The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 244: Chapter 244: Sea Reef Abalone Colony

Sister Tang looked at the pitch-black fish, a puzzled expression on her face. ”Why are these fish so expensive? They aren’t even good-looking. They’re just plain black. Even with the white spots, they’re not pretty.”

The others felt the same way, completely baffled.

They had been to ornamental fish farms before, and the fish there were a kaleidoscope of colors. Now *that* was what you called beautiful!

Han Xiaorui treated them like little treasures. ”Rarity equals value. These things are quite rare. I think you can only find a few of these fish in Japan and Taiwan.”

”We really hit the jackpot catching these. And let me tell you, these fish *are* considered pretty. You haven’t seen the blobfish a Japanese client once asked me to find and farm. Now *that* fish was ugly. Stare at it too long and you’d have nightmares. Looked like a ghost.”

Sister Tang chuckled. ”You’re not wrong. The Japanese sure have a different sense of aesthetics.”

Han Xiaorui carefully placed the butterflyfish into the live well, tending to them with great care.

A single one of these fish could sell for over a hundred RMB, maybe even more. It was like free money.

Once she was done, Han Xiaorui told everyone, ”No matter what kind of sea fish it is, if it’s good-looking, keep it for me to raise.”

”Some fish might not look pretty to us, but that’s fine as long as someone else thinks they are.”

Sister Tang nodded. ”Got it, Ship Owner. Don’t you worry, we’ll keep an eye out. We promise not to let any unique or pretty fish get away.”

Han Xiaorui nodded. ”Actually, there are a lot more beautiful ornamental fish in Southeast Asia than around here, and they’re incredibly expensive.”

”When I have time, maybe I’ll take a trip abroad and see if I can buy some to bring back to our farm?”

Just then, Sister Yun offered a reminder. ”Making a special trip would be a huge hassle. You could just have the ornamental fish dealers at the local flower-and-bird market import them for you. Worst case, the price is a little higher, but it would save you a lot of trouble.”

If the ship owner went abroad, she couldn’t fish for days on end. The boat’s catch would shrink, and that would be a huge loss.

Han Xiaorui saw her point. ”That’s true. The profits from one fishing trip would be enough to buy a lot of ornamental fish.”

Xiao Dai was swimming cheerfully, with a turtle following beside it.

This turtle was in a rather pitiful state; its shell was covered in barnacles.

The crew knew the drill.

The crew members quickly hauled the turtle on board. Grabbing their handy tools, they swiftly scraped all the barnacles off its shell and tossed it back into the sea.

Freed of its burden, the turtle swam joyfully through the water.

Han Xiaorui noticed that Xiao Dai and this turtle were very close. ’If they’re not family, they must be a couple.’

After several days away from the sea, Han Xiaorui discovered that by following Xiao Dai’s line of sight, her perspective could travel to even more distant locations.

Just then, the little dolphin arrived. It was more mischievous and swam even faster.

On a whim, Han Xiaorui tried to shift her ”sight” from Xiao Dai to the little dolphin.

She discovered that it actually worked.

This was the first time she had successfully transferred her ”sight.”

Turtles usually swim at depths of ten to twenty meters, and even Xiao Dai could only go down a few dozen meters.

Dolphins, however, could swim three hundred meters deep, so Han Xiaorui’s field of vision became much wider.

Han Xiaorui also discovered that the deeper she went, the larger the eyes of the fish at the bottom of the sea became.

Not enough light, so their eyes had to make up for it.

As the dolphin swam through the sea, Han Xiaorui discovered a large trench, right at a depth the fishing nets could reach.

The trench was rich with underwater plants, and therefore, aquatic life.

The fish population here was incredibly abundant, packed together densely. Many types of fish were out foraging.

Han Xiaorui immediately had Chen Yishui change course and head toward the trench.

Half an hour later, they raised the net.

Its contents were incredibly rich.

Most of it turned out to be red-spotted groupers. These fish were beautiful, delicious, and considered auspicious.

Everyone was delighted to see these fish and quickly began sorting them.

”Oh no, a crab in here ruined the appearance of three fish,” Liang Xiaoyu said, her eyes filled with regret.

Han Xiaorui smiled. ”It’s no great loss. We’ll be eating red grouper soon.”

Chen Yishui felt this area was rich with fish and decided to go back for another haul.

An hour and a half later, Chen Yishui’s judgment was proven correct.

This time they had another bursting net, and who would have thought—this haul was almost entirely eels.

And they were the type with excellent-quality meat. The entire net was almost full of them.

Everyone was ecstatic. The eels writhed all over the deck, which looked rather disgusting.

But in the eyes of the crew, these fish weren’t just fish; they were cash.

Just as everyone was marveling at their massive catch, the little dolphin led them to a large sea reef.

This time, the reef wasn’t covered in scallops or oysters, but in a dense carpet of abalone.

As the tide receded, more and more of the reef was exposed above the water.

Han Xiaorui pulled out a map and pointed southeast. ”Head that way!”

Chen Yishui turned the boat without hesitation. Wherever the ship owner told her to go, she would steer the boat.

With the ship owner present, her own bit of seafaring experience could never compare to Han Xiaorui’s.

While their boat was having a bumper harvest, another boat not far away was experiencing the same.

Captain Qi watched his crew sort the catch, feeling a sense of wonder.

’Our good luck is back!’

’This Han Xiaorui’s luck is even better than Yang Zhigang’s.’

Half an hour later, they reached the location of the reef.

Captain Qi, looking through his binoculars, saw it too: a reef as large as half a football field, exposed by the receding tide.

Captain Qi quickly grabbed his walkie-talkie. ”Xiao Han, there’s a reef over there. Should we go up and take a look?”

Han Xiaorui laughed. ”Of course! Let’s find a good spot to anchor! Everyone put on a life jacket and tie a rope around yourselves.”

Captain Qi chuckled. ”Don’t worry, we’re experienced!”

After putting down the walkie-talkie, Captain Qi went over to his crew.

”You all know what happened with Cao Jun last time, right? We had such a great spot that only we knew about, but he actually sold the information to someone else for money!”

”It’s a good thing Old Yang is kind-hearted. If it were any other captain, they would have beaten him so bad his own mother wouldn’t recognize him! Every single one of you, think about it: forget Jinshan Bay, in all of Shencheng, is there any ship owner more generous than Old Yang?”

Hearing Captain Qi’s words, the crewmen quickly agreed.

”Captain Qi, of course we know the ship owner is generous and treats us well! If we have family trouble, he does his best to help. Don’t worry, we’ll never say a word to anyone outside.”

”Exactly! The more we catch, the bigger our cut! The most important thing is, we’ll have a haul this year, next year, and every year after that! A long-lasting harvest!”

”We’re all veteran crewmen; we know the rules! We’re lucky this is a society with laws. Back in the day, even if Cao Jun didn’t lose his life, he would’ve had to leave a leg behind!”

The men who become crewmen are generally the straightforward, able-bodied sort.

At the same time, it’s a job that requires teamwork and collective effort.

When faced with danger, you can only escape it by helping each other.

Captain Qi nodded. ”Xiao Han has found another reef. In a bit, everyone be careful, put on your life jackets, secure your ropes, and we’ll go up and take a look.”

Hearing this, everyone’s spirits lifted, and they prayed for a good haul ahead.