Chapter 103: Oh My God, a Huge Sum of Money!

Chapter 103: Chapter 103: Oh My God, a Huge Sum of Money!

"Scan my code!" Li Mei handed her phone over. The man in sunglasses opened his payment app and transferred the money.

"Yun Zhen! We have ten minutes left!" Li Mei quickly shoved the fishing rod back into her hands.

Yun Zhen cast her line with valiant determination.

More people gathered around to watch. They chattered over each other about her—first a leopard coral grouper, then a large black rockfish! But upon closer inspection, they realized she didn’t even know how to chum the water. She just cast her baited hook straight out.

The experienced anglers were exasperated by her technique, while the non-anglers hailed it as a miracle. Amidst the lively discussion, people held up their phones to take photos and record videos.

SWISH!

SPLASH!

Yun Zhen pulled up two more black rockfish, each weighing about five or six pounds.

She cast again.

SWISH! Another black rockfish emerged, its dark, plump body wriggling as its mouth opened and closed.

SPLASH! Several consecutive casts yielded nothing but black rockfish.

Well then!

It seemed her good luck had finally run out.

However, Yun Zhen wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. She had made over a hundred thousand yuan today and scored a few free fish to boot.

"What the heck is this thing???"

On her final cast, she pulled up a black rockfish, but clinging to its body was a massive, orange-red monster brandishing its claws.

"Oh my god! A king crab!!" Li Mei was dumbfounded.

The onlookers, who were about to disperse after assuming she would only catch black rockfish from now on, immediately crowded back in to watch the spectacle when she hauled up a king crab.

The manager’s jaw dropped in astonishment and bewilderment. This shouldn’t be happening. They had only connected this pond to a small patch of the ocean. While it did contain some rare species, they were all edible fish. How could a king crab possibly appear? A leopard coral grouper and a large black rockfish were plausible, but catching a king crab... there was absolutely no precedent for this.

The king crab had a red shell and weighed about four or five pounds. A red king crab went for roughly two hundred and fifty yuan a pound.

The elderly man who had purchased the leopard coral grouper practically had stars in his eyes. "Miss, sell that king crab to me too."

The crowd was stunned. "Wait, is this old man loaded or something? He just bought a leopard coral grouper for over ninety thousand yuan, and now he’s buying a king crab worth thousands!"

The elderly man replied modestly, "I ran a small business in my youth and saved up a bit for retirement. My wife loves seafood, and fresh red king crabs are hard to come by. Tomorrow is her sixty-eighth birthday, and since I happened to run into this lucky young lady, I want to buy a couple of fresh catches for her to enjoy."

Leave it to the older generation to show off their romance!

Realizing they lacked both the financial means and that kind of profound love, the onlookers were suddenly struck with a dual pang of envy. They envied the young girl’s incredible luck, and they envied the elderly man’s wife for having a partner who was so thoughtful and devoted to her.

"Sir, how much are you offering?" Yun Zhen planned to sell the claw-flailing monster anyway. She was a bit scared of it, and equally confused. This monster was all shell—was it actually edible?

"Two hundred and fifty a pound," the elderly man offered generously.

Li Mei whispered to her, "Supermarkets sell them for cheaper than that. He’s not trying to scam us."

"Alright, I can sell you this... king whatever." Yun Zhen didn’t understand why everyone was calling this red-shelled monster a "king," but she was far more interested in the fact that her catch could be turned into cash.

"Exactly five pounds!" a staff member announced after weighing it.

"Two hundred and fifty times five makes one thousand two hundred and fifty yuan." The elderly man calculated the total in a flash and transferred the money to Li Mei.

Li Mei had only one thought in her mind: the God of Wealth had descended to the mortal realm, and Yun Zhen was the God of Wealth incarnate!

Yun Zhen was overjoyed.

"We have three minutes left. Let’s do it one more time, Yun Zhen," Li Mei encouraged.

Yun Zhen took a deep breath. "Okay!"

SPLASH!

The line went into the water.

"Got another one!" she shouted excitedly.

The crowd craned their necks to stare at the water’s surface.

SWISH! She yanked the fishing rod back.

"What the...?!" Yun Zhen slammed her catch onto the ground, her face turning pale with fright.

"A snake?!" A cold sweat broke out all over her body.

A creature with a massive head and a body made entirely of snake-like tails was writhing on the ground. It was horrifying and utterly disgusting.

