Rebirth 77: From Beachcombing to Becoming a Tycoon and Spoiling My Wife

The sea breeze, carrying a salty, damp scent, lapped against the deck of the steel ship, causing it to rock gently and steadily, emitting the fishy smell of freshly caught seafood.

Seeing the sharp knife in Yang Bai's hand, which was about to be plunged into the giant grouper, Liu Dade quickly stepped forward to stop him, his tone filled with anxiety and regret.

"Xiao Yang, don't be impulsive! If you take this fish maw out now, the price of the whole grouper will be ruined. Think it over carefully, don't lose your harvest for nothing!"

These days, people who make a living by the sea know that grouper maw is a truly rare and precious commodity, a valuable tonic.

The giant grouper weighing 300 jin in front of us is a rare find when sailing out to sea. Every part of it is valuable, but you can only get about 10 jin of fish maw from it.

There's a rule in the trade: fishmongers buy whole fish, but if they cut the fish open on the spot to extract the maw, the price of the maw will be deducted directly from the total payment.

These ten kilograms of top-quality grouper maw can sell for more than seventy yuan each, which is equivalent to one or two months' wages for an ordinary worker.

It's a real, substantial sum of money.

However, once the whole fish is discounted, the selling price drops, resulting in a significant loss.

Faced with the persuasion, Yang Bai simply shook his head and reached out to take the sharpened knife.

"I don't need the money from selling fish right now."

Ordinary sea fish can be sold to buy food and make money to make a living, but fish maw is a good thing for nourishing the body.

The elderly person in my family is in poor health, so it's a good idea to take this home and make soup to nourish them.

The fish maw from a 300-pound grouper is top-grade; its value cannot be measured by a mere 70-odd yuan.

As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Bai no longer hesitated. With a flick of his wrist, the tip of the knife steadily pierced the thick belly of the giant grouper, and then cleanly sliced ​​it down the body of the fish.

With a crisp "plop," the thick belly of the fish was completely ripped open.

Dark red blood mixed with bits of fish entrails slowly trickled down the cold, hard deck.

Blood flowed across the deck, and filth was everywhere, but Yang Bai didn't care at all.

He bent down, pried open the fish's belly, and peered inside, carefully feeling around with the experience he had gained from years of fishing at sea in his previous life.

Following the muscle texture along the inside of the fish's back and below the spine, he quickly found a thick, firm, and full white sac, which was the most precious fish maw of the entire grouper.

Yang Bai's hands were extremely steady. He carefully made a small incision at the bottom of the fish maw with the knife, moving slowly and gently, as if afraid of damaging the fish maw even a little bit.

Then, firmly grasping the plump fish maw with both hands, and gently pulling and lifting, a whole piece of intact and excellent-quality grouper maw was taken out. It was snow-white, warm and moist, and quite substantial, a rare and top-quality product.

Seeing this, Yang Jun quickly brought over a clean wooden basin and placed it on the deck.

Yang Bai carefully placed the heavy fish maw into the basin and gave him some instructions.

"Quickly cover it with crushed ice to prevent it from suffocating. I'll take it to dry and care for it after we get ashore. Also, make sure this big grouper is properly placed so it doesn't get bumped or damaged."

"Brother, I know, I'll definitely get it all sorted out for you!" Yang Jun replied quickly, holding the wooden basin, and hurried off to get to work.

Yang Bai walked to the side of the boat, washed the blood off his hands, and straightened up. Just then, he heard a creaking sound from the winch on the side of the boat. The originally loose fishing line suddenly became taut and pulled hard on the surface of the sea, showing great strength.

"Xiao Jun, Xiao Li, hurry up and reel in the line! Everyone else keep a close eye on things, get ready to catch the fish and unload!" Yang Bai immediately shouted in a deep voice.

Yang Jun and another young crew member immediately stepped forward, each holding the winch handle on either side, and worked together to turn it.

The winch turned slowly, and the fishing line gradually returned to the surface. Before long, the first catch from the branch line surfaced—a chub weighing about fifty pounds. This fish wasn't considered valuable; its market price was only two or three cents per pound, so it wouldn't earn much money.

The group continued to reel in their lines, but the second and third hooks came out of the water one after another, all empty-handed, with no catch whatsoever.

The fourth hook caught an ordinary-looking Napoleon wrasse. The next twenty or so hooks were either empty or caught ordinary near-shore fish; none of them were valuable catches.

The further they went, the calmer the sea became, and even the splashes from large fish could not be seen.

Yang Jun gradually felt panicked and increasingly unsure of himself, and couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"Brother, we've used fifty hooks, are we really going to end up not even catching ten grouper? This bottom fishing doesn't seem as reliable as a hand rod."

Most of the fishing hooks had been retrieved, but there was still no sign of the giant grouper. The crew members all looked somewhat disappointed.

In contrast, Yang Bai was not in a hurry at all. He slowly sipped his tea and ate melon seeds from his enamel cup, looking calm and composed, as if he had everything under control.

"Stop muttering and stay calm. With fifty hooks on the bottom, the fish are swarming around. You should be able to catch at least ten. Just wait and see what happens," Yang Bai said calmly, reassuringly.

No sooner had he finished speaking than the crew member reeling in the line at the bow suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "We've got fish! It's a grouper! We've got a big one!"

Yang Jun suddenly turned his head and looked up, his eyes widening in astonishment. He saw the sea churning and a large grouper, over 1.5 meters long, being slowly pulled out of the water. It was thick-bodied, plump, and glossy black, and was being dragged heavily onto the deck, looking particularly intimidating.

"My God! This one must weigh at least 200 pounds, it's huge!" Yang Jun couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

Yang Bai gave a faint smile, his tone calm: "See, the goods have been shipped out."

He knew the fish population, depth, and quantity in this nearshore area perfectly well.

Just as he expected, the twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, and twenty-ninth hooks immediately came under heavy pull, and all three hooks caught fish in succession.

Three plump grouper were successively pulled onto the deck. Each one was well-fed and weighed over 150 pounds, and they were all top-quality catches.

The deck was instantly piled high with the catch, much to the delight of the crew.

But that's not all; after two missed hooks, there's more to come.

One by one, the grouper were scooped up as if they were lined up in a row.

Fifty hooks caught twelve grouper, each weighing over 150 pounds.

That alone costs 3,600 yuan.

Their eyes were filled with excitement as they kept taking the giant grouper from it.

Yang Bai spread his palms above his head and shouted, "Next, let's try to catch a 5,000-jin grouper within a day!"

They shouted "Good!" excitedly.

Previously, they thought that catching a 5,000-pound giant grouper in twelve days was a pipe dream.

Now they really don't think so anymore, they're going straight for 1,800 jin on one line.

A 5,000-pound giant grouper is just a piece of cake.

After all the giant grouper was removed, Yang Bai returned to the cockpit and steered the boat to the next location to continue the deployment.

The second longline fishing attempt was quickly launched into the sea.