Chapter 1654: A Narrow Escape

Ye Yaodong listened to everyone reporting, basically they were all hauling in nets, or had already stopped work, and he felt quite relieved.

It was better not to operate in this kind of heavy fog weather, and everyone's fishing boats weren't far away. Any net below was several hundred meters, while visibility on the sea surface was too low, and there was heavy fog interfering with the signal. If detection wasn't timely, and they got entangled together, that would be the loss of two nets.

The loss of fishing nets was small, but if they couldn't go out to sea for a month or so, that loss would be big.

He thought about it and continued: "If I'm not there, you guys discuss and solve things yourselves if you encounter them. Safety first, everything else is secondary. Better not earn, but safety must be placed in the 1st position."

"Received."

"Fog interferes with signal, signal is intermittent, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Don't be too worried if you lose contact for a while, do your own job well, this fog will always dissipate. Just think that other fishing boats are around you, and you don't need to be too worried."

Everyone was considered to have just come to the deep sea. Besides retired soldiers who participated in maritime training, ordinary people would also have no bottom in their hearts.

The signal was intermittent, and everyone's reply was also intermittent.

Ye Yaodong had comforted what should be comforted, and the response measures had also been said. The next step was to see the situation they encountered in a bit.

He couldn't see anything now, the detection instrument screen was also blurry, the visibility of the searchlight was also limited, and he could only move forward slowly and grope, seeing when he could walk out of this piece of heavy fog. He hoped the range covered by this piece of heavy dense fog wouldn't be too wide.

The workers on the deck had long run out after knowing about the heavy fog and stood on the deck looking at the surrounding sea surface with worry.

Some also turned on flashlights, all very worried, fearing accidents, after all, the risk at sea was originally big.

Some older ones had long panicked and went to the cabin to worship Mazu, praying for Mazu's protection.

The fishing boat sailed for quite a while, but the fog didn't thin, instead, visibility became lower, like a thick quilt soaked in water, covering the sea surface tightly, visibility shrinking to the point where the bow of the boat was blurry.

The Dongyu No. 1 seemed to be sailing through boiling milk, forced to rely on the faint light points of the radar and GPS to slowly grope its way forward in the boundless white haze.

The deck was wet, and the railings and cables were covered with fine water droplets, even the windshield in front of the wheelhouse was covered with water droplets.

Ye Yaodong had the wiper scrape it, and clarity was restored, but the heavy fog in front of the fishing boat was still viscous.

He stared at the screen, listening to the intermittent communication sounds of other fishing boats coming from the walkie-talkie, his spirit a bit tense.

In this weather, what he feared most was unseen reefs or reckless boats.

The whistle was blowing, which could prevent reckless fishing boats, but couldn't prevent reefs. After all, the radar signal was very weak now, and nothing could be detected.

Suddenly, a worker who had been standing on the deck made a sound and pointed to the sea outside the ship's side: "Look! There's quite a movement under the water!"

Everyone crowded to the window, trying to distinguish. Although the heavy fog obscured the distance, the seawater close to the ship's side was unusually active.

It was no longer the deep blue or ink green of weekdays, but surging with a peculiar, turbid silver light.

Countless tiny bubbles constantly emerged from the depths, bursting on the water surface, making a dense "popping" sound, like a boiling pot.

"Whoa, there's something underneath!" An experienced fisherman shouted, his eyes brightening, "The movement isn't small, I'm afraid it's a big school of fish!"

Before the words fell, an accident happened. Only hearing a crisp "pop" sound, a silver-bright figure shot out from the surging water without warning, drawing a short arc, and "thumped" into the wet front deck solidly!

It was a mackerel half a meter long!

It twisted its silver-shining body in vain on the deck, its gill covers opening and closing rapidly.

The workers on the deck had their eyes brightened.

"Mackerel?"

"Ha! The fish jumped up by itself?"

"This is also possible?"

Everyone exclaimed in surprise and joy.

