Silver Pomfret Shoal

Wei Donglai could hardly say whether he was satisfied with this haul.

As the saying went, if one net wasn't enough, two would do.

And if that still wasn't enough, he would keep casting until it was.

The more he cast and caught, the better his chances of running into something valuable.

As Wei Donglai cast net after net, the variety aboard the boat slowly grew. He hauled up everything from golden threadfin bream and white croaker to red wax fish.

Finally, after roughly a dozen or more casts, Wei Donglai hauled up something valuable.

It was a money grouper weighing about two jin, its whole body covered in a grid-like pattern.

Good stuff. It was worth more than a blue-spotted grouper.

Most of the time, though, these fish lived around reefs or coral, so catching one in a net was a real stroke of luck.

Looking at the money grouper, Wei Donglai reflected that hard work never failed the determined.

He scooped up some seawater with a bucket and poured it into the tank he had bought, then put the money grouper inside to keep it alive.

With the tank, the money grouper could at least last until he got back.

After that, Wei Donglai worked even harder, but almost everything he caught next was fish of little value. The only one worth mentioning was a blue-spotted Spanish mackerel weighing about five jin, commonly called bayu in the north.

Around here, he called it "tutuo fish."

Strictly speaking, though, mackerel in the south generally referred to the common Spanish mackerel and the Korean seerfish.

Bayu, on the other hand, referred to the blue-spotted Spanish mackerel, the very fish Wei Donglai had caught.

It wasn't expensive and was reasonably priced, but it tasted quite good.

Northerners liked to make dumplings with it, but Wei Donglai thought taking it home to braise that evening would be pretty good too.

After casting another ten or so nets without finding anything good, Wei Donglai called it quits.

Perhaps because he had gotten up a little early that morning, he lay down on the deck and, in a daze, actually fell asleep.

He didn't know how much time had passed before he felt the wind picking up over the sea. He opened his eyes and sat up.

The sun seemed to have hidden behind the clouds, and the sea breeze brushed his face, bringing an indescribable coolness.

Of course, it also carried the fishy smell peculiar to the sea breeze.

Just as Wei Donglai felt a little hungry and was thinking of getting something to eat, he suddenly heard the sound of rushing water.

Wei Donglai hurried to the bow and looked into the distance. Beneath the surface, countless fish-shaped shadows were swimming.

Wei Donglai knew he had run into a shoal. Forgetting all about food, he grabbed the net beside him and cast it.

Once the net had sunk completely, Wei Donglai hurried to haul it in.

As he pulled and pulled, he felt the net growing heavier in his hands.

Wei Donglai put both arms to work, hauling the net up bit by bit as if playing tug-of-war.

As soon as the net broke the surface, countless silver-white fish flopped about inside it.

Even the layer on top was packed so densely that they were impossible to count.

The splashing of countless fish was just like Wei Donglai's mood at that moment: excited and exuberant.

He could see the fish clearly now. Their familiar diamond-shaped bodies, tiny round scales and silvery-white bellies-weren't they silver pomfret?

The fish tasted wonderfully fresh and delicious. In his previous life, many people had often compared it with dou chang, the king of pomfret.

Preferences varied by region, though. People around Zhejiang Province mostly favored silver pomfret, while those around Guangzhou preferred dou chang.

Judging by the weight of the net in his hands, Wei Donglai reckoned this haul weighed at least a hundred jin.

A catch like this sent Wei Donglai into a frenzy of joy. His body felt as though it had been injected with chicken blood, strength surging through every part of him.

With a sudden heave, he lifted the net out of the water.

It immediately felt much lighter. Wei Donglai hurriedly lowered the net into the fish hold and opened it, and the densely packed silver pomfret instantly carpeted the entire bottom of the boat.

Wei Donglai wanted to admire his catch, but there was no time to look it over carefully now.

The shoal hadn't passed yet, and he had to race against every minute and second to keep fishing while it was still there.

He cast the net again, and Wei Donglai could feel that this haul was just as full.

Sure enough, just as he had expected, the second net also brought up about a hundred jin.

He quickly opened the net, then cast it again.

This time, Wei Donglai could feel that the net was noticeably lighter as he pulled it in.

When he hauled it out of the sea and aboard, there were less than half as many fish as before, probably not even forty jin.

Wei Donglai sighed, but there was nothing he could do. All he had was this little sampan, with no way to chase the shoal and no trawl net, so he could only fish with the most primitive hand net.

He wished his family's trawler were here. A haul from that would probably be worth a fortune.

After emptying the net, Wei Donglai cast it again. Now, he would take whatever he could catch.

The fourth haul weighed fifteen or sixteen jin.

The fifth brought in only five or six fish.

On the next cast, there were almost none.

Wei Donglai rowed the boat in the direction the shoal had swum and cast a few more times, but caught only two or three fish.

It looked like the shoal really had moved on.

Wei Donglai could finally understand what it felt like to have money swim right past his hands.

Still, looking at the more than 260 jin of silver pomfret in the hold made him feel a little better.

Silver pomfret were extremely sensitive to changes in their environment and couldn't survive more than a few minutes out of water.

So Wei Donglai didn't intend to linger. He wasn't even planning to retrieve the traps and longlines he had set earlier.

He had to hurry to the pier and sell the silver pomfret while they were still fresh.

As Wei Donglai worked the sculling oar with all his might, the wooden boat sped across the sea.

Unlike his leisurely trip out that morning, Wei Donglai went back at almost full throttle. In just forty minutes, he could already see the pier.

After mooring the boat, Wei Donglai rushed straight over to Li Laosan.

Li Laosan was a little surprised to see Wei Donglai.

He knew Wei Donglai had towed a boat to the pier yesterday, and he also knew he had gone out to sea that morning.

But it was only a little past one in the afternoon. Why was he back already?

So he hurried over.

"A Lai, why are you back so early?"

"Quick, grab a few baskets and help me load the fish."

"What did you catch? Why the rush?"

"I ran into a shoal of silver pomfret and caught about 260 jin."

At that, Li Laosan's backside left his stool. He jumped up and shouted to the young man helping at his stall.

"A-Kun, grab a few baskets and hurry."

Watching Li Laosan disappear in a flash, Wei Donglai was a little stunned. How is he in an even bigger hurry than I am?

By the time he and A-Kun reached the little wooden boat, Li Laosan was standing on its deck, grinning from ear to ear.

"A Lai, you really didn't let me down. Such luck on your first trip out to sea! You're every bit the man I saw potential in. From now on, you're my VIP customer."

Looking at Li Laosan, Wei Donglai couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

Thinking it over, wasn't this exactly like some damned company boss dangling a pie in the sky in front of a star employee?

If he weren't still counting on Li Laosan to buy the fish, Wei Donglai would have marched up and kicked him into the sea.

"A Sheng, some of these are pretty big. Pick them out and give me a separate price for them later."

Li Laosan waved a hand. "Relax! Relax! When has my price ever been unfair to you?"

Wei Donglai nodded. The prices Li Laosan offered really were decent.

"I'm going to grab a bite first. Help me sort them."

"Hey, have you got this wrong? I'm the boss who buys the fish, not a sorting worker at the pier."

"I'm going back out to sea later. How about I check out another fish buyer's stall when I get back this afternoon?"

"Come on, what kind of talk is that? With the relationship we have, why would you go to someone else? It's only a little over two hundred jin of fish. I'll have it sorted for you in minutes."