Chapter 1180: Heavy Rain at Sea

The preceding remark, "Like my father," was said by Ye Yaodong.

He just felt that his father was sometimes a bit of a simpleton; it was only because he was older and looked more seasoned that he didn't seem as foolish as the two little ones.

Ye Chengyang asked cautiously, "Dad, then who am I like?"

"You're smarter; you're like me."

Ye Chengyang smiled, feeling satisfied. So, he wasn't stupid; his brother was the stupider one.

He nodded, "Brother is just quite dumb. He pressed for quite a while and then ran off. All that work was for nothing."

"Right, don't learn that stupid behavior of his."

"Dad, then how much longer do I have to press?"

"Press until I go to sleep."

"Then when will you go to sleep?"

"I'll sleep when I'm tired."

Ye Chengyang was a bit conflicted. When would his dad be tired? His hands were already sore now, so after thinking about it, he switched to using his feet.

But after a short while, he felt his feet getting sore too, and his whole face wrinkled up like a steamed bun.

Ye Xiaoxi had only played for a little while, and now she was already straddling his back, pretending to ride a horse.

He couldn't hold on either, so he followed suit and straddled him too, sitting on his legs and riding, nearly crippling Ye Yaodong's legs.

Ye Yaodong cried out in pain, "Ah, ah!" and hurriedly shooed the two of them off, "Alright, alright, go play."

"Then my one mao..."

"Ask your mother for it."

Lin Xiuqing was counting money on the side and was in a good mood, so she directly took one mao from the table and gave it to Ye Chengyang.

He jumped three feet high in excitement, "Wow, I earned money again! I'm going to tell brother; he could have received money as soon as he left."

Ye Xiaoxi was also standing by, watching eagerly, tugging at Lin Xiuqing's hem. Lin Xiuqing had just taken a two-fen coin and given it to her as well.

"Put it in your pocket and don't lose it."

She grinned happily and also hurried to run outside, shouting as she ran, "I'm going to tell Dede too!"

"Then Chenghu is going to be furious."

Ye Yaodong lay there, closing his eyes to rest, "When you're done, come over and knead me a bit."

"Didn't I just spend money to hire three people to knead you?"

"Was that you hiring them?"

"Didn't the money come from me?"

"Damn! It's a pity the bank doesn't hire you to do the accounting; it's all yours."

Lin Xiuqing counted the large stack of banknotes, turning a deaf ear.

She had been delayed in counting the money just now by their noisy commotion.

Seeing that she wasn't speaking, Ye Yaodong didn't make a sound to disturb her either, lest he cause her to forget her count and get scolded again.

He lay there closing his eyes to rest, and could only hear the sound of banknotes being counted in his ears. It felt quite pleasant, and as he lay there, he fell asleep.

There was nothing to do the next day. After waking up naturally, he rarely stayed at home to watch TV and didn't go anywhere.

Lin Xiuqing had already distributed the things she brought back as gifts to the neighbors and relatives the previous night, which was equivalent to not having made the trip in vain.

Today was the 1st, and also a Sunday. Several children were not in school and were running wild outside, only willing to return at meal times. After lunch, Ye Yaodong also kept them in, not letting them run outside.

"Rest at home for a while. Don't run outside right after eating. It's easy to get a stomachache if you run and jump right after a meal. It's rare for me to be home, and yet I can't even see your shadows; you're busier than me."

"We want to go play ball..."

Lin Xiuqing knew how to handle them, "Sun Wukong is on this afternoon!"

Once this was said, they didn't talk about running outside anymore.

"Really?" Both their eyes were shining brightly.

"Sun Wukong was on last night, but you were all playing outside and didn't see it. It's a rerun this afternoon."

"Then we'll go out after we finish watching."

After saying this, the two went to turn on the TV and then waited in front of it.

After having a TV at home, it wasn't as rare after watching it for a long time; the outside world was still more attractive.

As for the families without a TV, they were even more eager for one, especially the children.

The two brothers didn't plan to go out to play, but people kept coming to the door to call them.

