Chapter 69

"Generally, this type of grouper prefers to live in the warmer waters of the South China Sea. It probably appeared here because the water temperature in summer hasn't dropped yet."

The fisherman continued to explain the living environment of the grouper, but everyone had lost interest in listening. They were all thinking about the terrifying strength of the big fish, which could drag a large fishing boat for over twenty nautical miles. It was scary, too scary!

On the return boat, Yu Qingying still held Tang Zhendong's arm, as if she would lose him if she let go.

"Why did you work so hard? Didn't you know how dangerous this fish was?"

"You said you wanted a big fish, so I wanted to catch it for you to see closely," Tang Zhendong said sincerely to Yu Qingying.

"Promise me, don't do such dangerous things in the future."

"Okay, sure." In his heart, Tang Zhendong was actually thinking, "I won't catch such a big fish again, but I must find time to retrieve that huge black pearl. Getting the black pearl shouldn't be as dangerous, right?"

While the two were in the midst of their intimate conversation, the Penglai Island pier was already in sight. The fisherman who had explained the grouper to everyone earlier came over. "Excuse me, may I ask how you plan to deal with the grouper you caught?"

Yu Qingying let go of Tang Zhendong's hand when she saw someone coming. "What do you have in mind, sir?"

"I was thinking, could you sell this fish to me?"

"Oh, what price do you have in mind?"

"Twenty thousand, twenty thousand, does that sound okay?" The fisherman seemed hesitant to say it, but he quoted a surprisingly high price that even Tang Zhendong hadn't expected. Tang Zhendong had thought the fish, weighing about four hundred pounds, would be worth about eight thousand yuan at twenty yuan per pound, and even if the buyer bought it all, the most he would offer would be three to five thousand yuan.

He didn't expect the fisherman to offer such a high price. Looking into the fisherman's eyes, Tang Zhendong saw sincerity. The fisherman's cheeks were bright and had a dark luster, and Tang Zhendong instantly determined that he was not a liar.

"This fish, I feel, is worth more than that, right?" Tang Zhendong thought for a moment and said.

"Indeed, it's worth more, but I'm afraid it won't sell well, so I can't offer you too much."

Tang Zhendong turned to Yu Qingying. "Qingying, what do you think? The fish was caught for you, so you decide."

"I just wanted to see the fish; I didn't ask you to catch it for me. You decide, I don't care." Yu Qingying passed the ball back to Tang Zhendong.

"Here's what I propose: you sell the fish, and after selling it, I'll give you ten thousand yuan as a running fee. What do you think?" The fisherman had come to rescue him, and although he wouldn't have drowned even if the fisherman hadn't come, Tang Zhendong still felt grateful for his effort and hard work.

"That's fine, but I really have no idea how much it will sell for. Last year, a grouper in Jimo sold for sixty thousand yuan. This one is slightly smaller, so I can't say for sure. If someone really wants it, maybe forty to fifty thousand yuan, but if it's hard to find a buyer, it might only sell for ten to twenty thousand yuan."

Tang Zhendong waved his hand. "Alright, you decide. If it sells for ten thousand, it's all yours. If it sells for twenty thousand, you keep ten thousand. How does that sound, Qingying?"

"You decide, I don't care."

"Alright, it's settled then."

That afternoon, the fisherman took the fish to the city and started looking for a buyer. Tang Zhendong's clothes were left on the shore, and Yu Qingying had picked them up and was holding them.

The colleagues from the newspaper, upon hearing that Yu Qingying's friend had been found, came over to greet him. The greetings continued until around six or seven in the evening, when the owner of the house where Tang Zhendong was staying finally served dinner.

Fishermen usually eat later, and it was just getting dark at six in late summer. Tang Zhendong originally wanted to find some tools to go to the reef at night and break open the large clam to retrieve the huge black pearl.

However, Yu Qingying's friends were very enthusiastic, especially after hearing about the four-hundred-pound fish. They all wanted to see it, but they didn't get to see it because the fisherman had already taken the big fish to the city to find a buyer.

Without seeing the real thing, everyone could only ask Tang Zhendong about it. Tang Zhendong could only briefly describe the scene of catching the fish, but when he described the size of the fish, everyone expressed their doubts. Without evidence, it was just a matter of words, and everyone could only continue to express their skepticism.

During dinner, even the owner, who had been fishing all his life, asked Tang Zhendong about the big fish. Hearing that Tang Zhendong had been dragged around half of Penglai Island by the big fish, the owner was amazed and couldn't close his mouth.

Fishermen were different from Yu Qingying's colleagues; they had seen the vast ocean and knew that it was full of strange and dangerous things. Many things in the ocean had never been seen by humans, so when Tang Zhendong talked about the size of the grouper, the owner didn't doubt it at all. However, the owner was puzzled as to why such a big fish would appear in the near sea of Penglai Island, and why a grouper that usually lived in the south would appear in the Bohai Bay.

This topic was very interesting, and it opened up the owner's conversation, leading to many stories about strange things he had encountered at sea and some interesting fishing stories.

The food was abundant, and the wine was good. With this somewhat mystical topic, everyone drank freely. While drinking with the owner, Tang Zhendong subtly asked about pearls in the nearby sea and how to retrieve them.

"Let me tell you, young man, the pearls sold now are all farmed, but the real top-quality pearls are from the sea. Some have lived for hundreds or even thousands of years and can be as big as an egg. However, such large pearls are usually found at depths of over a thousand meters, where humans can't reach."

"How big of a clam would it take to produce such a large pearl?" Xu Zhijun, although a top editor at the newspaper, had never heard of a pearl as big as an egg.

"Who knows? I've never seen one, but if the pearl has been around for hundreds or even thousands of years, the clam must be even older. I think it might be as big as this house."

Tang Zhendong thought of the large clam he had seen, which, although not as big as a ten-square-meter room, was about half the size of a room.

"Such a large clam, wouldn't it be like a spirit?"

"Who knows? It's possible, given how long it has lived."

"Even if such a large clam has a pearl as big as an egg, it would be impossible to retrieve it. It would suck a person in."

"You're right. Such a large clam has an incredible suction force. Smaller fish probably wouldn't dare to get close."