Chapter 33: Picking up cargo at the pier

After chatting with the group for a while, it wasn't until nearly four o'clock that Ye Yaodong finally patted his backside and stood up.

"I'm going to the pier to help pick up the cargo. You guys handle those seafood items; I'll come back after I'm done sorting."

A-Guang looked at him in surprise, "You've really become sensible?"

"Get lost!"

He lengthened his stride and quickened his pace toward the pier. At this hour, the tide at the shore had already risen, and the fishing boats should be arriving at the pier soon.

Upon reaching the pier, there were already many villagers on the shore, all waiting for their family members' boats to return so they could help sort the cargo.

Ye Mu was also already waiting at the pier. Seeing Ye Yaodong arrive, she felt satisfied.

She had waited for a long time just now without seeing him and thought this stinky brat had turned a deaf ear to her words again. If he could listen, it meant there was still hope; he had seemed to show some improvement over the past few days.

Ye Yaodong also saw his mother. He walked toward her and said with a grin, "Mom, why did you come too?"

"Isn't it because I'm worried about you? What if you didn't listen or forgot? Wouldn't your father and eldest brother have no one to help them?"

"Why don't you believe me?"

"Are you worth believing?"

A villager nearby also smiled and said, "A-Dong, you're out helping today too?"

"That's how it should be. The family is busy, so you should lend a hand whenever there's work. Young people should be diligent and have a bit of initiative."

He responded casually with "uh-huhs," his eyes fixed on the boats at sea. There weren't many families in their village with boats; apart from the few docked at the shore, most had gone out to sea. That boat heading toward them in front—should be his father's boat, right?

"Dongzi, is that your father's boat?"

"Is it? Let's wait and see. It'll dock in a moment."

The small boat slowed down as it approached, and they could clearly see the blue paint on the hull, confirming it was their family's boat.

Ye Yaodong and Ye Mu hurriedly walked down the stone steps, preparing to receive the cargo in a moment.

Ye Fu, on the boat, also saw his third son had come to the pier to help for the first time in his life, but he didn't say anything. After docking the boat, he and Ye Yaopeng moved the cargo to them, letting them carry it ashore first.

The first thing carried off the boat was a basket of swimming crabs, followed by a basket of mantis shrimp; the rest were just a few jin of loose items.

Like the large sword shrimp, it was estimated to be only about two or three jin; the small sword shrimp, though not very valuable, amounted to over ten jin. There were also two jin of squid, and the water-valley fish came in various sizes and needed sorting, looking to be over ten jin as well. There were also four or five jin of small yellow croaker, and the rest were just some miscellaneous, less valuable small fish.

There was no big catch today, but the harvest still looked quite good!

After all the cargo was carried off the boat, Ye Fu moved the boat to the side again to clear the docking space, as there would be more boats coming in later.

Ye Yaodong and the others moved the cargo into the collection point. The swimming crabs varied in size, and so did their prices, so they needed to dump them out to sort them and use rubber bands to tie the crab legs together.

When Ye Fu and Ye Yaopeng were on the boat, they had already taken advantage of their free time to tie up more than half, but there was still a portion left untied.

Once the swimming crabs were dumped out, their legs were twitching wildly, full of life, looking especially fresh.

He grabbed a few at random; their backs were quite hard. "They're quite plump, and even the small ones are hard and full of meat."

"The crabs have been quite plump lately, and the mantis shrimp are also very plump, with full meat; some even have red roe."

The three of them worked nimbly to tie the crab legs and then sorted them by size.

Ye Mu and Ye Da looked at Ye Yaodong's nimble movements, both very surprised.

When had he ever done this kind of work? He was actually able to tie them so crisply and efficiently, and his speed wasn't any slower than theirs!

"Third brother, your speed is quite fast? I couldn't tell!"

"Pfft~ What's this? Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean I can't do it!"

"You mixed-up brat, you don't do work at home, but you go out to help others? Every single day you're so unreliable..."

Listening to his mother's nagging, he didn't refute her. *Sigh*, this was all something he had to endure.

After sorting the crabs, they dumped out a small basket of mantis shrimp. Sorting mantis shrimp was much simpler; just separate them by size. The same went for the sword shrimp and water-valley fish; they all needed to be sorted by size.

The large ones could fetch a better price, while the small ones weren't worth much.

They put the less valuable small fish and shrimp into separate buckets, and some small sea eels and miscellaneous fish were also packed up to take back, incidentally to be dried into fish jerky.

After all the cargo was weighed, Ye Fu went to settle the accounts, and they took the fish cargo home first.

"Mom, how much money can these goods sell for today? The large and small crabs together are over 30 jin, the mantis shrimp are over 20 jin, the shrimp are a few jin, and there are other fish goods. It looks quite good."

