The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 196: Chapter 196: The Good-Looking and Delicious ”Golden Pineapple

Early morning. The sea breeze caressed their faces.

Today, the sea was like a gentle mother, embracing everything.

Han Xiaorui took the crew out to sea, cherishing the rare good weather.

Yang Zhigang had finished dealing with his family matters. Zhang Xiufang’s condition was stable, and he had found a woman from the village to help care for her.

His little granddaughter, Yang Shunshun, was being looked after by his nephew’s wife. She was doing very well now and had grown quite a bit since getting out of the hospital.

Standing on the fishing boat, Yang Zhigang could feel the sea’s comfort washing over him, allowing him to forget all his worries and relax completely.

They were on a large fishing vessel. Yang Zhigang and Han Xiaorui had agreed to wait until they were more than 150 nautical miles out before they started trawling, leaving the inshore catch for the fishermen with smaller boats.

One shouldn’t be greedy. It was important to always be mindful and grateful.

The last haul had been the most valuable. Sister Lan had been the one to untangle the net and had found the most expensive fish.

This time, Han Xiaorui was again giving out buffet vouchers as a reward. Zhang Guangnan had been far too generous, sending her a whole stack of them.

She couldn’t possibly use them all herself, so she used them to reward the crew.

When Sister Tang saw the buffet vouchers, she had to chime in. She had won them last time and had taken her kids over the weekend.

”The seafood there is pretty good, and there’s lots of other food too, especially all kinds of Western desserts. The kids loved them. I ate quite a bit myself.”

Sister Lan’s face lit up. She carefully put the buffet vouchers away. ”That’s great! After we get back from this trip, I’ll take my kids into the city for some fun.”

Chen Yishui walked over, clapping her hands. ”Everyone, get ready! We’re about to haul in the net.”

Chen Yishui operated the machinery, and the enormous net was hoisted up. It was bulging, and a flash of golden-yellow could be seen inside.

”Whoa! Don’t tell me it’s Big Yellow Fish!” The crew members grew excited, eager to rush forward and untangle the net.

Sister Tang squinted and shook her head. ”Not everything yellow is a Big Yellow Fish. This color is different.”

Just as everyone was guessing what kind of fish it could be, Sister Zhao went to untangle the net.

CRASH! A cascade of brilliant yellow fish tumbled out.

Everyone stared, stunned.

”Sister Shui, what’s the water depth right now? To think we’d catch deep-sea fish in this spot—Golden Pineapples!”

Han Xiaorui came closer and blinked. ”This fish has such a beautiful color! See if there are any live ones. I want to put some in the ornamental fish farm.”

With that, Han Xiaorui grabbed a bucket and started picking out the ones that were still alive.

However, most of them had died instantly from the drastic change in pressure after being hauled up from the deep water.

Even though Han Xiaorui moved quickly, she only managed to pick out a dozen or so and used some of her superpower to keep them alive.

Chen Yishui smiled. ”We’re really lucky. Golden Pineapples are usually found at depths of one hundred to one thousand meters. Our net only went down a hundred meters, so we must have run into a school of them swimming up to feed.”

Han Xiaorui asked curiously, ”Sister Shui, how can you tell they’re deep-sea fish?”

Chen Yishui picked up a Golden Pineapple and pointed to its eye. ”You see, the bigger a sea fish’s eyes are, the deeper it usually lives. Fish in shallow waters have smaller eyes.”

”When sunlight hits the water, it’s continuously absorbed, so the deeper you go, the less light there is. To see clearly, their eyes evolved to be bigger and bigger.”

”Oh, so that’s how it is. I get it.” Han Xiaorui put away the live Golden Pineapples and asked Chen Yishui, ”Sister Shui, do these taste any good?”

Chen Yishui raised an eyebrow. ”Of course they’re delicious. They used to be just pretty ornamental fish, but then people discovered they taste great, so they started eating them. The price isn’t low, either. Boss Xiao Zhang will definitely want them.”

”The flesh is firm with a bit of a chew, and it tastes wonderful. It has that distinct seafood flavor, kind of like a yellow croaker. The texture is a little drier than wild Big Yellow Fish—it’s flaky, separating into chunks. They aren’t as expensive as Big Yellow Fish, but they’re very popular.”

Han Xiaorui took a mental note so she wouldn’t misidentify them next time. ”Golden Pineapples... besides yellow, what other colors do they come in?”

Chen Yishui replied, ”Red, gold, and green. Since these fish are hauled up from the deep sea, they’re very clean. You can not only steam them, but also make sashimi.”

The moment Han Xiaorui heard they were delicious, she didn’t hesitate.

While everyone was busy sorting the Golden Pineapples, she grabbed her bucket and picked out ten of them that weighed about a pound and a half each.

”We’re having Golden Pineapple for lunch today,” Han Xiaorui announced with a smile, then dashed to the kitchen with the bucket of fish.

The crew’s faces lit up; they were in for another treat today.

In the past, Chen Yishui used to advise Han Xiaorui to save the good fish to sell and eat the ones that were in poor condition or less valuable.

The crew was willing to go along with it, but Han Xiaorui refused.

She always said that she worked so hard going out to sea not just to make money, but also to eat well.

If she couldn’t even enjoy the fish she caught herself, then making money would bring her no happiness.

Having experienced the food shortages and poisonous miasma of the apocalypse, Han Xiaorui cherished her current life more than anyone.

After that, Chen Yishui stopped trying to persuade her.

They had a massive haul almost every time, so how much could they possibly eat?

However, seafood is high in purines, which can increase uric acid and cause gout. So, they couldn’t eat seafood for every single meal. That’s why Liu Huamei always prepared plenty of chicken, duck, goose, pork, beef, and eggs, along with lots of vegetables, for each trip.

The main principle was a balanced diet—eating well and eating deliciously!

The haul of Golden Pineapples was immense—a total of 4,400 pounds. The two-pounders alone accounted for over 2,200 pounds, with the rest of the fish mostly weighing between one and one-and-a-half pounds.

For lunch: Golden Pineapple sashimi and steamed Golden Pineapple.

There was also steamed egg with shrimp, stir-fried greens, and a Nori and dried shrimp soup, all served with white rice.

Simple ingredients, made into a delicious meal. It was another wonderful day.

After lunch, they rested for no more than half an hour before hauling in the net again.

This haul was a lighter color, and no one could guess what it was. Only after it was dropped onto the deck did they realize it was filefish.

Filefish belong to the *Monacanthidae* family. They generally grow to be 20-25 centimeters long and are named for their distinctly horse-shaped face.

(Description omitted; feel free to look up a picture.)

Filefish meat has medicinal uses and is said to help treat stomach ailments, mastitis, and gastrointestinal bleeding. Its flesh is firm and contains protein and fat, making it a highly nutritious seafood product.

Besides being eaten fresh, it can also be salted and dried or canned. Its innards, which were originally used as fertilizer, are now processed into a fatliquoring agent for leather, making leather products full, soft, and elastic, and preventing them from hardening over time. The skin can be made into gelatin, which can be used for edible casings or as a filler.

In China, the filefish has become the second most economically important marine fish species after the hairtail.

A large supply meant the price wasn’t particularly high.

However, the quality of this haul was excellent, so everyone was still very happy.

In the past, without the help of Xiao Dai and the sea turtles, there was a 3-4 hour gap between each haul.

Now, Xiao Dai, the sea turtles, and even the dolphins were especially proactive. Whenever they encountered Han Xiaorui’s fishing boat at sea, they would herd schools of fish from the seabed toward her.

They had no choice but to keep hauling in the nets. It was exhausting but blissful!