Chapter 1124: A Million Seafood Catch Washes Ashore on the Beach (9,400 characters, making up for yesterday's missing chapter)

The two of them ignored everyone else, went straight into a room, shut the door, and quietly did the accounts.

Brother Agu's ledger had a thick stack of receipts tucked inside; every receipt had a name and date on it, neat and meticulous, and one glance told you whose goods from which day, sold for how much.

One date's worth was clipped to a page; he pulled them out bunch by bunch, sorted them into categories, and showed them to Ye Yaodong.

"Take a look first—each bunch of receipts is for which date, it's all written on them. Every boat has three slips a day. If you find it a hassle, you can just flip through the slips and count them directly."

"That works too."

With over a hundred slips, how could he look at them one by one and recalculate? Ye Yaodong simply listened to him and counted the number of slips per day by date. After all, every day they had the same number of boats.

After counting, they added up the brokerage fees day by day. The amount of goods sold on each slip and the brokerage fee taken were also written clearly on every slip—they just had to add them up.

It was all numbers; Ye Yaodong's eyes kept blinking as he watched Brother Agu read them out and add them up.

"Day 1 is done. Back then it was only half an afternoon, so it's a bit less. The brokerage fee at 5 points is 123 yuan and 6 mao…"

"Day 2, yours is still the most… Day 2's brokerage fee is 445 yuan, 6 mao, 4…"

"Starting from Day 3, there's more. Once the volume went up, everyone's jellyfish blood increased. This day's is 724 yuan, 6 mao, 3…"

After listening to him read off three slips, Ye Yaodong knew that the brokerage fee taken on his side accounted for roughly one-third of the total.

He went through one slip from beginning to end, and ran through it in his own mind, thinking that if he hadn't taken Brother Agu's cut on this trip and only waived the brokerage fee, it would be about the same. Who could blame it—his small boats were many, and the day before yesterday they hadn't even shifted anchorage, so the catch was also large.

From when some of them were caught to the day it rained, counting from start to finish it was about ten days. After it rained for two more days, they only then got the result and went to ransom the people.

"In total it's ten days, the grand total is 7,235 yuan, 7 mao, 6. Do you want to go over it again?"

"No need, you've done the math, that's fine. Looks like this year's brokerage fee is down by more than half compared to last year?"

"About the same. Although the number of fishing boats doesn't look like it's decreased, we fished for too short a time, and we also shared with the locals. The catch in the last few days all dropped a bit. Last year we fished for a whole month, so it's roughly halved. Lucky you have so many boats, otherwise the brokerage fee would be even less."

"Looks like I contributed one-third."

"About right. You still have some jellyfish blood on your side, and we have some on ours too. Once it clears for two days and the blood dries through, we'll sell another batch. We'll split that money when the time comes. Let's split the money calculated on these slips first. As agreed, you take forty percent… that's… 2,893 yuan and 1 mao."

"Then let's make it a round number, 2,893 yuan. Damn, this money isn't enough to pay the wages."

Brother Agu looked at him curiously. "Did you spend all the money buying boats?"

"Yeah, I originally had over ten thousand left on me, planning to pay wages before heading back. Who knew plans couldn't keep up with changes—I spent it all on boats. How about you lend me this brokerage fee first to pay wages? I'll pay you back when we get home."

"Sure, anyway with this much money sitting on me the whole time, staying at the guesthouse just doesn't feel safe. Perfect for paying your wages."

Ye Yaodong thought for a moment. "It should be about right. I still have about a hundred jin of jellyfish blood that hasn't been sold yet—I can sell it for another thousand or so."

Brother Agu's eyes went wide. "Your wages alone come to several thousand?"

"Yeah, over forty people—what kind of concept is that? I also have to give them a red envelope as compensation for the danger on this trip. Some even ended up in the Gongan Bureau squatting for ten days, they need to be soothed."

"That's true. How much are you planning to give? I'll give the same."

"50 yuan. The ones from town don't get it—giving them the same wages is already good enough. They were picked up halfway anyway, and we gave them a chance to earn money and got them home safe."

"That much? Ransoming one person already cost 300…"

"That's true."

"50 is almost a regular person's monthly wage, and they only worked half a month. Last year they were out for a month and a half—big difference. Some of them didn't even work, just having a wage is already good enough, it's already a comfort. Where's the need for that much? At most 30."