"The harvest today is quite good. Large crabs are bought at 30 cents, smaller ones at 20 cents. Large mantis shrimp are bought at 35 cents, smaller ones at 26 cents. Shrimp are a bit more expensive at 50 cents. Adding those odds and ends, it should sell for about thirty yuan. But the diesel fee will take two yuan, and the machine also has costs, and it breaks easily and needs frequent repairs."

"That's quite good too; you can save quite a bit in a month!"

Ye Mu slanted a glance at him, "You think you can go every day, and have such a big harvest every day? We rely on the heavens for our food; how can we be sure about things at sea? Yesterday, some of them only sold for ten-plus yuan."

"That's still better than doing odd jobs."

Ye Yaopeng sincerely invited him again, "Third brother, why don't you come out to sea in turns too? Relying on the sea to eat from the sea, we have to learn from Dad."

"Ah? You and second brother learn first. When you guys know how, I'll learn!"

Hearing his evasion, Ye Mu opened her mouth to scold him, but she held it back forcefully. This was at the pier, and considering he had performed quite diligently today, she would endure it for now.

After the family split, she would have to make him go out to sea together. Now, the money earned could still be counted as public property and used to build a house.

After the family split, the eldest and second would go out to sea; wouldn't they have to share their money? If the third brother was idle all day, he could only wait to starve to death, or wait for them, the old ones, to support him. What kind of situation was that?

Other families raised children to provide for their old age, but they had given birth to an ancestor!

Ye Yaodong didn't know his mother's inner grumbling. As soon as he reached the door, he slipped away, leaving only a sentence that he wouldn't be eating at home tonight. Anyway, he had helped do all the work that needed to be done today.

Ye Mu felt both helpless and felt that the third brother being like this was normal. Today, he had gone to the homestead, gone to the sea, and gone to the pier to help. Being so diligent made her feel like she didn't recognize him.

Ye Ersao curled her lips, "He just looked reliable for a moment, and he ran off again!"

"Let him be. Being able to help do things is already considered good. You guys pick out a bowl of fish and shrimp to send to your maiden homes. Kill the rest; braise the large ones, and dry the small ones. The small shrimp too, boil a bowl, and peel the shells off the rest to dry into shrimp meat jerky. In this weather, it won't last until tomorrow."

The three daughters-in-law all agreed. Lin Xiuqing's maiden home was relatively far, so she didn't have the chance to send fish goods to her family, and could only watch the two sisters-in-law send fish to their maiden homes while she stayed behind to kill the fish.

After the two had walked far away, Ye Mu said to Lin Xiuqing, "You see when you plan to go back to your maiden home, and I'll leave some good goods for you to bring back in advance."

"Okay, Mom, no rush. I'll wait until the Mid-Autumn Festival to go back."

For her three sons, Ye Mu had always tried her best to be fair.

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Price explanation insertion:

I specifically asked my father about seafood prices in the 80s these past few days. My grandparents were seafood wholesalers in that era. My father was eighteen or nineteen at the time and followed my grandparents to wholesale and purchase seafood at surrounding ports and piers. The prices shouldn't be too far off.

The only discrepancy is the yellow croaker. At that time, yellow croaker wasn't as valuable as it is now. My father said a one or two jin wild yellow croaker only sold for 60 cents per jin.

At that time, the foreman's daily wage was over 2 yuan, and a manual laborer's daily wage was only over 1 yuan. Even at this price, ordinary people couldn't bear to buy yellow croaker to eat; it was something only the rich could afford.

At that time, seafood was also a few cents per jin, but ordinary people couldn't bear to buy it either. After all, the daily wage was only one or two yuan. At that time, Bombay duck (tofu fish) was only 6 cents per jin.

The price of large yellow croaker written at the beginning of this book is actually a bit high, but it's also to set up the plot. Everyone, just read it; don't compare it to that time. Only the price of yellow croaker is falsely high.

This book will also continue to maintain the falsely high price of yellow croaker; hereby stated.

The price of mantis shrimp earlier has also been revised. Next time, I will definitely ask for the price before writing it down.

This is an aside, telling everyone about the actual situation. Other seafood prices basically conform to the prices of that time.

My family doesn't know I'm writing a novel. I'm also very embarrassed, shamelessly asking my father, and now I'm being chased by my family asking about my poor work (awkward)...

Here, I'd like to ask for a wave of collections and follow-up reading. It would be even better if there were tips. After all, during the new book period, there's no manuscript fee without being on the shelves. It's purely generating electricity for love!

Thank you all for your support! Bow! ===== CHAPTER 34 =====