Chapter 1028: Bringing It Home to Sell

When the fishermen on the small boats drew close, they greeted them one after another and asked in puzzlement why they had come back early.

Only then did they learn that a full day and night had passed, and not a drop of rain had fallen in the village — no thunder, no lightning either; the bad weather had been only out on the open sea.

After Ye Father laughed and explained things to them, everyone cheerfully and noisily moved all the cargo from the ship onto the small boats.

As for the star of the show, the catfish, it was left till last before he and Chen Shi carried it out together.

Just one glance, and every old fisherman present cried out in astonishment.

"Wow, a fish this big?"

"What kind of fish is this, so huge? Hey, why is its head black? That's strange? Been a long time since I've seen a fish this big."

"This fish looks taller than a person, right? Taller than A-Dong?"

"Taller than you lot, sure, but taller than me… seems like it's a bit short? I'll go home and compare later." Ye Yaodong was also beaming all over his face.

When they hauled it up last night it was already dark, raining, with thunder and lightning flashing, and he had no mind to lift it up for comparison, and in a rainy night it was hard to take photos too.

When he carried it home later, he could take a photo on the way, then have someone help lift the fish up and set it beside him to compare their heights.

Such a huge catfish naturally had to be photographed, and he had to get himself in the shot too; later he could take out the preserved fish maw and proudly say it was dried by him, produced from this very fish.

Aiya~ just thinking about it is enough to make one smug~

The corners of his mouth were turned up so much his AK grin was hard to suppress.

"What fish is this, so huge?"

Ye Father, beaming with pride, said loudly: "This is a mao fish, a catfish, worth a fortune, over a hundred jin in weight, takes two people to carry it."

"Mao fish? Oh my, it's a mao fish? No way, you actually caught a mao fish this big, good heavens…"

"Holy smokes~ a mao fish this big~"

"Is it really a mao fish? This big — how much must it be worth? Oh my goodness…"

"This fish's head is all black, is it really a mao fish? Could you have got it wrong? Never seen one that looks like this?"

The fishermen on the surrounding small boats were all exclaiming and chattering away; even the deckhands on the Harvest were discussing it — they had no idea at all that the Dongsheng had also caught such a mao fish overnight.

Ye Father, overjoyed, hurriedly explained: "Out on the open sea last night there was constant lightning and thunder, we were so panicked we were about to turn right back, but then we saw a fish leap out of the water and got struck square by lightning."

"We didn't get a good look at first, just saw a shadow; later the fish drifted up to the side of our boat, and I only spotted it from up on the wheelhouse, then quickly called Dongzi to haul it in."

"Originally we were just thinking, since this big fish had drifted right up to us, we'd haul it up casually to see what it was, see if we could sell it for a bit more money — who knew that once we hauled it up it turned out to be a mao fish, and every one of us got a fright too."

Ye Father stood on the Dongsheng and chatted away at his ease; the people on the other boats had finished loading their cargo but couldn't bear to leave, and just stood there listening.

Pe Father, with thick dark circles under his eyes, stood on a small boat exhausted yet full of envy; he didn't call for the old fishermen to row to shore right away, wanting to listen for a while to hear just how it had been caught.

"That black part on its head is from being struck by lightning — we couldn't tell at first either, only saw it clearly once we hauled it up…"

"You've struck it rich, this fish is worth a fortune — the fish maw inside its belly is probably forty or fifty centimeters long, right? A top-grade treasure!"

"That's right, and luckily it was this fish's head that got struck; if it had been some other fish it wouldn't be worth anything, but this one is fine, the maw inside is still perfectly good, worth a lot of money."

"Later we have to have a proper talk with A-Cai, bargain hard, sell it for more — it's been years since anyone saw something this good. I saw one ten years ago, but it wasn't this big either."

The moment talk turned to selling it, Ye Father's face fell, and he lost all interest in bragging.

No matter how valuable a thing is, it only counts as earnings once it's sold and turned into cash; otherwise, just sitting in your hand, how can that be called earning? That's just stuck on your hands.

