Chapter 1738: Encounter

The promised brief squall lasted only 1.5 hours, but it hadn't ended even after three hours; rain pattered relentlessly, and gusts of force-8 wind came one after another.

At its most violent, waves crashed over the bow, which stood five meters high, and splashed onto the deck.

If this were near shore, not even force-6 waves would let you stay out—you'd have to turn back.

Everyone stared at the unceasing storm, grumbling.

"Wasn't it supposed to last one and a half hours? It's already been three—could it last till dawn?"

"So unreliable."

Ye Yaodong soothed them: "Are all the boats okay?"

"We're fine—we've faced worse storms before, we just don't know when it'll end."

"Why not steer out of this area? Once we leave the cloud cover, it should calm down."

"Yes, good idea—let's get out of this cloud-covered zone first."

Ye Yaodong checked the nautical chart: "Head northeast a bit and see what happens."

"Understood!"

He accelerated, and the other fishing boats, upon receiving the order, quickly followed.

After forty more minutes of cutting through wind and waves, whether because they'd exited the fog-and-rain zone or not, the gusts gradually weakened and the rain lessened.

"Phew, finally the wind and waves are calming down, and the rain's easing up."

"We should've steered farther ahead, away from that cloud patch."

Ye Yaodong had each fishing boat report their status, confirmed no one was injured, and only relaxed when he learned Boat No. 8 had lost two large baskets of snapper—other boats had suffered no losses; tools and equipment had been secured early, and losing some catch was minor.

He glanced behind him, wondering if the rain had lessened there too; under the same sky, sometimes it rained ahead but was clear behind.

"The wind and rain have calmed here—scatter and search for fish schools, stay alert for reefs and such, see if it's suitable for setting nets."

"Received."

The fishing boats scattered, and Ye Yaodong was left idle again.

He checked his wristwatch—it was barely past twelve. He might as well grab a late-night snack to settle his nerves.

His own boat didn't need steering for now, so he went downstairs to the galley.

Damn, everyone was sitting there eating snacks—he was the only one doing all the work.

"What the hell, you're all cozy here?"

"Hahaha, we were just as nervous a moment ago."

"We just started eating—was about to head to the bridge and ask if you wanted some."

"It's freshly cooked—the waves were too rough before, the cook couldn't work."

"Come on, have a bowl of seafood noodles—eat up and calm down."

Ye Yaodong only teased them, grabbed an aluminum lunchbox, scooped up a bowl of seafood noodles, and took it to the bridge to eat—this cabin was too stuffy and cramped; the bridge was far more comfortable.

At sea, everything's scarce except seafood—in this late-night meal, there was more seafood than noodles; by the time he finished picking the crab and shrimp shells clean, the noodles had doubled in quantity.

He slowly finished eating, set down the lunchbox, then suddenly noticed several moving green dots on the radar screen—before he could lean closer to examine them, the dots turned yellow.

That meant the echo strength had increased.

"What's that?"

Just as he was about to speak, the radio crackled to life.

"I think I've detected a fleet of fishing boats ahead?"

"Yes, I see it too—several yellow dots are moving fast, heading this way."

"Fishing boats? A whole fleet—could it be smugglers again?"

Ye Yaodong said: "I'll broadcast a warning on the public channel."

He set the radio aside and pressed the public channel transmit button.

"Fishing vessels ahead, this is Min Xianfeng, operating in this area. Please keep your distance and maneuver to avoid entanglement with our nets. Thank you for your cooperation."

"Received. This is Min Yu 88—we're just transiting, following our return route, no intention to interfere."

Ye Yaodong nodded, but suddenly the boat's name felt familiar—hadn't his father mentioned it during the New Year? Wasn't that the name of his aunt's husband's boat?

"Min Yu 88? Zhongnan Hou Village?"

"Huh?"

"He Dawei?"

"Ah, you know him? He's the second mate."

"He's my uncle by marriage."

"Small world—he's on night watch with me tonight. I'll call him over."

Ye Yaodong was still surprised—he'd run into him out here at sea? It had been years; he never expected this.

He wasn't close to this uncle—he'd heard he was short-lived, only lived into his early sixties, didn't even make it past the millennium.

Word was he spent most of his life at sea, rarely came home—maybe only a few days a year, sometimes not even for New Year.

Probably that's why he died young—overworked.

In the ten years since his rebirth, he'd probably seen him two or three times at most; he barely ever met his aunt either—only showed up for family celebrations, since he was almost always at sea, especially in recent years.

He'd heard from Lin Xiuqing that his uncle occasionally came to visit the old lady, brought gifts during holidays, but never stayed for meals—sat a while, then left, couldn't be persuaded to stay.

Many still clung to old habits: with food scarce, no one would accept a meal at another's house—just before mealtime, they'd hurry to leave.

