Chapter 101: Hit the Jackpot

Chapter 101: Chapter 101: Hit the Jackpot

Li Mei was at the aquarium’s fishing zone. The moment she dropped her line, she got a bite. She was overjoyed.

The rod felt incredibly heavy—the fish had to be at least eight pounds.

She gave it a hard tug. SWISH!

SPLASH! A blackfish that looked to be about eight pounds was pulled out of the water.

A staff member helped her place the blackfish into a bucket, marveling, "You have great luck, ma’am. You got a bite the moment you dropped the hook."

Li Mei smiled modestly. "I guess my luck is just good today."

In the past, she would have to wait ages just to catch a fish the size of her palm. Today, she got a bite immediately and even landed an eight-pound blackfish. She decided she would stew it for fish soup when she got home.

Li Mei dropped her line again. Before long, she felt another tug. Her luck wasn’t just good today—it was fantastic! Grinning, she yanked the rod back.

"Another blackfish?" Li Mei took a look. This time, it was a blackfish weighing around five pounds.

The staff member gave her a thumbs-up. "You’re amazing, ma’am. Recently, there’s been a guy who comes here to fish from dawn till dusk. It’s been three days, and he hasn’t caught a single thing. Our manager felt so bad for him that he just gave him two ten-pound blackfish. Meanwhile, you catch something the moment you sit down. You’re a natural-born angler!"

Li Mei wasn’t actually that interested in fishing. She only ever cast a line when she wanted to eat fish or was out having fun. She knew the staff member was praising her just to encourage her to become a regular—preferably one like the guys sitting nearby, who fished from morning until night. At twenty yuan an hour, they sat there for at least ten hours a day, spending two hundred yuan just to fish.

Li Mei dropped her line again and caught yet another blackfish.

She peeked into the bucket of the man sitting next to her and saw a few average-sized blackfish as well. She turned around and asked, "Do you guys only have blackfish here?"

The staff member shook his head. "Our aquarium is connected to the nearby sea, so there’s a wide variety of fish. We not only have blackfish, yellow croakers, black carp, and sea bass, but also rare wild large yellow croakers and groupers. People have caught all of these here before."

Li Mei’s eyes lit up. "You have groupers too? Wouldn’t those sell for a lot of money?"

"Not long ago, a guy caught a twenty-pound grouper. He sold it for a thousand yuan a pound, making twenty thousand in total! Someone else caught a twenty-five-pound large yellow croaker and sold it for five hundred a pound, making over ten thousand. So, we definitely have more than just blackfish here. Just be patient, ma’am. If you fish for another two hours, you might just catch a rare species. Even a particularly large blackfish would catch a buyer’s eye."

Li Mei wasn’t going to fall for his sales pitch. She checked the time; she had paid for one hour and still had thirty minutes left. Three blackfish were enough to feed her family of three for a week. Any more, and they wouldn’t be able to finish them. Besides, small blackfish weren’t worth much anyway.

"Excuse me, could you help me find the young lady I came with? Her name is Yun Zhen. Just tell her Li Mei wants her to come over. My friend has much better luck than I do. I might not be able to catch a big one, but she just might." Li Mei had suddenly remembered Yun Zhen’s incredible luck and wanted her to give it a try.

"Sure, please wait a moment." The staff member went off to find her.

Meanwhile, Yun Zhen was practically pressing her entire body against the transparent glass, staring at the bizarre creatures inside.

She had just spotted another "killer fish"—probably not the same one from earlier. It didn’t look fierce at all as it calmly swam by, but the bubbles stirred up by its tail sent the surrounding little fish and shrimp scattering in panic.

She also saw an orange-yellow thing with two large pincers. It wasn’t a fish. She had seen something similar in the seaweed soup at the cafeteria before. She had specifically asked the cafeteria lady, who told her it was a shrimp. However, the one in front of her was enormous—almost as big as she was! She distinctly remembered that the shrimp in the seaweed soup weren’t even the size of a grain of rice. She wondered what such a massive shrimp would taste like.

The staff member came looking for her. Since adults were off work and kids were out of school, the aquarium was packed with visitors. He scanned the area and shouted into the crowd, "Is there a Ms. Yun Zhen here? Your friend Li Mei is asking for you."

Hearing her name, Yun Zhen walked over. "Li Mei is looking for me? Didn’t she go fishing?"

