Chapter 1281: Merchants' Association

"That's not it, I just stayed in Wenshi for a few years catching jellyfish."

From his accent, he could tell he wasn't from Wenshi, and this he didn't dare lie about.

"Right, right, right. The jellyfish spawning season back home had just about ended, and as it was wrapping up I thought about coming over. Then I ran into a typhoon and got held up, only arriving yesterday — what a coincidence. I heard the city set up a fishing association, specifically to sort out the chaos during the jellyfish catch."

Ye Yaodong chuckled. "Next time I'll show you the certificate for vice president of the fishing association. Words alone prove nothing — I've already been here two months."

"Alright, impressive, brother. Just now you were saying I'm so young and so capable — aren't you basically talking about yourself? I'm already over 40, and you look barely over 20. If you hadn't said you had a certificate to show me, and if you hadn't been the one who pointed the way for me when I arrived, I'd have suspected you were just blowing smoke."

"What's there to brag about? If I said I had a certificate and didn't, wouldn't I get slapped in the face in no time?"

"That's true, but you're something else — an outsider, and so young, yet you managed to snag a vice president position. You must have connections?"

Ye Yaodong just laughed without giving a clear answer.

But no one was stupid. Just think about it for a moment — an outsider trying to land a vice president position is far harder than a local.

Who'd believe it without some backing?

And he looked so young on top of that — even more impressive.

He slapped his forehead. "Oh, I got muddled, forgot to introduce myself. I'm Li Shouquan. You're busy selling your goods, and we need to head out to sea too — everyone's still waiting. I just happened to spot the Dongsheng and came over to take a look, to see who had been kind enough to show me the way. Coming over today, some of the fishing boats were scared to death — wouldn't give us the time of day, let alone answer when we asked for directions."

"Of course. You have no idea how chaotic this area is. Everyone's on high alert. Without a distress call, they generally won't let unfamiliar fishing boats get close. Not long ago there were pirates pretending to be fresh-fish buyers, getting close and then hijacking ships, killing people, stealing cargo. It's really dangerous."

"Damn. I've only ever heard things were chaotic here, never imagined it was like this. Thanks for the heads-up."

"What's there to thank me for? Wait a couple of days and you'll see for yourself how chaotic it is here. Oh, and my name is Ye Yaodong…"

"Got it, Comrade Ye Yaodong. I'll head off first, we'll get in touch later. I still remember the channel. Once you're out at sea, switch to the channel and we can chat. You go ahead with your work, I'm off."

"Sure."

The two only had a brief chat, but they'd at least met face to face.

Ye Yaodong always held to the belief that when you're out and about, the more friends the better — more friends, more paths.

It didn't matter how you met, as long as you could hold goodwill toward each other.

Besides, the title of vice president of the Wenshi association naturally gave people a warm, approachable feeling hearing it, didn't it? One of their own, with an official-sounding title to boot — instant trust.

Of course he had to make the most of it. You never knew when a money-making opportunity might come along.

He'd just spent 100,000 yuan, and Aguang still owed him money. He was desperate to earn cash to plug the hole.

The boss next to him, who'd already agreed on a price and was waiting to weigh his goods, pricked up his ears listening to their chat.

The moment Ye Yaodong finished speaking, he jumped right in.

"You're really the vice president of the Wenshi Fishing Association? For real?"

Chen Zhihua, standing nearby, said: "Of course it's real, guaranteed genuine. Our boss even has an official certificate — name, surname, and photo."

Ye Yaodong also said with a smile: "Yeah, that older brother just now — I gave him directions while we were out at sea. We bumped into each other just now and he recognized me. I knew he was from Wenshi, so I mentioned it."

"I'm from Wenshi too."

"Ah, so you're a Wenshi boss too. Impressive — your business has even reached this side."

"Ah, just making a living. My name is Jin Laixi. Let me see what other goods you have. When you're out and about, seeing a fellow townsman just feels familiar — whose goods you buy is all the same."

