Chapter 1204

Ye Yaodong entered the cabin shivering and placed his clothes on the bunk, seeing that Lin Guangyuan had already put on clothes and was wrapped in a quilt.

The other bunks were empty; everyone was standing on the deck and hadn't come in. They had slept enough and were all curiously watching the fish on the sea surface.

It was rare to see one of such a large size.

"Are you alright? Drink some hot water."

"I'm alright. I took a bath and feel comfortable now," he said while sniffling. "You should hurry up and take a bath and change your clothes too, don't catch a cold."

"Alright."

Ye Yaodong went to get hot water for himself, changed his clothes, and drank a cup of hot tea before he felt like he had come back to life. He had been shivering so hard his teeth were chattering, and he had sneezed several times.

"What kind of fish is that, Uncle? It's so big, and aren't there too many barnacles on its body?"

"It's a gray whale, a type of whale. My boat can't catch a gray whale this big."

"Oh, how amazing. I was actually saved by a fish. Why does this fish keep staying on the sea surface?"

"Who are you asking? Go to sleep quickly; I'll call you when we reach the shore."

It was highly likely because of the barnacles all over its body.

"Alright, you should sleep too, right?"

"Yes."

He had stayed up all night and was indeed tired, and after the shock from earlier, he just wanted to get some good rest now.

However, since everyone was outside watching that fish, he was also curious and a bit reluctant to sleep.

After pouring out the water, he also walked onto the deck.

Several crew members were still pointing at the sea surface, and they had moved even closer to the railing. Earlier, they were worried the fish would go crazy and stayed far away, but now they weren't afraid anymore.

He also leaned over to look, listened to a few words, and asked a question.

"Has this fish been following us the whole time?"

"That's right, it's been following our three boats. We could have sped up to shake it off; we sped up earlier, but then slowed down again, letting it follow on purpose."

"Letting it follow on purpose?"

Ye Yaodong felt the speed of the fishing boat and it seemed they really weren't moving very fast.

"I don't know if they want to catch it, so they just keep letting it follow..."

"It doesn't look like it's going to attack us. It's been following for a long time, and it seems it only bumps the boat occasionally."

"Have you all ever seen a big fish attack a fishing boat?"

"Of course I have... but none this big. I don't know how much longer this fish will keep following..."

They were talking all at once, and Ye Yaodong was also a bit puzzled. After thinking for a moment, he climbed back up to the wheelhouse to ask.

It turned out to be Pei Fu's idea, saying that since the waves weren't that big now and they were near the coast, and the fish seemed to be following them, it would be a pity to just let it go.

So they were planning to slow down, let the fish catch up, and then find an island nearby to see if the fish would get stranded.

Ye Yaodong also thought about the barnacles all over its body; if it got stranded, they could help clean it up.

Chen Laoqi naturally had no standing to express an opinion; he just listened to Ye's father and Pei Fu.

Ye's father, when facing Pei Fu, naturally listened to him as well. Besides, he was also curious: if such a big fish approached an island, would it get stranded just as Pei Fu said?

If it did get stranded, they could use the two boats together to drag this big fish to shore.

One boat couldn't handle this fish, but two or three boats working together would surely find a way.

Ye Yaodong was surprised by Pei Fu's boldness; he hadn't expected their ideas to be so different.

Thinking about it, he decided to wait until it was stranded before worrying. The barnacles on this gray whale were terrifyingly dense, and finding an island nearby while moving forward wouldn't take much time.

However, he was too tired now. After staying up all night, going through a scare, and then soaking in the water, he didn't have the energy to keep waiting there.

So he only gave instructions to Chen Laoqi to try it out first, and if the fish really got stranded, to have someone wake him up.

He returned to the cabin to take a nap first.

Lin Guangyuan was already fast asleep.

Before long, his own consciousness also began to blur.

He was woken up by being shaken.

"Dong... Brother Dong... hurry... it fell into the water..." Chen Shi said excitedly while shaking him.

Ye Yaodong was woken up in a daze, his head throbbing with pain. "What is it?"

"The whale... fell... into the sea."

"Why are you the one coming in to talk?" He rubbed his temples. They didn't even send someone who could speak clearly to pass the message; he couldn't understand what it meant.

"The fish... fell into the sea..."

"That gray whale fell into the sea? I'll go take a look."

He still didn't understand what Chen Shi meant.

Ye Yaodong quickly put on his clothes and went out. The fishing boat was currently in the middle of the sea, but there was an island not far ahead.

At this moment, the three boats were docked side-by-side, and everyone was there discussing it heatedly.

