Super fast cooking, ready in half an hour. Li Haochen set the table and then video-called Murong Yanran. Fortunately, the signal was still decent before reaching the open sea.
"Have you eaten?"
"Not yet, I just finished cooking and sent you a video call, take a look." Li Haochen held up his phone and showed the food.
"I just watched TV, you've become famous! Looks like I'm the one who needs your autograph, hehe!"
After some playful banter, they ended the video call. Li Haochen then video-called Xie Baolian to let her know he was safe.
"Dinner's ready."
The combination of shrimp paste and roasted pork belly was incredibly delicious. One piece of half-fat, half-lean roasted pork belly was enough to eat a whole bowl of rice. Soon, all the food was gone. Li Haochen wiped his mouth and let out a satisfied burp.
He brewed a pot of Chuan Island black tea, moved a stool to the bow of the boat, and gazed at the starry sky, listening to the waves. The ostentation and restlessness of city life were washed away in this atmosphere.
The boat's lights attracted many phototactic marine organisms, and occasionally a few flying fish flashed by. Seeing many small fish gathered beneath the railing, Li Haochen grabbed a scoop net and, seizing the moment, made a swift, precise thrust.
Startled by this, the small fish and shrimp that escaped Li Haochen's grasp became panicked and fled the dangerous area. Under the lights, they soon happily swarmed back, their recent dangerous encounter completely forgotten. What intelligence...
He lifted the scoop net. Inside were over a dozen lively small miscellaneous fish, and a few small squid extending their cute tentacles. They were adorable.
He got a plastic bucket, filled it with half a bucket of seawater, and poured the catch from the scoop net into it. "Heh heh, this method is good. After this competition, if I install two towing nets, it should be quite effective."
Li Haochen walked into the pilot house, turned on the fishing lights by the side of the ship, and hung the large scoop net underwater. He would bring it up every ten minutes or so. It was decent, each time bringing up about ten small miscellaneous fish and small squid, as well as some tiny white shrimp, eye shrimp, oyster shrimp, and opossum shrimp, and other small crustaceans.
Regardless of size, Li Haochen accepted them all, having a great time. He had to admit, in just over an hour, he had scooped up half a bucket, which was quite good, even if it wasn't worth much.
It wasn't that they were worthless. Squid prices were decent, about 30 yuan for about fifty grams, but the ones he caught today were too small; he'd be lucky to sell them for 20.
He picked out a few small squid for tomorrow's breakfast extra and sent the rest into the spatial ocean to serve as a treasure basin. As he left, he picked a few coconuts.
Without a machine, peeling them with a knife was quite difficult. It took him a few minutes to process one. He poked a small hole in one of the eyes with a chopstick and drank the cool, sweet liquid.
Sweet and refreshing, a large gulp made his entire body feel revitalized.
After checking that the lights on top were working normally, he locked the cabin door and lay on the bed to chat with Murong Yanran via video call.
"You must be tired today."
"Yes, I'm exhausted, and no one's here to give me a massage!"
"It's a rain check. I'll make it up to you when I get back."
"Of course, I'm keeping a record in my notebook," Murong Yanran said, picking up a small notebook and showing it to the phone.
"Yanran... Huh?"
Suddenly, the screen froze. He looked at the upper left corner. Even Elder Ren couldn't help. He had no choice but to send a message, hoping it would be delivered soon.
He couldn't play with his phone, and he had no one to talk to. In just a short while, Li Haochen was starting to feel restless. "I really don't know how those who drift at sea for months manage to endure."
The sea at night was truly a little daunting. It was desolate all around, just dark water. Li Haochen wasn't actually scared, but in such an environment, he felt somewhat uncomfortable. He tossed and turned on the bed, counting sheep countless times without success. He glanced at the time; it was only a little past 10 PM.
"Sigh, since I can't sleep, I might as well go fishing."
He went down to the ice cellar and took out a bag of conch meat. The small ice machine's efficiency wasn't very high, so there wasn't much ice. The conch meat and krill weren't completely frozen, so they could be used without thawing.
He brought a bag of krill up and took out two casting rods. After baiting them, he gently cast a few meters out and hung them in the fishing holes by the side of the ship, waiting for a catch.
"Whoosh~~"
Just as he was about to go get his teacup, the fishing rod on the port side hooked a fish, making a buzzing sound. Through the fishing lights by the side of the ship, he could clearly see the fishing line darting left and right. Li Haochen quickly abandoned the idea of getting his teacup. Making money was more important.
He walked over. Judging by the bend of the rod tip, the fish wasn't very big. He didn't take the rod down, but held the handle directly, gripping the rod handle with his right hand and shaking it vigorously. In less than a minute, a black sea bream weighing about seven or eight ounces was reeled in. "Not bad, a live one can sell for 60."
He unhooked it and threw it into the live well. He re-baited and continued. Before long, the other rod also hooked a fish. What was pulled up was just a rockfish weighing over three ounces.
Perhaps this area wasn't very good, as there weren't many fish. In over an hour, he only caught 3 rockfish, two yellow sea bream weighing seven or eight ounces, and an immature sea bass. He had to throw the sea bass back into the spatial ocean.
He re-baited and cast again. His stomach started to rumble, so he hung the rod in the fishing hole and went into the kitchen. Looking at the fresh small squid, he couldn't resist and immediately cooked a bowl of egg and small squid noodle soup. These small squid, freshly caught, were especially sweet and tender. They were small, a bite each, tender and springy. In no time, a large bowl of fresh squid noodles was completely gone.
These small squid were so delicious that Li Haochen wondered if he should turn on the fishing lights and scoop them up again. Although there weren't many, scooping for a whole night might yield eight or ten pounds. But he decided against it, thinking it was too tiring. April and May were the prime seasons for fishing, when he could catch several pounds at a time.
"What the heck~"
As soon as he exited the cabin, Li Haochen saw that both fishing rods were bent into large crescents, and the fishing lines were buzzing. Li Haochen ran over quickly, forcefully removed the rods, braced them against his stomach, and leaned back slightly, using his body's strength to counter. This saved a lot of energy.
With a pull and a turn, a hundred meters of fishing line were quickly reeled in, and the big fish was pulled to the surface. Li Haochen grabbed the scoop net and scooped the fish up. Once it was out of the water, it seemed to lose its sense of security, shaking violently left and right, looking fierce.
"Hahaha, I didn't expect to catch a spotted grouper, this is great! Over a hundred per pound, and this one must be at least five pounds."
Spotted grouper, also known as butterfly grouper, scientifically named *Variola louti*, inhabits depths of over twenty meters and can reach up to 35 centimeters in length. It lives in reef areas and is a demersal fish. It is carnivorous and relatively fierce.
Happily throwing the grouper into the live well, he then took down the other fishing rod. After a struggle, he reeled in a sea bass weighing about three pounds.