Chapter 1586

Ah Guang was full of envy; even if the cost couldn't be earned back in one month, it would definitely be earned back in two.

"Damn, why is money so easy for you to earn? You say you'll do something, and you do it; you say you'll earn, and you earn?"

"That's why you have to be bold; if you see an opportunity, take it, don't hesitate."

"Tsk tsk tsk, looking at that net of cargo coming up with about 20 bags these past few days, it's awesome; loading and unloading takes an hour or so, not to mention sorting."

"Get one?"

"Getting one of these would be impressive; I'll go back and ponder it first."

"My big brother and second brother are determined to get one this time."

Ah Guang looked at him in surprise, "I was just saying, how come your big brother and second brother are being so generous this time? They're usually stingy and hesitant, why are they so ruthless this time?"

"Don't know, maybe they've figured it out."

"Are they that rich?"

"No, they're just emptying their family savings to pay a deposit, and we'll talk about the rest when the goods are delivered. If they can't scrape enough together, I'll back them up."

"Then back me up too!" Ah Guang smiled at him ingratiatingly.

He glanced over, "Fine, nine out, thirteen back."

"Damn... you bastard, taking advantage of a crisis."

"Stop nagging, hurry up and go tidy up the deck, we're preparing to return; everyone's preparatory work is almost done."

"Got it, I'll go back and take a look, ponder it first; I have to have a plan for the other boats in my hands too."

"Yeah, good, you think about how to arrange the plan yourself first, or don't be in a hurry; if you book it, it won't be in your hands that quickly. Plans can't keep up with changes; just ponder it after you've booked it."

"Yeah, I have to discuss it with Huimei first."

"We'll talk after we get back, go do the work at hand first, I'm busy."

Ah Guang quickly went to show his worth.

Ye Yaodong shouted through the megaphone: "Retract the winch steel cables!"

The workers below also responded loudly, and at the same time, they synchronized to retract the detection equipment.

The sonar probe was dragged onto the deck dripping with water, and the worker used clean water to rinse off the glowing jellyfish remains attached to the sensor.

A muffled sound came from the engine room; Old Chen was leading people to change the filter element for the main engine, and black smoke mixed with salt crystals sprayed out from the exhaust hole, drawing three crooked gray lines in the twilight.

The captain of Boat No. 2 suddenly reported: "There's a suspicious echo three nautical miles off the starboard side."

Ye Yaodong responded and raised his binoculars; it was a group of dolphins chasing flying fish, their silver-gray dorsal fins cutting through the waves, just happening to mark a safe deep-water channel for the fleet.

"It's fine, hurry up and prepare to return, it's getting dark."

"Received."

After giving the instructions, Ye Yaodong had nothing to do; he had to wait for the other two boats to be ready before they could return. Now he could only watch the workers busy coming and going, so he also stood on the deck to blow in the wind, looking around with binoculars.

After looking for a while, he went down to the deck to see the finishing work everyone was doing; he thought he would check if the fish cargo caught in the past few days was properly stacked. This was all money, and the holds were full.

After checking, he went to check the navigation systems like radar, and whether the VHF radio communication equipment was normal, to ensure they could receive the latest weather forecast.

He also had to check the power system to confirm that the main engine, steering gear, and anchor equipment were in good condition to avoid breakdowns on the return journey.

Ah Zheng watched him turn around, looking at this and that, and asking questions constantly, and said with a smile: "You make it look like you're very professional, like you know everything?"

Ye Yaodong glared at him with a straight face, "If I don't know, do you? Have the fishing gear and nets been tidied up? Are they disassembled and secured? Did you check for any damage?"

"Checked, they were torn by that big shark a few days ago, no other problems."

"If there's no problem, go help with sorting, why are you hanging around me?"

"It's just that I saw you turning around everywhere, asking about radar, asking about the power system, I feel like you know a lot, so I came over to listen."

"I know more than you can imagine."

The chief engineer also said from the side: "Indeed, the boss is amazing. He knows everything that everyone else doesn't. He's experienced, and every command and arrangement is very appropriate; he's never made a mistake. He doesn't look like someone who's come to the deep sea for the first time at all, he's really amazing."

Ah Zheng pursed his lips...

Ye Yaodong gestured with his fist at him, "Not convinced?"

"Convinced, convinced, I've been here for several days, how could I not know you're amazing? There will be plenty of opportunities to rely on our Boss Dong in the future."

"If you know, hurry up and go do your work, otherwise I won't take you to get rich."

"How much longer until we set sail?"

"Between half an hour and an hour, it depends on how the other two boats are doing with their preparatory work."

"Sigh, so slow."