"I saw it fall straight down..."

"The water here isn't very deep, we can go down and take a look..."

Listening to everyone's discussion, Ye Yaodong finally understood a bit: the whale that had been following them had fallen to the bottom of the sea, which was why they stopped the boat and woke him up.

He looked at Chen Laoqi, who was also standing on the deck. "What's the word? Tell me what's going on."

"I couldn't see clearly from the wheelhouse. The whale had been following beside the fishing boat, and our three boats were leading it toward the island, but it kept swimming slower and slower, so we slowed down later on."

"But suddenly it disappeared, so we stopped the boat to look. The crew member who had been watching it the whole time said the fish fell down—it didn't swim, it didn't even move, it just fell straight down."

Ye Yaodong was surprised. "Fell straight down? A whale fall?"

"What's a whale fall?"

"Are you sure it fell straight down?"

"Yes, yes, the seawater is very clear. I saw it clearly; the fish had been swimming beside the boat, but its speed kept getting slower, and later it just stopped moving and fell straight to the bottom. I even saw its belly facing up," Xiao Wu gestured excitedly.

"We saw it too. We had been watching the fish the whole time. It was swimming, we saw it move, but then it just stopped and fell."

Ye Yaodong's heart skipped a beat. A whale fall!

He had only ever heard of it and never seen it; could it really be a whale fall?

"I'll climb over and ask them to see."

He checked the distance to the boat beside them, used a hook to grab the Fengshou, and brought the two boats closer so it would be easier for him to climb over.

Pei Fu was also calling out to Ye's father, and after turning his head and seeing him arrive, he told him.

"You've come at the right time. Everyone says the fish fell down; it's probably dead and has landed on the seabed. We originally wanted to lead it to the island to get stranded, but we didn't expect it to die before reaching the island."

Ye's father also said, "My in-law said you have two of those diving sets on your boat. It shouldn't be very deep down there, and there's an island right beside us, so we wanted to wake you up and have two people go down to see if the whale is really dead and fell into the sea."

"Did the people on your boat also see the fish fall straight down?"

"Yes, they were curious about the fish following us and bumping into us from time to time. Later, I also felt the force of its bumps getting smaller and smaller, and even its swimming speed became like a turtle's crawl."

Pei Fu added, "The workers on my boat were also watching. My boat was behind yours, and when the fish fell, your boat was still moving forward. My workers saw the fish fall sideways; they are certain it's dead."

It was a bright, sunny day, and visibility was quite good. Since the ocean hadn't been polluted yet, the seawater looked exceptionally clear, so seeing the fish fall sideways was credible.

"Then let's go down and take a look."

Ye Yaodong looked at the island in the distance and then at the water surface. "Where did it fall?"

"Right here."

"Here..."

Both old men pointed to a spot on the water behind them at the same time.

"Then I'll call someone to go down with me and take a look."

"Wait a moment, shall we? There are waves now, it's not safe." Ye's father was a bit worried.

Lin Guangyuan had only had his accident this morning, and although the waves near the coast weren't as big as they were at dawn, there were still waves.

Ye's father had lingering fears and didn't dare to take the risk.

"How far are we from the city now?"

"It will take about another hour to get there."

Ye Yaodong checked the time; it was only 10:00 AM, which meant he had napped for nearly four hours.

It would take another hour to reach the shore after such a long time, which meant the fishing boat had been moving very slowly, almost at a turtle's pace—slower than when they were working.

"Then let's wait a while. The market won't open until the evening anyway, so there's no point in reaching the shore right now."

Pei Fu nodded. "Then let's wait. Why don't you go eat something and sleep for a while longer? In the afternoon, we'll see if the waves have calmed down, and then we'll call you."

"Alright."

If it was a whale fall, it wouldn't move after falling, so there was no need to worry about it running away. They had to wait for the waves to calm down before going down anyway.

"Then we'll go eat first, and we'll talk after we're done."

"Alright."

After they agreed, Ye Yaodong learned a bit more about the fish's movement while he was sleeping, and then returned to his own boat.

"Adong, what's the word? It would be such a waste if such a big fish just fell into the sea."

"Yeah, should we go into the water and see if it's dead?"

"If it died directly in the sea, can we still drag it up?"

Everyone surrounded him, asking questions all at once.

They were too excited; such a big fish had died right before their eyes and fallen into the sea.

"It's hard to say without seeing it with my own eyes. We have to go into the water and take a look. I don't know how deep it is or if we can reach the bottom. The waves are a bit big now, so wait until later when the waves are smaller. One of you come down with me to take a look; we can only talk about other things after we're sure."