"Yes, miss. She’s waiting for you at the sea fishing zone. I can take you there," the staff member replied, leading the way. Yun Zhen followed him to find Li Mei.

Li Mei was sitting on the fishing platform, casting her line with one hand and scrolling through her phone with the other. Seeing Yun Zhen, she immediately waved her over. "Yun Zhen, hurry up! We still have thirty minutes. I’ve caught three blackfish, but I can’t seem to catch anything else. You give it a try!"

"I don’t know how to fish," Yun Zhen politely declined, shaking her head.

"It’s just for fun! It’s not like you have to catch anything," Li Mei said, shoving the fishing rod into her arms.

Yun Zhen had only ever seen the villagers catch fish with nets; she had never held a fishing rod before. She had absolutely no idea how to cast or handle the line. It felt like a waste of money. "Haven’t you already caught three blackfish?" she said. "Just catch a few more."

"What’s the point of catching so many blackfish?" Li Mei replied. "We can’t finish them ourselves, and nobody wants to buy them. Other anglers will only make an offer if a blackfish is over ten pounds. I actually had pretty good luck today, catching an eight-pounder. In the past, I’d catch at most one or two fish that were barely two or three pounds.

"Once you start fishing at the aquarium, they charge by the hour. We still have thirty minutes left. If we leave now, we’ll still be charged for the full hour."

Knowing how frugal Yun Zhen was, Li Mei deliberately brought up the cost. To avoid wasting money, Yun Zhen would definitely take the bait.

And indeed, Yun Zhen’s heart ached at the thought of wasted money.

"I don’t know how to fish, but I’ll drop the line and try," she said. Gripping the rod, she cast the line out with an awkward, unfamiliar motion. However, she was quite strong. With a single swing, the line flew out for several meters.

"The rod is moving!" She hastily looked at Li Mei.

Li Mei helped her pull the rod up. "A blackfish! It’s got to be at least six pounds. Why don’t you catch a couple more and sell them back at the residential complex? People will definitely buy saltwater fish. A blackfish this size goes for ten yuan a pound, so this one alone can sell for sixty yuan."

Li Mei wasn’t short on money, which was why she had gotten bored after catching just a few blackfish. But Yun Zhen was. To her, sixty yuan could buy sixty pounds of premium rice.

Her reluctance instantly turned into delight. "A fish this big can sell for sixty yuan? I’ll drop the line again and try."

She cast the line again. The moment the rod twitched, she yanked it up and took a look. "A yellow fish. Can this sell for money?"

Seeing a fish that wasn’t a blackfish, Li Mei exclaimed, "Oh my goodness, a large yellow croaker! Smaller ones aren’t as valuable as the big ones, which can go for five or six hundred, or even over a thousand yuan a pound. This one is probably around ten pounds, so it should fetch over a hundred yuan a pound. This single fish can sell for more than a thousand yuan! I told you your luck was good."

She was both amazed and envious. How was Yun Zhen so incredibly lucky every single time?! The grand prize of two hundred pounds of pork from last time was still fresh in her memory, and now, she had caught a wild large yellow croaker. Even though this fish was relatively small and couldn’t compare to the massive ones that sold for one or two thousand yuan a pound, an ordinary person would never have Yun Zhen’s kind of luck.

"Over a thousand!" Yun Zhen beamed with joy. To think that a single fish could sell for one tael of silver! "I’ll try again."

SWISH!

A bright red fish emerged from the water, its plump body thrashing about, gleaming like a crimson sunset under the lights.

"Ah!"

Gasps of astonishment echoed from all around. The man next to them leaned in for a closer look. "That’s a leopard coral grouper, isn’t it? So red! So vibrant!"

"This fish is red. How much is it worth?" Yun Zhen turned to ask Li Mei. Judging by the crowd’s reaction, she could guess that this fish was worth a lot of money! Her heart swelled with anticipation, eagerness, and suppressed excitement.

Li Mei patted her on the shoulder. "Zhen! You’ve hit the jackpot! This is a leopard coral grouper, an extremely rare species. It looks to be about ten pounds. If you sell it to a big restaurant, it can go for this much per pound!" She held up three fingers.

"Three hundred?" Yun Zhen stared at her with sparkling eyes.

"Three thousand!"