Chapter 1249: Rewarding the Little Old Man

At night, Ye Yaodong still took the same three people from the day, the original crew, to continue heading out to sea. However, due to the rising and falling of the tide, it was almost dawn by the time they set sail.

By the time they reached the Ribbon Fish Island, the sun was hanging golden on the horizon. The beach was a stretch of gold, interspersed with some white floating debris and the white foam churned up by the crashing waves.

The four people from the two families of Xiao Xiao and A Zheng were already there. It looked like they hadn't arrived long ago; otherwise, there wouldn't still be cuttlefish floating on the beach and in the water.

After Ye Yaodong and his group arrived, they each took buckets or sacks, grabbed hand-held dip nets, and also went down to the beach.

"Dongzi, you guys are late. We've almost finished picking everything."

"If it's all picked, then we'll just dig for baby shellfish and barnacles on the reefs."

Yesterday, he had looked at the dense patches on those reefs and had long been itching to get at them.

Taking advantage of the early morning when it wasn't suitable for going into the water, they had many people, so they could knock off a few more sacks to carry back.

His mother had been very busy these past two years and rarely went to the reefs to pry these things off. The fresh shellfish he ate usually came from his relatives—aunts and uncles who would dig up a little and then distribute it everywhere.

Only if the quantity was large would they dig out the meat, dry it, and then sell it to him.

The whole village knew he wanted these dried goods, but the nearby islands had been picked clean. Waiting for them to grow back took time, and for the small, scattered amounts, they were too embarrassed to sell them for money, so they would definitely keep them for their own families to eat.

Now, only these more distant islands had them growing densely. Since he had brought many people, he would take the opportunity to pry some off and take them back.

The workshop now had plenty of manpower, so he wasn't afraid of having no one to work on these tedious tasks.

"Why did you send the ground cages to us yesterday? Didn't we say, give them to us, we can't use them right now anyway?" A Zheng asked, holding a bucket in one hand and a hand-held net in the other.

"If you give them to me, I can't use them either. I'll just be at home for the next few days, and setting longlines will be enough. When my fresh-catch collection boat arrives next month, I'm even planning to hire people for the big boat."

Xiao Xiao also hurriedly put down the work at hand, looked up, and asked in surprise: "Ah, go on! You're not even going to captain the Dongsheng anymore? Then who are we going to follow when the time comes?"

"Follow my father and the others, or when the time comes, I can have my father captain the collection boat. We'll take turns; we'll see when the time comes."

"That's good then."

"Then when your collection boat is in hand, are you still going to Zhejiang Province this year?"

"Definitely going."

He was pondering about getting a scale when the time came and just using the collection boat to collect their jellyfish at sea. It would be a win-win situation.

Everyone could save some trouble and wouldn't have to travel back and forth. After processing, they could sell the goods to him at a slightly cheaper price. They could still stay in place to catch more jellyfish, and he could sail the collection boat back and forth to sell the goods. Win-win.

However, it might only be for a short period of a few days. Once the sea trench was fished out, everyone would only be able to fish sporadically on the sea surface, scattered everywhere.

Then it would be very unnecessary for him to run around everywhere with the collection boat to collect goods. This kind of sporadic fishing wouldn't collect enough goods, and it wouldn't even be enough to subsidize the fuel costs.

By then, they would definitely only work for a few days, and probably a few big boats would have to head out to sea for trawling. The collection boat would just go back and forth to collect goods from the big boats.

And the small boat he kept in his hands, the No. 7 boat he'd been using these few days, would be taken to the sea trench when the time came to let the boatmen fish for sea urchins.

That would be pretty good too.

So, to make money, you still have to use your brain. Every year you have to come up with some new tricks and play some new games to make money.

I heard that there are many more wooden boats in the village this year. Some people want to replicate his fishing boat pulling small boats over last year, with the small boats fishing and the fishing boat selling the goods... walking his old path... haha...

Chen Guolong leaned over and asked: "Brother Dong, can I follow you this year?"

