Chapter 325: The Fishing Season Arrives

Seeing him go to start the boat, Ye Fu planned to count the day's harvest.

Looking at the stacked bamboo baskets, his face blossomed with a smile; if they could go out to sea every day and have such a harvest every day, would there be any need to worry about not getting rich?

Walking over to those bamboo baskets, he silently calculated in his heart how much money this cargo could sell for.

Excluding the leatherjacket fish and other catch damaged by the propeller, there was still quite a lot left...

After counting the quantity, he had a rough idea of the day's harvest in his mind.

Just as he brought over a small stool and sat down, intending to rest while the fishing boat was underway, he saw the net bag placed in the corner by the cabin door.

Hmm? Why is the net bag just thrown around randomly instead of being put away properly? He's such a grown man, yet he doesn't know how to tidy up; he throws things everywhere, and then when he needs to find them, he has to rummage all over the place...

Ye Fu grumbled to himself, intending to put the net bag into a bucket for him and place it with his other tools, but when he lifted it, he discovered there was still something inside the net bag?

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He lifted it up to take a look, "Pen shells? Dried scallops?"

He felt a bit surprised; when did he pick these up, and why didn't he say anything?

Ye Fu opened the net bag and took out the few pen shells Ye Yaodong had casually pulled up—there were only five, some big and some small. He was pleasantly surprised, then walked toward Ye Yaodong.

"Dongzi, when did you pick up these pen shells? You didn't say a word and just threw them around everywhere."

Ye Yaodong saw the pen shells in his father's hand and remembered, "Oh! I was so busy I forgot. I spent the whole afternoon busy with the squid, so I just put these in the corner and forgot about them."

"I found them by accident at noon while looking for the ground cages. I saw a patch of pen shells stuck in the seabed not far away, like monuments. By the time I saw them, I didn't have enough time, so I just casually pulled a few and brought them up."

Ye Fu was overjoyed upon hearing this; pen shells naturally grow in patches on the seabed anyway. "Then go down into the water again tomorrow and pull up more. These aren't cheap either; a big one is worth 1.5 mao, and a small one is 1 mao."

"I know."

There hadn't been enough time to pick more today, otherwise he would have filled the net bag before coming up.

Although their value still couldn't compare to sea cucumbers or abalone, the good thing was that they were all in that one patch. He could pull them all up and then continue digging for abalone. There were still plenty of abalone on the seabed reefs, so he could finish pulling up the pen shells before going back to continue digging slowly. It wouldn't delay anything; it's better to deal with the things that are small in quantity first.

"You have good luck; you're always able to run into good things."

"It might also be because no one else goes down to the seabed, so there's a lot of cargo down there, and I just happened to run into it."

Ye Fu felt a bit moved. "Then is your set of diving equipment easy to buy? Otherwise, should I get a set for your eldest brother and second brother too? Let them go to the seabed to hunt for treasure as well?"

"Ah? Don't have a new idea every minute. This stuff isn't easy to buy, and it's expensive, so don't even think about it. Besides, going to the seabed isn't for playing; it has certain dangers. They should just honestly stick to trawling; don't mess around blindly."

"Then why were you messing around blindly back then?"

"I'm different; I know about this."

The underwater world was so fascinating and beautiful. Ever since he saw the sardine storm on the seabed, his heart had long since gone wild and was itching to go.

Ye Fu had no choice but to give up the idea; it was better not to take that risk.

Ye Yaodong added, "Put the pen shells in the bucket. There are only a few, so let's keep them for ourselves to eat. Bring them back tonight to steam."

"You're the only one who knows how to eat; you want to taste a bit of everything."

Ye Fu felt it was a pity, but with only this many, they weren't easy to sell, so he threw them into the bucket.

Ye Yaodong smiled and said, "Pick a few squid that have roe as well. We don't need the other cargo; those few baskets of skinned fish are enough to dry."

When sorting, he had already set aside two jin of white shrimp—half for the children to eat, and half to stew with wine to help with lactation. Other fish weren't needed; the skinned fish he kept for himself were enough to eat.

"Hmm."

With so many squid, Ye Fu didn't feel bad about keeping a few.

The fishing boat returned quickly. The night wind carried a hint of warmth, which was quite comfortable, though their hair was all blown to the back of their heads, standing up in a frizzy mess, revealing their broad, unsightly foreheads.

But it didn't matter; their faces were already pitch black, so who cared about their hair?

By the time the fishing boat reached the pier, it was already dark. There were more fishing boats returning on the sea surface, and headlamps were flashing everywhere.

Everyone was taking advantage of the recent abundance of cargo and the good weather, wanting to catch a bit more, so everyone returned late.

When they ran into familiar people they were on good terms with, everyone greeted each other and asked a few questions about their respective harvests.

Only then did they discover that everyone had harvested quite a lot of squid today, no less than Spanish mackerel. At this moment, the others finally realized that the squid fishing season had arrived.

Squid were more valuable than Spanish mackerel, and one could use tree branches to lure them to spawn and then set nets to catch them, resulting in even greater profits.

After the fishing boats docked, everyone began discussing it at the pier. Seeing Ye Yaodong and his son with pitch-black faces, everyone was surprised, though they were still able to recognize their features.

When they saw the cargo they were lifting off the boat, everyone was even more surprised and asked one after another, "Did you specifically catch squid today? Why are your faces sprayed so black?"