Ye Yaodong rubbed his chin. "Makes sense. Turns out you're the qualified capitalist. I'll listen to you."

Earning too much, and too easily, makes it feel like spending it doesn't hurt as much—deserves a beating! Save where you can!

Brother Agu looked at him in confusion. "What's a capitalist?"

"Something like the meaning of a capitalist society. I told you to read more newspapers and books, but you wouldn't listen. Now look, there's a generation gap."

"Lunatic! Talking nonsense."

Brother Agu cursed him, then said, "I'll go back and get the money for you."

"No rush. Let's calculate how much I'm borrowing from you?"

"Let's borrow a round number? Your 2,893, I'll lend you another 4,000, so 6,893? I'll keep two or three hundred left, and when the time comes see what to buy on the way back. If it's not enough, I'll go get a bit more from my dad?"

"No need for that, lending me 4,000 is enough. Give it to me later. Anyway we still don't know when we're heading back. If I pay wages early, they'll gamble it all away in no time."

"Yesterday Brother Brother Asheng even came over to borrow 1,000 from me to ransom people."

"Yeah, to ransom his two older brothers and a few brothers' brothers-in-law. He said he couldn't bear to part with the supplies at the time, and ended up getting beaten down by the locals and couldn't run away in time."

"Lots of trouble. Anyway I'm not afraid he won't pay back—whoever borrowed it, I'll just go find them for the money when we get back. Now the rain's stopped, give it two or three days and things should calm down, then we can head back. Just in time, while the weather's good these two days, everyone can go out and look around, buy some local specialties to take home."

"Buying every year, for several years in a row some of it isn't even rare anymore."

"But our family is poor, it's still rare for us."

"Pfft…"

The two of them finished the accounts, agreed on everything, and walked out arm in arm.

The main hall was, for once, empty of people. These past few days, everyone had gotten used to coming to him as soon as it was light, and from morning to night it was always packed full of people.

Today the rain stopped and it cleared up early. Everyone had gone out to look around—cooped up at home for days had made them restless. Anyway, there was no work to do.

"They've all gone out to look around. Should we go look around too? We haven't properly toured the city. Right after the rain it won't be that hot either. The other day it was so hot it could bake a person into a dried husk."

Ye Yaodong had no objections. He hadn't toured this city either. A walk around, and he could buy the local specialties in advance.

But just as the two of them stepped out the door, a large group of people came rushing back, shouting as they ran: "Quick, quick, quick, everyone grab a basket…"

"What's wrong? You all in such a rush…"

"I heard the exposed beach at the easternmost end of the pier has tons of fish. People from the whole city are bringing buckets, baskets, sacks to catch fish."

"Yeah, we just went out for a walk and saw so many people carrying washbasins, buckets, baskets and whatnot, a whole crowd running in one direction…"

"Let's hurry and go too. Everyone's saying after the typhoon passed, a lot of fish got washed ashore."

"Let's go, let's go. Everyone bring your baskets and go catch fish. Today we have fish to eat…"

"Oh my, after eating vegetables for days, my face is green. Hurry and catch a bunch to bring back, fish for lunch…"

The two of them couldn't be bothered with shopping anymore either, and followed everyone in grabbing baskets and heading out. Ye Yaodong locked up the rooms and the courtyard on the way.

Still, locking or not didn't matter much—he'd already spent all the money.

Several dozen people all grabbed bamboo baskets and ran along with the crowd outside toward the beach two kilometers away, their faces beaming with excitement, calling out to friends to hurry up.

Some locals who had been heading in the same direction saw this large group of crew-cut heads and were terrified, running while keeping closer to the people beside them and farther from them.

"Where did these people come from… they look so unfamiliar…"

"Yeah, they look all wild and rough, and crew cuts too, but they don't look like soldiers, definitely not good people…"

"I heard a while back that a gang of outsiders came to the dock, said to be living on boats, with a bunch of bald heads, must be these bald guys, just that their hair's grown out a bit now…"

"Stay away from them. They look fierce, probably just released from somewhere, no idea why they all came running to our side…"

Nobody paid any attention to the locals. The rain had only just stopped last night, the morning sun wasn't strong, and they weren't going out to sea, so they all wandered around with their bare heads out in the open, ignoring the locals pointing and whispering.

Anyway, they figured they were heading home soon, so even without going out to sea, they wouldn't have any conflict with the locals.