"You want to follow?"

"Of course, I heard the wages for following are high."

"The risks are also high. Do you know how many people from the town were wiped out last year? How many of those who survived were sentenced? Those who were lucky and had minor offenses had the local border defense station plead for them, and only a small portion were redeemed with money."

"Uh..."

"Don't just think about making money fast. High returns mean high risks. Although the wages at home aren't as high as following out there, at least it's safe and the risk is low. Think about it carefully before you speak."

"Okay."

"Get to work, get to work."

Ye Yaodong shouted, telling them to hurry up and start working, while he himself pondered in his heart that he would have to raise wages a bit this year.

Otherwise, after such a big incident last year, many people would probably be worried about their safety this year, afraid and not daring to go. It would probably be hard to call people.

Everyone scattered. Those who could fish for cuttlefish went to fish for cuttlefish first. After the cuttlefish in the surrounding sea were divided up, Xiao Xiao and A Zheng's boats headed out to trawl, leaving only the four of them on the island.

At this time, it was still high tide, and they would probably have to wait until noon for the tide to recede, so the water level was high, and it was easy for the fishing boats to head out.

At the same time, the beach was barely exposed. Ye Yaodong couldn't go beachcombing for seafood on the beach, so he could only pry some shellfish off the slippery reefs battered by the waves.

However, he was a bit unwilling to give up and crawled around on the reef clusters, wanting to see if he could find some good things in the crevices of these reefs.

"Hey, hey, hey, there's a huge mud crab in this rock crevice, and there are sword shrimp... quick, quick, get me a bucket."

"Good luck, I just picked up a lot of big sea snails too, and threw them all into the sack with those barnacles."

Ye Yaodong smiled and said: "You guys should also look carefully at some crevices. Many goods are hiding in the crevices. If the harvest is large today, you guys can also take some back."

"The stinky fish and rotten shrimp we took back yesterday were enough for the family to clean up. They were busy until dark; there were too many."

"Yeah, too many. Fortunately, we each divided a little; it was both time-consuming and fuel-consuming."

"My… my mother said… if she had… known earlier… she would have… raised more… chickens and ducks."

"Anyway, once it's boiled and then dried and crushed, it won't spoil easily. If you can't finish it, share some with your brothers and relatives."

Ye Yaodong said. Anyway, he didn't need them. His house was right by the beach. Every day when the tide receded, there were plenty of stranded small fish and shrimp. Fresh ones were much better. The chickens and ducks could go out and find food for themselves; they only needed a small amount of rice bran every day.

"Brother Dong, aren't you keeping any?"

"Are you stupid? Is Brother Dong lacking these stinky fish and rotten shrimp? Fresh ones are transported to the workshop by the ton. These are all spoiled; how could I look at them?"

"Hehe..."

They dug and pried everywhere on the island. From the moment the sun rose until it hung high in the sky, each of them had managed two large sacks before they felt hungry.

Today the tide was late, and they had set sail late. It just so happened that the fried dough stick stall in the village was also open. Ye Yaodong had bought a lot of fried dough sticks and fried dough cakes and put them on the boat. At this time, after everyone had painstakingly carried the several large sacks of baby shellfish and barnacles onto the boat, everyone collapsed.

However, seeing the fried dough sticks and cakes, everyone became energetic.

Ye Yaodong also took out a large basket, with white cotton cloth padded at the bottom and a layer of white cotton cloth covering the top. As soon as he lifted it, snow-white big steamed buns were revealed, and everyone happily sat up quickly.

"I thought we would have to light a fire to cook noodles. Brother Dong is so thoughtful."

"It's too much trouble. There are people in the village now running these small stalls. Buying some and bringing them on the boat saves trouble and doesn't cost much money. Since I bought a lot, don't be polite, just take them and eat when you're hungry. After all, going into the water is also physical labor."

"That's great, we've fallen into a lucky nest."