"Alright, alright, once the fish is set down, hurry and head for shore. We've been at it all night and no one's had any rest — get to shore first, sell off this cargo first."

Ye Yaodong wanted to see if it had rained at home, and was in a rush to reach shore and come back; Pe Father had been up for a whole day and night and didn't want to fuss with the cargo on the way — any fiddling and shifting around would take a few hours.

So the two of them hit it off at once, deciding to haul it straight back and sell to A-Cai; it saved them trouble too, and let him take a small advantage — fertile water doesn't flow to outsiders' fields — and they trusted he wouldn't dare cheat them.

Seven or eight small wooden boats rowed together, carrying both people and cargo, rocking leisurely for ten or twenty minutes before they reached the dock.

Ye Yaodong's little brothers had originally been sitting at the workshop door keeping watch; seeing the two big boats heading back from afar, they had already gone to notify Lin Lin Xiuqing.

So when the cluster of small wooden boats pulled in, the little brothers and A-Qing were all waiting at the dock.

The first thing Lin Lin Xiuqing said as she went up to meet them was, "Why did you suddenly come back? You only just left yesterday noon — why are you back this morning?"

"There was thunder and lightning out on the open sea, and rain, so we came back early. Go check the workshop, see if any of the dried fish are done, and bring them in ahead of time, so the rain doesn't drift onto the land — it's probably about to rain on land too."

"Ah? In that case, I'll go check first, bring in whatever can be brought in."

Lin Lin Xiuqing, hearing this, immediately hurried off toward the workshop again; with so many people here, it didn't matter whether she was around or not — there were plenty helping out.

A-Cai, on shore, had long since spotted some of the good cargo on the small boats, and sidled up with a grin: "Little brother, old buddies, rare to see you bring the cargo back instead of selling it on the way — are you going to do me a favor today?"

Ye Yaodong didn't mind his jumbled way of addressing them, and replied with a smile: "Yes, we're doing you a favor. Give us a good price, otherwise next time we won't bring it to shore — we'll just pull in at any random dock on the way and sell it."

"Oh come on, saying that — who are we to each other? We can cheat anyone but not you lot. I rely entirely on the folks from home to look after me to put food on the table. Come, come, I'll help you carry it, help you carry it — which boats are yours? Don't mix up the cargo from the two families."

"We've got enough hands here. You go push the scale out first — it'll be quicker to weigh as we carry it up."

"Alright, alright… that fish on the boat over there, half black and half grey — what is that? Looks a bit strange."

A-Cai had a sharp eye; he had long since spotted an enormous fish on the boat. Seeing they weren't in a rush to ask the price, he brought it up first, craning his neck but still unable to make out what kind of fish it was — very odd.

Before Ye Yaodong could speak, the fishermen helping to move the cargo had already piped up: "It's a mao fish, a huge mao fish — taller than us people."

"How much are you buying it for?"

"Yeah, how much are you buying it for? That fish is huge — the fish maw dried out of it might weigh a whole jin, a top-grade treasure."

A-Cai's eyes went wide: "Catfish? For real? Don't try to fool me — that thing half black and half grey is a mao fish?"

"The half that's black got struck by lightning — didn't you hear? A-Dong just said there was thunder and lightning out on the open sea, right? That's why their boat came back early."

"Oh my goodness, let me see how big it is — carry it down first, you guys carry it down first…"

A-Cai's eyes were shining all over, and he even took a few steps forward; only the water at his feet stopped him from going closer, but he still urged them to bring it down first.

"What's the rush? Move it slowly — these big crates of cargo first. Step aside, don't block the way, you'll get in the way of us moving the goods."

The deckhands and fishermen had said it all for him; it never came around to Ye Yaodong opening his mouth.

Actually, what Ye Yaodong wanted to say was that he wasn't selling it anymore, but he was also curious about the price — so big, he wondered how much it could fetch?

