Chapter 1017: Unloading the Cargo

Ye Yaodong cut the red paper neatly, placed two-yuan bills on top of each sheet, then folded the red paper into neat squares, folded a dozen or so and put them in his pocket.

Only when the fishing boat had already passed the town's harbor, and it would take about half an hour more to reach the village dock, did he go back into the cabin and wake the boatmen who were snoring one after another, telling them to prepare to dock.

"You can go ahead and pack up your things. We'll be home in at most another half hour. The cargo in the fish hold can be moved out onto the deck ahead of time, bit by bit, so it'll be easier to transfer to the receiving boats in a bit."

"Oh, alright, alright…"

Everyone immediately sat up, some putting on shirts, some putting on pants.

Ye Yaodong also took out the red envelopes he had prepared in advance and gave each of them one; they were all so happy they couldn't close their mouths.

They were already paid for going out to sea, and now every trip they tagged along on came with a red envelope too — a complete windfall. Two yuan was almost equivalent to a day's wages for them.

"You've worked hard on this trip too. When you get back, you can buy a catty or two of meat to treat yourselves."

"Heh, that's because you're generous. It was all just work we should've been doing anyway."

"Earning money is never not hard. At our age, still being able to make money is already a good thing."

Everyone's face was full of joy. They hadn't eaten dinner the night before, yet they were instantly brimming with energy all over.

After they went out to the fish hold one by one, full of drive, to move the cargo, Ye Yaodong immediately took out the cloth bag he had already prepared and swept all the money from the iron box locked under the bed into the bag.

This was the week's earnings from out at sea, plus the shop's revenue in the city.

The coins clinked and clattered as he grabbed them into the bag, but the roar of the engine drowned out the sound completely — only he could hear it.

This trip hadn't earned all that well either. Only the school of fish brought in by the killer whale had been caught in any great quantity — all horse-head fish, which sold for a decent price.

Although the nets cast at other times had also brought in plenty, there weren't many good catches. Most were cheap common fish worth only a few cents each, so they could only make it up with volume — most of the time they could only sell more by sheer quantity.

After deducting expenses, he'd only made a little over 2,000 yuan. The main reason was that yesterday they'd spent most of the day resting at sea while salvaging cargo from the sunken ship, plus nearly three days' worth of goods. Apart from the valuable stuff sent to the city to sell, several tens of thousands of catties had been kept to take home, so he'd sold several hundred yuan less here too.

The shop's revenue, compared to what had been sent home in the past few days, was also down by more than half. Last time there had been dried sea rabbit for sale — most of the money had been made selling that.

This time, a whole week's sales had only been about a thousand yuan. People's desire to shop after the New Year was a bit sluggish — probably because the New Year goods bought before the holiday hadn't been finished yet.

Anyway, it wasn't bad. From now on they'd start by relying on the tens of thousands of catties of goods they'd kept to take home and drying them themselves, which cut costs by at least half — equivalent to a bigger net profit.

After he'd packed all the money away, he took off his sweater, hung the backpack on his body, then put the sweater back on with it hidden underneath, and finally put on his padded jacket before going out.

Working in pairs, they carried the baskets out. The deck had already been piled with quite a bit of general cargo, and now it looked even more crammed full.

Ah Guang leaned against the ship's rail with a thoughtful expression, watching the scattered lights receding into the distance.

He walked over and asked softly, "What are you thinking about?"

"Thinking about what I should do. Otherwise, just sitting at home with my wife and kids feels kind of like being useless — living off my wife."

If he didn't know Ah Guang was talking about himself, Ye Yaodong would've thought he was taking a dig at someone.

After silently cursing "damn it" in his heart, Ye Yaodong finally spoke up.

"Don't take your blessings for granted. An only child has it so good — you don't have to do anything at home and you've still got money, and you call yourself useless."

"I really do feel a bit that way. You guys all go out to sea or run shops, but I'm stuck at home every day. My old man's still out there busting his back, and it's about time he retired."

"Once you have a son, your dad can probably rest easy letting you take over. You don't need to be thinking about other things. Inheriting your father's trade is a given — you're his only son, so the family's boat will definitely be handed to you to skipper. He definitely can't keep at it for many more years."

"I get that. But seeing you running a workshop and a shop selling dried fish and fish sauce and all that, properly set up and everything, I was wondering whether I should try doing something too."

"You can't compare. The reason I run a workshop and a shop is because I've got people helping me — my old lady, my father-in-law and mother-in-law, my wife, and my sisters-in-law at home. Everyone who can pitch in is pitching in. Otherwise, how could one person handle all that alone?"