Upon hearing that they were staying home to watch Sun Wukong, everyone was extremely envious. After the two brothers obtained the consent of Ye Yaodong and Lin Xiuqing, they brought all their little friends into the house.

Suddenly, their house was like a kindergarten, with all the nearby children gathered together. It was so lively it nearly blew the roof off.

Although several of the neighbors also had TVs at home, they flocked to wherever it was lively. Knowing that there were many people here, they all gathered here to watch TV together.

Ye Yaodong, having nothing to do, also stood with them to watch the monkey, "How come I never noticed there were so many beauties in Journey to the West before?"

"These are all demons..."

"Tang Seng is too muddled... those are all demons..."

"He deserves to be caught!"

"Don't demons eat people? Why do they still have to cook them to eat? Wouldn't it be better to just swallow them in one bite?"

Lin Xiuqing also felt that was very right, "They all have to keep them overnight. If they caught them, they should just eat them directly. Then the three brothers could all disband and go back to their own homes."

Ye Chenghu shouted excitedly, "Zhu Bajie is going back to Gao Lao Zhuang!"

"Tang Seng is really infuriating. Hurry up and eat him!"

A group of children were extremely indignant, wishing they could rush in and beat Tang Seng up. It was all cursing.

Ye Yaodong shook his head and went back to the room to take a nap; he still had to go out to sea at night.

The noisy sounds outside never stopped until after one episode finished, and only then did they curse and run outside again, allowing him to finally get a quiet sleep.

When evening came, he calculated the accounts for the several boats they had rented out. He had been in a rush to go to the city yesterday and had returned late, so he hadn't calculated the accounts, dragging it until today to call people over to calculate them.

And the Fengshou happened to return today as well. After he finished calculating the accounts for the fishing boats at home, he went to calculate the accounts for the Fengshou.

Just calculating the accounts took up quite a bit of time, but calculating them once a month was also the most important day for everyone.

After he finished calculating the accounts, he followed the usual practice and had Aqing take stock of the money on hand.

Originally there was over 250,000, and 50,000 was spent on buying shares in lighters, but the shop in the city also brought back over 20,000, and several thousand were distributed here at home.

The fishermen's wages had already been received a portion of a few days ago, and the wages for the workers in the workshop and Ye Mu had also been given by Lin Xiuqing at the end of the month, as well as to Lin Fu and Lin Mu in the city when calculating the accounts.

Their workshop wasn't very formal either; it was normal for wages to be paid a few days early sometimes, or a day late other times.

If this were in the 21st century, let alone being a day late, being two hours late could get a company cursed to death. Everyone's tolerance was very limited, and they all lived on their wages, only allowing for early payment, not late.

Now the money on hand had probably returned to around 230,000.

Ye Yaodong thought to himself that after the batch of lighters on hand was sold, and after the shop's turnover for next month was collected, it was estimated that it could reach 300,000.

However, it was already the beginning of November, and by next month it would be December. It was estimated that the money for the filling machine would have to be paid, the money for the plastic bags would have to be paid, and the money for the materials to build the wall on the plot of land in the city would also be a sum, and the shipyard was estimated to have boats that could be delivered.

He still had three small trawlers that hadn't been delivered yet. Actually, the original delivery date had already passed, but he wasn't in a hurry, so he hadn't deliberately urged them.

However, he heard that his eldest brother often had Ye Chenghai keep an eye on their boat, constantly urging the factory.

In his heart, he was silently calculating the money on hand, calculating the possible expenditures for next month, and thinking that the income for next month probably wouldn't be that much, estimating that it would have to return to around 250,000, and wouldn't reach 300,000.

It really makes sense that the more people know how to earn money, the more they know how to spend it.

At night, he got up directly when the time came.

The Fengshou didn't follow along tonight; it only returned in the evening. This trip took five or six days, and it had just returned and needed to rest, so it couldn't go together with him, and he planned to go by himself.

After resting for two days, he would just go find them when the Fengshou came out.

The fishermen all arrived at the pier on time and waited.

