Chapter 1247

"Can you give it to me? I'll take it home to feed chickens, ducks, and pigs."

Ye Yaodong glanced at him skeptically. "It's all rotten—chickens and ducks won't touch it."

"Dry it, crush it, mix it into bran—that's enough. With so much of it down there, dumping it all back into the sea is a waste. Bringing it back won't take much effort, and I can handle it myself."

"Alright then, if you want it, bring your own basket and fill it."

"Thanks, Brother Dong! Hehe, I'll take it home for my wife and mother to work on slowly—this year I hatched extra chicks and ducklings anyway."

Ye Yaodong chuckled. "You really know how to make do."

"With more mouths to feed, you've got to find ways to make life easier. Our greatest asset is our strength—what's a little extra effort?"

"True enough."

He sighed inwardly—there were still plenty of hardworking, grounded people.

The two split the work: Ye Yaodong sorted through the pile, picking out the fresh items and setting aside the spoiled ones for Chen Guodong to load into baskets.

Of the whole pile, only about two-tenths were fresh, one-tenth barely acceptable, and the remaining seven-tenths were spoiled or rotten.

Ye Yaodong picked up even the barely acceptable ones—these could still be salted into dried fish, no problem; the fresh ones could be cooked any way you liked.

Sorting through four or five hundred jin took time; before they finished, the water suddenly splashed, and two heads surfaced one after another.

They immediately dropped their sorting and rushed to help pull the divers up, while also taking over their lines to begin hauling in the nets.

"There are… four… four nets."

"There are four nets. The underwater world is like this? Amazing—so many abalone, and countless little green dragons hiding in the crevices. It's breathtaking, incredible—so many fish! One dumb one even swam right into my arms…"

"I told you, right? See? It's shocking. I wonder what's down there—so many rare things? So incredible…"

As soon as they surfaced, the two newcomers burst into excited chatter, sharing their discoveries and growing even more eager for what lay beneath.

Ye Yaodong said, "You'll get your chance to go deep—plenty of time. First, get used to the upper layers. Collect all the ground cages around the rocks. Then I'll take you down deep—you'll see a whole new world."

"Besides little green dragons and abalone and green crabs, what else could there be, Brother Dong?"

"You'll find out when you go deep in a few days."

"Brother Dong, do you know who dropped these ground cages? Is there someone else who knows about this place? That's why they dropped them—to harvest the catch?"

"I know. Last year, I led them here—those two fools."

Ye Yaodong nodded toward a tiny fishing boat, no bigger than a sesame seed, on the distant sea. "There."

"So the branches floating around the island are theirs too? I thought—why didn't they come and cause trouble when we showed up so late to claim the spot?"

"Dare they? I'd beat them to death. This prime fishing ground was mine to begin with—I just shared it with them. Enough talk—nets are up, haul them in."

"Yes, yes! Let's get to work—pull them in fast."

All four nets were packed full. The momentum of hauling them up caused the catch to overflow from the bottom collection bags, filling the upper mesh layers with fish and shrimp.

Everyone's faces lit up with the joy of harvest—they all felt the effort was worth it. When everything was dumped out, it surpassed the earlier haul, piling up like a small mountain across the deck.

"Too much…"

"If only all this were fresh—it'd make us rich…"

"Still… pretty good…"

Ye Yaodong reached out and grabbed a large blue crab scuttling sideways, smiling as he examined its single remaining leg, then flipped it over—male.

The fattest crabs come after Mid-Autumn, but this one-legged one won't sell for much—perfect to take home for the kids to eat.

He tossed it into a separate basket and noticed another crab at his feet—this one with both claws intact, waving its pincers at his rain boots.

He snatched it up quickly—just in time. It had only reached his foot; had it crawled a few more steps, it would've been at his crotch.

That crab's pincers were strong enough to snap fingers.

"Sort through it—keep the fresh ones, put the spoiled ones in a separate basket. Guodong's taking his share home to dry and crush for chicken and duck feed."

"Great idea! Dumping it in the sea would be a waste."

"C-can we… get some too?"

Chen Guodong nodded. "Sure. With this much, if you want some, we'll split it evenly."

"Great!"

Ye Yaodong paused, then warned them: "These are already spoiled—some are rotting. Might carry bacteria or viruses. When you get home, boil them in a big pot before drying—sterilize them first."

"Sterilize?"

"Just do as I say."

"Got it—we'll boil them before drying."

