The Little Daughter-in-Law's Luck Was Incredible

"Let Jiang Xia rest on Sea Island for a while."

Father Zhou said nothing after hearing that and prepared to steer the boat to Sea Island.

Jiang Xia was in high spirits. How could she be willing to rest? "There's no need to go to Sea Island. I'm not tired. I can sort the fish on the boat. Let's keep casting the net. Since our luck is good, let's cast one more."

Father Zhou had the same idea. It was still so early—why rest now? His daughter-in-law was so sensible. He smiled and said, "Then let's cast one more. It'll be noon by then, so we can rest while we eat."

"Okay." Jiang Xia smiled and replied to Zhou Chenglei, "Keep casting the net."

Zhou Chenglei could only go lower the net. Afterward, he and Jiang Xia sorted the fish on the deck together.

The fish were sorted by size. Fish of roughly the same size went into the same basket, and a full basket held about fifty pounds.

Because the fish had been hauled up in the Trawl Net, they were already dead, which made them easy to sort.

Zhou Chenglei was used to this work. At a glance, he could tell how much a fish weighed, sorting them quickly and accurately.

But he never would have imagined that Jiang Xia sorted them even faster and more accurately, as if she had done this countless times before.

In her previous life, Jiang Xia had started following her grandmother to sell vegetables every day when she was a little over three years old. At first, she couldn't help with anything, but by the time she was four or five, she had learned to lend a hand with minor tasks. By the time she reached junior high, she could tell how much a pound weighed just by holding something in her hand.

Fast and accurate? There was no secret to it—she was simply practiced.

Spanish Mackerel were fairly large, and after the two of them worked together for over an hour, they had packed all the Spanish Mackerel into baskets.

Then they sorted the fish and prawns, getting more than ten pounds of Tiger Prawns and more than ten pounds of miscellaneous fish. Among the miscellaneous fish were several Small Red Squid and Flower Crabs, perfect for making into dinner.

By the time they had finished sorting everything, more than two hours had passed. Father Zhou said, "A'Lei, we can haul in the net."

"Okay."

Father Zhou slowed the boat, and father and son worked together to haul in the net again.

This net was not as heavy as the previous one, and the two of them pulled it up with relative ease.

Zhou Chenglei emptied the fish out by himself.

Jiang Xia immediately spotted a mouse grouper wearing a spotted skirt.

It was quite beautiful!

More importantly, it was still alive even after being dragged up in the Trawl Net. That was extremely rare.

Father Zhou saw it too and immediately picked it up and put it in a bucket to keep alive. Live fish sold for more.

This time, there were mostly miscellaneous fish, but there were also more than a dozen Spanish Mackerel and Yellow Croakers, along with quite a few Small Red Squid.

There wasn't a large quantity, but the varieties were excellent.

Father Zhou smiled and said, "This net wasn't bad either. Hurry and sort it out."

It was noon by then. Zhou Chenglei said, "Let's eat first."

Father Zhou said, "That works too."

Mother Zhou had prepared the meal that morning and packed it into lunch boxes for them to bring aboard.

The food had gone cold, but that did not matter in summer.

Zhou Chenglei opened the lunch boxes and looked inside before handing them to Jiang Xia. This time, all three lunch boxes contained the same dishes. Mother Zhou had not treated anyone differently.

There was only steamed Dried Fish and pickled vegetables. They had been in a hurry that morning and could not make many dishes. Besides, leafy greens turned yellow and tasted bad after sitting for too long, so Mother Zhou generally did not prepare them.

In addition to the lunch boxes, Mother Zhou had prepared six Boiled Eggs for the three of them. They could eat them if they got hungry.

The food was not as tasty after cooling, but the pickled vegetables went well with rice. Jiang Xia had indeed been hungry after working all morning, so she ate most of a box of rice, and Zhou Chenglei finished the rest.

After eating, Father Zhou wanted to go trawl again.

Whenever he went out to sea, he wanted to make the most of every moment trawling, wishing he could earn a little more.

But the sun was blazing, and Zhou Chenglei wanted to send Jiang Xia to Sea Island to rest.

How could Jiang Xia possibly go rest? There was a whole pile of work on the boat. She would feel uncomfortable if she did not finish it.

"I don't need to rest. Let's hurry and sort these fish." Jiang Xia picked up a large Green Crab that was trying to escape and handed it to him to tie up.

She still did not know how to tie them.

Zhou Chenglei could do nothing about her. He took it over and used Scented Grass to bind the Green Crab's pincers, legs, and body tightly, tying it into a cross shape.

Jiang Xia watched his movements intently. When he finished, she also picked up a crab and imitated him, tying it up.

