Chapter 1001: Giving Credit

Two boats had been trailing them, forcing the fresh-fish collection boat to follow as well.

They were heading to the city anyway; the city's aquatic wholesale market is now the largest in the entire province. Generally, fresh-fish collection boats from the surrounding areas that can dock in the city try their best to do so, then transport the catch to the aquatic market to sell at a good price.

It is now the early hours of the morning; landing now allows for immediate delivery. If they delay until dawn, there will be fewer buyers, and there's a risk they won't sell everything that day, forcing them to waste ice to preserve the catch for another day.

By a little past two in the morning, the five boats had successively docked and landed.

As soon as they docked, the burly men from the cargo boats immediately jumped from the Haishi Bureau boats onto the fresh-fish collection boats. A group of them glared at each other aggressively; some pointed their index fingers at the other's nose and cursed, while others simply grabbed the other's collar. A battle was about to break out.

Seeing this, the Haishi Bureau personnel immediately climbed over to stop them.

Countless fishing boats of all sizes were docked along the shore. A huge number of flashlights swung back and forth; some were still unloading cargo. It looked incredibly busy, with noise everywhere, far more lively than the provincial wharf. Most were likely rushing to dock at dawn to sell their goods at the wholesale market.

Many people also noticed the commotion over here and were discussing it with surprise all around.

"What's going on? About to fight as soon as they dock, and the Haishi Bureau boat is right there..."

"There must be a dispute..."

"It looks like they're about to fight..."

"That one looks like a fresh-fish collection boat? It looks like there's no machinery on board, just big barrels covered in ice..."

"Could it be that they're so unbalanced about selling the goods that they came ashore to seek revenge?"

"Who knows?"

"The price the fresh-fish collection boats offer is indeed too low compared to the shore..."

"You can't say that. It's normal to consume a lot of fuel going back and forth at sea, not to mention..."

Amidst the barrage of murmurs, Ye Fu frowned, watching their commotion.

"What should we do? Just wait here? We don't know how long this squabble will last before it ends or before they reach an agreement. We can't just stand here waiting idly. There's still a bit of cargo on the boat. Since we've already docked, let's haul it up and sell it, shall we?"

"Sell it directly upon landing, or take it to the market?"

Ye Fu thought for a moment. "The cargo on our boat isn't much. From yesterday afternoon to the day before yesterday afternoon, that's just one day's worth, a little over ten thousand jin of goods..."

"Keep the cheap ones to dry back home and don't sell them, like that ten-thousand-plus jin of toadfish. As for the others that can fetch a good price, let's see in a moment if there are any idle tractors on the shore to haul a cartload to the market. Every extra coin counts. Besides, there are many buyers at the market these days, so it sells well. We can also go to my father-in-law's place to settle the accounts for these few days after the New Year and bring the money back."

"That works too. Will you go? I'll watch here? I can't speak Mandarin, so I can't say anything inside the market."

Ye Ye Huimei chuckled slightly. "Alright then."

"Don't laugh. It's the same for everyone; it's not just me who can't speak it."

"Ah, right, right, right." He perfunctorily agreed, then added, "Then you watch here. I'll go ashore to find a tractor, first negotiate the price to the wholesale market, and then call someone to load it onto the cart."

"Tell your in-laws too, and see if they want to come ashore to sell their goods."

"Understood."

Ye Ye Huimei watched the crew on the adjacent boat spitting and shouting, arguing so fiercely their faces and necks turned red, saliva flying everywhere. The few Haishi Bureau personnel almost couldn't hold them back, but they still couldn't stop the group's collective fury.

If they didn't produce some sort of resolution soon, both sides would start fighting, and the Haishi Bureau personnel might suffer by association.

"Dad, if I'm not around later and they start fighting, don't step forward. Just let them fight."

"I know that. Even if they beat each other to death, it has nothing to do with me. I, an old man, will just watch from here. Whoever wants to step forward, let them."

"Okay, I'll go tell Uncle Pei over there."

Although several boats docked simultaneously, they all squeezed into any available gaps; they weren't parked side by side in a row. How could there be such luck as to have a large area for them to dock?

The Harvest Boat was parked two boats away from them, also standing there watching the commotion.

He climbed over two boats to reach the Harvest Boat and greeted Uncle Pei.

Uncle Pei responded immediately, wanting to go to the city with him to sell goods and also check on his son and daughter-in-law.

Aguang and Ye Ye Huimei had come to the city while they were at sea, and it had already been a few days. It was a good opportunity to go to the city to sell goods and also take a look, to see if they were getting used to it.