"You sort. Guodong and I are going down again—before afternoon hits, we'll make a few more dives to haul up more cages. Afternoon's when scattered squid start showing up. If you see many in the water, we'll collect them; if few, we'll come back tomorrow."

All three eyes lit up—they'd never seen how squid laid eggs on the branches.

"Perfect! Today's been eye-opening!"

"You really need to follow Brother Dong—I can't imagine how lucky those people are who go out to sea with him every day."

"Yeah, last year those guys got a commendation and even a 500-yuan reward. I'm so jealous—when will it be my turn?"

Ye Yaodong smiled. "Isn't it your turn now? Don't just dream of glory and new experiences—the risks at sea are unimaginable. If you can earn money safely on land, don't take unnecessary risks."

While Chen Shi and the others were underwater, Ye Yaodong had taken a break sorting fish—but his clothes were still wet and icy, and the wind made him shiver.

He thought: tomorrow he'd bring an old blanket—he could wrap himself in it during downtime.

The two warmed up again, put on their diving gear one by one, then dove into the water.

Though there were many ground cages anchored to the bottom, they were connected in chains—not isolated—so hauling them up was more efficient.

After diving, Ye Yaodong and Chen Guodong headed to the nearest cluster, carefully swimming around the rocks to untangle the hooked cages.

He saw Chen Guodong reach for a large abalone on the rock—but after prying for a long time, he couldn't dislodge it.

Undeterred, he reached for a smaller abalone nearby—same result.

Then he remembered he'd forgotten to tell them: don't rush to pry off the abalone yet.

Prying abalone with your fingers won't work—it's impossible, especially underwater with water pressure, where you can't just exert force like on land.

Abalone's suction is also extremely strong; once it senses danger, even smashing the shell won't dislodge it, but if you catch it off guard with a shovel and act fast, you can pry it loose—otherwise, it's absolutely impossible.

He swam toward Chen Guodong, gesturing with his hands at the fishing net, signaling him to focus on the main task first.

So many abalone on the reef—no one wouldn't be tempted, no one wouldn't want to pry them off first—it's perfectly normal.

But now isn't the time for that, and we don't have tools on hand.

Chen Guodong understood his gesture and went to handle the trap first, deeply disappointed, but he had to wait until they got back up.

This time, retrieving the traps wasn't going smoothly; they untangled a long string from the reef, thinking they'd all cleared the submerged rocks and could surface.

But when they reached the boat and activated the winch, it jammed halfway through pulling, then kept running, moved slightly, and jammed again.

Ye Yaodong paused, puzzled.

He'd just been explaining to them how to pry abalone.

Beneath the clear water, the shadow of the trap was still faintly visible, about to break the surface.

"What's going on, Dongge?"

"The only explanation is it's snagged somewhere again, so it won't come up—you go down and check. If it's caught, cut the connecting line between the two traps and haul up whatever you can."

"Got it."

They waited on shore for a while, then saw signs of movement; when they tried pulling by hand, a trap broke the surface.

"Ah, it's up!"

Everyone reached out to help pull, struggling to drag the trap to the boat's edge, then together they hauled the first one aboard and dumped it on deck.

Ye Yaodong went to untie the fish collection bag, emptied the catch, while the other two continued pulling the rope to retrieve the traps.

At the same time, a head surfaced underwater; they pulled the person up.

"Dongge, that whole string of traps had dozens of them, like a long dragon—I went down and found some still hooked on the reef, the net mouths torn open, fish, shrimp, and crabs all floating out, then swallowed by a huge fish—it scared the hell out of me, and thank goodness it wasn't bigger than me, or I'd have worried it'd eat me."

"What kind of fish?"

"I don't know—it looked just a bit smaller than me."

"I should've gone down!"

"Go to hell—you can't even speak properly, and you want to go? What are you gonna report when you come back? D-D-D-D-Dongge, I-I-I-I…"

Before Chen Guodong could finish mimicking him, Ye Yaodong kicked him with a laugh, and Chen Shi's fist swung toward his face—he dodged quickly, laughing and begging for mercy.

"Haha, no no, I was just imitating, joking, no malice!"

"Now there are already two stammerers from copying Chen Shi—if you copy, you'll be the third. Copy, go ahead, copy."

Chen Shi added: "Go ahead, copy me."

He slapped his own mouth. "Stupid mouth—I won't copy."