She was unfamiliar with it at first and got her hand caught by the crab's pincers, but she was wearing gloves, so it was fine.

Zhou Chenglei watched as she tied up the crab with slight clumsiness, yet without making a single mistake.

At that moment, he had only one thought: she was truly skillful and clever!

She really was smart. She learned everything quickly.

After Jiang Xia finished tying it, she even tied a bow, admired it for a moment, then held up the crab and looked at Zhou Chenglei. "Does it look good?"

Zhou Chenglei glanced at it. He genuinely felt the bow was unnecessary and even got in the way, but he still nodded. "Mm."

Ignoring her, he went to set the net, planning to return and sort the fish after.

Jiang Xia put the crab aside and planned to keep looking for crabs to tie. When she raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead, her gaze swept across the sea. She seemed to see a patch of red light flash over the water before sinking back beneath the waves.

Jiang Xia immediately pointed ahead. "There's a school of fish! There's a school of red fish ahead!"

Father Zhou immediately increased the engine power upon hearing her, and the fishing boat sped forward at full speed.

Zhou Chenglei stopped setting the net as well and looked over.

Not long after the boat set off, they saw the patch of red Jiang Xia had spotted.

"Red Seabream! It's a school of Red Seabream! The Hand Cast Net! Chenglei, get the Hand Cast Net ready!" Father Zhou shouted excitedly as he steered the boat in pursuit.

What was going on today? Why were they encountering so many schools of fish? Zhou Chenglei had already picked up the Hand Cast Net.

Jiang Xia hesitated briefly, then picked up a Hand Cast Net too.

She had watched them cast the net several times and felt that she had learned how.

When the fishing boat drew near the school, Zhou Chenglei cast the Hand Cast Net.

The Fishing Net spread open in midair and fell into the sea, covering a group of Red Seabream beneath it as they thrashed wildly.

Zhou Chenglei hauled in the net!

Jiang Xia imitated Zhou Chenglei, flinging the Hand Cast Net forward. The Fishing Net spread open, though not as widely as Zhou Chenglei's, and still covered quite a few fish when it hit the water.

It caught far more than scooping with a Hand Net!

She hauled it toward the boat with all her strength.

Father Zhou hurried over as well, expertly and deftly casting the net.

The three of them cast six or seven nets in total before the school scattered.

The deck was piled high with lively, leaping Red Seabream.

Their brilliant redness was wonderfully festive!

Father Zhou's dark face split into a grin, his teeth showing.

These were Red Seabream, also called True Snapper.

Like Yellow Croakers, they were relatively valuable fish.

Schools of Yellow Croakers and Red Seabream were becoming increasingly difficult to encounter, and their prices had begun to rise as well.

He had fished for so many years. He had only ever seen other people encounter schools of Red Seabream, never one himself. He had heard that someone was researching artificial farming of True Snapper, but he did not know whether it was true.

Father Zhou saw that these Red Seabream were fairly large, probably weighing around one to two pounds each, and his smile grew radiant.

They had struck it rich! They had struck it rich! His little daughter-in-law's sea luck was absolutely incredible!

Father Zhou said, "Let's head back early today. It's an auspicious day. While it's still early, steer the boat to the city's wharf and sell them."

The Purchasing Station at the city wharf offered slightly higher prices for fish than the village wharf. Normally, the catch was not large enough for the villagers to waste the fuel money going to the city to sell it. After all, once the fuel costs for the round trip were counted, there was not much difference.

But today, they had a large catch, and it was all good merchandise. Of course they had to sell it in the city.

Zhou Chenglei answered, "I'll lower the net and trawl one more net on the way back."

"All right." Father Zhou went to steer the boat.

After lowering the net, Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia hurriedly sorted the fish together and loaded them into Bamboo Baskets.

Jiang Xia's eye and speed for sorting fish were even better now! She was so fast that Zhou Chenglei could not help glancing at her.

The afternoon sun was scorching. She wore a Straw Hat and long sleeves that covered her from head to toe, yet the heat had made a fine layer of sweat bead on the tip of her nose.

All because she was afraid of being sunburned.

He felt hot just looking at her. It was hard to believe she could stand it! Yet her skin was so fair that whenever she occasionally looked up to wipe away her sweat, it gleamed dazzlingly beneath the sunlight.

Two hours later, the fishing boat docked at the city wharf.

It was still early, only a little after four. There were not many fishing boats returning to the wharf, but there were still quite a few.

A good number of people were already selling fish at the wharf, and there were also middlemen waiting for the fishing boats to return so they could buy their catch.