Chapter 277: If you really want to be village chief, I'll bring people to go door to door

If it's a fish school, you mainly rely on watching seabirds or dolphins; if you have those two, generally the fish school is nearby.

Then some boats are equipped with fish finders, but they're expensive, so few have them; most people still rely on experience and follow the fishing grounds.

Fishing grounds aren't fixed either—what fish are where in which season—listening to this left Ye Cheng dazed; damn, it's so complicated, harder than climbing to Diamond in Honor of Kings.

Finally, Duan Chunsheng told Ye Cheng a few more fishing grounds, all accumulated from everyone's experience.

"A Cheng, you really ought to toast Uncle Duan—these are his secret tricks," Ye Guowei said.

"What Guowei says, there's no secret—just a bit of experience I've built up. Ah Yong doesn't like going out to sea much, so this experience will go with me to the grave." Duan Chunsheng sighed.

"That's right, young people these days can't handle the hardship of going out to sea, unlike us back then."

Ye Guowei started reminiscing about hardships and sweet times with Duan Chunsheng—this old cliché, Ye Cheng couldn't be bothered to listen; he'd better just eat his meal properly.

To be honest, going out to sea is tough and tiring, with risks, but if you stay near shore you can still go home.

If you go offshore, you only return home every half month, which is even harder.

These days, few young people are willing to do this.

When it reached 9 o'clock, Jiang Yunxiang, worried that Dou Dou wouldn't sleep without her, pulled everyone home.

Ye Cheng returned home, barely managed a hot shower, the alcohol hit him faster, he flopped into bed and slept straight through till morning—youth is great, no midnight thirst or anything.

He got up and checked the system:

Luck Value: 50+20

Points: 5600

Savings: 128,000, external debt 30,000, mortgage 300,000 (including interest)

Not bad, worth going out to sea.

Ye Cheng got up and ate a bowl of instant noodles; the greasy flavor was strong, making whoever ate it feel nauseous.

That's how instant noodles are—eating too much makes you feel awful, not eating also feels awful; damn, congee with youtiao would be best, but the village doesn't have that.

Ye Cheng checked his watch—it was already 8 a. m. Alright, today we'll go leisurely net‑dragging; whatever we catch is what we get.

After calling Xiao Hu, Ye Cheng made a trip to Ye Guowei's tidal flat farm.

Ye Guowei was already working.

"Brother, you're up this early?"

"Mm, nothing much—I came to have a look, pick up some snails and crabs."

Ye Cheng peeked into Ye Guowei's bucket—it already had about half a bucket of stuff; moreover, since the farm was set up, Ye Guowei has been eating plenty of snails and stone crabs.

No choice—selling them wouldn't fetch much, so it's better to just eat them.

"A Cheng, look, these clams have grown a lot." Ye Guowei happily picked up a few clams to show Ye Cheng.

Indeed they've grown a lot—when they first came they were just specks, now they have some shape, full of vigor, and even while Ye Guowei held them they kept bubbling.

Besides looking at Ye Guowei's clams, Ye Cheng mainly came to see Da Huang; he hasn't brought it these few times and doesn't know where this guy went.

He checked the reef he'd deliberately left behind—this guy wasn't there, just leaving some traces of his presence.

This guy, really a wanderer.

After saying goodbye to Ye Guowei, Ye Cheng dragged Xiao Hu to the dock; there were far fewer boats there, most having gone out to sea.

Duan Chunsheng wasn't there either—this time no one was taking him to the fishing grounds.

Ye Cheng got on the boat, followed yesterday's route; several fishing grounds still had plenty of boats, feeling like there wasn't much to do.

"Xiao Hu, do you remember where Uncle Duan said there were still fishing grounds yesterday?"

Xiao Hu scratched his head: "I think it was either west or south of yesterday's spot—I forgot too."

Neither of them remembered; it was mostly over drinks—if they'd known, they should have jotted it down.

"Let's head west and try our luck." Ye Cheng didn't think much—after all, he relied on the system for his hauls, not experience.

The two steered the boat past yesterday's fishing ground, then went another half hour; this stretch of sea was surprisingly quiet.

Today Ye Cheng planned to drag the bottom layer, so he added iron chains to the lower edge of the trawl net to make sure it sank.

After lowering the trawl net, Ye Cheng reduced the boat speed—bottom trawling can't be too fast.

"Brother, should we replace our winch? This thing's too heavy and we keep struggling to haul it up," Xiao Hu suddenly said from behind.

That does seem right—twice we've dragged into a fish school, the winch feels weak, and we still need both of us to put in extra effort.

"Alright, let's head back early to see if we can swap it out, and maybe we should also get a fish finder—high tech to use."

"Uncle Duan said it's pricey—he said it'd cost tens of thousands; your boat's only 30,000, not worth it."

Xiao Hu's comment made Ye Cheng agree—putting such gear on a rundown boat is a bit wasteful; wait till he gets a bigger boat that can go offshore, then he'll go for high tech.

From now on it's the age of technology—AI, robots, VR, blockchain—technology changes life, not just talk.

While hauling the net, Xiao Hu suddenly asked,

"Brother, why do you suddenly want to be village chief? Are you planning to become an official later?"

Ye Cheng glanced at Xiao Hu, who looked worried—apparently afraid Ye Cheng would go into office and quit fishing.

"Don't worry, I have no interest in being an official; besides, being a village chief is basically a meaningless post—the main point is that when you're village chief you face less resistance when doing things."

"What resistance? Brother, it's not me saying it—it's just that useless Chen clan; if you really want to be village chief, I'll round people up and go door to door, I don't believe they won't vote for you."

Er...

This, this is taking the village bully route.

He'll probably get cracked down on later; besides, Ye Cheng wants to do something, not exploit the countryside.

"Forget it, I'll speak frankly—I just want to lead everyone to get rich together, so we don't have to live poor lives. If people are willing to choose me, I'll lead them; if not, we'll just get rich on our own—simple as that."

Hearing Ye Cheng say that, Xiao Hu replied bluntly, "Brother, then don't bother—villagers have often cursed us before."

"They cursed us because we really were scoundrels back then—can't blame them. Alright, time to haul the net and see what we've got."

Because it's a bottom trawl, the speed is slower, so Ye Cheng dragged for a bit longer this time—over an hour—before hauling the net.

The rope-winding machine started up, and feeling no pressure at all, the two of them stood skillfully to the side, watching.

Xiao Hu suddenly said, "Brother, we didn't bring food, did we?"

Ye Cheng glanced at him, "Damn, weren't you supposed to be in charge of bringing food?"

"You didn't say anything." Xiao Hu scratched his head, feeling wronged, "Before, when you had me bring food, you would say so."

Ye Cheng:...

Damn it, just thinking about work, I forgot lunch.