By the time they reached the beach, they found the entire beach was already packed wall to wall with people, and more were still running over with gear.

"Wow… so many people, so many fish, jumping all over…"

"And so many jellyfish, all washed up on the beach by the waves…"

"Hurry… good thing we all brought hand nets…"

Their whole group whooped and hollered as they charged toward the beach, but before they could even bend down to pick up a few, they realized it was too slow, and looked up at the sea.

Although plenty of fish were flopping onto the beach, there were even more boiling up to the surface in the water; the waves outside kept pounding, washing in tons of fish, shrimp, crabs, and jellyfish of all sizes.

"Stop picking them up here, everyone charge, it's faster to scoop them in the water…"

"Yeah, charge into the water…"

The crowd around them, hearing their shouting, was baffled by the unfamiliar dialect, and all looked up to see a whole bunch of crew cuts.

Startled, people instinctively backed away from this group, retreating a few steps, then whispering to those beside them with all kinds of disdain.

They couldn't understand what the locals were saying either; their eyes were all fixed on the sea, wildly excited, and they all stripped off their shirts and pants, tossed them in a heap on the sand, and waded straight into the water in their boxer briefs.

This stretch of beach was some distance from the dock, with no seawall built up, and the surrounding houses were also quite far away; it looked like it had only just been discovered not long ago, and the big haul didn't seem to be that big yet.

After all, aside from the dead ones, the live fish were all slippery and not that easy to grab.

Quite a few local men also charged into the water, but everyone was afraid of the waves, with the muddy yellow surf rolling in nonstop, so nobody dared go too far, only standing in the shallows to grab.

Some people weren't fishermen and had no gear, so they could only grab ladles or washbasins or baskets—any tool at all…

Ye Yaodong saw that the huge jellyfish weighing dozens or even a hundred jin were also being washed in by the waves in droves, so he immediately grabbed two people, handed them a key, and told them to run back and bring the kitchen knives and cutting board; this haul was another fortune.

After giving the instructions, he rolled up his pant legs, dragged a basket into the water, and snatched a hand net from a bald guy beside him—after all, any bald head was one of his people, very easy to identify.

The fish washed in by the waves in the water were like water boiling in a pot, constantly rising to the surface; with one scoop of his hand net, he caught over a dozen fish.

He dumped them all into the basket and continued scooping around the area.

Some of the locals beside them were chattering away, excitedly shouting and yelling in a bunch of incomprehensible words.

Their group was the same.

"So many fish, it's been raining hard these past few days, sure enough a typhoon hit…"

"So many, the whole city's people must have come over, it's all people, more people than fish…"

"No way, just look across the sea surface, it's packed wall to wall with fish, at least several hundred thousand…"

"Bullshit, I say there are millions, the waves outside keep rolling in, and so many jellyfish, each one looks over 100 jin…"

"I caught one, but I don't have a knife to cut it up…"

Ye Yaodong shouted at them, "I've already sent someone back to get them. Whatever you catch, drag it ashore first, then put it in the basket. Make sure you leave someone to watch the haul, don't let people swipe stuff in the chaos without you noticing."

"Shit, someone really is stealing, hurry up and get up there…"

Ye Yaodong turned to look, and at the spot where their large group had piled up their clothes, there were now many baskets, all stuffed full, and some women had come over to look, some even ladling fish out of their baskets with dippers.

Those who saw immediately ran ashore and demanded the stolen fish back, but the thieves had already scooped them away—who would listen to them? Though afraid of so many bald heads, they still braced themselves and cursed as they scurried off to the side, and it wasn't easy for them to chase them down.

"Forget it, leave two people here to watch, don't go down, otherwise we'll scoop on one side and get robbed on the other, all for nothing."

"When are the people who went back for the knives coming? It's been ages. While we're waiting here guarding the haul, we could also cut up the jellyfish."

"Wait a bit, should be soon. Whoever can scoop jellyfish, scoop more of them, bring more up, and we'll cut them up together later."

After saying that, Ye Yaodong hurriedly dragged an empty basket and went back into the water.

Their group was isolated by the locals in no time, everyone keeping well away from them, while they themselves formed a scooping circle.

When one basket was full, the people waiting on shore would run over, swap the full basket for an empty one, and drag the full basket ashore.

When Ye Yaodong scooped up a big jellyfish, he pushed the basket to someone else and dragged the jellyfish ashore bit by bit himself, then went back into the water.

