My fishing raft will ask for help.

Chapter 5: Truly Missing

Back at the dock, after saying goodbye to Yu Muzhou, Zhou Miao boarded his small sampan and went back to the fish raft.

First, put away the fishing rods and other equipment, then bring along the newly purchased oxygenator.

Back at the dock, Zhou Miao scanned a shared electric scooter.

This electric cart is a bit small, but it fits perfectly in his fish bucket, and the oxygenator is placed on it.

Zhou Miao turned the accelerator and headed towards the town's vegetable market.

It was a little past four in the afternoon, and the street in front of the market was quite lively, with stalls everywhere on both sides.

Most of them sell vegetables, and a few sell cooked food.

After parking his car, Zhou Miao carried the fish bucket and oxygenator to a nearby convenience store to buy some thick plastic bags before setting up his stall on the roadside.

"Selling fish, all freshly caught black sea bream."

"Sea fishing for black sea bream, all wild black sea bream."

I called out a couple of times, thinking that selling in small quantities like this would be difficult and take a long time.

To everyone's surprise, after only two shouts, several people gathered around, all craning their necks to look into the fish bucket.

"Did you go out to sea to fish by yourself?" asked the only man among them.

"Yes, we went out fishing by boat around noon, near Sanshi Reef."

"How much per pound?"

"Forty-one jin."

Zhou Miao had already asked Yu Muzhou about the price, so they decided to sell it at the market price he suggested.

"These black sea bream, weighing less than a pound, have tender and delicious meat. Would you like one?"

"It's a bit pricey, can you make it cheaper?"

"I'll round it down for you later! They're all live fish, much better than frozen or long-raised fish at the market."

"Okay, give me two."

"Okay!" Zhou Miao quickly took out a plastic bag, put the two black sea bream selected by the customer into it, and then used a fish gripper as a scale to weigh them.

"Look, 800 grams is 1.6 jin, which is 64 yuan in total. You can just give me 60 yuan."

The male customer was a little bothered by the water in the bag, but when he heard that they had indeed rounded down the price by four yuan, he silently took out his phone and paid.

After that customer left, the other female customers hesitated for a moment before leaving as well.

Clearly, the price of 41 kilograms was unacceptable to them.

Zhou Miao wasn't in a hurry to lower prices to retain customers. Since he had just arrived, he definitely wanted to sell some products first.

"Black sea bream...wild black sea bream...just caught black sea bream..."

One group of people left, and soon another group arrived.

Older people ask about the price, and if they hear it's forty-one kilograms, they usually turn around and leave.

Customers in their thirties and forties, however, showed a much stronger willingness to buy.

Therefore, the actual situation was much better than Zhou Miao had expected. Before the sun had even set, all twenty-three black sea bream he had sold were gone.

Zhou Miao took out his phone and calculated the bill; it came to 660.

Because many odd amounts were rounded down, it ended up being a whole number.

Not counting the lucky black hair and the sea red grouper that he caught thanks to the system, a daily income of 660 is already quite a lot for him, but he still needs to factor in the costs.

Today's bait, plus a box of secret Antarctic krill bait, will cost around one hundred yuan.

A normal boat fare for a fishing trip at sea can be two or three hundred yuan.

The main problem is that it's not consistent enough. You might catch a lot today, but you might not catch as much tomorrow or the day after.

Moreover, the proportion of fish suitable for sale was too low. He fished almost one after another in the afternoon, but in the end, only a mere twenty-three fish remained, which was estimated to be less than one-third of the total number of fish caught.

Therefore, although Zhou Miao was happy, he never gave up the idea of ​​running a fish raft and becoming a professional angler.

He poured the water from the fish bucket into the drain next to him, put the oxygenator and the bag in, and then carried the fish bucket to a small stir-fry restaurant not far away for a meal.

The binding system made Zhou Miao feel much more relaxed, and he ordered two meat dishes to treat himself.

While waiting, Zhou Miao was scrolling through his WeChat Moments when he unexpectedly saw two photos of fish posted by Yu Muzhou. The main subject was the two fish that Zhou Miao had sold to him that day, which made Zhou Miao smile knowingly.