This seemed to be a signal.

Immediately after, "Pop! Pop! Pop!"

One after another, more fish of various sizes—some mackerel, and some horse mackerel with blue-green scales—leaped out from the surging seawater like out-of-control small shells, scrambling to jump onto the boat.

Some hit the deck, some hit the ship's side and bounced back into the sea, and some were unlucky, directly falling into the empty fish baskets piled in the corner.

The tense atmosphere on the deck was swept away, replaced by laughter and exclamations.

Ye Yaodong and the others also discovered the movement on the deck. He let the captain go out to take a look.

The captain only went out for a moment and returned, and a relaxed smile also appeared on his face, unlike just now when he was frowning and looking solemn.

"There are fish jumping onto the boat, and they are all big fish. They are picking up fish below, there are mackerel and horse mackerel, I see quite a few."

"That's fine, saving them from being unable to help and only being able to watch and worry there. But let them be careful under their feet, it will be slippery."

"Already instructed them to be careful when picking up fish, let them not be slapped in the face by the fish."

"That's fine too, it saves everyone from being unable to help and just standing there watching and worrying, but you must tell them to watch their footing; it will be slippery."

"This ghostly weather, the fish are also stuffy, want to come out to take a breath?"

Although the heavy fog locking the sea was annoying and added crisis, this accidental fish cargo made everyone feel much more relaxed, as if they had been injected with a stimulant, sweeping away the original dullness below.

Laughter and shouting occasionally covered the whistling of the fog horn.

However, it only lasted for more than half an hour before stopping. Ye Yaodong guessed that the school of fish below should have passed, and the sea surface returned to calm.

The captain also felt a bit puzzled, why there was suddenly no movement, saying: "No fish to pick up? I'll go take a look, you watch here?"

"Yeah."

Sure enough, the surging silver light and dense "popping" sound outside the ship's side had subsided, and the sea surface returned to the viscous calm wrapped in heavy fog.

"Took a look, picked up two baskets, the size isn't small, two baskets of 200 jin are also there, one is twenty or thirty jin."

"Just 200 jin, I thought there were many."

"It's just that there are many people and big movement, they are more than the fish, and some are good to pick up. It's also because the fishing boat is full of cargo and the draft is deep, otherwise the ship's side is so high, the fish that jumped up would all be blocked outside and return to the sea."

"Let them return to the cabin after picking up the fish. Standing on the deck doesn't help much. I'll notify if there's anything."

"They have already taken a few freshly picked fish to the canteen, saying they are cooking late-night snacks, anyway, there's nothing to do now, can only worry."

Ye Yaodong nodded, that's fine. "Heavy fog, don't know when it will pass, we have to be clear-headed at night, let's also scoop a bowl up in a bit after cooking late-night snacks."

"Alright."

Time seemed to be stretched in the heavy fog.

Ye Yaodong stared at the radar screen, occasionally looking at the slow movement of the GPS positioning red dot, sometimes the signal was bad and it would disappear.

He lit a cigarette to refresh himself, and the smoke rose curlingly in the closed wheelhouse.

"This ghostly fog, endless."

He muttered, his voice carrying a bit of tired hoarseness.

The captain responded: "Yeah, don't know when it will dissipate, or sail out of this sea area of heavy fog. Several hours have passed, how many nautical miles have we sailed?"

"How many nautical miles? Not even ten nautical miles, about the same as turtle speed."

"Don't know if other few boats are covered by heavy fog now."

Ye Yaodong had the VHF and walkie-talkie turned on. At first, he could hear a little movement and intermittent speaking sounds, and he could guess while listening.

Later it didn't work, only the buzzing sound of signal interference remained.

He found it noisy, but only turned the volume down a bit. In case the signal got better at some point, he would know if someone was calling if there was any situation.

Now three hours had passed, it was almost 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, and he felt the signal seemed a bit better, so he picked up the walkie-talkie.