Ye Yaodong's face lit up. He didn't deny it, and he wasn't sure whether the man had heard everything anyway. There were plenty of Wenshi dialects.

You can't say he's not one of us just because he speaks Mandarin. He's even bought a house in Wenshi — of course he's half a new Wenshi person!

"Boss Jin, what a great name. The two brothers I met tonight both have great names — one Shouquan, one Laixi. Looks like I'm in for some big luck."

"Hahaha… how much are you selling that mackerel for?"

"Whatever price others charge, I charge the same. I've got tens of thousands of jin piled on the deck — they're probably loading them up right now."

"Huh? Tens of thousands of jin? The haul you had earlier was already plenty. How big is your boat?"

"Well, I've got plenty of boats — over twenty, big and small. This batch was caught this afternoon by four boats working together, all over 20 meters long, one net took them all. Can Boss Jin take all of it, or just a portion?"

He was astonished — you really can't judge a book by its cover. The guy looked only about 20, and over twenty boats? Really?

It sounded a bit fishy, so he just brushed it off as bragging. Business is business — no need to dig deeper. He just offered some flattering words.

"Impressive, the young are truly something to be feared. I know a few Wenshi bosses — if we split it up, that should about do it. Weigh it out for me, I'll send someone to round them up. They should still be at the dock."

Ye Yaodong was even happier. Did doing a good deed today really bring instant reward?

He'd thought he'd have to sell all that cargo until dawn, but unexpectedly it was all gone in a flash.

Even the sea cucumbers he'd originally planned to keep and sun-dry were bought at a high price.

"Thanks, Boss Jin. I'll have someone go to the boat right away to load the goods and bring them down to weigh. Want to take a look at the other cargo too?"

Without needing Ye Yaodong to say anything, the sharp deckhand had already hurried off to the boat to call people, quickly loading the goods on deck and carrying them down.

Jin Laixi picked out some of the fish — mainly small yellow croaker and white pomfret — and while waiting, had those weighed first too.

Ye Yaodong sold off another big chunk.

At this point, his older brother and second brother also hurriedly asked Jin Laixi if he needed their goods, rattling off the names of everything on their boats like reading a menu.

The surrounding sellers with no business also crowded over to rattle off their menus.

Ye Yaodong also helped promote his two brothers.

Jin Laixi shook his head. "No need, that's enough. More than that and I can't take it all — that batch of mackerel alone still needs a few people to split."

The two brothers were a bit disappointed, having hoped to clear some of their own goods too.

Dongzi really had the luck — wherever he went, he ran into benefactors.

Ye Yaodong's heart stirred. He fished out his cigarettes, pulled two out for him, and asked casually: "Boss Jin, the friends you mentioned calling over to split the mackerel — are they all from Wenshi?"

"Yeah, all met since coming here. Outsiders aren't that friendly — of course it's more reliable for fellow townsmen to band together. Your own townsmen are dear too, and when there's trouble, everyone helps each other out."

"Right. This dock sees tens of thousands of people flowing through every day, it's chaotic as hell, anything can happen. Of course it's easier to survive when your own people stick together, and you're less likely to run into danger. When something happens, you've got someone to talk it over with."

"Exactly, so everyone just bands together."

He said with a smile: "Then you could organize yourselves, set up a Wenshi merchants' association. When the time comes, if there are other Wenshi merchants in the area, they'll definitely join once they hear about it."

"These days nowhere is really peaceful. If you're out and about and can have an organization to band together with, wouldn't that be even better for you merchants?"

"Anyone who can make it out there these days has at least some real ability, and they're bold enough to take risks. Once the group grows bigger, isn't it easier to help each other through difficulties? Wouldn't our room to survive be that much bigger?"

"As long as the group's base is large enough and its strength solid enough, even the government has to take it seriously."

He knew it well enough — in the future, wherever you went, there'd be a Wenshi Merchants' Association, and the bosses of Wenshi were famous for how tightly they stuck together.

