Chapter 1203: Thrilling

The people on the boat were orderly, each performing their duties, and they were all used to working.

Except for the discomfort of just going out to sea, Lin Guangyuan had an eye for picking up work he could do after he recovered.

After staying at sea for a few days, he also became a skilled worker.

People, follow the customs, and like everyone else, they have become refugees, with beards growing out, no longer looking like a green teenager of ten or so.

Ye Yaodong laughed and teased Lin Guangyuan after selling a batch of goods to the fresh-receiving boat.

"Sure enough, physical labor exercises people. After a few days, I feel mature."

Lin Guangyuan chuckled, "Only now do I know that little aunt's husband, you are so hard. No wonder you insisted on asking me to carry sandbags a few years ago to experience the difficulty of making money. Reading is really too happy."

"Know my painstaking efforts now?"

He nodded. The little teenager followed out to sea, although his face was tired, he also had some determined look.

Looks like he has grown a lot.

"Carrying sandbags is better than going out to sea, sigh, no wonder the boatman's salary is so high, this is dangerous and hard."

"You are saying that I didn't pay you a salary."

"Where, I insisted on coming."

"Want a watch when you go back?"

"Want!" Lin Guangyuan's eyes lit up and he shouted loudly.

"Didn't you insist on coming? You have the nerve to ask me to buy you a watch."

"You insisted on giving it, of course I want it."

Ye Yaodong smiled and hooked his shoulder, "Let's go, go to the cockpit, teach you to drive the boat."

"Okay, how many more days do we have to stay at sea?"

"Now we have to go back while trawling, and stay for about three more days before docking and returning."

Lin Guangyuan stretched out his fingers, counting while walking, "We have been out for 5 days? Today is the 18th of the lunar calendar?"

"Hmm, I will send you back on the 21st of the lunar calendar. It's almost New Year, you have to go back to your hometown early. Your father is busy making money and has no time. You are so old, the work at home must be done by you. Go back early, this trip has been out for so many days, it's about time, and you have to rest."

"Good."

After Ye Yaodong entered the cockpit, he taught him to drive the boat hand by hand and chatted.

However, plans cannot keep up with changes.

With the drop in temperature in the past two days, the cold wind has been blowing, and the waves were exceptionally large that night, making the fishing boat rock very violently, affecting the progress, so they had to make a temporary decision to return home early.

Lin Guangyuan was a little flustered, being knocked around by the waves. If the cockpit space wasn't small, he would have fallen to the ground long ago.

Ye Yaodong had seen big winds and waves, and calmed down steadily. He also calmed down.

Although it was night now, the waves were big, and Ye Yaodong didn't dare to let him climb down to the deck at this time, so he simply let him accompany him through the night.

After dawn, let him go back to the cabin to sleep.

After the three boats discussed returning immediately, they collected the fishing nets early and spent the whole night on the road.

Because they had been driving towards the East China Sea for the past few days, the distance was a bit far, plus the waves were big, affecting the speed of the boat, and they couldn't dock until dawn.

However, near dawn, the waves were smaller, and Ye Yaodong took the opportunity to let Lin Guangyuan go down at this time, and he could sleep for a while after returning to the cabin.

By the way, let him call Chen Laoqi to take over, and he also had to change shifts to rest.

The wind and waves were not so big at this time, and it was probably close to the near shore range. It was no problem for Chen Laoqi to follow the other two boats forward, and he could rest assured.

Ye Yaodong watched him go down to the deck and looked at the distance again, and then looked at the surroundings of the fishing boat.

However, what shocked him was that as soon as he cast his gaze around the fishing boat, he saw a figure fall into the sea.

He didn't see clearly who it was. Everyone was dressed in black, and it was just dawn, and the light was not good.

Fright made him stand up directly and stop the boat, stopping moving forward.

Better to believe it exists than to believe it doesn't.

He stood up flustered, hurriedly pushed open the cabin door and looked at the sea, but saw nothing.

Ye Yaodong was not sure if he was dazzled. It was just a figure that flashed by, without any splash.

He took the binoculars hanging on his chest and looked around, from near to far, and searched everywhere, and really found a sinking and floating head in the distance, appearing and disappearing.

If you really use the naked eye to look at the sea, you really can't see it. The sky is gray, and the waves are one after another.

Panic made him hurriedly climb down to the deck.

The fishing boat was rocked by the waves, and he didn't have time to put down the anchor. He could only let the fishing boat be rocked by the waves and drift around, and ran to the cabin to call people while rocking.

