Chapter 1104: First day's harvest nearly 1,000 (Monthly ticket +2)

After delivering the meal and finishing the processing of the jellyfish, Ye Fu did not leave immediately. Instead, he waited there, wanting to see the cargo collected from this wave.

He didn't have to wait long before he saw two people surfacing from the water together.

Having gone through two rounds of busy work in the morning, the deckhands on the boat were now experienced. Once they skillfully pulled the people up, those whose turn it was immediately took over, while the others reeled in the ropes to bring up the nets still submerged on the seabed.

Ye Fu kept craning his neck, wanting to see how much cargo they could collect in one trip, and he saw the overflowing nets being pulled out of the water and dumped onto the deck.

"So much... it's quite a bit more than what you collected this morning..."

"Practice makes perfect. Now that we've gone up and down a few times, our speed has increased quite a bit."

"That trench isn't anything to be afraid of. The pile of glowing ribbonfish at the bottom can even provide light. It's just that when a jellyfish suddenly pops out, it leaves a black hole, which looks a bit scary. As long as you don't look down at the bottom, it's fine."

"We've all gained experience..."

After watching everyone dump the sea urchins into the baskets, Ye Fu couldn't stop the smile on his face. He then quietly leaned over to Ye Yaodong and whispered, "Should we still give them a raise?"

"Yes, we definitely have to. They are doing more work than others for no reason, and it's a place like the seabed. How can we not pay them a bit more?"

"That's too easy to earn... They didn't have work to do anyway, and were invited out. It's only right to do what they're told during their free time. It's just going into the water, and we still have to pay them extra..."

"You can't say it like that. They really are doing more work than others. If we don't pay them more, who would help you risk their lives to make money? If others don't have to do anything and get the same pay, while they go into the water for the same price, wouldn't they complain that they're scared too? Then who would help me go into the water to salvage?"

"Alright."

"Look at the long term, Dad. Don't be stingy. Think about it: once they are skilled at going into the water, two people can bring up nearly 200 jin in one trip. We already collected over 2,000 jin this morning, and collecting another 2,000 jin this afternoon won't be a big problem. Plus, at the bottom of this trench, every single one is large; there are no small ones. Just counting 4,000 jin, we can earn 800 yuan a day. What is that little bit of extra wages compared to that?"

"Fine, everything you say is right. You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child."

"Exactly! It just so happens that the jellyfish haven't reached their peak season these past two days, and the number floating up is still small. We should take advantage of this gap to quickly salvage the sea urchins and ribbonfish. Otherwise, once the jellyfish peak season arrives, they'll float up too fast, and those ribbonfish schools will have to migrate away."

"Then it's better if the peak season comes a bit slower, so we can salvage these first."

"We'll see how it goes."

When the peak season arrives isn't something he can decide.

Hearing two splashes, Ye Fu saw two more people jump down, and he felt a bit restless himself.

"Adong? How about I try it again?"

"Don't join in the fun blindly. I already have enough manpower; I don't need you. Just let them do it. I haven't even gone down myself. You're at your age, why go down? Don't be so curious."

Hearing this, Ye Fu had no choice but to give up, lest he be unable to help and end up being a burden instead.

Ye Yaodong also urged his father to leave, "The jellyfish on the boat have already been processed. You should hurry and take them back. Sell them for whatever price you can get. I have half a bucket of jellyfish heads and half a bucket of jellyfish skin here that accidentally floated to the side of the boat and were salvaged along the way. Take them back with you to sell for money."

Ye Fu was a bit reluctant to leave the jellyfish that were floating up intermittently, worried that if they didn't salvage them, the trawlers coming back later would pick them up for free.

"I should have left a small boat here for you just now."

"No need, there isn't a large quantity anyway. If we can reach them when we're close later, we'll salvage them; if we can't, we'll just leave them for now."

The main focus now is on the sea urchins and ribbonfish.

"Then I'll take the boat back first, sell the cargo on board, and help with the longline fishing so we can finish early."

Ye Yaodong waved his hand, letting his father hurry back, while he continued to kick his feet up and enjoy the sea breeze.

The deckhands on the boat took turns going into the water, and those whose turn it wasn't sat there idly, enjoying the sea breeze and resting.

For them, it wasn't tiring at all. After all, they only spent 20 minutes in the water and could rest for over an hour after coming up. Moreover, the experience of going into the water to catch sea urchins was novel enough to brag about when they went back. Plus, there was the high reward subsidy—it was a top-notch gig.

Meanwhile, the baskets on the deck kept increasing. They were all pitch-black, thorny round balls—sea urchins piled up like bombs all over the deck, which also affected everyone's normal movement.

Ye Yaodong had people move them into the fish hold first, as that would take up less space.

They stayed in the same spot collecting sea urchins from morning until the sun began to set, which was when fishing boats started returning to the trench one after another.