"Attention all boats, those who hear please reply, report the current situation."

"Boat No. 1... heavy fog... slow..."

"No. 2... same... heavy fog..."

The voice coming from the microphone was also pressed dull by this boundless heavy fog. However, there were intermittent sounds, and he felt a bit relieved.

After eating the late-night snack, he couldn't help but feel sleepy again, finding it was almost 2 o'clock, so he had to pour another cup of strong tea and continue to hold on.

Don't know how long passed, maybe an hour, maybe two hours.

The captain, who had been staring at the "white wall" that couldn't be dissolved, suddenly rubbed his eyes and blinked hard.

"Dongzi, why do I feel like it's about to be dawn?"

Ye Yaodong's tiger body shook, and he instantly became spirited, staring at the front with widened eyes.

"About to be dawn?"

Sure enough!

It was no longer that dead, opaque milky white.

The black fog in front seemed to be thinner, revealing a kind of... gray-bright light?

"Dawn is good, the sun rises, and the fog dissipates. Moving slowly like this all night, spirit was tense, tired me to death."

The captain was also very happy, "Tossed all night, finally about to pass, too good."

"Once dawn breaks, immediately speed up and hurry on the road, wasted a whole night."

"Fine, when changing shifts in a bit, instruct Old Wu and Little Xu."

Ye Yaodong stretched a big stretch, looking at the sky getting brighter outside, his heart also relaxed, and he was a bit unable to sit still.

"You watch here, I'll go out to take a look."

"Alright."

As soon as he stood up, he felt his old waist was sore, and could only hold his waist and twist back and forth while walking out.

The sky was slightly bright, the heavy fog in front no longer covered the sky and sun, but could see some blurry, flowing forms.

He shouted at the wheelhouse again: "Pay attention to the signal source at any time, if you can clearly contact a few boats, shout at me."

"Received."

The boat continued to move forward.

Accompanied by the orange silk ribbon looming on the horizon, the gray fog also became lighter and lighter.

Suddenly, the fishing boat seemed to pass through the fog, and suddenly the sea and sky were wide.

The foggy sky, an orange silk ribbon hanging on the horizon, green green mountains, azure blue seawater.

Behind, the heavy white fog that had entangled them all night was still floating there, not dissipating, just a cotton wall slowly retreating, getting farther and farther away from them, lying horizontally on the sea level with clear boundaries, rolling and surging.

He immediately returned to the wheelhouse, "Have other fishing boats been contacted?"

"Our signal is normal, other fishing boats' signals are intermittent, might have to be a bit later to be contacted."

"Then take it slow, the sun is about to rise, once the sun shines, the fog will be gone."

"The fishing boat in front reported, seems to have some situation, I can't hear clearly."

Ye Yaodong frowned, "What situation?"

While asking, he tried to contact each other again. On the other side, it was still all noise.

"Forget it, let's accelerate and return first, it will still be contactable with VHF in a bit."

"Alright, finally passed through the heavy fog, this whole night worried me."

"You rest, by the way call people to change shifts, I also want to sleep, not young anymore, can't stay up late."

"Hehe, I'll go eat breakfast first, then call people, by the way, bring you a portion."

"Alright, bring these two late-night snack bowls down by the way."

Early in the morning, seagulls didn't know where they popped out from, started circling and chirping around the mast, and then flew to the stern to eat the buffet.

Ye Yaodong looked at the clear sky, and his mood also got better.

Simply ate breakfast, handed over the remaining sailing work to the first mate and second mate, and he himself first returned to the rest cabin to sleep.

By the time he woke up, it was already afternoon.

Waking up, he knew that when the fog rose at night, one of his eldest brother's boats collided with his No. 3 boat.

However, neither boat was fast, and when they collided, the fishing boat only shook heavily, and the workers standing on the deck fell in a mess, but they didn't suffer any serious injuries, at most scraped a bit of skin.

