Chapter 274: As Zhou Fu Predicted, the Night Golden Rush
Chapter 274: As Zhou Fu Predicted, the Night Golden Rush
Jiang Xia heard the horn and looked out the window, seeing a larger fishing boat approaching their vessel.
Zhou Chenglei was also awakened by the noise and got up, peeking out the window. He quickly grabbed the shirt hanging on the wall and put it on, saying, "I'll go check on the fish transport ship."
"Are you selling the fish?" Jiang Xia asked.
"No, we'll sell them after docking. The Huizhui Conference is about to start, and the fish we caught today are good. We'll get a better price at the pier."
There was less than half an hour left before docking, and a fish transport ship was coming to collect fish, leading Zhou Chenglei to suspect they were looking for a bargain.
Zhou Chenglei, worried that Zhou Fu might sell the fish, put on his shirt, not even bothering to button it up, and quickly grabbed his pants.
The two ships were already close outside the window, so Jiang Xia stepped forward to help him button the top two buttons of his shirt.
Zhou Chenglei fastened his belt, placed his hands on her waist, and hugged her, letting her button his shirt.
"Done. Let's go out."
"Mhm." Zhou Chenglei wanted to take a bowl to wash, but the corridor was too narrow, and Jiang Xia was at the desk, blocking his path. He hugged her, steadying her body, then leaned over and stretched his arm to grab the enamel bowl from the desk.
Jiang Xia, still in his embrace, said, "I'll take it out to wash. I was afraid of waking you earlier, so I didn't go out."
"I know. It doesn't matter who washes it." Zhou Chenglei leaned down to kiss her before letting go, "I'll go out first. You pack our things; we'll be docking soon."
"Okay."
Zhou Chenglei turned and opened the door, then closed it behind him.
Jiang Xia gathered their used towels, mouthwash cups, and other items.
As expected, Zhou Fu was negotiating the purchase price with the other ship.
After listening to their offer, Zhou Chenglei found the price to be slightly higher, by a few cents or a dime per pound, than what they had encountered in the open sea. This price was within the normal range, neither too low nor too high.
He said, "We went out to sea last night and are here for the Huizhui Conference. We don't have much fish to sell now, but hopefully, we'll have a chance to meet again in the open sea."
Upon hearing that they had gone out to sea the night before and were attending the Huizhui Conference, the other party realized they couldn't get a bargain.
Since the other party was also attending the Huizhui Conference, they were likely engaged in seafood exports.
The ship owner smiled and exchanged a few polite words before ordering his crew to depart.
After the ship left, Zhou Fu said, "The price isn't low. It's five to ten cents per pound higher than what we got in the open sea, and some are even twenty cents higher. But the fuel cost for returning from the open sea isn't small. Still, we can make a good profit, and the price might increase by one or two cents per pound when we dock."
Zhou Chenglei replied, "The Huizhui Conference starts in three days. At this time, seafood import and export processing companies will stock up on raw materials or sources. We'll dock, check the prices, and then sell."
Zhou Fu agreed, seeing the logic. There was no need to rush, as they were about to dock.
Zhou Fu hadn't heard of the Huizhui Conference before, so his thinking didn't go in that direction.
Zhou Chenglei's guess was correct. Twenty minutes later, when they docked at a fishing pier, several seafood processing companies' buyers and middlemen immediately approached them to inquire about selling fish.
Zhou Chenglei asked about their prices, and they offered similar rates, with some fish being bought at a slightly higher price and others at a lower price.
Each type of fish was five to ten cents per pound more expensive than the fish transport ship's offer. Some major exporters even offered thirty cents more per pound.
Don't underestimate a one or two cents difference; it adds up over ten tons of fish.
In the end, Zhou Chenglei sold the fish to a large and reputable seafood company he had heard of, hoping for future cooperation.
The purchasing station would continue to buy fish daily, but with the ongoing reform and opening-up, there might not be a need for such stations in the future.
In any case, Zhou Chenglei asked detailed questions and negotiated carefully, but without much haggling.
This large company, as long as they procure properly, usually sets stable prices.
Jiang Xia remained by Zhou Chenglei's side, listening without speaking. However, when Zhou Chenglei showed interest in selling the fish to this seafood company, Jiang Xia glanced at him.