"So yeah, a kid without a mom really is pretty pitiful. With a mom around, she can at least hold up half the sky. Not that she has to do the work — just having her organize things is already a huge help."

"That's true."

Ye Yaodong agreed wholeheartedly. Although his old lady was talkative and loved to show off, sometimes just lending a hand and helping out saved him a lot of trouble. The skills old married women had were especially plentiful — you absolutely couldn't underestimate them.

"Let's talk about it later. Ye Ye Huimei hasn't even given birth yet, and I can't leave her alone in the city. I've got to stay and keep her company, and help you out for free while I'm at it."

"I'm not paying you wages!"

Ah Guang shot him a look. "You think I need your measly little pay?"

"Then hurry up and help carry stuff. Stop standing here contemplating life." Ye Yaodong tilted his chin toward the workers busy moving cargo, signaling him to get to work too.

"Together."

Ah Guang casually grabbed his padded jacket and forcibly dragged him along to work too.

They didn't stop until the deck was piled with cargo leaving only walkways on both sides, and by then the fishing boat was already close to shore.

Looking from afar at the scattered faint lights of the fishing village, the workshop not far from the shore was still brightly lit. The orange-yellow light was clearly visible even from a great distance, and the silhouettes of people bustling inside could be seen — still working, not off shift yet.

However, there was no one waiting on the shore, and no flashlight beams to be seen.

But it wasn't long before, as their fishing boat slowed down and drew closer, several flashlight beams lit up at the workshop entrance, then moved all the way to the dock. Someone had probably been sitting at the door keeping an eye on the sea, happened to spot the light of their fishing boat, and rushed out to receive the cargo.

Ye Fu slowed down, picked a good spot, and stopped next to the Harvest. After just a short wait, two fishing boats from the shore also came out to receive the cargo.

"Brother Dong, you guys got back way too late, didn't you? When Uncle Pei got home this afternoon, he said you should've arrived before dark like last time, but we waited and waited and never saw the boat. Luckily everyone at the workshop was busy, so nobody had time to overthink it."

"Yeah, we got held up a bit. Help us receive the cargo first."

"Are two boats enough? If not, we'll come back for another trip in a bit."

"We'll see in a bit. There's more stuff today…"

Wang Wang Guangliang and the others were driving his eldest and second brothers' boats, plus the one he'd rented out to them. Anyway, they only came out every few days to pick up a load of cargo. Between brothers, nobody quibbled over it.

Over ten tons of cargo on the boat filled two large boats completely. He'd originally planned to bring the blankets and things down too, but realized there was nowhere left to put them — seafood was everywhere, and if the blankets got even a little on them, they'd stink of fish.

They'd have to leave it like that for today and come back out tomorrow morning after waking up to pull the blankets back.

After all the cargo was moved, he and his dad checked the boat once more for anything left behind, then locked up all the cabins that needed locking before climbing onto the waiting fishing boat.

One boat had already gone back ahead of them. When they arrived, his old lady on shore was directing a group of women to help unload the cargo — all familiar faces from the workshop, plus a few of the older kids from the family, giggling and very eager.

"The workshop hasn't gotten off work yet, Ma?"

"Get off work? We've got to kill fish all night. Otherwise, how are we going to finish processing the tens of thousands of catties of goods? This afternoon, my in-laws weighed what he brought back — 18,000 catties, plus over 10,000 catties of mixed goods."

"And you've hauled back several tens of thousands of catties more here — at least sixty or seventy thousand catties. How are we supposed to get through all that? The weather's warming up a bit again too. Only the wind at night is still cool; during the day it's already getting hot. What if all that goods goes bad?"

"Tomorrow we'll have to call in several dozen more women to help take shifts killing fish. There won't be enough space to dry everything either — in a couple of days, every bit of open ground will be covered with fish drying."

"The way you're running things, it's either sitting at home bored to death, or so busy you can't even sleep…"

After Ye Mu finished speaking with him, she also called out and pulled a woman to help her move the cargo.

"Hurry up, first finish moving all this cargo, then you can go back and keep killing fish…"

"Once it's full just set it on the ground, the cart is too small, can't fit more than a few baskets. Good thing it's close, we can come back in a bit to pull another load…"

Ye Yaodong stood on the shore and felt that the sea breeze blowing over wasn't as cold and biting anymore. It was still a bit cool, but much better than out at sea—the temperature had risen quite a bit in just a few days.

"Drive the tractor over here to haul it too. Going back and forth like this with the cart, how long will it take? The tractor can carry more, and a few extra trips will be faster."

