The icing on the cake

Ye Yaodong was excited too. He had only come out to try to overcome his lingering fear of the sea, never expecting to reap such a windfall.

Had the spirit of a lucky koi really possessed him?

He grinned and joked, "Prayed to her? I offered my whole self as a sacrifice to Mazu. That's how I got this good luck."

A-Zheng's eyes widened. "Holy crap... so a sacrifice was required? If I'd known, I wouldn't have saved you just now. Could we have caught even more?"

"Get lost. Maybe we'll catch even more if we sacrifice you in a bit!"

"Hehe, when I get back, I'm going to pray at Mazu's temple too."

A-Guang interrupted their chatter. "Are we casting the net again or not? It's been so long that the ones that escaped have probably swum far away. Who knows which direction they went?"

Ye Yaodong said, "We should have enough fuel, right? Let's cast one last net. We got a dozen or so in the last haul, so let's not let the escapees get away. Make a few more rounds nearby. Even if there aren't any Spanish mackerel, we can catch some other seafood and have something to go with our drinks tonight while we celebrate."

"We've got enough fuel. Let's cast one last net and tow it a little longer. Even without Spanish mackerel, we can catch some stone crabs, small yellow croakers, and the like. A few bowls of those to go with our drinks, and we won't have to buy seafood at the dock."

Besides Spanish mackerel, their previous hauls had brought in a scattering of other seafood, which they had sorted out and put into buckets.

They didn't expect much from this last haul. Once the net was cast, they left it alone and headed straight for the hold. Looking at the Spanish mackerel filling it, none of them could hide their excitement. They had really struck it rich today!

Ever since spotting the Spanish mackerel, Ye Yaodong's attention had been entirely on the fish. As the boat traveled across the sea, casting and towing the net, he hadn't felt any panic or fear at all. Only now did he realize that he had faced his fear head-on and completely overcome it!

Fantastic!

He rubbed his chin. "There should be a few thousand jin of fish in this hold, right?"

"Definitely. Look how big they are, nearly half a meter long. Each one weighs at least four or five jin. We cast seven or eight times, so we should've caught about half of them."

"I saw one in the live well just now that was almost a meter long. That one definitely weighs over eight jin."

"I noticed that one too. Damn, this trip was worth it!"

"Hahaha!"

They chatted cheerfully, everyone chiming in. It had been ages since they'd been this excited. Who wouldn't be happy about striking it rich?

A-Zheng nudged the bucket by his feet and, seeing their shore-foraging tools inside, quickly asked, "Are we still going shore foraging later?"

"Forage, my ass! Once we haul this net in, we're heading straight back. With a whole boatload of Spanish mackerel, shouldn't we hurry up and sell them for cash? Don't tell me you're not itching to!" Ye Yaodong couldn't believe he had asked such a stupid question.

"Of course I am. I was just asking. What if you guys thought we didn't get to come out often and wanted to forage for a while since we were already here?"

"Are you stupid? Selling the fish for cash comes first, obviously. When we get back, A-Guang can ask his youngest aunt to rent us the boat for another day. We can come foraging tomorrow just the same. The tide's rising slowly anyway, so the area around the rocks should still be exposed tomorrow."

A-Guang nodded in agreement. "Right, right. We'll rent the boat again tomorrow and come out to forage. Try our luck while we're at it."

"The boat's rented? Not borrowed? Why didn't you say so earlier?" After all that talk, only Xiao Xiao had picked up on this detail.

"Come on, what difference does it make whether it's rented or borrowed? It's only a little money. Any one of us can pay it. Besides, we made a killing today. Why worry about that tiny amount?" A-Guang said carelessly.

Ye Yaodong smiled sincerely too. "Exactly. It's only a little money. Selling these Spanish mackerel and splitting the proceeds is what matters."

"Right, right. Once this net's up, let's hurry back. Who knows how long we've been out?"

As they talked, they put their shirts and trousers back on. Earlier, they had been so focused on the Spanish mackerel that they hadn't spared a thought for anything else.

They towed the final net a little longer. When it was almost time to haul it in, A-Guang headed straight toward the dock to avoid wasting the trip, making a loop through the waters along the way before pulling it up.

None of them had expected much from this final haul, but it actually held a surprise!

A large sea bass weighing five or six jin came into view as they hauled up the net!

"Ah, a sea bass! A big sea bass..."

"Whoa... there's another big catch!"

"The icing on the cake, hahaha! We were just about to haul in the net and dock, and we actually caught a big sea bass!"

"Haha, plenty of little fish and shrimp too. There's our food to go with the drinks!"

If they had caught this sea bass before encountering the school of Spanish mackerel, they would certainly have been thrilled. But with that spectacular catch setting the bar, this big sea bass could only make them happy, not as wildly excited as the school of Spanish mackerel had.

They sorted the seafood. Apart from the big sea bass, there were a few Spanish mackerel; everything else was cheap little fish, shrimp, and crabs. They filled two large buckets. It wouldn't sell for much, but it would make good eating.

"Let's sell the sea bass too. That's worth several mao per jin..."

At Xiao Xiao's words, Ye Yaodong's mouth twitched. In his previous life, sea bass fetched around thirty-five to forty yuan per jin wholesale. The retail price depended on the location, with some places charging twice that. Now it was only a few mao per jin, and they even called that "several mao"...

Of all the differences he had experienced since returning to 1982, prices struck him the hardest. He couldn't help comparing them with those in 2022 in his previous life.

Every comparison made his heart twitch. If only he had some cheat ability that let him travel back and forth between 1982 and 2022.

Then he could take the seafood he caught in 1982 and sell it in 2022...

Ah, it was a lovely dream, but apart from slightly better luck, he had no cheat ability at all.

Thinking about it, getting another chance at life was already the biggest cheat of all. He ought to count his blessings. Maybe his good luck was his cheat ability.

Who else could be this lucky?

A-Guang? Xiao Xiao? A-Zheng? He didn't believe it. He was the one who had been reborn, after all. He was more inclined to believe that he had brought this luck with him.

As his thoughts wandered, A-Zheng spoke and brought him back to the present.

"Are we selling it? There's only one sea bass. Why not keep it and make a clear sea bass soup tonight? We've got so many Spanish mackerel anyway. One sea bass won't make a difference!"

"That's what I think too. Let's keep the sea bass, and save a Spanish mackerel to braise. Or we could make Spanish mackerel dumplings. Those would be good too."

"Then let's keep them. With this many fish, one or two won't make a difference. It's been ages since I've had sea bass or Spanish mackerel dumplings..."

Slurp! Ye Yaodong could practically hear them drooling. Sure enough, they were all a bunch of spendthrifts.

Instead of thinking about selling everything for cash, they wanted to hold back a few fish to eat themselves.

But... he was thinking the same thing...

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