Chapter 335: Causing Trouble

Ye Yaodong's father steered the boat while Ye Yaodong sorted the catch; today they hauled in just one net, a mediocre haul with cuttlefish making up the bulk.

What a pity, the wind has risen and work cannot continue.

The weather by the sea is truly fickle; fishermen rely on heaven for their livelihood and luck for survival, and no one knows if they can set out to sea tonight.

Although they finished early today, they still caught about 500 jin of cuttlefish, over 100 jin of which were picked up; adding other fish, they sold for over 160, while the cuttlefish price has dropped to 30 fen and is estimated to keep falling.

The cuttlefish picked by Lin Fu and Lin Mu sold for over 37 yuan, a yuan more than yesterday, making them so happy they almost lost their bearings.

"What a pity we cannot stay a few more days."

"Why can't we stay? Don't we have two brothers-in-law at home? Just hand the work to them; there are so many adults at home, it's not like no one is there; where is the necessity for you to go? Staying a few more days won't hurt."

Ye Yaodong's father chimed in, "Yes, Dongzi is right; while the Fishing season is here these few days, staying a bit longer to earn some money is good."

"That's what they say, but the fields at home haven't been checked in a few days, and it pains his heart; normally, with nothing to do, he would carry a hoe up the mountain to swing it a bit; handing it to his sons is never as reassuring as tending it himself."

"Besides, we didn't expect to stay this time, so we didn't bring any spare clothes," Lin Mu explained with a smile.

Lin Fu also said, "Not bringing clothes isn't the issue; after tending these fields for decades, suddenly not going down to the fields or up the mountain for a few days makes my whole body feel uncomfortable; I must go back and take a look to feel at ease."

Ye Yaodong understood the land attachment of these older generations, so he didn't press the matter.

"Then you go back and hoe the fields for two days before coming again; the Fishing season should last a few more days; when you come out tonight, let my father scoop a basin of seawater to check; once the peak Fishing season hits, it will hold for a few more days."

"Good, good, good, we'll go back and take a look first."

After selling the goods, they put the baskets and the remaining goods for home back onto the cart.

At this moment, the dock was noisy and clamorous, with crowds surging everywhere; the shore was packed with boats of all sizes, and everyone was moving back and forth carrying loads.

Basket after basket full of cuttlefish was carried down from the boats; smiles of joy and harvest beamed on everyone's faces, as villagers had been mainly catching cuttlefish during this period.

Acquaintances passing by discussed today's catch and spoke with regret about the wind rising.

"No one knows if the waves will be big tonight or if we can go; if we can't, it's a pity."

"Who would say otherwise? We can only come out again tonight to see..."

"How was your catch? How many baskets did you collect today?"

"Nine baskets, that should be a bit over four dan."

"Eh? Ye Lao San, have you weighed yours? How many dan did you collect today?"

Ye Yaodong's father smiled and said, "Not much different from you, just a bit over five dan."

People at this time calculated weight verbally, rarely saying hundreds of jin; most asked about dan, because people at this time carried loads on shoulder poles.

One dan equals one hundred jin.

"That's much more than us..."

"We also picked up one dan on the island."

"Then you have good luck to find an island exposed above the beach; the islands we found still had waves hitting the reefs at low tide, with no beach visible."

Another person said, "Finding an island is already good; these past few days, there have been many fights at sea, and many people simply threw their catch into waters where no one was working; the harvest was still decent."

Ye Yaodong's father smiled, "We have already weighed everything; let's go first; we are tired after a day's work and should return early."

"Go ahead, go ahead; we still have to queue..."

Just as they were pushing the cart to return, one of Ye Yaodong's maternal cousins suddenly ran over in a hurry, stretching his neck to look around the crowd and then toward the sea.

Ye Yaodong called out to him in confusion, "Lin Jianjun? Who are you looking for?"

He turned his head and only then saw Ye Yaodong in the corner; he quickly sidled his body to squeeze through, "Cousin, someone has come to seek revenge on you; the big guys have blocked that group in the village; a few have gone home to get weapons; my mother told me to notify you immediately; Auntie said you hadn't returned yet and was worried sick, so she sent me to check the dock..."

Ye Yaodong's eyes widened, "Who is seeking revenge? Let's go, let's go..."

He took two shoulder poles from the cart, handed one to his cousin Lin Jianjun, and then said to Ye Yaodong's father, "Dad, you push the cart home first; I'll go over and take a look."

The staffs were on the boat and not brought down; only the shoulder poles were on the cart.

Ye Yaodong's father worriedly reminded him, "Be careful; did Lin Jianjun go to the brigade to call people? Call the village head and the secretary."