"Dongzi... ah, no, have to call you Chairman Ye. Haven't seen you for a long time, why do you still have to go out to sea? Aren't you an official now? I thought you went to eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks, which is why I haven't seen you for so long," Azheng teased.

Hearing Xiao Xiao also joked, "Haha, Chairman Ye has to hire more people to do the work; how can you still go out to sea to fish yourself?"

Ye Yaodong happened to be holding a shoulder pole in his hand and hit each of them once, "If I don't go out to sea, will you support me? There are so many mouths at home, and so many mouths in the workshop. If I don't work, my whole family will be drinking the northwest wind."

"Hire people to do it."

"Isn't that engaging in capitalism? I am an honest fisherman, going through wind and rain every day. How can I wait at home for workers to do the work for me?"

"That's true."

"Let's go."

He led a group of people and they boarded their own boat that was the most recent to go out to sea, having people send them to the Dongsheng out at sea first.

Although it was rented out, it was a convenient matter, and no one would refuse, which also saved them from having to row other small boats to the middle of the sea.

The sea breeze at night was even cooler. It had rained several times this month, and now that it had entered November, the temperature had dropped even lower. With the sea breeze blowing on the sea, the temperature was even lower than on land.

Ye Yaodong even deliberately put on a sweater at night and wore a jacket to block the wind before he felt it wasn't so cold.

He thought that next time he went out to sea, he would probably have to wear a wool hat and gloves.

"Dad, you come and drive in the second half of the night. I'll come and take over for you when it's dawn."

Ye Fu looked at the time. From leaving home to the pier, and then boarding the boat and driving the fishing boat out, in this short while, it was actually nearly 3 o'clock.

"Alright, then you go back to the cabin."

There wasn't much time until dawn. In such a short time, going to the cabin actually wouldn't allow for sleep, so it was better to drive the boat.

After all, he had just come out of the bed and slept once, so his spirit was still good. Persisting in staying up until dawn and then going to sleep was better than squinting for two hours and then coming out to take over for half a day.

Ye Yaodong and the fishermen all stayed in the cabin, closing their eyes to rest, and only got up to take over the shift when it was dawn.

At this time, they hadn't sailed to the fishing grounds where they usually trawled, and the depth under the sea was estimated to not be enough. After he took over, he continued to drive quickly at full speed toward the East China Sea.

It wasn't until after 6 o'clock that he had people prepare to cast the net, while he himself watched from above the wheelhouse.

The sea breeze whistled, blowing his hair until every strand stood up, revealing his large forehead. He calculated in his heart that he hadn't trawled since July, and by now it had been almost 4 months, which was indeed quite a long time. He had nearly lost his old trade.

Watching the fishermen casting the net, he went into the cockpit again to take out the binoculars and wear them, looking into the distance.

The sea surface was undulating, and the fishing boat was also swaying and rocking along with it. The seabirds in the distance were scattered, skimming the water or flying high in the air, and were not very concentrated. It looked like there was nothing different about the surrounding sea surface.

The fishing boat was moving forward slowly, maintaining a uniform speed of 3-5 nautical miles per hour for operation.

Throughout the whole day, the harvest was unremarkable, not very good, but not bad either.

Miscellaneous goods accounted for more than half, half of which were swimming crabs. He picked out some that were large and fat to keep for eating, and threw the others toward the sea surface.

In November, crabs were numerous and fat, but it was a pity that no one on their boat knew how to make crab paste sauce. Otherwise, taking advantage of the free time, they could have dug out a lot of crab paste. They couldn't bring live crabs back, but at least they would have crab paste. Now they could only waste it all.

However, taking advantage of the fact that they had just been salvaged, the crabs were still quite active, and throwing them back into the sea would allow them to grow and spawn.

He and his father took turns in shifts to ensure each other's rest time.

The first four days went smoothly, but on the 5th day, they felt the sky had turned overcast, and the waves had become a bit larger. When evening came, the broadcast on the maritime radio was also playing in a loop, saying that another typhoon had formed.

