Chapter 366: A tattered ground cage

Ye Yaodong didn't mind either; although sometimes one might feel closer to friends than to one's own brothers, brothers are brothers after all.

As long as they weren't afraid of the risks, that was fine. Not everyone has an adventurous spirit; some people might prefer a steady and secure life.

Making a living from the sea is inherently high-risk, but it was a choice made out of necessity, for the sake of earning money. Diving, however, was not necessarily the same; there were choices to be made.

He responded casually and continued working, not taking it to heart.

He pulled up all the branches he had placed down, stripped off all the squid eggs on them, and harvested a heavy, more-than-half-full bucket.

The number of squid on the sea surface was gradually increasing, but compared to the crowded spectacle of the past few days, today's turnout was sparse.

Moreover, after finishing one net, it wasn't easy for them to gather again. One had to haul a net and then change locations, which greatly reduced the efficiency of the catch.

Ye Yaodong felt it was a pity, but fortunately, he had caught quite a few abalones when he went diving earlier to make up for it; otherwise, relying solely on squid today, he really wouldn't have earned much.

Working here for a while and then stopping felt like a waste of time to him.

He had already grown accustomed to earning more than others.

"Dad, it feels like the numbers aren't high anymore. I can't catch many in one net. Why don't we go trawling? The fishing nets on the boat are ready-made anyway."

"That works too. They aren't gathering here anymore. Let's go out and trawl once, then come back and take a look."

After the father and son reached an agreement, they dragged the fishing net out of the small cabin and, while organizing it, steered the boat out toward the open sea.

They didn't go very far, choosing to operate in a nearby sea area. It just so happened that there were no other boats trawling there today.

They made one haul, and the harvest was very ordinary, mostly consisting of water-grain fish.

The catch in the sea is diverse; you never know what kind of fish you've dragged up until you pull the net in. Today it might be pomfret, tomorrow small yellow croaker, and the day after, large yellow croaker.

These water-grain fish all had roe in their bellies, and the medium-sized ones had bulging bellies too; it was now their spawning season.

There were quite a few small ones, but they couldn't fetch a good price and could only be kept to dry into fish jerky. The medium-sized ones could barely sell for eight cents a jin.

The father and son didn't have time to sort them now. After dumping all the cargo into baskets, seeing that the sea area wasn't far from where they had placed the longline fishing gear, they went to collect the row hooks. Time was getting late anyway, and trawling earlier had already taken three hours.

It was just right to collect the longline gear before heading back, then catch a few more squid, and finally return. The schedule was perfectly arranged; both father and son were masters of time management.

Just as Ye Yaodong was collecting the row hooks, he saw a black object floating along with the current not far away. It was far off, so he couldn't see it very clearly.

He reached out and pointed in that direction, "Dad, look over there, what is that?"

Ye Fu was sorting the catch. Hearing his voice, he straightened his back and pounded his lower back a few times with his right hand balled into a loose fist.

He was getting on in years, and his waist wasn't what it used to be; it couldn't take bending over for long.

Ye Fu looked in the direction his finger was pointing and walked toward him, "What is what? That black thing? Who knows what it is? Let it float over and take a look later. You've got your head wrapped up so tightly, yet you can see quite far, can't you?"

"I'm doing this for sun protection, and I'm not blind."

Ye Yaodong didn't stop working, collecting fish and lines, his eyes occasionally looking into the distance, keeping a constant watch.

Suddenly, he seemed to associate it with something, and his eyes lit up, "Hey—this is floating on the sea, do you think it could also be ambergris?"

"Ah? Are you dreaming? That thing is black. Where would there be so much ambergris? Our village hasn't seen anyone find any in a hundred years. If you could find one, it would already be a sign that your ancestral graves are smoking with good fortune."

"Pfft, that's hard to say. Anything is possible. Ambergris can also be black; maybe my luck is just better. Besides, just because no one in the village has found any doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There are plenty of people who don't know the value of things; maybe a treasure could float right in front of your eyes, and you'd dismiss it as trash."

Hmm... that is true...

Ye Fu actually thought about it seriously. If it were him, and something floated to the side of his boat, he might also treat it as debris and ignore it.

"Then when it floats over later, let's fish it up and take a look."

Ye Fu stopped bending over to work and kept his eyes on the floating object.

The floating object drifted with the wind and current, rising and falling. Every now and then, a wave would hit it, and after sinking, it would immediately float back up, drifting closer and closer.

Not until that thing drifted to a spot not far from the boat did the father and son clearly see the surface of the object; it had distinct, sharp edges and was pitch black.

"Mussels?" Ye Yaodong felt his eyesight was pretty good.

"Seems like it?" Ye Fu also stretched his neck.

"Fish it up and take a look."

Ye Fu took a long-handled dip net, which was just enough to reach it.

Just after fishing the cargo up and bringing it close, both father and son were slightly disappointed.

Ye Yaodong pulled a spherical object out of the net, covered in messy shellfish, and looking at the surface, it had distinct edges and corners.

"It really is mussels."

"I told you, where would there be so much ambergris? Keep dreaming."

"Thinking about it doesn't hurt. How does that saying go? Make bold assumptions, verify with caution."

Fishermen in the near sea often throw positioning buoys into the water, and the one in his hand was exactly that.

