During the current fishing ban, while ordinary seafood is still available, top-quality wild seafood is becoming increasingly scarce.
Lin Xuan heard that someone had caught a large yellow croaker at sea the day before yesterday, so he came to the pier today to wander around and see if he could get lucky and bring back a couple of large yellow croakers as well.
Instead of receiving the large yellow croaker, I encountered zebra mantis shrimp.
To avoid the fishmongers at the dock, Lin Xuan deliberately arranged to meet the father and daughter near a fruit shop in front of the dock.
As Chen Zhiyao got out of the car, she saw Lin Xuan leaning against the car door playing on his phone.
"Hello, Manager Lin!" he said, taking two buckets of water from the trunk of the car.
On the left was a large eel weighing over 5 jin (2.5 catties) and a zebra mantis shrimp, while the other bucket contained seven or eight large crabs weighing over half a jin (2.5 kg).
Chen Weiqiang, who was standing nearby, also quickly carried down the various fish he had caught that day.
Lin Xuan squatted down and carefully examined the fish that Chen Zhiyao had brought, making sure they were all wild before he started quoting prices.
"This zebra mantis shrimp looks to be about eight or nine ounces, so it'll be 460 yuan per pound. This conger eel is also a decent size, so it'll be 90 yuan per pound. Blue crabs and mud crabs weighing more than half a pound will all be 85 yuan per pound."
Although the price was lower than the retail price, it was still higher than the price offered by the purchasing station, and the two quickly reached an agreement.
Zebra mantis shrimp 0.9 jin, total 414 pieces. Conger eel 5.2 jin, total 468 pieces. Blue crab and mud crab 4.6 jin, total 391 pieces.
These items brought in a total of 1273 yuan.
After transferring the money, Lin Xuan looked at Chen Weiqiang's catch and said:
"Sea bass is 50 yuan per catty, and rockfish is 120 yuan per catty. I want both of these fish."
This price is much higher than what the purchasing station charges, and Chen Weiqiang is very satisfied.
"No problem, we'll do it your way, Manager Lin."
26 jin of sea bass, totaling 1300. 2.3 jin of rockfish, totaling 276 pieces.
Chen Weiqiang earned a total of 1,576 yuan from the seafood.
At this time, Chen Weiqiang still had half a bucket of white pomfret and a few turbot.
Chen Zhiyao's side also had more than 20 kilograms of small seafood such as conch and shellfish.
Seeing that the two had just the right amount of seafood left, Lin Xuan suggested to them:
"Isn't there a night market nearby? Why don't you take the rest of your seafood there to sell retail? You'll earn at least a few hundred dollars more than if you sold it to those fishmongers."
The father and daughter thought it made sense. They often went out to sea and had a lot of catch, so now that they had some left over, they could easily set up a stall.
Every little bit helps.
The two acted immediately, and after Lin Xuan left, they went straight to the night market near the pier.
The night market was just starting to get lively, and there weren't many people yet, so the father and daughter quickly found an empty spot to set up their stall.
In front of Chen Zhiyao were various shellfish and conch, as well as a few smaller crabs.
In front of Chen Weiqiang were two buckets, containing many still lively white pomfret and turbot.
The two men lowered their heads and made a few understated remarks, finally setting the price at about 1.4 times the purchase price, and then began to hawk their wares:
"I just picked up all sorts of sea snails and shellfish from the beach and I'm selling them cheap! Ladies and gentlemen, come and take a look!"
"Freshly caught sea fish, turbot, and pomfret~"
It's still the fishing ban period, so wild seafood is not common. I just called out a couple of times and people immediately gathered around.
A stylishly dressed young woman walked up to the stall, pointed to the white pomfret in the bucket, and asked:
"How much is this white pomfret?"
Chen Weiqiang quickly replied, "Miss, this white pomfret is 55 yuan per catty."
The woman pursed her lips: "So expensive? It's usually only 40 yuan."
Chen Weiqiang explained with a smile, "It's the fishing ban period now, and seafood prices have gone up. This is freshly caught from the sea, absolutely fresh."
The girl looked at them and finally chose two large white pomfret.
"2.7 jin, totaling 148.5 yuan. Miss, you are the first customer of this stall, so I'll charge you 145 yuan."
Immediately afterwards, a mechanical voice came from the phone:
"Received 145 yuan."
At this moment, a simply dressed middle-aged woman stopped in front of Chen Zhiyao:
"Young boss, how much are the clams and whelks?"
Finally, a guest arrived! Chen Zhiyao immediately replied enthusiastically:
"Auntie, clams are 15 yuan per jin, and whelks are 60 yuan per jin."
Seeing that the seafood was quite plump, the woman gritted her teeth and picked out some clams and whelks.
That's all.
"Alright, two and a half catties of clams and one catty and four ounces of whelks, totaling 121.5 yuan, I'll charge you 120 yuan."
Immediately afterwards, a pleasant mechanical sound rang out from the stall:
"Received 120 yuan."
Just then, a slightly overweight middle-aged man came to the stall and asked, "Boss, how much is the turbot per pound?"
"Turbot is 50 yuan per jin (500g)."
The man frowned at first, but then remembered that it was the fishing ban period, so he gritted his teeth and picked one.
"I want the largest one, and could you please process it for me while you're at it?"
Chen Weiqiang paused, his hand reaching for the bucket, then said apologetically:
"Brother, I was in a rush to leave today and forgot my fish-cleaning tools. How about I bring you some oysters?"
The man, who was initially a little unhappy, immediately agreed when he heard that oysters were being offered as a gift.
Since I'll have to clean the fish anyway when I get home, it's more cost-effective to give them oysters instead.
"Okay, pick out a few bigger ones for me."
"No problem, this turbot weighs 2.3 jin (1.15 kg), which is 115 yuan in total." After weighing it, he put a few oysters of varying sizes into the bag.
People have a herd mentality; once someone comes to buy something, more and more people will follow.
"Boss, how much are the scallops?"
"The ribbons are 5 yuan each."
"What about scallops and whelks?"
"Scallops are 20 yuan per jin, regular snails are 38 yuan per jin, and yellow snails are 45 yuan per jin."
...
Soon after, more and more people gathered around, and the father and daughter's seafood stall became extremely popular.
In about half an hour, Chen Weiqiang and Chen Zhiyao had sold more than half of the seafood they brought.
At this moment, a chubby man walked over, his gaze falling on the remaining orchid crabs and blue crabs.
"Boss, how much are these orchid crabs?"
Seeing that his daughter was too busy, Chen Weiqiang quickly replied:
"65 yuan per catty, the price is the same for both orchid crabs and mud crabs."
"That's too expensive. These crabs don't look very fresh. Can you make it cheaper?" the man bargained.
"Brother, this is already very cheap. These are wild blue crabs and mud crabs, caught this afternoon, they're still very lively."
The man hesitated for a moment, but ultimately bought all the remaining small crabs.
Chen Zhiyao finally finished her work and quickly packed up the small crabs to weigh them.
"Brother, 2 jin and 2 liang, that's 143 yuan in total."
The night market was getting more and more lively, and in no time, all the seafood was sold out.
Chen Weiqiang and Chen Zhiyao tallied up their income, and immediately a satisfied smile appeared on their faces.
These conches and shellfish sold for a total of 1340 yuan. Adding to the 1273 yuan from before, Chen Zhiyao's total harvest from beachcombing today is 2613 yuan.
Chen Weiqiang and Yan Shuting sold their fish for a total of over 3,000 yuan.
Upon careful calculation, the father and daughter each earned an extra seven or eight hundred.
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