The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 46: Chapter 46: What is the Most Expensive and Best-Selling Fish?

Boss Zhang answered without hesitation, ”Big Yellow Fish, little yellow croakers, Luo Duan, groupers, and silver pomfret are all on the pricier side. But recently, some people from Japan have been coming over, specifically asking for tuna. Bluefin tuna is the most expensive.”

”They swim incredibly fast and are difficult to farm, so they’re almost all wild. I heard from someone in the industry that a fisherman once caught a tuna and sold it for thirty yuan per jin.”

Hearing thirty yuan per jin, Han Xiaorui’s eyes lit up. ”That expensive? A single tuna can weigh two or three hundred jin. If I caught two of those, it’d be worth more than this entire boatload of fish and shrimp.”

Boss Zhang chuckled. ”I hear the bigger the tuna, the more valuable it is. A fish like that is a rare find you can’t just go out and look for.”

”I’ll keep an eye out from now on. Maybe I’ll get lucky and catch one.” Han Xiaorui put her money away. A few of the aunties had already cleaned her boat inside and out, so she paid them promptly.

The eyes of the people watching turned red with envy.

The sea belongs to no one; anyone can fish in it!

But they couldn’t catch nearly as many fish, so their envy was pointless.

’It’s all fate!’

’This is luck!’

Han Xiaorui was just about to go to the hospital to check on the father and son from the Cao family when she saw Liang Xiaoyu return.

”Xiao Rui, here’s your three hundred yuan back.” Liang Xiaoyu said, panting as she drank some tea, having finally caught up.

Han Xiaorui was taken aback. ”Doesn’t the hospital cost money?”

”It does. I fronted the money at first, then I called the village, and Village Chief Liu notified them. When they arrived, they paid me back,” Liang Xiaoyu replied. ”You start the boat. I’ll tell you all about it on the way.”

”Alright!” Han Xiaorui started the boat and headed back to Jinshan Bay.

Liang Xiaoyu smiled. ”The doctor said it’s a good thing we got him there in time. Otherwise, Uncle Cao would have been in danger from losing too much blood.”

”What about Cao Qiang, the one who got bit on the butt?” Han Xiaorui asked, snickering.

Liang Xiaoyu burst out laughing. ”Uncle Cao sucked the venom out in time, and he got a shot of medicine. He’s fine now.”

”But Cao Qiang, a grown young man like him, was so embarrassed he couldn’t even look at me.”

Han Xiaorui doubled over with laughter. ”Haha! After getting bitten on the butt, Cao Qiang will probably duck for cover whenever he sees us from now on.”

”Isn’t that the truth? He’s a grown man, at the age where he should be thinking about finding a wife.” Liang Xiaoyu was in high spirits. Although she was a bit tired, she had helped save a life.

When they reached the dock, just as Liang Xiaoyu was about to get off the boat, she spotted a sea snake peeking its head out from under the hull. ”Ah! A sea snake!”

Han Xiaorui saw it too. It looked vaguely familiar, as if it were the same sea snake that had bitten Cao Qiang’s butt earlier.

’To think it followed us all this way!’

”Be careful.” Han Xiaorui grabbed a stick and shielded Liang Xiaoyu as she got off the boat.

There were still over forty jin of small silver pomfret left. ”Sister-in-law Xiao Yu, take a bucket of these home with you later. They’re small, so I won’t bother giving any to Sister Cuicui or Aunt Hongxia.”

Hearing this, Liang Xiaoyu shook her head. ”My family can’t eat that many. But no matter how small the fish are, they’re still fish. And since they’re free, everyone would be happy to have some.”

”I’ll split them among a few families in a bit. It’s the thought that counts. They’ll be thrilled, why would they turn their noses up at it?”

Han Xiaorui thought for a moment and realized Liang Xiaoyu had a point. ”Alright, then I’ll give you some more from my bucket later.”

Before they even entered the house, Han Xiaorui and Liang Xiaoyu heard the sound of joyful laughter coming from the courtyard.

”Pingping, An’an, help big sister get the ball back.” An eight or nine-year-old girl, Yang Minmin, said with a smile, directing her two little cousins to pick up the ball.

Pingping and An’an toddled over to get the ball, their little faces beaming with smiles. They presented it to Yang Minmin as if it were a treasure. ”Here, big sister!”

Yang Minmin praised them, ”You’re so good, Pingping and An’an. Here, big sister has some candy for you.”

