At 4:45 a.m., two wet figures crawled out of the water near the Tsukiji Market in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, walked fifty meters along the path at the back entrance of the market, and prying open the door of a hut and entered. Ten minutes later, two Orientals in jackets entered the Tsukiji Market, carrying large coolers in their hands, looking like chefs from a small restaurant who had come in with them for early purchases.

Founded in 1923, Tsukiji Market is the largest wholesale market in Tokyo, Japan, and the world, and now covers an area of 250,000 square meters, with more than one million tons of goods in circulation and more than one trillion yen in daily transactions. Tsukiji Market is naturally best known for its fresh fish, and the seafood market, controlled by eight major wholesalers and nearly 1,000 agents, is a mecca for the entire Tokyo food scene, and is now packed with restaurant buyers, middlemen and chefs.

"Lao Qian, Lao Qian, do we need a pseudonym?" Gu Tie took his elbow and pestle to his partner next to him, and smiled evilly: "What if someone can recognize us? I'm a nobody, but you're a big guy with a reward of more than $500,000 at GTC, $500,000! Obediently, if you were in China, there would be 10,000 old men and old ladies who would take your photos and carry wooden sticks to block you on the street every day." ”

The Ryukyuan man glanced at him expressionlessly: "I never show people my true face, what's the use of photos?"

The Chinese exclaimed: "That is to say, you also wear a mask when you are with your wife and children? Then how slow does your wife have to be to not be able to see it for so many years! Don't you feel weird when you kiss your mouth? How do you shave? Won't the mask become stinky after a long time? Do you want to take it off and wash it? Just like in "Painted Skin"? If you take off your mask and are discovered, will you kill people and kill your mouth?"

Yuyama Asada knew that the best way to deal with the other party was to not say a word, close his mouth tightly and squeeze through the crowd. At this time, the crowd suddenly changed direction in a chaotic manner, "It's time!" I don't know who let out a shout, and the flow of people began to surge in one direction, enveloping Gu Tie and Asada as well. The Ryukyuan people angrily stretched out their long arms to push away the people around them, but Gu Tie smiled and said: "If you squeeze past the bus in Beijing, you will know, in this case, it is best to protect your bag and follow the group, it is useless to resist, you have to go where the masses go!"

Five o'clock in the morning is the official start of the auction, the first to bid for the freshness of the sea urchin, small wholesalers from three o'clock in the morning, marking their favorite goods one by one, at this time began to bid enthusiastically. The seller and the buyer communicate in the form of singing, buying, selling, singing In a short time, the sea urchins worth tens of millions of yen were divided, and the crowd poured in the other direction, and the tuna auction was about to begin.

"What a big bluefin tuna!" Gu Tie, who was mixed with the flow of people, saw the goods auctioned today from afar, and not only exclaimed. The fresh tuna displayed in front of the main wholesaler's "Fujitaya" stall is of the highest quality, and the giant bluefin tuna in particular is the best, and although this species is the largest of the tuna, this large fish with a weight of 320 kilograms is also extremely rare.

"In Japan, it's called tuna. Let's get out of here. Asada said impatiently.

At this time, the owner of Fujitaya announced the start of the auction, and the first one to appear was this signature tuna, and a middleman immediately offered a price of 7 million yen, equivalent to 21,875 yen per kilogram, and according to the market screen, the average transaction price of fresh tuna in the last seven days was only 12,000 yen per kilogram. The bigger the fish, the more precious it is, this is the basic rule of the seafood market, and the most luxurious Japanese dish in legend is to serve whole raw tuna, which is specified by the customer, and the chef cuts the fish on the spot to make sashimi and sushi.

This was just the beginning, and the bidding continued to soar, soon surpassing the 20 million yen mark, and the weak small wholesalers began to choose to give up, and most of the remaining were head chefs or purchasing specialists at high-end restaurants in Tokyo, and when a middle-aged man in a chef's uniform shouted out the price of 29 million yen, the people around him began to hesitate. Now that the Japanese economy is in a recession, the auction that cost more than 30 million yen is no longer there, and even if the New Year is approaching and such a fish is needed to create a New Year's atmosphere, not everyone can show the courage to spend thousands of dollars.

"30 million!" a guy in a jacket raised his hand, sounding a bit Kansai accent. Although Tokyo is the center of Japanese food culture, Edo cuisine is only considered for ordinary people, and many famous restaurants in Tokyo are branches of famous restaurants in Kansai, and everyone knows that the origin of culinary culture is in Osaka. The people around them began to discuss, "This sounds like he's from Kansai, so guess it's the head chef of a restaurant that only offers private rooms and is open on a membership-only basis?" "The reputation of 'Otake' is very good now, and Vice Prime Minister Kadokawa often takes care of them, so maybe it's 'Otake' people." "Ahh ”

Gu Tiele, who had learned a Kansai accent for some reason, raised his hand, and the corners of Asada Yushan's mouth twitched next to him, wanting to have a seizure, but because of the public in front of him, he could only grit his teeth with a gloomy face.