Ye Fu had somehow drifted to his side at some point, beaming all over his face. "So many fish, so many, you couldn't scoop them all in a whole day…"

"Hard to say, there are a lot of people too, all people, everyone in the city who isn't working must have come, and there are still more running this way…"

"Didn't expect, right before we leave, we could still catch this one last time, earn a bit more wages…"

"Oh my, Dad, this sole fish is huge, over ten jin, wow, you rarely see one this big, hurry…"

Ye Fu excitedly grabbed it too. When it was scooped into the net, the fish was still flopping around trying to get out, so he quickly tossed it into the basket.

Seeing the basket was almost full and the fish was flopping so hard it nearly jumped out, he immediately pressed the hand net down on top of it, then dragged the basket ashore.

The others around them were also whooping and hollering as they scooped, their faces lit up with excited smiles.

"The knives are here…"

"Scoop more jellyfish…"

"Oh no, we didn't bring knives to cut them up, the jellyfish are going to melt…"

"Let's scoop fish first…"

"Dongzi, let's scoop more jellyfish…"

Ye Yaodong nodded—of course he knew.

The fish washed up by the waves were mostly small fry, with plenty of good ones too, but it was a matter of luck whether one got washed right in front of you.

Tens of thousands of fish were being washed onto the beach nonstop by the waves, and most of the people on the beach had now waded into the water to fight over them, with only the women and children staying on the sand to pick them up.

The sun in the sky climbed higher and higher. Braving the scorching heat, everyone worked with great enthusiasm, no one willing to stop and rest.

Once the containers and baskets some people had brought were full, they called out for someone to go home and fetch sacks. As time went on, the fish goods on the beach dwindled, and what remained were basket after basket and sack after sack, densely packed.

Human stamina is limited too. After a whole morning passed, everyone was exhausted from the work, and their efficiency was no match for the beginning. More and more people sat down to rest.

Ye Yaodong kept dragging jellyfish nonstop, each one weighing at least several dozen jin, with the bigger ones around a hundred jin. After several hours, his arms had long since given out, so he sat down on the beach to rest along with everyone else.

"So many of them, we can't finish catching them, we just can't finish…"

"Our baskets are almost full too, what do we do? The sun is so strong, they'll go bad…"

"Halftime break. Let's drag this batch off to sell first. I'll go find a tractor, it'll save us the trouble of hauling and carrying for ages." Ye Yaodong had just sat down and caught his breath for a few moments before saying.

Ye Fu said, "I'll keep watch here, you go."

He had no choice but to stand up again, shook out his arms, then went up to the shore and asked around the nearby villages, finally managing to find a tractor.

This place was a city after all, and some villages originally had tractors too. They were an important production and transportation tool, and now that individuals were allowed to purchase them, the number in the towns had greatly increased over the past few years.

With a tractor, hauling goods became much easier. Everyone helped load all the goods onto the tractor.

The people beside them, watching them load goods onto the tractor, all came over to ask whether they could pile their goods onto his tractor too and have them hauled off to sell together.

"Sorry about that, I've got too much cargo on my end. Several dozen people were catching over there, all the baskets are full, and we've already filled several sacks. The tractor can probably only fit my own goods. Go ask somewhere else—I got mine from a village nearby."

Everyone looked at the tractor, already piled quite high, and said no more. They immediately ran up to the shore to ask around for tractors. Those with not much cargo could even pool two or three together to share one vehicle.

After all the goods were loaded onto the tractor, Ye Yaodong took a few people to go sell a batch first, while Ye Fu and the rest stayed behind on the beach. Once they'd rested enough, they planned to fill more sacks.

The efficiency of forty-odd people was terrifying. The entire raised-up tractor was packed full. Just the fish catch was at least ten thousand jin, let alone the jellyfish, each one weighing around a hundred jin.

Only, most of his goods were small mixed fish, and he hadn't had time to sort them. Everything was dumped together into baskets or stuffed into sacks and hauled onto the tractor. After delivering them to the buying station, the real massive undertaking began.

The buying station wouldn't take most of the small mixed fish at all—they only bought the ones worth some money. As a result, after sorting, about two-thirds of their goods were all eliminated. The remaining one-third, sold off piecemeal, only fetched a little over 200 yuan.

However, this didn't include the jellyfish.