Seeing the fishing boats returning, Ye Yaodong had people pause the salvage work to move the boat first and salvage all the jellyfish on the sea surface, so that they wouldn't let others benefit after they had stayed here for so long.

You have to earn the big money, but you shouldn't look down on the small money either.

After finishing the salvage, he let them continue going into the water, and the fishing boat reached the vicinity.

He realized at a glance that it was Pei Fu who had returned first, and he helped explain the reason for Ah Guang's return.

Pei Fu's eyes lit up, "There's a school of ribbonfish at the bottom!"

"Yes."

Ye Yaodong hadn't thought about keeping it a secret, and there was no way to keep it a secret anyway. With so many deckhands, dozens of people knew, and they were all making longlines at home. They would definitely have to make a batch overnight. If others asked out of curiosity, they would know what was going on. It couldn't be hidden.

After Pei Fu was excited, he looked full of regret, "It's a pity we don't have the connections to get this diving equipment of yours..."

Ye Yaodong knew that Pei Fu had ideas again.

"Ah Guang can take a boat here together tomorrow. When it's time to put the longlines down, let him go down together and concentrate the hooks in the trench."

"Good, good, good. At that time, let him help you salvage sea urchins along the way. Since he's going down anyway, he shouldn't come up empty-handed."

Ye Yaodong nodded.

The fishing boats behind didn't delay long and returned one after another. Everyone couldn't see the harvest on his boat because the sea urchins had all been moved to the fish hold. They could only see the buckets on the deck, and they weren't clear about how many jellyfish were inside, but there were definitely none around the trench.

Ye Yaodong explained to the others again about Ah Guang taking the other small boats back.

"Didn't you say you were staying here to salvage sea urchins? How much have you salvaged?"

"Quite a lot, right? What is that thing you have that can go into the water? Can we buy it?"

"Dream on. I heard that you need connections to get that. How could ordinary people like us get our hands on it?"

"Sigh, Adong is really amazing. He can get his hands on anything and earn money from anything. He can even hold his breath in the water for so long to catch sea urchins. He deserves to make money."

The returning fishing boats all docked together, chatting side by side. He just smiled and didn't respond. Others automatically helped him answer and blocked it. The others were probably just complaining and didn't expect him to say anything.

However, they didn't return immediately.

"How long can they stay underwater? How much longer until they come up? Let's wait here and take a look. Let's take a look before going back."

Ye Yaodong looked at his watch, "Soon."

There were still fishing boats behind that hadn't returned, so everyone waited patiently there.

Just after waiting for 10 minutes, they saw a splash on the water surface, and someone emerged. They were wearing strange masks on their faces. However, after watching the two climb up, everyone discovered that their hands were empty, and they didn't have anything. Suddenly, they started chattering again.

He didn't need to answer; the other deckhands helped explain, and everyone saw them pulling the ropes and bringing up the nets.

One rope brought up two bags of cargo, pitch black, and the other rope also brought up two bags. (Changed slightly from the previous chapter)

"So much?"

"This must be one or two hundred jin, right?"

"Definitely..."

"How much can this sell for per jin? Quite a bit, right..."

Everyone was discussing it chattering, all looking curiously. After they dumped them into the bamboo baskets, they were moved to the fish hold after a while, and there was nothing left for everyone to see.

"Adong, how many jin have you salvaged today so far?"

"Haven't weighed it yet, don't know yet. We'll only know after we dock and weigh it later."

"You must have a rough idea of how many baskets, right? You should be able to estimate roughly."

Ye Yaodong looked at the sky and thought for a moment, "4,000 jin?"

"What?"

"Ah? 4,000 jin?"

"My goodness, are there that many sea urchins down there?"

"4,000 jin, how much money would that sell for? Several hundred yuan? My god, you earned that much on your first day here?"

"4,000 jin, isn't that too much? Did you raid the sea urchin's nest? Are there still many down there? Can you still salvage them tomorrow?"

"There shouldn't be that many, right? If you could salvage that much every day, that would be insane. There will always be a time when they're all salvaged. 4,000 jin is too much. I thought at most one or two thousand jin. There shouldn't be that many left down there, right?"

"Struck it rich... earned so much just after coming out. Why salvage jellyfish? Just salvage sea urchins."

Ye Yaodong felt that he was just being conservative. In reality, there should be more inside. There was still time now, and he could salvage another two trips. He felt that it was very likely they could salvage 5,000 jin today. The efficiency was truly no joke.

"Once the jellyfish peak season arrives, it'll be packed here. How would you be able to go down and salvage sea urchins? You'll definitely only be able to salvage for a few days."

"Right, once there are more jellyfish, it won't be convenient to go into the water. Otherwise, being stung by jellyfish can be life-threatening."

"There definitely won't be many sea urchins left down there... you can't salvage them all anywhere..."

