Chapter 223

Not everyone had the same idea as them. There were people walking on the shore, but even more people stayed behind to see what would happen.

Money is white and shiny; who would be willing to give it up? Picking a sackful is a day's wages. In just a little while this morning, everyone had already picked half a bag, not to mention yesterday.

Although Ye Mu had gotten a grouper by fishing in troubled waters, she didn't want to go down and squeeze with so many people again. If things went wrong, they might really start fighting again. She had already gained an advantage, so she shouldn't go join the fun. She was also soaked by the water.

"Then let's sell the goods and go back. We'll come out to watch the fun after we've showered."

A-Guang whispered to Ye Huimei, "I'll take you back to soak your feet. When it's time to come out, I'll accompany you to watch the fun, but don't go down to pick. I told you this morning not to go into the water, but you wouldn't listen..."

"I didn't know there would be chaos."

Ye Huimei was also scared and didn't want to go down to pick anymore.

"Let's go. I'll keep the half-bag in my hand to take back and dry. You guys take yours to be weighed, and sell that grouper while you're at it."

After Ye Fu gave the order, they all headed to the collection point. There weren't many people selling now, so they didn't need to wait. After weighing, they walked out.

Only after coming out did they see that the eldest and second eldest couples were still standing there, not moving, still watching. When asked, they said, let's watch for a bit...

Then they wouldn't bother with them; they weren't children.

After his father and mother left, Ye Yaodong stood on the shore for a while longer. The young people who had been fighting on the water finally got tired of fighting. Soaked all over and bruised, they were pulled up to the shore by their familiar friends and relatives.

The people on the shore who had been watching went down into the water again in a rush...

The eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law also pulled their respective men to go down again...

They all thought it would be fine. If another conflict arose, they would just climb to the shore and walk fast. It was a pity not to pick up money falling from the sky. Three or four starfish were worth two cents.

Ye Yaodong didn't care about them. He planned to go out to sea to collect the ground cages. Looking at everyone's harvest this morning, there must still be quite a few starfish on the seabed, so he could go collect another wave.

He steered the boat away from the shore and headed toward the distant sea. On the way, he occasionally encountered small boats working or returning, and he could see that they were all piled high with starfish. The people on the boats were all beaming with joy.

Why wouldn't they be happy?

They could easily harvest half a boatload without having to go into the water at the pier and fight with a crowd of people.

He drove to the sea area where he had placed his ground cages. He had just collected a wave last night, and only a few hours had passed. As soon as he pulled up the ground cages, the fish collection bags at the bottom were full of starfish again.

After harvesting all the ground cages, he once again harvested half a boatload of starfish, along with a tiny bit of small fish. There weren't any larger ones, after all, he had just collected them last night.

After putting the ground cages back into the sea, he returned directly. Today, there didn't seem to be any waves on the sea, so he estimated that he should be able to go out to sea at night.

After the fishing boat returned to the pier, he took the sack and slowly loaded the goods on the boat by himself, while watching the excitement not far away.

Only two or three hours had passed, and there were conflicts in the water again.

However, there were far fewer people this time, and seeing that things were going wrong, quite a few people went to the shore. Most of those in the water were helping to break up the fights...

Several fishing boats that had just returned nearby were also watching with great interest.

The pier was going to be noisy today.

After Ye Yaodong took all the starfish to be weighed, he walked away, not caring that the shore was still packed with people.

It was long past mealtime; if these people weren't eating, he was.

After he returned, Lin Xiuqing finally felt relieved. "If you hadn't come back, I was planning to go out and look for you."

"It's a good thing you didn't go; it's packed with people outside the pier."

He told Lin Xiuqing about the continuous conflicts in the morning, and she frowned. "You didn't go into the water, did you?"

"No, I was just watching the fun on the shore."

She couldn't help but feel lucky. "It's a good thing you woke up late this morning and didn't go out. With so many people, even a slight collision could easily lead to conflict."

"Yeah."

He hadn't planned on going out to pick today anyway. After picking for a day yesterday, his waist was about to break. It was better to collect the ground cage nets; it was easier and faster.

"The starfish from the ground cages just sold for 510 pounds, 10 yuan and 20 cents. I estimate I can collect another wave tomorrow."

She smiled and put away the receipt. "This is good, saves us from fighting with a bunch of people."

"Looking at the sea now, there are no waves. I should be going out to sea at night."

"Okay, I got it."

After eating a pile of dishes to nourish his waist, Ye Yaodong went to take a nap to recuperate and catch up on sleep.

When he woke up in the late afternoon and stood at the door to smoke two cigarettes, he saw the four adults next door returning like drowned rats.

He was impressed; they had actually managed to persist until now. It looked like they had all taken a trip into the water.

"Eldest brother, sister-in-law, second brother, sister-in-law, it looks like you've made a lot of money today?"

"Uh... it's alright. There were too many people today, only sold 6 yuan..." Before Ye's second brother could finish speaking, he was poked in the arm by his wife, glared at, and then pushed toward the house.

Ye Yaodong pouted. Che~ if you don't want to say it, don't say it~

Having agreed with Ye Fu in advance to go out to sea around 3:00 AM, he went to wait outside the pier on time when the hour arrived.

Because the longline hooks had been in the sea for several days and there had been waves, he wasn't quite sure if he could find them. He didn't prepare bait in advance tonight, planning to focus on trawling today.

