Chapter 569: The large yellow fish on its deathbed

Wu An's skills are not bad.

This also bears out the saying that premium ingredients need no special preparation; the seafood they eat could be said to be fresher than what even those high-end restaurants necessarily have.

The lively, jumping catch is put straight into the pot to steam.

The meat is tender and flavorful.

Fu Yongning ate with relish, having two bowls of rice; A Qing knew he usually talked a lot, urging Wu An this and that, so he deliberately asked, "Brother Yongning, want more rice?"

Fu Yongning let out a satisfied burp: "No, no."

Having eaten well.

He finished the last sip of beer.

He was completely satisfied.

Wu An let everyone rest a bit, but after Old Fu Tou urged them twice, they hurried to the deck to start hauling the nets.

Haul the nets.

The net bulged.

Fan Dali went to untie the net.

He pulled hard, and the catch spilled out with a splash.

Fan Dali, standing close and seeing clearly, shouted somewhat glumly: "Why so much seaweed?"

Wu An said: "The catch isn't small either."

"I see there are lionfish and tigerfish, these poisonous creatures—be careful."

"Brother Yongning, what should we do with this seaweed?"

Fu Yongning shook his head: "Throw it back into the sea."

Wu An gave an "oh," and everyone pitched in, first scooping up the seaweed and tossing it back into the sea, then discovering quite a bit of catch mixed in, which they picked out one by one.

The sun slanted westward, and the sea breeze grew gradually damp and cool.

The process of tearing the seaweed and throwing it back into the sea felt rather stress-relieving to Wu An.

Wu An pulled hard, and suddenly a flash of light caught his eyes.

It was a golden glow.

He quickly called out to A Qing, who was dragging seaweed with a rake, then immediately lay down slowly and pulled the seaweed apart, revealing the catch hidden inside.

A Qing initially looked puzzled, leaned in for a glance, and instantly widened his eyes.

"This... this... this..." he stammered, mouth open, unable to utter a coherent word.

Seeing A Qing's strong reaction, everyone gathered around to look.

Upon seeing the catch, they all froze.

"Is that a large yellow fish?"

"I think it is!"

"It must be!"

Fan Dali's face flushed red; opening the net, half was seaweed, he felt rather displeased, thinking his luck was bad, but if a large yellow fish was hidden in the seaweed, that would be different.

Fu Yongning saw Wu An pulling hard on the seaweed and shouted anxiously: "A An, gentle, gentle—don't damage the fish scales."

Wu An turned back: "Are you sure it's a large yellow fish?"

Fu Yongning nodded repeatedly, his voice unable to contain his excitement: "Nine times out of ten."

Wu An hesitated: "Can there be such a large large yellow fish?"

At that moment, seaweed still covered the big fish, obscuring its full body, but Wu An gestured with his hand to gauge the fish's width, then used his forearm and found it about the same size.

You should know that wild large yellow fish often roam the sea, slender in form, while farmed ones appear plumper; this is one of the criteria distinguishing wild from farmed.

Just the width of this wild large yellow fish before us—how long must it be?

And how heavy must it be?

Wu An had caught large yellow fish before, more than once, and was fairly familiar with them; the largest he'd ever landed was close to twenty catties.

And that twenty-catty large yellow fish was much smaller than the one currently covered in seaweed before us.

Fu Yongning said: "How could there not be?"

"The sea has everything; it's just that some prized fish species are rare, so ordinary people can't catch them."

"You're different."

Wu An heard him say that and nodded.

Right.

Makes sense.

He's already cheating, what's there to talk about science?

Soon.

Fu Yongning helped, and the two carefully cleared away the seaweed bit by bit, revealing the fish's full form, its body covered in golden scales that glittered with an unusual golden light in the slanting western sun.

Everyone gathered close to look, their faces bathed in a uniform yellow glow.

Fu Yongning shouted loudly: "Certain, it is… a large yellow fish!"

