When the last fishing cage was redeployed back into the sea, the time had already reached three in the afternoon.
Buck and the two others had also worked continuously at high intensity for over eight hours. Fortunately, all three were experienced veterans; newcomers would have likely given up long ago.
Li Wei saw the three of them looking numb, like soulless shells, and picked up the walkie-talkie, saying:
"Guys, this string of fishing cages has caught about 10.8 tons of black cod."
Hearing the number broadcast, the three men who originally felt completely drained instantly became energetic, their minds filled with the thought: How much money can over 10 tons of black cod sell for?
Li Wei naturally saw their confusion.
Asking them to calculate how much they earned right now was a bit difficult.
Li Wei directly stated the calculated figure.
"We can probably earn 71,000 us dollars!"
"71,000 us dollars!! Boss, going out to sea with you is the most correct decision I've ever made in my life!"
"Me too!"
"..."
Initially, Jack and the other man had planned to look for work again. It was Buck who contacted them and asked them to stay.
At first, they were just thinking of giving it a try.
If they won the gamble, they would continue working on the Sea Monster.
If they lost the gamble, at most they would just waste some time and energy.
They could quit at any time then, and it wouldn't delay them from finding new work.
However, when Jim and the other man heard the number 71,000 us dollars, all those messy thoughts they originally had were dispelled.
Li Wei naturally heard the meaning in their words and was also very happy about it. Having two experienced crew members working for him saved him a lot of effort.
"Alright, you two, don't just stand there excited. There's still a lot of work waiting for you to do. We're heading to the second destination next."
"Okay, Boss, we'll get to work right away. We definitely won't delay the subsequent work."
"The sooner we catch the black cod, the sooner we can return to port to rest."
Li Wei thought of something and brought the walkie-talkie, which he was about to put down, back to his mouth.
"Buck, come to the wheelhouse and take over for me."
After Buck entered the wheelhouse, Li Wei could finally leave the driver's seat where he had stayed all day.
After handing the Captain's seat over to Buck, Li Wei first went onto the deck to take a breath of fresh air, and then began to stretch his limbs.
He had spent basically the entire day in the wheelhouse except for addressing personal needs. If he didn't move his body a bit more, he felt like he was about to grow hair.
Stretching his back, lifting his legs, squatting...
After his whole body was stretched, Li Wei walked over to the fish hold.
He lifted the fish hold cover and pulled out a black cod weighing over 20 pounds from inside.
Seeing this, Jack knew exactly what Li Wei was planning to do.
He quickly jogged forward to help prepare the black cod.
Jack was indeed an old fisherman with over ten years of sea experience. He wielded a boning knife with incredible skill, cleanly filleting the black cod meat in just a few strokes.
Li Wei was also shocked by his skill.
"Jack, I didn't expect you to have this skill!"
"Hehe, Boss, I worked on a distant-water fishing vessel for a while before. At my busiest, I had to process over a thousand fish in a day."
Hearing the number Jack mentioned, Li Wei thought to himself, 'You're even more impressive than that auntie who killed fish for ten years in a certain supermarket.'
No wonder his knife skills were so proficient.
I just don't know if your heart is as cold as the knife in your hand.
After thanking Jack, Li Wei carried the black cod fillet back to the cabin, planning to make pan-fried black cod fillet.
Since trying pan-fried halibut fillet on his last trip, he found that this type of thick fish meat also had a unique flavor when pan-fried.
Of course, this might also be related to his current body.
Although he had the soul of a certain Eastern great power in his body, he had a foreigner's stomach.
Since they caught so much black cod today, they definitely had to prepare one to taste.
In addition, Li Wei planned to cook the Golden King Crabs that were caught incidentally.
During the process of catching black cod, the fishing cages would also catch other fish, such as rockfish, cod, Dungeness Crab, and King Crab.
These few King Crabs were caught incidentally.
Thinking it was his first time eating King Crab, Li Wei's movements couldn't help but quicken a bit.
He took out a large pot from the cabinet, directly threw three Golden King Crabs into the pot, added water, green onions, and ginger slices, and then started boiling them over high heat.
While the King Crabs were boiling, Li Wei began to process the black cod fillet. The whole piece of black cod meat was cut into palm-width pieces and then marinated with black pepper, salt, chopped parsley, and olive oil.
The main dish was instant lasagna purchased from the supermarket.
That's right, the kind of lasagna from the Garfield cartoon.
This kind of frozen food only needs to be heated in the oven for twenty minutes and can then be eaten directly, which is very suitable for fishermen like them who are out at sea.
Jim and Jack, who had just finished their work, walked into the cabin and saw Li Wei busy in the kitchen.
Jim couldn't help but say emotionally:
"Boss, you are the best Boss in the world. I've decided, I'll entrust my 75 kilograms to you from now on."
"Jim, I wouldn't dare accept your 75 kilograms. Just keep it for your Ellie."
"Hehe..."
Just as Jim was still telling his story about him and Ellie, Jack had already washed his hands and stepped forward to help.
Seeing this, Jim immediately reacted.
By the time he wanted to step forward to help again, the small kitchen couldn't accommodate a third person. He could only quietly tidy up the cabin, hoping to earn some brownie points.
Li Wei, however, was unaware of their little thoughts.
With the help of this new force, Jack, the speed of cooking significantly increased.
Half an hour later, a table of delicious food appeared before everyone.
The four people, who were already starving, no longer cared about their image and picked up their knives and forks to eat heartily.
Seeing this, Li Wei also joined in. He directly tore off a King Crab leg, then, mimicking Jack, extracted the meat from the leg completely. Taking a bite was incredibly satisfying.
In his previous life, he had only eaten river crabs, swimming crabs, and mud crabs. If he had to say which type of crab he liked the most, it would definitely be the swimming crab, purely for that feeling of satisfaction from a bite.
Now, King Crab also gave him this feeling.
Unfortunately, what they caught today were all Golden King Crabs, and the meat in the legs was still a bit less.
There are three main types of King Crabs in the waters of Alaska: Red King Crab, Blue King Crab, and Golden King Crab.
Among them, the Red King Crab is the largest, followed by the Blue King Crab. The Golden King Crab is the smallest in size and has the least meat, so it is the least valuable.
Furthermore, one can get a sense of this from their fishing seasons.
Red and Blue King Crabs are allowed to be caught only from October to January of the following year, but the actual fishing time is only one or two weeks because the quota is simply not enough for fishing.
Golden King Crabs, on the other hand, are allowed to be caught all year round, and the quota is also very large, with basically not many restrictions.
By the time Li Wei refocused his attention on the dining table, only the bodies of the three King Crabs were left; there was no sign of the crab legs.
Li Wei's eye twitched uncontrollably as he watched.
He thought to himself, 'You guys are really...'
It wasn't surprising that Jim and the other two ate so quickly.
Although the waters of Alaska are rich in King Crab, it doesn't mean that King Crab is cheap.
Local people usually can't bear to buy King Crab either.
A situation like this, where you can eat as much as you want, only happens on a fishing vessel. In other places, you might not necessarily have this kind of treatment.
After the four people ate their fill, they decided to apply for a 40-ton black cod quota after the fishing vessel returned to port. As for more quota, they would have to purchase it from other Captains.
After a simple discussion, the wheelhouse duty was handed over to Jack.
Li Wei and the others returned to the cabin to rest.
Perhaps because he hadn't rested for the past two days, Li Wei fell asleep very quickly after lying down on the bed.
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