The jellyfish they'd hauled up and cut up also weighed around ten thousand jin. These jellyfish were worth far more than the mixed goods—the jellyfish alone sold for over 600 yuan.

"Then what do we do with all this mixed goods? Dump them back into the sea?"

"Dump them back. Keeping so many around is useless."

"Caught all that for nothing, none of it useful…"

Everyone looked at Ye Yaodong.

Ye Yaodong could only nod regretfully. "The ones to eat have already been picked out, right? Then dump the rest of the small mixed fish back into the sea."

Although the rain had passed and the sky cleared, the waves were still big. There was no telling when the waters would calm down enough to head back.

These small mixed fish would go bad in a day in such hot weather. Even with ice added, they could only be kept for two or three days at most. Some weren't worth it, and besides, the fishing boat was still in the sheltered harbor—they hadn't gone to bring it back yet.

After they finished sorting their goods, tractors kept driving over to the dock one after another, all loaded with full loads of fish goods.

The moment everyone got off their vehicles and saw them hauling basket after basket of fish back to the shore to dump into the sea, they all felt it was a real pity.

"Dongzi, aren't you keeping some to dry back home? You've got a courtyard anyway…"

"How would I dry them? I need to dry jellyfish blood. The jellyfish blood from the past few days has been hanging there half-dry, not-dry, and still hasn't dried. I just cut up another batch, and if I bring it back I'll have to boil and dry it again. I'm worried I don't even have enough bamboo trays to hang them on. The valuable stuff can barely be dried in time—where would I find the tools to dry fish?"

"That's true. We're staying at a guesthouse and have even less space to dry anything. What a pity, caught all that for nothing…"

"No worries, give it back to the sea. We've already hauled in plenty, and everything worth selling has been sold."

"How much did you make?"

"Fish plus jellyfish, about 900 in total?"

"Damn… that's a lot! No wonder you're not heartbroken dumping them at all."

Ye Yaodong chuckled. It was true—once the jellyfish blood was dried and sold, the morning's haul alone would break a thousand. Those mixed fish really weren't worth much, just big in number, a pity to look at.

"We're heading off first, gotta catch the market."

After saying that, he watched everyone finish dumping their goods. Only a few baskets remained, and he couldn't quite bear to part with them, so he told them to stop first and everyone carry them home together.

Once they finished their work, they could decide what to do. If they didn't want to keep them, they could give some to the neighbors. There were also some elderly folks living around—not everyone had run off. Old people with bad legs and feet would surely still be at home.

After getting home, he left two people behind to cook, while the others went back to the beach with him.

By the time they ran back to the beach, there were fewer people there. On the way back, they saw a large group of people carrying baskets and shouldering loads—probably worried the sun would spoil the catch, and it being time to go home and cook, so they were sending a portion home first.

Ye Fu sat by the beach guarding four or five sacks. Seeing him return, he immediately stood up and asked how much he'd sold for.

"Around 900 yuan. The jellyfish alone was over 600. These fish just aren't worth much. Catch less of them—when you see jellyfish, catch more jellyfish. We don't have anything to dry things on right now either, it's all being used to dry jellyfish blood. These mixed fish are a hassle to deal with and we can't bring them back, so we just dumped them back into the sea."

"Dumped them back into the sea? That much cargo…"

"I kept a few baskets. Later we'll see which households nearby didn't come out to gather fish and send some over."

"That works too. After all, you've bought a house here. Giving some of our unwanted stuff to the neighbors is good—distant relatives aren't as good as close neighbors."

He nodded. Running back and forth without exerting much strength, he felt his stamina had mostly recovered. He grabbed his hand net and prepared to run into the water.

And he called out to the others to stop catching fish—catch jellyfish if there were any, and only catch fish if there weren't.

The number of people on the beach ebbed and flowed. Apart from lunchtime, when everyone gradually went back to eat first, after the meal hour passed, quite a few people trickled back over again.

All day long there were people busy on the beach, hauling in fish goods.

Because the typhoon had just passed and the water level had risen, there was no ebb or flow. The water level didn't drop all day—the waves outside kept surging in, and along with them, the fish never thinned out, always densely packed, leaping on the surface.

This was a perfect money-making opportunity. No one was willing to let it slip by. Some people even had family members bring meals over so they could sit on the beach, resting and eating at the same time, then the couple would take turns going back into the water to haul.

On their side, some of the other fishing boat people simply bought some pastries and made do with a quick bite, then kept working after eating.