Although Zhou Chenglei was discussing business, he always kept a part of his mind focused on Jiang Xia. Noticing her glance, he looked down at her and asked, "Do you think we should sell at this price?"
Jiang Xia, being intelligent, meticulous, and far-sighted, worried that Zhou Chenglei might overlook something.
Jiang Xia shook her head, "Your decision is fine."
She admired his ability to plan several steps ahead.
They looked at each other, and Zhou Chenglei saw the light in her eyes—a light that appeared only when she trusted and admired someone.
Zhou Chenglei's lips curved slightly upward; she understood him.
"Then let's sell the fish to Yang Kezhang," he said.
Jiang Xia nodded, "Okay."
Then, Zhou Chenglei went to start the boat, and the two boats found a place to transfer the cargo.
The Hongsheng Seafood Import and Export Processing Company was not based in Suicheng, and they transported their purchased seafood by water.
There were also local seafood processing companies, but Zhou Chenglei didn't choose them.
After the two boats were docked side by side, Jiang Yang and the others quickly unloaded the fish from the freezer compartment at the bottom of the boat.
Jiang Xia watched as basket after basket of mackerel was unloaded, handed over to the other boat's workers, and then passed to another worker who loaded them into the freezer.
Jiang Xia thought of conveyor belts.
If there was a conveyor system, it would be so much more convenient and effortless!
Find Jiang Dong! This design isn't difficult at all, and the principle is simple.
Yang Youbang, the purchasing department manager of Hongsheng Seafood Processing Company, saw that some of the fish weren't fully frozen, but their sheen and color were excellent, indicating freshness. He smiled and asked, "Were these mackerels just caught recently?"
Zhou Chenglei replied, "All the fish were caught at 5 AM this morning, and we only caught one netful."
Yang Youbang nodded, but as he continued nodding, he felt something was off. Didn't the other party just say they had over three thousand pounds of fish?
Usually, one basket weighs fifty pounds, so one netful would be around ten to twenty thousand pounds. In reality, ten to twenty thousand pounds of fish isn't much for their company.
Ten to twenty thousand pounds of fish, if they were mackerels weighing two to three pounds each, would only be a few tens of thousands of fish. It's not uncommon to encounter a few large schools of fish.
Their company's boats go to the open sea, the real deep sea, to fish, and they've caught over a hundred tons in one netful. Of course, the company's boats are much larger than Zhou Chenglei's, they're hundred-meter-long fishing vessels.
His twenty-meter-long boat isn't sufficient for the real deep sea.
However, they are here to attend the Huizhui Conference, and they just happened to catch this netful on their way, in the inner sea. Catching ten thousand pounds here is indeed quite lucky.
"You're really lucky!" Yang Youbang exclaimed.
Zhou Chenglei just smiled.
It took over an hour to transfer all the fish to the other boat.
The mackerels were priced at 45 yuan per basket, the bonitos at 40 yuan per basket, and the Greenland halibut, being more valuable, at 80 yuan per basket.
In the end, they rounded up and sold this netful for 10,188 yuan.
As Zhou Fu had predicted, it was a golden rush at night.
Although the Huizhui Conference hadn't started yet, there were already foreign merchants, and their company had received a large order. Yang Kezhang, the purchasing manager, was still making purchases, and he promptly paid the money and continued to look for large ships to buy fish.
Ten thousand yuan was a significant amount for Zhou Fu, something he had never dared to imagine earning in his lifetime. However, for Yang Youbang, the purchasing manager of a large state-owned import and export company, it wasn't much. He handled large sums of money daily, so he wasn't impressed, as he was used to it.
Therefore, when Zhou Fu heard ten thousand yuan, he was so excited that his hands trembled slightly, but Yang Youbang was accustomed to it, and his expression didn't change at all as he handed over the money.
Yang Bin and the others also sold their caught fish for around three hundred yuan each, and with the two hundred yuan bonus Zhou Chenglei gave them, they were all delighted. Their wages for going out to sea would be calculated separately.
Everyone was overjoyed!
Zhou Chenglei left two thousand yuan with Zhou Fu for gas and reserves, and then he and Jiang Xia took their travel bags and a large sum of money to take a taxi to the hotel.
(End of Chapter)
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