"Dongzi... wait... together..."

"Uncle, you help us push the cart home; I'll come to your place later to push it."

Xiao Xiao and Ah Zheng each took a shoulder pole from the cart and followed, saying as they walked.

"Damn it, it must be that father and his two sons we beat up yesterday; they are asking for death, actually coming to our door; let's go and see."

"It must be those three; how many people did they bring? Damn, they actually know which village I'm from; impressive," Ye Yaodong asked Lin Lin Jianjun.

"Don't we all have markings on our boats showing whose they are? They probably went to ask around after returning yesterday."

"It must be; they came quite fast."

Lin Lin Jianjun jogged along with them, "It looks like more than twenty people; the group is coming aggressively, some with staffs, some with shoulder poles, and some with iron shovels; they clearly aren't good people."

"Luckily they just entered the village and the villagers noticed, blocking them; they are calling for young and strong men everywhere; right now they are pushing, shoving, and cursing at each other."

"They are viciously demanding you return the diesel engine; did you really take their machine? This morning the whole village was saying you carried another machine back yesterday; the moment they mentioned it, everyone knew it was you. What's going on?"

Ye Yaodong told him about what happened at sea yesterday while running.

"They deserve it! We should have emptied them; they actually dared to openly rob; if the boat was damaged, we should take their boat as compensation."

Xiao Xiao said, "It must be because the wind rose and their villagers all returned, so they are coming to our door at this time."

Ye Yaodong frowned, "Who cares? Run faster..."

Just as they ran past an intersection, they heard the noise coming from a nearby turn; the shouting and cursing grew louder and louder, and everyone's steps naturally quickened again.

When they ran closer, they could clearly hear the clamoring voices; turning another corner, they saw a group of young and strong men holding staffs shouting there.

"Call out the people who beat others and stole the machine."

"Come out~"

"Hand over the machine~"

"Get lost; this is Bai Sha Village, not your place to run wild; do you believe we will surround you and not let you leave today?"

"Yes, surround them; they are so arrogant; the wind has risen today, and the people from our village at sea will return soon; don't let them escape!"

Just then the village committee ran over in time and shouted: "What's all the noise, what's all the noise, don't be impulsive~ If you've got something, talk it out properly. If you really start fighting, none of you will get off easy — every one of you will be dragged off to the border defense station."

"Right, the border defense station isn't far from us. If you get dragged there to squat for a few days, you won't need to catch squid anymore. Let's see whether the loss to someone else's machine is bigger, or the loss to everyone not being able to fish for squid is bigger."

Chen Shuji's shout rang out, and every one of those who had been arguing until their faces were red and their necks were thick instantly seemed to have had a basin of cold water poured over them, and calmed right down.

Other people's interests were, of course, not as important as one's own.

When it came to their own interests, everyone was incomparably clear-headed — how could they possibly throw themselves away for someone else? A single day's earnings could be quite a lot of money.

"Everyone calm down, if there's something, let's talk it over properly…"

"It's him! It's him!"

At once, a young man with a bruised and swollen face pointed at the four people who had just walked over from the opposite side and shouted: "It's them — yesterday it was them who robbed our machine."

Everyone followed the direction of his fingertip and looked over.

The villagers of this village were not surprised in the least — they had long guessed it was Ye Yaodong.

Yesterday when they carried the machine back, many people at the dock saw it. Today the news had already spread everywhere, and everyone was guessing where he had gotten one machine after another.

Not long ago he had just carried one back, and now he'd gotten another one. Everyone was guessing whether he had also learned from those pirates on Luzhou Island.

When these people came, they found out it had been robbed, but before the person himself came over to explain clearly, they certainly could not let outsiders come over to act wild, and even come brandishing weapons and ordering them to hand over the person.

Ye Yaodong and his men each shouldered a carrying pole and came over openly and without ceremony.

He said without politeness: "So what if we robbed it? The one we robbed is you!"

"Right, exactly — these shameless Wang Ba eggs. Yesterday morning we let them off easy, and yesterday noon they snuck around the sea island we'd occupied to fish for squid, and even caught several baskets."

"Those branches all around were ones we chopped for several days, tossing them into the sea bit by bit to lure the catch. These three aren't even human — they actually had the nerve to come over and poach, and even rammed Dongzi's boat. The boat got smashed by them, and water's leaking in."

"Good thing we came back in time, otherwise those three would have climbed onto the boat to beat up Dongzi and his dad too."

"You're talking nonsense — clearly it was the four of them chasing us."

"If you hadn't done anything wrong, why would Laozi chase you? Wouldn't it be better for Laozi to cast a few more nets for squid? Why would I waste time chasing you?"