It's good that he likes to show off; that will make it easier for him to sell fish at higher prices in the future.

Then Zhou Miao looked at the fishing group he had just joined, which was full of photos of fish showing off by experienced anglers.

Occasionally, you can see photos of girls with amazing figures fishing with fishing rods, or posing with fish.

This made him raise an eyebrow. Fishing among a group of anglers, huh?

Just as I was admiring the beautiful women's figures, my phone screen suddenly went black, followed by a vibration and a ringtone.

It was an unfamiliar phone call, and as someone from the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region, he instinctively hung up.

I can't even get through to 10086, let alone these unfamiliar phone numbers.

But less than three seconds later, the number called again.

Zhou Miao frowned and hung up again.

But the other party seemed determined and persistently called a third time.

"Could they know each other?"

If they call back after being hung up twice, they probably know each other.

Zhou Miao answered the phone, and a clear, pleasant voice came through the receiver.

"Hey~ Is that Brother Zhou Miao?"

The word "brother" immediately put Zhou Miao on alert, because he didn't recognize the voice.

"I'm Zhou Miao, who are you?"

"I am Lu Xiaoxiao, Lu Xingyu's younger sister."

"Sister Ayu?" Zhou Miao was a little surprised; it was actually her calling.

He knew that Lu Xingyu had a younger sister, and he had met her when they were in school, but he hadn't recognized her for many years since he started working.

"Um, Brother Zhou Miao, have you still not been able to contact my brother?"

"No, you didn't find him either?"

"Yes, my family is frantic with worry. If you hadn't called a few days ago, we wouldn't have known he was missing."

"Have you... reported this to the police?"

Zhou Miao was surprised that Lu Xingyu had actually become a missing person. The suspicion and resentment she had felt towards him immediately dissipated, replaced by a sense of worry.

"I just went there today, but I can't get in touch with my brother, so we can't file a case immediately. I called you to ask you to help me contact your friends and see if they might be with them."

"My brother and dad had a fight a while ago. He always hides away when he's angry. Will he do the same this time?"

Zhou Miao was very familiar with this. Lu Xingyu's relationship with his parents was so-so. Every time they argued, he would ignore them for a while.

But if someone can be contacted, they will know where he is, and he won't disappear.

Zhou Miao frowned deeply. Could something really have happened?

But to Lu Xiaoxiao, he could only comfort her: "That's probably it. He has a bit of a strange temper. Maybe he's secretly gone somewhere to clear his head. We'll be able to contact him in a couple of days."

"Don't worry, I'll keep contacting my friends and see if anyone knows where he is."

"Okay, thank you for your help."

"It's no trouble at all; I'd be worried if I couldn't get in touch with them."

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Miao added Lu Xiaoxiao's phone number to her contacts and then contacted her friends on WeChat, telling them that Lu Xingyu's family was worried and had already called the police.

If someone truly knew his whereabouts but kept it a secret, they would surely tell him the truth now that his family has reported him to the police.

We're all adults here; we know our limits.

But after asking around, no one knew his whereabouts.

Zhou Miao was now at a loss. Perhaps Lu Xingyu had other friends, but Lu Xiaoxiao and her family had to contact them themselves.

After dinner, he added Lu Xiaoxiao on WeChat and told her the results on his end. Then Zhou Miao went to prepare for fishing for sea bream that night.

He was worried that the sea bream at night would find the Antarctic shrimp lacking in meat, so he bought a pound of farmed whiteleg shrimp here.

Considering that he wanted to fish at night and that there was no electricity on the fishing raft, Zhou Miao came to the fishing tackle shop for the third time.

The boss greeted him with a warm smile as soon as he saw him.

Zhou Miao spent nearly 1,500 yuan here today, making him a big customer.

However, this time he only bought two headlamps for nighttime lighting.

Back at the fishing raft, the rafts next to him were brightly lit, while his side was dark.

Once the sun has completely set, this place will turn pitch black.

The fishing rafts next to them all use wind, solar, and energy storage microgrid systems. A medium-sized system would cost at least 200,000 yuan, which Zhou Miao didn't have.

What intrigued him even more was how these fish rafts would cope if a typhoon came.