Ye Yaodong said: "Stop fooling around, get back to hauling the net."

"Yes, right away."

All of them dropped their laughter and got back to work.

This round brought up six traps, but sadly, the last one was torn by the reef—empty inside, all the catch lost to the sea.

The four of them worked in two shifts, taking turns going down, resting longer when tired.

By noon, they'd hauled up twenty-nine traps, with impressive results—these traps had filled their entire boat with cargo, estimated at three to four thousand jin.

But sadly, less than twenty percent were fresh.

Each net held varying quantities and ratios of good to bad catch, but even twenty percent counted as a major haul for them.

The stacked baskets looked to weigh five to six hundred jin, and many were high-quality goods that could fetch a good price.

These retrieved traps were covered in seaweed, mud, and trash, but clearly new, with visible wear marks from submerged rocks.

After repairs, cleaning, they could be reused—these traps were also wealth; it just depended on whether Zheng and Xiao Xiao still wanted them.

While they rested and sorted the catch, two fishing boats slowly approached from afar.

Ye Yaodong stood up, squinting—his telescope was on Dongsheng Hao, used by his father, so he relied on his own 5.3 vision.

As expected, the two boats approaching were Zheng and Xiao Xiao's.

They'd been waving from afar.

"They're here to collect squid, right?"

"Of course."

"What if they see our catch? These traps were theirs to begin with."

"Who's to blame for setting them on the bottom…"

Others chattered nearby, but Ye Yaodong ignored them.

He thought: if they wanted the traps, he'd return them—but the catch was his, he wouldn't let them take it for free.

He watched as Zheng's boat drew close, using a bamboo pole to hook and align alongside his own.

"Dongzi, I knew this boat was yours—you've been here these past few days. Did you drop your branches? I was planning to go home and tell you today if you hadn't."

"Wait, why so many fish on your boat? Holy shit—traps! Did you dive and snag these traps?"

"Oh no, I thought you'd left the machine on the big boat—I should've come sooner…"

He didn't stop talking as soon as he arrived, then stared in shock at the cargo, rattling off a flood of words.

"Dongzi, say something…"

Ye Yaodong sighed. "You asked a whole string—what am I supposed to answer first? I set out this morning specifically to retrieve these traps, and I dropped the branches too. I just ate something, planned to rest, then dive to check for squid."

Zheng grew even more excited. "Can I dive with you? I've never seen how squid lay eggs."

"Sure."

Seeing Zheng didn't mention the traps and was distracted by the squid, Ye Yaodong asked, "From what you just said, you know about these traps—you set them down, right?"

Knowing is one thing, but I still have to ask; I can't pretend to be deaf and mute and just confiscate them. If they want them, I'll give them to them.

"I know, I put them down. A small part was put down by Xiao Xiao. Damn it, apart from the front where we could still collect a bit intermittently, losing a few crab pots was worth it. Everything thrown down at the back just got snagged on the bottom. Fortunately, we made a huge profit at the front, so all things considered, we didn't lose out."

"Didn't lose out? That's good. Do you still want these crab pots of yours? If you do, move them over."

"Some of these are mine, some are Xiao Xiao's. Without buoys, how can we tell whose is whose? I don't even remember how many I threw down. The back row didn't even have ten; we just threw them down randomly. Forget it, I don't need them anymore. I'll give them all to you. Anyway, I've already made a profit, and it was you who worked hard diving down to haul them up."

"I don't care. Just give me the catch."

"Wait until Xiao Xiao arrives; I'll ask Xiao Xiao. Can you lend me that thing of yours so I can take a look underwater?"

"Sure."

He rubbed his hands together, delighted.

Ah Zheng's father looked curiously at their deck full of catch and asked, "Did all this come out of the crab pots?"

"Yes, but none of it is fresh. Some have gone rotten, and there are varying degrees of decay. We can't keep them."

We brought too few baskets today; the preparation was insufficient. Originally, we planned to pick up the unfresh ones too and put them in baskets separately, but later we had to clear the baskets to pack the fresh fish catch.

These unfresh, spoiled items can only be left on the deck for now. Once we return and dock, we'll move some baskets over to pack them.

Ah Zheng's father looked full of regret. "So much of it. It looks like several thousand jin. If it were all fresh, we'd make a huge profit. It looks like there are even some good snappers and small green lobsters."

"More than that. There's a three-jin tiger grouper, a two-jin green rock cod, and a small mouse grouper. What a pity, they've all gone rotten."