"Uncle, don't bother with those toadfish on your boat. Just sell them all to me to dry into fish jerky. That saves us from having to haul them to the market to sell later. Later, we'll check the market price and settle accordingly. Anyway, once things here are resolved, we'll head back. We can weigh them at the village dock when we return; there's no difference."

"That works too. That saves us from moving them back and forth and waiting to sell them in the market."

"Right. If we really haul those ten-thousand-plus jin of toadfish to the city, selling them will take time. The tractor will have to make several trips, costing several yuan in transport fees, and the loading and unloading will waste a lot of time."

"Alright, then we'll keep this cargo and bring it back for you. For now, let's go ashore to find a dedicated transport tractor."

After reaching an agreement, the two went ashore to find a tractor. Ye Ye Huimei brought two men to help lift, and Pei Fu did the same. He also instructed Ye Fu to help keep an eye on his boat in the meantime.

At this moment, people came and went at the market entrance, more numerous than at a New Year's fair. Everyone was carrying various goods; a pile of handcarts, tractors, and trucks were all fully loaded.

It was desolate during the day, but brightly lit at night.

This was Ye Ye Huimei's first time delivering goods to sell in the city since the market was built.

Every stall and the ground were piled high with goods, and there were shouts of vendors everywhere.

The selling price of every type of goods inside the market fluctuated according to the daily price. Except for a few rare items, the selling price for the same type of goods was the same. The market managers would also bring in customers, leading them to each stall to place orders according to their needs, similar to sales guides.

It took Ye Ye Huimei and Pei Fu more than two hours to sell off their respective several thousand jin of goods.

These goods were sold off gradually, hundreds of jin at a time. He went back and forth to the settlement counters with various buyers to settle accounts, collecting money transaction by transaction.

After securing the money close to his body, he went to Lin Fu.

By now, the sky was fully bright; it was already past five in the morning. Several vendors wanting goods stood in the shop. Lin Fu, Lin Mu, and Aguang were constantly weighing goods, bending down to pick up items, searching for stock, calculating accounts, and collecting money. Seeing him suddenly arrive, they were only surprised for a moment and didn't have time to speak.

Ye Ye Huimei immediately threw himself into helping as soon as he arrived.

Pei Fu and the other boatmen were unfamiliar with the prices of the goods, so they could only keep shouting and asking for prices.

Remembering that two boats were still docked at the wharf, Ye Ye Huimei went inside with Lin Fu to settle the accounts first once the shop wasn't too crowded and the others could handle things for a while.

By the time they finished calculating the accounts, the rush in the shop had subsided, the sun had risen outside, and they could finally sit down to chat for a few moments.

"Aguang got up at two or three in the morning to come and sell goods too?"

"Otherwise, I couldn't just sit around waiting for meals every day. Dad, why did you dock in the city to sell goods today?"

Pei Fu briefly explained what had happened at sea.

"That was truly unlucky; they actually hit a hidden reef. Fortunately, it wasn't our boat."

"Hmm. You live in the village; did anyone come to the door to investigate?"

"No, we've only been here for less than a week. Lin Shu often brings the village chief dried fish and fish sauce, and everyone in the village has been very friendly to us."

"You'll get used to it. As long as nothing's wrong, that's fine."

Ye Yaodong said, "We're probably heading straight home in a bit. Do you want to come back with us and come back over here the day after tomorrow?"

At these words, Aguang hesitated. He was also missing his daughter back home, and after being away for several days, he had no idea how much the child had been crying.

"I'll go back and tell Ye Ye Huimei, see what she says. You all wait for me here for a moment."

"Alright."

While waiting, Lin Fu also told him about the sales situation of the shop's goods over the past few days, asking him to have someone replenish a batch of fish sauce after returning, since many peddlers had come back to wholesale after the New Year.

"The thousand-plus jin of dried sea hare you sun-dried before the New Year sold out completely these past few days—selling one or two hundred jin a day. This stuff is pretty rare, you don't normally see it. When regular folks walk into the shop and see it, they'll grab a few jin, and once they hear the quantity is limited, some will even buy more."

"Then we still need to offer more variety. We can't just stick to the few common cheap kinds of dried fish—we still need to throw in something pricier once in a while."

"Right. Right now only our shop has a bit more variety and more stock. The copycat shops next door don't have as much as us—after all, we did open the earliest."

"An established name. When I get back today, I'll have the carpenter make me a sign so it'll stand out more."

