Chapter 1013: Finding the Sunken Cargo Ship

Ye Fu saw that he had just gone into the water and hadn't sunk after half a day, so he knew he was freezing badly and was adjusting to the water temperature. Since he'd already gone down, there was no point in nagging him to come back up.

He just hadn't expected that Ye Yaodong had barely gone under the water before he came back up again.

"How is it, Dongzi?"

Ye Yaodong pulled off the face mask covering his face before saying, "Nothing down there. Drive forward a little more and take a look."

"Stop fussing, then come up first."

He had already swum over to the side, and everyone reached out a hand to pull him up.

The moment he got on the boat, the sea wind hit him and left him completely dazed, nearly knocking him over, but he didn't feel cold.

The ice water compressed the blood pressure inside his body to a boil, his skin flushed bright red, his whole body steaming, not a trace of cold anywhere. His body felt warm and cozy, as comfortable as being lost in a raging blizzard and then finding a wooden cabin with a roaring fire to warm himself by.

At this moment, Ye Yaodong felt like a hero, quite a sense of accomplishment.

Winter swimming—he'd completed another feat. Someone without great willpower wouldn't dare go into the water, let alone jump in directly like he did.

But once the fishing boat started moving, the sea wind it brought was even fiercer, and the seawater still clinging to his body began to bite into his bones with cold.

He felt his body growing cold from the inside out. After adapting to the seawater, he'd actually felt somewhat warm.

Figuring he'd definitely have to go back in the water after coming up, and that one try wouldn't be enough to find it, he hadn't prepared clothes in advance to wrap himself up.

Luckily, the coordinates were in this surrounding area, and his father had only driven a short stretch, so after just a moment, the boat stopped again immediately.

Ye Yaodong knowingly jumped into the water again, and the same bone-piercing cold enveloped him once more.

It was truly bone-piercingly cold, not just an expression.

It felt like countless needle tips pricking his body, especially his chest—countless needle tips stabbing in. First it was icy cold like a block of ice. He howled soundlessly underwater, his face contorted, while his hands and feet kept moving. Slowly, his chest began to warm up again.

At this point, his whole body gradually felt warm. The surrounding water wrapped around his body like an invisible, pressureless, extremely warm and comfortable blanket, with a fiery hot sensation.

The warm feeling he'd just had in the water had returned.

Once comfortable, he quickly dove down toward the seabed again.

Not knowing how long he'd have to linger in the water, he planned to make it quick—go down, take a look, confirm, and come back up.

After all, he didn't know how many trips it would take to find the spot. If he lingered too long, his hands and feet would go numb and wooden, as if they weren't his own. It was still early spring, after all.

He didn't dive too deep either, only about three to five meters. Seeing nothing, he went back up again.

Then he had his father shift left or right to try. The coordinates were only a very vague location. Finding a fishing boat on the sea surface was easy—after all, as long as the direction wasn't off, once you reached the coordinate waters, you could see the shadow on the surface.

But underwater you couldn't see clearly. To find something underwater, even knowing which area it was in, you still had to dive and feel around. A submerged reef is called a submerged reef precisely because it doesn't show above the water.

He could only use the clumsy method of trying a few more times. If he really couldn't find it before dark, he'd have to give up.

Ye Fu circled around the area, and Ye Yaodong went into the water three more times in a row before he excitedly spotted the submerged reef to his front-left.

But because he'd gone into the water multiple times—even though each time he only went down three to five meters, and besides adjusting to the water temperature, he only stayed submerged for at most a minute or two before coming up—it was extremely exhausting. After getting on the boat, he collapsed like a dead dog, sitting directly on the deck.

"If you can't find it, forget it. The hot water's already boiled. Wipe yourself down first so you don't catch a cold."

"Help me mix the hot water." Wrapped in his outer garment, he sat there panting.

"One of you go mix the hot water. I'm going to drive the boat. Get two people ready to lay the net. Luckily we only wasted two hours. I told you not to fuss about, not to fuss about, but you insisted on going in the water. Anyone feel comfortable jumping into the sea on a cold day like this?"

Ye Fu was talking as he headed toward the wheelhouse, and Ye Yaodong quickly stopped him.

"Wait a minute, I found the submerged reef, about ten meters to the front-left. Don't move, just stay here. I'm going to take a hot shower first, eat something, catch my breath, and rest for half an hour."

Ye Fu stopped in surprise. "You really found it?"

He didn't want to talk, only gave a soft hum in response.