So he simply kept quiet; when they carried it down and weighed it later, he could ask the price along the way, then tell him he wasn't selling.

The Harvest had more cargo, so the Dongsheng's cargo was weighed first; A-Cai shouldn't think about getting that fish weighed first, so they weighed the Dongsheng's cargo first.

The quantity of goods today was indeed relatively small; from night until dawn, they only hauled in five nets, with just one net pulled up by Ye Yaodong at dawn, while the others were dragged during the night.

After discarding the useless goods thrown back into the sea, there were still over ten thousand jin here; deducting the worthless miscellaneous items, less than half could be sold for money.

The two junior brothers had already loaded the worthless goods from the empty ground onto the tractor, preparing to transport them back to the workshop first.

Weighing several thousand jin of goods wasn't fast, but it wasn't slow either; after all, they were all the same variety and already sorted; one only needed to carry the baskets up, and finally, the more mixed goods would be picked out separately for weighing.

The cargo list was written on sheet after sheet of paper, filled to the brim; finally, after an hour, all the goods were weighed.

"Bring a board up to pad it; this fish is too big for the scale to hold."

"Ah, okay, okay..."

The fishermen who had just helped unload the goods onto the shore did not leave after finishing; their curiosity unsatisfied, how could they bear to leave? They all gathered around the shore, preparing to see how many jin this fish weighed, how long it was, and how much money it could sell for.

Finally, waiting until all the goods were weighed, it was time for this fish; everyone shifted their discussion from how much money they could earn in a day to how much this fish was worth.

"The wooden board weighs five jin; after placing it on the scale, it reads 157 jin; deducting that, this fish is 152 jin. Impressive; we haven't caught such a large Mao fish in recent years. This fish is valuable, isn't it? Shall I find a boss for you to sell it? I'll take a three percent commission from both ends?"

"How much do you think this fish can sell for?"

Before Acai could even start speaking, the surrounding fishermen had already begun discussing it.

"At least 500 yuan, right?"

"It should be more than that; the fish maw is extremely valuable; the most expensive part is this whole fish maw..."

"Seafood is all about size, let alone this kind of fish maw; I dare bet that once this fish maw is taken out and dried, it will be at least nine liang..."

"Pah! Who can't talk like that? I can also say this fish maw will be at least nine liang when dried..."

Acai hesitated for a moment, not daring to be certain. "Your fish was struck by lightning, and the head is scorched; the fish itself will definitely be discounted, but its fish maw is valuable; the key depends on how the boss prices it."

"It would be best to call several people to let them bid, so you can sell it for a bit more; after all, this fish's maw is rarer than that of a croaker, only slightly inferior to the yellow-lipped croaker."

"Seafood is all about size; the bosses also love face and love to compete; whoever buys it and carries it around the street will have face to show. To be honest, there are more and more wealthy people in our town these past two years, including Taiwanese businessmen."

"Then give a rough estimate, give a range, so I have an idea in my mind?"

"A guaranteed minimum of 500; if there's more, maybe 800; if they get into a bidding war, especially with Taiwanese businessmen present, 1000 yuan is very possible." Acai gave him a rough estimate.

The words had barely left his mouth when the crowd erupted, everyone's mouths hanging open.

"Ah! 1000 yuan!"

"My god, this one fish sells for 1000 yuan? Is it real or fake? We're rich!"

"Oh my, could the God of Wealth also be surnamed Ye? My god, a fish selling for 1000 yuan, I wouldn't even dare to imagine it; this is too impressive; what kind of luck is this?"

"Exactly, a fish selling for 1000 yuan, I wouldn't need to work for a whole year."

"Why didn't I encounter such a good thing? Finding a fish struck by lightning at sea?"

"Oh my goodness, this isn't a fish; this is money being eaten; who can afford to eat this?"

"This price is too terrifying; everyone was just speaking casually just now, and no one expected it to actually be worth so much money! Really, no need to work, we're rich; why didn't I encounter such a good thing?"