The fishing boat only had the bow and the position where the ship's side collided dented, and there was no too serious damage.

This was considered a misfortune among misfortunes. It was just the appearance of the fishing boat that was bumped, and it didn't affect use.

Ye Yaodong frowned, "Weren't there whistles blowing at sea? Why did they collide? Hearing the whistle, both sides should be vigilant."

"Said they weren't far away themselves, just in the same sea area. When the heavy fog permeated, they blew the whistle. At that time, they could hear several whistle sounds around."

"Then suddenly approaching was also impossible to prevent. Thought they were still at a distance, but when they got close and saw the outline of the fishing boat, it was too late to avoid."

"Fortunately, the loss wasn't big, and no one suffered any serious injuries, which was considered fortunate. It's just that your eldest brother seems to be worried, hesitating whether to return first."

Ye Yaodong also felt his eldest brother's luck was a bit bad.

He said: "Return for what? Not dragging nets, earn the money first, otherwise wouldn't it be in vain to suffer this crime? Anyway, already arrived, have to earn back the loss no matter what. If afraid of this, how to mix in the deep sea in the future?"

"This was just a simple heavy fog day, didn't encounter other worse special situations or worse weather."

"If you retreat now, might as well sell the boat early and stay in the near sea."

"Now so many fishing boats are surrounding and taking care of each other nearby, safety is considered relatively safe."

"I'll contact him to see, he hasn't returned yet, right?"

The captain said: "No, I also told him that, now the heavy fog has passed, don't take advantage of now to cast nets and earn money, but run back, run for what?"

"Exactly."

"He said he just felt heartache for the new boat being damaged, afraid there would be problems somewhere, wanted to drive back to check first. We let him check it himself first. If there's nothing wrong inside, then the appearance dent doesn't matter. Wait until there's a return trip, then repair it."

"Yeah, his luck on this trip is indeed not very good."

After Ye Yaodong finished speaking, he pressed the VHF, "Dongyu No. 1 calling Ye Yaopeng, please reply if heard."

"Heard, Dongzi."

"I just woke up and heard about it. How is the fishing boat? Is the damage serious? Can it drag nets normally?"

"Can, I was too panicked, now it's fine. Dragged a net from this morning until now, and can haul in the net in two hours."

"Pay attention to safety, just the appearance of the boat, it's not a big problem, wait until you return to repair it. Is the harvest okay today?"

Ye Yaopeng laughed, "More than okay, simply exploding the net, should say every net of goods is a lot, too much, almost can't handle it, wait until return to see, have to add two or three people."

"Yeah, then wait until return to talk about it, it's fine if there's nothing."

"Nothing, nothing, very good."

Still able to laugh, explaining there was indeed nothing wrong.

After Ye Yaodong finished caring about his brother, he inquired about how many nautical miles they sailed in the half day he slept, and how long it was expected to arrive.

Last night was considered a waste of a night, didn't sail far at all, but it was considered a narrow escape.

By the time they arrived safely at the pier, it was already four or five o'clock in the morning two days later, and they also contacted the fresh-keeping boat that went out halfway.

The heavy fog weather two days ago was only at sea, and there was also near the sea, but there was none along the coast to the shore.

That sudden heavy fog caused quite a big loss to the near-sea fishing boats. Quite a few fishing boats had collision accidents during night operation, some touched reefs, and some fishing nets were entangled, suffering heavy losses.

So much so that when he returned, people on the shore were still discussing, saying the shipyard had been busy to death these few days, boats couldn't be repaired, all had to wait in line, estimated to waste a month or so.

And the time point they arrived wasn't convenient to unload goods either. Estimated his father had only sent goods for a few hours.

Not to mention whether he had rested enough, the previous wave of goods had just been sent, and to send again, at least had to wait until the afternoon or evening. At this time, his family's workers were estimated to be resting.