Ye Mu couldn't bear the thought and quickly turned her head to argue, "That would cost fuel money! Just make a few more trips with the cart."

"How much fuel could it possibly use? The road is this short, and the cart only hauls a little each trip—going back and forth wastes so much time! How much less fish will get cleaned? Using the tractor is faster, so we can free up hands to go back and keep killing fish."

"Fine, fine, fine, one of you kids go drive the tractor over…"

Wang Wang Guangliang sent his cousin off to drive the tractor, while he stayed on the side to keep helping, and muttered, "I said this afternoon, driving the tractor out to haul cargo would be faster, and got scolded by Auntie."

"Don't mind her. My mom just can't bear to spend the fuel money. If you tell her finishing this haul won't even cost a few cents, she won't feel bad about it."

"Sigh."

Everyone was shuttling back and forth between the boats and the shore moving cargo, muttering a few words here and there about how much stuff there was, a noisy scene.

But you could tell everyone was happy—so much cargo would take a few days to process, meaning several more days of continuous work.

These women called over to help were all counted as temporary workers, paid by the day—work one day, get paid for one day. After all, just as his mother had been muttering, when things are slow they sit idle at the door swatting mosquitoes, and when things are busy they can't even sleep.

Of course paying by the day was the better deal—you can't invite people over just to sit there swatting mosquitoes. Apart from the group of little brothers he had brought along, they still had to take turns watching the workshop 24 hours a day, so they really did need to be paid by the month.

Once he really got his hands on a fresh-fish collection boat, docking every other day, there'd be work every single day, an endless stream of fish to clean. At that point he'd need to hire permanent employees.

After most of the cargo had been moved, he stood aside watching, and also glanced at the workshop not far ahead. The dried-fish workshop always had a large piece of nylon sheeting stretched overhead to guard against sudden rain, but the newly built one next to it didn't.

He'd have to arrange to have one set up in the next couple of days. Spring brought plenty of rain, and Qingming Festival was only days away—it was bound to rain.

If a sudden downpour caught them unprepared, those tens of thousands of jin of cargo would be in trouble; you couldn't just gather them up in a moment.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh. The next few days would be busy—he couldn't keep wandering around the house resting like he had the past few days.

A group of people with flashlights hauled things back and forth at the dock, with the cart and tractor going to and fro. It took several trips before all the cargo from both boats was hauled into the workshop and unloaded.

He kept standing at the dock watching until the fish cargo was moved. Only then did they move the boxes of canned fish last. He called for people to load them all onto the tractor, climbed up himself, and drove the tractor to the courtyard gate.

The commotion of his return was too big. The neighbors on both sides knew he'd brought back another pile of cargo, and they flocked wherever there was action. Seeing the workshop lit up bright as day, they gathered at the workshop door to watch and gossip.

The tractor drove straight past the workshop door. Everyone just turned to glance at it, then went back to pointing at the cargo covering the floor inside, chatting and gesturing, while also calling out to his mother nonstop—did she still need people?

The kids at home had long since heard the tractor's sound and were used to it, no longer excited. They ran out to the door for a look, then went back in—and didn't even run up to him to call out "Third Uncle."

"Damn… these little brats are so mercenary. They know I'm back from the sea with no gifts for them, so they don't even come near."

Lin Lin Xiuqing had been counting the cargo in the workshop. Seeing the tractor pass, she hurried after it, jogging home, and said with a laugh from behind.

"You went out to work on the sea, not on some far-off trip to make big money. They all know that. A few days ago they crowded around you and didn't get anything, so of course the novelty's worn off."

"The girls at home have all gone to the workshop to help kill fish. Only a few boys who haven't finished their homework are still in the house doing it. The adults at home were too busy to mind them, so they played around until they got beaten, and only then came back to do their homework."

"They need disciplining. Next time they don't want to do homework, just drag them all to the workshop to work."

"Then they'd be thrilled. What are all those boxes on your tractor?"

"Help me unload them first, carry them into the house." Saying this, Ye Yaodong climbed onto the tractor and began moving the stacked cargo down, placing them at the edge for her to take.

After his father had finished hauling cargo, he also went to the workshop to count the goods, and to check the cargo Father Pei had brought back in the afternoon.

Lin Lin Xiuqing rolled up her sleeves and took them. "There's no room left in the house, it's all bags of dried fish—we can only put them in the courtyard."

"Then just put them in the courtyard for now."

The old lady had earlier walked to the workshop leaning on her cane, and now was slowly walking back, watching the two of them busy at work.

"What's the rush to move things? Come home and eat first? Are you hungry? It's already dark when you got back, it's this late already—either eat first, don't starve yourselves."

