This trip at sea, Li Haochen planned to drift for a longer period, so he prepared more.
There were too many things to buy, so Li Haochen made four or five trips to load them onto the boat. He also stocked up on beer, soda, and snacks. He even went out of his way to buy a Hang Kai four-stroke, seven-horsepower electric start outboard motor for 2,600 yuan.
Li Haochen had originally wanted to buy a Yamaha, but it was too expensive for him to afford.
He returned home as the sun was setting, but the women hadn't returned yet. Li Haochen went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. It was quite a feast: a fish, a plate of steamed razor clams, a crab roe vermicelli pot, and garlic minced baby bok choy.
Just as it was cooked, Murong Yanran and Xie Baolian came in one after another. “Wow, dinner’s ready, I’m starving.”
Murong Yanran, without even washing her hands, came over and stole a razor clam. Still wanting more, she was pushed by Li Haochen towards the sink. “You haven’t washed your hands yet.”
“Wash them for me, hee hee!”
“Uh, okay!”
“Wipe them dry for me.”
“…”
“Does it look good?” Murong Yanran waved her left hand in front of Li Haochen.
“It looks good, of course it does, I chose it.”
“I was only talking about my hand, you’re being conceited!”
“If you don’t come soon, I’ll eat it all…”
During dinner, Li Haochen mentioned his plan to go out to sea the next day, immediately enduring an hour-long soul-searching interrogation from the two women. Only after a full-body massage and having nail and toe polish applied did they grudgingly agree.
Watching the two women happily discuss the styles and colors of the nail and toe polish, Li Haochen wondered if the soul-searching interrogation was just an add-on and the real purpose was the massage and nail polish.
The next morning, Li Haochen woke up early to make breakfast and rushed to the wet market to get supplies. There were too many things, so he borrowed a three-wheeled vehicle from the owner of the deli to transport them before returning to get his electric scooter.
The deli owner was very accommodating. As soon as Li Haochen mentioned it, he handed over the keys without a second word. This was also related to Li Haochen buying hundreds of yuan worth of deli goods every time he came. Big customers were naturally treated well. Of course, Li Haochen also used his electric scooter as collateral, which made the owner more generous with lending the vehicle.
After moving all the goods, he called for a fuel truck. This time, a young fellow answered. Upon asking, he learned that business had been so good recently that they had switched to 24-hour operation and shift work.
The recent oil price increase of twenty-five cents meant that filling the tank cost several hundred more. Watching the fuel gauge climb rapidly, he inwardly cursed Russia and Ukraine.
With the fuel tank full, Li Haochen also asked the young man to fill two small fuel cans, 60 liters in total, for emergencies.
Checking the time, it was only a little past seven. He walked over to the breakfast stall next to the fishing tackle shop and bought a double-egg rice noodle roll. He didn't expect the fishing tackle shop to be open so early.
After quickly finishing breakfast, he went into the fishing tackle shop. The owner recognized Li Haochen. “Boss Li is going out to sea again? The usual?”
“Uncle Huang, the usual, but get more. I’ll be out for a longer time this time. By the way, why are you opening so early today?”
“Business has been good lately, can’t be helped. Have to work harder. Unlike you, you make hundreds of thousands after just a few trips. If I weren't old, I'd want to buy a boat and go out to sea myself, haha!”
Li Haochen rolled his eyes and smacked his lips, inwardly scoffing. Believe him, he’d already helped them clear so much inventory in the sea fishing competitions. The profit from fishing rods, lines, hooks, and bait every day was probably more than that of the number one ranked fishing boat, the Sea King.
With everything ready, Li Haochen took all his belongings onto the boat. He then went to give the security guard a pack of hard green Five Leaf God cigarettes. It turned out that occasionally giving the security guard cigarettes was quite useful. His electric scooter was kept as if it were his own, and a few suspicious individuals loitering around the Xingchen Hao late at night the day before had been spotted and driven away by him in a timely manner.
He even specially notified Li Haochen to come and inspect the boat, which was essentially seeking credit. Although it was part of his duty, Li Haochen was still very grateful and secretly slipped him a 300 yuan red envelope.
“Haochen, the water tank is full. Why are you departing so early?”
“Uncle Ming, it’s not as hot if I depart early. You’re busy, I’ll be heading off now.”
“Haha, okay, wishing you a bountiful catch.”
“Thank you for your kind words…”
As Li Haochen passed the big screen, his ranking had long since been left in the dust. Without paying too much attention, he got on the boat, did a final check, blew the horn, and once again rode the waves towards the rising sun.
He set the navigation route, set an economical speed, and headed towards Dunhuang Island. While he still had signal, he quickly called Murong Yanran and Xie Baolian.
Meanwhile, at the Mu family’s acquisition point within the dock, Liu Yaowen was having a fit of rage. The reason was that the youth responsible for keeping watch had dozed off, and he didn’t know when Li Haochen had left the sea.
“Damn it, not a single one of them can put my mind at ease.”
With no other options, Liu Yaowen had to go to the security booth to inquire about the situation.
“Hey, security guard, do you know when the Xingchen Hao left the sea?”
Wang Xiaoming glanced at Liu Yaowen, took out the cigarettes Li Haochen had given him, lit one, and took a satisfying puff before saying, “Don’t know.”
“Hey, what’s your attitude? Believe it or not, I’ll complain to your manager.”
Wang Xiaoming, with the cigarette in his mouth, looked at the wall clock, blew a smoke ring at Liu Yaowen, and grinned, revealing his yellow teeth, “Turn left at a hundred meters, the third-floor office is there, they’re already working.”
“You… cough cough… cough cough… you wait.”
The waiting ended with no follow-up because Liu Yaowen went to the manager’s office and was kicked out. As Liu Yaowen, bewildered and unable to understand, was trying to figure things out, a call from the management office scared him so badly he almost ended up in the hospital. “Starting next month, all Mu family boats are prohibited from entering our dock.”
Liu Yaowen, sweating profusely, quickly called Mu Zhengtao to report. Before he could even speak, he was berated like a dog. “Damn it, are you brainless? You’re useless and only cause trouble for me every day. Damn it, get back here now.”
“Mu… General Manager Mu, then… do we not need to collect fish or keep an eye on the Xingchen…”
“Collect, collect your grandma’s, come back quickly. You’ll come with me tonight to apologize.”
At sea, Li Haochen was unaware that he had avoided another bit of trouble. The journey was quite far. He stopped for lunch around noon before continuing to sail towards his destination.
During the journey, he encountered the returning Shanfeng Hao, which proudly boasted to Li Haochen via radio, “Brother Li, you’re only setting out now? Sigh, I didn’t want to go back, but there was no choice, the cold storage is full.”
“Oh, congratulations then. You might be first when you get back, haha.”
“Hahaha, that’s a given. I won’t chat anymore, I’ll treat you to a drink when I’m back.”
Li Haochen smiled and hung up the radio, then switched to the public channel to listen to gossip. However, today was a bit strange; there were very few people chatting casually.