As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up

Chapter 143: Chapter 135: Poisoning at Night

“`

To make it convenient, we steamed all the shrimp tonight.

Just a few scallops, Coconut Snails, and Blue Spot Snappers were stir-fried dry, with sea urchin on the side, absolutely delicious.

With everyone lending a hand, the seafood feast was quickly prepared.

Chu Mingcheng even specially sliced some fish fillets and cut up some steamed Pipashrimp for Xiao Mi’s dinner.

Xiao Mi, perhaps having not had such a delicious feast in a long time, wolfed down the meal, leaving not a bit of cat food at the bottom of the bowl.

Then, the three men placed the dinner on the table and simultaneously took out their phones to shoot videos and post to their social media circles.

Such a lavish dinner would be too much of a waste not to show off.

In just a minute, just as the three had finished off a Pipashrimp, their phones started to ring off the hook.

Chu Mingcheng picked up his phone to find the customer group in uproar.

They were all accusing him of hogging the good stuff for himself, and not sharing when he had so many good items.

There were even many people placing orders for Ban Qin shrimp, wanting as many as he could sell.

In some Wen City seafood stores, Pipashrimps and lobsters are easy to come by, but Ban Qin shrimp are hard to find.

Those things run several hundred per pound, and the super-sized ones could weigh a pound each. Chu Mingcheng was not one to refuse and agreed to catch some next time.

It’s just that these creatures are very dangerous, so it looks like he’ll need to make some small traps and prepare some plastic bottles.

When the group calmed down, just as Chu Mingcheng was about to prepare the fish fillets, his dear mother called directly with a video call.

“Son, life seems good for you!”

On the video, An Xiuwen’s face was filled with a smile that was not quite a smile; if Chu Yongxin saw this smile, he’d surely be panicked and confused, but Chu Mingcheng remained calm.

“Mom, you look really well lately, you seem even more beautiful.”

An Xiuwen’s lips curled up slightly, barely managing to keep a straight face.

“I was born beautiful, and time can’t leave any marks on me. Tell me, son, the dinner you posted tonight made me crave, how are you going to solve that?”

Chu Mingcheng feigned surprise, “Didn’t Ah Wei tell you? I said it before, I asked Ah Yang to switch to a bigger vehicle to come over, and I’m bringing a box of fish back for you.”

On hearing this, An Xiuwen finally broke into a beaming smile, “Ah Wei mentioned it, but keep it for yourself to sell, don’t think about bringing it for us, what seafood haven’t your dad and I tried?”

“Just take good care of yourself, and that will put your mom and dad at ease.”

‘There’s plenty you haven’t tried,’ Chu Mingcheng thought to himself, but of course, he couldn’t say that aloud, “Mom, of course. I can go out to sea now, and the fish resources here are so much better than back home.”

“The dinner tonight is what I caught this afternoon, and I already sold half of the fish, made several thousand.”

“In a few days when Ah Wei and the others go back, I’ll bring some rare fish for you, guaranteed to be delicious.”

With just a few words, he had An Xiuwen, who had originally called to “call him to account,” beaming with joy. Chen Yang and Zhang Wei, who were in a similar situation, gave him a thumbs-up.

Then they used almost the same method to coax their own parents into happiness.

After chatting for a bit, Chu Yongxin also appeared briefly in the video, but as Chu Mingcheng was eating his meal, he didn’t talk too much and hung up soon after.

“Ah Cheng, it’s all on you for the next two days; if I don’t bring some good stuff back, I can’t explain it at home!” Chen Yang said bitterly after hanging up the phone.

His family situation was different from Zhang Wei’s; they had high expectations and insisted he finds a way to bring back a lot of seafood.

“Don’t worry, as long as there’s no typhoon coming, I’ll make sure you guys return loaded,” Chu Mingcheng was confident.

Yesterday’s trip to sea wasn’t without its rewards; he had found several good fishing spots. If fishing doesn’t pan out, then they’ll go hunting at sea—either way, they wouldn’t return empty-handed.

At this moment, Zhang Wei suddenly suggested, “Then let’s go out to sea tonight; your boat has rooms to sleep in anyway. We’re only here for two days, and if we don’t catch much, we won’t be able to explain when we get back, right?”