That young man with the bruised and swollen face was so angry his face turned red and his neck turned blue. He stretched out his index finger and pointed at him: "It's because we got close to the sea island that you said we were trespassing on your turf, so you had to beat us up. You beat us, and then you robbed the machine too."

Ye Yaodong and his two companions were all so angry they nearly laughed.

A barefaced case of turning the tables and blaming the victim!

A'zheng directly slapped his finger away. "Don't you damn well point your finger at Laozi."

That young man was also hot-blooded in his youth. He immediately rolled up his sleeves, glared, and charged forward to fight. "Lingmu jibai…"

"What are you doing… what are you doing… you want to fight, huh?" The villagers in front of them hurriedly held people back.

The outsiders from the other village, once they had sobered up, also hurried to help hold him back. "A'qiu, talk nicely, talk nicely."

Everyone pulled and tugged before they finally managed to hold back that young man called A'qiu.

Ye Yaodong also stepped forward and said: "There are still the marks from your ramming yesterday on the bottom of Laozi's boat. Want to go take a look at the shore? You're way too shameless — coming over to openly fish for squid and still acting so arrogant."

The people who had just come back from the sea also joined the crowd and spoke up in support: "Right, A'dong's boat really does have ramming marks on it. We just docked and we all saw it, and we were wondering about it too. Who'd take their own boat and ram it for no reason — wouldn't that hurt? It must be them lying."

"Exactly, too shameless — a thief crying 'stop thief.'"

The father and his two sons all flushed red in the face.

"That's because he was chasing us, and we couldn't get away."

"That's because you sneaked around the egg-laying branches we'd put out and cast your nets. On what grounds — we plant the trees and you pick the fruit? Who do you think you are?"

"You're talking nonsense!" the young man called A'qiu shouted, lacking conviction.

The eyes of the masses are sharp.

On one side, full of spirit and righteousness, with reason and evidence; on the other, clearly lacking conviction, faces full of shame and fury.

The superiority was plain to see.

Even the people of their own village had it figured out in their hearts.

At this point Chen Shuji spoke up: "Anyway, you should probably have a general idea of the whole story by now. If there's still anything unclear, you can go over it again."

Ye Yaodong had already gone over it once, and had just now given a few more sentences of summary. He didn't want to say it a second time — he'd been tired all day, who had the patience to deal with this?

Xiao Xiao, slightly impatient, had no choice but to pick up the thread and go through the whole thing again. After that, everyone understood clearly.

If he weren't afraid that a group brawl would blow up and everyone would have to go squat in jail for a few days, missing the Fishing season, he would really have liked to beat them so badly they couldn't leave the village entrance today.

"Everyone don't believe what he says. We did want to put out branches around the sea island, but they seized it and wouldn't let me put them out. And they blocked us from leaving, and even got on the boat and beat us up, and robbed the machine and fishing nets off our boat."

Anyway, no one had seen it — he could say whatever he wanted.

"Avoiding the important and dwelling on the trivial — you just admitted yourself that you rammed my boat. Get lost! And returning it? That's not happening. Laozi's boat got smashed by you, and not making you pay for a whole new one is already being nice."

The villagers from the other village helped speak up: "A new machine costs several hundred to buy again, and fixing a boat doesn't take much money — ten or twenty yuan tops. How about just letting him pay you the repair fee, and you give the machine back to him. Then today's matter is settled, and nobody has to hurt the harmony…"

"Right, each of you take a step back. We all make our living on the sea, it's not easy for anyone…"

Just now they were still cursing until their faces were red and necks thick, and now they were saying this kind of thing.

"Dream on! Our two boats — how much time was wasted because of him, we didn't even get to cast a few nets for squid, we could only turn back. The loss of the catch — are you prepared to pay that for him?"

"Easy for you to say. It's not your own loss — open your mouth, close your mouth, and everything goes the way you say?"

Ye Yaodong snorted in contempt. The time wasted yesterday alone could have let their two boats combined catch several hundred jin less.

This one diesel engine, sold secondhand, could only just compensate for their loss — and they had the nerve to open their mouths and try to dismiss him with ten or twenty yuan?

Where did they get the face?

The people opposite, hearing him say this, also felt there was some reason to it — more time could mean a few more nets cast.

"Weren't the squid we poached all carried off by you? What loss do you have?" The person beside him was holding A'qiu back, but it was too late to stop him from blurting it out.

"Oh~ a confession without being pressed!"

The people around immediately looked at them with knowing expressions.

"Now you've got no room to argue, right? We're decent people — we never lie or slander anyone!"