Chapter 21: The Routine of Sea Foraging

At three o'clock in the morning, the alarm clock went off precisely on time, and getting up at this hour was truly no easy task.

Although Chu Mingcheng was woken up by the alarm, the drowsiness made it utterly impossible for him to get out of bed.

In the end, his brain issued a command, using Life Conversion for once, and he instantly became much more alert.

Sitting up, Chu Mingcheng looked at the Life Conversion, now down to its last use, and remarked, "This thing is just like a stimulant, thankfully without any side effects."

He got dressed, washed up, and drove off without calling Zhang Wei.

He had woken up this early specifically to prepare for the day's seashore foraging.

The abundant hauls in every seaside foraging video were actually ninety percent fake.

Right now, he intended to visit the seafood market to purchase seafood, to fabricate a bit of reality, so the girls could experience the joy of a successful seaside foraging, an act of painstaking effort in its own right.

Le City had a late-night seafood market; at this time, stall owners would go there to stock up, so prices were lower, more like wholesale rates, and there was a greater, fresher variety of seafood available.

As he entered the seafood market, a smell of the ocean mixed with a strong stench hit him, causing Chu Mingcheng to frown. He took out the mask he had prepared earlier and put it on, which made things a lot more comfortable.

Even he, who grew up by the sea, couldn't stand this kind of fishy smell. Only fishermen and fishmongers who dealt with seafood every day could tolerate it, or rather, they were accustomed to it.

Chu Mingcheng had a clear goal in mind: no fish, as he had other plans for today and didn't need sea fish.

He went straight to a shop selling crabs and lobsters, where he spent five hundred yuan to buy five Green Lobsters.

Better to skip the Jinxiu Lobsters; though the ones sold here were farmed, the wild ones were protected species, and it would be troublesome to be caught and misunderstood.

No need to buy swimming crabs or Green Crabs either, as they would likely be available during the foraging.

He bought some Big Scallops and Sea Snails for three hundred yuan.

With these purchases, he was nearly set, but just as he was about to head back, he suddenly spotted a stall selling Green Crabs.

However, his Green Crabs were particularly large, each one looking to be at least two jins, with some even reaching three or four jins.

These were Sri Lanka Green Crabs, likely farmed.

"Boss, how much are you selling these Sri Lanka Green Crabs for?"

"The smaller ones are two hundred yuan a jin, the big ones like these are two hundred sixty a jin."

Chu Mingcheng clicked his tongue, that was a really steep price.

"Are these meat crabs or butter crabs?"

"All meat crabs. The butter crabs aren't tasty right now, while meat crabs are delicious, the flesh is very sweet."

Upon hearing they were meat crabs, Chu Mingcheng decided to buy some.

Aside from Butter Crabs, meat crabs taste better than butter crabs, whose roe can't compare to that of the hairy crabs.

Additionally, there are seasonal periods for farmed Green Crabs. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the crab roe increasingly turns bitter, so those wishing to enjoy roe crabs are better off waiting until after the Qingming festival next April.

That's when the winter crabs are caught, big ones with full ripe roe taste the best.

Chu Mingcheng knew how to judge the plumpness of Green Crabs: first, by looking at the shell, but Sri Lanka Green Crabs have thick shells, making it hard to tell.

So he picked up a few of the big ones and turned them over to check, keeping those with protruding navels and bushy claws.

Finally, he turned them over on the ground, belly up, to assess their liveliness.

As long as he didn't forcefully press on their navel eyes, the owner allowed people to pick at their leisure.

Soon, Chu Mingcheng selected a fat and large Sri Lanka Green Crab that weighed four jins and three taels, priced at one thousand one yuan.

After leaving the seafood market, he didn't carry much, but he had almost spent two thousand Big Coins.

At that moment, Chu Mingcheng couldn't help but consider the idea of farming Sri Lanka Green Crabs; they were damn expensive.