"Get up quickly, someone fell into the sea, everyone get up!" Ye Yaodong roared.

The cabin door was open there, and it was also where he slipped down just now.

The people who were sleeping immediately got a jolt and all climbed up. They didn't sleep very soundly anyway.

"What's the matter? What's the matter?"

"What fell into the sea?"

Ye Yaodong didn't stop and roared again, "Someone fell into the sea, hurry up and come out to see who it is, I'm going to drive the boat, approach first."

He didn't care about the reactions of others, and hurriedly climbed onto the steering tower in his heart, still able to see the head sinking and floating, so he had to drive the boat over quickly.

At this time, falling into the sea, the time was too coincidental.

Thinking of Lin Guangyuan who had just climbed down from the steering tower, he was infinitely worried in his heart. Even without counting the number of people, he could be sure it should be Lin Guangyuan.

The loss of any boatman is incredible, not to mention Lin Guangyuan.

Danger really came too fast, impossible to guard against.

If he hadn't paid attention to the surroundings of the fishing boat when driving the boat, and just happened to take a look at that moment, he wouldn't have found that a person was missing from the boat at all.

If he found out by then, it would probably be too late to wait for everyone to get up, the sky to be bright, or to dock.

By then, it would have been too late, and falling into the sea, no one would know where.

Ye Yaodong felt a chill in his heart, his hands and feet were cold, and he was a little helpless. His eyes were fixed on the sea, turning the boat, and hurriedly looked for it.

His mind was all on the sea, and he didn't care about connecting with the other two boats to notify them.

Because of the big waves, they were also at a distance when returning, and the two boats didn't find that the Dongsheng didn't follow at first. After driving out for a distance, they connected to him.

After knowing that someone fell into the sea, the two boats were also panicked and hurriedly turned around to look for them.

Ye Yaodong was furious and stared at the sea, taking a telescope to look for it everywhere.

He was panicked and worried, his heart kept beating, no wind and three feet of waves, not to mention the wind and waves now, although not as good as at night, the fishing boat can bear it, but people can't.

Swimming is useless. A wave hits and is directly submerged. Swimming can let you wait for the waves to pass and slow down, and swim a few times.

But the feeling of suffocation is still there, human physical strength is limited, how many waves can you bear?

Others were also panicked long ago, didn't wear their clothes well and ran to the deck, wearing clothes while widening their eyes, all looking at the sea anxiously to help find.

Ye Yaodong drove the boat to the approximate position where he saw the head, but saw nothing. His eyes were congested with anxiety, and he could only turn around in the surroundings and look for it.

The connection with Ye Fu's side was also not broken. Although Ye Fu was anxious and worried, he hadn't driven over yet, so he could only comfort him first.

"Look again, look again, just fell into the sea, should be somewhere nearby?"

"Just used binoculars and saw it, now nothing..."

"We are here soon, expand the scope to look for it, maybe it was hit somewhere else by the waves..."

"Good fortune, Mazu bless, Mazu bless..." Ye Fu could only say these few sentences over and over.

Ye Yaodong had no desire to speak at all, he could only drive the boat and keep turning on the sea to look for it.

The two boats in the distance also gradually approached, and then dispersed in the surroundings to look for them at the same time.

Ye Yaodong was anxious and worried, and smashed the console with a heavy fist.

"Dongzi, Dongzi, I saw a head in front..."

"Where, I'll drive over immediately."

Ye Yaodong drove towards the direction of the Shunfeng. It was on his left front.

The Shunfeng also drove towards the discovered figure.

It's just that after they drove over, there was no head to see.

"There is a big fish there... head, head... there..." Ye Yaodong took a telescope, got a jolt, and sat up straight.

"Where?"

"About a hundred meters behind the right rear."

He said while driving the boat and turned around.

After turning around, he also saw the figure on the sea surface in a prone state, and his heart missed a beat.

It is said that people who drown, men face down, women face up.

At this time, the person is in a prone state.

He drove over with a fast heart, but the person lying on the sea surface was also in a moving state, and the speed was not slow, and he was still following the current.

All three boats were chasing in one direction.

"Why is it floating so fast..." Ye Fu worried, "Floating on the surface, don't know how it is."

Ye Yaodong pursed his lips tightly and didn't say a word, just picked up the binoculars and looked at it.

This look surprised him again, "Seems not lying on the sea surface, there is a big fish under the water, lying on the fish."