Everyone was chattering about sea urchins there. Ye Yaodong and Pei Fu also tacitly didn't mention the ribbonfish.

Furthermore, Ye Fu called out to everyone to see if they wanted to go back together. Anyway, the other boats had all returned. Going back now would be just in time for mealtime. Selling the cargo and going home to eat would be just right.

"Is Adong going back? Otherwise, let's go together later?"

"I'll finish work around 5 o'clock later. Going back to sell the cargo will be just in time for dinner at 6 o'clock."

"Let's go back first. He hired a cook specifically to cook, but we don't have one. We still have to cook for ourselves after going back..."

"That's true. They are more comfortable; having someone cook saves a lot of trouble..."

"Let's go. We'll go back first. For the fishing boats that haven't returned behind, anyway, Adong will be here when they come over later. If they don't see the boats later, they'll naturally go back."

"Then we'll go back first..."

Ye Yaodong also waved at everyone, and they continued to salvage as usual.

In the middle of summer, the sun sets late. It was nearly 5 o'clock, and the sun was still intense, but it had slanted to the other side of the mountain. It was estimated that there was still an hour before it set.

He also knew when to stop. When the time was up, after waiting for people to come up, he directly called everyone to finish work. Along the way, he also cleared the surrounding sea surface again. After sweeping up all the remaining jellyfish, they immediately headed home.

During this period, the fishing boats had all returned. Until everyone else had gone back, they had also returned one step ahead. They could be considered the ones at the very back.

All the deckhands were sitting on the deck, soaking wet, their faces filled with the joy of a bountiful harvest. Some were processing jellyfish, some were chattering and discussing the day's harvest, and some were asking if they would be fishing for ribbonfish again tomorrow.

Ye Yaodong was full of smiles, "Wait until we go back and see how the longline fishing is going. We'll have to do both tomorrow no matter what."

"How many jin of sea urchins can we have today?"

"We'll only know the specifics after we go back and weigh them."

"We have to move to a different location tomorrow. The area around here is bare. We collected less on the last trip, and we still have to move to the side to find more."

"Yes, move to a new nest tomorrow. Just in time, when we take the longlines into the water, we can look for which area has a larger quantity along the way."

"Struck it rich. There are really a lot of sea urchins down there, packed in patches..."

"Really struck it rich..."

Ye Yaodong laughed, "Everyone work hard. I'm not stingy when I strike it rich, and your wages will also increase. Think about it: as long as you go into the water, you'll have 6.5 yuan a day. That's 200 yuan a month. If you stay for two more months, won't this trip be comparable to what you earned in more than half a year in the past? How much is the monthly wage of an ordinary worker? You can earn four or five months' worth of their wages in one month."

"Haha, yes, so much..."

Everyone's faces were beaming with joy.

Ye Yaodong also went to steer the boat.

They were all salvaging sea urchins, so there was no need to sort anything, which was exceptionally easy. Everyone sat on the deck chatting.

After the fishing boat got closer and closer to the shore, the slanting sun also gradually began to set.

They docked before the sun went down.

Ye Yaodong went to ask the acquisition point that bought his sea urchins last year. The boss also recognized him and was pleasantly surprised to know that he had come to salvage sea urchins again.

Generally, things like this from the bottom of the water aren't easy to get, and if there are any, the quantity is small. Ye Yaodong's stable output for those few days last year also left a deep impression on him, so he gave the same price as last year this year.

It was originally 0.22, but later when his quantity increased, it became 0.2. Now he gave him 0.2 directly as well.

However, he wasn't very satisfied. Prices for everything were rising this year, and even wages had risen. There was no reason for fish cargo not to rise.

But the key was that fish cargo just wouldn't rise. The fresh boats collecting at sea in the first half of the year didn't rise, and the ones on the shore didn't rise much either. What rose was the retail price, while the acquisition price remained the same.

Moreover, because his quantity was too large, the acquisition point insisted on not raising it. When it came to interests, they weren't as pleasantly surprised and easy to talk to as they were at the beginning.

Ye Yaodong had no choice. Who told him to have such a large quantity?

Generally, a large quantity meant the price had to fall. He hadn't mentioned his quantity yet, so he didn't say much either.

When he carried the sea urchins from the fish hold out basket by basket, it almost stunned the guy's eyes. However, at this time, even if they wanted to suppress the price, there was no way. The words had already been spoken, and Ye Yaodong said he could bring another few thousand jin tomorrow.

After all the sea urchins were weighed, when calculating the total, Ye Yaodong was also pleasantly surprised. It was estimated accurately for him: 4,822 jin, sold for 964.4 yuan.

There were also those jellyfish that were swept up, which sold for 16.3 yuan, for a total of 980.7 yuan. Although it didn't break 1,000, it was already beyond expectations.

All the fishing boats didn't have much of a harvest today, but he earned nearly 1,000 yuan on his first day. ===== CHAPTER 1105 =====