The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Red Sea Bream Bonanza

”Uncle Hei, are we still following them?” a young man asked, glaring at the departing Jinshan Bay boat. He directed the question to Uncle Hei, who was hesitating to start their engine.

Uncle Hei hesitated, but Han Xiaorui’s boatload of fish, worth over ten thousand, was more than they earned in two months of backbreaking work.

”Let’s go,” Uncle Hei said, gritting his teeth. ”If you don’t want to, you can stay behind. But with all these boats, we might not get a chance to pick up any scraps.”

Hearing Uncle Hei’s words, the other four boats decided to give up and headed off to fish elsewhere.

Uncle Hei and Xu Wang decided to risk catching nothing for the day just to follow and see what was happening.

Liang Xiaoyu glanced back, her face lighting up with delight. ”Xiao Rui, only two boats followed us. If it comes to a fight, we’re sure to win.”

Han Xiaorui smiled. ”You’re right!”

After about an hour and a half, Han Xiaorui stopped the boat. She waved the flag in her hand and began to lay shrimp nets in the area.

Han Xiaorui and Liang Xiaoyu worked in perfect sync, quickly dropping the shrimp nets into the seawater.

She had found a good spot, and her bait was superior, so she was able to catch just as many shrimp and crabs as she had previously.

Seeing this, the others watched closely this time. This really was a good spot.

Wang Gensheng whispered to his eldest son, Wang Hai, ”Hurry, drop the shrimp pots. There must be lobsters down there.”

The others also began dropping their shrimp pots, each family’s pots marked with their own symbol.

According to the unwritten rules of the sea, you weren’t supposed to touch another person’s pots, but there were always unscrupulous types.

The other families did the same, spreading out and setting their own shrimp pots in the vicinity.

’Might as well give it a try. We’ve already risked coming up empty-handed today, so what’s the harm?’

They’d never been to this area before. Who would have thought there was a spot here suitable for shrimp pots?

Uncle Hei and Xu Wang also circled the area for a bit before dropping their own nets.

Han Xiaorui got a fishing rod for Liang Xiaoyu as well and baited the hook.

They weren’t going any farther today; it was time to start fishing.

Liang Xiaoyu knew how to fish, too. She took the rod and cast her line from the other side of the boat. ”Good idea. If we don’t go far, we can keep an eye on our nets so those people don’t steal them!”

The other boats also spread out a little, keeping their distance as they baited their hooks and began to fish.

Han Xiaorui sensed there were groupers below, and they were a good size, too. ’If we fish here,’ she thought, ’today’s haul won’t be small.’

Her luck today was even better than she had imagined—she actually caught a red seabream.

Its body was a captivating reddish-pink.

The red seabream (Pagrus major) is a fish in the Sparidae family. Also known as the red porgy, it is considered a very high-grade seafood ingredient.

Its meat is plump and delicious, without any fishy taste. It contains numerous trace elements and a wealth of beneficial bioactive compounds, making it highly nutritious.

This type of fish has a very interesting trait: they are hermaphrodites.

When a male red seabream dies, his ”wives” swim mournfully around his body. As they do, one of the stronger ”wives” will transform from female to male, taking on the role of the ”head of the household” and leading the remaining ”wives” into a new life.

Han Xiaorui was the first to hook a fish. As it broke the surface, she grabbed the landing net with her free hand.

She landed a red seabream weighing about seventeen pounds.

Liang Xiaoyu’s eyes widened with envy. ”We cast our lines at the same time, but you get the first bite, and it’s a monster! And you still say you’re not a good fisher? That’s just being way too humble!”

Han Xiaorui just smiled and pointed to Liang Xiaoyu’s rod. ”You’ve got a bite, too!”

Surprised, Liang Xiaoyu tested the line. After reeling it in for a moment, a fish broke the surface, and she scooped it up with the landing net.

”I can’t believe I actually caught one! I’ve fished before, but my luck has never been this good. I think it must be the bait you made. It has to be special.”

