Chapter 32

"Ten thousand yuan, how about that?" Qianshufen saw that Su Jing was hesitating and thought Su Jing was worried about the price.

Qianshufen's words immediately made many of the surrounding villagers gasp. Su Liang and Su Xiaolin were also surprised. They had heard Su Jing say that the fish cost over two hundred yuan per pound, and that one fish was worth several thousand yuan, which was already hard to believe. Now, someone was offering ten thousand yuan right away.

"Mr. Qian, it's not about the price. I already told Mr. Zhao about three anglerfish, and he is on his way here, so I can't sell them to you first," Su Jing explained his dilemma.

"Which Mr. Zhao?" Qianshufen frowned slightly.

"Zhao Zhi, the owner of Jinyu Hotel," Su Jing replied.

"Ah, that kid. I'll talk to him when he gets here," Qianshufen raised an eyebrow.

Su Jing was taken aback. They knew each other? That's even better; he wouldn't have to explain much and let them sort it out themselves.

Soon, Mr. Zhao, Zhao Zhi, rushed over, his belly bulging, but he moved quickly. Seeing the three large anglerfish, his eyes lit up, but before he could be happy, he heard Qianshufen's rough voice: "Old Zhao, I want this anglerfish. Don't compete with me."

"Old Qian, what are you doing here?" Zhao Zhi finally noticed Qianshufen, first stunned, then waved his hand, "Don't even think about it. I've had a good business relationship with Mr. Su for a long time. I want all these fish, and you can't take them."

"What good business relationship? I just asked. You just bought fish once, right? I want to use this anglerfish as a treasure to attract customers. If you compete with me, I won't let it go," Qianshufen's voice grew louder. He had been looking for a treasure to attract customers but hadn't found the right one. This huge anglerfish was definitely suitable.

"What treasure? I can use it as a treasure too," Zhao Zhi didn't back down.

"You haven't paid yet. Let's compete fairly. I'll offer ten thousand yuan," Qianshufen said.

"I'll offer fifteen thousand yuan," Zhao Zhi thought for a moment.

"I'll offer thirty thousand yuan," Qianshufen looked determined.

"Damn, you're ruthless," Zhao Zhi cursed but didn't raise the price further. Thirty thousand yuan was far above the market price. If it wasn't for a special purpose, it wouldn't be worth it. Although he was annoyed that Qianshufen had jumped in, it seemed Qianshufen really needed the fish, so he didn't want to ruin their relationship. They argued, but they were still friends.

"Mr. Su, thirty thousand yuan, sell it to me?" Seeing Zhao Zhi give up, Qianshufen finally said to Su Jing.

"Sure," Su Jing was naturally very happy. However, he didn't want to ignore Zhao Zhi, so he said, "You can pick the rest of the fish, Mr. Zhao."

"I'll take all of them," Zhao Zhi, fearing Qianshufen might snatch them, bought the rest at a high price, totaling twelve thousand yuan.

Su Jing made forty-two thousand yuan in one go. He immediately gave Su Liang and Su Xiaolin a thousand yuan each as a bonus, which made them very happy. If Su Jing hadn't made money, they wouldn't have felt right asking for their wages, as they had only done some hard labor. But seeing Su Jing make over forty thousand yuan, they didn't hesitate to take the bonus.

The surrounding villagers were all wide-eyed. Wasn't this money too easy to earn? Even Su Zhenhong, Zhao Mengxiang, and Liu Shu couldn't help but marvel at how quickly Su Jing made money.

"Mr. Su, your business is doing well," Wang Zhuo, who had been waiting silently, said with a smile.

"Not really, I should thank Mr. Qian and Mr. Zhao for their generosity. Please sit down. What would you like to eat? I'll cook it for you," Su Jing said.

"Waiting for this sentence," Wang Zhuo chuckled and sat down to order. Zhao Jun and Li Boss hurried over to wipe the table and pour tea for Wang Zhuo, acting like waiters.