Ah Zheng widened his eyes. "Holy crap, what a pity. Is there anywhere else to buy this equipment? If I had a set, this catch wouldn't have rotted in the sea."

"There's nowhere to buy it for now. A few days ago, I wanted to get two more sets to take to Zhejiang Province later, but I couldn't. The connection is already cut off."

"Well, so much catch has gone rotten. What a pity."

"Who says otherwise? Fortunately, they're thinking of taking it back to dry and grind it into crumbs to feed the chickens and ducks, so it's not a complete waste."

As Ye Yaodong spoke these words, he also drove away the seabirds diving down from all directions nonstop. All morning, the seabirds circling his boat had never stopped.

"So when will you go into the water?"

"Wait for the other boat to come over first."

Both of them looked at the boat that was already almost alongside.

Xiao Xiao also held a bamboo pole, used the hook at the top to hook onto their fishing boat, and pulled alongside.

"Clearly, I started first. How did you get here a step ahead of me?"

"I was closer. Dongzi hauled up a small portion of the crab pots we threw down intermittently last year. He asked if I still wanted them. I said to give them to him. Anyway, they're worn out, and we two can't tell whose crab pot is whose; there are no marks."

"Oh, that works. Anyway, we didn't lose out. Since they're already broken, let him take them back to patch them up. I don't need them now anyway; I've been using a trawl net. Originally, setting up crab pots was to get some sea cucumbers and small green lobsters from the bottom to make some money. Later, they kept getting snagged on the bottom. What the hell? We almost lost money."

"That's what I thought too. We don't have the skill to go down to the bottom. Throwing them down just gets them snagged; it's a waste."

Ye Yaodong said, "Then let's wait until they're hauled up and talk about it when we get back."

"Why are you two still standing here? Haven't you gone to check on the cuttlefish yet?"

"Didn't we just come over to chat with Dongzi and wait for you to come over together?"

Xiao Xiao looked at Ye Yaodong again. "Are you going to stay at home from now on? You even specially set traps for cuttlefish."

"More or less. I'll probably stay at home for this entire Fishing season. My father will take the boat out to sea."

"Have you sold all your kelp? When I came back from sea yesterday, I saw they weren't weighing any more goods. I asked, and they said it was all weighed."

"It probably hasn't all been sold yet. Anyway, the initial shipment is already out. The rest is just piled there to be sold slowly. I don't need to be there personally; just arrange for someone to deliver the goods."

Both of them looked at him with extreme envy.

"How are you getting more and more amazing? You look so glorious."

"Yeah, how did you secretly become so amazing behind our backs?"

Ye Yaodong said in a bad mood, "You're crazy! I became amazing openly; it's just that you didn't participate, so you don't know."

Ah Zheng: "Damn it. It'll be another half year before I get the boat and can go far with you."

Xiao Xiao: "By then, when I have a boat, I can get a piece of the action. Every day I just hear the village talking about what fish you caught again, what award you got again, how the city commended you again, and how they awarded you another 500 yuan."

"It was 1,000 yuan!" Ye Yaodong corrected.

Xiao Xiao: "I'm so envious my features are twisted. I didn't get any of the benefits."

"Don't worry. Not only did you two not get any benefits, even my father didn't get any."

Ah Zheng: "Your father is truly miserable!"

"Fortunately, my father isn't on the boat. Otherwise, hearing you say that would make him spit blood from anger, and he wouldn't recover for half a month."

Ah Zheng said to Xiao Xiao: "Dongzi said he's going into the water to check if there are cuttlefish. I'm going down with him. You..."

"I want to go too. I want to go too."

"You want to go everywhere. Do you want to follow me to eat shit?"

"Yes, I'll follow to watch you eat it."

"Suzuki, you bastard!"

"Lin Bei, lazy ass!"

The two glared and bickered across the boats, and their respective fathers hurriedly followed up with a few scoldings.

The volume wasn't loud, and with the sound of waves and wind, Ye Yaodong couldn't hear clearly.

He said, "Have you eaten? If you just finished eating, rest a bit. If you've eaten for a while, come down with me. If you haven't eaten, come a bit later."

"We've eaten." Both said in unison.

"Then one of you comes down with me, and the other goes down with Chen Shi. Take turns. Also, help me collect the crab pots from the bottom."

"You really don't miss a single opportunity to exploit us. Even when we go down with you, we still have to untie the crab pots for you."

