Chapter 162 - 157: Uncle, Are You Calling Me?
After more than half a month of practice, Li Xindong had perfected the art of catching Jumping Fish. While Xu An was still trying to guess what creatures lived inside the countless mud holes—some round, some flat, some large, some small—Li Xindong, right beside him, was nabbing one with every attempt. Each time he made a move, another Jumping Fish was sure to meet its maker.
After more than an hour of diligent work, by the time his back felt like it no longer belonged to him, Xu An had caught a grand total of seven Jumping Fish. Two of them weren’t even the size of his pinky. He guessed they were probably the playful youngsters from some Jumping Fish family who had snuck out to play, only to be nabbed by him.
He glanced over at Li Xindong, who, from the moment he’d stepped onto the mudflats, had been like a tireless robot: inspecting a mud hole, swinging his hoe, catching a Jumping Fish, and tossing it into his creel...
Xu An snuck up behind him and peeked into his creel. The fish inside were all plump and healthy. Any one of them looked like it was worth ten of the ones Xu An had caught!
’A pro is a pro for a reason!’
Setting aside his worthless competitive streak, Xu An leaned on his hoe and made idle chitchat with Li Xindong. Perhaps because he was so focused on fishing, Li Xindong answered just about anything Xu An asked.
"How much is the tuition for repeating the year? Does the school have any kind of waiver policy?"
"They do. Students who scored high enough for a bachelor’s program can repeat the year tuition-free. Students who qualified for a junior college only have to pay half tuition. Anyone with scores lower than that has to pay in full."
Xu An nodded, lost in thought. ’So it wasn’t just Li Xindong’s phone and bike that were stolen—the 1,500 yuan he was carrying for his tuition was taken too! Just how many food deliveries and Jumping Fish would it take to earn all that money back?!’
"School starts in just over a week. Once classes begin, you won’t have time for deliveries or catching Jumping Fish. Do you have enough for your living expenses?" Xu An asked.
"It’s enough." Li Xindong didn’t stop what he was doing, replying without even turning his head. "In the time I have left before school starts, I can still make another four or five hundred yuan from deliveries. And the Jumping Fish are going for forty yuan a jin these days. I can catch three or four jin a day, so that’s over a hundred yuan daily. By the time classes start, I should have about 1,400 or 1,500 yuan. If I’m frugal, that’s enough to get me through a semester, no problem."
Then, Li Xindong added in a deliberately casual tone, "Besides, you know how cheap the school cafeteria is. A meal is only two or three yuan, so my food budget for a month will only be two or three hundred."
Seeing that Li Xindong had it all planned out, Xu An didn’t press the issue. After saying, "I’m gonna go rest on the shore," he trudged laboriously toward the bank, one step at a time. The mud wasn’t deep, but its suction was strong, making every step an effort.
Sitting by the side of the road, he pulled a water bottle from his creel. He wiped his hands on a clean patch of his clothes, twisted open the cap, and took a gulp of water, feeling instantly refreshed.
’Jumping Fish might fetch a high price, but this wasn’t a job just anyone could do. When it came to pure strength, Xu An was as strong as anyone on these mudflats. But catching Jumping Fish required more than just strength—it took patience, endurance, and core strength! Untrained as he was, how could he possibly compete with these guys?’
After catching his breath for a few moments, Xu An started looking around, observing the vast mudflats.
There were plenty of people out on the mudflats catching Jumping Fish. He could see a dozen or so nearby, with even more in the distance. As his gaze swept across the bustling figures, Xu An suddenly noticed five dark silhouettes standing off to the side, just talking. He squinted. ’The more I look at those five figures, the more they look like Professor Yu and his four students.’
After taking samples yesterday afternoon, Professor Yu had taken them to Hai City Nautical College to be analyzed. The results wouldn’t be ready so quickly, however. He had spent all morning in his hotel, and after lunch, feeling too restless to stay put any longer, he called his students to join him for more fieldwork on the mudflats.
Without a huge crowd following them, they could move about more freely and were able to observe more than they had the previous day. After wandering the mudflats for over an hour, they discovered a strange area.
It was normal for the part of the mudflats near the road to have less wildlife, given the people, traffic, and noise. The central area, where most of the harvesters searched for Jumping Fish and mud worms, showed normal signs and numbers of creatures. But the farther south they walked, the fewer signs of life they found. In the spot where they now stood, the only things they saw were a few small crabs scuttling past in a hurry, looking as if they didn’t want to linger for even a second.
Professor Yu bent down, scooped up a handful of mud, and brought it to his nose. Besides the pungent, fishy stench of the silt, there seemed to be another, unidentifiable smell mixed in. But when he crumbled the mud apart to examine it closely, he couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary.
How strange.
"Xing, take a sample from this part of the mudflats. We’ll analyze it back at the lab and see if we can figure out what’s causing this," Professor Yu said, tossing the mud from his hand back onto the ground and turning to the student with the backpack.
"Yes, Professor." The student, Xing, quickly pulled various sampling tools from his backpack and began taking samples from every aspect of the area.
"Professor, what do you think of this area? Could we conduct our research project here?" another student asked, sidling up to him curiously. He was quite pleased with the location; the mudflats were pristine and untouched by development. With a little work, they could be turned into a prime aquaculture farm.