Chapter 679: Easy Return

Early on the fourth day.

The Peaceful was already returning.

Lao Fu Tou said, "A An, if things go smoothly, we can reach Zhen Shang Ma Tou by five or six in the afternoon."

Wu An nodded. "We're not casting nets along the way, right?"

Lao Fu Tou laughed, "I'd like to, but the hold is full—how could we cast more?"

Wu An nodded. "All right."

Full speed return.

He said as he spoke.

He dumped all his Luck Value into the fishing boat, not knowing if it would increase the boat's speed; if not, it didn't matter.

Anyway, there was more Luck Value than he could use.

Using even a little was good.

Nowadays, a trawler basically couldn't consume much of the daily Luck Value.

Fortunately he didn't have OCD.

Otherwise he'd be miserable.

He needed to upgrade.

Fortunately another trawler was working overtime; it wouldn't be long before it could go to sea.

Now the boat is mainly steered by Lao Fu Tou and Mei Wu; Fu Yongning can also steer, but Mei Wu is mostly at the helm, getting practice, and he already has his license.

Apart from the useless A Qing, everyone else already had their license.

Being able to obtain it so smoothly and quickly naturally meant following Min Ge's connections.

Having connections and not using them would be stupid.

Moreover, you have to use those connections; the more you interact, the closer the relationship becomes.

Since there was no work, everyone woke up naturally; A Qing slept straight through to noon, and if he hadn't been woken by hunger, he could have kept sleeping.

"Brother, what are we having for lunch?"

"Eat shit."

"Where?"

"You actually went looking for it!"

"Brother, look at how you got scared—I was just joking with you."

"Get lost."

Wu An went up and kicked him.

A Qing dodged.

Wu An chased after him, kicking.

A Qing hopped and jumped to evade.

It was incredibly noisy.

Until Fan Xiao Zhu shouted that it was time to eat did they stop; the food was simple—just seafood fried rice, no fuss, throwing in whatever was on board.

The shrimp and shuttle crabs were shelled, pure meat, pure roe, pure coral, plus some fish meat—large yellow fish and grouper; Fan Xiao Zhu finally let everyone eat, seeing what they could consume and what remained.

Wu An found he was eating tuna meat.

Stir-fried, it wasn't great—very dry.

Compared to the seafood, Wu An thought the eggs in the fried rice were tastier, each grain coated in egg; Fan Xiao Zhu's cooking skills were truly not bad.

Wu An, eating happily, asked Fan Xiao Zhu if he wanted to work part-time as a cook.

If willing, he'd give him a one percent commission, and thereafter full responsibility for the ship's meals would be his.

Everyone was eating, no one objected, no one fought him over it—even A Qing sensibly nodded in agreement.

Fan Xiao Zhu gladly accepted; a one percent commission could be tens of thousands, at worst a few thousand—only a fool would refuse.

They ate and drank their fill.

Nothing much happened.

Wu An asked if they wanted to fish; they all shook their heads, saying no.

These past few days of work, the intensity remained high.

From casting nets at 6 a. m. to finishing work at midnight, subtracting break time, the work definitely exceeded ten hours.

Everyone was exhausted.

Moreover.

They also feared catching too many fish.

Everyone in the lounge played on their phones or cards, enjoying leisure time.

The weather today was fine.

There was some wind and waves.

The fishing boat was heavy; amid the wind and waves it remained steady, even giving the sense of cutting through wind and slicing waves.

As they neared the dock and got a signal, Wu An checked the time, called Gao Qiangqi, and explained how they'd come back with an overfull hold.

Just after hanging up, Mei Wu found him: "A An, what a coincidence—we ran into the Jing He off to our left; it's also heading back."

Wu An went to look, and sure enough, it was.

At that moment, the other vessel suddenly sped up and moved to crowd the Peaceful.

Consequently.

The Peaceful had to fall in line behind to dock.

