Chapter 363

While Ye's father was collecting the ground cages, he took off his wet clothes, wrung out the water, flipped the bamboo basket over, and casually spread the clothes flat on it to dry.

He also took the opportunity to organize the ground cages that had just been collected on the boat, folding them and stacking them up.

These need to be kept well, saved for the next time he comes to set them, or when he goes back, he can continue to place them along the coast. Don't waste them; he can't leave them idle.

But before setting them again, he has to wash them first.

Because these ground cages have been in the sea for a long time, they are stained with a lot of algae and the mucus from the bodies of fish and shrimp, making them look too dirty.

Usually, such attachments are relatively heavy and will block the circulation of water. More seriously, too many attachments will seal the ground cage net, directly reducing the capture effect of the ground cage.

Therefore, when there is free time, they should be cleaned appropriately. It just so happens that now he has to take them back to avoid the limelight, so he'll take advantage of the good weather to wash and dry them before continuing to use them for deployment.

"Dongzi, it's no good, I can't pull it up again."

Ye's father was pulling the rope, his cheeks were already flushed red by the big sun, and sweat was dripping from his forehead. He was covered in sweat.

"How are you talking, Dad? What do you mean by 'I'm no good'?"

"Huh? I meant the ground cage is no good, where did your ears go?" Ye's father wiped the sweat flowing down his cheeks and said speechlessly, "Go down quickly and see if it's stuck again?"

"If the ground cage is stuck, just say the ground cage is stuck... what do you mean by 'it's no good'... I've already rescued seven or eight that were stuck before, how can there still be more?" Ye Yaodong muttered as he walked towards him.

"Who knows, having reefs down here is just troublesome. If you don't know how to dive, you're helpless if it gets stuck, and the loss is huge."

"If I didn't know how to dive, I wouldn't have brought the ground cages here to set them. It's not like I have too much money and am being willful."

Ye Yaodong tried pulling twice; it really wouldn't move. "I don't know if it's stuck in some corner again, it's really troublesome. The underwater visibility is limited; I only rescued the ones I saw just now. If it weren't for the sea cucumbers and small spiny lobsters down here, who would be looking for trouble by setting ground cages here?"

"Go down and see, are you still okay? Do you want to rest for a while?"

"How could I be not okay?"

"You've already collected three rows, just these last few. It's fine to rest for a while, don't push yourself."

"It's fine."

He put his wet clothes back on and jumped into the water.

Just then, a boat also sailed over from a distance.

Ye's father watched the boat coming this way vigilantly, feeling a bit flustered in his heart, fearing it was someone seeking revenge. Dongzi had just jumped down and couldn't come up so quickly, and he couldn't drive the boat away right now.

After the boat sailed closer, seeing that it was Dongzi's friend's boat, he relaxed.

Just as he thought, the squid fishing hasn't ended yet, so those three father and son definitely wouldn't be easy to call people, and it's early in the morning, so they must think they are also trawling outside and haven't come to this area to catch squid yet.

After Hearing Xiao Xiao and Azheng sailed closer, they greeted Ye's father.

"Where's Dongzi? Why don't I see him?"

Ye's father thought about it, and there was nothing he couldn't say. He was still holding the ground cage line in his hand, and there was even a tube from the boat extending into the sea.

"He went into the water; the ground cage set below is stuck."

Hearing Xiao Xiao was dumbfounded. "Huh? Setting ground cages here?"

Azheng was also surprised. "Isn't there a reef here? Dongzi reminded us before to be careful when we sail past here. If he sets his ground cages here, they'll definitely get stuck. Can he still pull them up? He shouldn't be able to dive too deep, right?"

"He can go down. He said it's not very deep here. You guys wait a while, it'll take him a good while to come up."

"How did he think of setting ground cages here? Not afraid of them getting stuck and not being able to get them back, causing a loss?"

"Mmm... there are goods down here..." Ye's father replied vaguely.

Hearing Xiao Xiao instantly had a flash of inspiration. "Are the sea cucumbers and abalone Dongzi has had during this period dug from down here?"

"And the small spiny lobsters, and the pen shells!" Azheng also came to his senses after being reminded. Those good things aren't easy to catch.

Pen shells can occasionally be seen at the low tide line, but the others are all on the seabed and must be on underwater reefs or coral reefs.

"No wonder every time he goes out to sea, he has harvests like sea cucumbers and abalone."

The two of them instantly understood. At first, they wondered where he had caught them; they didn't expect it to be far away in the sky but close at hand.