After the fishing boat docked, he only left the workers processing fish meal in the bottom hold to take shifts, and let everyone else go back to rest, waiting until they woke up, and come over to unload goods at 12 o'clock noon.

These days, processing fish meal 24 hours a day without interruption, more than twenty tons had accumulated on the boat.

Plus the goods transported back last trip, adding up to forty or fifty tons, after finishing the goods on the boat, he could find a buyer and start selling.

Ye Fu woke up at eight or nine o'clock, and only heard from the guard that Ye Yaodong returned early in the morning.

He didn't go to disturb, but took the workers and grandson to the pier to unload goods, already a qualified ox and horse.

By the time Ye Yaodong woke up, most of the goods on the boat had been unloaded.

As soon as Ye Fu saw him, he immediately inquired, "How is your eldest brother and second brother's fishing? Did the heavy fog the other night have any impact on you there?"

"The loss in the near sea is huge. Zhou Da's boat's fishing net was entangled with someone else's net. No way, could only cut it, and sank to the seabed with the goods and net."

"Other people's boats were the same, both sides argued for a whole night, almost fought at sea, fortunately we had many people, the other side ran away gray-faced."

He just woke up and heard about this.

"That boat has been there for a few years, should have spare fishing nets, right?"

"Have, just heartache, net and goods gone at once, all sank to the sea."

Why is it always heard that sea turtles are entangled by abandoned fishing nets in the sea? This isn't fishermen intentionally throwing fishing nets into the sea, all accidents.

"Losing a bit of small money to keep safe, it's fine, not a big deal. We also encountered heavy fog at sea, my eldest brother's boat collided with one of my No. 3 boats..."

Ye Yaodong simply told his father about it.

"Your eldest brother's luck is a bit back? So many happy events in the first month, didn't let his luck flourish a bit, thought it could flourish him."

"This is the reason for the weather, who can predict it accurately, maybe it's good luck, so it was just a simple collision, no other loss."

"Still you know how to think."

Ye Yaodong finished speaking and changed the topic, "Have my fish meal been unloaded?"

"Already unloaded, the goods to be transported to our own factory were unloaded and sent over first, the remaining fish goods are now counted and sent to other processing plants. You have a lot of fish meal, the warehouse in the factory is piled full, also have to take it to sell, too space-consuming."

"Know, asking this is thinking about unloading the fish meal, hurry up and sell it."

Also don't need to find others, just find the Marine Fishery Company that bought his tuna. He still had Jiang Dacheng's contact information.

"Dad, then the goods unloading here is handed to you, I'll go back and contact first, now it's afternoon, have to hurry up and confirm today, sell the goods tomorrow."

Only then could he catch up to go out to sea tomorrow night, otherwise he could only delay until the day after tomorrow.

There were too many fishing boats at sea, he didn't dare to stay on the shore for too long, fearing that if he stayed for a day or two more, there would be more goods, and he couldn't transport them in time.

Now he could only race against time, being able to go ashore and rest well for a night was considered not bad, other fishing boats at sea didn't even have this treatment.

He had to wait for people to come over to inspect the goods after contacting, go for testing, and then talk about the price.

Fortunately, once familiar, he had dealt with Jiang Dacheng, and also asked him about fish meal at that time.

He mentioned it again now, which was a matter of course. It's just that people couldn't come over immediately, had to wait until the next day.

He could only wait patiently, send the fish meal for testing first, and it would be easy to talk about the price tomorrow morning when he got the test report. He was in a hurry when he returned last trip, forgot, could only now. ===== CHAPTER 1655 =====

Fortunately, once bitten, twice shy; I've already dealt with Jiang Dacheng before, and I had asked him about fish meal back then.

It's only natural for me to bring it up again now, but the person can't come over immediately; I'll have to wait until the next day.

I can only wait patiently; I have to send the fish meal for testing first, and I won't be able to get the test report until the next day. I was in such a rush when I came back last time that I didn't have time to send it for testing, and I forgot, so I can only do it now.