The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 90: Chapter 90: The Arduous and Exciting Fishing Process

The fish was big, long, and very strong.

It had only half-enjoyed its delicious meal when the hook caught, and it began to struggle.

The other tuna were startled and scattered, swimming off to find food elsewhere.

Tuna are large fish; it’s normal for them to weigh several hundred pounds.

Bluefin tuna is especially prized, being the most expensive and the best-tasting!

The fish are incredibly fast, so wrestling with a tuna is a true test of one’s physical limits.

After just twenty minutes, Han Xiaorui was already exhausted, her face flushed red.

Seeing this, Liang Xiaoyu said, ”Xiao Rui, let me take over.”

Han Xiaorui nodded. ”It’s a bit heavy. Sister-in-law Xiao Yu, if you can’t handle it, you have to tell me.”

Han Xiaorui carefully handed the fishing rod to Liang Xiaoyu, finally able to catch her breath and rest.

Liang Xiaoyu couldn’t even match Han Xiaorui, giving out after just five minutes.

Han Xiaorui took over again.

The little sea snake, which had grown a bit recently, peeked its head out before quickly diving down, approaching the endlessly struggling tuna.

It rushed forward, but its opponent was too large. A single slap from the tuna’s tail sent it flying.

The little sea snake got angry and wanted to take a bite, but Han Xiaorui stopped it.

’Easy there, little guy. You’re venomous.’

’If you bite it, the meat will be poisoned, or you’ll ruin its condition. It won’t be worth anything then.’

As Han Xiaorui reeled it in, she used her Water Ability superpower to make the fish submit.

She and Liang Xiaoyu continued to trade off, and finally, after another forty minutes, the fish slowly surfaced.

Liang Xiaoyu gasped. ”Xiao Rui, is that a bluefin tuna, like in the magazines?”

Han Xiaorui nodded. ”This fish is too big. We can’t haul it up. Even if we use brute force, we’ll ruin its condition.”

Liang Xiaoyu grabbed a long gaff hook. ”Xiao Rui, I heard you’re supposed to hook it through the eye. We should be able to get it aboard with the net hauler.”

”We need to bleed it quickly, or it’ll affect the taste.”

”Right!” Han Xiaorui agreed. She handed the rod to Liang Xiaoyu and took the long gaff hook. Swiftly, ruthlessly, and steadily, she hooked the tuna’s eye. With the help of their equipment, they finally managed to haul the several-hundred-pound fish aboard.

Following the instructions she’d read in a book, Han Xiaorui quickly bled the tuna and moved it into the refrigerated hold.

Thankfully, she had spent the money to install auxiliary equipment, which saved them a lot of effort.

Relying on sheer strength, it would have been a significant challenge even for men, let alone for two women like Han Xiaorui and Liang Xiaoyu.

Nearby, Wang Gensheng was fishing while keeping an eye on the activity over on Han Xiaorui’s boat.

His experienced fisherman’s eyes widened in shock once again.

’From the shape, even at this distance, it has to be a tuna,’ he thought.

’And those things are expensive!’

’Forget catching one this big—even landing one that’s just a few dozen pounds would mean a massive payday.’

After stowing the fish, Han Xiaorui went back to fishing. ’Just one more, and we can head home early this morning.’

Twenty minutes later, she had another bite.

The first bluefin tuna had nearly exhausted all of Han Xiaorui and Liang Xiaoyu’s strength.

By the time they finished bleeding it and moving it to the refrigerated hold, both Han Xiaorui and Liang Xiaoyu were so tired they collapsed onto the deck, unwilling to move.

They rested for about twenty minutes before getting up to wash their hands, eat some food, and drink hot tea to recover their strength.

Half an hour later, Han Xiaorui was the first to recover. ”Sister-in-law Xiao Yu, let’s head for home. We won’t set the shrimp pots today.”