Since they had guessed it, Ye's father had nothing to say. Who told them to come at such a coincidental time?

He changed the subject and said, "Why did you guys come over so early today? Didn't you trawl another net?"

Hearing Xiao Xiao: "Sigh, don't mention it. After we finished setting the longlines, we prepared to trawl a net, but just as we finished trawling half of it, we found two other boats in the surrounding waters. And for some reason, they were chasing each other, and as a result, they hooked the net we were setting, and it became a mess right away."

"Probably seeking revenge."

Azheng nodded. "That's what we thought. After all, there were many fights at sea during the previous period. It's probably enemies meeting and seeing each other with extra jealousy."

Hearing Xiao Xiao added, "After the net was trawled up, it was a mess, and we didn't have time to organize it, so we just decided not to trawl nets today and come over early to see if we could catch a few more squid."

"Hmm... luck isn't very good, then let's see if we can get a few more squid today? If there isn't much quantity, we won't come here recently, and you guys had better avoid it too." Ye's father reminded.

Hearing Xiao Xiao and Azheng looked at each other. "Then let's look at the harvest today. If you guys don't come here tomorrow, we won't come either."

"Hmm, just in case. We can't afford the loss of property on the boat."

The two of them saw that it was still early, so they simply waited on the side and chatted with Ye's father, but the longer they waited, the more shocked they became.

Hasn't Dongzi been diving in the water for too long?

Normally, three to five minutes is long enough. It's been ten minutes now, and he still hasn't surfaced. What's the situation? How can a normal person stay in the water for so long?

And when they came over, they didn't know how long he had already been in the water.

"Uncle... how long has Dongzi been down? This is too long, right? Will there be any problems? Should we go down and take a look?"

"It's fine, he should be coming up soon, it's almost time for his diving and surfacing." Ye's father said while pulling the ground cage in his hand.

It had loosened by now and could be pulled up.

The two of them watched the ground cage being dragged out of the water bit by bit, looking at the small spiny lobster still jumping around inside the net, and the word "as expected" popped up in their hearts.

"Holy crap, the harvest tonight isn't small, you guys are capable!"

"I've already seen several sea cucumbers."

Ye's father smiled. "This is troublesome, it's always getting stuck. It's only because the weather has been getting hot recently that he can go into the water."

"Dongzi is also bold..."

At this moment, there was a splash on the water surface, and a person emerged. Everyone looked over.

"He's up!"

Hearing Xiao Xiao and Azheng looked at the equipment on his face and couldn't help but look a few more times out of curiosity.

Ye Yaodong took off the things on his face and reached out to wipe the seawater off his face. "Why did you guys come over so early? Didn't you go trawling?"

"No..."

They repeated what they had just told Ye's father.

"Dongzi, what were you wearing just now? I was wondering why there was a tube on the boat extending into the sea. I was just wondering about it."

"Is it because of this that you can dive in the water for so long?"

Ye Yaodong climbed onto the boat using his hands and feet. Since he had been seen, there was nothing to hide. Anyway, as long as he didn't mention Lin Ji, it would be fine.

"This is diving equipment. With these, you can stay in the water for ten or twenty minutes, but you can't go too deep. It just so happens that the surrounding seabed isn't deep either."

"No wonder. How much did you pay for a set? Why is the one on your feet like a duck's webbed feet?" Azheng was a bit tempted. With this equipment, they could also go into the water to hunt for treasure.

"It's not cheap. I also entrusted someone and used connections to buy it, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to buy it."

Hearing Xiao Xiao shook his head. "Forget it, you can tell at a glance that we can't afford this stuff. We haven't even paid back the money we owe yet."

"That's true." Azheng was instantly discouraged.

"If you guys are interested, I can teach you and let you go underwater to look around, but you have to keep it a secret and can't tell anyone about this equipment of mine."

Anyway, the ground cages had all been rescued, and it wasn't time to catch squid yet. Moreover, he had an idea in his heart: his efficiency in going into the water alone was too slow, and it wasn't good to go into the water too many times.

The eyes of the two instantly lit up.

"Don't worry, we definitely won't go out and talk."

"Right, you're afraid of it being stolen, right? We won't tell anyone."

Ye's father looked at him with a stifled heart. He doesn't teach his own son, but teaches others.

Ye Yaodong also received his father's gaze and understood his meaning, so he hurriedly said, "It's not that I don't want to teach you, but this has risks. You're already at an age, and you have rheumatism, so it's better not to go into the water. Anyway, you have me, just watch and it'll be fine."

Knowing that his son was caring for him, Ye's father didn't speak anymore.