"Captain, look at him, he's soaking wet. Maybe he was spearfishing. Should we keep watching?"
"Yeah, we haven't made a sale in a while."
"Alright, we've had no luck the last two times. If we keep this up, they might complain to the higher-ups. You'll be writing the reports, so let's head back."
Despite saying this, the captain was still using his binoculars to observe Li Haochen.
Fortunately, Li Haochen didn't do anything out of the ordinary. After changing his clothes, he set sail.
An hour later, the Xingchen arrived at the Shenchuan Luzhou码头 (port). After completing the docking procedures, he called Wu Mingwei.
"Haochen? What a rare visitor! What brings you to call me? Haha!"
"I'm in Shenchuan, and I'm a bit short on cash. I thought of you, and I was hoping to get a meal out of you. Hahaha!"
Wu Mingwei naturally didn't believe this. He had been collaborating with Murong Yanran for nearly a year, and their daily abalone sales were in the tens of kilograms, which was quite substantial. He also knew that Li Haochen owned fifteen fishing boats, and although he didn't know how profitable they were, he figured Li Haochen must have some assets. So, the "meal" remark was just for laughs.
"Okay, I'll make arrangements. I'll send you the location shortly. We won't stop drinking until we drop, hahaha!"
After hanging up, Li Haochen soon received the location from Wu Mingwei. He took a taxi to meet him. The port was not close to the city center, and it took nearly half an hour to reach the city's downtown area.
"The map says it's here."
Li Haochen looked at his phone's display. Xinyue Pavilion was supposed to be here, but he couldn't find it visually. This made him quite puzzled. As he was racking his brain, a familiar voice called out from behind him, "Haochen, what are you doing wandering around here?"
Turning around, he saw that it was indeed Wu Mingwei.
"What kind of place did you find? I can't even see the entrance."
"Don't you see the giant sign?"
Li Haochen followed Wu Mingwei's gaze and saw a few small characters that made him speechless. "Damn it, you put the sign in such a hidden corner, who would ever see it?"
Xinyue Pavilion was quite secretive. Li Haochen followed Wu Mingwei and two others through a small alley and then wound his way through several minutes of twists and turns before reaching their destination.
The storefront was very ancient, and the interior decoration was the same. It felt very comfortable inside. However, it was strange that such a large establishment had no customers, only three employees, which made Li Haochen very confused.
"Do you find it strange?"
"It is quite strange. Why aren't there any customers?"
"This place isn't ordinary. They only serve two meals a day, and the dishes are all created by the chef's whim. Every meal is unique, never repeating. I was lucky to get a reservation today because a customer who had booked had a last-minute issue and canceled."
"So unique? Then I must try it properly later."
As they chatted, the dishes were quickly served. There were only four dishes, very simple home-style dishes, even simpler than what one would make at home. There was Jade White Jade, Stuffed Tofu with Meat, Lotus Root Meatballs, and Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs.
"With dishes like these, they dare to boast about only serving one table a day?"
Li Haochen, with a hint of doubt, scooped a spoonful of the Jade White Jade soup into his mouth. The moment it touched his tongue, his eyes widened. It was too delicious, indescribably fresh and fragrant, and the tofu was incredibly tender.
It was hard to believe that such simple ingredients could be made into such astonishingly delicious food. It was as if a royal chef had prepared it.
"How is it? Surprised?"
"Yes, it truly is not to be judged by its appearance."
"Of course. Old Hu's family has had royal chefs for generations."
"No wonder. The culinary skill is truly heavenly."
Every dish Li Haochen tasted amazed him. It was just too delicious.
After several rounds of drinks and sampling the dishes, Wu Mingwei spoke, "Is there something you need this time?"
"Yes, I need your help with something."
"Tell me."
"I want to buy a batch of abalone seedlings."
"You came all this way just for this? Couldn't you just call me? You're something else."
"How many do you need? I'll have someone deliver them to you tomorrow."
"One hundred million pieces!"
"Pfft... Wh-what?" Wu Mingwei spat out the wine he had just drunk, exclaiming, "One hundred million pieces?"
Even Wu Mingwei, with his prominent family background, was utterly astonished when he heard this number. One hundred million pieces! Even the seedlings themselves were not cheap.
"Are you joking?"
"Do I look like someone who jokes?"
"Seriously?" Wu Mingwei asked again.
"Of course, I'm serious. Do I look like I have nothing better to do than to tease you? I need them. Do you have that many available?"
"Yes, yes, we definitely have them. But do you want large ones or small ones? The small ones are sold by the jin, and the large ones by the piece. Forget it, I'll take you to our base later to have a look before you decide."
"Alright!"
After the meal, Li Haochen got into Wu Mingwei's large Range Rover and headed towards the Wu family's seedling cultivation base.
The location was quite remote. It was a bay in Shenchuan, and it took an hour to get there.
"We're here. Let me show you around."
Seeing the over a kilometer-long stretch of cultivation sheds before him, Li Haochen was also shocked. Such a large cultivation base, how terrifying must its annual output be?
"Haochen, come and see. These are almost ready for market. These ones are about one piece each, quite good. In another three to four months, they can be sold."
Li Haochen walked over, pried open two abalones, and examined them. They were indeed good, about the size of eggs. If their size increased a bit more, selling them at 4.99 each would be no problem.
Seeing that Li Haochen was unmoved, Wu Mingwei led him further. The abalones in this cultivation pond were a bit smaller than the previous ones, about the size of a yuan coin. These were sold by the jin, at 50 yuan per jin. In fact, this worked out to about 0.7 yuan per abalone, which didn't align with Li Haochen's goal of maximizing profit.
"Mingwei, do you have any smaller ones?"
"Smaller ones? Yes, we do. But for cultivation, I recommend the type we just saw. Their survival rate, disease resistance, and cultivation period are not long. This way, they can be on the market in about half a year."
"Let's take a look first, and I'll decide which type later."
Li Haochen was just being polite. He actually wished for abalone the size of rice grains. With the Space Sea, survival rate, disease resistance, and cultivation period were not issues at all.
"Alright then, come this way."