"No problem, any of us young ones can go down."

Ye Yaodong smiled. "Go cook, we'll talk when the waves are smaller."

Everyone agreed readily.

He also returned to the cabin to continue lying down. Cooking wouldn't be that fast—at least an hour—so he closed his eyes to rest. Since the boat was stopped and there was no noise, he could nap a little longer.

However, as soon as he closed his eyes, his mind was filled with the matter of the whale fall.

If he really discovered that the whale was dead, he would have to find a way to drag it back if possible. Since it was already dead, dragging it back would allow for research and contribution. He wondered why it had died so suddenly.

Could it be that it had too many barnacles on its body and couldn't carry the weight?

With three fishing boats here, dragging tens of tons back shouldn't be a big problem, but he didn't know how deep it was. If it was too deep, they wouldn't be able to reach it and would have to give up.

He would have to wait until he went into the water to see the situation.

The more Ye Yaodong thought, the clearer his mind became, and the less he could sleep. He only got up when they called him for dinner.

After eating, he looked at the sea surface again; there were still waves, so he returned to the cabin. This time, he found it easier to sleep.

He was woken up again at 3:00 PM.

"Adong, the waves are smaller this afternoon, they're calling for you."

Ye Yaodong immediately climbed up and stretched. "Is there sun outside?"

"Yes, the sun hasn't set yet, and it hasn't hidden behind the clouds."

"Alright."

Ye's father, Pei Fu, and his two older brothers had all climbed over and were waiting on his boat.

"Are you awake?"

"I'm awake."

He looked out at the sea and then at the sun, which was already slanting to the west. "Who's coming down with me?"

Everyone looked at each other.

"I... I..."

"Alright, then Chen Shi will come down with me to take a look."

Chen Shi nodded and began to take off his clothes.

Ye Yaodong had just woken up and felt very cold, so he didn't take off his clothes immediately, but warmed up first.

After adapting to the cold wind and feeling his body warm and flexible, he took off his clothes and put on his gear.

Ye's father frowned and urged him earnestly, "Be careful. If you feel the waves, come up. It's fine to come back in a couple of days."

He nodded; he still had that sense of judgment, having been in the water countless times.

However, in the middle of winter, he still wasn't very resistant to the cold. Jumping into the water at dawn to save Lin Guangyuan had been entirely due to a surge of reckless courage, and he hadn't felt much at all. This time, it was a bit different.

As soon as he entered the water, he felt a bone-chilling cold that seemed to freeze his very marrow.

After shivering and swimming on the surface for a while, he relied on his body's own immunity to gradually feel warm and less stiff.

He gave an "OK" sign to Chen Shi, who was also splashing around on the surface. Chen Shi returned the sign, and the two of them slowly dived toward the bottom.

They had harvested sea urchins together countless times, and everyone on the boat understood the meaning of that gesture.

Ye Yaodong followed Chen Shi as they slowly dived. It hadn't been many months since their last dive, so both of them were well-coordinated, and the gray, murky seabed felt familiar to them.

The spot they dived to was the one they had pointed at during the day, though it wasn't entirely accurate.

The seabed here wasn't very deep; Ye Yaodong estimated it was about 10-plus meters. His feet could touch the bottom, and the light was still good.

However, the seabed was covered with various reefs and dense seaweed, and when they reached the bottom, they didn't see any sign of the gray whale.

Ye Yaodong signaled to Chen Shi, indicating that he should follow him and not get separated.

The two of them circled the surrounding reefs together before seeing a spot nearby where large and small fish and shrimp were swimming, all heading toward a cluster of seaweed.

He took the lead and kicked his fins to swim forward. From above, before he even got close, he saw the gray whale's carcass blocked by a patch of seaweed, and his eyes lit up.

Found it!

It really was a whale fall!

One whale fall, ten thousand things flourish!

The two were a bit excited, but they still descended slowly, startling a small group of fish and shrimp.

In his previous life, Ye Yaodong was illiterate and just a very ordinary fisherman; he had only heard of whale falls and was seeing one for the first time.

At this moment, the gray whale's carcass was surrounded by other marine animals—various fish and squid—and marine worms were slowly approaching on the seabed.

Not much time had passed since the whale fall, so there weren't many marine creatures around, and there were no big fish, just some small fish and shrimp from the vicinity.

The two circled the gray whale once, then communicated through eye contact and gestures, and tacitly swam back up together.

Since they had found the place and confirmed it, they could go up first.