The three of them each grabbed a big steamed bun, broke it open, stuffed the fried dough cake inside the bun to eat, and also grabbed a fried dough stick to go with it. With a bite on the left and a bite on the right, they ate until their mouths were oily, their faces full of happiness.

"Brother Dong, I… I will work… for you… for a lifetime."

"Haha, it's too happy, isn't it? Eating well and getting high wages." Chen Guolong laughed.

Another one named Lin Jianping also said: "Don't laugh at him. If I could, I would also want to work for Brother Dong for a lifetime. What a good job, others can't even envy it."

"No laughing, Chen Shi also spoke my heart, haha."

Ye Yaodong just listened and didn't say anything. How long they worked wasn't up to anyone to say. He didn't even know how long he could work himself.

Anyway, as long as they were willing to stay and worked hard, and he could support them, then they would continue to work. He couldn't let these people who followed him go hungry.

"Eat quickly, it's past 8 o'clock. After eating, rest for a while, and go into the water at 9 o'clock. We've worked for a few hours, and it's not bad to get so many bags. We also caught several mud crabs and flower crabs. Now the temperature has come up, it's suitable to go into the water, not hot and not cold."

"Okay, let's strive to fish up more ground cages today."

"When the time comes to get rid of those ground cages and the reefs are exposed, we can dig for abalone."

"Don't even mention it, that abalone's suction is too strong, it's hard to pry."

"Prying is hard enough, and you can't even pry it off, you have to use a stick to poke it."

After Ye Yaodong finished eating, he washed his hands casually and went to captain the boat first. After they had rested enough, he called them to go into the water.

Following yesterday's pattern, they went into the water to clear the ground cages that were snagged on the bottom.

Some ground cages had a whole row snagged on the bottom, too long, so they would appropriately cut the ropes; otherwise, there would be no way to pull them up.

And while they were collecting these ground cages, they would also collect the cuttlefish eggs attached to the ground cages at the same time.

This was what they had seen with their own eyes yesterday: as long as there was something attached, the group of cuttlefish swimming over from afar could hang on it and lay a string of eggs.

Then, after the cuttlefish finished laying eggs, they would immediately die, floating on the sea surface or being washed onto the island by the waves.

Pickled cuttlefish eggs are also an excellent dish for rice. It's a pity he doesn't understand industrialization; otherwise, he would definitely have to make canned cuttlefish eggs.

These cuttlefish eggs could also be considered as picked up for free. The ground cages collected yesterday didn't have any yet.

The four of them were busy from morning until noon, resting for an hour in between. They went to check the cuttlefish around the branches, but there weren't many.

They fished casually for an hour, and feeling it wasn't ideal and couldn't compare to collecting ground cages, they went back into the water, not finishing work until the sun set.

The longlines collected yesterday had to be organized by hiring people to repair the missing hooks and branch lines, which couldn't be finished that quickly.

So today, no longlines were set, and the whole day was spent taking turns going into the water to collect ground cages.

Fortunately, he had calculated that his father should be able to return in these two days; otherwise, they couldn't handle such high-intensity diving. Fortunately, it was only four or five meters underwater, the pressure wasn't great, and there wouldn't be any damage to their ears.

When the people on the Dongsheng returned, he would call them over to take turns going into the water, add some subsidies, and share the workload so that everyone's workload would be reduced.

On that boat, except for his father and Chen Laoqi, everyone else was young and strong, all good hands who had previously gone into the water to fish for sea urchins.

And today's harvest was more than twice that of yesterday. After all, they had been at the bottom for a year. Except for being filled with some seaweed and silt, the goods in each ground cage were remarkably substantial.

Those with less seaweed had more goods, and those with more seaweed had fewer goods. And today, there were even people who wanted the seaweed.

Plucking feathers from a passing goose.

One wanted it, and the other two followed suit and said they wanted it. The three of them divided the mountain-like pile of seaweed together.

Ye Yaodong originally didn't care, but seeing that the seaweed was getting more and more, piled higher than a person, he was a bit speechless.

These weren't just seaweed, but also various types of algae. Anyway, he collectively called them seaweed.

