As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up

Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Unearthed a Small Guanyin

Chu Mingcheng left Chen Yang’s house with a good mood, after all, there’s a saying that goes, “Happiness is built on the pain of others.”

But what he didn’t know was that just after he left, Chen Yang then went to Zhang Wei’s house.

After a burst of screams, Chen Yang felt all the resentment and irritation from getting out of bed vanish, leaving him refreshed and invigorated.

Now, the only one with a heart full of resentment was Zhang Wei, who was secretly planning his revenge.

Chu Mingcheng, carrying a bag of stone fish, came back home and heard noises coming from the balcony. When he went to look, An Xiuwen was there, washing clothes.

“Mom, look what I brought you!”

An Xiuwen leaned over to take a look, “These stone fish are nice, so fresh. Aren’t you going to sell them?”

“I sold the other fish, but stone fish taste good, and there aren’t many, so I thought I’d bring some back for you and dad to try.”

“You, always bringing things home, sell what needs to be sold. Your mom and dad aren’t craving a bite.”

Although An Xiuwen said so, she was quite pleased inside.

After rinsing the soap off her hands, she picked up the bag and headed to the kitchen.

“With you bringing stuff over every day, your parents don’t even need to buy vegetables anymore.”

“You’re exaggerating; I just occasionally bring some things. Anyway, I must leave now. I have a customer who wants thirty jin of sea earthworms, and I’ll be busy these next few days.”

“Hey, eat lunch at home before you go. Don’t always make do with something outside at noon.”

Having business was a good thing, but as a mother, An Xiuwen was more concerned about her son’s health.

“No need, I plan to get this job done quickly and then go to get my boat license in preparation for fishing at sea.” Although Chu Mingcheng used buying a boat as an excuse, the actual reason was that Jiang Luoluo would be arriving tomorrow.

When someone came over for a commercial performance and they finished business, he couldn’t possibly bring a little fairy to dig up earthworms from the soil, could he!

An Xiuwen wasn’t too surprised when she heard her son was preparing to buy a boat.

Making a career out of fishing, how could one manage without a boat?

“Now that you’re fishing, you do need to buy a boat, to go to farther places where there are more fish. Your dad and I have discussed this. If it’s just you, the boat doesn’t need to be too big, about a few hundred thousand should do.”

“I can give you the money upfront for now, but you’ll have to work hard for your own money to buy a house later on.”

The money from An Xiuwen was actually set aside for Chu Mingcheng to buy a house, but now that she knew the speed at which her son was making money, she felt there was no need to be so tight with it.

They would pay for the boat, trusting their son to earn a house within a short period with it.

Even if he couldn’t, they had each other; they could make a down payment with the remaining money and help out from there.

“Mom, a ten-meter-long boat is sufficient for me; it won’t exceed fifty thousand. There’s no need for hundreds of thousands! And you don’t need to provide the money; I’ve borrowed it from Chen Yang. I will be able to pay it back soon.”

A few hundred thousand could buy a sixteen-meter fishing boat already, although the equipment might be a bit lacking, but it would definitely be usable.

But he didn’t need that just yet. If he really wanted to go farther, he could just rent a fishing spot.

Hearing her son say this, An Xiuwen dropped the subject of giving him money. @@novelbin@@

After leaving home, Chu Mingcheng bought three chicken fillet sandwiches and a large bottle of mineral water, and headed to the mudflats to dig for sea earthworms.

Jiang Luoluo was coming tomorrow, and he wasn’t sure how long she would stay, so he planned to work hard today and dig up Zhao Xia’s ten jin of sea earthworms in advance.

The 28% increase in capture rate didn’t mean that there would be 28% more sea earthworms magically appearing in the mudflat when Chu Mingcheng was digging, but that he would unwittingly find more sea earthworms than usual, guided by this mechanism.

And there were more larger sea earthworms in this patch of soil due to the additional 28% size increase attribute.

Although he hadn’t dug for a while, Chu Mingcheng’s digging speed was not slow. He shoveled down, pried open the mud, and several sea earthworms were immediately revealed.

He picked out the large ones with his hand and ignored the small ones.

After a while, the small sea earthworms would shrink back into the soil and continue to grow.

