The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 198: Chapter 198: The ”Turtle Minister” Takes On Another Job

Through the flashlight beam and Xiao Dai’s eyes, Han Xiaorui was finally able to see clearly.

It wasn’t a dolphin this time. It was... It was a Tiger Whale, as big as a small hill.

The other crew members rushed to the side of the boat. The experienced ones could guess what it was from the blurry shape, even in the dim light.

”Oh my god, that’s a Tiger Whale!” Sister Lan exclaimed. ”And it’s a full-grown adult.”

Sister Zhao’s heart pounded in her chest as she scanned the surroundings. ”There’s more than one. There are a lot of them. Our boat is surrounded by Tiger Whales.”

Liang Xiaoyu’s face was pale with disbelief. ”What do these Tiger Whales want? I’ve always heard they were gentle and wouldn’t attack fishing boats!”

Chen Yishui rushed out of the break room, pulling on her clothes as she went. ”Let me see... Mazu, protect us! It really is Tiger Whales, and so many of them! Huh? Xiao Rui, look, isn’t that Xiao Dai?”

Han Xiaorui already knew what was happening through Xiao Dai. It turned out that Xiao Dai, the East Sea Chief, had found another job for her.

A Tiger Whale was severely injured, and Xiao Dai had brought it over.

’It’s so huge, there’s no way to get it on the boat, right?’

Just a moment ago, Han Xiaorui had used her connection with Xiao Dai to get close to the injured Tiger Whale and quickly heal it.

By the time Chen Yishui spoke, Han Xiaorui had already finished healing the injured Tiger Whale.

”It does look like Xiao Dai!”

”That little rascal. If it’s going to come, why does it always have to be at night? And it rams the boat!”

”A few more bumps like that and our boat will need a major overhaul.”

Han Xiaorui laughed and scolded, ”Xiao Dai, you listen to me! It’s fine to bring your friends over, but you can’t ram the boat anymore.”

Xiao Dai waved a front flipper on the surface before diving back into the water.

The Tiger Whales also began to move away from the fishing boat, then sank beneath the waves and swam off.

Chen Yishui scratched her head, looking puzzled. ”Every time Xiao Dai shows up, it’s either to help us herd fish or to ask for help. It didn’t ask for help this time, so does that mean it herded fish for us?”

Everyone exchanged glances.

Just then, Han Xiaorui saw the fishing net through Xiao Dai’s eyes and was instantly overjoyed.

”Well, let’s give it a try. Haul in the net,” Han Xiaorui said with a smile. ”Everyone’s been woken up and can’t sleep anyway, so we might as well get the good fish out of the net.”

Since Han Xiaorui had said so, Chen Yishui started operating the machinery.

No one had high hopes, but when the net was pulled up, everyone was stunned.

The net was bulging like never before. Based on their experience, they guessed there were at least fifty-five hundred pounds of fish inside.

It was golden pomfret, shimmering brightly, with a touch of yellow on their tails.

Golden pomfret fetched a good price and tasted great. The key was the sheer quantity, and the ones in this haul were all very large.

Wu Mengyue, who had been piloting the boat, also ran out from the cabin. ”It’s been less than an hour since we cast the net, and we’ve already caught so many. Our luck is incredible.”

Chen Yishui was also thrilled. She looked out at the dark sea. ”It must have been Xiao Dai and the Tiger Whales that sent us the fish. Mazu be praised!”

Han Xiaorui was overjoyed as well. ”Stop chatting, everyone, let’s get to sorting. The light isn’t great, so be careful. We need to grade our fish accurately. No passing off lower-quality ones as premium.”

Honesty came first; they wouldn’t try to cheat during sorting just to make a quick buck.

The crew quickly got to work, the chatter dying down.

Golden pomfret belong to the jack family and are medium-to-large-sized fish that live in the upper and middle layers of warm waters.

Golden pomfret have no intermuscular bones, their flesh is tender and delicious, and they are rich in nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, unsaturated fatty acids, and various trace elements. They have always been considered a prized edible fish.