With two splashes, they surfaced one after another. Everyone on the three boats was leaning against the railings, watching them.

"They're up!"

The two swam slowly toward their own fishing boat, and the people on board reached out to pull them up.

"Did you find it?"

"We found it!"

Everyone's faces lit up with joy.

"I knew it; they came up so fast, they must have found it. If they hadn't, they might still be searching down there."

Pei Fu was happy. "Then can we find a way to drag this whale back?"

Ye Yaodong caught his breath and asked, "How do you plan to drag it?"

"Take a few ropes down, you tie up its head, tail, and fins, then we'll use the net haulers to pull the ropes at the same time. We don't necessarily need to lift it up; as long as we can drag it through the sea, that's enough."

"Will that work? What if we hit a reef? I reckon if we lift the tail, its head will still be on the seabed."

"What if we pull it higher? If we pull the fish tail out of the water, I reckon the head won't have to touch the ground."

"There are reefs at the bottom, let's try it first."

Ye Yaodong frowned and thought about it, feeling that they had no choice but to try.

If they hit a large reef and got stuck, he would just have to go back into the water to take a look and try changing the direction.

"Then let's try it. We have ropes ready on the boat anyway, and it's not very deep—only 10-plus meters. If it doesn't work, we'll see then."

"Then let's try."

"We have to take turns going down. That gray whale is huge, and tying ropes isn't that easy. Let's go down in pairs to tie it up."

After Ye Yaodong finished speaking, he described the seabed scene they had seen—the gray whale's position in the seaweed—so that when they went down, they could find it more easily and save time to get more done.

Once he finished and they understood clearly, two other crew members from the boat changed and went down carrying a bundle of ropes.

Ye Yaodong and Chen Shi wrapped themselves in their big cotton-padded jackets to rest.

People on the other boats watched them go into the water with strange equipment and were whispering and asking each other questions.

Not everyone had seen Ye Yaodong's diving gear; the people on the Shunfeng were seeing it for the first time.

They kept praising Ye Yaodong for being able to get his hands on anything, no matter how strange, though Ye Yaodong didn't hear them.

He was chatting with his father, brothers, and Pei Fu.

"Dongzi, such a big whale—if we drag it back and hand it over to the leaders at the Ocean Bureau, will we get a reward again this time?" Ye's father asked with a face full of hope.

Others also looked at him with anticipation.

Was this because they were stimulated by the cash reward and commendation certificate he got from being in the newspaper two days ago?

"Is it possible?"

"Whales seem quite common, don't they?"

"But I haven't heard of anyone catching one, have you?"

"What about that—can't this kind of big fish be used for research? If we turn it in, shouldn't there be a reward?"

"Hard to say," Ye Yaodong broke their hope. "Didn't the village salvage a 'sea monster' before? They only got a 50-yuan reward for donating it, and nothing was said about the results afterward."

"Then forget it."

"However, while I can't guarantee how much the reward will be, dragging it back will definitely get us in the newspaper. Such a big whale is so rare; 50 years from now, you might still be able to see your own news."

The disappointed expressions on everyone's faces immediately turned happy again.

"Then we'll drag it back and sell it for money. Since we caught such a big whale, there should be reporters coming to interview us." Pei Fu was extremely happy.

Ye Yaopeng was also full of joy. "When we salvaged that foreign object a while ago, it made the newspaper, and they were encouraging fishermen to salvage. Now that we've salvaged such a big whale, does that count as catching the wind?"

Ye Yaodong nodded. That made sense.

"Let's see how they do in the water first. Wait and see; such a big fish isn't that easy to handle."

Now everyone was imagining a beautiful outcome, and he was just afraid it would all be for nothing.

Ye's father smiled and said, "It's only an hour from the shore. As long as we can secure the ropes, the three boats can pull the lines together; there shouldn't be any problem."

"I hope so."

Pei Fu said, "It's already past 3:00 PM, so we need to be quick. It's best to get it done before the sun sets so that we can reach the shore while it's still daylight."

"We can't dock directly at the pier; we have to find a beach and let the whale get stranded to expose its body. The water at the pier is too deep."

"Dongzi is right." Ye Yaohua echoed.

They chatted about their plans for after the successful binding, their eyes fixed on the sea surface.

Ye Yaodong held his watch to keep time.

The two crew members who went down stayed for over ten minutes before coming up. They were holding the other end of the rope, and after taking off their masks, they were smiling.

"It's tied. We tied two ropes to the fins on both sides."

