A dejected man recovering his camera was lightly tapped on the shoulder by a young tourist. "Buddy, weren't you guys excited just now? Why do you seem so disappointed now!"
"Did you just come to Binhai to watch the competition?"
The youth nodded noncommittally.
"No wonder. This Starship is sailed by just one person. What's there to see? And it's only out for two days and then it comes back. I bet it won't even catch twenty fish. Let's go..."
The man waved his hand and disappeared into the crowd with his beloved camera.
More and more people left, even many buyers had departed, leaving only the Binhai Grand Hotel and the Mu family. The place, which had been a bit crowded earlier, now felt rather deserted, but Liang Shiyin and her television crew were excited and expectant.
The person who saved the sea turtle in the online video was Li Haochen from the Starship.
The video's popularity was still holding steady in the top three of the trending searches, a rare piece of news they couldn't afford to miss. Moreover, they had met Li Haochen before, so an interview shouldn't be refused.
"I say, Yang Tao, the Binhai Grand Hotel is about to go bankrupt. What are you still staying there for? Why don't you come work with us? I still have the authority to arrange a position for you, hahaha!"
Yang Tao looked at Liu Yaowen from the Mu family company, his face immediately darkening. "Hmph, don't get too smug. The Mu family isn't what it used to be."
"Oh ho, you're still putting up a brave front when you're on the brink of ruin. Our boss said that you won't be allowed to buy a single fish. With tens of billions of funds in my hands, how are you going to fight me? Hahaha!"
As they neared the pier, Li Haochen entered the space with a large plastic bucket, scooped up half a bucket of seawater, and brought out the three large yellow croakers to keep them alive. Strangely, the large yellow croakers, which turned silver with only a hint of yellow when taken out of the water during the day, were entirely golden yellow when kept in the seawater from his space, looking incredibly beautiful.
He sailed the boat to the designated clearing, weighing, and docking berth and stopped. Several competition staff wearing work badges immediately approached. Yang Tao and Liu Yaowen also brought their subordinates to follow closely. The television crew also walked over, set up their equipment, and prepared to film.
Li Haochen knew why they were there and did not obstruct them, voluntarily opening the live fish tanks and the ice storage.
Upon seeing the live fish densely packed in the live fish tanks, especially the giant spotted grouper, their eyes widened. They looked at Li Haochen as if he were a monster, wondering when deep-sea fishing became so easy, catching one or two hundred pounds in two days. It made them want to resign immediately and go to sea to make money.
There were quite a few varieties, and since they were all live fish, the inventory process was not very fast. It took about twenty minutes to finish the count. "Spotted grouper 23.5 jin, flower dog 6 jin, stone dog gong 57.5 jin, black sea bream 27 jin... Spotted grouper 180 yuan per jin, flower dog 160 yuan per jin, stone dog gong 110 yuan per jin, black sea bream 60, yellow sea bream 40...!"
"Mr. Li, your current catch is valued at 14826 yuan."
Li Haochen had no objections; this valuation was already very high. Just as a few staff members were about to leave, Li Haochen called them to a halt. "Hello, please wait a moment. There are still a few fish."
Li Haochen walked into the cabin and brought out a large plastic bucket, placing it in front of the few staff members.
"Oh, yellow croaker," a young staff member said, looking at the fish a few times before reaching in to scoop one out for weighing.
"Wait..."
Just as his subordinate was reaching into the bucket to scoop out a fish, a panicked shout startled the young staff member to stop.
"Uncle Li, what's wrong? You startled me."
Li Pengfei pushed the youth aside and looked with some excitement at the three fish still wriggling in the bucket. "This... this is wild yellow croaker! And it's alive! How is this possible?"
The youth beside him instantly broke out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, he had stopped just in time. If he had damaged these large yellow croakers, he would be in serious trouble.
"Mr. Li, I... I can't give you a valuation. Please wait for me."
Li Pengfei's exclamation also alerted Yang Tao, Liu Yaowen, and Liang Shiyin, who were standing by the boat. They all boarded the boat to verify.
Having dealt with marine fish for most of their lives, Yang Tao and Liu Yaowen could immediately tell that these three yellow croakers were of wild quality.
"Wild yellow croaker still alive... I..."
"Yes, it's the first time I've seen it. Incredible..."
Both men marveled, a sense of mutual appreciation evident. The earlier animosity had vanished; they were like brothers, arm in arm, admiring these golden yellow croakers.
Not long after, Li Pengfei hurried over with an elder with white hair. "Elder Hong, please slow down... slow down!"
"Mr. Li, allow me to introduce you to Elder Hong Haiquan. He is our country's Master Chef. The valuation can only be done by Elder Hong. Is that okay!" Li Pengfei introduced with a respectful expression, and the people around also looked on with admiration.
Although Li Haochen did not know Hong Haiquan, this elder gave him the impression of being a very upright and selfless person, so he nodded.
Hong Haiquan also nodded in greeting and then hurried to squat down to examine them.
After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Hong Haiquan stood up, a little excited, and with some doubt. "Young man, these are indeed wild yellow croakers, of extremely high quality, and they are alive. I've truly never seen anything like it. Young man, is there some special method?"
Li Haochen blinked, shrugged, and feigned ignorance. "Elder Hong, I don't know either. I caught them, put them in the bucket, and this is how they are. Do you think they might have mutated?"
Hong Haiquan stroked the white mustache on his chin and pondered. "Hmm, that possibility cannot be ruled out. Xiao Fei, let's weigh them first!"
Li Pengfei looked a bit troubled. "Elder Hong, how should I weigh them? I'm afraid of damaging the fish after taking them out of the water."
"Go find three large plastic boxes. Then, pour the seawater from this bucket into the boxes, record the weight, and then gently scoop them into the boxes with a soft cloth to weigh."
"Oh, okay, I'll go find the plastic boxes."
A few minutes later, following Hong Haiquan's method, they were weighed one by one. The largest was 4 jin 6 liang, the next was 3 jin 8 liang, and the smallest was 3 jin 4 liang.
Hong Haiquan was silent for a moment. "According to market prices, those over four jin are around 8000 yuan per jin, and those between three and four jin are around 5000 yuan. However, these three are special, they are alive, and they are large golden yellow croakers. I think it's reasonable to increase the price. What do you think, Xiao Fei?"
"Whatever you say!"
"Then it's settled. The one over four jin will be 12000 yuan per jin, and the two around three jin will be 10000 yuan per jin. What do you think, young friend?"
"Elder Hong, you are the expert. I'll listen to you."
Hong Haiquan was very pleased with Li Haochen's answer. "Xiao Fei, then let's proceed at these prices."
Li Pengfei picked up a calculator and began to compute. "The total is 127200 yuan. Adding the previous 14826, Mr. Li's total valuation is 142026 yuan."