Reborn in the Millennium: Building a Fortune from Fishing

Chapter 172: Sky-high Price Knife Fish

"Let's see if there are any knife fish. I'll catch two nets to satisfy my hunger." Qin Dahe said boredly.

It’s so boring in the back, I can only play with the dog, and now I don’t have a smartphone.

"Is it delicious?"

"It must be delicious. The Qingming knife fish is one of the three delicacies of the Yangtze River." He said with a smile.

"Which are the other two fresh delicacies?" Erhu's eyes lit up. The Three Fresh Delicacies of the Yangtze River must be delicious.

"There are also shad and pufferfish, but shad is now a first-class protected species and cannot be eaten."

"Oh." He didn't ask about puffer fish. Everyone knew that this thing was poisonous. Ordinary rural people would never dare to eat puffer fish.

Even the old men became interested. They looked at the river with great interest while fishing, hoping to catch a net of knife fish to satisfy their hunger.

Unfortunately, I never saw it.

Qin Dahe was bored in the back, so he went to chat with Jiu Ye, who was also very curious about him.

"Aren't you afraid of it accidentally going off when you carry this with you?" He pointed to his bulging waist.

"It has a safety, but the first shot was a blank."

"Awesome." He really believed it, so his attitude was always good.

"You guys should be able to make around one million a year from the loach nests, right?" Qin Dahe asked casually.

"There aren't so many." Jiu Ye pointed to the cars on the shore.

"The fuel and tolls for driving along the Yangtze River across the country alone would cost tens of thousands of yuan. In the spring, a single nest costs at least 2000 yuan, and there are so many people to feed."

"It's better than farming, and it's better than those fishing boats."

Jiu Ye nodded and said it was definitely better than a fishing boat.

Knowing that Qin Dahe was an expert in the business, he stopped talking nonsense about not making money.

"It's dangerous, too. Running around everywhere, you're bound to run into ruthless people." He glanced at him, intentionally or not, and continued, "Last year in Tongling, a local thief extorted 50,000 yuan from me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to come back."

"Haha, it's good that the person can come back, isn't it?" He chuckled.

Last year, there were car thieves and road bullies on Tongjiang Avenue, and the sand station next to their fishing spot was more powerful than the average bandit.

At this time, the old man suddenly said: "Tiedan, be careful, the knife fish are coming."

"Okay." Both of them spoke in a low voice, and Erhu and Hanwaer stopped what they were doing.

I saw two river pigs driving a group of knife fish towards them, one on the left and one on the right. They probably felt embarrassed for spitting on them, so they wanted to compensate them.

From the side, a silver band was slowly approaching the river.

The two men prepared their hand-cast nets, stared at the river surface intently, and waited for the fish to pass by before they attacked at the same time.

The perfect circle fell into the school of fish, and the silver fish nearby immediately scattered.

"Haha, there must be a lot in this net." Tiedan said excitedly.

The Three Fresh Dishes of the Yangtze River, I can try them this time.

However, when they pulled it up, it was not as much as they had imagined. The two of them caught about seven or eight pounds, and they also caught a black carp, which was a pleasant surprise.

"Dahe, is knife fish expensive now?" asked the old man.

"I don't know how much it is either. I'll call Scar later and ask him."

I put the fish in separate boxes, but many of them were damaged by the fishing net, and there were several of them floating on the water at this time.

Then he called Scarface.

"Scar, you have a very rough body."

"Haha, if you have something to say, just tell me. Did you get the goods?"

"Yeah, about 700 to 800 kilograms of fish, all the hot stuff, like mandarin fish, black carp, and sea bass."

"Damn, you're really something. Do you want me to drive to collect it?" Scar was overjoyed when he heard that.

Wild mandarin fish and black carp are both top-quality freshwater fish, especially the large black carp, which are over one meter long and have fewer bones and more meat.

Qin Dahe thought about it and felt that it was quite close from Jiuzi to Sanchahe, so he could just go from Yongnan.

I replied directly: "We are fishing on the Sancha River. Can you drive the water truck over? I am also worried about the fish dying. The water truck will go along the river bank after crossing the bridge. There is a sand mining station. You can see us three miles after the sand mining station."

"You guys really caught it." Scar said in amazement.

Catching seven or eight hundred kilograms of fish a day is terrifying.

The fish caught by fishing are of good quality and vitality, and the price is higher than that of trawling.

"Yeah, haha, I guess you will bring about ten thousand dollars this time." Qin Dahe said with a smile.

All the fish today are valuable. Even the sea bass costs four or five yuan, and some bigeye carp costs at least ten yuan per pound.

"Don't worry, I'll take as many as you can get. I'm just worried you don't have enough fish." Scar said arrogantly.