"So many, hundreds of jin?"

"So many, there must be over ten baskets, right? Did you use tree branches to lure them?"

"Did you only start catching them today? It didn't seem like there were this many yesterday. Has the fishing season started?"

"There's also quite a lot of Spanish mackerel and skinned fish. You didn't catch a small amount today, did you?"

Ye Fu smiled and said, "It's alright, it's alright. The squid fishing season has indeed arrived. You all had a pretty good harvest today too."

"Not as much as you caught. Do these squid have roe?"

"Hey, your eldest and second sons are back too." People nearby saw more people behind them lifting baskets of cargo off the boat, and there were quite a lot of squid as well.

Ye Fu looked at the cargo Ye Yaopeng and Ye Yaohua were lifting over and walked over to help watch.

When the baskets of squid and fish were all laid out on the open ground, he was satisfied. His two sons hadn't caught a small amount either, so he was relieved.

"Your family's reaction is really fast; you're a step ahead of everyone else. Both boats caught quite a lot, didn't they?"

"Everyone else's catch isn't bad either..."

"Did you throw tree branches into the sea? We have to start luring them tomorrow too. We haven't been out to sea much in the first half of the year, so we're counting on earning some money during the fishing season."

"Yes, yes, yes, let's go up the mountain tomorrow to cut more tree branches..."

"This will delay us for another day. Not going for one day is another day of losses..."

"No choice, using tree branches to lure them allows us to catch more."

"If only we had known a day earlier. If we had stayed home yesterday and gone up the mountain to cut firewood, we could have saved time..."

"Once the preparatory work is done, you can catch more. It's not a difference of one or two days; the squid fishing season won't end that quickly."

"You father and sons have snatched the lead again. Your luck is really good..."

Listening to the discussions in their ears, the Ye father and sons chimed in from time to time. The atmosphere was quite lively, and everyone was in high spirits after learning that the squid fishing season had arrived, wishing they could go back out to sea right now.

Amidst the envious words of others, they weighed and sold their cargo and then hurried back.

Ye Yaodong's flatbed cart was still piled with quite a lot of skinned fish—there were four bamboo baskets, and several buckets were also scattered with cargo. Pushing these back would mean being busy for a long time.

The four father and sons all walked back looking like Judge Bao, but their pitch-black faces couldn't hide their joy.

Both families had similar harvests today—a bumper harvest, both selling over two hundred. It was just that the squid caught by Ye Yaopeng and Ye Yaohua would be a little more than Ye Yaodong's.

Ye Fu smiled and asked Ye Yaopeng and Ye Yaohua, "There's an island next to the sea area where we put the tree branches. A lot of squid that have finished spawning have been stranded on the beach of that island. If there's no wind, rain, or waves at night, let your wives go out to sea with us to pick them up. Don't waste them; it's good to earn a bit more money."

Ye Yaopeng and Ye Yaohua smiled and looked at each other, saying, "What a coincidence, we were just discussing on the boat today that we should bring them along at night, and leave the children for Mother to look after..."

Ye Yaohua added, "We also specifically found a small island today and threw tree branches around it."

"It was because there were a lot of seabirds staying around that small island that we were suspicious and went there. Who knew we would discover that a lot of squid had been stranded on the beach."

"Then, after we threw tree branches around the island, we went onto the island to pick up squid. Unfortunately, there were too many seabirds around, and a lot of the stranded squid had been eaten."

The two brothers added one sentence each.

Ye Yaodong finally understood; that was why their fish cargo wasn't much, but they had quite a bit more squid than him.

Ye Fu nodded, "That's good too. Going out to sea with you to pick up a few more squid is good; weaving nets at home doesn't earn much money."

"That's what we were thinking. When we go back, we have to tell Mother to help look after the children."

Ye Mu had no objections; it was just helping to look after a few grandsons, and it just meant cooking a bit more food. It was just a pity; she also really wanted to go out to sea.

She didn't know if the squid fishing season would be over by the time Lin Xiuqing finished her postpartum confinement.

While pickling the squid roe, she pondered in her heart. It would probably be another half a month before she finished her confinement; she should still be able to catch the tail end of the fishing season.

Pickled squid roe is very appetizing; they usually pickle it to eat more often, though it can also be dried. It was just that the quantity Ye Yaodong brought back today wasn't much, so Ye Mu just used it for pickling.

After finishing the pickled squid roe, Ye Mu immediately went on to process the skinned fish, and Ye Dasao and Ye Ersao also followed along to help.

They were all very happy to hear that they would also be going out to sea at night to pick up squid. After all, the squid harvest today wasn't small, and being able to pick up a bit more was even better. They hadn't even earned back the large sum of money they were cheated out of last year, so they were also urgently wanting to earn more money.

Most of these skinned fish were in tatters, so the scraps didn't need much processing; just peel the skin off.

Only a small portion had slight cuts on the surface. They pulled the skin off from the tail along with the head, then scooped out the internal organs, washed them clean, pickled them with salt for half an hour, and then spread them on long bamboo mats to dry.

Actually, autumn and winter are the best times to dry fish. One reason is that the flies are gone, and the second is that the north wind has started; fish dried by the natural northwest wind are the best.

But they weren't that particular; since there happened to be fish that needed drying, they just dried them directly.

Nowadays there are no refrigerators, so if you want to preserve fish to eat slowly, you can only pickle or dry them; drying them lasts longer.