Chapter 600: Phoenix Tail Fish and Knife Fish

Wu An said, "After this trip, you can schedule a time and we can meet."

"Work benefits and such are easy to discuss."

"Actually, technique is secondary; the main thing is to see if the person is capable."

"Technique, you know."

"It's best if you understand; if you don't, it's fine, you can learn later."

"If time permits, he can even specially hire someone to provide training."

Fan Dali nodded and said, "Okay, I'll contact you when we get back."

"He's very honest."

"He's the type who couldn't even fart if you hit him with three sticks."

Wu An smiled and said, "Good."

"You mentioned a mechanic; shouldn't we also maintain this ship?"

Fan Dali scratched his head: "I'm not really familiar with that either."

Wu An came to the wheelhouse.

Lao Fu Tou smiled and said, "The boat has already been serviced once; on this return trip it should be serviced again."

Fu Yongning said, "No need to be that frequent."

"It's not like an ocean-going fishing boat that needs maintenance after every trip; each outing is only three to five days, and being that diligent about maintenance seems like wasting money on pointless tinkering to him."

Lao Fu Tou said, "A new boat that's maintained often will need fewer repairs later."

Wu An nodded and said, "Old Fu is right; careful treatment makes a boat last ten thousand years."

"This is not comparable to being on land."

"Frequent maintenance is good; we're not short on that money, Old Fu—from now on, you'll be fully responsible for it."

Lao Fu Tou nodded.

After chatting for a while, Wu An opened the system; the luck value of the trawl had basically hit bottom.

"Not bad."

He called out to haul the net.

"The depth never exceeded forty meters the whole time; Lao Fu Tou said the fishing boat was basically sailing parallel to the coastline."

Wu An felt it was nothing special.

"Black cat, white cat—if it catches mice, it's a good cat."

"Likewise, as long as we can get a catch, what fishing ground doesn't matter."

"The sun set in the west."

"The sea breeze became gentle, but without direct sunlight, blowing on one's body noticeably felt cold."

"Everyone was dressed uniformly in overalls, rain boots, gloves, fully equipped."

"Everyone performed their duties; as the winch operation proceeded, everyone stared intently—first the water separator was pulled up, then the fishing net, and Fu Yongning whistled."

"Whistles sounded continuously on the deck."

"As the bulging net bag floated to the surface, the fishing boat tilted slightly and everyone's eyes lit up."

"Looking at it, it's not bad."

"It's probably around three or four thousand catties."

"We only trawled for an hour in the near‑sea area and got this kind of haul—unusual."

"Thanks to the blessings of Goddess Mazu, it's all catch."

"Catch, catch!"

"Everyone started shouting in unison."

Fu Yongning wasn't very excited, looking at Wu An: "A An, you go pull it."

"Your luck is strong."

"If we were the ones pulling, about half would probably be trash."

"He said this not as a joke, and it's actually a conservative estimate."

"During the new ship's trial voyage, the first net brought up a lot of trash, and that's because they were then in the near‑sea area, which is about the same depth as now."

"This is also why Lao Fu Tou and he are reluctant to work in this depth; over the years marine garbage has worsened, to the point that honestly, about half of what comes up is trash."

"This situation hasn't really improved in the future either—it's not that the public's quality is deteriorating and the country has ignored the issue."

"In fact, the state had already been paying attention to this earlier and was looking for solutions."

"But there's nothing that can be done."

"The ocean belongs to the world; it's not something that can be fixed just because one person, one region, or even one country pays attention to garbage pollution."

"Some countries truly treat the sea as a dump, throwing anything they like into it!"

"No need to name names here."

Wu An nodded: "Then I'll go."

"The boom swayed slightly, slowly lifting the net bag to the sorting area."

Wu An stepped forward.

"He pulled hard on the rope."

"When he saw the marine goods falling down, Wu An couldn't help but widen his eyes."

"How could this be this thing?"