"By the way, let me ask you something. What's the price of knife fish now?"

"Did you get the knife fish?" The voice on the other end of the phone was full of surprise, and Qin Dahe was a little surprised when he heard it.

"Yeah, the hand-cast net weighed seven or eight kilograms."

"Two to three taels for 950, around three taels for 1400, and four taels, I'll make the decision, I'll charge you one thousand yuan a piece."

"So many?" Qin Dahe's voice sounded a little strange, and even the old man and the others looked over.

This price is really outrageous. Mandarin fish is only a few dozen yuan per pound.

"I'm telling you, this price will only last for a few days. After that, it will be several hundred yuan per kilogram."

"Haha, isn't it strange? The Jiangdao during Qingming Festival is one of the Three Fresh Delicacy of Yangtze River. It is not considered as one after this time." Scar said proudly.

This is the reason why the fishing boats in the river have been looking for knife fish like crazy these days. If they encounter a large school of river knife fish, they may catch tens or even millions of them with one drag of the net.

"Okay, come here quickly, I don't have any ice to keep it fresh."

"Right away, wait." Scar on the other side did not delay and immediately called a car to get ice.

Jiang Dao, you can make a lot of money in these few days.

After buying it, you have to bring a safe and ice cubes to store it. Every time I go to the restaurant to deliver it to customers, I carry the safe with me. It is not only a safety issue, but also can improve my image.

Those big restaurants didn't dare to accept this kind of fish. Only when the customers placed an order would he deliver the fish.

Of course, only those with more than two or two dollars can afford such treatment.

Qin Dahe excitedly began to check the knife fish, this was all money.

I didn't see any knife fish weighing four taels, but there were seven weighing three taels, and the rest were around two taels or one tael.

These Jiang knives alone cost several thousand yuan, and he just sat on the side and watched.

Erhu and the others asked, but he just gave vague answers. There were other people around. If they found out how valuable it was and became interested in it, it would be another trouble.

The old man guessed something, as he was a veteran bandit for many years. However, he did not say much and continued fishing peacefully.

Today was a really good day. I caught some fish within minutes of entering the water, and they were all predatory fish.

Any man would be addicted to that kind of pleasure.

"Ce, another big catch." Qin's father shouted excitedly and started to play with the fish.

With five meters of raw bamboo and No. 22 line, a normal fish would have flown away long ago, but this one weighed at least kilograms.

Erhu and the others looked over with envy. There were a lot of big goods today, and the only giant fish was a black carp.

Ten minutes later, Qin's father finally pulled the fish over to Erhu's fishing platform and scooped it into his fish basket. Now, he had two giant mullet in his fish basket, neither of which he had caught, and he was feeling very depressed.

Although the meter-sized black carp he caught was long, its weight could not be compared with that of the giant black carp.

It wasn't until half past four that a fish truck stopped on the road.

This time Scar came in person. Most of the fish stalls were closed in the afternoon, so he just happened to have some free time.

He also brought two people down with him, after all, there were a lot of goods.

"Haha, I knew you guys were capable."

"Scar Master." Qin Dahe greeted him respectfully and took out Shuangxi to give him cigarettes.

Jiu Ye and the others next door were all wondering why another person came.

They also had a good catch this afternoon, but the turtle gun had to reel in the line, and it was a little soft, so it couldn't compare to the raw bamboo.

They will change to the same equipment as Qin Dahe and his team tomorrow. The efficiency here is too high and they can't beat them.

"Let me see the knife fish first." Scar said with a smile.

"Here, they're all dead. That won't affect the price, right?"

He didn't know why, but when the knife fish came ashore and he called, they were not all dead yet. After a few minutes, they all floated away.

"It's okay, that's just the way knife fish behave. It's only been out of the water for two hours, so it's not a big deal."

Looking at these knife fish, Scar felt very happy. Just these few kilograms of fish were equivalent to the hundreds of kilograms of other fish he usually sold.

The younger brother behind him took out a safe, which was full of crushed ice. He shoveled out some of the crushed ice and put it aside, then took out a scale and started weighing the fish.

"So cool?" Seeing Scarface wearing white gloves, it was so exaggerated.

"Haha, the price of saury during Qingming Festival is higher than gold, what do you know?"

Weigh each one, note the weight, then spread it flat on the edge and place it one by one.

When it is full, put a layer of ice on it and continue stacking, being very careful not to damage the appearance.

The old man, Erhu and the others also came over at this time, and even Jiu Ye next door stood by curiously.

"Scar Uncle, these small ones are cheap, so leave them for us to take back and eat." Qin Dahe said tentatively. Seeing Scar Uncle's attitude, he wanted to eat them all.

"These are around 100 grams each and are over 90 yuan per pound. Are you sure?"

