As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up-Chapter 170 - 158: A Life Winner with a Virtuous Partner

Chapter 170: Chapter 158: A Life Winner with a Virtuous Partner

By the time the four-hour fish-gathering effect had ended, Chu Mingcheng was already two kilometers away from the initial net casting spot.

The number of Scavengers on the data panel had only increased by a few, indicating that most of the buried Scavengers were still alive, and it would probably take some time before they would die.

After burying the last few Scavengers, Chu Mingcheng finally let out a sigh of relief.

He had not been able to calculate how many Scavengers there were this afternoon; the sheer number was enough to make one’s scalp tingle.

But aside from the Scavengers at the first net casting spot, the quantity at the two subsequent spots was much lower.

Upon waking up tomorrow, the number of life conversions should be quite ample.

Feeling tired, Chu Mingcheng decidedly used one.

Fatigue was immediately alleviated, strength largely recovered, and there was a slight improvement in physical condition.

He first drove to the fishing boat, took the net out for a thorough cleaning, and then hung it up on the ship’s railing to dry.

By the time he got back home, it was already four-thirty.

After taking a shower, he went to Jiang Luoluo’s house and found her still focused on her work.

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So engrossed was she that she hadn’t even noticed his arrival, so Chu Mingcheng helped himself to a bottle of yogurt from her fridge.

He chopped up some apples and bananas, poured the yogurt on top, and carried the plate into the dance studio.

“Luoluo, have some fruit and take a break. It’s almost five o’clock,” he said.

“Eh, Ah Cheng, when did you get back?” Jiang Luoluo, seeing Chu Mingcheng, was surprised because she truly hadn’t noticed her front door opening.

“Just now. You were too engrossed in your choreography,” Chu Mingcheng replied as he handed her a fork.

“I see!” Jiang Luoluo didn’t dwell on it and began to enjoy the fruits, “By the way, is the crane on the fishing boat installed?”

“Yes, it’s installed!” he affirmed.

“Then what were you rushing off to do this afternoon?” she asked.

At this, Jiang Luoluo eyed him with a hint of reproach, having planned to inquire during the lunch break, only to realize he had already dashed off before she could ask.

“Nothing much. I wanted to go catch some Crucian Carps for tofu soup tonight, but ended up catching Scavengers all afternoon!” Chu Mingcheng’s explanation was half-true.

About life conversion, there was no need to tell even the closest of people. It wasn’t a matter of distrust but rather that knowing too much wouldn’t do any good.

If it became known, Chu Mingcheng always felt that, after he turned forty, this woman would urge him every day to go fish for Alligator Gar and catch Scavengers by day and use life conversion to refuel by night, all for her own enjoyment.

Jiang Luoluo, observing his peculiar gaze, shivered and quickly crossed her arms defensively, “What bad things are you thinking about?”

“Nothing, truly nothing!” Chu Mingcheng, jolted back to reality, quickly waved his hands in denial.

But Jiang Luoluo wasn’t convinced, she scanned left and right, then looked down at herself.

Spotting the yogurt, she unconsciously wiped the corner of her mouth, her face turning red at the sight of the white residue on her finger.

“You made me think bad thoughts!” An embarrassed and annoyed Jiang Luoluo exploded, flailing her hands at him like Cat Fist punches.

“Stop, stop, I really didn’t!” Chu Mingcheng, baffled by the assault, hastily got up and fled, only to be chased out of the dance studio.

“Reflect on yourself, and if you entertain any more bad thoughts next time, see if I don’t beat you up,” she warned, her small face fierce with threat, her heart thumping wildly at the thought of the earlier scene.

Whether she felt more shy or angry, only she knew.

Chu Mingcheng was somewhat perplexed, but since he had indeed entertained some unmentionable thoughts, he felt somewhat guilty.

Yet, he was also amazed—how had she detected his musings about life twenty years after marriage?

Staring at the closed door to the dance studio, Chu Mingcheng was at a loss and could only call out, “I’ll start cooking, remember to come out and eat!”

There was no response from inside, but he didn’t mind and went back to preparing dinner.

Unbeknownst to him, Jiang Luoluo inside was looking at the fruit yogurt mix, uncertain how to proceed.

Fortunately, by dinnertime, she had returned to her normal self.

While eating, Jiang Luoluo remembered a question she had pondered that afternoon.

“Ah Cheng, I think your fishing boat is too small. It’s holding you back,” she observed.

“How so?” Chu Mingcheng wouldn’t have found his boat to be too small if he hadn’t seen that larger vessel today.

However, after seeing it, he too felt the small size of his boat was a bit troublesome.

Mainly, the limited operating range prevented him from venturing further afar.

Jiang Luoluo then shared her view, “Ever since you started going out to sea, every time you find a resource-rich area, your catch is remarkably good.”

“However, the nearshore resources are limited, and as time goes by, you’ll need to keep finding new resource spots. Relying on the same old places will lead to decreasing income over time, and it’ll be hard to make large gains in the future.”

“Besides, it’s not possible for you to always fish nearshore; the Far Sea and even the Public Sea are more suitable for you.”

“That means you’ll need a boat capable of going to the Far Sea and even the Public Sea.”

Of course, ‘a large boat’ as mentioned by Jiang Luoluo would still be considered mini compared to real large fishing vessels, let alone cargo ships and aircraft carriers.

“Having a big boat would be great, but I can’t afford it!” Chu Mingcheng would love to buy one, but the issue was the lack of funds.

“I think financing is an option. If that’s not enough, I could lend you the money or even consider it an investment,” Jiang Luoluo proposed seriously, “I believe that if you could go to the Far Sea, your earning rate would be incredibly high.”