A casual bit of advice from him now would all be good karma later.

Anyone who could come out and hustle in these times would surely do just fine down the road.

Jin Laixi listened to all this and, in his heart, was genuinely tempted for a moment. It just made too much sense.

The Wenshi folks they already knew were introduced through friends among themselves; if they stuck together, wouldn't that single banner draw even more people in?

The strength of a collective is greater.

Ye Yaodong added, "If the officials can put together a fishery association, of course the common folk can too — just so long as it doesn't endanger society. When you businessmen band together, it's only to look out for each other, to help one another. Who's going to mind?"

"That makes sense! Comrade Ye Yaodong really has wisdom. Listening to you, I feel like a fog has lifted. Right now, aren't we just short of a banner ourselves? With a banner, of course we can attract the local businessmen more easily. Compared to outsiders, naturally the folks from your own hometown are more trustworthy."

Jin Laixi's eyes sparkled as he looked at him, as though gazing at treasure.

"I know why you made it to vice president of the fishery association now — that has to be real. The way you talk, the way you handle things, the advice you give is so fair and far-sighted. Amazing."

"Heh, I was just talking off the cuff. If you think it's fair, that's good enough."

"You have over twenty boats?"

He'd assumed it was all bluster, but now, listening, it didn't really sound like bluster anymore.

"Pretty much. Big and small added together, yeah. There are about 200 of us from our village over here. If we didn't have that many people, we wouldn't have dared come here either."

About 200 people — that did sound about right…

Jin Laixi sighed and nodded. "Right. Without a few fellow villagers, relatives, or friends, who'd dare come here? You're really something — to have over 200 people follow you here. Looks like everyone in your village really trusts you."

"Trust? More than that. Adong is famous for miles around. He's the pride of our village."

"That's right. Most of our village back home now depends on him for a living."

Ye Yaodong looked at the man beside him and laughed, "Stop blowing things up, you'll make us a laughingstock."

"We're telling the truth — and we've been conservative about it."

"Right. The village has already started kelp farming now. I called home a few days ago — the whole village is in on it. With a bumper harvest next year, the whole village can make big money thanks to A-Dong."

"A-Dong alone is leading the whole village to prosperity."

Ye Yaodong hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no, don't put it like that. Hurry up — the mackerel are already being unloaded. Get them on the scale, write down the weight for me, don't just stand around talking."

"Got it…"

Jin Laixi gave him a thumbs-up. "I told you — just from a quick listen I could tell you were no ordinary guy. What young man, at such a young age, could become vice president of a city's association…"

"More than that. Our boss is vice president of the fishery association of two provinces, not just Wenshi…"

"Oh?"

Ye Yaodong laughed and changed the subject. "If Boss Xi were to set up a Wenshi Merchants' Association, you could probably take in every boat boss, fishmonger, and businessman in Wenshi at the docks. When that happens, your voice at this dock won't be ordinary."

"Everyone would have an organization, and could be sheltered. If there's any business dealings, it might even be a bit safer — better than dealing with outsiders, right?"

Jin Laixi's expression stirred.

"Brother, you're really something."

"I'm just talking off the cuff, haha. Think about it — tens of thousands of people pass through this dock every day. With more of your people, the safety factor is higher, and others won't dare cause trouble. Otherwise, some people specialize in bullying newcomers — that's how the chaos starts."

"Right, today wasn't a wasted trip. Lucky to have met you. Comrade Ye Yaodong, so young, yet your mind works exceptionally well. We'll go back and discuss it. If we do come up with something, we'll definitely invite you. This trip out today was worth it."

"Heh, I'm only half a Wenshi person…"

"Our boss has a factory in Wenshi too, and bought a house…"

Ye Yaodong glanced at Chen Zhihua — that guy was the smoothest talker of the bunch.

"You… how many identities do you even have? My goodness, every sentence from your workers gives me a huge surprise."

