Food: Starting with Wonton Noodles

Lingnan is near the sea, so it is rich in seafood, but it also has a lot of freshwater fish.

As mentioned earlier, one of the characteristics of Cantonese cuisine is: simple ingredients prepared with exquisite skill.

This is also perfectly reflected in the four major freshwater fish species.

SD sashimi is a representative dish made from grass carp—one of the four major freshwater fish species (grass carp, silver carp, bighead carp, and common carp)—using a simple ingredient but prepared with exquisite skill.

The ancients had fish sashimi thousands of years ago, but the standards were always relatively rough.

It wasn't until the early 20th century that SD sashimi gradually began to take the form it is today.

First, the fish should be grass carp raised in brackish water, which is locally called sea grass carp.

Because the salinity of fresh water is higher, liver flukes, which are the most harmful parasites to humans, cannot survive there, thus minimizing the risk of parasite damage.

Secondly, the feed and raising methods for sea bream differ from those for ordinary grass carp.

The muddy taste of freshwater fish mainly comes from algae in freshwater bodies. The muddy taste produced by these algae can be found in mucus, blood, and fat.

Therefore, when feeding grass carp specifically for raw fish, they are only fed grass carp to eliminate the muddy taste of grass carp from the feed.

Once the grass carp reach a certain size, they are kept in a special clean water tank for about a month to starve them and deplete their fat reserves.

The process of starving the infant is locally known as "diao shui".

After being fed elephant grass and kept in both fresh and saltwater, the fish is then drained of its blood and skin, and the grass carp will have virtually no muddy taste left.

Furthermore, due to the influence of salinity, the flesh of grass carp will be firmer.

However, in reality, there are not many shops on the market that can complete the entire set of procedures mentioned above.

Among the people of SD who enjoy eating raw fish, a large number still become infected with parasites.

So when Zhou Yu said he would treat him to SD sashimi, Lin Wenhui's first reaction was, "Are you getting revenge on me for making you beat the turtle today?"

Zhou Yu explained, "It's certainly difficult to buy a clean grass carp now, but SD sashimi doesn't necessarily require grass carp to be made."

He pointed to the several particularly large yellowfin tuna in Lin Wenhui's net bag and laughed, "Yellowfin tuna makes SD sashimi taste even better."

Seeing that Lin Wenhui still looked doubtful, he added, "You're not still doubting my cooking skills, are you? SD sashimi only requires knife skills, and my knife skills are pretty good now, aren't they? Or are you just reluctant to part with these two fish?"

Lin Wenhui also remembered the knife skills that Zhou Yu had demonstrated at Shunyi Tower last time, and then said, "Alright, if you make it taste bad, just cook it into fish porridge."

After draining the blood from the three yellow-footed bastards weighing over two pounds each from Lin Wenhui's pocket, the two packed their things and prepared to board the boat and dock.

Thanks to the arrival of a school of fish, both of them had a great catch today.

Despite being possessed by the Turtle God, Zhou Yu still managed to catch more than five catties of fish, but unfortunately they were mostly small.

Because Lin Wenhui had parted ways with Zhou Yu beforehand, he ended up catching about forty catties of fish.

He wanted to share half of the fish with Zhou Yu, but Zhou Yu refused, saying, "I just came here to have some fun today. Taking a few fish back to eat is enough. Didn't you say you were going to sell them? Let's sell them together."

Lin Wenhui originally only planned to bring Zhou Yu here for fun, and did not intend to fish specifically to sell, but he caught so many fish today that he could not finish eating them all if he did not sell them.

After thinking it over, Lin Wenhui didn't make a fuss, but simply changed Zhou Yu's clothes into a few larger ones.

Zhou Yu bled the fish that Lin Wenhui had exchanged for, but when Zhou Yu asked him if he wanted those fish bled as well, Lin Wenhui refused: "These were sold at the price of fish caught by the hook. After bled, they won't be as heavy. What you're giving away isn't blood, it's money."

Zhou Yu asked, somewhat puzzled, "Isn't it better to bleed a fish after it has been caught?"

According to what he saw in short videos, sea fish should be bled immediately after being caught.

"Yes, but those are seafood fish specifically made for sashimi."

Because he caught so many fish today, Lin Wenhui had to empty half of the ice from his refrigerator.

He continued, "But those who buy yellowfin tuna don't supply them to sashimi shops; they supply them to restaurants. Do you know where these fish end up?"

As Zhou Yu helped pick up the fish, he asked, "Huh? Aren't we taking them back to your house to sell?"

Lin Wenhui shook his head: "We don't buy fish caught by hook and line. The purchase price for fish caught by hook and line is too high. We can't compete with people from other provinces."

Luckily, I brought two refrigerators with a total capacity of 50 liters, and they were eventually filled to the brim.

After closing the lid, Lin Wenhui finally answered Zhou Yu's question:

"There aren't many people eating yellow-footed preserved crabs in G City. Restaurants mainly get them live or fresh. Or they're fresh, chilled fish from small boats that are sold on the same day, like the kind my family makes now. Yellow-footed preserved crabs from Diaokou are usually bought by people from Fujian and Zhejiang provinces."

"Hmm? Don't they have seafood in Fujian and Zhejiang too?"

"Yes, but not as much as in the South China Sea! Do you know how outrageous the production of yellow-footed wax is in G City?"

Lin Wenhui put the refrigerator on the boat, then pointed to the fishermen who had gathered at the various fishing rafts at sea and laughed: "Look, as soon as they hear that there are schools of yellowfin tuna, these fishermen rush over like crazy."

"It's not just because I like fishing, it's because fishing can make money. Many anglers in G City specialize in catching yellowfin tuna to make a living. Let me put it this way, any fishing tackle shop in G City can buy back yellowfin tuna, and they can even buy back a whole fish. Just think about how much of a quantity is needed to support such an industry chain."

This time, Zhou Yu was genuinely surprised: "Is it that exaggerated? Why don't you do it at home?"

Lin Wenhui: "I've tried it, but it doesn't make money. Although the purchase price in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces is high, the requirements are also many. It's more comfortable to just do business with local restaurants."

However, it wasn't until Zhou Yu and Lin Wenhui returned to shore, weighed the fish at the fishing tackle shop, and received their money that Zhou Yu was truly surprised.

林文辉卖出了41斤的鱼，其中8两以上的黄脚腊29斤，6两左右规格的14斤。

The purchase price for 8 liang or more is 51 yuan, and for 6 liang it is 41 yuan.

Lin Wenhui earned more in this morning than he would have earned in a whole night without any system rewards from setting up his stall.

"This purchase price is higher than the market retail price," Zhou Yu couldn't help but exclaim.

"Actually, it's about the same," Lin Wenhui said. "Selling fish at the market only yields a few dollars in profit anyway. Besides, if the price of fish caught by the hook isn't high, who would be willing to sell?"

"Besides, it looks like a good way to make money. But today we just happened to be lucky and encountered a school of fish. Otherwise, you can usually only catch a few pounds of fish on a fishing raft."

"Some people buy boats and bait in order to earn more money, but in reality, it's all hard-earned money."

Zhou Yu suddenly thought of a question: "Are there no specialized fish catches in the South China Sea yet? And are the fish being caught now being bled?"

Lin Wenhui: "It's rare. There's some on Hainan Island, but the quantity is still very small compared to the national average."