Chapter 1350: Processing Cargo

The gale and rain in the pitch-black night were particularly terrifying.

The workers were still on the deck, braving the lightning and thunder to sort the catch. Everyone felt uneasy about the weather; none of them had experience with deep-sea operations, and in this day and age, there weren't many deep-sea vessels—most stayed in coastal waters.

Usually, when they encountered bad weather, they would head back at the first opportunity.

Fortunately, they were already on their way back. Everyone just had to hold on a little longer; they estimated they would reach the port by daybreak.

Ye Yaodong actually felt this kind of night weather was fine. At most, there was thunder, lightning, and heavy rain. It looked scary, but there were no high winds, so it was actually okay.

He had encountered waves and winds far more dangerous than this. Today's weather just looked frightening; with his ship, there was no cause for concern.

The other two ships were still out there working.

It was just that happening in the dead of night added a bit of fear and uncertainty to everyone's hearts.

He focused on navigating, while the workers, having finished sorting all the cargo, breathed a sigh of relief and collectively returned to the rest cabin.

The wind and rain continued throughout the night. By the time dawn broke in the early morning, the thunder and lightning had passed, leaving only a slowing rain.

Ye Yaodong looked at the harbor, which was not far off, and also breathed a sigh of relief. It was about what he had expected; they had just spent an extra hour or so navigating due to the weather and waves.

It was already 6:00 AM, but the sky remained gloomy, making it hard to tell it was morning.

When the fishing boat slowed down, the workers, sensing it, all got up.

Looking at the slightly brightening sky and the harbor close at hand, filled with fishing boats, they all breathed a sigh of relief. Their hearts finally settled back into their chests; they should be able to rest at home for a while now.

The fishing boat found a spot to dock temporarily. Ye Yaodong first let the workers prepare for disembarking, telling them to lift out the cargo from the fish hold as needed, while he went ashore.

He had to go make a phone call to notify Acai to come and pick up the cargo, and then arrange which goods he would be taking.

The squid would be left for now; since it was in the freezer, it wouldn't spoil for the time being.

If he really couldn't solve the problem in the next few days, he could release it to Acai later, which would give him a few days of buffer time so he wouldn't be scared to death by the sheer volume of cargo.

After a night had passed, the rain was still drizzling. The harbor was full of fishing boats, but there were few people moving about. In this kind of thunderstorm weather, it seemed no one dared to go out to sea.

After Ye Yaodong finished his call, he returned to the harbor. By now, quite a bit of cargo had been piled up on the shore where the boat was docked. The workers were moving and unloading back and forth, and the deck and shore were covered in various large and small fish.

In this weather, only their cargo was piled up on the shore, which actually made it quite spacious and easy to stack.

"Dongzi, do we need to move all the cargo out now?"

"Move it first. Get the cargo from the cold storage onto the shore. Moving over a hundred thousand jin of cargo isn't that fast. By the time the others come, you guys won't be finished."

"That's true. I also wanted to ask you, do we want to sell those squid together? It's raining now, and it doesn't look like there will be good weather anytime soon."

"Leave them for now. There's too much cargo; Acai definitely won't be able to consume it all. I don't know how the fresh-catch collection boats at home have been doing these past two days. Let him take a portion first."

"Alright."

Ever since he started taking his cousin out on the boat, he had developed the air of a second-in-command, taking the initiative to arrange and report on everyone's situation.

Acai arrived very quickly. In just half an hour, he had brought his brothers and nephew over.

Seeing the cargo piled high on the harbor, his eyes went wide, and he couldn't help but swallow hard.

"You have way too much cargo..."

"The day before yesterday afternoon, your father's fresh-catch boat just sent a boatload back, and I haven't even finished selling it all. Last night, with the thunder and lightning, that Dongsheng boat of yours brought back a bit more cargo for me. I had just started selling, and now there's this much again..."

"Your volume is just too scary. Last night, I was just selling the cargo from the other few boats; otherwise, my head would have been spinning."

"Your cargo is enough to match the volume of a fresh-catch boat. I..."

Ye Yaodong just wanted to say, this is nothing; there's still more in the freezer.

He smiled and reassured him, "Don't worry. Just sell it slowly over a few days. With this weather recently, the other boats probably won't be going out to sea either. Didn't you just say they all came back yesterday?"

"But it's still too much. It's not easy to sell in this weather..."

"You have a place for cold storage anyway. It'll be sold in a few days. The more cargo, the more money you make. It just so happens that no boats are going out these days, so there definitely won't be much cargo in the market. It'll be easy for you to sell."

"I'll have losses if I just pile it up..."

Acai was worried to death. He hadn't expected there to be so much cargo. Making money was fine, but the volume was just too scary.

What if it got stuck in his hands? The risk was too high.

He wondered why Ye Yaodong didn't sell the cargo himself.

This money just wasn't that easy to earn.

"How could money be so easy to earn, right? The market is so big, and it's been open for a few years now; it's mature. There are many cars coming and going from the south and north here; it'll be sold in just a few days."

"That's just what you say..."

