Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 247: Chapter 244 Arriving at the High Seas Chapter 247: Chapter 244 Arriving at the High Seas After traveling thirty nautical miles at night, the captain was ready to have the crew cast the nets.

In S City’s docks, there were many such tourist boats. The captains and crew were employed by the owners of the vessels, but at sea, the captain’s job wasn’t just to take tourists out to sea—it also involved using fishing boats to catch seafood as an extra source of income.

The amount of seafood the crew could catch all depended on luck, and this additional income didn’t need to be handed over to the owner of the vessel. It was only distributed among the few employees on board according to their work.

It was the same even for Zheng Huaqing’s yacht, which had six or seven crew members, including the helmsman and six other sailors responsible for other aspects of the ship’s work.

These sailors were personable and had good service attitudes, but to them, Huo Sining and his party were not particularly attractive since how much money they earned was all up to the employer, and they were merely working stiffs.

To them, the most valuable things were at sea.

Of course, as long as the crew could operate the fishing boat without any mistakes, Zheng Huaqing wouldn’t care how much seafood they caught and wouldn’t be harsh on them. He would even give them extra subsidies when there was no catch.

This was the reason why the crew members had a lot of respect for Zheng Huaqing. He treated his employees generously, so the crew worked diligently and conscientiously.

The speed of the fishing boat slowed down, and aside from the helmsman, the rest of the crew members came up to the deck. The fishing net was spread out and ready, just waiting for the captain’s order to cast it.

Hearing that the fishing boat was about to cast the net, Huo Sining and the others hurried to the stern to watch, eagerly anticipating the moment when the fishing net would be hauled in.

Fishing with nets also had its tricks, especially in winter, when schools of fish would mostly follow the ocean currents. Therefore, casting the net required following the direction and route of the currents.

This depended on the old captain’s decades of seafaring experience. The experienced captain looked at the sea surface and soon gave the order to cast the net.

Upon receiving the instructions, a few crew members quickly scattered the fishing nets into the sea.

By eight o’clock at night, the nets were pulled up.

However, to everyone’s disappointment, when the net was hauled in, aside from crabs and small shrimps, there were hardly any fish. In total, there was less than ten jin of seafood.

Huo Sining and the others couldn’t help but laugh and cry at this sight. They had no idea when the captain said fishing was unprofitable these days, but now seeing this situation, they were completely speechless.

If the fishing nets couldn’t even catch fish, how could they succeed in sea fishing?

The old captain, however, remained calm. He gathered the fish on the net into a metal bucket, and after not even half an hour, he had the crew cast the second net.

Seeing those few pieces of seafood, even Zheng Huaqing couldn’t help but laugh and cry, but luckily he was well-prepared. During the day, he had someone buy a lot of fresh vegetables and ingredients to store on the yacht, otherwise making a table full of dishes with just this bit of shrimp and crab would have been a headache for the chef.

A skilled cook can’t make bricks without straw; even if the chef’s skills are impressive, without ingredients, a feast cannot be made.

This time, the guests onboard were all distinguished, and Zheng Huaqing had given instructions beforehand for the chef to perform at his highest level. They absolutely couldn’t neglect these guests, so naturally, the chef had to be careful and afraid of making any mistakes.

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However, what made the chef feel helpless was that these guests were not interested in his land-based ingredients at all; they all requested seafood and specifically wanted to eat the shrimp and crabs that had just been fished out of the water.

Upon receiving a signal from Zheng Huaqing, the chef thoroughly cleaned the shrimp and crabs before steaming them.

Dinner didn’t start until nearly nine o’clock, but nobody minded; instead, everyone was in high spirits, chatting and enjoying the sea breeze, extremely happy.

The dishes were exquisitely prepared, but the most popular were the shrimp and crab soldiers. Although the seafood looked dirty when first fished out, they tasted incredibly fresh, and even Bai Yishan, who usually didn’t eat much seafood, had quite a bit.

During the night, the yacht kept sailing and by 3 o’clock in the morning, it had covered nearly 200 kilometers, reaching the edge of the high seas.

The so-called high seas are areas not included within any country’s exclusive economic zone, territorial waters, internal waters, or the archipelagic waters of an archipelagic state, in short, parts of the ocean not under any country’s jurisdiction.

The high seas are open to all nations, and it’s free to carry out any activities not prohibited by international law, including gambling, which is restricted by domestic laws. Because of this, more and more people head to the high seas to gamble.

In Xiangjiang, there’s even a specialized industry for high-seas tourism; although officially advertised as tourism, it is actually gambling. The Gambling King He Hongjie even bought a giant oil tanker to join the high seas gambling scene.

Of course, Zheng Huaqing had no such hobby; his purchase of this yacht was simply for fishing on the high seas.

According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, areas more than 200 nautical miles from islands or coasts are considered high seas, and a vessel that sails beyond 200 nautical miles from domestic waters is deemed to have reached the high seas.

After reaching the high seas, vessels must hoist their national flags to prove their identity; otherwise, they could be considered stateless vessels and would be unable to receive fair treatment in the event of a collision or other accidents.

At that moment, the old captain had the crew on duty hoist the national flag on the deck. Only then did they stop the ship on the sea and return to the cabins to rest.

The next day, just after five o’clock, Su Qingqing was the first to wake up from her dreams. After taking medicine for seasickness and sleeping all night, she felt much better; even the color had returned to her face. She ran up to the deck and saw the ship still on the sea.

“Wow, the sunrise! Come out and watch the sunrise!”

With Su Qingqing’s shout, the others began to get up one by one.

The sky wasn’t fully bright yet, a light blue, with the sea incredibly calm. At the horizon where the sky meets the sea, there was only a streak of crimson. Slowly, the crimson filled the sky, and a red sun with a soft halo gently rose from the horizon.

“It’s so beautiful!” Bai Yishan, still wrapped in a blanket, gazed steadily at the distance, “If I had a piece of jadeite in blue and red, I would definitely carve this beautiful scene into it.”

Hearing this, Huo Sining couldn’t help but laugh quietly to himself; Bai Yishan truly was a workaholic, not forgetting her profession even while on vacation.

No longer seasick, Su Qingqing was utterly excited, running up and down the boat non-stop. She had missed the crew fishing the night before and was now so anxious that she almost wanted to pull up the fishing net herself.

After the crew had their breakfast, they started their work leisurely.

Because the fishing net had been set at night and several hours had passed, along with the ship’s travel into the high seas, fish gradually became more abundant in the area. So, when the net was finally pulled up, the catch was indeed substantial.

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