Seeing Chen Yang also seemed tempted, Chu Mingcheng couldn’t help but feel speechless, “You’re not tired after driving for almost a day?”

“We should rest well tonight, and then we can make good preparations tomorrow and spend the night at sea.”

“That’s true, oh man, the lobster’s almost cooled down now, time to eat!”

After dinner, once everything was cleaned up, the three of them sat on the couch for a chat, mainly with Chen Yang and Zhang Wei catching up on Chu Mingcheng’s recent circumstances.

However, in the midst of their conversation, Jiang Luoluo sent a message.

Chu Mingcheng looked at it and understood immediately.

She probably hadn’t reached out to him because she was busy, and now she had time to see his social media post of the lavish meal, how could she stay put.

“(｡･｀ω´･｡), Oh, I leave and you throw a big dinner party? I can’t enjoy it yet you post it on social media, that’s so mean!”

Chu Mingcheng tuned out the voices of his two brothers as he replied, “Zhang Wei and another brother of mine, Chen Yang, came over, so I went out and got some seafood.”

“But this time I also found a really good place, so when you come back, I’ll take you there and we’ll have a big feast too.”

“(￣^￣), all right, this time I’ll forgive you for the solo feast. Wuu… I want to eat it so badly…”

Looking at the messages, it was as if he could see Jiang Luoluo at that moment, holding her phone with a mix of grievance and craving, and a smile involuntarily appeared on Chu Mingcheng’s face.

After the chat ended, he looked up, only to be stunned to find Zhang Wei and Chen Yang looking at him with ambiguous expressions.

Zhang Wei: “Look at that happy smile on his face, so delighted.”

Chen Yang nodded: “He must be thinking about doing something naughty.”

Zhang Wei: “No no no, just one look and you can tell he’s deep in the sour odor of love, you single dog just wouldn’t understand.”

Chen Yang nodded: “Hmm… Hmm?”

…

The next day, the three of them didn’t get out of bed until after nine, looking listless.

It was rare for the brothers to gather, so they had chatted until after two in the morning before going to sleep.

As for what they talked about?

“`

They weren’t quite clear themselves; chatting about women, reminiscing over past “glorious deeds,” and shooting the breeze made the time just fly by.

After washing up, Chu Mingcheng petted Mimi for a while and checked the status of the three little kittens, all of whom seemed to be fine.

Their tiny pink paws were so adorable he couldn’t resist pressing each one.

With an automatic cat feeder, feeding Mimi wasn’t an issue, and she could take care of the three little kittens without any help from him.

Still, Chu Mingcheng took out the fish heads he had put in the fridge last night and simmered them into a soup, setting it aside to cool.

Then he told Zhang Wei and Chen Yang to wait at home, while he drove to the recycling center to buy large cola bottles.

Catching Ban Qin shrimp for himself was fine, but if he wanted to sell them, he needed large bottles.

Ban Qin shrimps are quite aggressive creatures; when kept together, they can harm one another.

The recycling center might not have had much else, but there was no issue gathering a good number of large cola bottles.

It was just that the price was a bit high, costing him fifty cents each. For such large bottles, the return price was only about ten or fifteen cents each.

But there was no other choice, as picking them up himself would be too much trouble, while buying them was more convenient.

He chose fifty relatively clean large bottles, consisting of cola, Sprite, and mineral water bottles, and asked the owner to wash them briefly, discarding the caps.

Once that was done, he used fishing line to wrap around the mouth of each bottle, tying them up and stashing them in the trunk, which was packed full with the fifty bottles.

Afterward, he went to the supermarket to buy bamboo skewers fifty centimeters long.

These skewers were flat, about one centimeter wide, and could be used to make traps.

With two skewers and a piece of fishing line, he could create a little trap. He’d bait it with squid, stick it into a shrimp’s burrow, and wait a while. Attracted by the squid, the shrimp would eventually come out.

When it tugged at the squid, the fishing line looped around the burrow’s entrance would tighten, and he’d have caught it.

The principle was the same as the lasso Chu Mingcheng used yesterday to catch Ban Qin shrimp, the only difference being that one was manual, the other automatic.