"Hurry up and weigh it. It's raining, so you can head back quickly once you're done. I have a few big items at the bottom of the hold that I haven't lifted out yet. I'll lift them out for you later to serve as a storefront display. Once they're in the market, they'll definitely attract a lot of attention and help you sell faster."

"There's still more that hasn't been lifted out?"

Acai only heard the first sentence and started worrying. How much more was there?

"Not much, not much. I'll lift a few out for you first; they can help you attract business."

"Really? Don't try to fool me. You have more tricks up your sleeve than a sieve. I feel like I've been duped, coming to the city to sell your cargo... With so much cargo, I'm under a lot of pressure."

"Pressure creates motivation, and motivation leads to money. You'll be rich soon enough."

"Cut it out. Originally, your father would bring back a boatload every day or two, and I could barely manage to sell it. At most, I could sell for a few more days. Your fishing boats aren't out at sea every single day, so I could just barely handle it..."

Ye Yaodong listened to him muttering there and ignored him, first calling the workers to lift out the sailfish and the great white shark, along with dozens of tuna, and then having them lift out a moonfish.

The tuna were already handsome, but with the sailfish and the great white shark, they would really make a statement. Adding a moonfish, his stall would definitely be the most eye-catching in the entire market.

If it could attract attention, selling the cargo would naturally be faster than others.

"If you have too much cargo, I really can't handle it. Don't you have some relatives..."

"Just look at the cargo I'm lifting out for you later. For now, this is it. Don't worry. What's there to worry about? Things will work out in the end. If you want to get rich, what are you afraid of? Why don't you just work hard and think of more sales channels yourself?"

"That's easy for you to say..."

"It's all about human effort. Let the young people go out and run the market more, find some fish processing plants. With such good conditions in our city, haven't many processing plants popped up in recent years? Go find them for cooperation."

"Why don't you go?"

Ye Yaodong looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Huh? Tuna? This fish isn't that easy to handle. Only deep-sea boats can do it. You even caught tuna? Did you bleed it?"

Ye Yaodong glanced at him sideways and pointed at his own boat. "Open your eyes and see what kind of boat this is. Isn't catching tuna normal? It's just that this isn't a boat specifically for catching tuna. There's still big cargo in the back I haven't lifted out for you..."

Acai was somewhat satisfied to see there was tuna. "What else is there?"

"Watch."

One tuna after another was lifted ashore by everyone and thrown onto the ground. There were over twenty of them, and Acai already had a smile on his face.

"Hey? What kind of fish is this? Sailfish? Good heavens, how many meters is this? It's a whole size bigger than the tuna."

"That's right. This one should be just under 4 meters. It's twice as big as the tuna. There's also a great white shark. The two fish were fighting at sea, and I picked up the bargain. You can tell it as a story later."

"Damn, your experience at sea is quite exciting, huh?"

"Why don't you mention the danger? When this sailfish jumped onto the boat, it even punctured our rest cabin. If it had stabbed a person, they would have been dead on the spot."

Acai squatted down to touch the snout of the sailfish and spread his palm to measure the length.

"No need to measure. This could skewer three of you like a string of candied haws..."

"What are you saying..."

"Just tell me if this cargo can help you attract business and sell better."

"That, it can..."

"There's still one more high-value item..."

At this moment, the workers lifted out the moonfish, and Acai's eyes went wide.

"Why does this look so much like a sunfish?"

"You're blind. This is called a moonfish. Just look at this color; could it be a sunfish? A sunfish is the color of a dead person."

"Ah, this is a moonfish. Good fellow, it's actually the legendary moonfish..."

"Good stuff, right? Are you still complaining that I have too much cargo and worrying about it getting stuck in your hands?"

Acai smiled until his teeth were showing and rubbed the rainwater off his face. "This fish is good, this fish is good. I have to get more ice to keep this fish as a signboard and sell it for a few more days."

"Right? If you sell it for two more days, it won't spoil in this weather, and won't you be able to sell the whole boatload of my cargo?"

"Fine, weigh it, weigh it, weigh it. Hurry up and weigh all this cargo and take it back. Take advantage of the fact that the market doesn't close until noon; you can show it off and attract more people to come in the evening."

Ye Yaodong waved his hand, and everyone hurried to lift the cargo onto the scales.

Acai kept circling the moonfish, incredibly satisfied.

He was already quite satisfied when he saw the tuna and sailfish, but he hadn't expected there to be an even better one.

Ye Yaodong thought to himself that he hadn't let him see the 100,000 jin of squid; otherwise, Acai definitely wouldn't be smiling so brightly.

Now, for him, having too much cargo was indeed a problem, and he also had to find a way to solve the sales channels.

The originally envisioned squid silk and canned fish factory were imperative; they could solve the sales volume and also increase efficiency.

If he was at home for a period of time and not going out to sea, he would definitely have to find a way to facilitate it.

Even if the dryer couldn't be set up that quickly, he could set it up now and use it later. As for this current batch of cargo, he could wait and see. ===== CHAPTER 1351 =====