Chapter 225: Patching things together, the harvest is fine too

The fishing boat traveled at a steady speed while working. The sea breeze whistled past the ears, biting and cold; everything was for the sake of making a living.

In the process of working, they encountered another fishing boat. Seeing it from afar, he steered away directly, each doing their own work without interfering with the other.

It wasn't until the fishing boat had been working for two hours that Ye Yaodong chose to haul the net. If one didn't count the value, the harvest volume of this haul was quite good.

A full, heavy bag of fish was pulled up. The harvest was very gratifying, much more than the haul dragged in before dawn.

Most of this haul was rabbitfish. Each one was bigger than a palm, weighing about half a jin. Rabbitfish are at their fattest and most delicious at this time; in the summer, they are basically only about two taels each.

In the Minnan dialect, they are called "niang'ai," and in some places, they are called "stinky belly fish." In their local area, they are still mostly called rabbitfish. One can only say that the names vary from place to place.

There is a jingle in their coastal area: "First is the stingray, second the tiger fish, third the sand hair, fourth the golden drum, and fifth the niang'ai."

This folk saying summarizes the ranking of venomous fish in the underwater world that have poisonous spines but delicious meat. Among them, the "fifth niang'ai" refers to the rabbitfish.

Its spines are not only sharp but also toxic. Being pricked feels as painful as a bee sting, especially during the cleaning process, where it is very easy to get pricked by its spines.

However, it is indeed true that this fish is delicious. It has no scales, so one must use scissors to gut it when cleaning. But one must be careful not to break the intestines inside its belly; they must be removed entirely intact, otherwise, the whole fish will be very bitter when cooked, losing its original freshness.

Then, one must trim off the entire row of hard spines on its back and belly.

To make fish soup, first pan-fry both sides, then add water and bring to a boil. Then add a little shredded ginger, and finally, add a radish that has been shredded and boiled, then season it.

The fish soup stewed this way is milky white and particularly delicious. Sprinkle a little chopped green onion when taking it off the heat; it is perfect in color, aroma, and taste...

Slurp~

As Ye Yaodong poured the fish out, he carefully picked a few into his own bucket. He definitely had to cook a private meal. Seeing these fish, his brain had already gone through how to cook them. He would arrange it as soon as he got back!

"Dad, do you want these fish? Take them back to cook with shredded radish. It just so happens that a whole bunch of radishes in the backyard have grown big and can be eaten."

"Just take a few."

He took a basket and threw a dozen or so into it, and while he was at it, he divided the squid and prawns from his bucket, and threw in two toadfish as well. Adding two vegetable dishes would be enough for them to eat for a whole day.

People by the sea rely on fate to get rich, but they don't worry about food. The diligent ones set up a few gill nets along the beach, and after the tide recedes, they can easily harvest a big bucket, more than they can eat.

After Ye Yaodong casually divided the goods he kept for himself, he didn't care about the fish on the deck anymore. He clapped his hands and stood up. "Dad, you go drive the boat, I'll set the net."

He would seize the time to set one more net before going home. The weather didn't look too good; there was a faint sun in the morning, but it turned overcast at noon. It was only two o'clock in the afternoon, and the sky was already a bit dim.

Ye Fu continued to wander in the nearby waters. After Ye Yaodong set the fishing net, he took a basket to load those rabbitfish. It was filled to the brim with two baskets, looking like it weighed eighty or ninety jin.

There were some miscellaneous small fish and shrimp at the bottom, which he packed separately. These could only be taken back to be sun-dried. The longline hooks needed to be taken back for repairs; there was no need for bait for the next two days, and it was hard to say when the wind would pick up next.

Fortunately, it was a north wind day with no sun, so the fish could be air-dried.

People by the sea can't do without drying fish, especially in autumn and winter. As long as it doesn't rain, every household has long bamboo mats standing at their doors, on walls, and by the roadside. Walking on the road, one can smell a thick fishy odor everywhere.

After Ye Yaodong finished organizing the goods, he had nothing to do, so he hugged his clothes and leaned against the cabin door to block the wind, watching the sparkling sea surface.

In the past, when the weather hadn't turned cold yet, small fish would often jump out of the water, but today there were none. They just happened to encounter big silver carp, which were probably diving to the bottom of the sea now.

The situation for making money was not optimistic.

While watching the sea, he thought about the sticky net that had flashed through his mind earlier, pondering that he would get one to try when he got back.

After pondering for a while, a sailfish speeding past interrupted his train of thought.

At such a fast speed—don't ask him how he knew—the reason was that he saw its dorsal fin. That opened dorsal fin was as conspicuous as a fluttering flag. Even though it whistled past in an instant, he still recognized it.

Like the swordfish, the sailfish has a long rostrum, but it has an extra flag fluttering in the wind compared to the swordfish.

This time, he didn't have the urge to chase. Damn, that sharp snout is said to be able to pierce even a submarine. Originally, he didn't quite believe it, but he only believed it after seeing a swordfish pierce an iron-hulled boat with his own eyes a few days ago.

However, the fishing boat he encountered earlier was actually chasing after it at full power. Truly brave! Good luck to you!

Ye Fu also stared at it and said hesitantly, "Dongzi, we aren't following this time, right?"