Before Ye Yaodong went out, he'd given instructions for them to bring the cooked food over once it was ready. He had no idea when he'd get to eat. Everyone was exerting themselves working—at this hour, needless to say about others, his own stomach had long since gone flat.

Everyone worked and rested in turns, and finally the food arrived. After eating, they felt their strength had recovered, and felt vigor coursing through their bodies again.

Having learned from the morning's lesson, after that they tried as much as possible to haul jellyfish, only reluctantly catching some fish when there were none. It was just inconvenient to sort, so even though they caught more jellyfish in the afternoon, the amount of fish goods wasn't small either.

Those who were tired and sitting on the side resting would also help toss out the worthless ones, which led to quite a lot of mixed fish accumulating on the beach again, attracting a bunch of cats and dogs.

And the tractors by the shore, having tasted the sweetness, kept shuttling back and forth nonstop, helping everyone haul goods to sell.

Taking advantage of a rest, Ye Yaodong looked at the tractors by the shore and at the goods here that were nearly full, and went to find A Guang, asking him to contact the jellyfish factory to send a truck over to collect goods right here on the shore.

"I reckon we can collect quite a bit in one afternoon, after all the beach here keeps washing stuff up."

Ah Guang immediately said, "I just thought of that too. I specially ran to the village nearby to make a phone call. They should be on their way. Let's wait a bit. Our baskets here are full too."

"That's good. Just drive the truck over here to collect the goods. Saves us from hauling them to the dock, saves time, and saves the hassle of going back and forth."

"How much did you haul up in this half afternoon?"

"Should be just over 20,000 jin, after all nothing drifted close by. It was too far to dare go out, the waves were pretty big too. Safety first."

"That's still a lot…"

"Look at how many people I have on my side, forty-something. We tossed the catch aside as we hauled it. Quite a bit has piled up again now. Once we sell the jellyfish and free up the baskets, we can keep loading more. Wait till evening and haul it all to the dock at once. Saves us from making a trip now and another one in the evening."

"Take a break, take a break, sit down and talk."

Ye Yaodong took the cue and sat down, took off the conical hat on his head, and kept fanning himself.

"With this pile of goods hauled up today, those people will probably be even more reluctant to leave."

"If they don't want to leave, so be it. Who cares. We already told them and asked them long ago."

"There's no time to sail the boat back today, and the wind and waves are pretty big too. Tomorrow morning I'll go bring the Dongsheng back. The rest we'll hide in the sheltered harbor. When we head back, we'll take everyone from the full boat over, pick up the rest of the boats, and go home."

"That's how it has to be. After all, the boats we bought are local fishing boats. It's clear today, so a lot of people are bound to run to the local dock to look. Some of them will find their own boat is gone. Once they know their family members will be shot or jailed, they'll definitely be asking around everywhere. Better to hide them inside the sheltered harbor."

"So it's still better to head back early."

"Tomorrow when we get up, let's check the wind and waves first. Today we'll earn one last haul."

"Let's go, keep at it."

Ye Yaodong put the conical hat back on his head, tightened the chin strap a bit, picked up the hand net, and walked back into the water.

After a while, once the truck arrived, Ah Guang waited until everyone from his village had finished selling their goods, then shouted toward the beach, "Collecting jellyfish…"

The people on the beach all hurried over to line up and sell their goods. Collecting right at the shore saved everyone a lot of trouble, and let them get back to hauling faster.

After Ye Yaodong and his group finished selling, they kept at it.

The truck also kept coming and going through the half afternoon. Once full, it left, then came back again to collect more.

It wasn't until the sky was full of evening glow and Seeing Ye Mu descended bit by bit that everyone gradually stopped working and lined up to sell their goods.

After a whole day of high-intensity hauling, everyone was exhausted, feeling like their hands and feet weren't even their own, all sprawled out limp on the beach.

Ye Yaodong, on the other hand, had a strong sense of being the boss. He didn't push himself so hard toward the end, basically just sitting and resting, or cutting up jellyfish, watching others work.

At this point he was the one lining up to sell goods. His father had taken people to sort and pick through the fish catch.

The beach was still packed with people as usual, even more than during the day, all of them worn out, but everyone's face was beaming with the joy of a bountiful harvest. Today alone let everyone earn big money.

Some families worked together and could earn several hundred to over a thousand yuan in a day, making what they'd earn in a whole year. Even the lesser ones could earn several hundred.

