Chapter 51: Escaping Death, Villagers' Gratitude

Damn, the leader shouldn't have shouted 'keep running' like that, too high-quality.

A group of people hid far away, watching the raging storm on the sea, the boss unloading cargo had already been beating his chest and stamping his feet in tears, 'My ship, my cargo!'

His ship that was still unloading had already been swaying all over in the waves, and a lot of cargo hadn't had time to be unloaded and fell directly into the sea; the only fortunate thing was that there was no one on board, otherwise if people fell into the sea, getting back up would be hopeless.

Uncle Chen came over, gratefully patted Ye Cheng on the shoulder, 'Thank you, if it weren't for your reminder, things wouldn't be looking good for my people here.'

The other loading and unloading crew brothers each said a word of thanks.

Ye Cheng hadn't even done anything yet, but Ye Guowei was already embarrassed to the point of inability, waving his hands repeatedly.

"Uncle Chen, that's not necessarily the case; you guys are experienced, if you saw something wrong you would definitely have come down."

Ye Cheng replied, not taking all the credit for himself; putting it bluntly, on the dock it's still safe to unload cargo, if you see something wrong you'd definitely run.

As for whether there are any unlucky ones, that's another matter.

This world might not have surprises, but it never lacks accidents.

The sky had completely darkened, waves one bigger than the next, slamming onto the dock as if they didn't care about their lives.

The raging wind wreaked havoc, the downpour poured like a basin.

The lingering fear after surviving the disaster made everyone fall silent like cicadas in winter.

"Lao Er, look, is that a ship?" a villager suddenly pointed at the sea surface and shouted.

On the distant turbulent sea surface, a bright light suddenly appeared, a fishing boat was lifted by the wave crest into midair, then came crashing down heavily.

In an instant it disappeared from the sea surface, then suddenly it was lifted from beneath the water, like a lone leaf in a vast sea, helpless and adrift.

Everyone's expressions turned grave; they all knew that ship was in danger.

Being lifted up and then slammed down causes great damage to the hull, constantly risking disintegration.

Under such wind and waves, if it disintegrates, unless a deity descends, no one could be saved; we also don't know which ship it is.

"No, that looks like Old Duan's ship; I recognize his bow." Uncle Zhao from the village suddenly shouted.

"Old Duan's family? No way."

"Yeah, he hasn't returned yet; could it really be him?"

"Old Duan, sigh."

"He should have come back earlier."

"His dad, son!" a mournful cry came from the crowd, a hysterical woman fainted.

"Madame Duan, Madame Duan!" everyone hurriedly lifted her up; this is Duan Yong's mother, presumably unable to bear seeing her husband and son still on the ship.

Ye Cheng frowned deeply, rescue people?

Overthinking it; in this situation, let alone rescuing people, just getting near the sea is deadly.

We can only leave it to fate.

Although Duan Yong and I don't get along, it's still hard to bear watching them wait for death like this.

"The dark clouds have dispersed, the dark clouds have dispersed."

"They really have dispersed, there's hope now, goodness, heaven has opened its eyes."

In the distance, the thick dark clouds finally weakened, a beam of light shot through the clouds, shining especially bright in this dark night.

This is not just sunlight, but also the hope of life.

Ye Cheng looked up at the sky; he wasn't very knowledgeable about weather.

"Uncle Zhao, how long will it take for the dark clouds to clear?"

Uncle Zhao is the village's expert in going out to sea, experienced.

"Lao Er, these dark clouds came fast, they'll surely clear fast too, but even at their fastest it'll take about 20 minutes; I don't know if Old Duan and them can hold out that long." Uncle Zhao said in a low voice.

"20 minutes?"

Ye Cheng had no confidence in that time; in this environment, lasting even an extra minute would be considered lucky.

But this heaven seems to be having a fit, coming fast and going fast; indeed the dark clouds quickly dissipated by half, the wind and waves on the sea subsided, and people on the dock came out of their houses one after another.

Old Duan's fishing boat gave it full throttle, at least it could move forward.

"Holy shit, Old Duan's family must have paid respects to their ancestors before setting out, they survived a great disaster."

"It's the Sea God's blessing; otherwise they'd really be done for."

"Now that they're back, we must go fulfill our vows to the Sea God, what a miracle."

"But looking at their boat, it's probably going to be scrapped."

"As for the boat, as long as the people are alive we should thank heaven and earth."

Regardless of who blessed them, Old Duan's family managed to be saved.

Five minutes later, the Duan family's fishing boat finally managed to wobble its way to shore amidst the waves; everyone rushed over and dragged Old Duan and Duan Yong off the boat.

They couldn't be pulled down otherwise; their legs had gone soft, that earlier bout had already exhausted all their stamina.

Just as they were pulled out, another big wave hit the sea surface, slamming directly into the fishing boat.

Old Duan's family's boat finally couldn't hold up, letting out a miserable creak, it snapped directly into two sections, swept away by the waves into the sea; where it will sink depends on this current.

Seeing this terrifying sight before them, everyone was also shocked.

Old Duan and Duan Yong watched helplessly as their ship was swallowed by the sea, they sat on the ground and burst into tears, feeling heartbroken.

"Old Duan, not bad, at least the people are still alive."

"Yeah, as long as the people are safe, that's good, that's good."

"If you had been even a little later, you'd be dead; what's there to worry about a boat?"

"Your wife just fainted from crying; consider yourselves lucky."

The people around began to comfort them, one saying after another.

Over there, hearing that her husband and son had made it ashore, Duan Yong's mother pushed through the crowd and rushed over in a frenzy, throwing herself onto Old Duan, first crying for a while, then starting to scold,

"It's not that I'm letting you go back, letting you go back— you're asking for death, wanting money but not your life."

"Old Duan looked frightened, his voice trembling as he said, 'Little Yong said you don't need to believe Ye Cheng's words, but later I felt it wasn't safe, so I still came back—I didn't expect it to still be a bit late.'"

"But the boat is gone."

"Old Duan gazed at the sea with a bitter expression; the boat that had kept him company for so many years was just gone—leaving aside the money, emotionally he could barely bear it."

"A fisherman's boat, a farmer's ox—both are their lifeblood."

"It was said that Duan Yong had stopped them from returning; everyone turned to look at Duan Yong, whose face flushed red as he lowered his head, full of regret."

"Duan Yong's mother glanced at her son, went up and hit him twice to vent her anger, but since he was still her son, she didn't deal a lethal blow."

"At least the person was still alive; otherwise she felt she couldn't go on living."

"\"Old Er, thanks to you this time—if you hadn't warned us, we'd likely have lost at least half of us here. \" Zhao Shu wore a sincere expression and led the way in thanking Ye Cheng."

"\"Yeah, to be honest, I was the same as Duan Yong earlier—I didn't want to come back either, but I still got some insurance; otherwise, uh, just thinking about it scares me. \"

"\"Right, Aunt Duan, don't blame Little Yong—we're all about the same; who would have thought Old Er would get this successful, knowing someone this capable? \""