"Did you see the boat? There's a submerged reef down there, and I don't know how deep it is or how big the reef is. If it's just a small patch, then the fishing boat slid straight to the seabed, and you're wasting your effort. The water down there is at least a hundred or two hundred meters deep…"

"Stop talking like a pessimist. I barely found it, and here you are muttering about it."

Ye Fu gave him a helpless glance and immediately shut his mouth—the son was grown and no longer under the father's thumb.

After the workers helped mix the hot water and put it in the cabin, Ye Yaodong went in and took a hot shower, put on his clothes, and hugged himself under the blankets for a bit of comfort.

That comfort almost let him drift off to sleep. Luckily he dozed off and then startled himself awake.

But because he'd found the spot, the obsessive drive had somewhat passed. Now lying comfortably under the blankets, he recalled the terrifying feeling of being in the water and shivered again, feeling a bit of retreat.

A single winter swim isn't that scary. The scariest thing is someone who can keep winter swimming without stopping—that kind of willpower is beyond ordinary people, practically godlike.

They stayed put in this surrounding area, and the Harvest didn't go far either. While Ye Yaodong had been diving a few times to search, Ye Fu had already contacted Uncle Pei by radio and explained the situation.

Then the Harvest also lingered nearby to wait, doing some work on the side, until a net was hauled up, and only then did it sail over toward them.

Just in time, he also came out of the cabin wrapped tightly in his thick cotton-padded jacket, and at a glance saw the boat pulled up alongside. His father was talking with Uncle Pei.

There was only a narrow gap between them. The fishing boats rocked and swayed as the waves washed over them, bumping together from time to time, then drifting apart again.

No wonder he'd been lying under the blankets for a while, dozed off, and taken a shower—at least half an hour had passed, and his father hadn't come in to check on him.

He hurried over to greet him. "Uncle Pei."

"You young people are really brave, jumping straight into the sea on a cold day like this."

"Just too greedy, can't let anything go."

"Rested?" Ye Fu asked.

"Just dozed off for a bit, feel much better now." He looked at Uncle Pei again. "Uncle, aren't you going to keep trawling?"

"Just hauled a net up, came over to take a look. No rush. We'll stay here a while and see what you can bring up from your dive."

"You're teasing me. I'm just taking a gamble—who knows if there's anything down there. If there isn't, I'll just count it as experiencing a winter swim and dive."

Ye Fu said again, "Why don't you rest a bit more, or take a nap? It's still light out, and you've gone into the water several times—you must be tired."

"I'll eat something and sit for a bit, that's enough."

Don't be fooled that it's only a little past two o'clock now—there's only about three hours until dark, and there's only so much you can do in those three hours. He couldn't keep going up and down in the sea nonstop.

Besides, he was just one final push away. He'd already located the submerged reef. One dive and he'd see whether he could reach the fishing boat—the answer would be clear immediately.

There was always a big pot of seafood kept warm on the stove, but after the sword shrimp sat too long, the shells had turned pale. Still, as long as there was something to eat, no one was that picky.

He casually picked up a big one and peeled the shell with his mouth. The shrimp meat was fresh and chewy, tender and delicious, and the shell peeled easily. It was one of the most popular seafood right now, and the price was beautiful too—much more expensive than crabs and mantis shrimp, and pricier than ordinary fish.

In this big pot, the remaining crabs were the most numerous and the biggest. No one felt like cracking them open, but they were plump, and no one could bear to just toss them back into the sea. If they thought of it, they could still crack the shells and suck out a bit of meat.

Most of the time, people are just contradictory creatures. They clearly don't want to eat it, and could have thrown it away while raw to save firewood, but if they don't cook it, they always feel it's a waste. Then once they cook it and find no one wants to eat it, and it sits there leftover, only then are they willing to take it away and dump it.

He ate a little at random, then carried over a reclining chair and sat next to his dad and the others.

"Dad, did you move the boat ten meters to the front-left like I said?"

"I moved it. Didn't you hear the engine sound?"

"I heard it while bathing, but who knows if you heard the direction I said clearly."

Father Pei couldn't help but cut in: "Dongzi, where did you get that set of diving gear? Is it easy to get? Otherwise, get me a set too?"

"Can't get one. Mine was retired from the military, not so easy to come by, and it took connections. If I could get a few more sets, I'd definitely get two more for myself."

He made up some off-the-cuff nonsense, then got up again to pour a cup of hot tea, which warmed his hands while also rinsing his mouth and quenching his thirst.

Back when they were catching sea urchins in Zhejiang Province, Father Pei had already asked once, and he had brushed him off with an off-the-cuff excuse.

