"No, this is all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!"
"What kind of misunderstanding? I'm sure you're extorting and robbing!"
Seeing the police about to take him away, the reservoir owner immediately spoke up, but just as he finished, Zheng Jianping calmly said.
Hearing Zheng Jianping's words, the reservoir owner was momentarily speechless. He wanted to explain something, but at that moment Zheng Jianping had already left his own phone number, and then Xiang Ye and the others, carrying their catch, went to the car, temporarily suppressing their dissatisfaction. Now was the time to be happy, because it was time to share the fish!
Of course, Xiang Ye would never take all the fish by himself; that would be too inconsiderate.
After discussing among themselves, Xiang Ye and the others decided that today's big blue fish—the one weighing over thirty-two Jin—would be eaten directly. Since they went fishing, they definitely wanted to drink.
Then the remaining eight Topmouth Culters would be divided, one each, except for Xiang Ye, who would keep the last Common Carp and three Topmouth Culters.
After dividing the fish, Xiang Ye and his group each drove back to the city.
Originally, they thought they might not return until around three or four in the afternoon, but because of the incident, they were back in the city by just after noon.
Huang Kai first took Xiang Ye and the others to find a small restaurant that specialized in iron pot stew. They casually ate some stir-fried dishes to whet their appetites, then left the big blue fish there, planning to have a whole fish feast in the evening. After that, Xiang Ye and the others all went home first.
Around five o'clock in the evening, they took a taxi to the gathering. Although this was the first time Xiang Ye had met Liu Guangqing and the others, it was clear they got along well, especially since Xiang Ye had given them fish today, which gave them face back home. So, they definitely had to drink a bit tonight.
After Xiang Ye and Ai Bai returned home, they each took a shower and changed into clean clothes, then rested until about five p.m., before going downstairs to take a taxi to the party location.
When they entered the private room, they saw most of the people had arrived. Except for Zheng Jianping, everyone else was there. Besides Liu Guangqing and Qi Hongbo who went fishing today, there were two people Xiang Ye did not know but Ai Bai recognized.
One was Yuan Guangtao, currently the largest gold shop owner in the city.
The other was Zhao Lei, Ai Bai's direct boss. However, Zhao Lei clearly didn't know who Ai Bai was, which made Ai Bai a bit embarrassed.
After all, today was not a day off, and Ai Bai actually followed Huang Kai and the others to go fishing, so he had kept a low profile since entering the room.
Xiang Ye didn't mind the two extra people, since they were all in the same group, and besides, the fish was really too much for Xiang Ye and the others to finish.
After waiting less than five minutes, Zheng Jianping arrived last. Once he came, Liu Guangqing immediately called the waiter to start serving dishes.
Then the whole fish feast officially began.
The main dish was naturally the iron pot stew, a big iron pot cooked over a wood fire. The scent of the firewood mixed with the aroma of fish and soybean paste made Xiang Ye and Ai Bai, both craving the flavors of their hometown, salivate uncontrollably!
Of course, iron pot stew needs to be cooked for a long time, but there were other dishes to eat as well. A whole fish feast would never consist of only iron pot stew.
Actually, only half of the fish was used for the iron pot stew; the rest was made into seven other dishes.
The fish head was made into Hunan-style chopped chili fish head. Some fillets from the body were cooked as spicy boiled fish. The meat from the tail was made into clear fish soup meatballs. The fish bones were deep-fried. The blue fish's belly contained fish roe, which was taken out to make fish roe sauce tofu. The fish skin was made into fish skin jelly.
In addition, the restaurant also gifted two cold dishes, all of which made Xiang Ye's appetite surge.
"Come on, don't be polite, start eating!"
Seeing the dishes come out, Huang Kai called everyone to start eating, and Xiang Ye and the others happily obliged.
Xiang Ye first tried the spicy boiled fish. To be honest, he really had not eaten blue fish much before.
Although this was not the very first time, it was still quite rare.
After biting into a piece of blue fish meat, he pondered for a moment.
Among common freshwater fish, the worst tasting was probably the Common Carp, because Common Carp eat anything and live at the bottom, so their flesh has a muddy smell. Wild ones are better, but farmed ones are particularly strong in that muddy odor.
That is also why Common Carp is the cheapest fish.
Grass Carp has the most tender meat and almost no muddy taste, but has one fatal flaw—too many bones. Xiang Ye was not good at picking bones, so he didn't like eating Grass Carp.
Blue fish meat, although not as tender as Grass Carp, was extremely delicious. But eating too much could feel greasy. Of course, this mainly applied to farmed fish. Wild blue fish are more active, so their taste is fresh and crisp, without the greasiness.
Moreover, the greasiness mostly comes from the fish skin, which the chef had already peeled off and made into fish skin jelly. Dipped in soy sauce with minced garlic, it was not greasy at all—in fact, it was a perfect palate cleanser!
After eating fish for a while, Zheng Jianping spoke up.
"Come on, have a drink. What do you want? Beer or white liquor?"
"With so much good food, beer would fill us up too quickly. Let's go with white liquor today!" Liu Guangqing said, looking at the table full of dishes.
Since someone brought it up, Xiang Ye and the others naturally had no objections. White liquor it was!
After Zheng Jianping went out and returned, he was already holding six bottles of Maotai.
Wow, eight people and six bottles of Maotai. Looks like no one would leave sober today!
As everyone ate fish and poured drinks, after two cups down, their conversations gradually opened up.
"I could have arrived earlier. Before coming, the police station called me and said today's matter delayed me a bit," Zheng Jianping was the first to speak.
"How was it handled in the end?" Liu Guangqing asked.
"What else could they do? After all, it was only about two thousand yuan, and we already took the fish. So, they just warned him and let him go. But I've already contacted the Industry and Commerce Bureau to fine him. That bastard dared to cheat us, so at least he should pay a price. I also spread the news about what happened today. Let's see who'd dare fish at his place again."
Mentioning this, Zheng Jianping couldn't help but sound angry.
"It's already spread around. Anyway, people we know probably won't go there again," Huang Kai chuckled. He had already spread the news on the way back.
"But it's a pity about that place. The fish there were really quite good and big!"
Hearing their words, Xiang Ye sighed and said somewhat regretfully.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]