"I told you to go back with the collection boat a few days ago, but you wouldn't."

"That's two different things; since we're already here, how can we go back without doing anything? Staying for two or three days to experience it is just right. Let's go to the wheelhouse, you teach me about the things in your wheelhouse."

"Good."

Ye Yaodong finished checking and had originally planned to go up.

Seeing how diligent they had been these past few days, he felt that when they went back, they would be like his big brother and second brother, impulsively going to book boats.

It was only three days, and a boatload of cargo was worth over 100,000 yuan; who wouldn't be confused?

Even he himself was impulsively thinking about going back to get more, taking all the money he had saved and putting it out.

If you haven't been here, no one knows what the situation in the deep sea is like; only after coming here do you have a deep understanding.

An hour later, the two boats reported one after another that everything was ready and they could return at any time. Only then did Ye Yaodong press the whistle button.

The long whistle sounded, and the workers immediately understood that they were going back, and they all started moving.

Hearing the whistle from his side, the other two boats also sounded theirs one after another.

Ah Zheng also excitedly shouted through the megaphone: "Returning, returning..."

When the last bit of sunset was swallowed by the night, the three boats lit up their red side lights, and the fishing boats dragged their weary bodies across the sea surface, which was covered in ten thousand rays of sunset light.

Ye Yaodong's boat took the lead, with fine phosphorescence jumping in the wake at the stern, like a path of shining silver coins scattered along the way, with the two boats behind following closely.

The workers on the deck were still sorting the cargo hauled up in the last net; they couldn't rest until they were done.

Fortunately, they were almost home; if things went smoothly, they could dock by the night after tomorrow, or the morning of the day after that.

Now that they were done, the rest of the voyage would be easy; they just needed to maintain some of the machines.

He wasn't bored either; those childhood friends would come to the wheelhouse to find him whenever they had free time, asking him to teach them how to identify and use these instruments.

When he was on duty at night, they came over again.

"I suggest you go learn directly; you're free anyway, and you don't necessarily have to stay at sea forever. Learning it has benefits, and you'll be able to get the hang of it quickly when the time comes."

Ah Guang responded, "I know, I'll learn from you when I get back, go learn it, and when you go to sea again, I'll be a deckhand for you for a few days."

Ah Zheng also scrambled to say: "I'll be a deckhand for you for a few days too."

Xiao Xiao didn't want to be left behind, "I'll work for you too..."

"A few days is not enough. I plan to have the preparatory work done after the New Year, and then come out again. When I come out, it will be for several months, not just a few days."

Ah Guang quickly said, "It's fine, isn't there a collection boat that goes out every two days to collect cargo? If we really can't take it, we can go back with the collection boat."

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes, "Whatever, anyway, there's no salary for you."

"Free food and lodging is enough."

"Go rest, it's very late, go back and learn, and then I'll give you some on-site guidance, that's the only way you'll remember, otherwise you'll forget as soon as you go back."

"Alright, we're going to sleep."

They were already on the return journey, and he wanted to hold on for a little longer, watching over things himself at night so he could feel more at ease, and then hand over the shifts to others during the day; anyway, it was only about two nights.

In two days, they returned from the deep sea to the near-shore, and the edge of the continental shelf was clearly visible.

The smell of the seawater became lighter and lighter, no longer the pure, salty deep-sea scent, but the fishy smell mixed with mud and sand from the shore.

The near-shore seawater was still turbid and earthy yellow, but as the line of sight extended behind, the color gradually deepened, turning into a heavy dark blue.

The coordinates of the Zhoushan Islands (29°56′ N, 122°12′ E) were also getting closer and closer.

The horizon was already turning white, and Ye Yaodong rubbed his sore eyes and said to Old Xiao, who was taking over the shift: "Keep the course at 125°, call me when you see the lighthouse of the Zhoushan Islands, I'm going to take a nap."

"Alright, go rest, it shouldn't take more than a few hours to arrive, you take a nap first, otherwise it will take a long time to unload the cargo later."

He nodded, "I reckon it will take at least five or six hours, I'll take a nap, call me when you see the lighthouse."

It was precisely because he considered that unloading the three boats wouldn't be that fast after docking that he wanted to go rest, to slightly recharge his spirits; he would still be busy after docking.

It should be said that he would definitely be very busy after docking.

The cargo of the three big boats was not a small amount, and the collection boat ahead of him had only set off three days earlier than him; he didn't know if his father had finished dealing with it, and if not, he would still have a headache.

When he was woken up again, the outline of the Zhoushan Islands was already vaguely visible in the distance.

"Didn't I say call me when you see the lighthouse? Why are you calling me now?"