"You guys really don't let anything go!"

"My… my mother said, to feed the pigs."

"My wife said to take a handful to boil soup, but since you guys want to feed the pigs, then I'll take a share back to feed the pigs too."

"Me too."

"You guys just divide it up yourselves, let's go back."

Today, when Ye Yaodong brought back a boat full of stinky fish and rotten shrimp again, everyone was no longer surprised, just feeling that it was stinky. Even with a boat full of seaweed, everyone was no longer surprised.

They could even praise him a couple of times, saying he was thrifty and didn't waste anything, and could even tease him that he even wanted the grass.

He felt a bit awkward listening to it, making himself look like he plucked feathers from a passing goose and didn't leave anything behind.

"They said they wanted to take it back to feed the pigs, so I dragged it back for them. The same goes for those stinky fish and rotten shrimp; they want to take them back to dry and grind them to feed the chickens and ducks, so I let them."

This had to be explained; otherwise, the villagers might think he even wanted stinky fish and rotten shrimp, and still wanted to dry them or throw them into fish sauce to ferment. That reputation would be ruined.

"Like that, I thought there were so many, you had to throw them into the fish sauce to ferment. Anyway, there's no difference."

He knew some people would overthink it.

"How could that be? Am I lacking these goods? These can't enter my workshop."

"That's good, otherwise everyone wouldn't be at ease eating your family's fish sauce."

"Rest assured."

He explained a couple of sentences and then lined up to weigh them. He let them use a flatbed cart to drag the baby shellfish and barnacles on the boat to the workshop first. If they wanted to take some home, he let them take it themselves.

As for the remaining stinky fish, rotten shrimp, and seaweed, he let them distribute and handle them themselves.

As for those ground cages, A Zheng and Xiao Xiao happened to be at the pier, so he let them move and distribute them themselves.

Yesterday, he just let the workers move them randomly to send them over. Now it was better to let them distribute them themselves.

And after the goods brought back were weighed, Ye Yaodong hurriedly returned to the workshop.

"Aqing."

"Hey, here, are all the goods sold?"

"Yeah, is all the kelp collected?"

"Collected. The quantity today is indeed a bit less, only 3 tons and 200 jin."

"What's the total?"

"29 tons and 295 jin. After lunch this afternoon, they all collected it and sent it over. After I finished calculating the accounts, I calculated the total, and the village chief and the others were all grinning from ear to ear."

"That's quite a lot. If 10 tons are dried into one ton, this is equivalent to a fresh yield of about 10 tons per mu, which is already considered a high yield."

Lin Xiuqing also smiled and said: "Yeah, it's a high yield. They also said they would plant more in the second half of the year, and they already went back to write a report this afternoon. Villagers who returned from the sea one after another came over to ask me, and I told them directly, and also let them go to the village committee to ask."

"Yeah, just leave it to the village committee to arrange. How much money was sold in total?"

"A little over 4,000 yuan."

"That's a very good return."

"Yeah, if we work seriously next year, the return this year is already enough to make a fortune."

"I hope so. Now there is little farming, and things are precious because they are rare, so the prices are all quite good. When large-scale farming starts, I don't know if the prices will drop."

Lin Xiuqing frowned, feeling it made sense.

"Forget it, this isn't something we need to worry about. Anyway, everyone has seen the success this year. Whether there will be this price next year isn't up to us. Even if it's half as cheap after widespread planting, everyone will still have a profit and will be happy. For everyone, the cheapest thing is labor."

"Yeah, you're right. Next year's business, we'll talk about it next year. We've done very well this year."

Ye Yaodong walked around the workshop and heard everyone saying happily that the kelp yield per mu reached 10 tons this year, and one ton could be dried, and one mu could sell for 140 yuan.

Even people who had just returned from the sea would stop at the workshop entrance to ask the women inside.

Everyone's desire to share was super high. The workshop didn't let people enter or leave at will, but they could communicate across the fence, talking enthusiastically.