"Of course. Free labor shouldn't go to waste. Since we're going down anyway, just untie the crab pots for me. Let you see the good work you've done."

Ye Yaodong solemnly added, "It's because of people like you, carelessly throwing crab pots down to get snagged on the bottom and being unable to deal with them, that there is so much marine debris."

"You must take responsibility and pay for your own actions. Making you go down to untie the crab pots is an obligation and also your duty... The Party and the people have educated us that everyone must take responsibility for their own actions..."

The two were left dumbfounded by his smooth talk.

"Heard you went to the Party School? How come you... actually learned a lot?"

"Absolutely! You guys should get the village committee to sign you up too; go to the Party School, it's very useful."

"Useful for what? To speak smoothly like that?"

Xiao Xiao saw through the truth, "So it's just so you have a companion?"

Ye Yaodong chuckled, "Go find the village cadres and explain it to them; Party members are very useful. No more nonsense now, crawl over here!"

"Whoa! Is that even human speech?"

"That's right, is there anything wrong with telling you to crawl over?"

"Coming out of your mouth, it doesn't feel like a good word; couldn't you just say 'come over'?"

"Oh, then crawl over."

Xiao Xiao was furious, but to be able to follow and take a look underwater, he decided not to hold a grudge against such a sharp-tongued person.

While he was nagging, Ah Zheng, not minding the crawling, had already crawled over.

"Dongzi, let's go down first; ignore him."

"Fine, you're the obedient one."

Ah Zheng's eyes widened to roundness, and he raised his fist, gesturing at the back of his head.

"Your mouth is getting sharper and sharper."

"I didn't swear, unlike you guys."

"Fine, fine, fine, hurry up; I have no culture, no manners, I just love to swear."

Everyone burst out laughing.

Ye Yaodong was delighted; it was fun to be with them, joking around freely.

The two put on their masks, fins, and air tubes, checked everything again, did some warm-ups, and then jumped into the water below.

He didn't move the boat to the spot around the island where he had previously deployed branches; looking from here was actually the same, as the distance wasn't far.

If cuttlefish had already come below to lay eggs, they would be visible once underwater; at that time, the three boats could simply separate and move to their respective branch-deployment spots.

At this moment, the other two boats waited alongside, while the boatmen on Ye Yaodong's boat continued sorting the cargo on the deck.

Xiao Xiao circled around, took a look at their catch, sighed in amazement repeatedly, and then squatted down to help.

After Ye Yaodong took Ah Zheng down into the water, Ah Zheng, seeing the ground cages hanging on the reef, already had an idea in his mind and wasn't too surprised.

It was only when they got close, seeing the black abalone shells on them, that his eyes widened.

He only knew there were sea cucumbers, small green lobsters, and Jiang Yao down here, but he had no idea there were actually abalones, and quite a few of them.

Damn! Dongzi is getting rich again!

Being able to see them right behind him but still not being able to pick them up was infuriating.

Seeing him rush straight toward the dark reef, Ye Yaodong swam up and pulled him, signaling him to swim around the surroundings first to check if any cuttlefish were laying eggs.

It wasn't too late to deal with these ground cages a bit later.

However, when they turned to circle around the dark reef, they saw that around the ground cages ahead, there were actually many transparent cuttlefish gathered.

Moreover, many more cuttlefish were swimming over from the distance toward them; the number wasn't huge, but it wasn't small either, with a small school clearly visible to the naked eye.

Then, in their widened eyes, they rushed straight toward the ground cages around the dark reef and attached themselves around the cages, remaining motionless.

Ye Yaodong was startled in his heart.

Were these cuttlefish treating the ground cages below as branches for attaching eggs?

Theoretically, branches weren't strictly necessary; artificial egg-attachment devices could be made of iron wire, bamboo strips, branches, plastic twigs, etc.

Egg-attachment devices deployed for cuttlefish to lay eggs allow them to use their tentacles to attach eggs one by one onto the hard branches of seaweed.

This prevents the eggs from falling directly to the seabed and being swallowed by other marine creatures, while allowing the hatchlings to immediately feed on floating diatoms, various algae, and some insects like dinoflagellates.

The two exchanged a glance and moved closer to the ground cages, watching as these transparent cuttlefish wrapped their tentacles around the fishing nets.

In a short while, some of the fishing nets on the ground cages were already hung with small clusters of cuttlefish eggs resembling little grapes.