When this was said, everyone around was shocked. How could these small fish be sold for more than 90 yuan? How much would the big knife fish sell for?
"Let's see how much money it is in total. If it's more, keep some." Qin Dahe said angrily.

It’s not that I can’t afford it, but I’ll definitely get beaten if I take it home, and it’s hard to divide the money unless I can make a lot of money.

"How much is the big one?" Jiu Ye suddenly asked.

Scar looked at Qin Dahe and asked, "Who is this?"

"Oh, he's hunting for loach nests here, and I'm following him to make some money." He smiled faintly.

Jiu Ye smiled bitterly when he heard this. "Just trying to make some money by following them?" This damn nest is almost becoming theirs exclusively. His four turtle guns are no match for them.

“Oh, they have goods too?”

"Yes." He turned to look at the Loach Man and said, "Scar Master specializes in the business of fine aquatic products. You can sell them to him if you want. It's very fair."

He shut up after saying that. Scarface was obviously taking advantage of this guy and ignored him.

"Scar, we are just wandering people. We came to take a look now."

"Yeah." Scar nodded slightly. "The price of knife fish is good right now. If you can get a large one weighing a hundred kilograms, it would be enough to buy a house in a big city."

"Ce, so much." The eyes of the people around bulged. To buy a house in a big city, Jiuzi would need at least hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands.

"Okay, Dahe, let's settle the bill for the knife fish first." Scarface smiled and pulled Qin Dahe to start pressing the calculator.

For a gangster like him, making friends is all about chemistry. The Qin family kid was happy to get along with him even when they were doing small business together.

The moment they saw the price of the three-liang knife fish, everyone around them stopped breathing.

"1400?"

"So many?" Erhu's voice trembled.

"Do you know how much a pound of rice cost during the two days before Qingming Festival?" Scar looked at them.

Several people shook their heads.

"Three thousand and five."

After these words were spoken, even Qin Dahe began to smile bitterly. It seemed that he had never eaten knife fish before Qingming Festival in his previous life.

Everyone around, including Qin's father, kept their mouths shut and didn't dare to say much, for fear of making a fool of themselves.

Fish that cost three or four thousand yuan per kilogram were beyond their imagination.

Not to mention freshwater fish, even sea fish are not worthy of this price.

"Usually, it's a few dozen or a hundred or two hundred yuan per pound, but during the Qingming Festival, the bones of the knife fish are soft and the meat is fresh, it's different, haha." He said, and began to summarize the prices of the knife fish here.

There are seven pieces for three or two knives, with a total weight of 1185 grams. I just use a calculator to calculate the price at 2800 yuan per kilogram.

A total of 3318 pieces.

The total weight of two to three taels is 2210 grams. Multiplied by the kilogram price of 1900, it is 4199 yuan. Scar simply wrote 4200.

The remaining knife fish are all priced at 90 yuan per catty, and 200 catties and ounces are directly calculated as yuan.

"Those two idiots were pretty nice. They gave me seven or eight thousand yuan." Erhu said excitedly.

Everyone had a smile on their face. Throwing a net with both hands is enough to keep an ordinary farmer busy for a year.

"Scar, please keep the small knife fish and share it with us." With more than 7,000 yuan as a base, it will be easier to talk to my mother.

Erhu and the others nodded in agreement. Since it was such an expensive item, it would be nice to have a small amount to try.

"Okay." Scar wasn't too impressed with these little ones.

After confirming the transaction, Scar closed the safe and asked someone to carry the box up.

"Okay, what else do you have?"

After this transaction, everyone was not so excited about the subsequent act of weighing the fish, and started to go into the water to pick up the fish and protect them.

No matter whose fish basket it is, it is full. If no one comes in, the fish will suffocate to death.

Even now, some bigeye carp are no longer viable.

"Hurry up, I have to deliver some knife fish to Jinling tonight." Scar Uncle urged.

You have to urge me. The price will be different if I send it tonight or tomorrow.

When the fish guard started to pack the fish into boxes, the experienced fish stall owner opened his mouth wide, and Erhu and the others looked at him with a smile, finally getting something back.

When the price of knife fish was announced just now, everyone except Qin Dahe was a little embarrassed.

"You fished in one day?"

"Yeah, I started fishing at daybreak this morning, and they're all here."

"Wow, that's really amazing." Scar was convinced. There were at least seven or eight hundred kilograms of fish here, and they were all big fish. There were no small fish.

Those trawlers can't handle so much cargo. Most of the fish caught in the trawl are small fish. It depends on whether they can find a school of fish to catch big fish.

Knowing that Scar was anxious, the five of them helped to weigh the fish. The guy holding the knife fish sat in the car and did not get off, specifically to watch over the fish.

(End of this chapter)