With that, she took two White Rabbit candies from her pocket, unwrapped them, and popped them into her cousins’ mouths.

Cai Wenjun stopped playing too. Seeing Pingping and An’an eating candy, he ran over and stared hopefully at Yang Minmin.

Yang Minmin only had one White Rabbit candy left in her pocket and was a little reluctant to part with it. ”Wenjun, what do you call me?”

”Big sister.” Cai Wenjun’s gaze shifted from the White Rabbit candy to Yang Minmin’s face, and he called out ”big sister” without a second thought.

”Alright, since you called me big sister, I’ll give it to you.” Yang Minmin remembered what Aunt Xiao Jing had told her earlier about being kind to her younger brother and sisters. With a pained look, she unwrapped the candy and put it in Cai Wenjun’s mouth.

When Liang Xiaoyu saw Yang Minmin give her son a piece of candy, the rims of her eyes instantly reddened.

’Her son had never been treated so kindly by anyone in the village!’

She was grateful for Yang Minmin’s kindness and happy to see her son’s improvement.

”Sister Xiao Yu, don’t worry, everything will get better,” Han Xiaorui said, comforting her. She knew just how she felt.

”Yeah, it will. Good deeds are rewarded.” Liang Xiaoyu wiped her tears. ”Sister Cuicui is here, so you can just give the fish to her directly. I won’t have to make a trip to her house.”

Han Xiaorui took out five yuan and handed it to Liang Xiaoyu. ”Sister-in-law, this is your pay for today.”

Liang Xiaoyu didn’t refuse. She accepted it, put it in her pocket, and headed home, carrying the bucket of fish in one hand and leading Cai Wenjun by the other.

A few days ago, she had brought back several flattened, round glass fishbowls, about thirty centimeters in diameter, and had put a few smaller ornamental fish inside.

”Minmin, this is a gift from your Auntie Xiao Rui. Do you like it?”

Even though she lived by the sea, Yang Minmin had rarely seen such beautiful fish. ”I love it! Auntie Xiao Rui, you’re amazing! I can’t believe you caught such pretty fish.”

”If I catch any more pretty ones, I’ll save them for you,” Han Xiaorui said with a smile, patting Yang Minmin’s head. ”After you finish your homework, you can come play with your little sisters, okay?”

Yang Minmin nodded. ”Okay! Pingping and An’an are really well-behaved. I like playing with them. I wanted to play with them before, but they were very timid and wouldn’t talk, they’d just cry.”

Han Xiaorui smiled. She really liked the clever and kind Yang Minmin. ”Your little sisters are bigger now. They don’t cry anymore, and they’re cute and kind, just like Minmin. Next Sunday, if the weather’s nice, I’ll take all of you to the amusement park in the city.”

”Uh-huh! I’ve wanted to go for ages, but my mom never takes me,” Yang Minmin said, grinning.

Wu Cuicui said with mock reproach, ”Xiao Rui, don’t spoil her too much. You give her everything she asks for. We don’t have the means to keep up.”

”Oh, right. Here’s the money Uncle Yang and Jianguo got from the Song Family for you. 920 yuan for the boat repairs and 120 yuan for the three peach trees.”

Han Xiaorui took it and stuffed it in her pocket. ”Thanks, Sister Cuicui. Sister Cuicui, fishing is actually quite profitable. Uncle Yang has a big boat, so why doesn’t Brother Jianguo work on it?”

Wu Cuicui sighed. ”Your Brother Jianguo... don’t be fooled by the fact that he grew up by the sea, is tall and strong, and knows how to swim. The moment he gets on a boat, he gets so seasick he could puke up bile. He’s just not cut out to make a living from the sea.”

”Oh, so that’s how it is! What a shame.” It dawned on Han Xiaorui. ”Didn’t your husband use to manage the stall at the seafood market for Uncle Yang? I’ve seen him at home a lot recently. What happened?”

Wu Cuicui waved her hand, sending her daughter off to play with Pingping and An’an. Only then did she tell Han Xiaorui the truth, her expression turning bitter.

”His mother can’t stand us. She’s always thinking his father is secretly slipping us money he earns. If it weren’t for his father, I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with Zhang Xiufang! Just thinking about it makes me so angry I could cry!”

Hearing this, Han Xiaorui was actually pleased. She was planning to start an ornamental fish farm and could ask Yang Jianguo for help.