"Not following. Save the trouble; besides, we didn't see it on the spot anyway."

"That fish is too dangerous. Let's not think about picking up a bargain."

"Mm."

When his fishing equipment is upgraded in the future and he has the conditions, he can try fishing for it! At that time, he'll catch a whole boatload!

After Ye Yaodong fantasized for a while, he didn't see the shadow of that fishing boat on the sea. He didn't know if they could successfully catch it. Seeing that the time was about right, he went to haul the net.

The wind on the sea seemed to have picked up a bit in the evening. It looked like it was going to be windy again, so collecting early meant getting home early.

He didn't know if the sea was exclusively occupied by rabbitfish, but this haul had few small fish and shrimp. Everything poured out was rabbitfish, with only a few large prawns mixed in.

Ye Yaodong poked around and found that the fish in this haul were even bigger, with more than half weighing over a jin. Good heavens, they really grew well.

He casually picked two more and threw them into his own bucket and his father's basket...

Since he caught them with his own hard work, he naturally had to keep two big ones.

Ye Fu didn't say anything when he saw it. These fish were very cheap anyway, so he could waste them as he pleased.

The fish harvested today were not of high value, but the quantity of rabbitfish in these last two hauls was still very large. The two hauls added up to over two hundred jin, and Ye Fu was still very satisfied.

Ye Yaodong also felt it was barely acceptable; one couldn't count on hitting the jackpot every day. Winter had already begun, so this harvest today was considered quite good.

He still let his father drive the boat while he packed all the fish into baskets. He didn't sort them by size; it wouldn't be too late to pick them slowly when they reached the shore.

When the fishing boat approached the shore, he took over the work from his father's hands. The return time today was still early, not even four o'clock. He planned to go collect the ground cages.

He estimated that there would still be starfish in the ground cages today. They wouldn't disappear for a few days. Collecting them could also subsidize today's fish harvest, as the value of the fish caught today was too low.

The prices of toadfish, big silver carp, and rabbitfish would still be in the single digits even decades later. Occasionally, big silver carp and rabbitfish might rise to over ten yuan, but that also depends on the season.

When he collected a net of starfish, Ye Fu's face, full of furrows, bloomed with a smile. "I don't know how many more days this starfish situation can last. Collecting hundreds of jin every day continuously like this is also very optimistic for a few days."

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes upon hearing this. It didn't matter that his father said this now; the shellfish on the surrounding reefs on the shore weren't worth much anyway.

Decades later, if he said this again, he would be scolded to death. Aquaculture farmers fear these starfish the most. To them, starfish are like locusts; wherever they pass, the losses of farmed shellfish, oysters, abalones, etc., are heavy.

"Just thinking about it is fine. These are like locusts. When they retreat, we won't be able to eat mussels, oysters, and the like for several months. I don't know if there are any survivors on the surrounding isolated islands, or if they are all rushing to our shore."

"What does that have to do with anything? Selling them for money is what matters. If those shells are gone, they're gone. Anyway, with the seawater washing, they will grow back in two months."

"Mm."

Anyway, there were plenty of dried goods in his house.

He then collected the ground cages one after another, net by net. After pouring out the starfish inside, he put the ground cages back into the sea, while Ye Fu helped load the goods with a sack.

After harvesting all the ground cages, he counted the quantity and harvested another seven and a half bags, one more bag than yesterday. He was extremely satisfied in his heart.

Patching things together, the harvest today seemed not bad either? Sure enough, one needs to expand business in multiple directions.

Driving the boat toward the shore, it was now high tide, so the fishing boat could directly dock to unload the cargo.

At this time, the shore was still crowded with people, noisy everywhere, no less than yesterday. It seemed everyone had struggled for another day.

They probably hadn't been ashore for long and were all queuing to sell their goods, right?

Ye Mu had been keeping an eye on the sea. Seeing them return, she let Ye Huimei watch the goods and queue, while she came over to help. By the way, she told them about several conflicts that occurred in the water while picking starfish today, how miserable the fighting was, spreading from the water to the shore, affecting a large group of people. Some even picked up shoulder poles to hit people...

Someone's head was even beaten until it bled, and they were sent for bandaging. The commotion only stopped just now.

The father and son were stunned to hear this...

"Then are you all okay? We weren't home today. Did you women suffer any losses? Don't come to pick them tomorrow."

Ye Yaodong also echoed. This conflict was escalating day by day, and everyone had fought until they gained experience.

Those who were beaten on the first day would definitely seize the opportunity to get even on the second day, and it was even worse on the third day. If this went on for a few more days, they would probably beat someone to death.

Ye Mu also said with lingering fear, "No, we just picked for a while in the morning. When I saw the fighting, I hurriedly pulled Huimei ashore and didn't dare to go down again."

"Don't let Little Sister come out to the pier tomorrow either. Let her stay at home and wait to be married," Ye Yaodong said with a frown. Such chaos was no longer suitable for a young girl like her to come out.

"Hmm..."

Just then, another boat came in from behind and docked side-by-side with theirs.

When Ye Mu lifted the cargo, she turned her head and took a look, but was startled, "Oh my, why is there blood everywhere? Isn't this Lin Weiying from Dongqiao Village? What happened to you? Why are you injured?"