Ye Fu was surprised, "Lying on the fish? No wonder it swims so fast."

The fishing boat slowly narrowed the distance, and this time they all saw it clearly, indeed lying on the fish.

Ye Yaodong also saw the person's face, it was Lin Guangyuan. He hurriedly shouted for Chen Laoqi to come up.

Handed over the steering to Chen Laoqi, he went down to the deck first, and also told his father.

Since the person has been found, then can only follow that fish to see, don't know if the person is awake.

Afraid that the fish will sink into the water in a while, and the person is in a coma, then it's over, and there is no way to find it.

He went down to the deck, and others hurriedly surrounded him and told him it was Lin Guangyuan.

"I saw it, wait a minute, get closer, see what fish it is."

Ye Yaodong's binoculars have been hanging on his neck. This time he looked carefully and frowned, a little unsure what fish it was.

The fish at sea have a high degree of similarity, but it can be determined that it should be a kind of shark or whale, the size is very large, half of the body is hidden in the sea, and the head part can barely be seen under the water.

"Lying on the fish, what should I do..."

"It's motionless, don't know if it's awake. If awake, we can throw the rope over, and then pull the person up."

"Shout, everyone shout loudly, see if there is any reaction."

"Then shout, Lin Guangyuan..."

Everyone shouted loudly, and the other two boats also followed after approaching.

At this time, the person over there also raised an arm, and instantly put it down hurriedly.

Ye Yaodong was overjoyed, "Awake is good, not dead, good boy, great disaster, must have good fortune."

Everyone also breathed a sigh of relief, still alive.

"Take the rope... hurry hurry..."

"Rope is here..."

"Pull the distance closer first, throw it accurately..."

The big fish chasing the distance is getting closer and closer, and the rope was thrown out, but the wind is big, the accuracy is good, but it was thrown crooked.

"The wind is too big, what to do, the bamboo pole is not long enough."

"Then throw it a few more times, the distance is getting shorter and shorter."

"Just afraid the waves will hit, directly hitting A-Yuan into the sea, looking at him lying there motionless, estimated no strength."

"Maybe holding the fish tightly, so dare not move."

"What kind of fish is that? Otherwise, send someone to tie the rope and swim over?"

"People swim fast? Or the boat drives fast? Can only follow first, pull the distance, let him grab the rope."

Everyone gave ideas, but there was no good idea. After all, Lin Guangyuan was lying on the big fish, and the big fish kept swimming, and the waves kept rolling.

If there were no waves, it would be easy to say. At this time, the waves hit the head from time to time, and Lin Guangyuan couldn't let go at all.

Just being able to raise an arm quickly and give them a reaction was a great risk.

If he lets go and jumps into the sea now, before grabbing the rope, he will be submerged directly, and don't know where he will be hit.

Can only wait until grabbing the rope and bamboo pole, have something to support, he can let go.

Everyone is anxious, but can only follow while throwing ropes, or holding sticks.

Fortunately, the big fish swimming in front will go into the water from time to time, and didn't sink and not come up. Lin Guangyuan suffered a bit, holding his breath and being submerged several times.

"This fish swims very slowly, persist, it will be close in a while."

After Ye Yaodong finished speaking, he took off the binoculars on his neck and took off the cotton clothes and cotton pants on his body.

These cotton clothes in winter are too absorbent, Lin Guangyuan's physical strength was exhausted so quickly because of wearing too many clothes and being too heavy.

He nimbly took off his clothes, only wearing autumn clothes and autumn pants, and did some warm-up exercises while waiting.

"What are you doing?"

"Waiting to go into the water to help save people, give me a rope."

He tied the rope to his body, watching the distance getting shorter and shorter.

"Throw him a rope again, shout, Lin Guangyuan, look at the sea, throw you a rope."

Others also hurriedly shouted, and the ropes kept being thrown out.

Five or six people threw five or six ropes at the same time, as long as one could float to his side, he could reach it.

"Lin Guangyuan, grab..."

Because of the big wind, it was thrown several times and blown away.

"Take the bamboo pole, tie the rope to the bamboo pole, throw it over..."

"Good..."

Everyone was busy again.

Tried several times, Lin Guangyuan finally grabbed a rope thrown on the fish head.

"He grabbed it."

Everyone was overjoyed.

"Pull it..."

After Lin Guangyuan grabbed the rope, he rolled it twice on his wrist and hurriedly tilted his body, coming down from the big fish.

