"Hey, what's wrong?" Murong Yanran's voice suddenly rose, tinged with annoyance.
"Yanran, what happened?"
"Ugh, a few fishing boats just came back, and all their catches were snatched up by Mu Jiachao at twice the price. On top of that, several major seafood dealers from the neighboring city somehow collectively raised their prices by nearly thirty percent."
Li Haochen narrowed his eyes. "It seems the Mu family wants to overwhelm you with money."
"Then I'll head back to the hotel first and see if there are any other ways," Murong Yanran said with a worried frown, hurrying back to her hotel.
"It seems I underestimated the Mu family's determination."
Li Haochen had no immediate solution, so he could only go out fishing himself to help in any way he could.
After packing his fishing gear, Li Haochen called Yang Tao to help him transport the over a hundred catties of sea snails he had collected from his spatial dimension yesterday. Then, he rushed to the market, bought enough food, and headed for the pier.
Upon arriving at the pier, he saw many boats returning for resupply. Li Haochen's 140,000 yuan still held the top spot. The second place was surprisingly the Shanfeng with over 80,000 yuan, and the third was Yihe with over 70,000 yuan. These were the only ones on the leaderboard for now; others had yet to return.
Furthermore, many fishing boats had already given up on the competition. After all, everyone was out to make money. Discovering they had no chance of winning any prizes, they abandoned the distant 15 million yuan grand prize and returned to their usual routines.
Li Haochen's leading position greatly surprised Liu Yufeng of Shanfeng. However, upon learning that Li Haochen had only caught a few large yellow croakers to achieve this result, he scoffed, "Dumb luck, tsk."
After sending all the food onto the boat, Li Haochen went to Binhai Plaza again. When he came out, he had acquired two sets of Daiwa's 21 Seaborg 600MJ and two Fuyuan Constellation 2.1400 electric reels. The beautiful saleswoman was delighted and slipped Li Haochen a piece of paper with her contact information.
Returning to the pier, he emptied the fishing tackle shop's entire stock of Antarctic shrimp, over a hundred boxes. He didn't fill the oil tanks but topped up the water tanks before sounding the horn.
The Star of the Stars' second departure also drew the attention of many. On the other side, Shanfeng was also preparing to set sail. Seeing Li Haochen pass by, they nodded and greeted him.
As he sailed out of the pier, Li Haochen called Murong Yanran. "I'm going out fishing. I've bought groceries and put them in the refrigerator."
"Um, why did you go out without telling me?"
"To bring the ocean back for you, hehe!"
"You... be careful. I'll be waiting for your successful return!"
"Okay!"
After hanging up the phone, Li Haochen opened the electronic sea chart on his computer, found the fishing spot he had saved last time, pushed the throttle all the way forward, and engaged full power.
As many local fishermen had withdrawn from the competition, he saw many fishing boats setting nets along the way. These fishermen knew that Star of the Stars was in the lead, especially those large yellow croakers that made them envious. Seeing Star of the Stars whiz past, quite a few fishing boats followed, of course, only to be left further and further behind as their speed couldn't keep up.
Three hours later, Li Haochen arrived at the spot where he had caught the large yellow croakers. Unfortunately, another fishing boat was already anchored there. He gave a short horn signal and turned right, circling around to the other side.
"Brother, that was Star of the Stars just now. He caught several large yellow croakers a couple of days ago and sold them for a lot of money."
"What does it matter how much he sold them for? Hurry up and cast more lines, be diligent. Mu family is buying at high prices now, this is a great opportunity to make money. Hang the bait on those crab cages and lower them."
"Don't you think the Mu family is crazy, buying at double the price?"
"You're the crazy one. I wish they would buy at ten times the price. Stop blabbering and get to it."
Anchoring the boat, Li Haochen installed all the electric reels according to the instructions. After testing that they were working properly, he fixed them in the fishing holes. He attached the bait to one rod after another, set the depth, and with a press of a button, it was done.
"This is really convenient," Li Haochen marveled at the advancement of technology.
With everything ready, he sat back to wait for a bite. Before any activity, Li Haochen went into the galley to prepare lunch. It was simple: when the rice was almost done, he placed a few pieces of salted chicken and some chopped scallions on top and baked it together. Li Haochen had bought a lot of pre-cooked food this time because it was quick and convenient, and he needed to seize every moment.
Before the meal was ready, Li Haochen went out to check the situation. Only two rods had bites. Li Haochen hurried over and pressed the buttons.
"Zzzzzzt..."
The electric reel buzzed, reeling in the line at a rapid pace. In less than four seconds, the fish was brought up. Of course, it was only a shallow depth and the fish wasn't large, which is why it was so fast.
"Hahaha, it's truly a divine tool. This is so much more convenient."
Li Haochen released the two snapper, each weighing about three liang, into the live bait well and continued to bait the hooks.
Seeing no activity on the other rods, Li Haochen went back to the cabin to eat. Humans are like iron, and rice is like steel; one must eat heartily to have the strength to work. So, Li Haochen cooked a bit more today, along with the fragrant salted chicken, which was especially good with rice. He finished his meal in less than five minutes.
He brewed a large pot of black tea and went back out. Good heavens, all four fishing rods had bites. Fortunately, the boat was long enough, and the rods were spaced far apart. He had also locked the line length, so there was no fear of tangling.
It was so much easier without having to pull or crank the reels. It did, however, diminish some of the fun of fishing.
The fish caught this time were still not particularly valuable. A black seabream weighing about a catty, a gilt-head bream weighing about half a catty, and two snapper. After fishing for an hour, he had only caught this much, and Li Haochen was a little dissatisfied, but he resigned himself to it. Without crayfish, octopuses, or flying fish, it was all a matter of luck.
After releasing the fish into the live bait well, he continued to bait the hooks and cast the lines.
On the other side, the two brothers also shook their heads dejectedly. "Brother, let's change spots. We've only caught a few black bream this morning, and even the crab and fish cages yielded very little. It's not even enough to cover the fuel costs."
"Alright, let's go check out the Zhoushan area. The currents should be better there."
A long honk startled Li Haochen. A moment later, the same fishing boat that had been nearby sped past him from a few dozen meters away.
Seeing this, Li Haochen immediately weighed anchor and steered the boat to the other side, as the fish bite here was indeed poor.
Indeed, the fish bite on this side was much better. Li Haochen didn't know if those two brothers were just unlucky or if this was his lucky spot. As soon as Li Haochen cast his bait, he caught three sea bass, each weighing over 2 catties, which gave him the motivation to stay here.
After fishing for the afternoon, although the catch rate had increased significantly, most of the fish were inexpensive varieties like sea bass, snapper, and yellow croaker.
Looking at the catch in the live bait well, Li Haochen didn't complain. It was already quite good, totaling at least 30 catties. Although the prices weren't very high, such a haul was still worth celebrating.