After they finished selling their goods here, he immediately found a tractor and hauled another truckload of fish catch to the dock.

Also because a large amount of fish catch had washed ashore here today, the buying stations outside the dock were still brightly lit, constantly weighing and sorting goods.

Because they had lots of people and great strength, and had sorted through it ahead of time, they didn't need to line up when they delivered to the buying station—they got weighed right away. Other people who delivered still had to sort through theirs first before they could sell.

This pile of fish catch was from an entire afternoon. It sold for more than the morning, 310 yuan.

Ye Yaodong tucked the money away with great satisfaction, then led his people back.

From afternoon to evening, he sold two batches of jellyfish in total. One batch sold for 720, and the one just now at quitting time sold the most, 1,221. The afternoon total was 2,251.

Adding the 900 yuan from the morning, altogether he sold about 3,151 yuan.

They only found out about it late in the morning, and by the time they got there it was already past 8. Everyone was in a flurry. The stretch from noon to sunset was longer, and everyone was more familiar with it, knowing to specialize in hauling jellyfish, so naturally they caught more goods, and the afternoon sales were higher too.

When he happily led his people back home, the group his father had brought walked a bit slower and hadn't arrived home yet.

Everything at home was normal. After he went back to his room and counted the money, he first locked it in the safe.

He thought, today's haul earned back half the wages. Once tomorrow he dried the jellyfish blood from today along with the ones that hadn't been dried before and sold them all together, there'd be enough for everyone's wages, and no need to borrow from Ah Guang.

Sweet~

The noise outside suddenly picked up. Everyone had come back, all sprawled on the ground chatting.

When he heard the commotion and went out to look, the ground was full of people sitting, just like a refugee camp.

"Today, everyone worked hard. Tonight I'll tally up the wages. Tomorrow I'll settle your pay first. In these next couple of days the wind and waves should calm down, and we can head back. Once I pay you, you can go stroll the street, see what local specialties you want to buy and take home."

"Great. I wonder if there's still anything to haul on the beach tomorrow…"

"We've rested so many days, and only worked one day today. Where's the hardship? Work is just like this."

"Yeah, we've been out almost a month and haven't done any work… only worked one day today, it's kind of embarrassing…"

"If there's still some tomorrow, that'd be best. Hauling one more day, we can earn a bit more, and it won't feel like we're taking wages for nothing."

"Ah Dong is really decent. Working with him, you don't get shortchanged…"

"Everyone rest a bit first. The food is already being made. Once you've rested, take a quick shower, and we can eat soon. I'll go settle the accounts first."

They were also almost out of rice. These past two days, the meals had basically all been beans. He had originally planned to take advantage of today's clear weather to go to the Gongan Bureau in the next town to haul back the rice and grain, but the fish catch interrupted him and he didn't make it again. If there's nothing on the beach tomorrow, he has to hurry over.

He also didn't know how many more days it would take for the waves to calm down. With this many people, the daily consumption was enormous.

Good thing they were heading back soon, otherwise the supplies they'd hauled back probably wouldn't last a few days.

These past few days, settling accounts every day, Ye Yaodong's head was spinning at the sight of the numbers. He just couldn't do the math.

Back in his room, he wrote and calculated on paper again.

After he finished calculating, his neck was sore. His father suddenly rushed in and asked him what to do with the five or six baskets of fish catch left over from today.

"Keep half. Salt some, dry some. We'll eat them these next couple of days. For the rest, I'll go knock on the neighbors' doors in a bit and ask. The ones we kept are all still fairly big, with plenty of meat, and not a hassle to handle. They'd make a decent gift."

"It's already dark now. If you're going to give them away, hurry over and knock."

"Alright. Oh… pick out one more basket in a bit… forget it, if we wait till tomorrow and haul it to the Coast Guard Bureau, it won't be fresh anymore. Tomorrow I'll take some dried jellyfish blood to the Coast Guard Bureau, and say goodbye to the leaders while I'm at it."

"That's only right. Since we're heading back in the next couple of days, we should go say hello, let them know we're leaving, and thank them while we're at it."

"Mm."

And while we're at it, ask about the fishing permit.

If we can take care of it together while we're at it, who knows whether we'll even be able to come back later, so getting it done early can't be wrong. I figure we'll still have to wait for the certificate to be issued.

Being able to get next year's certificate done — even better!