After adding diesel, they set off as soon as Ye Fu arrived.

An autumn rain brings a chill; the temperature had clearly dropped several degrees in the past few days. The sea was colder than the land, and the cold wind brought up by the boat as it sailed was not only bone-chilling but also felt damp and cold.

His crew cut, which he had just gotten in the evening, made his head feel bare and especially cold. Sailing against the wind, the wind poured into his hat, making him feel chilly.

He wondered if his father's large forehead, with its receding hairline, was cold.

"What are you looking at?" Ye Fu felt his gaze, touched his forehead, and was a bit puzzled.

"Nothing, just feels quite cold on the sea."

"Focus on steering the boat, don't look around, watch out for reefs."

"Got it."

He identified the direction and moved forward at a steady speed in the darkness. After driving for more than an hour and reaching the approximate target sea area, he slowed down and started searching on the sea.

Ye Fu also shone his flashlight everywhere on the sea. It was too far from the shore, so it wasn't suitable for overnight placement in the first place.

The sea area was so vast that even if you knew the approximate location, it wasn't easy to find a buoy. Moreover, there was no guarantee when the wind would pick up, and once the waves were big, it was easy for the buoy to be washed away.

The father and son drove the boat on the sea for a long time without seeing it in the surrounding area. They didn't know if they had deviated.

Ye Yaodong was a bit depressed. "Let's not waste time. It's dark now and the visibility is poor. Let's look while we trawl."

"That works too. It'll be easier to find when it's light. Look around while we trawl. I'll go release the net."

It was fortunate that they could still trawl.

He turned slowly in the surrounding sea area at 3-5 nautical miles per hour. After it was fully light, he sailed for a long time until 7:00 AM, when he pulled up the first net.

He didn't know if it was because of the low temperature recently, but the fish weren't active and weren't foraging often. Although there had been waves in the past few days, the catch from the first net wasn't large. The most abundant were mantis shrimp, weighing about twenty pounds.

However, the mantis shrimp weren't very fat at this time. Ye Yaodong poured out the goods and picked out a few to look at. He could only say they were very average. Although they weren't empty, the meat wasn't very full, let alone red roe, and a large portion of them were especially small.

"Father, it's cold, the fish aren't active anymore, they've all sunk to the bottom, it's not easy to catch them."

"Yeah, it's like this in winter when it's cold. Those that should migrate have already migrated."

He frowned, picked and chose, and said, "Should I go back and ask someone to make a sticky net to try? Set it deeper; using a sticky net in winter seems more appropriate."

Ye Fu thought for a moment and said, "The cost of making a sticky net isn't high, but a net can only be used three or five times, and if you catch a big fish, it's easy to break the net."

"Let's make one and try it first."

"Then you decide. When we go back, it's fine to make one to test the waters first."

He asked his father to steer the boat while he released the net and picked the catch.

He picked out all the especially small ones and threw them into the sea. They couldn't be sold for money and weren't good as bait, so it was better to let them return to the sea to continue growing.

Seeing several seabirds following their fishing boat and flying at low altitude, he threw a few small fish into the sea. These seabirds immediately flew down to catch them. After holding the prey in their mouths, they flew back into the air.

After sorting the fish, it looked like the quantity was even smaller. Most of them were small fish and shrimp that weren't worth much. The only things that could be sold for money were those few pounds of mantis shrimp and a few larger fish.

Just as he stood up, he saw his buoy in the distance.

Ye Fu also saw it and said happily, "Dong-zi, found it."

"Yeah, let's pull up this trawl net first before going over."

It was good that they found it; otherwise, it would cost a lot of money to make it again.

After wandering around the surrounding sea area for another two hours, Ye Fu pulled up the net again. The goods were still not many, and they were especially mixed, with mantis shrimp still being the most abundant.

Fortunately, it was cold now and the wind on the sea was strong, so there would be fewer fishing boats going out. Although the mantis shrimp weren't fat, the price had risen recently.

A while ago, the small ones had dropped to 20 cents a pound, but recently they had started to rise to 40 cents.

After pouring out the fish, they didn't have time to organize them and went back to collect the hooks. They hadn't been out to sea for 4 days, and they didn't know if some of the fish had already rotted.

After approaching the buoy, Ye Yaodong put it away and tried to pull it. This time, the sinker rope wasn't stuck, and it was pulled up very smoothly.

After having the experience of getting stuck once, he was a bit worried when pulling it up. It was so cold, and going into the water wasn't a pleasant experience.

He continued to pull the line. It had been four days, too long. He hadn't held much hope, but after pulling, he felt it still had some weight.

He rolled the main line and pulled the branch line up, only to see a strange black fish suddenly come up on the sea.

"What is this?"

Ye Fu looked blankly at the big fish that had just been pulled up on the sea. Its mouth was still opening and closing, and the hook had pierced its lower jaw.

Ye Yaodong was also confused. This fish was so ugly, he had never seen it before??

"Pull it up first, it has some weight."

This fish was in a half-dead state, and it didn't struggle when pulled up, very smoothly.

I saw this ugly and scary strange fish, over 40 centimeters long, all black. Its teeth were like sharp glass shards, and there was a small black broom-like "rod" on its head, looking like a light bulb.

Its open mouth was especially large, capable of swallowing a fish as big as itself, and its teeth were particularly sharp.