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But it was just a thought, he couldn't stand getting up at 3 a.m. every day to work during the crab season. Now, the life of fishing and collecting seafood was pretty good, he was earning much more than when he was employed, and he had a lot more freedom.

On his way home, Chu Mingcheng deliberately got some seawater to keep lobsters alive, and supplied them with oxygen before going back to sleep for a bit longer.

He didn't get up again until 7:30 in the morning.

This time, he even kicked awake Zhang Wei, who slept like a log, and took the seafood they bought in the morning, heading straight to the place where they had picked spicy snails last time.

Zhang Wei only realized the presence of lobsters, Sri Lanka green crabs, and scallops amongst the seafood after he woke up, which left him dumbfounded.

"What's the situation?"

"What do we have around these seas? Can't we experience the joy of collecting seafood without faking it?"

"... You're right. But you're quite into this, aren't you!" Zhang Wei stroked his chin, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth as he thoughtfully looked at Chu Mingcheng.

"Since I've invited others to come and have fun, I must make sure they enjoy themselves. That's how you treat guests."

"Then I'm a guest too, right? Why don't I get anything?"

"You're not a woman!"

"I could go to Elephant Country~"

"..." Regarding shamelessness, Chu Mingcheng felt he would never be able to outdo Zhang Wei.

They arrived at their destination, and the tide had already receded. It would be close to eleven before the tide would start coming in again.

He handed over the seafood he had bought at dawn to Zhang Wei, asked him to find a few holes to stash them in, and to keep an eye out, while he drove to the hotel to pick up Jiang Luoluo and the others.

The agreed time was eight o'clock. When Chu Mingcheng arrived at the hotel, Jiang Luoluo and Zhou Jiayi were already dressed for collecting seafood and waiting for him downstairs.

Being on time greatly improved his impression of them. It was rare for little fairies to be punctual—he had thought he would have to wait at least an hour.

But a big beauty standing downstairs is quite eye-catching. He had just arrived when he saw a man, presumably a National Day holiday visitor, hitting on them, asking for their contact information.

Chu Mingcheng honked the horn to draw their attention and then opened the window, "The tide has gone out, get in the car!"

Jiang Luoluo, who had been rather cold-looking initially, immediately smiled upon seeing him, then she and Zhou Jiayi got into the Volkswagen that cost about one hundred thousand yuan, under the envious and jealous gaze of other men.

"Why is it just the two of you? Where's your photographer?"

"She's not feeling well in her stomach, resting at the hotel. Let's go back to pick her up before dinner!"

"Alright!" Chu Mingcheng felt sorry for Zhang Ruomei; if she was suffering from a stomach ache, she might miss today's seafood feast.

"Thanks for just now; that guy was so annoying, he had been pestering us for quite a while."

"No need to thank me. Attractive people like us get hit on wherever we go. You need to learn how to refuse and get used to it."

"True, the troubles of people like us are not understood by ordinary folks!"

"You guys are so full of yourselves~" Zhou Jiayi couldn't hold back her disdain, and blurted out a taunt.

"Haha~" Chu Mingcheng and Jiang Luoluo laughed together.

"By the way, where's Zhang Wei?" Realizing a bit too late that someone was missing, Jiang Luoluo asked.

"He's at the beach waiting for us. I suppose he should have found some treasure by now!" Chu Mingcheng couldn't mention their seafood purchase and the pretense involved, so he chose to fudge the truth for the time being.

Soon, they arrived at their destination for that day's seafaring adventure.

Once out of the car, Jiang Luoluo excitedly pulled Zhou Jiayi by the hand and ran towards the rocky area, while Chu Mingcheng followed behind, carrying a bucket filled with various tools for collecting seafood.

Zhang Wei had already placed the seafood in different holes, making sure they couldn't crawl out.

The only cause for anxiety was the Sri Lanka green crab—the only one capable of escaping from the small hole.

However, since he stood by their side, the green crab hiding in the crevice naturally wouldn't come out.

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