"It's just that I thought you've been working hard these past few days, and wanted you to sleep a little longer; anyway, we haven't docked yet, and we're all in near-shore waters, we can handle it."

"Hmm."

He checked his watch, it was past ten o'clock; counting it up, the return journey had taken about two and a half days.

"Notify everyone, prepare for the fishing boats to dock."

Near the shore, the turbid yellow-green seawater waves began to be mixed with trash and dead branches, occasionally flashing with one or two silver mullet startled by the propeller.

A group of red-billed gulls circled behind the stern, fighting for the broken fish entrails stirred up by the winch; their calls mixed into the roar of the diesel engine, actually appearing quite lively.

The red light mark of the breakwater jumped into view first, flashing on and off like the pipe an old fisherman was smoking.

When the fishing boat slowly turned toward the port, the hull brushed against a patch of sargassum. Among those golden-brown seaweeds, a few transparent little moon jellyfish were opening and closing, like glass buttons scattered by someone.

Ye Yaodong held the binoculars and let out a long sigh of relief; he was also almost exhausted, and all the pressure had been on him.

This trip of fishing for 20 days could be considered a successful conclusion.

After taking over the wheelhouse, he first downgraded the power system.

The diesel engine was switched from sailing gear to maneuvering gear, and the speed was reduced to 600 rpm to prevent the wake from overturning small boats.

He turned off unnecessary equipment like radar and sonar, and at the same time, put the backup generator on hot standby, because the voltage in the port area was unstable and easily tripped.

He also had to adjust the ship's attitude and balance the ballast water tanks.

Workers also had to check if the gangway and cable fairleads were blocked by fishing net residue.

They also had to calibrate the positioning, with the second mate using a laser rangefinder to report the distance to the dock in real-time.

At 30 meters from the shore, without him needing to give orders, the workers knew to throw out the lightweight guide cable, and the dock workers used hook poles to receive it, prioritizing fixing the bow to resist crosswinds.

By the way, the dock workers also had to verify whether the dock they were heading into was the one they had rented and whether it had expired.

He also had to operate the main engine to reverse for 2-3 seconds to offset inertia and adjust the gangway height to match the tide level.

Once the workers used poles to hold against the dock to prevent the steel hull from scratching, they could be considered safely docked.

Finally, hanging up the corresponding flag would complete it.

Different flags on ships correspond to different signals, and there's a lot of nuance to it; although it's not that standardized now, it has already begun to be implemented.

He was a good citizen, and he was used to the patterns of his previous life, so he had long since let everything follow the rules and regulations.

The "red" flag to the top means "starting to dock."

The "white" flag is a square flag, with white and red each occupying half vertically, meaning: I have finished docking.

Ah Guang looked up curiously at the flag hanging there and said curiously: "Dongzi, why do I feel like your boat is so standard? It feels so regulated? I don't think other boats have it?"

"This is called complying with rules and regulations; those others are all half-baked, cutting corners where they can, not following the rules and regulations, and they'll be fined sooner or later."

"Really?"

"Hmm, then what does this flag you're hanging mean?"

"I have finished docking, you're nagging, I'm still very busy."

After Ye Yaodong finished the docking procedures, he clapped his hands and cleared his throat.

"Comrades, thank you for your hard work, this trip has come to a successful conclusion, but there is still a boatload of cargo that needs to be unloaded."

"But before unloading, there are other things to do; everyone wait for the notice to unload, Ah Guang go back and notify my father first."

"I can only unload after I've arranged the plan. Once these three boatloads are dealt with, I'll give everyone a week off to have a good rest."

Everyone responded, "Oh..."

With so much cargo, he couldn't unload it to the base camp or the processing plant; he had to find a buyer first before unloading.

This also reminded him that he needed to build a cold storage.

After finishing these things at hand, he first determined how much area the processing plant needed to expand? How much was approved for the application?

Then he would plan properly; at the very least, there had to be storage space, and the processing plant needed it too, so that any cargo could be moved directly.

He was also half-baked, had no experience, and was taking it one step at a time, with no plan; he could only do it when he thought of it, and could only gradually improve.

Ps: Exhausted, couldn't sleep at all last night, didn't sleep until 3 AM, got up at 6 AM to wear sackcloth and perform kowtows.

Woke up today with a headache and a sore throat; there were so many people, and everyone caught the cold.

The last session tonight, the master's ritual won't be finished until 0:00, and the funeral is at 8:00 tomorrow morning; it will be fine after finishing tomorrow.

People who haven't worked the land don't know how tiring it is, but holding a funeral is truly exhausting.

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(End of chapter)