Liang Xiaoyu nodded. ”Alright. Our refrigerated hold has ice, but it’s not as good as the ones on the big boats. If we head back early, we can ensure this expensive bluefin tuna stays as fresh as possible.”

Wang Gensheng was getting anxious and was just about to give up when he felt a bite—and it was a big one.

He and his nephew began trading off, battling the great fish in the sea.

He saw Han Xiaorui’s boat leaving and just shouted a quick greeting before turning his attention back to the struggle with the fish.

They were both thrilled to be heading home early.

”It’s a shame the bluefin tuna are so big. We couldn’t possibly finish one even if we kept it for ourselves,” Han Xiaorui said. She figured a fish that was so highly praised must have some truly special qualities.

Liang Xiaoyu was taken aback when she heard this. ”Xiao Rui, you need to take it easy! A single fish is several hundred pounds. We should just sell them.”

”If you really want to eat some, you can go to Boss Zhang’s seafood restaurant. He’s always inviting you to eat there on his dime, but you never go.”

Han Xiaorui thought for a moment, her eyes narrowing slightly. ”That makes sense. It would be a shame not to eat such a delicious fish.”

”I’ll ask Boss Zhang later if he’s planning to sell these two tuna at his restaurant today. If he is, we’ll go for dinner tonight. We can bring you, Granny Cai, and Wenjun. We’ll all go together.”

Liang Xiaoyu was also eager to taste it. ”Deal. We’ll come along to satisfy our cravings.”

With only the two bluefin tuna on board, the boat’s load was relatively light, so it was a bit faster than usual.

They reached the county dock by 12:30.

Boss Zhang wasn’t there, but Xiao Zhao was waiting for the catch.

Upon seeing Han Xiaorui, Xiao Zhao came over with a broad smile. ”Boss Han, what good fish do you have for us today?”

Han Xiaorui grinned. ”Two big tuna. Bluefin. You’d better call your boss and tell him to bring a lot of money.”

Hearing this, Xiao Zhao peeked into the hold. His eyes lit up. ”Yes, yes, of course! I’ll call him right now!”

For a seafood restaurant to do well, it needed to have the best ingredients.

After all, most seafood these days was considered a high-end ingredient.

The people who could afford such expensive seafood were inevitably wealthy, and they were repeat customers.

If the quality of the seafood was poor, these connoisseurs would be able to tell in a single bite.

Only with top-quality products could a place truly be considered a high-end restaurant.

Without good seafood, business would be bad no matter how magnificently it was decorated.

As soon as Boss Zhang got the call from Xiao Zhao, he immediately drove his Santana down to the docks.

When he saw the two enormous tuna, Boss Zhang couldn’t tear his eyes away.

”My heavens! Such massive tuna! Each one must be five or six hundred pounds!”

Bluefin tuna, also known as black tuna.

Because they live year-round in the frigid deep sea, bluefin tuna meat is delicious and delicate, rich in oils, and has an excellent texture when eaten raw.

It is a top-tier ingredient for making sashimi and sushi, sought after by food lovers all over the world.

Han Xiaorui smiled. ”Something like that! Anyway, its condition was perfect when I brought it up, so be careful when you move them.”

Boss Zhang nodded repeatedly. After a careful inspection, he couldn’t bear to have his men lift the fish directly. Instead, he had them move the fish onto a sturdy plastic tarp.

Then, all together, they lifted the tarp to move the fish onto the truck.

They used a platform scale to weigh them, minimizing how much the tuna had to be moved.

Together, the two fish weighed a total of 1,195 jin.

At the previously agreed-upon price of 30 yuan per jin, the two fish sold for 35,850 yuan.

There weren’t many fishing boats at the dock at this hour, so a crowd gathered around.

They were already stunned to see two such massive bluefin tuna, but when they realized how much money Han Xiaorui had just made, their shock instantly turned to intense envy.

But some things simply couldn’t be earned through envy—like her incredible luck!