"That works too. A sign's fine—lets more people know our place, so they don't go to the wrong one."

……

Aguang went and came back in just about ten minutes, running over panting and shouting for them to go together.

"It's settled, I'll go back for one night. The day after tomorrow, see if your tractor happens to pass by on the way, or you can take my dad's boat over—weather's been decent these past few days after the New Year."

"There's one going that way. My father-in-law just told me to deliver some fish sauce to restock tomorrow, so you can just come along with the truck—works out perfectly."

"Alright then, let's go. Let's go back and check on the kid."

The few of them walked out. Ye Yaodong handed him a bun and said, "Don't worry, no one's going to mistreat her."

While waiting earlier, he had run over to his brother-in-law's breakfast shop and packed up over a dozen buns and over a dozen steamed buns, so they wouldn't have to make breakfast later.

"It's not like that. As her dad, I just feel like I've let my kid down—so little, not even fully weaned, can't even talk properly, just barely walking, and I left her alone at home. These past few days I haven't even dared to call back, afraid she'd cry if she heard our voices."

Ye Yaodong didn't know what to say, could only curse the damn policy.

"Take a rickshaw over? Wonder what the situation's like at the dock."

"Take the tractor? A rickshaw would need several of them. The tractor's a bit pricier, so be it—we've got plenty of people anyway, and the tractor's faster."

"Then let's wait by the road and ask one of the cargo tractors…"

By now the commotion outside the dock had already ended. By the time Ye Yaodong and the others arrived, there were only a handful of boats left at the dock—most had already gone out to sea, and there were barely any people in sight.

When they got down from the tractor and saw their own boats were still there, but not a single soul on board, they were all baffled.

Moreover, the dozen-plus boxes they had fished out of the sea were gone from the boat.

"What's going on? Why is there no one on the boat?"

"Probably after the matter with those two boats was handled, everyone just went back to the cabin to sleep?"

"Let's go up and take a look…"

They boarded their respective boats and went into the cabin to check—sure enough, every one of them was sleeping.

Ye Yaodong had stayed up for a day and a night. It was already 8 o'clock now, and he had been yawning nonstop long before.

He told the others to rest too. He also put the money from his backpack into the iron box under the bed and locked it before going to wake his dad. The two of them went up to the deck to talk.

"What about the people from those two boats?"

Ye Fu didn't even brush his teeth, just picked up a bun and started talking through bites.

"They got into a fight later on, couldn't hold them back. Both gangs went at each other, fighting to the death right on the boat. Then they even beat up the Haishi Bureau people too—total chaos. Several of them fell into the sea, climbed back up and kept fighting. Luckily they all could swim."

"Later the Haishi Bureau people got back on their boat and fired a shot, then pointed the gun at them. Only then did they all calm down, otherwise who knows how bad it would've gotten. After separating them one by one, they took them all away together."

Ye Yaodong's face wore an expression that said "just as expected."

They'd thrown their entire fortune into it—losses were heavy. Of course they'd be furious; a fight breaking out was only natural.

There were probably plenty of others' fortunes behind it too. That caviar wasn't cheap stuff, and it wasn't something just a few people could put together.

Good thing there was a gun warning, otherwise with no deaths it definitely wouldn't have stopped.

"Did the Haishi Bureau take those boxes on the boat away too?"

"Yeah, otherwise if they left them on our boat and we just sailed home, they'd have nowhere to look. So when they left with the Haishi Bureau, they took the boxes along too."

"Then doesn't that count as walking right into the net?"

"Normally nothing would come of it, right? As long as the two sides negotiate compensation, it should be fine, right?"

"How could it? Assaulting law enforcement—they'd have to be locked up for ten days to half a month at least. The stuff might just get confiscated and not returned to them. How it's handled is all up to those people with a single word."

Ye Yaodong rubbed his chin. If that's the case, wouldn't it be better for him to do Chief Chen a favor?

Anyway, the people and the goods have been detained by the Haishi Bureau now. If no one tips them off, the goods will probably just sit there, waiting to be dealt with whenever.

Those goods were packaged very discreetly—only a few out of dozens had it. Without carefully opening them and laying them side by side to compare, no one would notice anything different about the outer packaging.

Open one up, see what it is, slap a smuggling label on it, and then handle it all together.

Someone as lucky as him, opening one and finding a jar of caviar right away—that's not guaranteed.

Anyway, those people have already been taken away. No one would know who tipped them off, and they'd probably assume the Haishi Bureau discovered it themselves. It wouldn't have any impact on him.

