Chapter 542: It can only be regarded as a steady performance

It was seven o'clock in the evening.

Hauling the net.

Wu An had been monitoring the system; this net's luck value was only over fifty points, and in the end he barely used it all up when hauling the net. Obviously, the catch from this net should be average.

Wu An found the system rather cheaty.

By checking the luck value he could judge the catch, which also took away the fun of opening blind boxes.

But if he didn't check the system, frankly he couldn't help himself.

People.

That's just how complicated and contradictory it is.

Not long after.

The net bag was lifted up, and to Wu An's surprise, the net bag was quite bulging.

Fu Yongning went to untie the net.

A Qing chattered beside him: "All alive, all alive."

Everyone couldn't help laughing.

What a simple and pure wish.

The No. 1 live fish hold was already full, while Nos. 2 and 3 live fish holds were basically empty; if the catch were all alive, there would naturally be no need to occupy the cold storage.

Fu Yongning grabbed the rope, took a deep breath, and shouted: "All alive!"

Splash!

The net bag began to release the catch.

"Holy shit, it's shrimp crab!"

"Great."

Everyone exclaimed.

A Qing hurriedly expressed thanks to the Goddess Mazu.

Wu An sighed: "This is going to be a handful to deal with."

Another two or three thousand catties of shrimp crab.

Originally planning to finish early, have some snacks and drinks for a late-night snack, and rest early, but now it's fine—without two or three hours you can't finish cleaning up; once busy, playing around, it's already late at night.

Lao Fu Tou smiled and nodded.

Looking at it this way, we can keep busy at sea for another day.

Fortunately we listened to Wu An.

From the start Wu An said not to go in circles in one place; his meaning was that this first trip was mainly to explore the nearby sea area.

As a result.

Feeling our way across the river by feeling for stones, we still got a bountiful harvest.

If he hadn't listened to Wu An, probably all that would have come up in this net would be black carp.

In that case, the cold storage would overflow, and they'd truly have only to return.

Otherwise, there'd be nowhere to put the catch hauled up; in such hot weather, even returning might not be timely enough.

Finished processing the shrimp crab.

After tidying up the deck, everyone continued eating and drinking.

Regarding the catch of these two days, everyone was happy, and A Qing even shouted that tomorrow upon returning to the dock they'd surely drop everyone's jaws—setting out to sea for two days and already overflowing the hold to return.

Who else?

Wu An listened, feeling quite pleased inside.

Lao Fu Tou said: "You still don't get it; when I was young, I followed the trawler fleet and came back the second day out at sea."

It was also because of an overflow.

Guess how much the catch was.

A Qing shook his head: "Impossible; even with Brother leading us, it takes us two or three days to overflow the hold—how could a trawler fleet overflow in just one day? Lao Fu, what you're saying is totally fake."

The Fan clan brothers also nodded.

Fu Yongning smiled and remained silent.

Mei Wu asked: "How much was the catch?"

Lao Fu Tou held up ten fingers.

Mei Wu: "Ten tons?"

Lao Fu Tou said: "One hundred thousand catties of gray croaker."

Just used two nets.

Back then it caused a sensation, truly rare.

That's just how it was back then—prices were cheap.

Mei Wu calculated and said: "If it were now, it would be worth at least over five million."

Lao Fu Tou nodded.

Wu An's little pride in his heart was instantly shattered into pieces.

Good fellow.

He only managed to overflow the hold after two or three days at sea, and even with a cheat, compared to fishermen of the last century, it's nothing.

"This counts as a fluke, just dumb luck.' Fu Yongning smiled and said: 'Old uncle, I reckon this might happen only once in a lifetime; anyway, I've worked as a deckhand for so long and never seen a boat owner have such good luck as A An.'

Eat and drink well.

After arranging the night watch, everyone went to rest.

Nothing happened all night.

Early the next morning.

Wu An got up, freshened up, and walked while drinking a bowl of seafood porridge.

At sea in the morning, the sea breeze blew, still very comfortable—not hot nor stuffy, a cool breeze brushing the face; but after a while, the day‑night temperature difference would grow, and it wouldn't be as pleasant as it is now.

The daytime heat from the sun, the nighttime chill from the wind.

He finished the porridge.

There wasn't anything else to do.

The trawl net had already been lowered; it would take about an hour before it could be hauled up.

This counted as everyone's rest time.

Fu Yongning wasn't idling; he took a fishing rod and did some free‑flow fishing. Wu An walked over and asked, "What have you caught?"

Fu Yongning said, "I've pulled up a sea bass, about ten catties."

Wu An nodded: "Not bad either."

Fu Yongning smiled; this counted as extra income—any catch meant profit.

The Fan brothers followed suit.

A Qing asked, "Brother, are you fishing?"

Wu An shook his head.

The luck value wasn't high—just over a hundred. Seeing Fu Yongning's fishing, it was obvious the upper layers held little worth catching, so this bit of luck value was best saved for the trawl net.

Seeing that he wasn't fishing, A Qing and Mei Wu followed him back to the rest room to drink tea and rest.

8:30 a. m.

Lao Fu Tou gave the order to haul the net.

The net was opened.

When the catch clattered onto the deck, everyone felt a bit disappointed.

The catch was quite mixed.

The catch was mainly crabs, with plenty of various shrimps—red shrimp, pipa shrimp, nine‑section shrimp—plus some beltfish, decent in fattiness, but because of the trawl net, their appearance wasn't great.

On the other hand, the eels were full of vitality, crawling wildly on the deck, sensing danger, they flapped and bared their teeth, but in front of Fu Yongning, the veteran deckhand, no amount of thrashing helped.

Fu Yongning reached out and grabbed it in one swift motion, without hesitation.

They also found some white‑spotted fish—not part of the golden seven brothers, but still relatives of wild yellow croaker; small in size and of ordinary value, along with bamboo‑joined fish, sunfish, cuttlefish, octopus, pufferfish, golden pineapple, and many pretty ornamental fish—but even if still alive, they had lost any rescue value.

One could say that this trawling trip yielded the most mixed catch of all.

Craps accounted for roughly half; the other half of the catch had to be carefully sorted before being sent to the cold storage.

Cleaned up.

Wu An and Lao Fu Tou discussed matters in the control room, having logged the entire voyage; thereafter they could head straight there with ease.

Lao Fu Tou took the helm and turned the ship's course.

They officially began the return voyage.

Compared with heading out to sea, the return speed was not as fast.

Thanks to this short return, even if we hurry or dawdle, we should be able to reach Zhen Shang Ma Tou before dark.

After lunch.

In the afternoon, Lao Fu Tou announced that everyone should lower the net.

"What if the net bursts again when we lower it?"

"This is the crab‑fishing grounds we used before; even if the net bursts, it's no problem—just four more hours and we'll be back at the pier, and even if we pile the crabs on the deck and keep splashing seawater, it's fine."

"Then let's lower it."

"Listen to Lao Fu."

Everyone eagerly got to work lowering the net.

This is also a basic operation—while returning, they'd casually pull in a net.