It was metal, hollow, and black, tied to a stone with a rope and thrown into the sea. After a long time, the rope would break, and the buoy would roll around in the sea, causing sea mussels to grow on it, growing densely.

Ye Fu shot him a sidelong glance and said huffily, "You're the only one who knows so much. Keep collecting, hurry up and collect the remaining two baskets of row hooks."

Ye Yaodong shrugged his shoulders, tossed the angular sphere into a bamboo basket in the corner, and continued working.

He could still dig them out to eat; no point in wasting them.

This was pure natural, pure wild, pollution-free seafood.

He continued to pull hard on the rope he was holding, but discovered that this time, the rope was a bit heavy; the weight wasn't right.

"Big catch!" he said with pleasant surprise.

It was so heavy when he started pulling, "Definitely a big catch!"

"Really? Don't be so jumpy."

One moment talking about ambergris, the next about a big catch, Ye Fu was a bit skeptical.

"Why would I lie to you? If you don't believe me, come pull it and see."

Ye Fu looked at him; he didn't seem to be fooling anyone. Only then did he take the rope and pull it, discovering it really was heavy, and his face instantly broke into a smile, "Not bad."

Now he didn't let anyone else do it; Ye Fu started pulling it up himself.

"So heavy, getting heavier as I pull. What are you looking at? Come give me a hand, you have no sense."

Ye Yaodong pouted, not wanting to bicker with his father.

"Good heavens, feels like I haven't pulled a big catch in a long time. How is it so heavy?"

Ye Fu also happily echoed, "Don't know what kind of fish it is, to be so heavy. This must be several tens of jin."

"Knowing it's a big fish is enough!"

"Use more strength."

Ye Yaodong gritted his teeth, the veins on his hands bulging, and Ye Fu was the same.

Both father and son leaned backward, exerting force, and the cargo in the water gradually revealed itself above the surface.

Looking at the net-like object looming under the water, both father and son were dumbfounded.

Ye Yaodong's grip loosened, his eyes widened, and his mouth hung open, "Damn, what the hell is this? Can you even hook a fishing net up?"

Ye Fu hurriedly grabbed the fishing net that was starting to sink again, "Don't let go, hold it first."

Surprise was surprise, but he couldn't let go of the strength in his hands.

Ye Yaodong pulled the rope hard again, "Damn it, are you kidding me? Today it's a buoy, tomorrow a tattered ground cage net. Spent all this effort just to get this piece of junk. Happy for nothing, thought it was a big fish."

"A ground cage is a ground cage. Don't know where this ground cage net was washed away from. Pull it up first and see. Maybe it can still be used after mending it when we take it back."

"It's torn everywhere..."

"Pull it up first. Looks like it can still be mended. If mended well, we'll have an extra ground cage."

"Mend and patch for another three years, right? No wonder it was so heavy when pulling just now. Meeting it is fate. Don't know if there's any cargo in the fish collection bag at the bottom..." Ye Yaodong muttered while pulling hard.

The long ground cage net was pulled onto the deck bit by bit, covered in all kinds of trash and seaweed, so dirty that its original color was unrecognizable.

And there were holes here and gaps there, which Ye Yaodong found disgusting.

"It's torn like this, and you still want to mend it... thought there might be something inside, but with holes and gaps everywhere, I bet everything ran away."

"There's a crab, a small blue crab."

Just as a small section of the fishing net was pulled up, a small blue crab was hanging on it. Ye Fu was happy when he saw it.

"At least the work wasn't in vain."

"Pull it all up first."

They chattered away as they slowly pulled the fishing net up, and seeing two large blue crabs stuck in the net, both were happy.

"Not bad, one blue crab, two flower crabs. This net wasn't in vain... ah~ holy crap~ Leopard Coral Grouper?"

"Leopard Coral Grouper?"

"It's a Leopard Coral Grouper, holy crap..."

Both father and son widened their eyes in surprise. Inside the fish collection bag they had just pulled up was a blue Leopard Coral Grouper!

Its body was covered in tiny white spots, resembling stars in the sky. This one was the real deal, not the fake one caught by the machine earlier.

Leopard Coral Groupers aren't necessarily red, but red ones are the most valuable because red is full of festive feeling.

The one in the fish collection bag was blue, because blue Leopard Coral Groupers have pitch-black pupils in their eyes.

Although it wasn't red, it was enough to make people happy.

Ye Yaodong excitedly untied the rope at the end of the fish collection bag. The blue Leopard Coral Grouper inside was still fresh and alive, jumping around when dumped into the basket.

There were also a few scattered fish, a few mantis shrimp, and stone crabs, some alive, some dead.

The quantity wasn't large, but both father and son were already grinning from ear to ear.

That's a Leopard Coral Grouper; one is worth everything. This tattered ground cage net was pulled up too worthily.

"Made a profit, made a profit."

"Look at you, just a moment ago you were disgusted..." Ye Fu's old face was smiling like a chrysanthemum.

"Look at this ground cage, torn like this, thought there was nothing in it, and if there was, it should have run away. Didn't expect there to be cargo. Don't know whose it is."

"Who cares whose it is? Whoever catches it, it's theirs. Hurry up and deflate it. While it's still alive, deflate it and keep it."

Alive is worth more than dead!

"Right away."

Ye Yaodong grabbed the fish head, but the Leopard Coral Grouper struggled too hard, and its body kept shaking, so he simply hugged it in his arms. ===== CHAPTER 367 =====