Chapter 552: Chapter 552

The edible portion of the thirty-plus-pound red fish was quite substantial, yielding over ten pounds of meat in total. The two of them ate to their heart’s content.

"The last time I enjoyed red fish this much was five years ago," Brother Jing sighed, glancing at the calm sea nearby. His hands itched as he moved to toss more Antarctic krill into the water.

"Stop tossing, Brother Jing! Look, I’ve already caught so many baitfish, just use those to fish, alright?" Han Qiwu quickly stopped him.

Don’t waste such good Antarctic krill!

Only then did Brother Jing notice the deck full of baitfish. His eyes lit up instantly, and without hesitating, he grabbed a few and began hooking them onto the fishing rods.

The allure of baitfish to red fish required no further explanation.

Three minutes later, a red fish bit Brother Jing’s line too.

But just as he reeled it in, the red fish gave a sudden violent shake. The immense force caused the entire boat to sway and nearly snapped the fishing line.

In this critical moment, Han Qiwu casually picked up a piece of ice and hurled it with force at the red fish.

The red fish, already surfacing, was hit squarely by Han Qiwu’s strike. Dazed, it instantly lost its strength to resist.

Brother Jing was thrilled at the sight, quickly hauling in the red fish.

"Xiao Han, your aim’s impressive! You must have thrown a lot of stones as a kid, huh?" Brother Jing exclaimed enthusiastically, hugging the red fish and handing his phone to Han Qiwu to snap a photo.

Han Qiwu reluctantly took the picture for him, chuckling as he said, "I perfected my aim herding sheep when I was younger."

"That’s amazing! Maybe I should find a flock to herd too. There are still five or six hours until sunset; let’s try to catch more. This trip’s fuel cost isn’t exactly cheap," Brother Jing declared confidently, tossing the red fish into the cooler.

Han Qiwu nodded and picked up his stealthy fishing rod, resuming his efforts.

The experience of catching red fish was rewarding. They were tasty too, and if they caught plenty, he could take some home for his parents to enjoy.

As Tang Jing steered the boat, he made an excited phone call. "Holy crap! I maxed out the hold! Both large coolers are completely full! What? Sardines? Are you dreaming? It’s all red fish!"

The pride in his tone was unmistakable.

Sitting nearby, Han Qiwu was helplessly resigned. This was the fifth call Brother Jing had made.

Listening to him prattle on, he picked up his phone instead and made a video call to Mr. Tang.

"How’s the haul? Did you enjoy fishing?" Tang Qingying asked curiously.

Han Qiwu nodded, walked over to one of the coolers, opened it, and smiled, "Not bad at all. Just the red fish filled two coolers. I’ll keep them chilled so we can cook them fresh when you come over next time."

Tang Qingying nodded repeatedly, exclaiming, "It’s been way too long since I last had red fish. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have come back so early today! Hmph!"

Han Qiwu reassured her, "It’s fine. Next time, if you feel like eating fresh fish, I’ll take you fishing—it’s really easy."

Tang Jing, who’d just hung up his call, immediately felt the urge to facepalm upon hearing this.

What’s easy about it?!

Well, sure, it was indeed simple for Han Qiwu.

Tang Jing still couldn’t understand how his meticulously assembled fishing gear couldn’t outperform Han Qiwu’s single rod.

Was stealth fishing gear really so great?

It had to be Han Qiwu’s incredible technique!

After chatting briefly, Tang Qingying brought up some good news: "Oh, by the way, the mid-term assessment doesn’t require everyone to gather. Our advisor will handle it on their own."

"Then I’ll preemptively thank the teacher for the perfect score," Han Qiwu said shamelessly.

Tang Qingying waved her small hand, "A perfect score depends on your performance. Later, you’ll have to give me a detailed rundown of your project progress—we’ll keep things fair!"

Han Qiwu nodded helplessly.

Good thing they earned 100,000 gold coins today. Otherwise, it really wouldn’t have been enough. Just initiating strawberry runner propagation nearly burned through everything.

And considering the project’s schedule, they couldn’t delay experimenting with the cauliflower field either.

This is too much to handle.

Back on shore, Han Qiwu couldn’t help but feel a little lightheaded underfoot.

After swaying on the water for so long.

Once the boat was securely docked, Tang Jing drove over to help transport Han Qiwu’s fish. After unloading, Tang Jing took his share and hurried off to town, eager to show off to his buddies.

Han Qiwu glanced at the sunset before putting everything away. Then, he reclined comfortably in his weathered chair for some rest.

Time seemed to flow slower and slower in that moment.

Feeling rested, he got up, walked into his miniature forest, and chopped down a few trees. He also prepared two more canning jars in the cellar, filling them with strawberries.

The grand strawberry jam project could not be paused!

After finishing up at home, he headed to the strawberry patch and eagerly touched a strawberry runner.

[Strawberry seedling (Editable)]

[Genes currently editable: Seed propagation (Enabled) Runner propagation (Disabled)]

[Enabling runner propagation requires 100,000 gold coins]

With 100,000 gold coins deducted, the strawberry seedling underwent a quick transformation. About ten miniature runners extended from the main stem, each emitting a faint glow, indicating they were ready to be harvested.

Han Qiwu tentatively plucked one of them.

[Growth time: Dependent on soil and planting conditions] ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ NoveI-Fire.ɴet

[Traits: Inherits from parent plant, only stable for one generation. Each parent plant can only produce runners once.]

[Note: Strawberries propagated from runners cannot be processed into system items.]

After reading the attributes, Han Qiwu felt both disappointed and thrilled.

Disappointed that runner propagation didn’t provide the desired template for tweaking strawberry seed propagation traits. It seemed he’d still need to research seed attributes himself.

Thrilled because finally, after so much effort, he had a way to replicate high-yield strawberries!

Asexual reproduction is truly divine!

Even though the trait stability only lasted one generation, it was still much more convenient than buying seeds. A single strawberry plant could yield over ten runners, making it easy to expand production rapidly!

It was a pity that strawberries propagated using runners couldn’t be sold or processed into system items. Otherwise, he could’ve gone into an infinite loop!

After harvesting the remaining nine runners, Han Qiwu stood and looked at the neighboring strawberry plants. Each plant was also sprouting ten runners.

"The hundred strawberry plants at home will yield a thousand runners altogether. Next, I’ll have to ask Mayor Niu about leasing a plot of land to grow strawberries for sale," Han Qiwu thought to himself, keeping his plan simple for now.

With such high-quality strawberries, selling them on the market seemed like an injustice. He’d need to figure out a solid strategy to build a reputation.

As for the variety name? Why not call it the King of Strawberries!