"Ah, they say the rich get richer; this saying is absolutely correct; look at Ye Lao San's three sons, each one is impressive, each one is wealthy; could you have imagined a few years ago that his family could be this rich?"

"A'Dong, tell me quickly, how do you usually burn incense and worship the gods? Teach me, I'll learn from you too."

"Yes, yes, yes, we'll learn from you too, let us get rich as well."

Everyone was extremely envious; this price was truly terrifying enough to let them not work for a year; one fish equaled a whole year.

Acai also smiled and said, "I'll ask someone to help weigh it here first, then go make a phone call to contact someone?"

"Then if there is no fish maw, how much is this fish worth?"

"Then it won't sell for much; at most, because of its large size, it might be worth a few yuan; after all, the head is scorched, and if you sell it, you'll definitely sell it all together."

"Then forget it," he called out to Chen Shi and his father, "Carry it home, Dad."

Ye's father asked with a face full of regret, "Really not selling?"

"Not selling!"

Acai's eyes widened, and he hurriedly blocked in front of Ye's father. "Wait, wait, why not sell? This fish is so expensive; this one fish equals a year of work for others, and you still won't sell? I'm not offering a price; I'm helping you sell it and taking a commission; I'm not suppressing the price... If you think my commission is too high, let me take less; two percent is fine, right?"

"I'm not selling..."

"One percent, just one percent, the lowest; you can't let me work for free; just one percent, I'll help you immediately..."

"No, I'm not selling; this fish maw is so big and so rare; I want to keep it for myself to take home."

"Ah!"

Acai was surprised, then his face was full of disappointment.

As long as he keeps it himself to accumulate, there's really nothing to say; it's his own caught fish, and he wants to keep it for himself.

"Sigh, Goddess Mazu lets you earn too much, and the God of Wealth helps you earn money. Not letting you earn anymore? Damn it, such an expensive fish and you still want to keep it to take home, not sell? Damn it, I'm so envious."

"You've earned enough; you don't lack money. Comparing people really makes one furious; only a few years, and you can eat Mao catfish? A fish worth over a thousand yuan, you just decide to keep it home to eat? It makes Laozi furious; when will the God of Wealth look at me?"

Acai was provoked by his words about keeping it home, cursing and complaining, extremely envious; poverty simply limited his imagination; he never imagined that Ye Yaodong would actually want to keep it home to eat.

Ye Yaodong didn't say he would keep it home to eat, but saying so wasn't wrong; it was possible he would eat it, or possible he wouldn't, but would keep it as a collection.

It's better to directly spread the word that he ate it; otherwise, having too many good things attracts people's covetousness; although he is already conspicuous now, it can at least reduce the number of shameless people coming to the door.

The thieves who should be provoked won't stop coveting just because he has one less good thing, but shameless relatives might cause fewer troubles if he has one less good thing.

This fish maw is good for children and beneficial for growth; everyone knows this; it avoids having anyone actually use moral kidnapping; you can't imagine how thick people's skin can be.

"What a pity, really not selling?" Pei's father also asked Ye's father with a face full of regret.

Ye's father felt very distressed in his heart. "My son's wings have hardened; what I, as a father, say is useless; he won't listen to me. This fish was also caught by him; if I had caught it, where would he have a say? He would definitely have to listen to me and sell it immediately."

"Say it again? Something worth hundreds or thousands of yuan can't just be wasted like this; what can't be eaten, that you have to eat such an expensive fish?"

"I've already said it; I've talked about it hundreds of times on the boat; he won't listen to me and thinks I'm nagging; then I'm out of ideas too."

"Hehe, it's good that A'Dong has a thick family foundation now; hmm, if he doesn't sell it, it hurts the heart, but it's not that hard to accept."

"That's the way to put it; otherwise, tie him up, beat him to death with a whip, and we'd still have to secretly take it to sell."