Wu An held the walkie-talkie and said, "Lao Fu, don't hide."

"A Qing, you all get ready for the impact."

Damn.

We were already looking for trouble, and they even came knocking on our door.

Wu An had already rolled up his sleeves, ready to fight.

He had already prepared on his side, but Jing He chickened out, the boat slowed down, and he turned the rudder to the side.

The fishing boat docked at the pier.

After waiting ten or so minutes, Gao Qiangqi finally brought people to the pier.

"Qiang Ge, why are you so slow?"

"You don't even think about when you last contacted me—you have a satellite phone, why didn't you give me a heads-up?"

"Uh... I forgot."

They were chatting here, waiting for Chen Lao Da's fishing boat to dock, when Jing He stepped off the boat; Gao Qiangqi was somewhat surprised: "How did this guy end up here?"

Jing He glanced around, then got into a BMW and drove off proudly.

Wu An said, "He wants to buy Chen Lao Da's fishing boat."

"He wants to buy it?" Gao Qiangqi took a drag of his cigarette and said, "Something's fishy."

"Qiang Ge, I want to cause trouble for him."

"Sure." Gao Qiangqi didn't hesitate and said, "You can use anyone from my side."

Wu An smiled: "Alright, then I won't stand on ceremony."

"Don't be polite with me—I've long disliked this little Japanese devil."

"He might not be just a simple little Japanese devil."

"Oh?"

"That's how it is..." Wu An spilled everything he knew, including some guesses, also hoping Gao Qiangqi could help him analyze.

"Your logic is sound; Jing He's abnormal behavior shows that the people behind him are panicking, or perhaps there's something he needs to do himself and doesn't trust others to handle."

"No matter what, when things go awry there must be something up; no matter what he plans, once you've set your sights on him, he won't be able to accomplish anything."

"I'll do my best."

"Don't be modest about this."

"Hehe."

The two chatted as the dockworkers began unloading the cargo.

Peepee shrimp, shuttle crab, orchid crab, sunfish, bigeye bream, over three hundred jin of large yellow fish, red-spotted fish, stone bream—seeing this lively scene, everyone exclaimed that Wu An kid's luck remained as strong as ever.

Then everyone went to check the condition of another boat.

Then Lezi arrived.

No comparison, no harm.

Being talked about and pointed at, Old Feng and the others felt bitter; over the past few days they'd been drifting aimlessly at sea, never casting their nets properly.

Lao Fu Tou walked over and called Lao Feng over.

Lao Feng walked over, took the cigarette Lao Fu Tou handed him, and clicked his tongue: "Ah, a Hua Zi."

"I'm not pretending; this is just the level we're at now."

"Hey, your days have gotten better."

"My days have improved, and I want to bring the brothers along to enjoy it too—it's not because you're stubborn and unwilling, right?"

"I'm taking their wages."

"Alright, alright, I'm not here to poach your corner—anyway, soon I won't need to poach, Chen Lao Da's wall will collapse too. I'm asking you: these past few days, what has Jing He been up to on the boat?"

"Why are you asking about that?"

"What else can I do? I suspect that guy's up to no good, so I want to get a heads-up on the situation."

"I think he's up to no good; after losing you lot, he had us look for dolphins—you know, dolphins are protected animals, what's he doing with them?"

"Besides, he used a satellite phone to call someone, speaking Japanese."

"How do you know?"

"I may not understand what he's saying, but I can still tell it's Japanese."

"Alright, I got it."

"Just now, as we were about to reach the pier, he told us to pull up alongside; then I chickened out and dodged, and he still gave me a chewing-out."

"This kind of hard-earned money isn't easy to come by, huh?"

"Sigh..."

"Alright, just hold on a bit longer; after a while I'll introduce you to work on A An's boat."

"Lao Fu, thanks."

"Yeah, I'm leaving."

Lao Fu Tou came back and recounted what he had just asked to Wu An.