The water wasn't very deep, so they could reach the bottom immediately. The reason they stayed down for so long was that the binding took time.

"That works too. Let's start with the simple stuff. Later, we'll go down and tie the tail. The head is on the seabed and hard to tie, so we won't bother with it. We'll just pull the two fins and the tail; it's the same."

"Alright."

"Tie it securely. When the next two people go down, have them check the ropes on the fins too."

"Alright."

Two more people were rotated down. This trip was Chen Shi and Xiao Wu.

On his boat, besides Chen Laoqi, who was the same age as his father, the others were younger, around their 30s. Chen Shi and Xiao Wu were the youngest, one 19 and the other 20.

The two of them also stayed down for over ten minutes before coming up.

"Done."

"Good, thanks for the hard work. It went quite smoothly."

Pei Fu and Ye's father were both rubbing their hands in anticipation.

"You guys hurry up and come up to rest. We'll return to our own boats, and everyone take a rope."

"Alright."

After Ye Yaodong distributed a rope to each of the two old men, he watched them climb back to their own boats. He also handed his rope to Chen Laoqi.

"Prepare first, don't rush. Let them change their clothes first."

Chen Laoqi nodded.

Ye Yaodong was still soaked, but he didn't go to change because he thought that when the fishing boats started dragging the gray whale, he would need to go into the water to check the situation.

After waiting a while, everyone was at their stations. The Shunfeng and the Fengshou had also started their engines, and the people on his boat had changed their clothes.

They each waved a flag to signal they were ready.

The three boats started moving at the same time.

The sea surface was calm, and apart from the waves, nothing could be seen, but they could hear the creaking of the net haulers, which meant they were moving.

Ye Yaodong stood on the deck, watching the three boats moving slowly forward, the sunset glow of the setting sun spilling over the sea.

After a while, he saw a clear section of the whale's tail under the water.

Others also exclaimed.

"The tail is lifted!"

"It's pulled up, the tail is pulled up."

"It's up! First time catching such a big fish, too amazing..."

"Who says it's the first time catching such a big one? Adong caught one before with a mouth like a saw, called a sawfish, but that wasn't here, it was in Wenzhou."

"Didn't we catch a super big hairtail two years ago? It looked about the same as this..."

Everyone was extremely excited, looking at that large piece of tail exposed above the sea surface, covered in barnacles. Fortunately, they had been looking at it all day, so they didn't have any trypophobia.

The three boats continued to drag it forward, returning on the route to the city. They were very familiar with it; the only thing they weren't familiar with was the situation on the seabed, so they could only rely on luck.

The fishing boats moved slowly forward. The speed was nowhere near their usual return speed, but fortunately, there was no stalling for the time being.

Everyone stood on the deck, paying close attention.

After about ten minutes, it stopped moving forward. Chen Laoqi, who was steering, ran out and called him, and Ye Yaodong, who was prepared, jumped into the water to take a look.

The gray whale was being dragged through the sea with its tail up and head down. Once he went down, he just had to follow the whale's body and dive slowly.

The gray whale's body was still surrounded by fish and shrimp. When he reached the bottom, he really saw reefs; the gray whale's head was blocked by the reefs, preventing it from moving forward.

After knowing the situation at the bottom, he went up to the water surface and told Chen Laoqi, asking him to tell the other two boats to change direction.

It took a lot of effort before they continued moving forward.

Along the way, he went into the water three times and guided the direction three times to ensure the fishing boats could move forward slowly.

"Almost there..."

"Docking soon..."

The trip, originally expected to take an hour, took over two hours because of the gray whale. It wasn't until it was dark that they reached a beach near the pier.

Fortunately, the last hour went smoothly and he didn't need to go into the water; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to see anything.

Ye Yaodong checked the time; it was 6:30 PM. He let out a long sigh of relief, shivering while wrapped in his big cotton-padded jacket.

"Froze me to death. Finally here, ha-chi..."

The whole trip had been supported by constantly drinking hot water and the body heat he had brought with him when he first came out of the water.

"What a pity, it's dark now..."

"As long as we made it, what's there to pity?"

"It's dark, so no one can see it. We won't be able to shock everyone. We went through so much trouble to drag this fish back, but it's dark."

Ye Yaodong sneezed again. "It's good enough that we dragged it back. We'll stop the boat soon, I'm going to change my clothes."

Fortunately, they had sold all the cargo on their boat to the fresh-fish collection boat yesterday, so there wasn't much left on board.

Later, they could move everything to one boat, send one boat to the pier to sell the goods at the market, and the other two boats could stay here and watch over the big fish.