Chapter 44

A few days passed in the blink of an eye. Ye Yuan spent these days wandering through the seafood market on Hong Kong Island, which could be considered a paradise for food lovers, where all kinds of precious seafood could be found. While exploring the seafood market, Ye Yuan unexpectedly discovered two small blue lobsters.

Blue lobsters are a rare genetic mutation of the American lobster, producing an excessive amount of a certain protein. This protein reacts to form a blue compound called astaxanthin, which makes the shell appear bright blue.

On average, only one blue lobster appears out of every 2 million lobsters, making it a rare marine creature comparable to a living fossil. Blue lobsters are often confused with blue peacock mantis shrimp. The blue peacock mantis shrimp is a sky-blue mantis shrimp, and it is different from the blue lobster. The main difference is that the large claws of the blue peacock mantis shrimp are oval, while the claws of the blue lobster are elongated.

Blue lobsters have spots on their bodies, while blue peacock mantis shrimp do not. However, blue peacock mantis shrimp are larger and more beautiful. The probability of blue lobsters appearing among crustaceans is one in two million.

This also cost Ye Yuan 200,000. Blue lobsters cannot be bred; even if they reproduce, their offspring will be ordinary lobsters. Ye Yuan's purpose in buying them was to raise them in his space. When the lobsters grow up, their price will be much higher.

The day before the auction, Wang Yueshan introduced Ye Yuan to a person with significant influence in the Hong Kong Island wealthy circle, Ma Mingyuan, the manager of Henghai Group.

Henghai Group's headquarters is in Hong Kong Island. It started by operating seafood in its early years and later diversified its business, gradually shifting its focus to real estate and other fields.

Even so, Henghai Group's seafood trading company remains one of the leading high-end seafood companies in Hong Kong Island.

Ma Mingyuan, not only the current manager of Henghai Group, is also the second son of Ma Jiaming, the founder of Henghai Group. He is mainly responsible for the company's seafood business.

Ma Mingyuan has considerable experience in the seafood industry, with nearly 20 years of experience. He is one of the experts in high-end seafood in Hong Kong Island, and many seafood appraisals are completed by him.

Ye Yuan smiled and said, "Hello, Mr. Ma, it's nice to meet you."

"Hello, Mr. Ye," Ma Mingyuan, with his Hong Kong accent, extended his hand and shook hands warmly with Ye Yuan.

"Mr. Ye, I apologize for the abrupt invitation. I hope you don't mind," Ma Mingyuan, despite being nearly middle-aged and the manager of a large company like Henghai Group, spoke very politely.

Ye Yuan waved his hand, "Not at all, I'm also very happy to meet you, Mr. Ma. We have a saying in the mainland: 'More friends mean more paths.'"

"Mr. Ye, you're right. That's why I asked Yueshan to introduce you," Ma Mingyuan responded politely.

Ye Yuan didn't know why Wang Yueshan suddenly introduced him to such an industry authority. Logically, they should be competitors, and Wang Yueshan shouldn't be afraid of him making contact with them, right?

Wang Yueshan saw through Ye Yuan's thoughts and explained with a smile.

Wang Yueshan's family runs a chain of hotels, with branches in Hong Kong Island. Initially, many of the seafood in his family's hotels were supplied by Ma Mingyuan. Later, when Wang Yueshan started his seafood trading business, Ma Mingyuan not only did not oppose it but also helped him in many ways.

This time, Ye Yuan's abalone could be auctioned, also thanks to Ma Mingyuan's help.

When Ma Mingyuan learned that Ye Yuan had the ability to provide this type of abalone stably and long-term, he had the idea of forming a relationship.

He mentioned this to Wang Yueshan multiple times. Wang Yueshan thought that he couldn't handle such a large high-end market alone, so why not cooperate with Ma Mingyuan?

He knew that Ye Yuan's business was just starting and would grow larger. His trading company might not be able to handle all the seafood.

Since he was looking for a partner, it was better to choose someone he knew, so he introduced Ma Mingyuan to Ye Yuan.

Wang Yueshan didn't hide anything and frankly explained his thoughts, which made Ye Yuan look at him with more respect.

Seeing that Wang Yueshan had finished his introduction, Ma Mingyuan directly said,

"Our company wants the exclusive agency rights for your high-end seafood in Hong Kong Island. I wonder if Mr. Ye would give us this opportunity?"

Ye Yuan thought for a moment and then said, "There's no problem with the agency. My business is just starting, and currently, I can only provide lobsters and abalone. In the future, I will gradually introduce more high-end ingredients. However, I have one requirement: we must use the logo of our Fish Bay Seafood." Ye Yuan didn't want his hard-earned seafood brand to be used by others as a tool for profit.

Ma Mingyuan was very happy to get Ye Yuan's promise. He could see that Ye Yuan had great ambition, which was a good thing for him.

He had seen the abalone Ye Yuan brought, and each one could cause a sensation in the Hong Kong seafood industry. To be able to secure such a promising resource early on, how could he not be happy?

After they finished discussing the main matters, they started chatting over coffee. Finally, Ma Mingyuan wanted to take Ye Yuan out to relax, but Ye Yuan declined.

It wasn't that Ye Yuan was too high-minded; it was just that he didn't know what kind of person Ma Mingyuan was, so it was better not to go together in this regard.

The next day, the day of the auction, Ye Yuan put on the prepared formal attire and went to the auction site with Wang Yueshan.

The auction was held in the largest conference hall of the Pearl Hotel. Many wealthy people were present, and many foreign tycoons had flown in from afar. Ye Yuan thought to himself, "The world of food lovers is indeed something I don't understand."

The two of them sat in a corner, and Wang Yueshan introduced the backgrounds of the wealthy people to Ye Yuan one by one. He was surprised that such a small auction could attract so many world tycoons.

Wang Yueshan joked, "This is nothing. If it were a truffle auction in Europe, you'd see several of the world's richest people."

Not far from Ye Yuan and Wang Yueshan, a beautiful woman kept staring at them. She was Su Mei, who had come specially for this auction.

As time passed, the seats in the hall became fewer and fewer, and there were almost no empty seats left.

With the sound of melodious music, a female host in a neat business suit walked to the center of the stage.

The female host, with a confident smile, quickly attracted the attention of many men in the audience.

Many media reporters also took out their cameras and started taking photos.

"Before the auction officially begins, we have arranged a small segment that I'm sure everyone will enjoy." After saying this, the host signaled to the etiquette ladies on both sides of the stage.

Two rows of tall, beautiful women in cheongsams, holding teapots, walked to each guest and poured a small cup of tea for everyone. The auction had prepared a teacup for each guest, and the beautiful women poured a small cup of tea for each person in turn.

Many people didn't understand what this meant. Was this the segment the host mentioned?

The female host saw that everyone had a cup of tea in front of them.

"The tea in front of you is made from the first batch of Da Hong Pao tea leaves grafted from the mother tree in Wuyi Mountain. Please taste it first." She smiled at everyone.

Everyone picked up the tea in front of them and took a small sip. Ye Yuan wasn't very knowledgeable about tea, but he knew the reputation of Wuyi Mountain Da Hong Pao.