Before reform and opening, everyone was stuck in the village; only after reform did people begin staying at sea for long stretches—if not, young wives would've cheated.

Now? At his age, nothing matters—just bring home the money!

Soon, his uncle's voice came through the private channel.

"Hey hey, you're Dongzi?"

"Yes, I didn't expect such a coincidence. Why are you in this stretch of sea? I always thought you were running boats near the Taiwan Strait."

"Switched it up this year. Did something different after New Year's. You've been around here?"

"Yeah, I've basically been at the DYD fishing grounds these past two years. Before that I was on fishing boats in Zhoushi, and there are still boats there."

"Oh, I heard you've been doing amazingly these past few years, your fishing operation getting bigger and bigger. It's rare for you to get time off and go back—your legend fills the whole town. Too bad every time you come home, people say you're never there."

"Yeah, too busy. These past five or six years I've basically been out here the whole time."

……

Ye Yaodong chatted with him for a while catching up. The other's fishing boat didn't stop, kept moving at speed, and just passed through their stretch of sea, borrowing the route.

They were close enough that the radio signal wasn't affected.

They'd been chatting for almost half an hour when the helmsman probably went to rest and handed the boat over to his uncle-in-law to watch.

Only then did his uncle-in-law say to him: "There are other people up ahead, so it's not great to talk. This trip of ours we went to the Japs' side to poach coral, pulled off a big haul, so we're in a rush to head back now. Rushing like this, if we run into some unfamiliar fishing boat working, we'd probably just charge straight through."

"!!!" Ye Yaodong was shocked.

"Our plan this trip is to put in at Zhoushi first, resupply, and we still need to offload part of the cargo on the boat to the big boss, then we need to dock at Modu to offload more. During that time we'll probably linger at port for a few days. After this trip wraps up, I should get about half a month off."

"Awesome, bold too. How many boats? Just charging straight over to the Honk side like that?"

"Over a dozen boats, all from around our town, everyone knows each other. These past couple years, one after another, folks got big boats, and figured let's pull off one big score to clear our debts."

"Bring back one boat's worth, that's a killing—way more than just clearing debts."

"All luck of the draw. Scared out of our wits. When we were poaching at night, their patrol boats spotted us, we barely had time to run."

"So you guys got chased back?" he joked, saying it lightly.

"Pretty much. Got two or three nets in before we were spotted, hauled ass out of there. Lucky we got away. We'll have to lay low from here on."

"Then your boss made plenty too."

"That is true."

"How about you consider coming to work for me? You don't need to be second mate—I'll make you captain straight away, with a cut of the profits. A captain's share is way higher than a second mate's."

He Dawei hesitated. "Let's hold off for now. My current skipper is pretty good too, a fellow villager, our own people. It's not easy to just quit on the spot."

"What's the big deal? Water flows downhill, people move uphill. Whoever pays more, that's where you go."

"Sigh, I signed a ten-year contract. Still got five or six years before it's up."

"Ten years! I've only just gotten people signed for five years, and that only started the year before last."

At the time it was to send people off for training, so he made it more formal and had them sign a contract. Otherwise, after he trained them up, they'd just jump ship to work somewhere else, or go independent—wouldn't he be losing out big time?

No wonder all the relatives knew he now had a whole fleet of boats, had made a lot of money, struck it rich, yet his uncle-in-law who ran boats hadn't come knocking.

Turns out even if he had, it wouldn't have mattered—he'd already sold himself into a contract.

"A few years back I was also thinking, I'm almost fifty, signing for ten years is no big deal. A steady stream of money coming in, no worry about no work. By the time ten years is up I won't be able to work anyway, and I can go home and retire."

"Alright then, you're putting in at Zhoushi in a couple days, right? My fresh-fish boat will also be putting in to head back in a couple days. I'll get in touch with you then. Got a phone number? Or should I leave one with you?"

"Leave one with me. I'm at a port making a temporary stop—where would I get a phone number? You leave me one, and I'll call you in a couple days."

"Sure. While you're at it, could you take a look on the boat and see if there's any coral in good shape, save one for me? I'll put it in my office as a decoration to bring in wealth."

"Easy, no problem. I'll give you one when the time comes."

Ye Yaodong thanked him politely and hung up first.

He told you—how did his aunt's family end up with so much coral, more than anyone, a huge pile they gave away to everyone, didn't even mind tossing some out. Turns out it was all brought back by his uncle-in-law running boats like this.

Wait another five or six years for him to come back, and he won't have much longer to live either. Thinking about it, it's kind of pitiful.

Struggled most of his life, just when he got old and could enjoy life, it just so happened that he couldn't.

What is working a whole lifetime actually for?

Wife and kids live it up the second half of their lives, while he dies early.

Ye Yaodong figured once they docked, he'd chat more with the man. Maybe when they put in at Modu next time, he could get him to go for a physical checkup.