"It's fine, once we're done, the cargo's almost all unloaded, just this little bit left."

"What are all these boxes? Where did you bring them back from?"

The old lady glanced around sneakily left and right, then said in a small voice, "Did you go do some smuggling too?"

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes at her. "What nonsense are you talking? At your age, you even know about this?"

"I know plenty. Those women in the workshop talk about everything all day long—there's nothing in this village I don't know about."

"Impressive. At your age, you've even got a seat in the intelligence bureau?"

"Ah, nothing to do but walk around and sun myself, and I just overhear things. The workshop's going to be lively again these next few days, I'll get to hear plenty more…"

Ye Yaodong laughed in spite of himself. At her age, he hadn't expected her gossip-loving heart to still be so strong—she could even infiltrate the village intelligence bureau and might get firsthand information.

"Then what do you want me to say? Who knows if what those people say is true or false, just let it pass through your ears. You really didn't go do smuggling?" The last part she asked in a tiny voice, still stuck on this question.

"No, don't worry. I'm an honest, decent person. Don't go imagining things, don't just believe whatever others say. The gossip from women outside, just listen to it casually."

"That's what I thought too. You've always been well-behaved, you definitely wouldn't do something like that."

"Right, so if you love the excitement, listening to those people talk can pass the time, but just let it pass through your ears, listen for fun, that's enough."

"Okay, okay…"

Lin Lin Xiuqing laughed as she moved the cargo. "She's got nothing to do now and loves running to the workshop. When the workshop's full of people working, she just drags a stool over and sits on the side listening, and gets to hear a few nice words about herself."

"I'm really popular now. A few days ago when they were working, I brought the radio over and played it for them. They were so happy—work to do and a radio to listen to, they look forward to me coming every day."

Ye Yaodong also laughed and teased the old lady. "That popular? Then if you won't gossip for me, tell me—what do they say about you?"

"Heh heh, they all say I look younger the older I get, that I'm getting better at dressing up, that the clothes I wear look better than a young bride's—all red and green, all flowers."

"Oh, and they say since my teeth got better, I've gotten more energetic, that I can live to 100, that I'll definitely see our family with five generations under one roof, and in a few years I can hold my great-great-grandchild…"

"None of the old men and women in the whole village are as blessed as me, none have a fate as good as mine."

The old lady's wrinkled face bloomed into a smile. The orange-yellow lamplight from inside the house cast out, and her complexion did look quite rosy and spirited.

"That's a good fate? Tomorrow I'll have you dressed in gold and silver—then that'll be a good fate."

Thinking this, Ye Yaodong also wondered whether to have a gold ring, gold necklace, gold earrings, and such made for the old lady, and a full set for Ah Qing and his mother too.

What woman doesn't like jewelry? From old to young.

Now gold is only a few yuan per gram, buying it is a hedge against inflation, and you can wear it.

She's at this age now, never enjoyed any blessings in her life, never worn gold or silver. Now that she's getting old, she has to arrange it somehow.

In his previous life he only lived until 1987, and this year is already 1985. Thinking of this, his heart tightened. He'd see in the next couple of days if he had time. If he went to the county town, any spare time he could browse around. If not, he could go to the town — their town was much livelier than the county town.

The old lady said to him, laughing herself silly, "Hahaha, wear gold and silver? Then everyone's eyeballs would be glued to me~"

"Just wait, a little later I'll make everyone envy you to death."

"Okay okay okay~"

The husband and wife, one carrying and one receiving, the three of them chatted and gossiped there, the atmosphere especially warm and harmonious. It took quite a while before they unloaded all the boxes from the half-cart into the yard.

Lin Lin Xiuqing wiped the sweat that had seeped out on her forehead. "These are all canned fish? I just saw them."

"Mm."

"Did you go into the water and find the sunken ship from a few days ago?"

"Right, I'll tell you the details later. This big bag of clothes is for you to wash. Take the suitcase inside too. I'll drive the tractor back to the workshop and check on it while I'm at it."

"Oh okay, then just take a look and come back early for dinner. I'll heat up the dishes, it'll be quick."

"Got it."

The old lady also shouted from the side, "Come back early for dinner, don't starve yourself…"

What elderly people care about most is whether you've eaten your fill and whether you're dressed warmly.

The group of women in the workshop had all sat down again full of energy and gotten to work. Every one of them wore sleeve protectors, their knives scraping fish scales flying up, and their mouths never stopped as they chatted in groups — bursts of noise one after another.

Ye Yaodong first looked at the goods his own family had unloaded, then walked over to his father, checked the goods Uncle Pei had unloaded in the afternoon, and casually asked a few questions.