Sometimes when they were bored at sea, they would also listen to the radio, and they had to listen to the weather forecast every night.

At this time, Ye Yaodong heard that another typhoon had formed, and his brows furrowed. No wonder he felt the sky was a bit gloomy in the afternoon, even though it was sunny in the morning.

There are still typhoons in November, but the frequency of occurrence is relatively low, and today was still the beginning of November.

The origin of typhoons is close to the equator, and the equator is still very hot at this time.

Even in December, it can provide conditions for typhoon generation, and there may be typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and the South China Sea all year round.

In China, the time range for typhoon landings is also very wide. Except for no typhoon landings from January to March, there may be typhoon landings in other months.

It's just that the months of frequent occurrence are July, August, September, and October, because the masses can feel the power of typhoons passing through particularly clearly in these months, while at other times they may feel nothing at all, and the typhoon has already passed.

Large typhoons also often occur in these months.

It's just that they are now in the outer sea. Even if it's a small typhoon, their feeling on the sea surface is very clear. At this time, it may still be sunny on land, and there is no feeling at all, but they are very likely to bear the storm of the typhoon at sea.

Ye Yaodong heard the broadcast that another typhoon had formed, and hurriedly walked out of the cockpit to shout to the fishermen who were sitting and chatting below, "Go and wake up the fishermen in the cabin, don't sleep anymore. A typhoon has formed, we have to go back quickly."

Everyone panicked immediately and hurriedly ran into the cabin to wake people up.

A typhoon is coming soon, so of course it's better to stay awake and not hide in the cabin to sleep.

Fortunately, he heard the broadcast in time. Now that the typhoon hasn't come yet, the waves on the sea surface are only a bit larger, and there is no substantial impact yet. Going back early shouldn't be a big problem.

After the people in the cabin ran out disheveled, he shouted again, telling them to prepare to lift the net.

They had been out for 4 days this trip, so counting it up, going back now wouldn't be a loss.

Ye Fu hadn't even finished putting on his clothes before he climbed up to the wheelhouse, his hands still reaching into the cuffs of his sweater.

"How come a typhoon is coming? The weather is already so cold."

"It's starting to get cold here, but it's estimated that it hasn't cooled down in the south yet, so it's normal to have a typhoon. It's only November 6th now, I'll drive the boat back immediately. This damn weather forecast, I don't know when it was detected, it only played at night."

"I just said, why did the sky suddenly turn gloomy this afternoon? I thought it was going to rain. If it were light or moderate rain, we wouldn't be afraid, just return according to the situation. I didn't expect it to be a typhoon, this is serious."

"Hmm, lift the fishing net first, then we can drive the boat back."

Ye Fu was uneasy and never returned to the cabin, just staying in the cockpit with Ye Yaodong, watching together.

Of course, the fishermen below weren't so big-hearted as to go back to sleep. Of course, they had to pay attention to the sea surface at all times. This concerned their lives.

Probably because a typhoon was coming, the quantity was relatively large, and the harvest of this net was huge. Actually, one net came up with nearly 10,000 jin. In the past, one bag of goods put down was about 2,000 jin, and today 5 bags of goods were put down. Ye Fu estimated that it could be about 9,000 to 10,000.

A large net of goods was collected in the fishing net. It was impossible for them to lift all the goods up and get them onto the deck. At the very bottom of the fishing net was a fish collection bag.

When collecting, the goods in the fishing net would sink to the bottom, and the fishermen just had to tighten the mouth of the fish collection bag, then lift the fish collection bag up, untie the net mouth, and let the fish goods scatter on the deck.

Immediately after, put the fish collection bag back into the sea, and let the goods in the fishing net fall into the fish collection bag at the bottom. Lifting one bag up like this is called one bag.

When the fishing net was lifted, Ye Fu walked to the deck to watch, silently counting until the goods in the fishing net were all lifted up, and only then did he run to the cockpit excitedly to tell Ye Yaodong.

"The net of goods in the evening collected over 7,000 jin. I thought it was already enough, but I didn't expect this net to have a larger quantity. Counting it up, it should be nearly 5 tons."

