Chapter 197: The Boat Filled with Fish

"Dong-zi? You're still here? I thought you'd gone back."

The timely rain has arrived!

Ye Yaodong's eyes lit up as he looked at Ah Guang; indeed, he was his good brother, appearing exactly when needed.

"Ah Guang, hurry up, do you still have strength in your hands? Crawl over and help me haul this net up."

"Ah? Oh, coming."

Actually, his arms and his father's arms were both too weak to lift; staying any longer made little sense, so they were just planning to return.

But then again, that was his future father-in-law and brother-in-law in his heart; even without strength, he had to do it.

Pei's father maneuvered his boat close to join the two vessels, making it easy for Ah Guang to cross over.

Ah Guang crawled over using all four limbs, slapped the muscles on his arm, shook his hands again once he reached the front, and only then helped pull together.

The three of them gritted their teeth until their back molars nearly cracked, straining with the strength of nine oxen and two tigers to inch the fishing net upward bit by bit.

As soon as they shifted it up, all three tumbled down with a splash, sitting on the ground; this time they were truly exhausted.

"Not bad, you guys; with just this broken net, you actually managed to haul up a marlin?" Ah Guang saw the net was full of broken lines and large holes.

"Hauling a big fish doesn't matter; damn it, we finally got it up; I was about to give up just now."

"Doesn't that mean I should be thanked for arriving just in time?"

"Yes, thank your eight generations of ancestors!"

Ye's father glared at him, "How are you speaking?"

"Ah, nothing, Uncle; we've always spoken like this," Ah Guang said with a laugh.

"My father is just ignorant of the world!"

"Hahaha, so you're heading back now, right?"

"Yes, it's almost dark; my father and I are done in too. We were planning to return anyway, but then we saw a marlin nearby; if we didn't haul it up, I'd feel guilty after working hard all day."

Ah Guang kicked the marlin still in the net. "It is quite a top-grade one, just feels smaller than the one I caught. We caught a marlin just now too; it took a huge effort."

Ye Yaodong looked at him with envy, jealousy, and resentment. "Could you not say it out loud and make me jealous?"

"Hahaha, you guys caught quite a lot too; the boat is full of fish. Today is truly a full return. Let's go, let's go, back home; I'm exhausted, probably going to eat with my feet tonight."

It really was going to be eating with feet; he didn't want to move a single finger, and couldn't move them anymore.

But even if he couldn't move, he still had to crawl up and steer the boat back; that marlin still needed to be bled with a knife.

But when he crawled to the marlin's side with the knife to bleed it, his hand shook so badly that the knife dropped straight down, hitting his thigh and sliding down toward his groin...

He was startled, and his leg trembled...

A tear instantly appeared in his crotch, and the cold knife pressed right against his manhood...

"Holy damn..."

Ye Yaodong felt a chill in his crotch; startled, he immediately pulled the knife away. He had specially sharpened this knife a few days ago just to make killing fish easier!

"What's with all the fuss?"

"Laozi almost lost my third leg."

Ye's father didn't believe him; he was always talking nonsense with that mouth of his, only knowing how to fool people.

Ye Yaodong glared at the marlin in front of him, cursing under his breath, "Was it easy for Laozi to haul you up? And now you want to take a stab at me? Damn..."

He adjusted his pants; this time he squatted halfway, slapped the back of his right hand, and then shakily gave it a full bleed before tossing it aside.

Forget about a single room; it was too late, and they were full.

After finishing the work, he stood up again and looked out at the sea. By now the sky had darkened, but a faint light still allowed him to see that many fewer boats remained on the distant sea, though quite a few boats were still lingering there; some boats that arrived late simply couldn't bear to leave.

As their boat sailed farther and farther away, the sky grew darker and darker. Besides Ah Guang's boat, there were still a few boats returning in the same direction nearby; he could basically determine they were from surrounding villages.

Today, everyone had hit a stroke of great luck.

With no excitement left to watch, Ye Yaodong could only slump into a corner to rest; his arms, hanging naturally, grew heavier and heavier, feeling less and less like his own hands.

He would have to be a useless person for a few more days.

The closer they got to the shore, the fewer boats there were in the same direction; he saw boat after boat either docking at the town pier or at the piers of nearby villages. The boat where the middle-aged woman had fallen turned out to be from the village next to their neighbor's village.

Only six or seven scattered boats continued moving forward. Ye Yaodong only realized then that two of them were from their own village, and one belonged to Lin Lin Jingye, Lin Shu.

Before, there were too many boats, and it was too dark to see clearly, so they hadn't paid attention; this time they discovered that Lin Shu and his son were also working in that sea area today.

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Ye's father smiled and greeted him, "Did you chase the sardines today too?"

"Good heavens, so you were here too! Is Guoyuan here as well?"

Pei Guoyuan was Ah Guang's father's name!