Then, while he was at the supermarket, he also picked up some fruits, vegetables, and meat; considering he was going out to sea, he didn’t buy any seafood.

However, he did need bait, so he bought fifty pounds of squid, which cost him over six hundred for two small boxes.

Back at home, the fish head soup had cooled, and he fed it to Mimi.

He then took out all the blocks of ice that had been in the freezer since yesterday, placed them into the fish tank, moved the tank to Chen Yang’s car, and they set off.

Arriving at the dock, Chu Mingcheng’s haul of plastic bottles left Zhang Wei and Chen Yang dumbfounded.

“Ah Cheng, what are you doing with so many bottles?”

“Those shrimp were good, right? These bottles are for holding the shrimp.”

Chu Mingcheng explained a bit, then proceeded to fill up the boat’s water tank and checked the stocked bottled water. Seeing there was plenty, he decided there was no need to buy more and then called for the fuel truck to come and refuel the boat.

Even though they had refueled yesterday, they would be spending the night on the sea tonight and might visit various spots, so it was important to ensure the boat had enough fuel to last.

Zhang Wei and Chen Yang weren’t clueless; once Chu Mingcheng explained, they understood the purpose of the bottles and hurried to help transfer them to the boat.

Ban Qin shrimps can be found only in the southern part of the Treasure Island Strait and the South Sea within China.

And the waters off Xia City lead to the Treasure Island Strait.

Chu Mingcheng had to be cautious while sailing; crossing the midpoint of the strait could lead to complications.

“This boat is really nice!” Once Zhang Wei boarded, he still looked it over thoroughly and even gestured about the sofa, as though wondering if he could sleep comfortably on it that night.

But in reality, he didn’t sleep on the couch last night.

“Ah Cheng, your boat can’t go out to the Far Sea, can it?” Chen Yang stepped out of the cockpit and asked.

Chu Mingcheng nodded, “Normally it can’t because the Far Sea has bigger waves and the boat’s wave resistance isn’t that high. But if the weather is particularly good and the waves are small, then it’s possible.”

“However, we would need to find an oil tanker at sea to refuel; otherwise, it’s no good if the boat can make it but runs out of fuel!”

The boat’s fuel tank was only eight hundred liters, giving it about ten hours of endurance, which was the main limitation for venturing out to the high seas.

“When are you going to buy a bigger one then?” Zhang Wei asked.

Chu Mingcheng looked at him quizzically and didn’t respond.

Zhang Wei felt somewhat uncomfortable under the gaze and asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Chu Mingcheng pressed his forehead, clearly moved by this guy’s intelligence, “When is your wife having a baby?”

“I don’t even have a wife…” Zhang Wei’s voice trailed off, awkwardly.

Seeing this, Chen Yang burst into laughter, “You’re hilarious. Ah Cheng has just bought the boat, and he only just got his license, and you’re asking him when he’s buying a bigger boat?”

Zhang Wei laughed at himself, “I wasn’t thinking about it much, just asked subconsciously!”

As they joked around, the fuel truck arrived and filled up the boat. The fuel cost was roughly the same as the other day, amounting to over one thousand six hundred.

Right now, the propeller was still new, and the fuel efficiency was normal. Over time, the fuel consumption would increase, but it wouldn’t be too excessive.

As they set sail, Chu Mingcheng didn’t go back to the spot he found yesterday. He decided to leave that spot untouched for now, to wait until Jiang Luoluo returned, as he could take her diving and seafood hunting then.

Ban Qin shrimps could be found in many coral reefs, which he had encountered in several places yesterday; he could start by checking those spots.

After setting the boat on autopilot, Chu Mingcheng took out a pair of scissors and cut a large mouth into a vertical bottle.

He then made a small horizontal cut at each end of the mouth, so he could easily put the caught Ban Qin shrimps inside.

These shrimps, as long as they weighed over seven taels, could fetch a price of nearly three hundred per pound, and if it was a female with roe, it could sell for even four hundred.

The main reason for the high price was the scarcity of these large shrimps in China, with most seafood markets importing from Southeast Asia, and thus the high price.

There was also a type of rich shrimp imported from Elephant Country, which fetched an even higher price.

In the local regions, however, a pound of large shrimps probably would only cost around seventy to one hundred.