Father Pei had also heard that he had a pretty good relationship with some bureau chief in the county. The few times that bureau chief came by, he always ate at their house, never once stepping into any village cadre's home—always theirs. Even the motorcycle at home had been arranged by that man.

With that kind of connection, he really could get a lot of good things others couldn't.

His face full of regret, he said, "What a pity. Otherwise we could get one more set. With an extra person in the water, there'd be someone to watch each other's back. The seabed is so dangerous—big fish have shown up before, and man-eating sharks. One person is never as safe as two."

"It's fine, I'm already very familiar with it. I'll be careful."

"Still, it's the young who dare to risk it and break new ground, with bold ideas. For us old folks who refuse to die, how would we dare have such thoughts? Now if you asked me to stick an arm down, I wouldn't dare."

"Hehe~"

Ye Yaodong blew on his hot tea a few times, sipping it slowly without speaking, and listened as his dad picked up the thread and started chatting with Uncle Pei.

The fishing boat was anchored on the sea without the roar of machinery, so everyone's voices could be heard clearly—no need to shout at the top of one's lungs.

After a bowl of hot tea went down, his whole body warmed up. Having just eaten his fill and absorbed the food's heat, his body slowly warmed as well.

He sat resting for a while, listened to them chat for a bit, and seeing his watch pointing to the 50-minute mark, he decided he couldn't keep dragging his feet any longer—better to get it over with. He stood up and said: "I'm going back in the water again. There's still hot water in the pot, right?"

"Yes, I'll have them add more water and boil more."

He really couldn't bear to take his clothes off—sitting was so comfortable. If this trip yielded nothing, he'd really be punishing himself for no reason.

Just one last push and he was done hesitating. He decisively stripped off his padded jacket and pants, his sweater, and even his long underwear, leaving only a pair of boxer briefs. Bare-bodied, he went through his warm-up routine again and again.

Only then did he put on his mask and fins, took a deep breath, and resolutely jumped back into the sea.

The warm body was instantly invaded by the icy seawater again, and the familiar feeling welled up. He gritted his teeth and endured it; once he got past the initial shock, it became comfortable afterward.

It was only a little worse than being wrapped in a blanket on the boat—no wonder there were so many winter swimming enthusiasts. They probably fell in love with this feeling.

The people on both boats watched him jump into the sea stark naked, all shivering with a cold shudder, their faces still showing nothing but admiration.

"No wonder Adong gets rich… that's really ruthless, just jumping in like that…"

"He's already jumped quite a few times…"

"Youth really is something…"

The people on the boat chatted idly among themselves, waiting, while he underwater quickly adapted, then slowly dove downward. The reef was right before his eyes.

Only at this hour, the sky was a dull gray, thick with heavy clouds, not so bright. The light reflected in the sea was also a dull gray, with visibility under three meters.

But it was enough for him to avoid crashing into the reef.

He carefully swam downward, and in no time his eyes lit up with pleasant surprise as he looked below.

He'd only been underwater two minutes before spotting it—he saw a section of bow sticking up, and instantly felt like he'd been injected with adrenaline, his whole body bursting with energy.

Finding a ship was just too great. It made all those trips of enduring the freezing seawater and jumping in worthwhile.

He slowly approached, ignoring the small fish and shrimp swimming around, then circled around the fishing boat for nearly half a turn before realizing—

This boat was wedged tightly between two reefs rising from the seabed, stuck fast and perfectly so. The stern pointed downward, the bow tilted upward, and the underside of the hull was hollow with a hole in it.

What held it in place was entirely the two reefs on either side, which looked like a slit of sky, only wider than a slit of sky.

He figured it probably wouldn't take much longer, because of the tilt and the waves, the boat would continue sinking toward the seabed, then drop heavily to the bottom, just like many other shipwrecks, never to see the light of day again.

It had only been sunk two days, and seawater had buoyancy, so it could still be wedged in place, without letting the boat fall over directly.

It hadn't been long since he went in the water, and he wasn't feeling any discomfort. Wanting to finish quickly, he directly aimed at the fishing boat's position and slowly swam over.

This fishing boat not only had its bow section tilted upward, but the side of the hull was also slanted. When he approached, kicking his fins, he didn't even need to stand on the boat.

The deck was empty—everything that could fall into the sea had fallen in. Only the machinery, bolted to the deck, was still there.

Every boat's structure was similar—the cabin and wheelhouse were basically toward the stern. Knowing the layout well, he made straight for the cabin door.

The cabin door wasn't locked, just an iron latch hooked in place, which he easily undid.

But he didn't dare open the door directly. He was afraid the cargo inside was different from the boxes piled on the deck earlier, with no buoyancy. If he opened the cabin door, everything would roll out and sink to the seabed.

