Chapter 540

Before, the Fan family brothers thought that working on Wu An's boat for a month to earn ten thousand or so yuan was already pretty good; actually, their idea was really too one-sided, too out of touch with reality.

Actually, it far exceeded their expectations.

If a ship worker could earn ten thousand or so yuan after three or four days at sea, and he said so, probably nine out of ten people would scold him for bragging, and the remaining one would outright think he's a fool.

How could that be.

If you say that a fishing boat owner can earn several ten thousand yuan per trip, that is still possible.

Ship worker?

That's just a laborer; the money earned is hard-earned; if luck is a bit better, going out to sea does indeed earn more than working on land, but the extra is limited.

If going out to sea could make one rich, then how could fishermen be decreasing year by year?

Of course.

Working on Wu An's boat, to be frank, it's really tiring.

In that hour, they frantically pulled in Ghost Head Knife Fish and tuna, without stopping, not even drinking water; Fu Yongning need not be mentioned, having already completely turned into a merciless tuna-processing machine.

After finishing the work, they immediately proceeded to rescue a boatload of catch.

In the middle, they really couldn't hold out; it was Lao Fu Tou who brought everyone water.

After all the catch was processed, checking the time showed it was already 1:30 p. m.

It was already past mealtime.

There wasn't time for a big feast; in another hour or so they'd have to haul the nets, but what does that matter?

For fishermen, as long as they can earn money, a bit of hardship is nothing.

Everyone discussed it, and Fan Xiao Zhu went to prepare instant noodles—directly a whole box, filling a pot completely; Wu An had them add lots of eggs, but it still seemed a bit meager.

They went to the cold storage and got some shrimp, crab meat, and picked a few spring fish and Small Yellow Fish to pan-fry.

This fresh, steamed would be better.

But now everyone is doing heavy physical labor, they need oil and fat, so pan-frying fragrant is more suitable.

Everyone sat around in the lounge eating and drinking heartily; they were all guys, and already starving crazy, no longer could it be described as wolfing down, but rather a hungry tiger pouncing on food; a big bowl of instant noodles, Fan Dali truly performed the feat of finishing the noodles with three chopsticks.

Wu An watched, and everyone was dumbfounded.

Doesn't he need to chew?

Putting it in his mouth, he swallowed directly—several large shrimp, a crab, plus a spring fish—he finished the battle in five minutes straight.

Wu An asked, 'Big Brother Dali, if you're not full yet, have some more.'

'Full, full.' Fan Dali let out a belch, seeing everyone staring at him blankly, he hehe laughed: 'When I was little, I often fought over food with Xiao Zhu, got used to eating voraciously.'

Wu An looked at Fan Xiao Zhu: 'Brother Xiao Zhu, why do you chew slowly and swallow slowly?'

Fan Xiao Zhu said: 'I could never beat him at grabbing food, so I just stopped trying.'

Wu An suddenly understood.

No wonder Fan Dali obviously bulked up; that's the reason.

After quickly finishing eating and drinking, Lao Fu Tou came back holding a bowl and said: 'Ah Wu, when you have time don't be lazy, come study more.'

Mei Wu hurriedly got up and followed over.

A Qing asked: 'Old Fu, what's wrong with you, did you take gunpowder?'

Fu Yongning smiled and said: 'My old uncle, don't look at his age; actually he's just an old child. He's the one who drives the boat when we go out to sea; alone in the Control Room, he's surely bored, seeing us chatting lively, he feels unbalanced inside.'

Wu An thought for a moment and said: 'That's also a problem.'

'When we get back, everyone will go verify.'

'When everyone can drive the boat, I'll implement a rotating captain system; whoever is captain gets a five percent commission.'

Fu Yongning's eyes widened upon hearing it: 'Really?'

Wu An nodded.

Fu Yongning is a capable person; after these days of getting along, he's not bad and can be relied upon.

As for the Fan brothers, needless to say, they've had even longer interactions.

Don't use people you suspect.

When you employ people, don't suspect them.

This is his core team; in the future, even if he forms a fleet, each will become the person in charge of a ship; he won't be able to keep going out to sea with them all the time, so he must let go when it's time.

He now only hopes that the system will upgrade in the future, giving him more convenient means.

Otherwise.

His plan for an ocean-going fleet is probably hard to truly achieve.

After all, the Add Point cheat for tools, although handy, does have considerable limitations itself.

After resting for about ten minutes, Lao Fu Tou notified to haul the nets.

Everyone hurriedly got up and came out; no one delayed, and Wu An also followed along out.

Haul the nets.

The time to pull this net wasn't long; Wu An also checked the system, the Luck Value still had a bit left unconsumed, the catch should be average; pulling it up and looking, the net bag was indeed somewhat deflated.

Opening the net lines, the boom lifted, the catch scattered onto the Deck, mainly Shrimp Crab.

Bottom trawling inherently targets bottom-dwelling fish, Shrimp Crab, and shellfish; many Shrimp Crab are normal, and everyone immediately threw themselves into the tense sorting work.

'This fish is huge.' A Qing discovered a big fish, lifted it up to show off.

'It's a croaker.' Fu Yongning glanced and said: 'Not bad, this one weighs over twenty catties, worth some money.'

'I also found one.'

'About ten or so catties.'

Wu An said: 'I know this; the fish maw is very valuable.'

Fu Yongning nodded: "Yeah, but these are all white croaker, ordinary price, maybe thirty or forty yuan a catty."

A Qing countered: "It's not cheap either, why call it white croaker? Is there black croaker?"

Fu Yongning smiled: "Not only black croaker, there's also golden croaker, that is yellow-lipped fish, you all know that, right?"

Everyone nodded.

Everyone knows yellow-lipped fish is basically the same as goldfish; one can imagine how valuable this fish is—its swim bladder is worth as much as gold, while the meat, compared to the bladder, is relatively cheap.

A Qing asked: "Why so expensive?"

Fu Yongning said: "The swim bladder can be used in medicine, it's good for both women and men, plus rarity drives value, demand is high, so the price naturally rises."

They chatted while working for an hour, cleaning the deck spotless.

The catch was average.

Processing was also quick.

With more than an hour until the next net haul, everyone went back to the rest room to rest; it had just been three in the afternoon, everyone was a bit drowsy, each finding a spot to rest.

Wu An didn't sleep, went to the Control Room to relieve Lao Fu Tou.

Lao Fu Tou seemed to be just steering the ship in the Control Room, sheltered from wind and rain, but it was actually quite tough, and he couldn't rest well either.

"Lao Fu, take a break, go rest for a while."

"No need."

"I'll say something you don't want to hear: given your age, don't wear yourself out like us; I still hope you can work another ten or so years on my boat."

"This is actually nothing; on Chen Lao Da's boat before, it was much tougher than this."

"Before on Chen Lao Da's boat, he could do anything, so wherever help was needed he'd go, doing lots of rough, miscellaneous, thankless work; compared to now, where he just steers the ship, he feels far more comfortable than before."

Seeing Lao Fu Tou really didn't want to rest, Wu An didn't insist and asked: "How do you feel about the next haul?"

Lao Fu Tou didn't answer right away, but truly gave it serious thought, then said: "I expect it'll be quite good."

Wu An was somewhat surprised.

Lao Fu Tou is a bit divine.

He had just checked the system and saw that his Luck Value had indeed dropped quickly, indicating the net had caught something good.