"Probably half of it is miscellaneous goods, not comparable to the 110,000 jin of Meitong fish in one net before. That was solid, without many miscellaneous goods."

"That's true. In that case, there's nothing to be happy about, after all, we encountered a typhoon."

Ye Yaodong didn't speak, just staring below. After they lifted the empty fishing net up, he started to accelerate.

Just as he was accelerating, the sky suddenly dropped bean-sized raindrops, which fell on the glass in front of him, and in a few seconds, it blurred his vision.

Ye Fu was also stunned by the raindrops falling down.

"It's raining heavily!"

Ye Yaodong pursed his lips tightly. Fortunately, they didn't look at the sea surface when sailing, but at the compass and the screen monitor. If they looked at the sea surface, who would know east, west, south, or north, especially in the dark night.

The cockpit is in a high place, and being on the wheelhouse is mainly to better observe the sea surface and the hull around the fishing boat.

After the bean-sized raindrops fell, the fishermen below were also a bit panicked. Ye Fu said again, "This net of goods is a bit much. Fortunately, everyone is awake and not sleeping. I'll go down to put on a raincoat, pick the goods with them below, and soothe them by the way."

"Good."

The raincoat was seen by him and Lin Xiuqing a few days ago in Wenzhou, and they bought two pieces and brought them to the sea to make it convenient for him and his father to wear while working. This was a bit expensive, so he didn't buy more.

Mainly, he felt it wasn't worth this price. Having experienced the era of cheap prices, looking at the current price, of course, he couldn't bring himself to buy it.

Didn't expect that it would come in handy immediately after being bought.

Ye Fu originally wanted to complain a few words, saying that what he bought was unlucky, but he also felt that now was not the time to say this, so he swallowed it back and hurriedly went down.

Ye Yaodong was fully focused on driving back. Tonight was exceptionally dark. In the past, there were moons and stars, making the surrounding sea surface quite bright. Now, everything he saw was pitch black.

He drove for an hour and didn't even encounter a single fishing boat. The sea surface was dark, with only their boat driving quickly there, and the sea also had only their one light moving quickly.

Fortunately, there was the sound of raindrops falling. Otherwise, it would be silent in the dark night, and except for the lights on the boat, no light could be seen around, and it was estimated that everyone would be even more panicked.

It's just that the rain seemed to have a trend of getting heavier and heavier. At first, it was just bean-sized, but it got bigger and bigger as he drove, and now it had become a torrential downpour.

Suddenly, the waves surging up from the bow of the boat swept the bow of the fishing boat up by 45 degrees. Some residual waves even tumbled onto the deck and smashed down. The fishermen were all thrown into disarray by the tilt of the fishing boat, and were washed by the seawater again. One by one, they were all stunned, and even standing became a problem.

And before everyone could recover and stand up, another wave covered them directly from the head. Everyone was thrown and bumped everywhere again. Fortunately, they all instinctively opened their hands and grabbed everything they could grab, so they wouldn't be thrown off the stern.

However, Ye Yaodong felt that it wouldn't be a thing if it went on like this. The waves at night would be more turbulent and terrifying than in the daytime, and in the dark night, everyone's fear of the unknown would be infinitely magnified.

He thought about seeing if there was a sea island where they could temporarily stop for a night, at least to transfer the personnel to the sea island first, so they wouldn't all be tumbling and bumping with the waves at sea, feeling terrified.

He first went out from the cockpit and shouted loudly to the people below, telling them to turn on their flashlights to see if there were any sea islands around.

Having encountered two big waves head-on, at this time, no one had the mood to pick up the fish goods scattered everywhere on the deck. Everyone was concerned about whether their lives could be returned.

After hearing Ye Yaodong's instructions, one by one they hurriedly turned on their flashlights, shining toward the surrounding sea surface, and all grabbed things that could fix their bodies, lest they be thrown into disarray again.