Everyone pulled the bamboo pole in and went to pull the rope. Lin Guangyuan sank into the water, and the sea waves submerged him.

The head-on waves hit, he couldn't swim at all, and he was heavy, could only flutter, relying on everyone to pull him close to the fishing boat.

Ye Yaodong looked at the distance and jumped down, swimming towards him, hugging the person.

Both ropes were pulling hard. Ye Yaodong sent Lin Guangyuan up first, and then he climbed up too.

Lin Guangyuan lay on his back on the deck, opening his eyes and gasping for air.

The cotton clothes and cotton pants on his body didn't know what was scratched, all were holes, cotton ran out, ragged.

Ye Yaodong also supported his knees and looked at him, "Phew... it's okay..."

"Scared to death..."

"My heart kept beating, can be at ease now."

"Fortunately it's okay."

"Great disaster, Mazu bless, it's okay..."

"How do you feel?"

After the person came up, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the tense nerves were relaxed, and they surrounded him and asked questions.

Lin Guangyuan lay down and slowed down before saying with a crying voice: "Fortunately I can swim, didn't get beaten for nothing when I was young."

"Haha."

Everyone laughed. Being able to say this shows that there is no big problem.

After Ye Yaodong relaxed, he also said: "The beatings when I was young are reflected in the benefits when I grow up."

"Isn't it? I ran to the river to swim secretly every day when I was young, and I was beaten a lot. Fortunately, I went to swim even if I was beaten to death." Lin Guangyuan gasped for air.

"Scared me to death, fortunately I took a look in time, otherwise you really have to see Mazu."

"I really thought I was going to be finished, the waves hit one by one, I couldn't swim, and was hit into the sea. Fortunately, I saw a big fish under the water, I was panicked, and hurriedly swam over when there were no waves."

"It's okay, can you get up?"

"Let me lie down for a while, escaped death, don't want to move."

"Afraid?"

"Scared to death, I peed my pants."

"Then don't want to be a navy anymore."

"Want, great disaster, must have good fortune, the sea didn't collect me today, it won't collect me in the future."

"I won't dare to collect you in the future, hurry up and send you back, soul is scared away, how did you fall into the sea?"

Lin Guangyuan supported the deck with both hands and prepared to sit up. Everyone hurriedly helped him.

"Didn't sleep all night, eyelids kept fighting, spirit was trance, thought about peeing before going in to sleep, who knew the boat was rocked by the waves, I didn't grab it and fell into the sea."

"I was scared to death, thinking it was over, have to explain here."

"Didn't drown in the river when I was young, now might drown in the sea, fortunately it's okay."

"It's okay." Ye Yaodong said this sentence several times, but he was also most glad that it was okay.

Others also surrounded him and comforted him.

"What's wrong with your palm?"

Everyone helped him and saw that his palm was broken in several places, white and wrinkled, but still bleeding.

"It's barnacles, there are barnacles all over that fish, and the clothes were scratched by the barnacles, I can only use my fingers to dig

"It's fortunate that it's just superficial injuries. As long as he's alright, that's what matters. It's also lucky that you managed to bump into that big fish."

Lin Guangyuan nodded. "That's right. It's a good thing I bumped into that big fish and lay on its back; otherwise, I would have been submerged by the waves long ago. If you hadn't discovered me in time, I would have been gone."

"Help him back to the cabin to change his clothes first, then boil some hot water so he can wipe himself down before lying down."

"Understood."

Ye Yaodong was also soaked from head to toe; he needed to wipe himself down and change his clothes as well.

However, he had to go up to the wheelhouse to give some instructions first, and he also needed to have a few words with his father and Pei Fu.

Just as he looked toward the other boats, he discovered that the fish was still between their two vessels.

Its size was exceptionally massive—only slightly smaller than their Dongsheng, but no smaller than the trawler his family owned.

He walked to the side of the deck and took a careful look. Now that it was right beside them, he could clearly see that it was a whale.

It was a gray whale.

No wonder it swam so slowly that they were able to catch up to it.

Among whales, the slowest swimmer is the gray whale, so the most miserable whale is also the gray whale.

Because its swimming speed is the slowest—reaching a maximum of only 8 nautical miles per hour—gray whales are often covered in large amounts of barnacles.

Once marine structures or marine life are parasitized by barnacles, it is always a troublesome matter.

Marine structures like fishing boats and lighthouses are cleaned by staff periodically, but once marine life is attached to by barnacles, they cannot escape the torment for the rest of their lives.

