Chapter 263: Nighttime Return to Sea

On the way, Ye Cheng went to the seaside and brought Da Huang over.

Da Huang was very displeased; he had already eaten all day, and at night he still wouldn't let people rest.

The dock was much quieter at night; few people returned at this hour, but quite a few went out to sea—night fishing yields more than daytime, though it's riskier.

After boarding the boat, Ye Cheng casually tossed Da Huang aside, then took out the trawl net from the system.

"Let's switch to this one first."

Xiao Hu glanced at it and immediately understood a bit: "Brother, this is the net you got, right? Same color as those fishing rods and such."

"Yeah, I used Old Chen's net before, but his net no good, so I switched to ours." Ye Cheng didn't explain further; explaining the system thing was useless.

Xiao Hu didn't ask more, followed Ye Cheng to change the trawl net, then turned on the lights, and they went out to sea again. Ye Cheng checked the time—it was already 10 p. m.

I still have two hours; I must make the most of this time and drop two nets quickly.

To gain speed, Ye Cheng pushed the throttle to maximum and headed to the fishing grounds Duan Chunsheng had told them about during the day.

Regardless of whether it was with or against the current, they hastily dropped the net, and then Ye Cheng, feeling extremely uneasy, drove the boat around for half an hour.

"Xiao Hu, haul the net up." Ye Cheng reduced the boat's speed, then walked to the stern and hauled the net together with Xiao Hu.

The winch pulled the rope slowly upward; under the lamp light, they happily discovered that as soon as a bit came up, the water surface began to calm.

Splashing water flew everywhere, fish tails flicked the surface, giving Ye Cheng the illusion of being at Qianli Lake.

"Brother, there really are fish!"

"Nonsense, I said I knew where the problem was—look, isn't it? Hahaha, this haul must be at least 100 catties."

Ye Cheng laughed happily; he didn't care how much was in this net, mainly to prove the system was still useful.

Because there was too much, when half the net was out of the water, the winch started to strain, and the two helped pull it up together.

They hauled up a net full of fish, dumped it on the deck—crackling sounds filled the air, white fish bellies bounced wildly on the planks.

"Brother, there's sea bream, blue-clothed fish, and also yellow croaker and horsefish—so many!" Xiao Hu jumped about, afraid to step on them.

Over there, Da Huang came over to join the fun; a half‑sized fish tried to escape, but Da Huang snapped it up in his mouth and brought it back.

"Hahaha, now that's more like it, Xiao Hu—first put the fish in the livewell, then we'll drop another net."

Ye Cheng checked the time: 11:20, still time; not dropping another net would be a waste.

Xiao Hu started tossing fish into the livewell, while Ye Cheng began dropping the net; after setting it, he sprinted back to the helm and accelerated.

This time they planned to go against the current; Ye Cheng turned the wheel left, suddenly felt something under his foot, looked down, and saw Da Huang biting his trouser leg.

He picked Da Huang up: "Brother, what do you want to say?"

Da Huang stretched his neck long, leaned to the right.

"You want me to go right?" Ye Cheng roughly guessed the meaning, turned the wheel right a bit, and began trawling diagonally across the current.

"Brother, is this direction right?" Ye Cheng patted Da Huang's bald head.

Da Huang slipped away with a swish, ignoring Ye Cheng.

"Damn, still pretty aloof."

In the aft cabin, Xiao Hu spent over ten minutes getting all the fish into the livewell, saw Da Huang slip out, came in and asked,

"Brother, you're listening to Da Huang again? You're being superstitious."

"How is that superstition? He's been around these waters forever, a true local boss—giving me a clear route, what's wrong with that?"

The night was very dark; a few lights flickered in the distance ahead, probably other fishermen like Ye Cheng and them.

Ye Cheng turned on a few more lamps to avoid collisions.

Ye Cheng hadn't been this way during the day; following the line Da Huang indicated, he trawled for 40 minutes, saw no other fishing boats around, then slowed the boat and began hauling the net.

With the first net as a baseline, he felt much more at ease this time.

The catch came up a bit later than the previous net; after pulling up a third of it, only then did water start to splash.

When it broke the surface, the golden hue inside the trawl net flashed so brightly it blinded Ye Cheng's titanium‑alloy dog eyes.

"Yellow fish, Brother, so many yellow fish!" Xiao Hu exclaimed, then looked at Ye Cheng with a nervous expression.

"Brother, this many should be small yellow fish, right? Surely not all big yellow fish? If it were..."

Xiao Hu himself could hardly go on, feeling tense.

Ye Cheng was also nervous; the moment the gold appeared, he felt unsteady, turned to look at Da Huang, Da Huang, Da Huang—would he really give us this many big yellow fish?

The answer was revealed quickly: the trawl net came up, they dumped it out, and Ye Cheng hurriedly picked up a fish to examine.

Its color wasn't golden yellow; scales were small, tail long and thin.

With those three traits, interest vanished instantly,

"Small yellow fish—I thought they were big yellow fish."

"Ah, that's fine, Brother—if they were big yellow fish, I'd feel like I'm going crazy; so many big yellow fish would be worth millions, how would I spend millions?"

"Look at your hopeless self—millions later you still couldn't afford a suite, what would you spend it on?"

After scorning Xiao Hu, Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu began sorting the catch.

Since they were small yellow fish, not precious, they just tossed them straight into the livewell—alive is enough.

Xiao Hu was even more casual; from a distance he flung a fish, not knowing that in mid‑air the fish flicked its tail, actually changed direction and landed on the deck, then twisted and jumped back into the sea.

"Hell, watch it, Xiao Hu—small yellow fish are money too." Ye Cheng watched, feeling the loss.

"All right, Brother, that was just a slip of my hand, don't worry." Xiao Hu said, then still walked forward honestly a few steps.

This batch of small yellow fish varied in size; most were about one catty, with a few especially large ones around two catties.

Ye Cheng first picked out the larger ones, grabbed a big one and was about to toss it into the livewell.

Suddenly he felt his eyes light up—this fish, the color is off, this se is kinda glaring.

Could it be that harmful se?

He examined it carefully, then picked up a small small yellow fish from the ground, one in each hand.

Now, comparing the two, the difference is immediately apparent.

This big one is golden yellow, with large scales, a thick tail, and its mouth is not right—it's not an underbite.

Damn!

This is a big yellow fish!

"Xiao Hu, Xiao Hu!" Ye Cheng's excited voice even changed.

Xiao Hu jumped, staring at him as if seeing a ghost, "Brother, it's late at night—shouting like that can easily scare people to death."

"Big yellow fish, Xiao Hu, big yellow fish!" Ye Cheng excitedly held up the big yellow fish in his hand.