Then there'd be nothing he could do. He didn't know how many meters deep it was below, and he was already nearly at his limit at this depth. It'd all be for nothing.

If there was buoyancy, he wouldn't be afraid. The moment the cabin door opened, he'd let all those boxes float up. Anyway, there were only two boats on the surface right now. If his dad saw boxes floating up, he'd surely call everyone to fish them out together.

He held the iron handle in his hand, torn for a while—should he float up first, or just open it directly? He hesitated, but there was no other way.

Moving underwater was already inconvenient enough, let alone trying to block the items inside the cabin from rolling out. The moment he opened it, the things inside would roll out and push him away in an instant.

And because the boat was tilted and shaking as it fell, the cargo inside was surely already in disarray. Whatever could brace against the back of the cabin door was probably pressed against the back. Opening it would definitely cause things to roll out—there'd be no stopping it.

In just an instant's thought, he steeled himself, gritted his teeth, and directly pulled the iron plate in his hand backward.

Before he could react, the boxes braced against the back of the cabin door immediately all rolled out, and he himself was knocked backward by the impact of the door.

Box after box rolled out like dumplings being dropped into water, then immediately slowly floated upward.

Ye Yaodong's face lit up with joy. As long as they didn't sink, who cared what was inside? As long as they could float up, let them try their luck and fish out as many as they could.

He immediately kicked his fins, following those boxes one by one as they floated up while being washed by the waves. He didn't care that more were still drifting out of the cabin—they'd all float up eventually.

Ye Fu had been craning his neck, staring at the water, afraid his third son might have some mishap. The freezing seawater of early spring was no joke—if he got a cramp or his blood pressure spiked and couldn't move, it'd be all over.

Father Pei also comforted him from the side: "Dongzi knows the ropes down there, it's not his first time in the water. Nothing to worry about. Hasn't he gone down many times before? If anything were wrong, he'd have come right up. He's probably still exploring down there. Let's just wait here at ease."

Ye Fu had no desire to speak, just nodded.

The boatmen were all curiously chatting in whispers on the deck, waiting there as well.

This dive of his took longer than the previous ones, and many people had assumed he would go down for a few minutes and come back up as usual.

Everyone's eyes were on the sea surface, but instead of seeing a person, they saw boxes suddenly floating up onto the water.

And one after another they floated up—some drifting far away, some staying close by, some far and some near—and as the waves slapped against them, they swayed and shifted as well.

"Boxes! There are boxes!"

"Look, look, look!! There are boxes…"

"There are so many boxes…"

"Ye Lao San, Ye Lao San, there are so many boxes…"

"In-laws, it must be Dongzi who brought them up!" Father Pei also widened his eyes in surprise, then shouted excitedly, "Quick, quick, hurry and salvage them. These are about the same as the boxes that drifted out the night the cargo ship sank. It must be Dongzi who opened…"

With a splash of water breaking the surface, Ye Yaodong also floated up. The first thing he did was pull off the breathing tube from his face and shout to his father, "Hurry and salvage them, don't let them drift away!"

Ye Fu quickly snapped out of his surprise and also shouted loudly to the boatmen on the ship, "Quick, grab the bamboo poles and fishing nets—hook what you can hook, net what you can net… don't let a single drifting box get away. Start with the ones nearby and salvage them quickly…"

Everyone didn't wait for him to finish—before Ye Yaodong's words had even fallen, they were already in motion.

He himself immediately grabbed one of the bamboo poles kept on board, with a hook tied to one end.

Father Pei hesitated for a moment, then quickly shouted at the boatmen to salvage them too, lest they really drift away and that would be a pity.

Ye Yaodong saw that the people on both ships had started moving, so he slowly swam toward the fishing boat, then climbed up on his own. There were even more boxes on the sea surface.

The quick-handed ones had already salvaged one box up and tossed it onto the deck, then immediately turned around to salvage another.

He stood there bare-bodied, hands on hips, panting heavily. "Salvage as many as you can, try not to let a single one go. If by any chance the boxes have good stuff inside, I'll give each of you a red envelope."

The way to be good to your workers is to give red envelopes. Ye Yaodong isn't stingy—as long as he can make big money and get great benefits, the people around him certainly won't be shortchanged.

Besides, being a boatman is already very hard. Everyone is risking their lives working for him, so while he's reaping the benefits, he can't leave the others behind.

If these boxes are all canned fish and caviar, then he's really made a killing. Even at worst, they can't be worse than these things.