The color of a golden pomfret can change with its environment, making it highly valued for ornamental purposes as well. They are characterized by rapid growth and low susceptibility to disease, allowing them to reach market size within the same year they are farmed.

When Han Xiaorui was researching marine aquaculture, golden and silver pomfret were two of the species she focused on most.

Wu Mengyue and Chen Yishui continued casting and hauling the nets.

The pomfret were packed into baskets of about 55 pounds each. In total, there were 112 baskets, amounting to well over six thousand pounds!

There were also some small assorted fish. The unpalatable ones were thrown back directly. The tasty ones were collected in a bucket to be eaten tomorrow.

Just as they finished sorting the golden pomfret, Han Xiaorui and the crew were getting hungry and started eating the Victory Cakes Liu Huamei had made.

Barely an hour had passed when Wu Mengyue came over and asked, ”Xiao Rui, should we try hauling in the net? Maybe it’s full again?”

Han Xiaorui was about to refuse, but then she saw the eager looks on everyone’s faces and decided to take a peek through Xiao Dai’s eyes.

When she looked, she hit the jackpot!

There were so many fish she couldn’t even count them all!

It was as if they were fated to battle golden pomfret tonight—it was another net full of them.

”Why don’t we give it a shot?” Han Xiaorui replied. ”If there’s nothing, we’ll go back to hauling it in every three hours.”

”Alright, let’s try.” Wu Mengyue began to operate the winch, full of hope.

Everyone watched with bated breath, hoping for a miracle.

The miracle came when they least expected it!

It was another full net. As it was lowered, a massive amount of golden pomfret came CLATTERING down onto the deck.

”Heavens! Did we stumble into the golden pomfrets’ den?” Liang Xiaoyu exclaimed, grabbing a basket and getting to work.

The others didn’t delay either, throwing themselves back into the busy work of sorting.

Wu Mengyue led a team to continue the work—casting the net, piloting the boat, and hauling it in again.

Seeing how hard everyone was working, Han Xiaorui couldn’t just stand by and watch. There were simply too many fish.

With only a ten-minute break in between, it was a huge test of the crew’s stamina.

Everyone’s movements were noticeably slower than before. By the time they finished sorting all the golden pomfret, an hour and a half had passed.

Han Xiaorui herself was exhausted. When she saw Wu Mengyue about to haul the net again, she quickly stopped her. ”Wait, let everyone rest for a bit. We can’t keep pushing this hard.”

Although everyone insisted they could keep sorting, Han Xiaorui waved her hand dismissively. ”If we keep this up, no one will be able to take it. Let’s rest in shifts. We’ll haul the net again in two hours.”

With a two-hour break and a late-night snack, they quickly recovered their strength.

This net was also full.

It was the more common sea bass, medium-sized, which also had the best flavor and texture.

These fish were easier to sort, and they were done in about forty minutes.

They cast the net again, with Chen Yishui taking over for Wu Mengyue at the helm. By the next haul, day would be breaking.

The crew was completely exhausted after that night.

Under the sea, Xiao Dai was also busy.

But the net was clearly full, and they still weren’t hauling it in. Xiao Dai was getting anxious.

The little sea snake’s intelligence couldn’t compare to Xiao Dai’s. It was completely clueless, not understanding what Xiao Dai was so anxious about!

But Xiao Dai didn’t dare call its friends to ram the boat again, so it could only wait!

This haul was all squid.

After the sorting was done, everyone washed their hands and ate.

The thick, piping hot seafood congee stimulated their taste buds and replenished their exhausted bodies with energy.

Right after they finished eating, Han Xiaorui turned on the walkie-talkie and asked, ”Uncle Yang, how was your catch last night?”

”Hahaha!” Yang Zhigang’s hearty laugh came through the walkie-talkie. ”After you gave me that tip last night, I started hauling in the nets more frequently, every one to two hours. I never expected that almost every haul would be a full one. The catches have been pretty good.”