Hong Kong Island

Zhang Gui drove his Audi A8 along the road to his mistress's home in Blue Island.

"Hello, darling. I'll come over to your place tonight. Hehe."

After hanging up, he hummed a little tune, feeling like a winner in life. He was only thirty-five this year, yet he had already become one of Pinghai County's foremost businessmen.

Once today's contract with Su Mei was signed, it would bring him at least several million in profit a year.

Just then, Zhang Gui's phone began ringing urgently. He tapped the in-car hands-free system. "Hello?"

Before he could finish, the person on the other end hurriedly spoke.

"Manager Zhang, this is bad! There isn't a single fish left in our fish farm! We don't know what happened. The guys delivering goods discovered this morning that the fishing net had somehow torn, and all the fish were gone."

Screech—! Zhang Gui slammed on the brakes, and the A8 came to a dead stop in the middle of the road. Since this was a ring road, the cars were moving quite fast. The vehicle behind him could not react in time and crashed straight into him.

Zhang Gui's head slammed into the steering wheel, and the call was disconnected.

Furious, he got out of the car. Just as he was about to say something, he saw that the car behind him was a Land Cruiser.

The Land Cruiser itself was not frightening. What was frightening was the dazzling license plate with five sevens.

Zhang Gui recognized the owner of that plate. He was a famous second-generation official in Blue Island City. If Zhang Gui provoked him, he would be in serious trouble.

A young man with dyed white hair got out of the car with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. When he saw Zhang Gui, he immediately cursed, "Fuck! Zhang Gui, are you tired of living?"

Cursing, he rushed at Zhang Gui and slapped him across the face. At a time like this, how could Zhang Gui care whether his face hurt?

He immediately apologized. "Young Master Zhang, I'm so sorry. I was blind and blocked your way. I'll cover the repair costs, and I'll also give you another hundred thousand as compensation for the shock. What do you think?"

"A hundred thousand? Are you trying to dismiss a beggar? Five hundred thousand. One cent less, and I'll take one of your arms."

"Fine. Five hundred thousand." Zhang Gui gritted his teeth and agreed.

After saying that, the young man snatched the car keys from Zhang Gui's hand, drove off in the A8, and disappeared into the distance.

Ye Yuan sat on a plane bound for Hong Kong Island.

After playing with Little Shark for two hours last night, he returned home to find many missed calls on his phone, all from Wang Yueshan.

When he answered, Wang Yueshan told Ye Yuan that the auction arrangements had been settled. Since Ye Yuan's items had been added at the last minute, the auction had already entered its promotional stage, and only a few days remained.

Ye Yuan needed to bring the abalone over as soon as possible. After all, many things could not be judged from just a few photos. Ye Yuan had no choice but to book a ticket for the next day overnight and head to the airport early in the morning.

This was Ye Yuan's first time going to Hong Kong Island. Before leaving, his father's health had mostly recovered, and Ye Yuan had specifically reminded his mother of something.

Over the next few days, she should give his father more of the vegetables Ye Yuan had brought home. His mother had been puzzled at the time, so Ye Yuan made up an excuse: "These vegetables are very nutritious and good for Dad's recovery."

Soon, the plane landed at Hong Kong Island Airport. Wang Yueshan had come personally to pick him up. Wang Yueshan was extremely enthusiastic about this auction and had participated throughout the entire process.

Inside the Mercedes-Benz business van, Wang Yueshan teased, "Xiao Yuan, you're considered a boss now. Don't always go out alone. At least bring a secretary with you, right?"

"What kind of boss am I? I'm just a fisherman." Ye Yuan shook his head.

The business van stopped in front of the Pearl Hotel, a famous five-star hotel on Hong Kong Island.

It was also the venue for this auction. The auction would be held three days later in the large conference hall on the tenth floor of the Pearl Hotel. Many wealthy people would attend. Ye Yuan had heard that this auction had been scheduled long ago, and he had no idea what connections Wang Yueshan had used to force Ye Yuan's abalone into the event at this stage.

The two entered a business suite where some of the auction house staff were staying. When the person in charge saw the abalone Ye Yuan had brought out, along with the exquisite packaging, they were all dumbfounded.

Especially the Petrified Wood packaging containing the One-Head Abalone. They simply could not believe that someone would use such fine Petrified Wood for packaging.

Ding Er had crafted the packaging by hand. Its appearance was identical to the one Li Hui had custom ordered, except this one contained an additional gift.

A Petrified Wood pipe. The entire pipe was made from Petrified Wood, with exquisitely carved details on its surface. A lifelike dragon ran through the whole piece, with its tail forming the mouthpiece. Altogether, it felt less like a pipe and more like a work of art.

Ye Yuan believed that the pipe alone would fetch a high price at auction. This time, he wanted to make a name for his abalone in one stroke. After all, there was still plenty more in the space.

After signing several consignment agreements, the staff quickly called in a professional photographer to take pictures and upload them to the promotional website.

Ye Yuan booked a room directly at the hotel. Wang Yueshan still had plenty of matters to handle, so he did not stay long with Ye Yuan. He left behind some materials about the auction and departed.

Ye Yuan sat in his room, sipping coffee as he slowly flipped through the auction's promotional catalog.

There were many items in this auction. As he turned the pages, he saw ginseng, Dendrobium officinale, premium tea leaves, and more. When Ye Yuan came to one page, he could not help but freeze. It introduced a Painted Spiny Lobster. He had not expected such a large Painted Spiny Lobster to exist.

Painted Spiny Lobsters were generally twenty to thirty centimeters long. Their abdomens, first antennae, and walking legs had alternating dark brown and yellow markings. There were four pairs of tubercles at the base of their antennae, with the rear pair being smaller. Their colors were bright and varied.

Their distribution range was extremely broad. Within Huaxia Nation, they were mainly found in the South Sea and the waters around Bay Island. They lived on slopes outside coral reefs and in deeper muddy seabeds.

They usually inhabited waters one to ten meters deep, though the deepest recorded depth was one hundred and forty-five meters. They were mostly found in still waters around rocky reefs and reef slopes, though they could sometimes be discovered in murky mud bottoms near river mouths.

Yet the lobster in the catalog was clearly marked as fifty-eight centimeters long. That was already extraordinarily rare.

Further on, there were many other fine ingredients, and naturally, Ye Yuan's One-Head Abalone was among them.

Looking at the promotional catalog, Ye Yuan suddenly had an idea. He could cultivate all of these things.

He had the space, and the lake water could accelerate plant growth. Vegetables that normally took a month to mature could ripen in just a few days inside the space.

Then if he planted premium crops like ginseng in there, would they also mature quickly? There was no way to test it now. He would have to wait until he returned.

Thinking about it, he truly had not had much time this past month. He had thought of many things, but because he was busy, he set them aside and eventually forgot about them.

Although he had Li Hui helping him now, as his business grew larger, manpower would still become an issue. He could use robots as crew members, but what about communicating with outsiders?

Of course, robots were capable of doing that, but Ye Yuan feared they might be exposed. The more people they came into contact with, the more likely they were to reveal a flaw.

Thinking of this, Ye Yuan helplessly shook his head. It seemed he still needed to find someone trustworthy and capable.

These matters were not things he could solve immediately. Since he had come to Hong Kong Island, he might as well relax. Once he returned, Ye Yuan would have to head out to sea again. After all, what kind of fisherman did not go out to sea?

P.S. Thanks to brother 08a for the reward.