“And even after ordering the boat, it won’t be ready for launch immediately. I think if we place the order now, we might get the boat quickly after the fishing ban next year.”

Jiang Luoluo had already considered the future, and Chu Mingcheng gave a wry smile as he said, “Didn’t Chen Yang also say he wants to develop over here? I was thinking of coaxing him into buying a big boat, and then whenever I wanted to go to the Far Sea, I could just hitch a ride on his boat.”

“If we can buy our own, why would we need to hitch a ride on someone else’s?” Jiang Luoluo retorted.

Seeing that she was first and foremost considering buying their own, Chu Mingcheng took a deep breath and became serious, “A Class 1 fishing yacht that can go to the Public Sea will cost at least three million.”

“But to actually meet our requirements, it will probably cost upwards of five million. Are you sure we can afford it?”

“To be honest, I don’t want to take out a mortgage. The interest is too much. After buying it, we’ll become slaves to the boat.”

“Five million…” Upon hearing Chu Mingcheng didn’t want to mortgage, Jiang Luoluo pulled out her phone to check her account, “It’s fine. Anyway, we just need to pay a deposit when ordering the boat, 20% will do.”

“We’ll just have to work a bit harder. By the time it’s delivered next year, it should be about right.”

Chu Mingcheng fell silent for three seconds, then suddenly whooshed over to Jiang Luoluo’s side and hugged her thigh.

“Rich lady, I was born with a weak stomach, only suited for eating soft rice. After almost thirty years of hard work, I’ve finally found a big thigh to latch onto!”

‘Hiss~ this golden thigh is quite springy, shame about the pants!’

“Go to hell~” Jiang Luoluo felt a certain naughty hand starting to wander, and her face immediately turned bright red as her Cat Fist came down again.

After a bit of playful banter, the two of them then discussed the matter of purchasing a big boat and verbally agreed that each would contribute 50% of the funds.

Chu Mingcheng had always been aware of Jiang Luoluo’s intentions.

It was just that his development time was still too short, and many things had to be taken slowly.

But now with a capable wife ready to help him speed up his progress, Chu Mingcheng was not the kind of man too proud to adapt, so of course, he chose to accept!

Now that each of them was contributing half, the pressure on him became quite immense.

If they couldn’t manage to pay off the family’s debts, they might have to borrow again.

…

The next day, Jiang Luoluo dragged Chu Mingcheng to the shipyard early in the morning.

They had only just discussed it the day before, and now they were off to see the boat. She really was an industrious girl.

Choosing a boat certainly required comparisons across multiple shipyards, but they still went to the same one where they had bought their previous boat first.

When the salesperson heard that Chu Mingcheng was planning to order a Class 1 fishing yacht, their face broke into a wide smile.

They had already had a reference for the specific model of the boat yesterday.

However, Chu Mingcheng had other requirements for the interior design, first and foremost, he only wanted two bedrooms, and then an additional dance studio.

Hearing the request for a dance studio, the salesperson was bewildered.

But upon glancing at the stunningly beautiful Jiang Luoluo by his side, they understood a bit.

The dance studio decoration wasn’t complicated: flooring, a mirrored wall, air conditioning, and a sound system. There was no need for soundproofing, what noise complaints could there be in the middle of the sea?

Plus, if they brought guests out to sea and ran out of room in the bedrooms, they could always sleep on mats in the dance studio, so there would be no concerns about lacking a place to sleep.

Next was the cold storage room, which was a must-have, and it needed to be large. The live fish tank and the bait tank could be externally attached to avoid taking up interior space on the boat.

After discussing the feasibility with the designer, they began the preliminary design of a Class 1 fishing yacht measuring 23.8 meters in length and 6.2 meters in width.

The cold storage room was to be about 20 square meters, the size of a normal bedroom.

But with a larger cold storage, naturally, a larger refrigeration unit would be needed, so the cost would be much higher.

With two internal engines of 1000 horsepower each, the boat could reach a top speed of about twenty-five knots and a cruising speed of eighteen knots.

The fuel tank expanded to its maximum would allow for a range of seven hundred nautical miles, which was more than sufficient.

Moreover, there were many refueling tankers at sea, so range wasn’t an issue, the real problem was whether they had enough money to burn.

As for desalination equipment, they would have to add that themselves, and the more equipment they added, the higher the cost would be.

They could also install wireless equipment so that they would have signal even out at sea.

Last of all was the issue of decoration. Basic decoration, along with adding some necessary equipment, was estimated to bring the price up to five million eight hundred thousand.

A higher tier of decoration could push the price to six million five hundred thousand.

Furthermore, there was a significant price difference between domestic and imported hardware like the engine.

If they went for imports, the total price of the boat could reach over eight million, while sticking with domestic options would maintain the earlier price.

They spent the morning roughly estimating the price of the boat, but the details would definitely require further calculations, and today, Chu Mingcheng couldn’t finalize the deal even if he wanted to.

After getting a ballpark figure for the price, they left the shipyard to check out others.

They found that according to their specifications, the prices at the various shipyards were about the same, or even more expensive.

At least Chu Mingcheng had previously bought a boat from the first place, and they were willing to offer a bit more of a discount.

Of course, the mortgage would offer more discount on paper, but he truly didn’t want to go that route.

In the end, after discussing it, the two decided to buy the boat from the first shipyard and called them to request a prompt quote.

That evening, Chu Mingcheng contacted Lu Zheqiang in Qiongzhou to inquire about the price of wooden spearguns.

Upon hearing that he wanted to order in bulk, Lu Zheqiang gave many thoughtful suggestions and ended up recommending a very good wooden speargun costing thirteen thousand.

Chu Mingcheng could accept that price; though expensive, it would last a long time.