And he, on the other hand, could do Chief Chen a favor and earn his gratitude.

Smuggled caviar hidden inside fish cans is no small matter—sturgeon are a protected species now.

Smuggling is never a small matter to begin with. There has to be a whole supply chain behind it—the problem could be even bigger.

Ye Fu's thinking was simple: none of their business, not their goods. Getting two boxes for free was already a win; whatever else got confiscated, so be it.

"Then let's just leave them be."

"Oh right, that person was taken away—what about the cargo on the fish-buying boat?"

"The Haishi Bureau people took it over. They got beaten up for no reason, still fuming, so all the cargo got confiscated by them, and the boat was impounded along with it."

Ye Yaodong couldn't help the corner of his mouth twitch. "So they lost the lady and the soldiers too? All unlucky together, all ruined together? And we didn't get anything out of it either?"

"Isn't that right?"

"Damn, wasted our whole night."

Then they ought to be sent in all the more.

The Haishi Bureau people don't care whether they pitched in or not, and they certainly won't thank those people on their behalf for the help.

"Yeah, a big Da Jiefang truck came up ahead and hauled every bit of cargo off the top of the fresh-fish boat, and the boxes we fished up off our two boats were all loaded onto it too."

"Originally only one boat sank and one was saved, but now both boats have lost everything, both struck it rotten, both squatting in jail — that's fair enough, no more fussing."

"Don't know how it'll go later, heh, no need to worry about them either. Who asked us to run into this mess? If we should help, we'll still help when we meet again next time — who knew they'd fight and it would blow up like this. Let's go, it's already early morning, the fish is sold, let's hurry up and sail home, won't get home till afternoon."

"Yeah, this trip we earned enough to cover costs, and now nobody's in the mood to keep working. Aguang just came aboard too, let's just speed up and head straight back."

"Alright then, since we're not going to work while heading back, you go sleep. You've been up all night too. I've slept enough, I'll drive."

"Yeah, on the way back, stop by the county town once, dock at the shipyard side."

Father Ye was surprised for a moment. "Didn't you say we're going back full speed? Why dock at the county town again?"

"Planning to give Director Chen a share of the credit, and thank him for his care all along."

"You're going to report the caviar thing to him?" Father Ye figured it out after a moment's thought. Although he didn't know exactly what was wrong with the caviar, faking it like that, hiding it away — there had to be something shady going on inside.

Apart from this, he couldn't think why Dongzi would want to dock in the county town.

"That's the idea. How can we work all night for free? We know a bit of inside info, report it to Director Chen. Whether it helps him or not, at least we have the heart, and he'll owe us one — that's how give-and-take works."

He seemed to have already forgotten about his own two boxes of cargo lost for nothing — one box of several dozen fish cans was no small sum either.

This whole night, gained nothing, the ones who worked for free ought to be the Harvest.

"Is this a big deal?"

"I don't understand this stuff either. Anyway, since their goods and people have all been seized, might as well leak a bit more info to Director Chen — who knows, might even give him a chance to earn merit."

"Alright then, whatever you say goes. If you want to dock, then dock. Dock at the shipyard side, and while we're at it, go borrow a bicycle from the factory, then you ride it over — it'd be faster."

"That's exactly what I was thinking."

His mind had just taken a turn a moment ago, and his first reaction was also to dock at the shipyard to borrow a bicycle. Otherwise, if he docked at some pier in the county town, it might be even farther, and there'd be no transport.

Although a bicycle is a big item, they're all old acquaintances at that shipyard, borrowing one is easy enough.

The father and son were talking on the deck; Aguang and his father on the neighboring boat had already gotten the full picture and were calling out for them to set off.

The two could only go back into the wheelhouse to keep talking, chatting as they drove.

"Then when you dock, won't you have to bring a box of cargo over?"

"Yeah, just bring the one box we opened, and toss in the three leftover cans too — perfect for showing them."

"Uh… bring the leftovers too?"

Ye Yaodong said with a smile: "That's the only way to prove we didn't hide anything — we handed over every last bit."

"Fine, do whatever you want. Go sleep first, I'll drive here, I'll call you when we arrive."

"Okay."

He really was dead tired, and having eaten his fill earlier, lying back down to sleep was just right.

The cabin was full of snores rising and falling, each louder than the last, but it was fine — none of them were louder than the roar of the engine, so just treat it like a symphony.

Both boats were eager to get home, so right after setting off they got on the radio, explained things, and reached an agreement: no working, just head straight back.

And Father Ye also said they'd stop by the county town midway, no need for the Harvest to dock and wait.