The rain never decreased, and the waves also kept hitting the fishing boat. Everyone's heart was filled with haze, and they were extremely hoping that a sea island would appear around them.

They had come back and forth dozens of times in this sea area. Ye Yaodong remembered that there were several small islands on the road, but he didn't know how far they were from the small islands at this time.

If it weren't for the sudden heavy rain, which led to the surge and tumbling of the waves, it wouldn't have been such a big wind and wave just after the typhoon formed.

It can only be said that the weather is fickle and cannot be controlled. If it could be controlled, there wouldn't be so many fishing boats in distress at sea.

He pursed his lips tightly, returned to the cockpit and sat down, his spirit tense. He also ignored that his whole body was soaked through by the heavy rain, and kept paying attention to the orientation, lest he deviate and it would be even harder to grasp. As long as the direction didn't deviate, finding the sea island was just a matter of time.

A boat full of people all turned on their flashlights, standing on both sides of the ship's side to illuminate the surroundings.

Finally, an exclamation passed through the rain and reached everyone's ears.

"Over there, over there... there's a mountain over there..."

"Look over there quickly..."

The sky was gloomy and dark, feeling like it was going to collapse and press down on the sea surface.

Several flashlight beams all shone in one direction. Hopeful light burst out in everyone's eyes, and they all staggered toward the other side of the ship's side.

Ye Yaodong had already seen it in advance before the people below exclaimed. There was a protrusion where the flashlight shone, indicating that it was a sea island. His heart, which had been lifted, was temporarily put down, and he drove the boat toward the direction the flashlight shone.

After the fishing boat changed direction, everyone also knew that they were walking toward the sea island. No matter what, find a sea island to stop first. At least personal safety was temporarily no problem.

The torrential rain poured down, and the fishing boat moved forward, riding the wind and breaking the waves on the sea surface.

It only drove for more than ten minutes. Ye Yaodong watched the sea island in front of him enlarge bit by bit, and slowly slowed down.

In order to find a good stopping point, convenient for them to go ashore, he even went around the sea island.

Didn't expect that he really found it. There was a place like a mountain col in the southwest direction of this sea island, which was just against the wind and could block the sea breeze sweeping in.

He slowly drove the fishing boat into this mountain col to stop. Instantly, the whistling wind in his ears became smaller, and even the tumbling waves couldn't affect the fishing boat. The whole boat immediately stabilized.

Except for the still large raindrops, nothing else had the slightest impact on them.

He was completely relieved and walked out of the cockpit. Everyone below was laughing and discussing there, and he also climbed down.

"Fortunately, we found a sea island to stop. This is still a mountain col, a natural shelter."

"Yes, I thought about it before. When we came out in the past, we also encountered sea islands. If it really didn't work, we would stop at the sea island to slow down first. Fortunately, we found it."

"Scared me to death. This is the first trip I've followed a fishing boat out and encountered this. I thought I was going to be accounted for here. Oh my mother, I was scared to pee before."

"Haha, just a little wind and wave. You young people still need to be exercised."

Everyone relaxed, and they were in the mood to joke.

Ye Yaodong shouted in the heavy rain, "It's not affected by wind and waves here. Everyone go to the cabin to sleep at night. Don't get off the boat yet. It's dark and you can't see the road clearly, and the reefs are slippery, lest you fall down and be rolled into the sea by the waves."

"Okay."

"First handle the goods on the deck, then go to the cabin to rest."

"Okay."

They were all wearing straw rain capes themselves. Although the heavy rain also soaked them, there was no need to change clothes. It would be in time to change after finishing the work and returning to the cabin.

Ye Yaodong was soaked from head to toe standing in the rain. He had to go to the cabin to change clothes before he could come out to help.

Today can be considered a narrow escape. Stop at the sea island first and wait until dawn to see the situation of wind, waves, and heavy rain before talking.

If it really doesn't work, stay on the boat for a few days and wait for the wind and waves to pass. Anyway, there is food on the boat and prepared sufficient fresh water.

However, just in case, after he changed his clothes, he still took out the containers that were emptied on the boat to catch rainwater.