"Haha, I'll tell him to shut up."

"You've really surprised me, little brother. Heh, would it be convenient to leave a contact address?"

"Sure, I'll write one for you. Just saying it isn't easy to remember."

"Alright."

The two exchanged addresses. Beside them, each had his own workers — the workers weighed the workers' goods, while the two of them chatted.

The two chatted with particular gusto, as though they'd found a kindred spirit.

The main thing was that Ye Yaodong knew how to talk — he picked the things the other man liked, the things he was interested in, and talked about those.

Jin Laixi had originally taken everything he said as bluster — after all, the guy didn't look that old, and it was hard to imagine he had that kind of foundation.

After just a casual chat, he completely overturned his narrow view. What he'd said wasn't just a matter of vision — it was downright far-sighted.

The two chatted more and more enthusiastically.

After quite a while, one of Jin Laixi's friends was finally brought over, and then he sent people off to keep looking.

The dock area at night was at its liveliest. Fishing boats big and small kept pulling in, and the foot traffic at the stalls here was the heaviest. Finding a few acquaintances wasn't that easy.

Ye Yaodong wasn't in any hurry either. Anyway, someone had already taken the goods off his hands, so he just stood there chatting with them.

As for the person who had just been brought over, Jin Laixi introduced them to each other, then gave him another big boost, repeating the things he'd just said.

The fishmonger who'd just arrived was also intrigued, looking at him with interest, and even wanted to ask him for some pointers.

Ye Yaodong said, "Heh, this dock is full of people, terribly noisy — not a place to talk. Whatever you have to say, let's find somewhere private and chat slowly later. For now, let's talk about the goods."

His goods hadn't all been sold yet. Get them off his hands first — don't let him give a free lecture for so long. At least take his goods first, as a tuition fee.

"Right, that's true too. We're here to buy goods, so let's talk goods first. Ye Yaodong here has a batch of mackerel, about sixty or seventy thousand jin. It's too much for me alone, so I thought of calling a few people over to split it."

"Great. Mackerel roe is good stuff — Taiwanese businessmen love it."

"He has some other goods too — take a look and see what you can take…"

They sorted through the goods. In no time at all, two more people had joined, and after pointing at his goods, they split them up however they liked and took everything.

Not enough, so he also went over to his eldest brother and Ye Ye Erge's side and swept up a bit more.

He didn't need to do much at all — just name a normal dock price, and one by one, no one had any objections.

This was also the easiest time he'd ever had selling goods — no need to stand out on the dock braving the cold wind for long.

Early autumn was slightly cool, but there was nothing on the dock to block the wind, so the wind was at its strongest.

The Ye Ye Yaopeng and Ye Ye Yaohua beside him were envious, and even the workers envied them for being able to knock off early and head back without having to stand in the wind.

But there was nothing for it — the two brothers had nothing in their heads, and their mouths weren't much good at talking either; even if they wanted to strike up a chat, they wouldn't know what to say, so they could only stare blankly.

After they took the goods away, they didn't linger — the dock was full of people coming and going, with lots of cargo and carts, so they had to hurry and haul everything off first to deal with it.

Ye Yaodong, clutching a bag stuffed full of money tightly without letting go, called out to the others to first gather up the baskets, shoulder poles, and the like, and bring them onto the boat to lock away.

"Dongzi, how do you know so much about all this..." Ye Ye Yaopeng couldn't help but ask.

"Ah, just made it up on the spot — say whatever comes to mind, it doesn't cost me anything anyway. It's not like I'm the one doing all that work; I'm just running my mouth, what's the harm?"

"But most people couldn't come up with that no matter how hard they tried."

"Then how could your little brother here be just any ordinary person? If I were ordinary, could I keep doing better and better, meeting more and more people?"

Ye Ye Yaohua agreed, saying: "Right, Dongzi's always been sharp with his mouth."

"I've already finished selling, so I won't wait for you guys — heading back first."