"It’s an octopus!" Li Mei told her. "It’s an octopus, not a snake. It might look like it’s covered in tentacles, but I’m telling you, it’s absolutely delicious."

"This is a fish too?" Forgive Yun Zhen for her lack of worldly knowledge.

"I suppose you could count it as one. Either way, it’s edible."

A staff member walked over and asked, "Ladies, would you like to extend your time?"

Their hour was up.

Li Mei smiled and asked, "Yun Zhen, do you want to do another hour?"

Yun Zhen shook her head. The unexpected windfall she had gained today was more than enough. "No need, we’ll be leaving now."

"Alright. Are you going to sell the black rockfish and the octopus, or take them back to eat?" Li Mei asked for her opinion.

"Meimei, I’ll take the black rockfish back to sell. It’s getting late, and we still need to withdraw the money. You can have the octopus," Yun Zhen replied.

"Sure thing." Li Mei asked the staff to pack their catches into large plastic bags.

"Separate one black rockfish and put it with the octopus and the yellow croaker. Put the rest of the fish into another bag, and make sure to fill it with water and tie it tight," she instructed the staff.

Then she turned to Yun Zhen. "I’ll take one black rockfish. I originally planned to catch two to take home—one for soup and one for braising—but since we have the octopus and the large yellow croaker, one is plenty. You can take the rest of the black rockfish back and sell them.

"Let’s head to the bank to withdraw the money right now."

Looking at the black bag in Yun Zhen’s hand, Li Mei marveled, "I’ve never seen you carry a bag before. You brought one today like you came prepared, as if you knew you were going to make a fortune and needed something to hold all that cash."

Yun Zhen had never imagined she’d actually catch fish to sell, let alone make over a hundred thousand yuan. She had simply struck gold. The bag was merely a prop to avoid arousing suspicion; her money was safely stored away in her mental treasure trove. When she needed to pay for things, pulling money from her mental treasure trove through the bag wouldn’t draw any unwanted attention.

"How could I have ever guessed I’d have such good luck!" Yun Zhen was still feeling a little dizzy from it all.

"I’m so jealous of you," Li Mei said with a laugh as she led her to go withdraw the cash.

"And I’m jealous of you," Yun Zhen replied. She truly envied Li Mei; her entire family got to live in a world where there was no shortage of food or drink. They didn’t have to face blizzards and starvation.

Thinking Yun Zhen envied her for having a family, Li Mei comforted her, "You’ll have a family of your own when you grow up."

Yun Zhen just smiled and followed her to withdraw the money.

The leopard coral grouper was ninety-four thousand, two hundred yuan.

The large black rockfish was forty thousand yuan.

The king crab was one thousand, two hundred and fifty yuan.

The total came out to one hundred thirty-five thousand, four hundred and fifty yuan.

My goodness, what a massive fortune!

The moment the cash was handed to her at the bank counter, Yun Zhen’s eyes gleamed brightly.

Li Mei repeatedly urged her, "Make sure you hide this well when you get back. Do not tell anyone you have this much money. I won’t tell my family or Sister-in-law Liu, either. Keep your lips sealed to prevent anyone with malicious intent from targeting you."

Yun Zhen was an orphan, and making money wasn’t easy for her. It was a good thing she had run into Li Mei; if it had been anyone else, Yun Zhen would have definitely been forced to hand over half her earnings, or else she would have faced a lawsuit. How could a solitary orphan ever win against people with families and backgrounds?

Yun Zhen nodded firmly. "Don’t worry, Meimei, I’ll hide the money well. Brother Zhao from the agency said he would help me open a card to deposit the money, and I figure he’ll have it ready soon."

"Having a bank card is good. Just make sure to keep your money safe in the meantime." Hearing that she would soon have a bank card, Li Mei breathed a sigh of relief. Storing it on a card was much safer than carrying it around or hiding it in a dormitory. Checking the time, she said to Yun Zhen, "It’s seven-fifteen. I’ll walk you back to your dorm."

Yun Zhen nodded. She needed to hurry up and buy a bunch of things to take back, and then she’d drink mutton soup with everyone.

Yun Zhen threw all the cash directly into her mental treasure trove. Being able to see it at any time gave her great peace of mind.

From Li Mei’s perspective, however, Yun Zhen had stuffed the money into the bag she was carrying. Seeing that the bag didn’t bulge in the slightest, Li Mei couldn’t help but marvel inwardly at just how incredibly spacious it must be.