The sky gradually brightened, and the modern buildings behind him became smaller. Li Hao Chen took out his phone and took a picture of the sunrise, sending it to Murong Yan Ran.
Unexpectedly, Murong Yan Ran replied instantly, "So beautiful, I'm envious."
"Uh, you're not sleeping?"
"I couldn't sleep thinking of you, giggle!"
Upon receiving this message, Li Hao Chen felt an urge to return immediately.
"Okay, I need to go back to work. Catch lots of fish for me, love you, kissing."
Li Hao Chen had just sent a kissing emoji when the signal completely disappeared.
He put away his phone helplessly and focused on steering the boat.
With nothing else to do, he opened the competition channel. It was lively today, with everyone bragging about how much they had caught, and some even cursing each other over fishing spots. It was quite a spectacle.
Li Hao Chen enjoyed listening to this, especially when he was bored or feeling down. It was one of the best ways to adjust his mood.
He listened for over two hours, and was nearing his set fishing spot. Ten minutes later, he arrived at the deserted island where he had rescued the sea turtle.
The reason he came here was also because of the sea turtle. The incident on Zhoushan where he rescued people felt quite mysterious. After much thought, Li Hao Chen believed that the sea turtle was most likely what saved them, so he decided to come and take a look.
He stopped the boat at the same spot where he had caught the large yellow croaker, dropped anchor, and didn't immediately start fishing. It was already noon, so he decided to cook lunch first.
Being alone, he didn't need any sense of ritual in his life. It was simple: he sliced some cured sausage, cured meat, and salted eggs, made a claypot rice in the rice cooker, and cooked a bitter melon and seaweed soup. It was simple and convenient.
After eating, he looked at the small deserted island not far from him and decided to go and have a look.
He opened the inflatable kayak. This time, he didn't attach the outboard motor; the distance wasn't far, and more importantly, it was difficult to bring the motor to the reef area.
Gathering his tools, he paddled for seven or eight minutes and successfully landed. It had been almost a month since his last visit. Li Hao Chen found that there were many more conches on the reef.
These were the important cornerstones for his future prosperity, so of course he wouldn't let them go.
Li Hao Chen picked up conches as he went along, carefully searching the rock crevices to see if he could find any abalone. There were too few of these in his space; even with a hundred years to reproduce, he wouldn't make much money from them.
Li Hao Chen strolled around. He didn't find any trace of the sea turtle in a tide pool, but fortunately, he found five abalones the size of quail eggs on the tide pool.
There were many sea roaches and small reef crabs on the rocks. Li Hao Chen also caught some with his net. These creatures weren't in his space yet. Although they weren't of much use, enriching the variety of his space's ocean was always a good thing.
His brief trip to the deserted island this time was only average. He got about four to five catties of conches, a few small abalones, and some sea roaches and small reef crabs.
Back on the boat, Li Hao Chen entered the cabin and brought all his catches into his space, Jiuzhou Island.
Jiuzhou Island was getting larger and larger. Although it only grew by a few dozen centimeters each day, a little added up over time. Even with its current size, it would take Li Hao Chen two to three hours to walk around it.
He walked to the reef area, pried off about ten catties of mussels, picked a bunch of coconuts, and then left his space.
He put two young coconuts in the refrigerator, then picked up the mussels and walked to the deck. Opening mussel meat was also a difficult task, so Li Hao Chen had only set up two fishing rods.
Li Hao Chen picked up a small knife, inserted it into the seam of the mussel's shell and twisted, successfully opening it. Then he used the small knife to cut the adductor muscle, bringing out the mussel meat. Although not difficult, after opening them for a long time, his fingers would become very sore.
Li Hao Chen only opened about ten mussel meats and stopped. He would use them first. If he opened too many and they sat for too long, they would spoil, and the fish wouldn't eat them much.
He baited the hook with mussel meat and cast it. Then he went into the kitchen, opened a bottle of frozen Sasa, and came out.
"Ring ring ring~"
As soon as he came out, both fishing rods bent slightly, and the bells rang continuously.
"So lucky today?"
He caught two fish in the time it took to drink a soda. Li Hao Chen was in a great mood. He picked up the landing net, walked over, pressed the button, and within ten seconds, both fish were brought up. They weren't large; one was a golden drum fish weighing seven to eight taels, and the other was a yellow sea bream weighing over a catty.
He re-baited the hooks and continued fishing. As soon as he turned around, the bell on the rod tip rang again.
"So fast? Is Neptune possessing me today?"
Li Hao Chen excitedly brought the fish up and saw that they were both green groupers weighing over a catty.
After unhooking the fish, he baited the hooks with mussel meat and cast them down. Just as he was about to open more mussel meat for bait, both fishing rods were pulled into a big bend, the fishing lines stretched taut, and the sea water was cut with a hissing sound by the fishing lines.
Seeing the fishing lines getting closer, Li Hao Chen quickly rushed over and pressed the button. The electric reel spun rapidly, and the distance between the two fishing lines was pulled apart.
Li Hao Chen breathed a sigh of relief. "Glad I reacted quickly. If I had been three seconds slower, these fishing lines would have gotten tangled."
Judging by the tension of the fishing lines and the resistance, Li Hao Chen estimated that these two fish were no less than 4 catties each. Half a minute later, the two fish were brought up, twisting wildly in mid-air.
"Sparidae?"
Li Hao Chen was afraid they would shake off the hooks, so he didn't have time to look closely. He grabbed one fish with each hand using the landing nets.
"Hahaha, it really is Sparidae, both weighing four to five catties. I've hit the jackpot."
Li Hao Chen, holding the Sparidae fish, couldn't help but laugh heartily.
Sparidae, scientifically known as Lithognathus mitsukurii, generally weigh two to three catties, with larger ones reaching ten to twenty catties. They are the champions among sea bream. Their flesh is tender, especially the skin, which is rich in oil and collagen, making it chewy and delicious. Their appearance is also very distinctive: their bodies have gray and black stripes, their faces are dark, and they have two prominent yellow-white buck teeth, looking quite frightening from the front.
Despite their striking appearance, these Sparidae are not cheap, costing 120 to 200 yuan per catty. Stone bream are considered a dream delicacy by gourmands. They are not only expensive but also rare. This is because stone bream generally inhabit reefs and cannot be caught by trawling nets; they can only be caught by surf fishing.
However, due to the sharp front buck teeth of the stone bream, they often bite through the fishing line and escape before being reeled in. For these reasons, this fish is still rarely seen in the market.
Having caught two good fish, Li Hao Chen was naturally in a great mood. He even couldn't help but belt out a song for good luck.
"Let's keep going, hehe!"
Li Hao Chen had just re-baited the hook and cast it down. Within ten seconds, the rod tip was pulled into a big bend again, and the fishing line was just as taut as before.
He pressed the button, and the strong power of the electric reel was still steady. The moment the fish surfaced, Li Hao Chen's face lit up like a chrysanthemum.
"Hahaha, still Sparidae, I'm rich, I'm rich!"
Just as Li Hao Chen was picking up the landing net to scoop them up, the two Sparidae dropped into the sea with a splash and disappeared.
"My sea bream..."