"Alright."

On the boat there was still a basket of shellfish Ye Yaodong had dug up during the day, plus a basket of sea sweet potatoes he'd deliberately set aside — just right for one shoulder load.

There were also various other fish catches that had been picked over and left behind — those filled two shoulder loads too.

The knives and the gun were also covered up with something and made into one load, just in case. For quite a long stretch recently, everyone had been doing it this way — carrying a load on the trip back and forth either way.

Everyone walked happily from the dock toward home.

"Boss, you're the one who can do it — a few casual words and you got people to buy up all our goods, hahahaha..."

"A smooth tongue really does pay off."

"Who says so? It's got to be A-Dong's own skill. If we sent you to talk, could you pull it off? They'd be doing you a favor not treating you like a lunatic."

"Hahahaha..."

Ye Yaodong laughed and said: "It was just one thing leading to another, chatting casually. I was originally just shooting the breeze with that Li Shouquan, didn't expect this boss was also from Wenshi."

"Boss, did you have your eye on those dried shrimp from Li Shouquan's group that just arrived? Trying to build some connections? Get the fresh-catch boats to buy their dried shrimp later?"

"Smart, but I don't know what the situation is like inside their group either. This is just me thinking out loud — anyway, more friends means more paths. They came knocking on my door themselves, so getting to know one more friend can't be a loss."

"Right, out there on the road, knowing a few more friends definitely makes things go smoother."

Ye Yaodong added: "That Boss Jin was quite a surprise though — I was just shooting my mouth off, bragging a whole bunch."

"Hah, when they set up a Wenshi merchants' association later, you'll be the president again."

Everyone burst into laughter.

"President my ass, but being able to get familiar with them isn't bad either. At least I won't have to worry about no one buying the goods. And if they really can pull together some of the Wenshi merchants or boat captains at the dock, that'd actually be pretty useful."

Not to mention anything else, the boats that come here to fish are no small vessels — every boat captain has real clout.

Same with the merchants — they must have some channels and connections for selling goods, otherwise they couldn't come to this dock to make a living.

If they really pulled the Wenshi merchants' association together, the channels within the association would broaden right away.

Who knows, they might even pull a few more fishing boats his way, then a few more fixed-buyer bosses — no worry about selling the goods, the whole thing could run as one-stop service internally.

He knew well that plenty of fishmongers had fixed arrangements to buy from certain boats.

Those boats had it easy — before heading out to sea they'd already agreed in advance on when they'd return, and once they docked, the goods could be hauled away first thing, no need to bother setting up a stall.

That kind of arrangement came from people who knew each other well, or had worked together many times.

"You're still the smart one, quick-witted..."

"This is actually good for all of them too. Some people come here, maybe just two or three lone souls making a go of it, or two or three boats of cargo trying their luck — no connections at all, can only honestly follow the crowd."

Wasn't Uncle Zheng and his friend the same back then? The two of them came straight over as the advance party.

But how big is the risk here? Of course it looks safer with more people.

If that Boss Jin goes and sets up a Wenshi merchants' association, it'd be good for most people. Though he still had to tell the humans from the ghosts, the benefits really did outweigh the drawbacks.

At the very least, you'd get to know some background — joining would definitely require a familiar person to vouch and an introduction screening.

It was just that Li Shouquan walked off too quickly that evening, and he was also there selling goods, couldn't spare the time — otherwise he would've asked a few more questions about the situation with their fleet.

But no rush either — they'd only just gone out to sea that night, so once they rested a couple days before heading out again, he could get on the radio channel at sea to make contact.

He sighed to himself — communications were still too underdeveloped.

If there were cell phones, you could call and reach anyone anytime.

That VHF was on the fishing boat — only contactable at sea, and it had range limits too; if the distance was too far, you still couldn't reach them.

No wonder when the "big brother" cell phones first came out, any boat captain with a bit of money would grit their teeth and spend ten-thousand-odd yuan to buy one.