"Hehe, if you really slaughter it to eat yourself, don't forget to save me a mouthful of meat; I can't hope for the fish maw in this lifetime, but you can give me a couple of mouthfuls of fish meat."

Ye Fu's face also broke into a smile. "That's for sure. If we're keeping it to bring home and eat, then I'll definitely have to cut off two chunks of meat and send them over to you."

The fishermen were all green with envy — he was actually keeping it to bring home and eat?

"Tsk tsk tsk, I wonder what such an expensive fish maw even tastes like?"

"Don't even think about it. You won't get to eat it in this lifetime."

"When will Bodhisattva bless and bless me?"

"It doesn't matter if Bodhisattva doesn't bless me — Lord God of Wealth, please bless me…" someone in the crowd laughed and teased.

Everyone kept on with their sour talk, and even after the fish was carried away, they were still craning their necks to watch.

A-Cai was also extremely regretful — not earning a big sum of money meant he'd lost out!

"Stop looking, hurry up and weigh mine. I'm exhausted. I've been waiting half the day — are you going to weigh it or not?"

"Weigh, weigh, weigh — right away."

Father Pei urged him on, and A-Cai, no longer able to feel heartache over the money flying away, hurried over to weigh the goods. The haul their big ship brought back in a single day could equal several days of him collecting scattered goods at the dock.

"It's true what they say — a big ship like yours catches a lot. Just one day and you've hauled in ten or twenty thousand jin of goods."

"More than half of it can't be sold for money, so what's the point? We just brought it back to give to A-Dong on the way, hoping to get a little fuel money out of him to subsidize things."

"Well, even so, that's still enough to earn a good sum…"

"Where's my invoice?" Ye Yaodong asked from the side.

"Hold on, I hadn't calculated it just now. I was thinking of weighing that fish together and recording it on the slip, but who knew you weren't selling? I haven't even tallied the total yet. Wait a moment — once I'm done here, I'll calculate the prices for both of you together."

"Alright."

It wasn't urgent anyway. The sundries from Harvest would have to be weighed one more time at the end to see how many jin there were.

It didn't matter if their own sundries weren't weighed, but Harvest still had to be weighed — to give them a rough idea, so when settling accounts later they could see how much money needed to be subsidized for the sundries.

Going forward until Qingming, it looked like there wouldn't be any more trips out to sea, since the weather seemed like it would keep going back and forth.

In the next couple of days, they'd probably have to settle accounts once. The accounts for the two trips of goods he'd asked Harvest to bring back also needed to be tallied, and the money for the sundries had to be calculated a bit more carefully, otherwise there'd be other complaints again.

Ye Yaodong told the boatmen to all head back first and not wait around — whenever there was another trip out to sea, he'd call them.

Father Pei also told his boatmen to head back first. The goods all had to be sold off anyway, and they didn't need anyone to help.

The fishermen around them watched as the boatmen each went their own way, but they didn't immediately leave either. They were still curious — just one day out, how much money could the goods brought back sell for?

Normally they basically never saw this much cargo come ashore. Those returning big ships usually sold their goods along the way back to avoid burning too much fuel on the return trip.

Their cargo today wasn't much either — just a day's worth — so they hadn't sorted it that carefully.

Ye Fu waited until the boatmen had left before saying quietly, "Good thing you didn't offer them a red envelope this time. They're keeping it to bring home and eat — if you'd given them a red envelope on top of that, wouldn't that have been a loss?"

"This was something I hauled up myself. It's different from the last two times. It wasn't the first day of work, and I didn't have them help me — why would I still hand out red envelopes? I'm not stupid with money."

A measure of rice as a kindness, a whole peck as a grudge. If he handed out red envelopes every time he hauled in good catch, it would breed bad habits in them, and it would also easily cause discontent among the boatmen on Harvest.

The two ships worked side by side, going out and coming back together. If Dongsheng's crew regularly got red envelopes, how would that make Harvest's crew feel?

"That's right. It's not that we're stingy, but we have to consider the fact that the two ships go out and come back together."