"There's quite a lot of goods…"

"I just took a look at the goods my in-laws brought back this afternoon — quite a lot have already been killed, but there are still about 30,000 jin. Adding what we brought back, it's really too much…"

"I've already arranged it with Mother. We'll kill them through the night tonight, and first thing tomorrow morning we'll call in another batch of people to take over. Otherwise we simply can't finish killing them all."

"That's good! With this many goods, it'll take days and nights to kill. Get more people to hurry up and process them, dry them and store them away, so we don't have to worry about bad weather coming up."

"Mm."

He casually looked around and then went to the workshop on the other side. There were also a few people in the warehouse carrying things back and forth for curing, and his mother was there too.

In his mother's words — since next door was already staying up all night killing fish, she might as well let people work on this side too. The job of fermenting fish sauce wasn't any more troublesome than killing fish, very easy. They definitely couldn't finish in one night either, so better to get it done early and put her mind at ease.

Ye Yaodong looked at the empty ground by the wall on one side, where two or three hundred large jars were lined up in a whole row, and said something pointless.

"The big jars have been delivered?"

"Delivered. I told those few boys in the workshop — when they went to the county to deliver fish sauce a couple days ago, I had them stop by to push for it, and they were delivered the day before yesterday."

"That saves me a trip. Just right — the goods brought back this trip are a lot, and they'll come in handy."

"Pretty much can come in handy. There are still a dozen or so barrels on the empty lot next door that can't be filtered yet — have to wait until next month when they're filtered and sealed before they can be carried over to use."

He nodded. With his mother occasionally taking time out to come over and arrange things, he really could save a lot of trouble. His mother knew the village women very well too, so many things were especially easy to arrange.

The fish sauce workshop being able to properly get on track now — his mother deserved the primary credit.

Ah Guang wasn't wrong — children without a mother are too pitiful.

Ye Fu, after finishing his inspection of the workshop, ran over to find him again. "Are you done? If you're done, let's go home for dinner."

"Done, let's go."

He answered and followed him out. But after walking just a short distance, he turned back to call his mother, and took out the remaining red envelopes he'd prepared in his pocket long ago.

"Mother, come out for a moment…"

"There are a few red envelopes here. Later, give them to the boatmen on Uncle Pei's side…" He rattled off a string of names to his mother along with it.

Ye Mu took the pile of red envelopes with both hands, puzzled. "What are you doing? Too much money, handing out red envelopes again? Why didn't you give me a few? Giving them to outsiders… what do his people have to do with you…"

"Stop complaining. I told you to deliver red envelopes, so deliver them. So much talk. I'll have Dad explain to you when we get back later."

Ye Yaodong said casually, then followed his father out again. Ye Mu, holding the red envelopes, hurriedly chased after them.

"What did you do now?"

"When we were at sea, Uncle Pei and his crew helped me out with some things, so I'm thanking them."

Ye Mu tensed up. "Did you run into danger?"

"No, don't overthink it. Didn't you just see all those boxes being carried off the boat? Weren't you all asking what they were? They were salvaged together with the help of Uncle Pei's people."

"Oh, as long as you didn't run into danger. Then I'll go deliver them now, before they all go to sleep in a bit. What's in those boxes of yours?"

"What's there to be curious about? Go back and have Dad explain to you."

"Always making everything all mysterious, insisting on talking about it only at home, only at home…"

Ye Mu shot a sidelong glance and muttered a couple of lines, then parted ways with the father and son and headed into the village.

Ye Yaodong walked and chatted with his father about buying nylon bags to use as rain canopies, to be stretched over the top of the fish sauce workshop. He planned to leave this matter to his father to handle — he didn't have the time.

Tomorrow morning he still had to go to the county town to find Director Chen, and also go to the shipyard to discuss in detail the plan for the fresh-fish boat, and then he had to go find Lin Ji to handle the matter of that batch of canned fish in the yard — he didn't even know if the man was home.

Then in the next couple of days he also had to see if he had time. If he did, he still had to gather all those cousins to discuss the matter of repairing the tomb.

Ye Fu nodded, no objections — he knew his son was very busy now.

"Also, while you're at it, go ask the carpenter — has the signboard plaque I ordered been finished?"

"Got it. Anything else?"

"Yes. The blankets and such on the boat — remember to go collect them tomorrow, have Ah Qing hang them out to air. Anything else I can't think of right now — I'll tell you when I remember."

"Mm."

Ye Fu now completely followed his lead without question, at most occasionally offering a few opinions.

…………