"This dock really is too easy to make money. Once I've saved up enough, I'm gonna buy a boat too — keep following A-Dong's lead from then on."

The others all quickly chimed in in agreement — they had a rough idea of how much daily income the other boats had been pulling in since arriving.

It made them jealous enough to turn purple, cursing themselves for not having a boat on hand.

Ye Yaodong also said along with them: "I can't guarantee I'll come back here next year, but over this half year or so everyone's been able to earn a decent wage. Pool it together at home and you can buy a boat too — it's a tool for production. Even without coming here, you can still drag-net and earn money back home. Just a matter of earning more or less, I guess — and staying home is relatively safer anyway."

"Haha, next year's business can wait till next year."

"Those people who didn't come with A-Dong the past two months and are still stuck back in Wenshi — wonder if they're slapping their thighs in regret."

"Definitely — the Jellyfish spawning season is pretty much over now, they should've gone back."

"Called home a few days ago before the typhoon and didn't hear it mentioned — figured those lingering fishing boats should've all gone back in the last day or two after the typhoon passed."

"Perfect time to rest. Tomorrow I'll call home, report I'm safe, and ask around while I'm at it."

Everyone chattered away again, guessing how much money those people could've made on this trip — figured they hadn't made much, all guessing it couldn't compare to last year's glory days.

Doing everything a step later than everyone else, the money earned also comes a step later than everyone else.

They also said they were all just playing with what Ye Yaodong left behind.

Last year Ye Yaodong made a pile of money with a bunch of small wooden boats, and this year a bunch of copycats followed, even more people flocked to the small boats too, and as a result it wasn't easy to make money anymore.

Moreover, their main force had all run off to the boat market, those small boat folks were probably feeling pretty depressed.

Can't even get there in time to eat shit while it's still warm.

But it's also relatively foreseeable that next year the village will have another batch of fishing boats, doubled in number.

This year over 200 people followed out, and after the new year when they go back, once you casually calculate the wages, every one of them can have six or seven hundred left over, some are brothers and fathers and sons who all followed out together, just pool a little and it's enough to buy a boat.

Next year the fishing boats in the village will definitely increase in large numbers, the workshop probably won't be able to keep up, they'll have to go elsewhere to place orders.

They chatted and laughed their way home first, the first time arriving this early, it even surprised Ye Fu.

After hearing the simplified version of the whole story, he couldn't help but sigh over Ye Yaodong's dogshit luck, and his smooth tongue, really too good at hoodwinking people.

Ye Fu didn't think a few merchants like that could put together any kind of trade association, in his subconscious he still felt only official channels could pull something like that off.

So he just skipped right over it, didn't care, only figured Ye Yaodong had sweet-talked people into buying up all the goods.

He only looked at the few baskets of goods brought back, "What kind of bugs are in this basket? Growing so strange, this big?"

Ye Yaodong said with a smile: "These are what we discovered on the island, everyone else got goosebumps all over, thought it was disgusting, and were busy catching frigate mackerel. Only I had people stay there and catch them, all dirt cheap for me, this stuff sold for 6 mao per jin, know it's expensive now, right?"

"6 mao! That high? The fish goods at the dock keep getting their prices pushed down, how can these bugs sell for so much?"

"Mm, they haven't come back yet, by the time they get back they'll probably be slapping their thighs black and blue."

Ye Yaodong told his father again about the process of discovering the frigate mackerel.

"So this kind of fortune isn't something everyone has, even when it's handed right in front of them they don't recognize it, no wonder they can't get rich."

"Right, that's the truth, things you don't recognize, you really can't make money off them, can only let other people who know them get rich."

"While we haven't gone to sleep yet, everyone don't sleep first either, tidy things up a bit, the fish that didn't sell, kill them too, salt what needs salting, dry what needs drying."

Ye Fu hollered at everyone to get to work, and told Ye Yaodong and the others who had just gotten back to go wash up and eat first.