Chapter 153: Setting the Fish Trap on the Seabed

After the devil fish left, Ye Cheng came up to catch his breath, then continued diving down.

After rounding the reef, the other side was covered in abalone, thick and dense.

Ye Cheng held a small shovel, aimed at the abalone flesh and lightly scooped, easily removing the abalone.

Having a tool made a difference; Ye Cheng grabbed the abalone with his left hand and shoveled with his right, and it still took him about twenty minutes to finish, there was no helping it—after all, he wasn't on land, and adjusting position underwater was more troublesome.

During that time, to avoid raising too much suspicion, he surfaced once more, pretending to catch his breath, and fortunately no one could see him here.

He glanced at the net bag; there were roughly another forty or fifty abalone, this time counting as a big haul of abalone.

Ye Cheng swam forward along the reef, gathered some blue crabs and swimming crabs on the seabed, and also picked up two trumpet shells.

Just as he was about to head back, he caught a glimpse of a trench, a trench on the seabed.

Generally speaking, things in trenches are more plentiful; Ye Cheng swam over to have a look—it wasn't very deep, less than a meter, inside there was more seaweed, and he couldn't really see what was inside.

Ye Cheng thought it over, wondering whether he should go down to look, but seeing the lush seaweed, he dismissed the idea.

If something dangerous turned up in there, it would be trouble—even a jellyfish would be hard to stomach.

However, not using such a trench would be a bit wasteful.

Ye Cheng's mind turned, and he suddenly had an idea; he kicked his legs and swam backward.

When he came up, Chen Jinshui happened to be pulling up a fish, had no time for him, and Xiao Hu came down to help haul the net bag up.

He didn't pay attention to how much was inside; just lifting it, it felt surprisingly heavy, and lowering his head to look, he was startled,

"Damn, bro, that's a lot of abalone."

"Yeah, Xiao Hu, go get our fish trap."

"Huh? A fish trap? Put it here?" Xiao Hu said while lifting things up, "This place doesn't look very good."

"Put it on the seabed; I saw a trench down there that looks promising—go get it and I'll place it inside, then we'll check it in two days."

Hearing Ye Cheng say that, Xiao Hu nodded, "Alright, wait a bit more for me, I'll go get it."

Just then, Chen Jinshui above suddenly shouted happily, "I hooked a fish, I hooked a fish, a half-side fish, hahaha."

Ye Cheng looked up and saw that guy had caught a half-side fish several centimeters long, so pleased with himself.

Ye Cheng shook his head speechlessly; a simple fishing enthusiast, he seemed happiest living like this—two fish could make him happy all day.

"Xiao Hu, Xiao Hu, look, I hooked a fish."

"Don't call Xiao Hu, I sent him back to get something." Ye Cheng shouted from below.

"Lao Er, look, look, isn't it big? Hahaha."

Ye Cheng nodded, "As long as you're happy."

Taking the opportunity, Ye Cheng checked the contents of the water tank; there were already quite a few, and when Xiao Hu comes over shortly, after he finishes placing the fish trap, they can pretty much head back.

A gust of sea wind blew, Ye Cheng shivered, and hurriedly went back into the water.

After a while, Xiao Hu finally arrived; this guy had made two trips this morning and was starting to find it hard to bear.

"Bro, you won't make me go back for anything else, will you?" Xiao Hu panted as he threw the fish traps over, a total of five.

"You can't even run a couple steps without being exhausted; you're too weak—restrain yourself tonight."

"Damn! No, bro, what are you saying?!" Although they were both men, being told that so directly made Xiao Hu's face flush instantly.

He still wanted to argue, but it was already too late; Ye Cheng took the fish traps and went underwater.

Even if the fish traps were well-made, carrying five of them was quite a strain for Ye Cheng.

But it wasn't too far, so Ye Cheng could slowly bring them along underwater.

Upon reaching the spot, Ye Cheng opened the fish traps, stretched them out, lined them up in a row; the five fish traps stretched a long distance, and swimming to cover them would take half a day.

Ye Cheng kept the rope at the head of the fish trap in his hand, then kicked the trap with his foot into the trench.

The fish trap wobbled as it rolled down into the water, but the seaweed below was thick, and the trap, being empty, couldn't sink down.

Left with no choice, Ye Cheng had to search everywhere for stones—damn, the seabed had a lot of silt and sand, and stones, especially ones he could move, were scarce.

He could only return to the reef side and move a few stones over.

Going back and forth wasted quite a bit of time; after throwing the stones down, he finally managed to weigh the fish trap down.

Damn, he actually felt a bit tired.

Ye Cheng tied the rope in his hand to a large stone so it would be easy to find next time.

After finishing all that, Ye Cheng swam straight back.

As soon as he broke the surface, he told Xiao Hu, "Hurry up and bring my clothes; I'm a bit cold."

Ye Cheng really did feel a bit cold; perhaps he was worn out from yesterday, his body feeling a little weak.

Xiao Hu hurried over and brought Ye Cheng's clothes and pants; since there was no one around, Ye Cheng took off his soggy underwear, let himself air-dry, then put on his clothes, after which he felt a bit warmer.

"Xiao Hu, close the water tank; we're about to head back."

Chen Jinshui had also caught two fish this morning, had his fill of fun, and joined them heading back.

The three of them thus carried their stuff back.

"Uncle, come over tonight, I'll grill some fish for you to try; this afternoon I'll go sell the goods first."

"Okay, it's set—I'll bring some stewed dish."

After agreeing on dinner, Ye Cheng simply ate a bit of lunch, then had Xiao Hu look for a barbecue grill, while he himself rode his motorbike into town to find Boss Qian to sell the goods.

Seafood, seafood—the fresher the better.

When he arrived at Boss Qian's, it happened to be just after the lunch rush ended; hearing that Ye Cheng had something to deliver, the guy rushed over with an excited expression,

"Xiao Ye, you've finally come—I'm almost out of stock; what good stuff did you get for me today?"

"Mainly abalone, plus a few other things—you can have a look yourself."

They were all acquaintances, so Ye Cheng didn't bother with pleasantries and simply opened the water tank for Boss Hu to see.

"Damn, that's a lot—did you start a farm?"

"Farmed ones aren't this fresh—look at this shell, there's still seaweed on it." Ye Cheng casually picked up an abalone, which had a layer of green seaweed on it, "And this head—who farms them this big?"

"That's right, that's right, now they're in luck, a wild heavy rain, hahaha."

"Come, I'll calculate them separately for you, the prices differ by size."

Boss Qian skillfully found a few baskets and began picking and sorting, separating large, medium, and small.

"Well, these are large four-head abalones, I'll charge you 500 each, total 12 pieces, 6000 dollars."

"These are six-head abalones, I'll charge you 150 each, total 18 pieces, 2700 dollars."

"These small eight-head ones, 40 each, one is 21 pieces, 840 dollars."

"Okay?"

Boss Qian looked toward Ye Cheng.