"Everyone else also took a breath, the net full of tiny fish making their scalps go numb."

"They are Phoenix Tail Fish."

It's not small at all.

Not bad, not bad.

Fu Yongning squatted down, smiling, and said.

A Qing frowned, "Is this still big?"

"At most, it's only about one or two liang."

"I don't like to eat it; it has a lot of spines."

Wu An, whose deepest impression of Phoenix Tail Fish is the canned fish, asked, "Can it now be ten yuan per jin?"

Fu Yongning said, "More or less, I guess."

Wu An smiled, "That's not bad either; at least this net caught hardly any trash—about 2,000 jin of Phoenix Tail Fish, this net made quite a profit."

Everyone, hearing him, had a slight smile on their faces.

Fu Yongning asked, "Shall we drop the second net?"

Wu An nodded.

Immediately the sky went dark; there was no need to go to other sea areas to hustle.

Phoenix Tail Fish are just Phoenix Tail Fish.

Just a few hundred Luck Value points get used up, then it's over.

Everyone first let down the second net, then sat down to start sorting the catch.

Fu Yongning looked at the situation; for such small fish, there's no need to sort them into grades.

Phoenix Tail Fish are both sea fish and freshwater fish, belonging to the migratory species that travel between salt and fresh water.

Each spring they spawn at river mouths, and the fry grow to size at the salt‑fresh water junction before schooling into the ocean.

Moreover, their trawling nets have relatively large mesh, so the smaller Phoenix Tail Fish can slip through.

Those that get caught in the net are basically the big ones among Phoenix Tail Fish; Fu Yongning said the price must be higher than ordinary Phoenix Tail Fish.

Everyone worked with extra vigor; besides Phoenix Tail Fish, there were also some other bottom fish that fetched higher prices.

"Brother, look, I picked up an especially large Phoenix Tail Fish, must weigh two or three liang," A Qing said excitedly, holding up a fish.

Wu An smiled and nodded.

That's pretty good.

A Qing has always had a knack for finding good goods.

Fu Yongning glanced and widened his eyes, "Whoa, it's Knife Fish!"

"This is not Phoenix Tail Fish, it's Knife Fish!"

He shouted a bit excitedly.

A Qing looked and said, "Knife Fish?"

"Isn't this just a large Phoenix Tail Fish?"

Fu Yongning said, "Right, it looks like a large Phoenix Tail Fish, but Phoenix Tail Fish can't grow that big."

"It's a sea Knife Fish."

A Qing asked, "What's the difference?"

Fu Yongning laughed, "Phoenix Tail Fish are a dozen yuan per jin, while sea Knife Fish are several hundred yuan per jin."

A Qing was stunned.

Everyone simultaneously lifted their heads, looking at the Knife Fish in A Qing's hand!

Wu An also wore a surprised expression, "Looks similar, but the price is that different?"

Fu Yongning said, "It's not."

Knife Fish's scientific name is Knife Shad, and Phoenix Tail Fish's scientific name is Phoenix Shad; from the scientific names you can see they belong to the same family.

Similarly, they are both migratory fish.

Mei Wu also found a Knife Fish and shouted happily, "I found one too."

Fan Dali and Fan Xiao Zhu also made discoveries in succession.

Wu An, also interested, squatted down to pick, and after a while actually found a Knife Fish, pressed in the pile of fish, looking much longer than the Phoenix Tail Fish.

He reached out and pulled.

But it didn't come out.

He rummaged the fish pile with his hand, and a turtle head emerged.

"Brother Turtle?"

Wu An was momentarily stunned, and stared eye‑to‑eye with Turtle Brother: "It really is you!"

Turtle Brother's mouth moved, quickly chewing and swallowing the Knife Fish; Wu An let go, both laughing and crying, "Eat slower, I'm not fighting you."

"Come to my boat; this is like a buffet."

"Eat as you like, unlimited."