Ye Yaodong slept three or four hours, and was woken again when his head was groggy and foggy.

This going-to-sea work really isn't fit for humans — the only rest is in shifts around the clock, and the machines are so loud there's no way to rest well. Once ashore he really needs to take a couple more days off.

He really had to admire Uncle Pei — he could go up himself and let his son enjoy life at home.

Aguang grew up spoiled, didn't turn out crooked, and in his past life he actually became quite accomplished later on — truly blessed by the heavens.

He mumbled an acknowledgment, lay in bed and kept his eyes closed, resting them for a good while. After the engine noise on the boat stopped too, he was so comfortable he drifted off again.

Until he was half-awake and woken a second time, he finally dragged himself up.

"We're here?"

"We've been docked for a while now. Called you just now, thought you'd get up, didn't expect you to fall back asleep. Waited a good while and didn't see you come out, so came in to check again."

Ye Yaodong let out a big yawn, twisted his neck, stretched his back. "Once we get home I'll rest a few more days before going out again, worn a person to death."

"Heh, anyway, whatever you say, we do."

He first went to the small storeroom in the partitioned area for sundries, carried that opened box of fish cans up to the deck, casually ate a quick meal, then went ashore to borrow a bicycle.

He got one without a hitch, and took a few ropes to tie that box of fish cans to the back seat. Luckily the box wasn't too big, it could fit on the back.

It was now broad noon, Director Chen was definitely off work. He rode straight to the man's home — he knew the way well anyway.

Director Chen wasn't surprised to see him show up suddenly — it wasn't the first time he'd come running over like this.

"Heh, here again? Why didn't you come earlier to wish a Happy New Year, coming at this hour? What's in this box? Why do you Hui bring something every time?"

"I figured you'd have a lot of social calls during New Year, busy as anything, didn't want to add to your trouble. I just got back from sea today, made a point of docking at the county town."

"How thoughtful. Since you just came back, you should be rushing home to rest first thing…"

"No, something happened at sea. Don't know if it's useful to you, figured since I was passing by I'd come report it, let you take a look."

Just now he still knew to be polite and use the respectful 'you', but later he dropped the act and went back to casual 'you' again.

Ye Yaodong told him what happened at sea, and the smile faded from Director Chen's face, his brows furrowing.

"That sturgeon is already a protected animal. The one you reported a couple years back — they specifically took it to raise, said they wanted to research breeding. I heard caviar sells for an astronomical price abroad. Don't know how the research is going now."

"And they specifically disguised the caviar as dace cans — this is no small matter. There aren't many factories that can produce fish cans these days, the materials used are all imported, and the cans are all made for export."

"Being able to specifically catch sturgeon, cure it into caviar, and mix it into dace cans to muddle the waters and profit — that's not something an ordinary person could pull off. There's a lot tangled up in here."

He pretended to half-understand. "Uh… I don't really get this stuff. Take a look, if it can help you get promoted and get rich, that'd be great. Those people are being held by the city's Haishi Bureau now, and their cargo's been seized too. Don't know if they'll ever find out, or if they just won't find out at all. What do you think we should do? I don't know any of this messy stuff."

"Mm, leave this cargo of yours here for now. Is this all of it?"

"Sigh, alright, it's all here. When I went ashore to sell goods at the seafood wholesale market, my dad saw them come over to move the cargo and got greedy, hiding away one box. Mainly because he'd been working the whole night for free, and felt a bit unbalanced about it... hehe..."

Anyway, his dad wasn't here, so just push it onto his dad!

Anyone who works for free wouldn't be happy about it either, so it's understandable.

Old Ye sneezed wildly on the boat, thinking he'd caught a cold, and even deliberately wrapped himself tighter in the blanket.

"Mm, that is true. Helped out a lot at sea, but then two groups got into a fight, and both the people and the cargo were all detained. That really was working for nothing. No worries, I'll report this matter up. If it really leads to something big, I'll apply for a reward for you guys then."

"Ah no no no... treat it as an anonymous tip, don't apply for any reward for us. If we get retaliated against by the ones who got away, we can't afford that. We're just little fishermen."

"That's true too, then forget it, treat it as an anonymous tip. Anyway, there were quite a few boxes floating on the sea at the time, it's perfectly normal for someone to fish them up and discover them."

"Right right, I've reported this matter to you, you take a look and see what to do. I'll head back first, my dad's still waiting at the dock."

"Alright alright, you go back first, leave this matter to me."

"Alright, okay."