"Of course; it's a money-making job, so naturally I'm involved," Ye's father said proudly.

Hearing this, Ye Yaodong also thought of something: with such a huge catch today, his father's share of the money must be calculated higher; today they had exerted themselves to the death, nothing like the usual ease.

Looking at the boat full of sardines, these alone must weigh several thousand jin and could sell for several hundred; plus those ten-plus big fish, which could sell for a thousand yuan, right?

And there were nineteen gannets!

This single trip had already earned back the entire cost of the boat; buying this boat was truly damn worth it!

He did a mental calculation, his face breaking into a wide smile; he felt wonderful inside, and let his arms ache for a few more days.

After five fishing boats successively docked, they were neatly parked in a row. By then, few people remained on the shore; only a few women were still waiting anxiously for the men in their families who had not yet returned.

Even Lin Lin Xiuqing couldn't help running out to wait with worry; it was simply too late. Ye Yaodong had never returned from sea so late before; she was so worried something might have happened to him. She couldn't sit still at home, feeling restless; after feeding the two children, she handed them over to Ye Ye Dasao to watch and then hurried out to wait.

Ye's mother was also worried; usually, fishing boats like theirs returned before dark. Even the eldest and second sons had returned, yet her husband and Ye Lao San still showed no sign so late, which made people unable not to worry about what might have happened to them.

Fortunately, other women were also waiting at the pier, so they felt much more reassured and comforted themselves in their hearts, thinking perhaps the cargo was large today, so they lingered a bit longer.

Only when they saw the fishing boats from afar did the women on the shore finally feel relieved.

As soon as the boats docked, everyone rushed over with concerned inquiries, but before they could finish half a sentence, they were stunned by the boat full of fish, and their unfinished words got stuck in their throats.

"A… Ah-Dong… how… how can there be so many?" Lin Lin Xiuqing stared wide-eyed at the silver-white sardines packed full on the fishing boat, feeling as if her eyes were playing tricks on her, and blinked several more times.

Ye Mu was also so shocked she couldn't even close her mouth. "Th… did you lot run into a school of fish?"

"It's not just one school — it's a sardine storm of several billion. We got lucky and ran right into it, and we just couldn't bear to leave, which is why we were held up until now."

The other fishing boats nearby were also excitedly chattering and gesturing.

The women who heard were overjoyed, their mouths almost crooked from grinning — how much money would this boatload of cargo be worth?

The more shrewd ones were sneaking glances at the other families' boats, checking whether their catch was bigger than their own.

"Mother, you all hurry to Ah-Cai's place and bring the baskets over, quickly get these fish ashore."

"Right, right, right?"

Ye Mu, reminded by his words, immediately took off running. If others got ahead of them by even a little, they'd have to wait — at this late hour, who wouldn't want to finish up and get home early? Who wasn't standing here hungry?

Lin Lin Xiuqing also hurried along to help.

The others now caught on as well, and all went to fetch baskets.

It was fortunate that the dock had several buying stations, and the other two boats didn't deal with the same fixed buyer as theirs — otherwise, weighing the cargo boat by boat would have meant waiting several hours.

Once the baskets were brought aboard, Ye Yaodong told Lin Lin Xiuqing to head back first. Seeing her running so nimbly behind Ye Mu just now, he was afraid she might fall.

"The two kids have Ye Ye Dasao watching them. I'll stay here and help you load the cargo, it's fine."

Ye Yaodong glared at her. "You go call Big Brother and Ye Ye Erge out to help too, otherwise in a bit there won't be anyone to carry these baskets."

He and his father were already worn out — the longer it went, the more their arms ached, and the more painful and impossible to lift they became. Right now they could only hang straight down, and they'd need to rub some tea oil on them when they got back.

Lin Lin Xiuqing, hearing that he wasn't actually refusing her help, was finally willing to go back and call the others.

"Walk slowly, be careful on the road, remember to watch your step, don't fall. Take my headlamp with you for light."

"I know, so naggy — I'm not a child. With so many people around, aren't you afraid of being laughed at…?" Lin Lin Xiuqing said somewhat awkwardly, glancing at the people nearby. Luckily they were all busy happily loading the cargo and hadn't paid attention to Ye Yaodong's so blunt words of concern — people these days were mostly quite reserved.

Ye Mu, while loading the fish, happily asked them how they caught them. Were there a lot of sardines at sea? Were there many boats? She also asked what kinds of big fish those piled in the corner were, and whether they were worth money.

Ye Fu was just fretting that there was no one to share with, and Ye Mu's questions hit exactly the right note. He excitedly poured out everything he'd seen and heard from the early hours until the afternoon, with Ye Yaodong chipping in from the side.

Ye Mu and the women on the neighboring boats kept gasping in surprise, and after each gasp they cheerfully asked again for more details.

……