Chapter 284: Bursting the Hold: Secret Manual

A Qing went back onto the boat, called out, and everyone started catching fish from the live‑fish hold.

In fact, the fish in the live‑fish hold are quite a hassle to catch.

A typical fishing vessel's live‑fish hold hardly contains any fish; usually just a few high‑value sea fish and that's considered impressive.

Result.

Bang Xian and the others stared at the densely packed tiger groupers in the live‑fish hold, and everyone was stunned.

"That kid can't be farming tiger groupers at sea, can he?"

"It's hard to say for sure."

"Going out to sea is just like buying stock."

"Alright, stop the chatter, get to work; with this many fish it'll take half a day to catch them all."

"I was planning to have a little drink and find a place to have some fun, but if we work until midnight we'll be dead tired and won't get any pleasure at all."

They quickly divided the work: some hauled the fish and placed them into net cages; because they were live fish, they dared not pack too many into each cage. Even though there were fewer than other mixed catches, it actually required more effort.

A Qing stood by watching; these tiger groupers were extremely pricey, even the smallest were worth a hundred or two hundred, so he couldn't afford to look away.

"Whoa, is it not over yet?"

"It's been almost half an hour, right?"

"Brother Jin, Boss Fang, the people you hired are useless, their movements are too sluggish, and they still haven't finished unloading the cargo."

"Exactly, what kind of people did you hire? They can't finish moving everything in half a day."

Bang Xian, who was lowering the net cages, heard that and shouted an insult: "Fuck your mother's fart!"

"Can't you see? You haven't noticed how much cargo we moved down."

"There are still quite a few tiger groupers in the live‑fish hold, they're very pricey; who would dare act carelessly?"

"If Brother Jin and Boss Fang hadn't hired you, you'd better reflect on yourselves."

After the outburst, Bang Xian flaunted a tiger grouper that was still leaping in the net cage; everyone crowded around to look, and those at the back even stood on tiptoe.

Seeing so many tiger groupers, they exclaimed again.

"Whoa, this many?"

"Damn, they're not small at all, pretty well‑proportioned, probably farmed."

"No, buddy, you just opened your mouth, huh? This looks wild to me."

"This is really a big fortune!"

"What kind of luck is this?"

Everyone kept praising, full of envy.

Bang Xian got impatient.

He originally wanted to show off, but people swarmed around him, blocking his way; being this conspicuous all the time is actually kind of enjoyable.

But now he's still moving net cages, his hands are sore.

"Move aside."

"Damn, I've never caught or even seen a tiger grouper before; what's so great about it?"

"I can't move this any longer!"

Bang Xian muttered curses.

Someone curiously asked, "How many tiger groupers are on the boat?"

Bang Xian shook his head, "Too many to count."

"Not that many, maybe a few dozen," Wu An interjected, and everyone turned to stare at him, eyes wide, as if they wanted to knife him dead.

"A few dozen?"

"Not that many?"

"You think you'll die if you don't act like a big shot, huh?"

"Can't you see we're all so jealous we might develop green‑eyed disease; if we get sick, will you cure us?"

Brother Jin burst out laughing.

Elder Fang teased, "A An, how many is considered many?"

"Don't bring back a hundred tiger groupers; let me be clear, I can't swallow that many."

I'm not kidding.

That's the truth.

Even these few dozen tiger groupers aren't easy to process.

After all, these fish are quite expensive.

Selling them retail isn't realistic; they have to go through channels.

And channel sales also take time, which is a cost; honestly, the pressure is considerable.

What is Gao Qiangqi doing?

He's busy expanding channels, conquering new markets.

Besides that, Gao Qiangqi is leading deep‑processing efforts, still in the planning stage; Elder Fang intends to take a stake, but he hasn't learned the details yet.

Just thinking about it gives him a headache.

Only Gao Qiangqi can handle it; the money is clearly substantial, yet he's so busy his feet never touch the ground.

People are different.

Elder Fang hasn't made enough money; if he did, he'd plan to enjoy life. For now, he doesn't intend to expand, just holding onto a small plot and continuing like this.

But Gao Qiangqi is like a wind‑up machine, stepping up one rung at a time, constantly climbing, and watching him makes one tired.

Everyone watched net cage after net cage of tiger groupers being lowered from the boat, successive exclamations rang out, and some even tallied how many tiger groupers had been moved and what they were worth.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Beside Chen Baosheng, someone suddenly asked: "Young Master Chen, can trawling catch this many tiger fish?"

"……" Chen Baosheng remained silent, without any reaction.

His silence was deafening.

The person who asked the question immediately realized, coughed twice, looked up at the sky; when people are embarrassed, they always act busy.

The helpers all got off the boat together, and everyone started chattering again.

Finally, the moving is done.

Never mind whether those people are tired from moving the cargo; even the onlookers are worn out from watching the excitement.

Lao Fu Tou followed them down.

Being stared at by everyone, he was still a bit unaccustomed, lowered his head slightly, walked up to Wu An's side, and said: "A Qing said you were looking for me."

Wu An nodded, clapped his hands, and said: "Aren't you all curious how my little boat managed to catch so much fish?"

"White pomfret, and tiger grouper."

"Oh, right, right, right, there's also a mouse grouper, just one; I would have forgotten if you didn't mention it."

Lao Fu Tou slightly opened his mouth.

He thought, what is Wu An blabbering about? He didn't even mention the mouse grouper, and speaking like that, isn't he just asking for envy?

"Why?"

"Curious, too curious."

"What secret technique do you actually have?"

"Brother, if you're willing to share, I'll set up a table at my tavern, and we can eat and chat."

Someone shouted excitedly.

Wu An smiled, patted Lao Fu Tou's shoulder, and said: "No need to set up a table; I'll share selflessly."

"This is the winning secret to a bursting fish hold!"

"An old fisherman who has worked at sea for several decades."

"From setting out to sea, choosing fishing spots, to deploying longline fishing, he handles it all himself."

"As the boat owner, I'm completely being carried away by him."

Everyone looked at Lao Fu Tou.

Lao Fu Tou looked bewildered; although what Wu An said was also correct, he didn't know why, but he felt a bit guilty.

"Really because of me?"

"Am I really that capable?"

"He works on the Chen Family trawler, and he's never had such a good catch before."

"Who is this?"

"I know... this isn't Lao Fu Tou from the Chen Family trawler, right?"

"It's him; it seems he's always been working on the Chen Family fishing boat."

"Did he switch jobs?"

"That's for sure; such a skilled old fisherman couldn't possibly have been fired, right?"

Everyone whispered to each other.

Chen Baosheng heard this, and his face turned extremely grim.

"So Lao Fu Tou wasn't dismissed by them, but when he left, he also caused quite an unpleasant scene."

"Now the village is still spreading the story of the Chen Family's refusal to rescue someone in danger, causing his father to still hide at home, not having stepped out."

He had a bad premonition.

What does Wu An want to do?

What goal does he want to achieve?