Courtyard House: Wudang Disciple Sweeps Through the Compound

Chen Wenqi smiled politely at the onlookers without saying much, but secretly thought to himself: It seems that the bait made with spiritual spring water is still too attractive. I'll have to be more restrained next time.

He pondered for a moment, then took out some cornmeal from the bag. This time, he deliberately used ordinary river water to knead the dough, instead of adding the miraculously effective spiritual spring water.

The freshly prepared bait was thrown into the water, but as expected, it failed to attract a swarm of fish as before. Chen Wenqi's mind raced, so he simply took out a large grass carp weighing more than ten kilograms from the secret realm, quietly hooked it on the fishing hook, and then pretended to lift the fish out of the water.

In just over ten minutes, Chen Wenqi was able to catch a fat fish almost every minute. The originally empty bucket was soon filled to the brim, leaving no room for even half a fish.

Of the dozen or so large fish caught, the smallest weighed seven or eight pounds. The few that couldn't fit in the container had to be temporarily placed on the grass by the shore.

Just then, a slightly plump middle-aged man pushed through the crowd and walked over with a big smile on his face.

"Young man, are you planning to sell these fish? I'm a purchasing agent from the steel rolling mill. These fish are big and of good quality. I'll take them all. What do you think?" The middle-aged man asked eagerly, rubbing his hands together.

These are times of extreme scarcity, especially of ingredients like meat, which are extremely rare. Purchasing staff at many factories are racking their brains to procure supplies that are not part of their planned procurement.

However, pork, a scarce commodity, is really hard to come by. Meat processing plants only supply a limited amount each month, and the workers in the factories rarely get to eat meat more than a few times a month.

Moreover, the factory leaders almost always have fish and meat with every meal, so these purchasing agents often wander around Shichahai to try their luck and see if they can get some fresh fish.

Although fish isn't particularly oily, it's still a type of meat, and having some is much better than having none.

"Sure, but I left in a hurry and didn't bring my scale. How much do you usually charge per pound for fish?" Chen Wenqi asked, intrigued by the question.

"Don't worry, young man, I brought the scale! Xiao Zhang, hurry up and get the scale and bucket!" the middle-aged man shouted to a young man behind him.

"Okay, Brother Li!" the young man replied readily and quickly turned around to get the scale and bucket.

The middle-aged man turned around, still wearing a warm smile, and said to Chen Wenqi, "Young man, the market price for this fish is three cents a pound. How about this, I won't let you lose out, I'll just charge you three and a half cents a pound, is that alright?"

Chen Wenqi shook his head gently and said calmly, "Three cents a pound is the price for buying small fish. I sold a few fish yesterday and they offered me five cents a pound."

"Look at these fish of mine! Each one weighs at least seven or eight pounds, and some are even over ten pounds. You can't buy fish this good even if you have money at the market."

"Young man, what you said makes sense, but you have a lot of fish this time. I'll buy them all, which will save you a lot of trouble." The middle-aged man rubbed his hands together again and said in a negotiating tone, "How about this, a fixed price of four cents a pound, is that a deal?"

"Okay, let's set it at four cents a pound." Chen Wenqi thought for a moment and then nodded in agreement.

As soon as he finished speaking, the fishing hook suddenly sank again. Chen Wenqi raised his hand and pulled, and a big bluefish weighing more than ten kilograms was steadily thrown ashore. A burst of exclamations immediately erupted from the crowd of onlookers.

"Young man, what kind of bait are you using? Why are all the big fish from Shichahai flocking to you here?" A passerby stared wide-eyed and couldn't help but ask curiously.

"It's just a regular ball of cornmeal, nothing special," Chen Wenqi replied casually, pointing to the small lump of cornmeal remaining beside him.

The surrounding fishermen stared intently at the seemingly ordinary cornbread next to Chen Wenqi, involuntarily swallowing hard as they each began to make their own calculations.

Some people wanted to ask for some dough to try and see how it worked, but they were too embarrassed to ask.

However, someone finally mustered up the courage and cautiously asked, "Young man, could I have a little bit of your cornbread to try? Just a tiny bit, it won't delay your use at all."

"Okay, take them all. We should be leaving soon anyway." Chen Wenqi smiled and readily handed over the remaining dough.

The man took the dough and his face lit up with joy. Seeing this, the people around him immediately swarmed around him, all wanting to get a share and try their luck.

Chen Wenqi looked at the scene before him, smiled calmly, and said nothing more—the key to attracting fish was the spiritual spring water, and he was naturally not foolish enough to say that out loud.

On the other side, the purchasing agent at the steel rolling mill had already started weighing fish with great enthusiasm. His round face was always beaming with a smile. After all, the size of these fish was truly outstanding, with the smallest weighing seven or eight pounds. He was sure to get praise from his superiors when he returned with his report.

After a flurry of activity, a total of eighteen large fish were weighed, totaling 210 jin (approximately 145 kg). Chen Wenqi specially kept a seven- or eight-jin (approximately 3.5-4 catties) mandarin fish for himself, intending to give it as a treat for his younger siblings that evening. He sold the rest to the purchasing agent and received a total of 82 yuan.

Before leaving, the purchasing agent grabbed Chen Wenqi's hand and said warmly, "Young man, if you ever have any more fish this good, just come to the steel mill and I'll buy them all, and the price will be the same as today!"

Chen Wenzi looked at the thick stack of brand-new banknotes in her brother's hand. He had earned more than eighty yuan in the blink of an eye. Her little face was full of admiration, and her eyes almost sparkled with stars.

The little girl watched as the once lively fish were bought one by one, her lips involuntarily pouting, her face showing deep reluctance. Fortunately, her brother had specially saved the biggest and most beautiful mandarin fish, and only then did she smile again.

Chen Wenqi weighed the plump mandarin fish in his hand, already planning to show off his skills to his family that evening by making a delicately presented, visually appealing, and delicious squirrel-shaped mandarin fish.

The three siblings carefully pocketed the money they had earned from selling the fish, and carrying the particularly eye-catching mandarin fish, they chatted and laughed all the way, happily heading towards the courtyard house.