Chu Mingcheng dug along the inlet ditch not far away, and suddenly, when he shoved his shovel down, there was a “hiss” sound.

He thought he had hit a rock, but when he turned over the soil, a glint of gold appeared.

“Huh?” Chu Mingcheng curiously picked it up and found it was a small gold Guanyin statue, but the craftsmanship was so rough, far from delicate, clearly a one yuan item from a street stall.

He took out the trash bag he kept in his pocket and casually tossed it in.

Ever since he started making money by beachcombing and fishing, he always carried a trash bag, just to make it convenient to clean up any litter he saw.

But as he prepared to continue digging, he felt something was slightly off.

He took out the gold Guanyin again, rinsed it with water, and after drying it off, he noticed that the gold was especially shiny.

This gold Guanyin couldn’t have been buried in the ground for a short period; however, low-cost trinkets would rust if buried for a long time.

At the very least, some of the plating on the surface would certainly have worn off, but this gold Guanyin looked as good as new after washing.

“Could it really be that I’ve found gold?”

This gold Guanyin was very small, probably around three centimeters in height and roughly one and a half centimeters in width. Even if it were gold, it wouldn’t be worth much.

But Chu Mingcheng was quite curious. If it turned out to be real, wouldn’t he experience the joy of finding money?

So he put it in his pocket for now, planning to have it authenticated at a gold shop when he got back.

The day of digging went by quickly, and it wasn’t until five in the evening, when the sky had darkened, that Chu Mingcheng picked up his day’s haul of sea earthworms and headed back.

Having felt bored, with an aching back and sore waist after a day’s work, he was convinced that his plan not to sell sea earthworms anymore was the right decision.

Fishing, at least, came with a sense of anticipation, wondering what kind of fish he would catch. Catching a big fish brought surprise and excitement, and the money he made was also much more.

Back at his car, Chu Mingcheng took out the electronic scale and weighed his catch. He had dug up a whole seventeen pounds today, and the level of the sea earthworms had also increased to level thirty-two.

[Sea Earthworm (Level 32)]

[Current Experience: 67/330]

[Size +32％]

[Taste +32％]

[Catch Rate +32％]

From around nine-thirty in the morning until five in the evening, apart from a short break for lunch, he had dug for roughly seven hours.

Digging for three hours longer than before, his efficiency had indeed improved quite a bit.

Having completed half the task, he came to town for dinner. Afterward, Chu Mingcheng couldn’t wait to get to the small gold shop and went straight to the point with the owner.

“Boss, my sister bought this gold Guanyin from someone. It’s so poorly made. I suspect she’s been cheated. Can you take a look for me?”

If the gold’s origin was unknown, the owner of the gold shop had the right to refuse authentication.

However, such a small shop didn’t have that many rules, and the owner, hearing that Chu Mingcheng suspected his sister had been duped, didn’t think too much about it.

After examining the gold Guanyin carefully for a while, he said, “This looks like it could be real. Should I heat it up and check?”

“Sure.” Whether gold is genuine is clearest after heating it, so Chu Mingcheng naturally had no objections.

The workstation for burning gold was right next to them, and he closely watched the owner throughout, not afraid of any sleight of hand.

The fire burned on the surface of the gold Guanyin, quickly making it shinier and more golden.

“The craftsmanship is poor, but the gold is real. How much did your sister pay for it?”

“She said she spent three thousand on it, buying it from a friend who needed money.”

“Three thousand? Then your sister made a big profit. This gold Guanyin is a bit light, hollow inside, but it should still weigh about twenty grams.”

The owner cooled down the gold Guanyin and then placed it on a small electronic scale, which read 22.64 grams.

“Wow, it’s actually that much!”

“Big profit or not doesn’t matter, as long as she wasn’t cheated.” Chu Mingcheng pretended to breathe a sigh of relief, thanked the owner while taking back the gold Guanyin, and then left the gold shop.

He had no intention of selling the gold Guanyin. Twenty-two grams was worth eight or nine thousand, although the purchasing price would be lower.

He was saving much more than that for a boat, so he decided to keep it. Who knows, when the time came to get married and he needed gold jewelry, he might use the gold Guanyin to make a pair of earrings and a ring.