Feng Ye and his boss and helpers arrived at the location where the Dong Sheng was docked and boarded the ship one after another.
On the ship, the golden pomfret had already been moved out of the fish hold and placed on the foredeck by the crew, who were now unloading other cargo.
Before the boss even stepped onto the ship, he could see the silvery-white foredeck with a hint of gold on the shore.
For an experienced fishmonger, it doesn't take much time to look closely to confirm that it is indeed a golden pomfret.
Golden pomfret is a common fish and its price is not high, which is correct.
Boats returning from the sea, regardless of size, can usually catch something, more or less.
However, such a large quantity is relatively rare; it requires encountering a school of fish.
Fishermen love encountering schools of fish, and fishmongers love buying large quantities of seafood, even if it's cheap.
At this moment, the boss could no longer suppress his smile.
The others on the shore also saw the golden pomfret on the Dong Sheng ship and were pointing and talking about it.
Even at the fishing docks of a large city like Tuocheng, it's not every day that a large ship like the Dongsheng comes ashore to sell goods.
Once a large ship sets sail, its return journey is unpredictable, and it rarely docks to sell goods.
Only if the distance isn't too far and the cost is reasonable after calculation will it be worthwhile to waste time going ashore.
Moreover, there are many docks along the coast, and people may not necessarily come to Tuocheng.
Another point is that fishing boats returning for repairs don't usually keep their catch to sell; they often just dock nearby to sell it.
Otherwise, if we bring the goods back from so far away and they're not fresh, who will we sell them to?
Also, are the ice cubes used for preservation free?
Who will bear this additional cost?
Therefore, large boats fully loaded with fish are not common at docks in any place; the most common are small wooden boats and small fishing boats that go out and return on the same day.
Fishmongers receive a wide variety of goods every day, and rarely receive more than a thousand kilograms of a single type of fish.
After all, fishing technology was not very advanced back then; it was just getting started.
Even the concept of a fishing moratorium is not yet available in China. The summer fishing moratorium system for the ocean will not be implemented until 1995, four years later.
Moreover, it will only be implemented in the Yellow Sea, Bohai Sea, and East China Sea.
The fishing moratorium in the South China Sea was not implemented until June 1, eight years later.
"It really wasn't a lie, it really weighs over 3,000 jin."
The boss nodded, his face beaming with joy.
Just by glancing at how many baskets there are, you can roughly estimate how much stock there is.
Although he didn't count the exact number of baskets containing golden pomfret, he could tell at a glance that there were no fewer than 60.
In addition, there were other goods on the deck, although not as many as the golden pomfret, but still quite a lot, mostly starting at 100 catties.
Compared to collecting miscellaneous cargo from other small boats, collecting cargo from this boat is much easier and less labor-intensive.
"Since I dared to bring you here to see the goods, I certainly wouldn't lie to you."
Feng Ye smiled, then half-jokingly said, "Otherwise, wouldn't I be worried about whether I could even get out of this dock?"
Upon hearing this, the boss chuckled awkwardly.
He didn't expect his words to be used to make fun of him so quickly.
He fiddled with the fish's gills, chuckled dryly, and said, "The catch is pretty good. Let's take it ashore. I'll check out the rest. By the way, where's the manta ray?"
"It's still inside the fish hold. Let me take you in to have a look."
Feng Ye led him to the fish hold and pointed to the fish piled up inside, saying, "Boss, it's all in here. Take a look for yourself."
The boss didn't stand on ceremony and went inside with his helpers.
The fish hold was piled high with all kinds of fish, making one's mouth water just by looking at it.
As the boss walked, he instructed his assistant to remove the ice and open the gill covers to check the freshness of the fish.
Instead of going into the fish hold, Ah-chan and his son instructed the boatmen to unload the fish baskets off the boat and pile them on the dock.
Of course, they didn't forget to leave people on the shore to keep watch, in case anyone tried to take advantage of the situation and steal their goods.
The boss inspected the fish hold for a while, a satisfied look on his face, and then walked out of the fish hold.
He patted Feng Ye on the shoulder and said, "The goods are all good, very fresh. I also saw the stingrays, they are indeed very big, each weighing four or five hundred pounds, just as you said."
Feng Ye was overjoyed, knowing that the deal was basically secured.
He smiled and said, "Boss, what price are you planning to offer for these four stingrays?"
Feng Jialing stayed on the shore to watch the cargo, while A-Can and the boatmen carried it downstream.
Upon hearing Feng Ye's question, he stopped what he was doing, looked up at the boss, and his eyes were full of anticipation.
He was very curious about what price such a large manta ray could be worth.
If the so-called "bulging fish gills" are a good thing, then the price must be high, right?
The shopkeeper didn't rush to answer. Instead, he pondered for a moment before slowly saying, "Since you know that the gills of the pufferfish are a good thing, I can't cheat you. I'll give you this price."
As he spoke, he held up three fingers.
Ah-Can's eyes widened in surprise.
Three pieces is a very high price, higher than the price of most fish.
This exceeded his expectations.
However, he didn't say anything and quickly suppressed the look of surprise on his face.
Instead, he looked at Feng Ye, wanting to know if Feng Ye was satisfied with the price.
In the past, when selling goods, he would stand aside silently and let Feng Ye handle the price negotiations.
Feng Ye frowned, clearly dissatisfied with the price.
Three pieces? That's way too low!
Last year I sold a giant manta ray weighing over 160 pounds, and the price was already 2.5 yuan, not including the gills.
And you've only added 50 cents? You're trying to rip me off!
The shop owner shook his head: "You know it was last year, but do you know what the stingray market is like this year?"
"I'm not quite sure about that."
Stingrays have migratory habits and cannot be seen in one place year-round.
In their waters, there are generally no manta rays in spring; they can only be seen after summer begins.
Therefore, they haven't caught any stingrays this year, so they naturally don't know their price.
"Things are different now. This year, the price of stingrays has plummeted, to less than two dollars. We usually only buy them for 1.8 dollars."
If you don't know what a pufferfish gill is, I'll only quote you 1.8 yuan.
"Prices have plummeted? How could this happen?"
Feng Ye's brows furrowed even more deeply.
Seafood prices fluctuate with the seasons, which is perfectly normal.
But these are usually species that are caught in large quantities, such as small yellow croaker, squid, and ribbonfish.
The catch of manta rays is actually not very large, so it should be relatively stable.
Even if there are fluctuations, they will only fluctuate within a small range.
But this year, it suddenly dropped by seven cents.
That's an incredible price reduction!
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