"Let's go quickly."
Ming Dahai urged him on, eager to see what Ming Jing had caught, and quickened his pace to head home, pulling the flatbed cart.
"Dad, let's go through the woods over there; there are more people on the main road."
Ming Dahai nodded and pulled the flatbed cart into the woods. The woods were remote and the road was difficult to walk. Usually, no one would go there. He followed the woods eastward and circled around for a short while before arriving at the back of the Ming family's house.
Ever since Mingjing caught the big haul, people have been climbing over her house wall from time to time, and some have been staking out the area around her house, just to see how much money Mingjing has made.
"Dad, I'm going back first to chase those nasty people away," Mingjing said, and went home first.
On the way, she opened the fishing tackle shop and found that the progress bar of the Lucky Pill was only more than halfway through, with a third still to go. Could there be something else?
Mingjing remembered the octagonal cage she had received today. She hadn't had a chance to look at it. Could there be something inside?
"Mingjing, what are you doing? Why are you walking so slowly?" Mingliang caught up and urged him on.
"It's nothing, let's go."
Mingjing closed her fishing tackle shop, thinking that if she really caught a big catch, she could make a lot of money by setting fish traps instead of going beachcombing.
When I got home, sure enough, there were several people squatting near Ming's house.
"What are you all doing? Hurry up and go home! My house doesn't need a watchdog!" Mingjing yelled at the men and women squatting in the corner.
"I was just passing by. Do you own this main road? Can't I even walk on it?" the woman scolded, pulling the man towards home.
Seeing this, the others also slunk away. Once they saw that no one was around, Ming Dahai pulled the flatbed cart into his house.
"I'll go boil water for a bath and cook. You guys pick through the goods." Sun Yunmei breathed a sigh of relief, closed the door, and went into the kitchen to start boiling water.
It was damp and cold by the sea, and she was afraid of catching a cold, so she specially boiled hot water and brewed some ginger tea in another pot.
Ming Dahai cautiously pressed his ear against the door, listening to the sounds outside, and only relaxed when he was sure no one was there.
The sky turned a pale white, overcast and gloomy. The Ming family took turns taking hot baths and drinking a bowl of ginger tea before they began unloading the cargo.
Mingjing opened the snakeskin bag first, and everyone gathered around.
"My goodness, what did they catch?" Sun Yunmei exclaimed, holding a spatula in one hand and unable to resist sticking her head forward to look into the sack, her face beaming with joy.
Mingjing carefully opened the burlap sack, picked up one corner of the burlap sack, and slowly poured the goods out.
All sorts of fish, shrimp, and octopuses emerged, until a huge fish head appeared, and everyone held their breath.
Mingyue's eyes widened. "Good heavens, what is this thing? Its head is so big! It's almost as big as mine!"
Soon, everything was emptied out, and a huge fish lay in the Ming family's yard. Ming Dahai didn't dare to breathe and squatted down to examine it.
He looked at the fins, then at the belly, then at the tail, and his hands began to tremble.
"This, this is the Neptune grouper."
His voice trembled as he spoke.
"Da Hai, look closely! This isn't some farmed fish! It's a Neptune grouper!" Sun Yunmei exclaimed in disbelief.
As soon as she asked the question, Sun Yunmei realized she had made a mistake. She hadn't heard of any fish farms nearby, and even if they were, grouper had high requirements for water quality and temperature.
It must have taken incredible farming techniques to grow this big.
Neptune grouper is extremely difficult to catch, and it is rare to see one this big on the market.
Mingjing remembered a news report from later generations that someone once sold a giant grouper that was over two meters long and weighed over 600 kilograms, earning tens of millions.
This is an expensive Neptune grouper, which is mostly used as an ornamental fish in later generations. Because it is so rare, she is not quite sure about its current price.
"My God! Such a big grouper! Sister, you've caught the ancestor of groupers!" Mingyue excitedly grabbed Mingjing's arm and shook it.
"Keep your voice down, this grouper is about half a meter long and weighs at least sixty pounds." Ming Dahai was so happy he almost couldn't stand up, but Ming Liang caught him in time.
"How much money is this? We're rich!" Sun Yunmei waved the spatula in her hand, her eyes gleaming.
"Tens of thousands of yuan is the minimum, Yunmei. Do you remember when we were sent to the countryside, someone caught a 200-pound grouper?"
Ming Dahai still gets very excited when he thinks about that time.
"No one is allowed to tell anyone about this, or our family will be in for a big fuss."
“Grouper is worthless once it dies. You need to get rid of it quickly, otherwise, if someone comes and sees it, you won’t be able to hide it.” Sun Yunmei became worried.
Ming Dahai agreed with this and turned to say, "Mingjing, have that person from yesterday come over, or you can go yourself. We need to sell them as soon as possible."
Mingjing nodded, took out her phone and called Sister Wu first. After two seconds of connection, she said, "Sister Wu, this is Mingjing. I want to ask how much the grouper costs per pound in your area."
Upon hearing those three words, Sister Wu tensed up. "You have grouper? How big?"
Mingjing's products are usually of high quality, so if she calls so early to ask, she must have received something good.
Mingjing chuckled, "I don't have any. I just wanted to ask you how much the grouper costs. A friend of mine asked me to ask."
"Oh, I see. It's eighteen yuan a pound now. How much does he have?"
"Not many, just one..."
Before Mingjing could finish speaking, Sister Wu interrupted, "Just one is enough, it's not worth it. I'm a bit busy right now, I'll contact you when I have time!"
After saying that, he hung up the phone.
Mingjing was speechless when he heard a surprised voice from the side.
"Dad, you're really good at spotting fish. This grouper is 48 centimeters long. It's a shame we don't have a scale, otherwise we could weigh it."
Mingliang took a ruler and measured it.
Mingjing then called Dong Li to inquire about the price.
The phone was answered, but it was Xie Jun'an's voice, sounding tired, as if he hadn't fully woken up, "Who is it?"
"Mingjing, why do you have the phone?"
Mingjing found it strange; she remembered Xie Jun'an saying that this was Dong Li's phone number.
"Oh, my dad's busy, I'll answer the phone for him." Xie Jun'an sat up immediately upon hearing Mingjing's voice, and his voice sounded much better.
"Why are you calling so early? Is something wrong?"
Xie Jun'an wanted to ask if he missed him, but they hadn't spoken much together, and he was a soldier, so it wouldn't be appropriate to say that. He changed his mind.
"Um, I'd like to ask what the price of grouper is there."
"Grouper is 71.7 yuan per catty, I can give it to you for 72. How much do you have?"
"It's about half a meter long and weighs about fifty or sixty kilograms."
"What? Half a meter? Mingjing, I, I'll let my dad answer the phone." Xie Junan was clearly not calm and got out of bed to find Dong Li.
Dong Li was downstairs settling accounts with customers when he saw Xie Junan rushing down the stairs. He scolded, "What's the rush? Don't fall."
“Mingjing, she said she caught a grouper.”
"One? That's too little. It's getting late. Go to her house and take the money to her."
Dong Li looked down and counted the banknotes.
"No, it's a half-meter grouper! She asked me about the price. Groupers are very easy to die from, and half-meter ones are hard to find. Should I go check it out now?"
"Half a meter?"
Dong Li also got excited, picked up the car keys and tossed them to Xie Jun'an, "I can't leave here. Take this phone with you and call me if anything happens. Tell her you'll be there soon."
After returning Mingjing's call, Xie Junan immediately drove to Mingjing's house.
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