"I know."

What boss hands out red envelopes every time he makes a big buck, especially when the employees didn't even put in any work? Being able to give a generous year-end bonus at the end of the year is already pretty good.

"Then you'll have to kill it when you get home, take it out and hang it up to dry."

"Mm."

Father and son stood to the side chatting in low voices, only stepping up to help when a hand was needed.

After another hour, close to noon, Father Pei's goods were finally all weighed, and the sundries were also weighed and loaded onto the tractor.

A-Cai had also finished calculating the slips and handed them to the two of them separately.

The surrounding fishermen had long lost patience and gone out to sea. They'd originally wanted to wait and see how much money the goods would sell for, but who knew it would take half a day just to weigh them. Some of the less patient ones had already left one after another — the nets at sea were still waiting for them to haul in.

Ye Yaodong and Father Pei had also long since paid them the shipping fee.

"Yours totals 931 yuan and 16 fen, Old Pei's is 1122 yuan and 62 fen. Sure enough, a big ship hauls in more."

Father Pei saw that he'd sold for more than Ye Yaodong, and contentedly tucked the slip away.

"You haul in more, but you also burn through fuel like crazy."

"Even though it rained on this trip, every net's haul was pretty decent. It's just a shame about the thunder and lightning — we were afraid the lightning would strike the fishing boat, so we hurried back."

"When we went out, we added over 500 yuan worth of fuel and ice. The fuel won't be wasted — it can still be used on the next trip out. It's the ice that might go to waste. We don't know when the next trip out will be, the weather looks pretty unstable, and that ice cost us several dozen yuan too."

"Sell it to me at a discount. The weather looks alright now — the thunder and lightning probably won't reach shore right away. It just so happens my stored ice is running low."

Ye Fu's eyes immediately lit up. "Right! Sell it to you at a discounted price, save it from going to waste. Ask A-Gui and the others nearby if they want some too. You guys receive goods every day, you can't do without ice — when these goods are shipped out tonight, you'll have to sprinkle some ice on top too."

"Alright, I'll go ask."

The ice that should have been a loss could now be sold off, recouping a bit of blood.

While waiting, Father Pei also chatted with them.

"Come by my place later tonight to settle accounts? It's the end of the month, we should settle up. The accounts from after New Year until now still haven't been calculated."

"Sure, we do need to settle the total. The last two times I had you bring back a big batch of goods, and that account hasn't been settled either. We'll settle it together tonight."

"Mm, I need to go back and sleep first when I get home. I'll probably wake up in the afternoon, so let's settle accounts after dinner. I'll find the slips ahead of time and sort them out."

"Okay."

"Your luck is really good — every time you go out you run into something good. I used to think the folks back home were exaggerating, everyone said you were blessed by Goddess Mazu, but now I can't help but believe it. All the good things just happen to come your way. I saw flashes of lightning last night too, but I didn't see any fish get struck — it was too far away."

Father Pei had only just learned about that gummy shark when they were moving the cargo, and in such a short while he still hadn't fully digested it — he was still thinking about it.

"It really is all down to luck."

"Right, it all depends on luck. Otherwise how would it just happen to land right in front of you? A-Dong's sea luck is really something."

Ye Yaodong laughed, and Ye Fu also laughed and returned the pleasantries.

"A-Guang isn't bad either. I've gone out to sea with A-Guang twice, and the hauls were pretty good both times. He even picked up a large yellow croaker for free."

Old Pei also laughed with a perfectly sincere expression, "All good, all good, those two youngsters' fortunes at sea are both not bad. It's just that I had too few sons, can't compare to you. You're about to start enjoying the good life any day now."

"I'm still far from enjoying the good life. Their big ships come one after another, I'll have to work myself half to death."

"That remark of yours is pointless. We're both laughing like this, and you still say that."

"Hehehehe~"

Old Ye's weathered face was almost smiling into a chrysanthemum. Having outshone his in-laws was indeed something to be proud of.