Chapter 308: Rescue at Sea

Ye Cheng didn't go down right away, just slowly approaching him.

When rescuing someone in water, the first priority is not to grab the drowning person, but to avoid being dragged down by them.

If he went over now, Wang Defa would grab Ye Cheng with one hand, and even if Ye Cheng could hold his breath a long time, he'd still be dragged underwater by Wang Defa.

Wang Defa's hands flailed twice, then he opened his mouth and gulped down two mouthfuls of water.

Just then, Ye Cheng swam over and grabbed Wang Defa's hand.

Wang Defa was already half-conscious, his instinct still wanted to cling to Ye Cheng, but his limbs wouldn't obey.

Ye Cheng pulled his legs and kicked, then struck out with his right hand, and they slowly swam upward.

Fortunately, the surface wasn't far; Ye Cheng stroked a few times and broke the surface.

"Lao Er is up, Lao Er is up!" Duan Chunsheng exclaimed happily from the boat.

Ye Cheng exerted extra effort, lifting the already unconscious Wang Defa out of the water.

"Life ring, give me a life ring, Wang Defa choked on water!" Ye Cheng shouted loudly.

No sooner had he spoken than Duan Chunsheng threw a life ring over; Ye Cheng grabbed it, letting Duan Chunsheng pull them both toward the boat.

At the gunwale, Duan Chunsheng and Ye Cheng worked together to haul Wang Defa aboard.

"Uncle Duan, help him press, to get the water out." Ye Cheng clambered up with difficulty, tired from the rescue.

As a fisherman, he's quite experienced in dealing with drowning.

Duan Chunsheng laid Wang Defa flat, then pressed hard on his abdomen a few times.

Wang Defa's body shuddered, he retched, and spat out a few mouthfuls of seawater, then began coughing violently.

"Damn! You've got a lucky life." Duan Chunsheng slumped to the ground; spitting out the seawater meant he'd surely survive.

This was also thanks to Ye Cheng's timely rescue; otherwise, it wouldn't have been so easy.

"Uncle Duan, keep an eye on him up there, then have Xiao Hu bring the boat closer; I'll go down to check how his trawl net is."

"You're still going down? The water here isn't shallow."

"It's fine, Uncle Duan; I know my limits, and I'll surface early if I can't."

Ye Cheng said that, then slipped back into the water from the deck.

Here the water is clearer, much better than near shore or the beach, just a bit deep.

Ye Cheng quickly found the trawl net's rope and followed it down to the seabed.

The seabed was pitch black, with only a faint glimmer of sunlight, barely enough to see where the trawl net lay.

Wang Defa's trawl net was unlucky, snagging a huge boulder; moreover, that boulder wasn't isolated but part of a reef, and the net was jammed from every angle—no wonder it wouldn't budge when dragged.

Ye Cheng had wanted to move it, but feeling he'd been down a while, he could only surface first.

At the surface, Duan Chunsheng was ready to dive in; Ye Cheng had been down nearly five minutes with no sign—something was bound to go wrong.

Xiao Hu told him it was fine, but Duan Chunsheng didn't believe him at all, grabbing a life ring intending to go down and look.

No sooner had he tossed the life ring than he saw a head break the surface a few meters away—it was Ye Cheng.

"A Cheng!" Duan Chunsheng exclaimed delightedly.

"Uncle Duan, I'm fine; I found the trawl net. I'll go down again in a bit to see if I can free it." Ye Cheng shouted.

"You're going down again? You were down five minutes just now, and Xiao Hu this blockhead isn't worried at all." Duan Chunsheng said, shooting Xiao Hu a glare.

"Poor Xiao Hu, you can't judge my brother by normal standards—he's basically a beast."

Wang Defa could already sit up; he glanced at Ye Cheng still on the surface, wanted to say something but then thought better of it, and lowered his head.

After Ye Cheng greeted Duan Chunsheng here, he dove down again; knowing the location, he was much faster this time.

Needless to say, human hands are truly the most perfect tool in the world.

Ye Cheng held onto the trawl net on the seabed to steady himself, then pried it loose from below, checked the time, and surfaced again.

After the first attempt, Duan Chunsheng wasn't as worried; waiting for Ye Cheng to resurface a second time, he truly felt at ease.

"How's it going? Can you free it? If not, just cut it loose."

"Uncle Duan, I've already loosened a bit; two more dives will do it."

To avoid revealing his ability to dive for forty minutes, Ye Cheng had to spend three trips, finally freeing the trawl net from the rocks.

"All right, Xiao Hu, have your second uncle try operating the winch on the boat."

Ye Cheng clambered back onto his own boat, Xiao Hu jumped back aboard, and Duan Chunsheng pulled Wang Defa over to his boat so he could climb back in.

Wang Defa rushed to the deck first and engaged the winch.

Instantly, the winch began working, pulling the trawl net up bit by bit.

"Success, success, Lao Er, we did it!" Wang Defa exclaimed, overjoyed.

"Success, success—if it weren't for Lao Er, you'd be dead." Duan Chunsheng snapped angrily.

Wang Defa glanced sheepishly at Ye Cheng and bowed.

"Thanks, A Cheng."

"You don't need to thank me; just don't drag me into trouble next time." Ye Cheng sat on the boat, unwilling to move, exhausted.

"Second Uncle, head back first; don't work today." Xiao Hu shouted at Wang Defa.

"Fine, fine, I'm heading back; you carry on, I need to fix the trawl net."

After Wang Defa thanked him again, he started his own boat and headed back.

Ye Cheng looked at him, speechless; such a person, sigh.

If it weren't for being from the same village, or Xiao Hu's second uncle, I really wouldn't have bothered to save him.

"Brother, thanks." Xiao Hu handed over a cigarette.

Ye Cheng took it, lit it, and drew a deep breath.

"All right, that's nothing to do with you."

The two rested for a while, Ye Cheng checked the time; it was already 2 p. m.

He picked up the walkie-talkie and contacted Duan Chunsheng: "Uncle Duan, how's it? Still going on?"

"Sure, I was actually planning to spend the whole day with you today." Duan Chunsheng laughed heartily, "But take it easy a bit; today I was scared by you guys."

"Also." Duan Chunsheng glanced dissatisfiedly at Xiao Hu, "This kid Xiao Hu doesn't care about you at all; next time don't give him meat to eat."

Ye Cheng burst out laughing, glanced at the innocent Xiao Hu.

Xiao Hu glared, "Damn, they're blaming me again."

"Uncle Duan, let's drag a mid‑layer net today, not the bottom layer, to avoid another bottom drag."

"Okay, I'll follow your lead; I'm not using my brain today anyway."

With Wang Defa's input, Ye Cheng also didn't dare to drag a bottom net; he adjusted the float a bit to make it mid‑layer, then lowered the trawl net.

Duan Chunsheng did the same as Ye Cheng; the two boats started dragging the mid‑layer together, and Ye Cheng didn't know what they'd catch.