Waking up in the morning, Li Haochen heard a knocking sound outside his room. He yawned and walked out.
Murong Yanran was in the kitchen, awkwardly trying to cut meat patties. She held the knife too high, and the action was more suited for chopping than slicing.
"It's tiring for you to cut meat like this, and the patties will be rough," Li Haochen said, standing close behind Murong Yanran. He grabbed her hand holding the knife. "Use your wrist, don't lift it too high..."
Seeing Murong Yanran's technique improve, Li Haochen, the experienced teacher, felt pleased. He chuckled to himself, thinking how teachable she was, and returned to his room to pack. He didn't have much, just a few sets of clothes. In less than ten minutes, he finished packing and came out to the smell of food.
"Why are you cooking so much? Isn't it a waste?"
"No, it's for you, hee hee!"
"Uh, do you think I'm a pig? I can't eat that much."
"Look?" Murong Yanran took out two coral-pink Supor thermal lunch boxes from the cabinet, saying with a grin, "I bought them during Double Twelve, with a 60 yuan discount for every 600 yuan spent."
Murong Yanran opened the thermal boxes. Each was quite large, with four layers, and each compartment had a leak-proof lid.
There was still plenty of leftover dried vegetables and soup from last night, and with the current weather, there was no fear of spoilage; it just needed to be heated.
Murong Yanran took out the bottommost box, scooped half soup and half solids into it, put on the leak-proof lid, checked to make sure it wouldn't leak, and placed it at the bottom.
Li Haochen was startled when she was filling the rice. The entire box was packed to the brim. Perhaps she had learned a trick or two from Xie Baolian, as she used the rice scoop to press it down hard. In this way, a box that could hold two bowls of rice was packed with four bowls' worth, making it look like a compressed biscuit.
The top two compartments were for meat patties and braised pork with cauliflower. Once the two large thermal boxes were ready, Murong Yanran carried one in each hand and walked to Li Haochen, saying with a smile, "Super large capacity, meets all needs, keeps warm for 24 hours, cares for you all day, hee hee!"
"Uh... that sounds a bit awkward."
"Alright, I'm going back to the hotel now. Be careful when you set sail. And also, if you dare to flirt around when you get back, be careful I don't 'hēi shǒu cuī...'" Murong Yanran glanced lewdly at Li Haochen's crotch, then immediately reverted to a harmless, meek little wife. She gave Li Haochen a deep kiss and left with a smile.
"Hmph, it's not like you haven't 'hēi shǒu' before...!"
Seeing that no one was around, Li Haochen stored all his luggage, fishing gear, and scuba equipment into his spatial dimension and then set off with a flourish.
He arrived at the dockside and walked into the tackle shop. Before he could speak, the owner took out a dozen fish floats and nets, already packaged and placed on the counter.
"Uh... Boss, how did you know I wanted to buy these?"
"When do you ever come here and not buy these? The number you get could equip a 500-meter seine net. I don't know how you use them."
Li Haochen always bought these small items when he visited, never anything large, and he didn't buy bait either, which annoyed the owner.
"Boss, I'll take four fish cages and four crab cages."
He didn't buy any longlines. The previous one had become a bare cable after a few uses, and he hadn't had the time to re-tie the sub-lines and hooks.
Moreover, every time he had to coil it up and hang each hook individually, and the tangles were enough to make one curse, plus he had to operate it from a boat. So Li Haochen decided to abandon it and switch to the easier-to-operate trap cages.
After borrowing the owner's electric tricycle to move the fish floats, nets, and trap cages onto the boat, he walked to the convenience store next door. Li Haochen was a regular customer there, and as soon as he entered, the owner greeted him warmly, a stark contrast to the reaction of the owner of the tackle shop next door.
He had to be enthusiastic. Every time Li Haochen came, he bought a large quantity of Snickers, Kinder, and Red Bull, spending about two to three thousand yuan a month.
If the fishermen who earned only a few thousand a month knew, they would surely call him a spendthrift.
Li Haochen carried the two large bags of snacks and leisurely walked towards the berth. He saw Liang Weiyu driving a delivery truck past and called out to him a couple of times, but he didn't respond, probably because the engine was too loud.
They must have come because Dai Changrun and the others had returned from sea. Li Haochen put his purchases back on the boat and then went over.
When he arrived, Liang Weiyu and his assistant were at the live well, counting the contents. Judging by their expressions, they were very satisfied with what was inside.
The Dai family of three, who were helping out, were also smiling continuously. Li Haochen curiously went over and peeked inside. "What good stuff do you have?"
"Holy crap, so many giant groupers?"
Li Haochen was startled by the dozens of giant groupers in the live well, each weighing three to four kilograms. This batch alone was worth tens of thousands of yuan. There were also many groupers and red snappers beside them.
"Benefactor, why are you at the dock?"
"I'm preparing to go back to my hometown. I happened to see Weiyu driving over, so I came to take a look. I was really surprised. The harvest this time is truly abundant. Congratulations!"
"Same to you, hahaha!"
They chatted for a while before leaving, as going out to sea for a few days was quite tiring.
After returning to the boat, Li Haochen called the oil tanker for refueling. He could handle the water himself. The dock had recently undergone renovations, and each berth was equipped with running water, complete with water meters.
He had to admit that the owner was a business genius. Since the berths were equipped with running water, the water consumption had truly surged. The boat owners would come to give their boats a bath for any reason, and then wash their hands and feet, not to mention cleaning the path they walked in and out.
There were hundreds of boats here, so the water consumption was indeed gushing. This income alone was equivalent to several berths.
Recently, the international situation had become tense again, leading to a three-consecutive increase in oil prices. Even ten consecutive drops in oil prices couldn't offset three consecutive increases. Filling up the two large oil tanks cost over a thousand more.
After filling the oil and water, Li Haochen started working on his electric scooter, "Xiao Aima."
It would be inconvenient to be without a vehicle for ten days or so, so he decided to take the electric scooter back with him.
However, moving it directly onto the boat would require three or four people; it was too heavy. But removing the lead-acid battery from under the footboard made it much easier.
The electric scooter weighed over a hundred kilograms, and the battery alone accounted for half of that. That's why many manufacturers had abandoned lead-acid batteries for lighter lithium batteries.
Personally, he preferred lead-acid batteries; they were safer. Hadn't all the accidents involved lithium batteries? Of course, most accidents were due to improper use.
Once the battery and the scooter were separated, it became much simpler. The weight of forty to fifty kilograms was effortless for Li Haochen, and he easily moved it onto the deck.
Li Haochen didn't dare to put the battery inside the cabin. Although lead-acid batteries were stable, he felt uneasy keeping it in the boat's cabin. If something were to happen... it would be catastrophic.
With everything ready, Li Haochen, filled with excitement, sounded the horn. With a "toot~" sound, the "Star" cut through the waves and moved forward.
"Feels so good."