A Qing stretched out his arm to gesture the fish's size: "Good heavens, it's so big, truly a large yellow fish worthy of its name."

Actually.

It's just over a meter long; a fish this size is actually quite common in the sea, and even the smallest of the yellowfin tuna they've caught is larger than this large yellow fish before us.

But this is a large yellow fish!

Old Fu Tou also came over to look, clicking his tongue in wonder.

Wu An chuckled and asked: "Old Fu, is it really that rare?"

Lao Fu Tou squatted down, examined closely, and said, "Look at this entirely golden body, red lips, fine scales, a top‑grade specimen, but do you know what the most rare thing is?"

Wu An said, "Because it's still alive?"

Yes.

This Large yellow fish is still alive, its mouth opening and closing, and it emits a "cackle" sound.

Lao Fu Tou smiled and said, "This one should be almost thirty years old."

Wu An, surprised, "How did you tell?"

Lao Fu Tou explained, "The Large yellow fish only lives for a few dozen years; this one has grown so large that even if we don't catch it in our nets, it is close to its natural end."

"I've been doing this all my life, and this is still the first time I've seen one this big."

"Come, let's weigh it."

Wu An nodded, about to go for the catch, and Lao Fu Tou hurriedly shouted, "Be careful, don't lose any scales, A Qing, you stay out of it."

Mei Wu, you go.

Mei Wu, being relatively steadier, was called up.

While speaking, Lao Fu Tou fetched a spare dirty shirt, and the two cooperated to weigh the Large yellow fish; the scale read 39.8 jin!

It made everyone burst into cheers.

"Goddess Mazu bless us."

"Thanks to the sea's bounty."

"Thank you, thank you."

They carefully placed the Large yellow fish, then everyone proceeded to handle the seaweed; thereafter, everyone was much more cautious, in case another Large yellow fish was hidden inside.

In the end, after processing, nothing else was found.

"One is already good enough."

"This Large yellow fish can go to auction; it will surely be snatched up."

"Its value is incalculable."

After the seaweed was dealt with, about half of the catch remained.

Actually that's not bad; there's a little over a thousand jin.

The catch was mainly crabs; toxins were much fewer than the previous net, but there were quite a few small red shrimp, Wu An exclaimed, "There are quite a few small red shrimp in this net."

Fu Yongning nodded, "I didn't expect there to be so many here."

Wu An selected a basket alone and said, "Later I'll marinate it raw, and we'll use it as a midnight snack with drinks tonight."

Everyone responded with a chorus of shouts.

Fu Yongning said nothing; Xiao Hongxia's formal name is pipe‑whip shrimp, relatively small, the larger ones are only four or five centimeters, and they are very tasty after being marinated raw.

This kind of shrimp is fairly common, and its price is average.

The market demand is huge; some fishing boats specialize in this shrimp.

And it also has a characteristic.

Either a net catches many, or a net catches none; some fishing boats take pre‑orders, only to be busy for a long time without completing them, which can drive the boat owners to despair.

But on Wu An's boat, this is often seen; Wu An doesn't treat this as the main catch, not because of anything else, but simply because he doesn't value it.

The quantity isn't large; most of it is used for a celebratory feast.

Fu Yongning watched Wu An toss the brood‑carrying red shrimp back into the sea, shook his head without speaking; in fact, other fishing boats would never throw the brood‑carrying small red shrimp back.

These brood‑carrying ones could fetch a higher price.

This net was finished, and the sky turned completely dark.

The fourth net was then cast.

From the afternoon until seven p. m., they worked nonstop except for a brief rest at mealtime; otherwise there was almost no pause, they kept operating, but no one complained.

"Is this work?"

No.

"It's about making money!"

"Who would complain that making money is tiring?"

Wu An was also very pleased; seeing everyone work so hard to earn money for him, he could only let them have more to eat at the midnight snack, eat their fill and drink enough, and continue to work well!