"When I heard Zhou Xian praising a chef so much, I was curious. Who could make Zhou Xian, the food critic, speak so highly? Unfortunately, I was busy and couldn't come earlier. Then, I heard that Xiao Rui's anorexia was largely cured because of this chef's food. I couldn't sit still and had to come and try it," Qianshufen also sat down and said with a smile.

"Is the chef who made Zhou Xian speak so highly here in this seafood restaurant?" Zhao Zhi was surprised. The food in his hotel rarely met Zhou Xian's standards. Although he pretended to disdain Zhou Xian, he really wanted to create food that Zhou Xian couldn't criticize. So, he couldn't ignore the praise for a chef in a seafood restaurant.

"Didn't you know? The chef who made Zhou Xian speak so highly is Mr. Su here," Qianshufen pointed at Su Jing.

"Really? What a coincidence," Zhao Zhi was stunned. What surprised him more was Su Jing's youth. In his imagination, a chef who could satisfy Zhou Xian should be at least thirty years old. Zhao Zhi couldn't help but feel a bit不服气 (unconvinced). He wondered if this young Mr. Su was really that good at cooking, better than the chefs in his hotel. Was Zhou Xian's taste buds off? He had to taste it himself to see how good he was.

So, Wang Zhuo, Qianshufen, and Zhao Zhi all ordered some seafood. Wang Zhuo and Qianshufen ordered high-end seafood like lobsters, abalones, and crabs, while Zhao Zhi, wanting to test Su Jing's skills, ordered common seafood like mackerel, sea bass, and scallops.

"Please wait a moment," Su Jing noted down their orders and went home to cook.

"Jing, Jing," Su Liang, Su Xiaolin, and a few young men followed.

"Jing, Liang and Xiaolin said you decided to build a fish farm?"

"Do you need more help?"

They had heard Su Jing talk about building a fish farm before but were hesitant. One reason was the investment cost, and the other was the business risk, as Su Jing had never done it before and they didn't know if it would be profitable. But now, they had no doubts. Seeing Su Jing make tens of thousands of yuan so easily, they had no worries. And Su Jing gave them a thousand yuan bonus so generously, where could they find such a generous boss?

"I need more help. You joining is perfect. Like Liang and Xiaolin, you'll get five thousand yuan a month. How about that?" Su Jing smiled. He planned to build ten ten-meter-diameter net cages and didn't want to do everything himself. With only Su Liang and Su Xiaolin, it would be too much.

"Great, we'll follow you from now on," the young men were delighted. They sometimes had a good catch, but more often, their harvest was poor. On average, they made three thousand yuan a month, so a stable five thousand yuan salary was very satisfying.

"I've roughly listed the materials and chosen the location. You're responsible for the construction. Here are the construction plans and requirements. Take a look first," Su Jing said, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to Su Liang.

"The fish platform is so big?" Su Liang opened the plans and was surprised. The fish farm mainly included the fish platform, floats, and net cages. The fish platform usually just needed to be big enough for people to walk on, but Su Jing's design had large spaces between the ten circular net cages, and the platform was almost big enough for basketball. The thickness was also exaggerated.

"I want it to be sturdy," Su Jing smiled. There were two main reasons for this. First, this wasn't an ordinary fish farm. One net cage was for breeding, while the other nine were fish traps, so they wouldn't be harvested every few months but every day. A small platform would be very inconvenient. Second, he was worried that the meatballs might attract sharks. Although the meatballs were mixed with starch to reduce the smell, he couldn't be sure they wouldn't attract sharks. It was better to be safe than sorry, or it could lead to a tragedy.

"Why build it so sturdy? Isn't that a waste of money?" Su Liang, Su Xiaolin, and others were confused.

"Just build it according to my plans," Su Jing didn't explain further.

"Alright, we'll follow your instructions. We'll study it and buy the materials this afternoon," Su Liang said.

"Okay, I'll transfer one hundred thousand yuan to your account. If it's not enough, ask me," Su Jing handed over the fish farm construction to Su Liang and Su Xiaolin and went home to steam the seafood. He usually didn't like cooking, but he couldn't be careless with special guests.