Chapter 534: The braised beef noodles contain no beef, but they do have seafood

Lao Fu Tou didn't say anything about it.

The fishing boat's load is about sixty tons; on the first day, setting aside travel time, at most they worked ten hours, catching about ten tons of fish.

This trip, operations are expected to last three to five days; at this pace, the problem of overcapacity is not big.

He told everyone the news, and everyone was very happy.

Fu Yongning was somewhat surprised.

No work at night?

Everyone quickly fell into their roles; after a day of busy work, rapport began to show.

Soon.

The net bag was hauled up.

"It's full again."

"Mazu blesses us; surely it'll all be catch, but hopefully not all crab."

"This haul probably amounts to about four tons."

"Hmm, that's about the limit of the net bag."

"Good thing we hauled the net in time; dragging it any longer might not have come up smoothly."

Although it's rare for too much catch to tear the trawl, it does happen; think about it, the net bag is the fish's protection—if it rips, the catch inside will surely escape.

The fish aren't stupid.

Given a chance to escape, they'd dash off faster than anyone.

After the fishing boat steadied, Fu Yongning looked at Wu An: "A An, untie it."

Wu An was just about to step forward.

A Qing raised his hand: "Brother, brother, let me try."

Wu An nodded: "Then you go."

Undoing the net each time is like opening a blind box; it's actually quite fun.

A Qing stepped forward, rubbed his hands, loosened the knot; as the crane lifted, countless shrimp and crab fell onto the deck. Seeing the crab mound, Wu An couldn't laugh anymore.

That was nothing but worry.

He turned his head to look at Mei Wu and A Qing; their faces were also scrunched together.

A Qing went further, slapping his left hand with his right, cursing his own luck; next time he won't undo the net.

Wu An said: "That's enough."

"Don't be so conspicuous."

"This has nothing to do with luck; last haul I also pulled up a lot of crab."

A Qing suddenly understood: "Brother, I get it."

"No, no, no, this is luck."

"It's your fate influencing me."

Wu An: "……"

So it's my fault, huh?

If it weren't for seeing A Qing with a bruised nose and swollen face, he would have given that brat a few kicks.

Lao Fu Tou moored the boat, came out of the control room, and said: "Don't just stand there, get to work, tighten up, finish early, rest early."

As for the crabs, no need to mention.

The shrimp aren't few either.

Around the shrimp and crab pile, everyone sat scattered, each with several fish baskets nearby.

The shrimp and crab varied; mainly meat crab, but also many shuttle crabs, orchid crabs, and all sorts of other crabs—Wu An didn't know many of them and had to ask.

After all, not all crabs are edible; some taste bad and may even be poisonous.

"There are quite a few lobster shrimp."

"This stuff is pricey, so be careful not to waste it."

"What could be more valuable than this?" A Qing held up a nine-section shrimp, very large, the length of two of his palms; this sells for over a hundred per catty, making it the most valuable catch in this haul.

Of course, it's also the least in the catch.

Mei Wu also found a nine-section shrimp, disappointed, saying: "Too bad they're all dead; if they were alive, this one shrimp would be worth several dozen."

The Fan family brothers nodded along, their hands never stopping.

Not just the nine-section shrimp; the haul from the trawl, aside from vigorous meat crabs, were basically dead through and through, Lao Fu Tou said it was due to pressure.

Wu An thought this was unavoidable.

Each trawl net brings up several tons; for this net, at the very least it's worth over a hundred thousand, already very good.

One shouldn't be too greedy.

Fu Yongning said: "Not hauling up worthless fish offal would already be good."

Actually.

Such trawling operations don't make money from all the catch; some portions are unusable or have very low economic value—these trash fish can't just be thrown back, so they must be hauled back to sell.

They might fetch only a few coins per catty, or even find no buyers at all.

Whenever this happens, the boat owner may end up losing money.

That is truly the helpless situation.

Fu Yongning couldn't quite understand why A Qing and Mei Wu were upset; what's there to be unhappy about? As long as they net catch that can be sold, it's worth celebrating.

A Qing curiously asked: "What is fish offal?"

Fu Yongning stared, annoyed, saying: "You don't even know what fish offal is? It's just those unsellable trash fish."

A Qing asked again: "How could there be unsellable miscellaneous fish?"

Fu Yongning: "This…… miscellaneous fish just won't sell……"

A Qing: "Really?"

Mei Wu also looked bewildered.

They had never encountered a situation where miscellaneous fish couldn't be sold, because on Wu An's boat, even the poorest catch was worth ten or so dollars, miscellaneous fish with some economic value.

Fu Yongning was also dazed.

Lao Fu Tou smiled without speaking.

As an old fisherman, Lao Fu Tou knew what Fu Yongning was thinking at that moment.

Before long, Fu Yongning would be assimilated.

Why?

Because if every time the net burst they got a decent haul, then suddenly one time the catch was a bit worse, he would definitely complain, and wouldn't say "It's fine if the worthless fish we didn't haul up aren't valuable."

On the fishing boat.

The lights were bright.

With the seven of them working together, the Shrimp Crab Mountain gradually shrank.

The crabs were tied up, packed, and sent to the No. 1 live fish tank; the last basket of crabs was placed in the live fish tank, and Mei Wu, feeling a bit anxious, shouted: "A An, the No. 1 live fish tank is full."

Wu An blinked: "It's already full?"

Mei Wu nodded: "Yeah, what should we do?"

On the boat there are three live fish tanks in total, with a capacity of about 20 tons, which means the crabs amount to about 6 tons.

Seeing Mei Wu's anxious expression, A Qing and the others thought they had run into some trouble, hurried over to ask, and upon learning the live fish tank was full, A Qing also felt rather depressed.

Wu An laughed helplessly: "What, what to do? A full live fish tank is a good thing."

Mei Wu said: "I'm worried the live fish tank won't be enough."

Wu An casually said: "Then it's simple—return when the tank bursts."

"Wouldn't it be better to head back earlier?"

Mei Wu scratched his head and chuckled: "Yeah, I've been tying crabs so much my head's not clear."

A Qing said: "I've been influenced by you too."

Mei Wu gave him a sideways glance and retorted: "I influenced you?"

"Why don't you say it was me leaning against you just now, getting infected by you?"

A Qing raised a middle finger: "You think I'm really stupid? My brain sometimes can't turn corners, but this isn't contagious."

Mei Wu: "……"

Wu An patted both of their shoulders: "Alright, later we'll have a drink and get a good night's sleep."

Upon hearing they could drink, Mei Wu's eyes lit up instantly.

After the crabs were handled, what remained were various shrimp and miscellaneous fish; most were easy to process—sorted and put straight into the cold storage—only the lobster was troublesome.

Wu An saw Fu Yongning arranging each lobster neatly in the fish basket and asked: "Do these lobsters really need to be arranged so neatly?"

Fu Yongning nodded.

Lao Fu Tou explained: "The market demands it this way."

Wu An frowned: "This is too troublesome."

Lao Fu Tou chuckled: "It also has its advantages—neat arrangement reduces damage and can fetch a higher price."

Wu An watched for a while and had to admit, the lobsters arranged so neatly in the box looked more attractive, appearing quite high-priced.

He didn't help with that, but went to prepare the late-night snack.

He took a big basin, added some lobster, some nine-section shrimp, a few meat crabs, naturally some orchid crab, and besides the seafood, Wu An also boiled a pot of instant noodles.

Everyone had been doing hard labor; just eating seafood isn't enough—we need some staple food to feel comfortable in our stomachs.