And his mother was there at this time. After seeing him, she pulled him and said: "Why did you let people take so many goods back to feed the chickens? We could have kept some ourselves. And there's so much seaweed, you said to take it back to feed the pigs, you could also keep some for your sister-in-law and the others to feed the pigs..."

"Why are you being so stingy? If I keep those goods, the villagers will worry about whether I'm drying them to sell, or throwing them directly into the fish sauce to ferment."

"How could that be..."

"How could it not? Everyone's imagination is super rich. It's good to let them take it back to feed the chickens. The chickens and ducks at home are right by the beach, can't they find food themselves? What are you taking stinky fish and rotten shrimp for?"

"Alright, then there's the seaweed..."

"Even wanting the grass, how stingy must I be? I don't raise pigs, and the eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law didn't tell me they wanted it..."

"They didn't say, because they entrusted it to me, telling me to help them feed the pigs from now on. They want to follow out to sea to pick cuttlefish. They are busy from early morning until late at night, and they still have to serve those few pigs."

Ye Mu nagged and complained, "And they are so cruel, raising so many, catching 8 piglets, not afraid of being tired to death. Before dawn, they are there roaring and oinking."

"The pig grass the children cut isn't enough to eat. I have to take advantage of the lunch break to go to the mountain to cut pig grass for them. My waist can't even straighten up, and I have to go back to cook pig food later."

"Your father hasn't eaten a few meals I cooked in these two years. Now it's better, all cooked for the pigs..."

Ye Yaodong listened to his mother's nagging. When someone passed by and greeted her, she immediately changed into a smiling face and greeted them back.

His mouth twitched, "Got it, I'll keep the seaweed back for you to feed the pigs tomorrow."

"Yeah, that's right. It saves me from having to go up the mountain to cut pig grass. Forget about the stinky fish and rotten shrimp, you have to keep the seaweed back, my waist..."

"If they had as many people working as you, it would be fine, saving me the trouble. It's fine that I have to build the pigsty, but I also have to help raise the pigs. When they are ready for slaughter, the pigs will be theirs. I don't know how many jin of meat I can eat..."

"Forget it, forget it, I won't say anymore. I'm just nagging to you, don't tell anyone, otherwise, they will scold me. I have to go back to feed the pigs."

Ye Mu said, walking to the corner to pick up two large baskets of seaweed, both full to the brim.

Ye Yaodong looked and realized that his mother had already intercepted half of it from others, and had piled it up in the corner, ready to take it back.

Lin Xiuqing walked over and said: "Mother already nagged to me just now, saying that the two sisters-in-law haven't returned yet, and she has to go feed them once in the evening. A few workers pushed a full flatbed cart of seaweed back earlier, and she kept half of it."

"Are they following other people's boats?"

"Just the two boats they rented out. They want to follow to pick cuttlefish. Who wouldn't let them follow?"

"Alright, got it. I'll keep it for her tomorrow."

His mother wanted it, what could he do? He had to keep half back for his mother to feed the pigs tomorrow.

"Oh, forgot to tell her, brought back three big buckets of cuttlefish eggs today, forgot to tell her to pickle them."

"She'll come over for dinner after feeding the pigs, tell her then."

"Yeah."

"You go back and wash up first. If you're hungry, eat first. The food is kept warm in the pot."

"Yeah."

His father didn't return today, but his estimate was correct. He returned at noon the next day. He only knew when he saw the Dongsheng when he returned in the evening.

By the time he docked, his father was already waiting at the pier to help.

And he also told him about the situation of going out to sea these few days, and the money sold had been handed over to Aqing.

And under his father's curious gaze, he also explained the goods and ground cages on the boat, as well as the situation of the fishing season.

He also told his father that he would take all the workers out to sea to fish for ground cages tomorrow.

However, the tide would be about 50 minutes later every day than the previous day, so there was no need to get up so early tomorrow, and everyone could get a good rest today.

