Chapter 410: Old iron, that hits home

The two helpers stared at each other.

"Brother Jin, I think we two can't manage this."

"Why don't you call two more people?"

"We two would like to earn more money, but these mantis shrimp aren't something else; they need to be moved quickly, and if they die, we can't afford the responsibility."

Mantis shrimp and nine-section shrimp are similar; both have a fierce temperament.

If they feel even slightly unwell, they'll die right before your eyes.

A Jin laughed helplessly.

What Wu An said was correct; compared to previous hauls, this trip was a bit lacking, but compared to other fishing boats' catches, it could already be described as a bumper harvest.

He quickly made a phone call.

He called two more people over.

Seeing this situation, many idle folks who had nothing else to do came over to watch the commotion.

"Why did you call two more helpers over?"

"It's that handsome guy from Xixi Village; his luck is just too good."

"It's him."

The fisherman who had previously been refused when trying to sell mantis shrimp also came over to look, and, speaking sarcastically to the bystanders, said: "A Jin really dotes on this kid; every time he calls over so many helpers to work, while we pitch in to help sell the goods, he just needs to watch—really makes people envy him to death."

"You can't envy that; I heard this kid is friends with Boss Gao."

"Heh, no wonder." That person chuckled twice and said, "Given Boss Gao's face, A Jin will surely give a high price."

"Don't worry about the business; Boss Gao won't make a loss-making deal, and this kid also has good luck—he always manages to get good goods."

"But there are times when luck runs out; just now, A Jin, in order to take this kid's goods, didn't even want the mantis shrimp, and I heard today that our dock hasn't had many mantis shrimp landed."

"There's nothing to be done; they have connections, so they're definitely favored."

"Your luck isn't bad; how much mantis shrimp did you catch?"

"About a hundred and ten catties."

"Holy crap, today's awesome; let's go for drinks later."

"Sure, sure." The person replied cheerfully, but when he saw basket after basket of mantis shrimp being moved out, the smile on his face froze instantly.

"Mantis shrimp, still mantis shrimp..."

"This basket should hold about twenty to thirty catties."

"There definitely is; we're almost up to ten baskets."

"I counted—this is the eleventh basket; wait, another one makes it about three hundred catties, I estimate."

Basket after basket.

The helpers moved quickly, not daring to stop, running back and forth with baskets weighing dozens of catties; soon they were drenched in sweat, sweat flying, back and forth.

Never mind them being tired; even the idle onlookers nearby looked exhausted.

Still not done?

Several people felt this scene was familiar.

"A boat ten or so meters long can really hold that much?"

"You think it's a raft? A boat this size naturally has plenty of capacity; four or five tons of catch would definitely fit."

"Hold that much? No way; my boat is about the same size, and I've never loaded that much before."

"Buddy, could it be that the boat isn't the limit, but you just can't get that much catch?"

"..."

Holy crap!

Old iron, that hits home.

The truth is a sharp blade; it stabbed many people into silence.

Someone said to the guy who had previously tried to sell mantis shrimp to A Jin but failed: "A Jin won't buy your mantis shrimp, so don't be resentful; with your little amount, A Jin might just look down on it."

"Haha, that makes sense."

The bystanders also laughed along.

That person was speechless, covered his face, and walked away.

Four helpers took over ten minutes to unload the mantis shrimp; this was only because Wu An and the others had already packed the mantis shrimp into fish baskets beforehand—if they had to pack and move them on the spot, it would take even longer.

"It must be over a thousand catties."

"Holy crap, that would be fifty or sixty thousand!"

"Roughly speaking, mantis shrimp are scarce now, and the price has risen a lot compared to earlier."

"That kid from Xixi Village really has great luck."

"Yeah, it's enviable to death; he must have set crab pots, though I don't know where he put them."

"Shh, keep it down; you'd better not break the taboo."

"What's up?"

"You don't know? Someone stole this kid's crab pots, already been arrested; they're from the Neighboring Town, many have been caught, and it's said they'll go to jail."

"That serious? It's just stealing a crab pot."

"Stealing a few crab pots is a small matter, but what about the catch? You don't even see how much haul this kid brings back each time he goes out to sea."

"Hiss... you're right when you put it that way."

"Watch what you say; if something happens and they find out you said this, they might investigate you."

"Can they even investigate me?"

"I don't know, but anyway, the people from the Neighboring Town have already been arrested."

Everyone whispered.

Wu An followed A Jin off the ship, looked left and right, didn't see Yu Kai Lang, couldn't be bothered to call, and simply waited at the dock.

Hearing the murmurs around him, a faint smile appeared on his face; it was good that Ma Weiqun's matter had blown up.

High crime costs can also reduce a lot of trouble.

He's not speaking nonsense; high crime costs usually suppress crime rates.

"Come, have a smoke, drink some water, take a break." Wu An called out, passed around a cigarette, the workers didn't stand on ceremony, gulped down a bottle of mineral water, smoked, and went back aboard.

"Is this an Item?"

"Again, basket after basket."

"This stuff is cheap; even a few hundred catties don't fetch much money."

Everyone stood on tiptoe to look; someone came over and greeted Wu An: "Good‑looking guy, how'd you get the Item?"

Wu An said: "Light lure."

That person sized up the fishing boat and said: "This isn't a light boat either."

As the name suggests, a light boat has lights all over; his family's boat is a light boat, with lights hung all over it, while Wu An's boat has only a few big lights.

Wu An said: "Having lights is enough."

That person tried to argue a bit more, but seeing the workers hauling basket after basket of Item, he resentfully stepped aside, took out a Cigarette, and started smoking.

After the workers finished moving them, he muttered: "Over a thousand catties, damn, it's about the same as my own trip out to sea."

He felt unbalanced inside.

Soon.

A boat worker called out to him, he boarded, a light boat slowly put out to sea, and the worker asked: "Brother, we're about to go out to sea—what are you going to look at for excitement?"

"A boat that just came back hauled in over a thousand catties of Item."

"What's the big deal? Last time we also ran into Item and hauled in almost two thousand catties."

"But that boat wasn't a light boat."

"Huh?"

After unloading the Item, they also unloaded the mud carp; A Jin saw the eel, nodded, saw a red‑spotted grouper, and his face lit up: "Wow, this big eel, plus a red‑spotted grouper—I knew you'd always bring back good catches whenever you go out to sea."

Wu An said: "That's about it; this trip's Longline Fishing and Crab Pot aren't working out well."

A Jin said: "Not bad either."

Although only one red‑spotted grouper is valuable, the rest of the catch is ordinary, but the large quantity and the Oil Eel King still fetch a decent price.

When he saw four workers straining to lift out a Yellowfin Tuna, his eyes widened and he jumped up excitedly: "Brother An, you're still pretending—you managed to land such a big Yellowfin Tuna and yet say this trip's haul is no good?"

Wu An spread his hands: "Catching this yellowfin was pure luck."