The boatmen were instantly pumped up like they'd been given a shot of adrenaline, even more thrilled, and worked even harder. Who doesn't love money?

Although doing this work at sea is what they're supposed to do anyway, having the prospect of extra red envelopes naturally greatly boosted everyone's enthusiasm.

While Ye Yaodong was catching his breath, box after box floated up—all of them tumbling out from the cargo hold door he had opened below.

At a glance, boxes were floating everywhere on the sea surface, and almost everyone on the ship had salvaged boxes up, and they were still continuing to work hard at salvaging.

Those boxes, one by one, looked just like tofu puffs in a frying pan.

He let out a somewhat comical laugh, feeling the sea breeze blow over and grow a bit colder. After sneezing violently three times, he quickly threw on his padded jacket. Once he'd recovered, he immediately went to boil hot water, planning to give himself another hot sponge bath before coming back to help.

Anyway, with so many people salvaging, he needed to take care of himself first after diving so many times.

It's just that the neighboring Harvest was also salvaging at the same time—he wondered what arrangement they'd have to work out later?

Does this count as public or private? And it was he who spent half the day exerting himself, diving again and again to find the location, and it was he who risked going down into the sea to open the cargo hold door.

As he bathed, he mulled it over. The Harvest trying to swallow the fruits of his labor—that was impossible.

He'd have to improvise later and discuss how to split the cargo on the Harvest. Not giving them any wasn't an option either—finders keepers, but they'd helped too.

His thoughts drifted off, but he didn't stop scrubbing himself.

Once his body warmed up again, he put on his clothes and hurried back out to help.

Over ten boxes had already been salvaged onto the deck, and the nearby spots were becoming hard to reach. Seeing him come out of the cabin dressed, Ye Fu hurriedly called him to the wheelhouse to drive the ship closer to the boxes drifting on the sea ahead, to make salvaging easier for them.

It worked out well since he'd expended too much energy underwater and didn't need to do that kind of work—he could just sit in the wheelhouse and help steer the ship.

After Ye Yaodong acknowledged him, he pulled up the iron anchor that had been lowered into the sea, checked the direction, then returned to the wheelhouse and steered toward the boxes scattered ahead.

Everyone was busy salvaging and didn't pay attention to whether more boxes were still floating up on the sea surface—they only noticed that the boxes, buffeted by the waves and rocked by the sea breeze, were drifting farther and farther away.

The Harvest was even more eager than they were and had long since set sail, moving forward a short distance to salvage boxes.

The two ships were like competing with each other. The boatmen on his ship had all taken off their padded jackets so they could move freely—each one of them was very enthusiastic.

In contrast, the Harvest's salvaging enthusiasm was relatively a bit lower.

After Ye Yaodong steered forward a short distance, he immediately stopped the ship again, then went down to the deck to help.

From when he went into the water until he came out after finishing his bath to help, forty or fifty minutes had already passed. The time was fast approaching 4 o'clock, less than two hours until dark.

Everyone had to be quick—salvage what they could while they could, because once it got dark, salvaging would be difficult.

The moonlight was dim, and the fishing boat only had a single orange-yellow light, plus headlamps—they couldn't see very far.

Time is money—that saying was truly fully illustrated at this moment.

Salvaging one more box was worth more than a hundred bucks.

The boxes salvaged from the sea were all waterlogged, making their weight hard to estimate. After Ye Yaodong salvaged one up and held it in his arms, he couldn't tell what was inside, or whether it was the same as the canned fish from last time.

He could only confirm that the two boxes looked identical on the outside and were the same size.

In his heart he was eighty percent sure—they were probably canned fish too.

He casually tossed it onto the deck, planning to open it and take a look after dark when there was nothing more to salvage. Profit was certain—the only question was how much. If it was canned fish, he'd still have made a killing.

He wasn't worried about the matter of selling it at all. Looking at Lin Ji, that minor boss, he didn't seem like someone who messed around. Good stuff like canned fish—he'd probably happily snap it up in one bite.

If it was caviar, then he'd have to deal with it—first he'd have to sort it out separately, and peel off the labels on the outer packaging…

He shook his head, quickly casting the thoughts from his mind. Now was not the time to think about this.

If only he'd woken up earlier in the afternoon, he might have had more time to salvage.

Everyone on the deck was salvaging in a lively frenzy, but it didn't affect their talking at all.

"A-Dong, these boxes all drifted out from the cargo hold, right? What's still inside?"

"I don't know. All that cargo was jammed behind the hold door. The moment I opened it, I got bumped outward, then these boxes tumbled out one by one, each one floating up. I was in a panic too, so I hurried back up."