"Then I'll go for a run later and tell them. Mazu's birthday is coming soon. I think the Dongsheng doesn't need to go out to sea. Wait until after the birthday. It just so happens that you take them out to sea to fish for ground cages, leaving early and returning late, and you can still listen to a play when you come back at night."

"That's fine. Then Father, I'm going to the city tomorrow. Why don't you take them out to sea to fish for ground cages? Chen Shi and the others have been following me these few days, they know where it is, and they are clear about what to do. You follow and watch, no need to go into the water."

"What are you going to the city for? Didn't Aqing say that all the kelp had been taken to the city this morning?"

"Yeah, I'm going to check the remaining inventory and see how my father-in-law's sales have been these two days. The day before yesterday, I also asked my mother to ask for a girl who graduated from junior high school and knows how to do accounting. I'll send her to the city together."

After finishing, seeing his father didn't understand, he explained again that he currently had a great need for someone to do accounting.

The day before yesterday, he asked Aqing to inquire. Yesterday, his mother had already asked for the person. It was a girl from the neighboring Xishan Village named Huang Mei.

Monthly wages, for a girl, this was also a great attraction.

What kind of work can an ordinary girl find? They can't find work, they can only help the family wash and mend, help cook.

Being able to let a girl graduate from junior high school, this family is already considered very enlightened and loves their daughter.

It just so happened that his father returned, so he could free himself to do other things, just arrange for the person to be in place, and then explain the work to be done.

Anyway, money definitely can't be handled by people, it still has to be kept by his father-in-law, and there are vouchers for withdrawing money.

"Alright then, you go do your business, I'll follow out to sea and take a look."

"Oh, by the way, remember to keep the seaweed back for my mother to feed the pigs, she has a lot of resentment."

"Got it, nagging all day long, helping the daughter-in-law do some work and still yelling, I'm being ordered around by you guys all day long, and I haven't yelled."

Ye Yaodong: I pay wages!

He actually wanted to go to the city to ask his godfather to see if he could get two more sets of diving gear. The Navy must have them, just didn't know if they were easy to get.

Just two sets, he felt it wasn't enough, the efficiency was too slow, and fishing for sea urchins would be slow when the time came.

So, he had to make a trip to the city in the near future, try to see.

"Alright, then it's entrusted to you. I might not be able to return tomorrow, you have to work a few more days."

"I knew the pig's trotter at noon wouldn't be eaten for nothing."

Ye Yaodong smiled, "Filial piety is filial piety, work is work. If I didn't give you pig's trotter to eat, wouldn't you still have to help?"

"Hey, go, go, go..."

"Then I'm leaving?"

"Hey, wait, wait, wait, what are you leaving for? The goods haven't been weighed yet, come back!"

He had just stood on his tiptoes when he was grabbed by his father with quick eyes and fast hands.

Then his father turned around and left by himself.

"It's my turn to leave, I'm also going to tell the others that we have to go out to sea to work tomorrow."

Tell Aqing to buy a pig's trotter for the little old man to eat tomorrow.

When Ye Yaodong waited for dinner, he also told his mother, letting her go to notify the girl who does accounting after dinner, and go to the city with him early tomorrow morning.

Lin Xiuqing also packed the things he wanted to take to the city tomorrow after dinner.

"Quite a lot of cuttlefish were kept back today. Except for a few cooked for dinner at home, the others were covered with ice, looking like a full bucket. You divide half for godfather tomorrow, and half for my father and eldest brother and second brother."

"And there is a big jar of cuttlefish eggs pickled by mother. You take it tomorrow too. It's not so convenient to send it to godfather. Give him this jar first, no need to give it to my father and the others, anyway, they can't eat it immediately."

"Pickled the ones brought back today, just send them another jar in a few days. It's very convenient to send them things."

Ye Yaodong nodded, "Got it."

"Is there anything else you want to take? I'll prepare it for you in advance."

"No need, just these are enough. Things from home are better, no need to prepare others."

"Alright, take a cart of dried fish to the city to store by the way tomorrow."

"Yeah." ===== CHAPTER 1250 =====