If he's not fit to go to sea anymore, he should quit and go home to retire sooner. That way he might just live a few more years.

Otherwise, slaving away a whole lifetime, never enjoying life, only suffering—that's a pretty miserable existence.

Running into his uncle-in-law was just a little episode in the night. During the chat, other boats were murmuring on the walkie-talkie, and he didn't bother with them, letting them decide on their own.

In the second half of the night the rain gradually stopped, but the next day there was still no sun. Even after daybreak it didn't feel bright, still grey and hazy, with only one morning star visible.

Autumn and winter are mostly this kind of grey, hazy weather. Right now it's late winter, early spring, and it's still the same kind of weather.

A spring rain brings a spell of warmth, but he hadn't felt any warmth yet—probably have to wait until he gets on land to feel it.

Ye Yaodong waited until the third day drifting at sea before starting to arrange the cargo pickup and fish transfer. Most of the fishing boats were seventy to eighty percent full, with both good catches and mixed catches.

He had to take them one by one in turn, and with the waiting time in line, it would probably take a whole day to get through everyone, so he started at the crack of dawn.

"All boats, report your hold capacity. I'm getting ready to take cargo."

"I'm at seventy percent, just finished taking catch, can head straight over…"

"Ocean-Going No. 2 is also around seventy percent. Just lowered this net, will have to queue for afternoon pickup."

……

The fishing boats reported in dribs and drabs. Based on the situation, he lined up three docking times in order.

"Get ready to come alongside, bow to bow, keep your distance!"

"Copy!"

The order went out, the two fishing boats connected smoothly, the fish pump started up instantly, giving off a unique and powerful "buzz," as if some great beast had begun to swallow.

They started with the mixed catch, pumping it straight down to the fermentation tanks in the lower hold, then processing it.

In the gaps of this efficient mechanical operation, the violent currents kicked up by the fish pump and the thick fishy smell that drifted out attracted plenty of big and small fish to linger around their fishing boats.

A few bold albatrosses took advantage of the moment the fish churned up, diving down and precisely snatching small fish stunned by the currents.

Some seagulls were bold enough to just land right on the fishing boat's railing.

A few dolphins had surfaced on the sea, watching curiously as they sat at anchor without moving.

Ye Yaodong stood on the pilothouse, looking down at the dolphins below. He couldn't help feeling they were rather human-like, like a crowd of onlookers gathered to watch the fun — wherever something was happening, they had to come over and have a look.

Watching all this, the corner of his mouth curved into a faint, almost imperceptible smile. He picked up the walkie-talkie, his steady voice cutting through the machine's roar.

"Once this one's done, the next one hooks up right away. Have the next boat ready in advance! Move faster — finish up and head back."

"Copy that."

One fishing boat after another was emptied of its catch, then set out again on a new round of exploration and fishing.

Some boats had to wait for the fish-collector ship; sometimes the timing didn't work out perfectly. By the time he'd finished collecting cargo from all of them, it was already dark.

The fish pump stopped its roar. That "buzz" — like the heartbeat of some great beast that had gone on for most of the day — suddenly vanished, and a brief stillness settled over the sea. Everyone found themselves oddly unaccustomed to it.

The crew chatted as they skillfully hauled in the thick fish-transfer pipe and sealed the suction port on the side of the hull.

On deck, the workers divided up the tasks, using high-pressure water hoses to wash away the grime and fishy smell. The water gathered into a small stream across the deck, carrying silvery glinting fish-scale fragments and debris back into the sea.

Ye Yaodong pressed the walkie-talkie again. "I was originally planning to just let the fish-collector ship head back while I stayed out at sea and hopped onto whichever boat to keep supervising. But I've got something to handle, so I need to go back to shore. I'll head back with the fish-collector ship this trip and come out again in a few days."

"Copy that."

"Dongzi, just go ahead to shore. If anything comes up, you can come back out and tell us — we'll get the news firsthand."

"Haha, I can tell you can't wait to find out when the reward will be paid out — you're eager to get the news."

"That's right, it's a lot of money. I can't work for free."

Ye Yaodong cleared his throat. "Ahem. According to schedule, the next fish-collector ship should have already left shore this morning, so I'll head back as soon as I can on my end. In a couple of days that ship will be here anyway."

"Copy that."

"Cut the pump, seal the hold, prepare to return!"

"Copy that."

He was still fairly at ease — they'd been fishing in these waters for almost a year now. The old hands showing the new ones the ropes, and there wouldn't be any real problems; everyone could work it out just by discussing it among themselves.

After a few casual instructions, Ye Yaodong had also entered the course. The propeller at the stern churned up rolling waves as they prepared to set off directly.

……

PS: This would have been the perfect place to end the chapter, but there aren't enough words, so I can only add one more scene.