"31 million!" the middle-aged man in the chef's uniform thought for a moment and reluctantly raised the price.

"35 million!" the Chinese shot back without hesitation.

This time, there were no challengers, and the owner of Fujitaya clapped his hands and struck the gong to announce the end of the tuna auction. "Congratulations!" "It's going to be on today's menu, right? I'm going to go to Otake and enjoy this superb tuna." The people around him were either envious, jealous, or sincere and came over to congratulate, Gu Tie was a little incomprehensible, but he still smiled and hugged his fists in return: "You're welcome, you're welcome, you must come to patronize." ”

The auction of the next tuna began, and the Fujitaya men came over to pay the money, and the Ryukyuan people's faces were so black that ink could drip out, and a few words were squeezed out of their teeth: "What are you doing? What do we want a fish for? I warn you, if you are joking with me on purpose, in my current mood......"

Gu Tie took out a card and handed it to the guy, and entered the password on the POS machine painfully, "Do you think I am willing! 3 million yuan, brother! More than 4,000 yuan a catty...... If you want to believe me, just shut up and don't talk nonsense, and you'll understand later. ”

Yuyama Asada stomped his foot angrily, turned to the side and stopped talking. After confirming the payment, the Fujitaya guy quickly refrigerated and packed more than 300 kilograms of tuna, and loaded it with a forklift, "Where is your car?" asked the guy with a white towel on his head.

"yes, where's your car, sir?" Asada said with a sneer.

"Wait. Gu Tie raised a finger and shook it, "Wait a minute...... Wait a minute...... All right. Tsukiji Market has a gate called 'Market Bridge Gate', right?"

"Yes, it's a bit far from here, but no problem. The man put on the blue and white striped coat of Fujitaya and pushed the cart to open the road in front, and the crowd saw this big fish, and they were all amazed at the separation of left and right, and discussed which hotel had such a bold arm. Asada didn't speak at this time, and walked behind with the mentality of "see what tricks he can play".

After passing through the seafood area, vegetable and fruit area, dry goods area and grain and oil area, he arrived at the market bridge gate at the northernmost end of the market, Gu Tie went out first, and walked around the neatly parked vans in the crowded alleys, chanting the words in his mouth: "Toro...... Toro...... Where is it...... Dude, help load the fish into this car. ”

He pointed to a red and black van with "Toro" written in big red letters on the side of the body, "Sushi, sashimi, washing dish" in small letters below, and the address and phone number of the store below. This time, without Gu Tie's explanation, the Ryukyuan people saw the key at a glance, and their brows furrowed: "So that's the case." When did you do that?"

"Just now. The Chinese smirked.

There was a young man in the driver's seat of the car who was napping, Gu Tie walked over and knocked on the window: "Hey, get up." ”

"What are you doing? damn it......" The young man with a short head rolled down the window, "Say something quickly." ”

"Answer the phone. Gu Tie pointed to the other party's mobile phone on the dashboard.

"What phone?" As soon as the voice fell, the mobile phone buzzed and vibrate, and the young man grabbed the phone with a puzzled look on his face, glanced at it, and pressed the answer button: "Hey, hey, it's me." Ah, manager, I'm in Tsukiji. ...... What? How could it be, so suddenly? Okay, I see...... What? How is this going to work? You're kidding!"

He looked Gu Tie up and down, and then hung up the phone hesitantly, "...... President?"

The Chinese nodded with a smile: "It's me." Now load the tuna into the truck and take us back to the store. What's your name?"

"My name is Maruyama Jimasa,...... President. ”

It was the strangest day of the life of a young man named Maruyama, whose job was to bring back a day's worth of ingredients from Tsukiji Market in the early hours of the morning to deliver them to the first branch of the Toro Hotel at the former site of the Japanese Ministry of Justice in Kasumigaseki-i-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. The call just now came from the manager of the hotel, and he told Maruyama that just ten minutes ago, this poorly run hotel chain (only two branches) had sold its entire stake to a Mr. Xiao from China, and from today this Mr. Xiao Yan will be in charge of the operation of the first branch of Xiaguan, and all the employees in the store will receive a considerable severance pay, so they do not have to come to work today.

What's even more strange is that after driving on the road, the president and his friends did not sit in the front seat, but tinkered with something in the back compartment. Maruyama couldn't contain his curiosity and glanced in the rearview mirror.