Chapter Thirty-Three: New Intelligence, The Catch

Morning, living room, a man, a cat.

Because of the Friday rush, Chen Zhou felt noticeably fatigued after waking up. He couldn't help but mutter to himself:

"More tiring than making steamed buns."

"Let me check the intelligence. If there’s nothing urgent, I’ll take the day off. It’s a perfect chance to take the kid out for some fun."

At 7:30, the intelligence refreshed:

[Ingredient News (Rare)]: Crabs at the Coastal Park love pork liver drizzled with milk. The best fishing spot is located at xxxx. Heading there today promises a bountiful catch.

Since his cat, a regular diner, was sprawled out right by his feet, Chen Zhou almost mistook this for a notification about his customer when he first saw it. Why would the crabs’ culinary preferences show up in his intelligence feed?

However, reading the latter half, he realized the crabs were the ones being eaten. They were, naturally, ingredients.

Going to the beach to catch crabs... his wife and Taotao would surely be interested. Once the traps were set, they could also forage for clams, sea snails, and oysters along the shore.

It was just that the combination of milk and pork liver was a bit unexpected. Who knew crabs had such a taste for it?

The second piece of intelligence—

[Customer Trends]: Starting the day after tomorrow, the number of customers at the steamed bun stall will see a significant increase! Please be prepared.

A major surge in customers!

Chen Zhou felt a flicker of excitement. His business was finally gaining some real traction. The direct cause for this was likely quite simple: Teacher Li was probably about to post the video of his bun stall on her account. Xiao Sui was quite efficient at organizing footage and editing videos.

This was the true benefit of the intelligence feed. Without this heads-up, he might have been caught completely off guard, leaving customers empty-handed.

"I’ll need to prepare more meat filling and dough. If that’s not enough, I’ll just add another steamer."

Finally,

[Market News]: Zhang Jinseng, the owner of Yongjia Fresh, is feeling down today after being scolded by his daughter for being twenty minutes late to pick her up yesterday.

He hadn't expected that the somewhat fierce-looking Old Zhang would have absolutely no spine when it came to his daughter. The man’s tough persona was practically crumbling. Though Chen Zhou, as a father himself, felt a bit bad for Old Zhang’s loss of face, he had to admit that appearing in the intelligence feed twice meant Old Zhang was quite the character.

Chen Zhou took out his phone and messaged him on WeChat:

"Brother, I’m taking the day off. Please save a piece of pork liver for me; I’ll stop by to pick it up in a bit."

AA Fresh Zhang Jinseng: "OK [Grin]"

He must be forcing a smile.

After waking up his wife and child, as soon as Chen Zhou mentioned going to the beach, Taotao leaped off her little bed in excitement.

***

Mrs. Lin, who grew up in the Guanzhong region, also maintained a certain fondness for the seaside, having visited it with Chen Zhou a few times before. She blocked Chen Taotao’s frantic movements and issued a clear command:

"Go wash your face. Mommy will put sunscreen on you in a minute."

Then she turned to Chen Zhou to discuss the logistics for the beach trip. "Remember to bring the parasol, water, folding stools..."

Chen Zhou put his hands on his hips. "I’ll leave it to you, dear. Hunting is a man’s job!"

Lin Yifan couldn't help but smile at Chen Zhou’s antics.

Milk was already a pantry staple in their house due to the steamed bun production. As for the crab traps, they had bought some back when they last visited the beach. Although there were a few holes and they had been sitting idle, they could still be used with a little mending.

As the old saying goes, "Three years new, three years old, three years patched and mended."

Chen Zhou tinkered for a while and finally got the traps fixed. He said to his wife:

"I’ll move these to the car first. You drive over to the market entrance and pick me up later!"

"Okay."

Taotao, half-covered in sunscreen, heard this and quickly turned her head: "Daddy, I want to go too!"

Chen Zhou turned her little head back. He thought to himself, *You’d better not go. I don't think your Uncle Zhang could handle it.*

...

When he arrived at the market, Chen Zhou saw Old Zhang looking sullen from a distance. He lacked his usual energy, failing to shout his signature, "Buy some meat, brother!" to passersby.

Seeing this, Chen Zhou tried to cheer him up:

"What’s wrong, Old Zhang? Run into some trouble?"

Hearing a voice, Old Zhang realized it was Chen Zhou. He said dismissively:

"Eh, it’s nothing. Didn't sleep well this morning."

...Old Zhang wasn't taking the bait.

Chen Zhou had to change tactics: "Brother, your daughter is going on break soon, right? Didn't you cook anything good for her at home?"

Old Zhang perked up a bit.

"My girl loves seafood. You’ve reminded me—I should buy her some tonight."

As he spoke, he remembered the pork liver Chen Zhou had requested earlier. He reached under the stall and pulled out a red plastic bag. "Here you go, brother. A piece of liver doesn't cost much."

Chen Zhou didn't stand on ceremony. "Wait for me to come back; I'll share some crabs with you."

"Huh?"

...

After Mrs. Lin picked up Chen Zhou, they drove from the market straight toward the sea. Halfway to the Coastal Park, they could already see the long, narrow coastline.

Looking into the distance, it was a vast expanse of blue. The weather was perfect today—not too sunny—and since the first day of the lunar month had just passed, the tides were favorable. Consequently, there were quite a few people at the park.

The family of three grabbed their gear and walked the rest of the way. A sea breeze blew past, carrying a salty, damp scent.

On the sea wall, many children were gathered by the small drainage holes, each holding a thin string. Some were intensely focused, while others were content to let the catch come to them.

Taotao watched with great interest.

"Daddy, I want to fish too."

"You play with Mommy first. I’ll come find you in a bit."

On the nearby rocky beach, others were also stooped over, foraging for seafood. Mrs. Lin and Taotao kept their activities within these safe areas.

Chen Zhou climbed onto the stone pier that extended out from the park. This was the spot marked in the intelligence feed. There were no children here, as it was a bit dangerous. Instead, it was mostly occupied by hardcore fishing enthusiasts.

Chen Zhou took out his gear. He drizzled the milk over the pork liver and tucked it into the bait pouch. Then, he let out the rope, twisted his waist, and with a grunt of "Heave!" tossed the crab trap into the sea.

At that moment, a middle-aged man who had just unhooked a pink plastic slipper from his fishing line pointed with his toe at a piece of exposed rebar nearby.

He said to Chen Zhou:

"Buddy, you can tie your rope to that."

Chen Zhou smiled and thanked him for the tip. After securing his rope, he looked at what was on the man’s hook.

"Oh, you caught something?"

The man tossed the slipper onto the pier and compared it to the size of his foot. Then, he pointed to his bucket. "I catch everything except fish."

"Look, there are crabs too."

Chen Zhou glanced into his catch bucket. The crabs today were truly large, almost the size of his fist.