Therefore, barnacles are truly the overlords of the ocean. And this creature, the barnacle, has almost no natural predators; only starfish can eat them.

Starfish can use their sharp teeth to directly destroy the barnacle's shell, then wrap their own stomachs around the flesh. After digestion, only an empty shell is left behind.

No wonder Lin Guangyuan's cotton-padded jacket was riddled with countless holes; they were all scraped by the barnacles on the gray whale.

This could be considered a stroke of luck in a bad situation; gray whales have no dorsal fin, so he was able to lie on it and save his life until he was found.

This gray whale was densely covered in barnacles, even on its head and fins—no wonder it was slow.

Its body was spindle-shaped and thick in the torso, thickest near the fins, and gradually tapering toward the tail. It was gray overall with white spots, looking just like a giant rock.

After the crew members finished assigning tasks, they also saw the big fish on the sea surface and couldn't help but exclaim in shock.

Just a moment ago, they were all preoccupied with saving Lin Guangyuan and had no mind to look at the big fish; they only knew it was huge, but didn't see exactly how big.

Now, turning to look at the sea surface, they were extremely astonished, their eyes wide open.

"Such a big fish? Is it a whale?"

"This fish is so big... you can only see such a big fish when you go out to sea on a big boat. What should we do?"

"What should we do? Can we catch this?"

"How could we catch this? It's so big... and will it attack the fishing boat? Should we leave quickly?"

"There are so many barnacles on its body, it's densely covered."

Ye Yaodong shook his head. "We can't catch it; this one weighs tens of tons."

After saying this, he climbed up to the wheelhouse. Chen Laoqi was already standing there looking down, and he was extremely excited.

"What kind of fish is this? What should we do? Your father just asked us what to do as well."

"Head back directly, what else can we do? Do you still want to catch this fish? This should be near the coast, and the fishing boat can still withstand the wind and waves, but who knows if the waves will pick up again? Let's head back quickly; everyone has been through too much shock."

"Should I take the helm?"

"Yes, I'll go give my father some instructions first."

Ye's father and the others had witnessed Lin Guangyuan being rescued with their own eyes, and when he was pulled up, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as there was no life-threatening danger, it didn't count as a major incident.

Ye Yaodong told his father about Lin Guangyuan's condition and also mentioned the gray whale, giving instructions to head back immediately.

Ye's father also had lingering fears and was thinking about getting back quickly to return the person.

"Next time, don't just bring people on board casually. This was too terrifying. Someone who knows nothing and has zero experience can easily get into trouble."

"I know. Who would have thought that even when we were about to head back, something would still happen? I also thought he was almost 18 and no longer a child, so I let him come along since he wanted to."

"Get to the shore quickly and send him back. It's a good thing nothing happened, but if something had, how would you compensate? The two families would become enemies."

"Understood."

He had also thought that everyone goes from having no experience to having experience, and Lin Guangyuan was no longer a child; who could have foreseen an accident?

Risks at sea are high, and natural disasters or human errors are hard to predict; even veteran crew members can have accidents.

"What's going on? Is this whale constantly bumping into our boat?"

Ye's father was a bit flustered and wanted to speed up to escape, but found that the gray whale was relentless, following them and constantly bumping into the fishing boat.

As for it not being an attack, calling it a bump was because the force, all things considered, wasn't that great.

Ye's father had seen a lot over the years and knew that such a large fish generally wouldn't attack people or boats casually, except for sharks that smelled blood. Although he was a bit panicked, he remained quite calm.

"Bumping?" Ye Yaodong pushed open the cabin door and went out to take a look.

The gray whale was indeed bumping its body against the fishing boat from time to time while moving forward, but it didn't look like it was in a crazed, ferocious state. However, the crew on the Shunfeng were so scared their faces turned pale, and they stayed far away from the deck edge.

He quickly returned to the wheelhouse and said, "It might be uncomfortable because it has too many barnacles on its body, so it's bumping the fishing boat to scratch the itch."

"Then what should we do?"

"We'll just keep heading forward. It's slow, and with so many barnacles on its body, it might not be able to keep up."

"Alright."

After Ye Yaodong finished talking with his father, he handed the boat over to Chen Laoqi to steer and went down to the deck himself, intending to take a bath first and change his clothes.

He was still soaked, and the sea breeze made his teeth chatter. From head to toe, he felt like he was freezing to his very core, and even his skull felt like it was going to be blown away.