not at all, not at all."

A Qing also kept flattering nonstop.

Without saying more, the emotional value was maxed out.

Result.

A Qing kept patting, then something felt off.

"The water pit Lao Fu Tou picked—you guessed it had potential, and sure enough it does."

"Your guess was really accurate."

"……"

Lao Fu Tou rolled his eyes, too lazy to argue with this guy.

Wu An also happily accepted it.

The water pit was indeed chosen by Lao Fu Tou, but to have such a haul, you dare say it's not because of his Luck Boost?

As the tide came in, the three moved the catch onto the small boat, swaying back to the fishing boat; seeing several sacks of seafood, Lao Fu Tou was convinced.

Although Wu An and A Qing acted very unprofessionally, the harvest was truly good.

Moreover.

There were many ways to work; busy with this, then busy with that, it didn't feel dull or boring—rather, it was like playing. After working so long, he only got more enthusiastic.

He went to steer the boat.

He headed straight to the longline fishing spot, and his heart started to drum again.

A Qing couldn't stay idle; catching fish and scooping shrimp at the water pit wasn't too tiring, so he seized the time to tidy up the water pump and pipes, doing a simple cleaning.

The longline fishing was just below the bay mouth, not far away.

Wu An watched from afar, noticed many seabirds circling above the sea surface, found it odd, and went over to ask Lao Fu Tou.

Lao Fu Tou naturally saw it too, smiling and said, "A An, this is a good thing."

"Seabirds don't circle for no reason."

"This means our longline fishing must have hit a school of fish, so the catch is plentiful, causing the seabirds to hover here."

His tone was very confident.

As expected, before they even started longline fishing, the bobbers were all moving, indicating a decent catch; otherwise such a situation wouldn't happen.

Just as they were about to reel in the line, A Qing let out a strange shout, pointing at the seabirds in the sky and cursing: "Ganlin Mother, if you've got the guts, come down and see if I don't eat you!"

Wu An couldn't hold back.

Fortunately he was wearing a hat, so even if bird droppings fell, it didn't matter.

Lao Fu went to set up the longline, while letting Wu An steer the boat.

The first line already yielded a catch.

"Brother, it's a white pomfret!"

"It's not small, about a catty."

Wu An also broke into a smile upon hearing that.

Pomfret comes in many varieties—white pomfret, silver pomfret, gray croaker, fighting pomfret, and so on; worth noting is that golden pomfret isn't actually a pomfret, and it's cheap.

As for white pomfret, Wu An personally thinks it's the tastiest.

People around here like it quite a bit; it's popular in the market, so they can naturally sell it at a good price.

Normally pomfret are caught by trawling, yet they managed to snag some with longline fishing, which is quite remarkable—perhaps a school just happened to run into the gear.

"There's also whitefish, croaker, red snapper—Lao Fu, your luck's not bad."

"One wu fish, two red seabream, three pomfret, four horse mackerel, five croaker, six preserved fish—just about to complete the set."

Wu An also laughed.

This saying summarizes the seafood that everyone agrees is beloved, all dubbed "sea chicken"; in fact the rankings aren't ordered, this is just an accolade, and also a tactic to boost prices.

"Let's see how luck goes." Lao Fu Tou secretly let out a breath of relief, saying with a chuckle, in his view such a haul was already pretty good.

After all, the fish sell for several dozen yuan per jin, and he's quite satisfied.

But not long after laughing, several hooks came up empty in succession.

A Qing looked anxious and wanted to try his luck.

As soon as he took over, he did catch a few fish, but soon it stopped working again.

Switching back to Lao Fu gave the same result.

A Qing hurriedly shouted to Wu An: "Brother, give it a try."

Wu An answered.

He swapped places with Lao Fu Tou; after just two hooks, he hauled up a large white pomfret weighing six or seven jin, a very rare catch.

Too bad it was already dead.

A Qing quickly sent it to the ice locker; upon returning, he saw the water surface churning violently, leaned over the gunwale to look down, and discovered it was a tiger grouper.

A Qing hurriedly flattered: "It's got to be you, brother."

The tiger grouper is naturally hot-tempered; perhaps hearing A Qing's praise of Wu An made it even angrier, and it struggled fiercely—too bad, at that moment it was like an old monk striking a wooden fish, a punching bag.

A Qing grabbed a stick and thumped it twice; even if the beating was pointless, he muttered: "Let you not understand, let you not understand."

The tiger grouper immediately became resigned, accepting its fate.

After hauling it up, A Qing took over.

Wu An continued pulling.

Not long after, they pulled up another; A Qing happily gestured and said this one was even bigger than the previous.

Lao Fu Tou steered the boat, also keeping an ear out for any noise.

He originally thought it didn't matter who set the longline, but hearing A Qing shout like that, he had to admit that luck really could affect the catch.

It wasn't that he disagreed; he just felt uneasy.

As an employee, he does the easiest work while making the boss do the hard labor.

That's not okay.