Liang Xiaoyu was a sharp woman; it didn’t take her long to pinpoint what made Han Xiaorui so exceptional.

Han Xiaorui smiled and didn’t deny it, admitting freely, ”That’s my secret recipe!”

Since it was a secret recipe, Liang Xiaoyu knew not to ask any more questions.

Back in the day, her maternal grandfather had learned many tricks from the older generation of fishermen. Those were the skills that put food on the table, secrets you never shared lightly.

Han Xiaorui hooked another fish, and once again, it was a red seabream.

It wasn’t as large as the last one, but it still weighed a good eight or nine pounds.

For every three fish Han Xiaorui caught, Liang Xiaoyu would land one. At this rate, their haul was growing steadily.

Nearby, Wang Gensheng and the others, their boats spaced a good distance apart, also started to fish.

Their luck was good, too. Every few minutes, or every ten at most, they would land a fine fish.

Some caught red seabream, others caught grouper...

The groupers Han Xiaorui caught were exceptionally large; none weighed less than ten pounds.

One was even over forty pounds. Xiao Rui could lift that much weight, but she worried the fishing rod wouldn’t be able to take the strain.

”Sister-in-law Xiao Yu, come help me with the landing net!”

Liang Xiaoyu had just unhooked a two-pound grouper. She set down her rod and quickly grabbed the net.

The moment she saw the grouper break the surface, Liang Xiaoyu gasped. ”Oh my god, is this grouper some kind of sea monster? It’s huge!”

Despite her words, her hands moved swiftly. She scooped the net under the massive grouper and heaved it onto the boat with all her might.

That one fish took up half the livewell by itself.

Even though they hadn’t used their big nets, their haul from rod-and-reel fishing was substantial.

The fish were biting like crazy today; Han Xiaorui and Liang Xiaoyu barely had a moment’s rest.

About two hours later, the bites gradually tapered off.

The people from Jinshan Bay had a good haul today as well. Even Uncle Hei and Xu Wang, positioned on the outskirts of the group, had seen the Jinshan Bay boats start fishing. They had stopped their own boat a short distance away, taken out their rods, and started casting.

As things quieted down, Han Xiaorui and Liang Xiaoyu finally felt the soreness in their arms.

”You’ve worked hard, Sister-in-law Xiao Yu,” Han Xiaorui said with a smile. ”Are you getting hungry?”

Liang Xiaoyu nodded. ”A little. I brought some qingtuan my mother-in-law made. They’re filled with red bean paste.”

Liang Xiaoyu brought fish home from her trips with Han Xiaorui almost every day, a fact that Granny Cai was well aware of and deeply appreciated.

That’s why she always woke up early to make something for Liang Xiaoyu to bring along and share with Han Xiaorui.

Han Xiaorui didn’t stand on ceremony with Liang Xiaoyu. She gratefully accepted, sipping hot tea while eating a qingtuan.

The fresh fragrance of mugwort and the sweetness of the red bean paste, enveloped in the soft, chewy glutinous rice, created a uniquely delicious flavor.

Chewing with her eyes closed, she thought, ’It’s like I’m tasting spring itself! This is what spring should taste like!’

Han Xiaorui sighed with emotion once more. ’This era is truly wonderful!’

’Delicious food, clean water.’

’A busy yet fulfilling life. Every day is happy and meaningful.’

Once they had eaten their fill, Han Xiaorui and Liang Xiaoyu went back to fishing.

Not until three in the afternoon did Han Xiaorui stop. She started the boat and called out to the others, ”Uncle Gensheng, we’re going to pull up our shrimp pots. Are you all coming?”

Wang Gensheng chuckled. ’Today’s haul is incredible,’ he thought. He estimated they’d caught over a hundred pounds of red seabream and another hundred pounds of grouper.

’All of it top-grade, valuable seafood!’

’This is way more than we usually make on a solo trip. This catch alone is worth over a thousand yuan.’

He had to admit it. ’That Han Xiaorui must be blessed by Mazu herself!’