Chapter 389: A Person?

Chen Shuji walked over toward the father and son across from him, smiling as he said, "What's going on? Why are you two arguing on the boat?"

Ye Yaodong turned his head to glance over and said matter-of-factly, "We're not arguing, my dad and I always talk like this."

Afraid of affecting their salvage work, Ye Yaodong deliberately moved to the opposite side, casting his net from the gunwale on the other side of the boat.

"What are you doing with that fishing net? So hardworking, not wasting a single moment."

"Yeah, most of the day has passed, and only now you remembered to take out the net to fish…" Ye Fu grumbled.

Chen Shuji said with a smile, "There don't seem to be any fish down there right now, do you think you can catch any?"

"Let's give it a try, not expecting to catch much, just killing time. We're idle anyway, so let's toss a couple of nets and see." Ye Yaodong tidied up the net and gave it a shake. "Step aside a bit, or I'll whip it onto you in a moment."

"Alright, alright…"

Chen Shuji responded, then quickly stepped aside, looking out at the sea surface, curious to see what he might catch.

The sea was perfectly calm. Apart from when those people up front were vomiting and fish leapt out of the water, there was no movement now, not even a shadow down below. He figured this cast was surely going to be wasted.

Ye Fu thought the same. "The inshore fish resources are scarce. In the years before when there was nothing to eat, everyone fished them out. Now even trawl nets can't catch much, let alone a hand-cast net like this. There's no movement under the water at all, it's a wasted cast. You'd exhaust yourself and only net a few jin, unless a school of fish happens to pass by and you get lucky."

Chen Shuji agreed, "In the years before when we ate from the same big pot, plenty of people sneaked out at night using these kinds of nets. We all turned a blind eye. These past few years life has gotten better, so fewer people use these inshore. Too much effort. Usually they just keep them on the boat as backup, right? They only come in handy when a school of fish passes by."

"Doesn't matter, as long as I can get some bait."

"Huh? Bait? What are you up to now? One moment casting a net, the next moment bait—you never sit still."

Ye Yaodong was about to retort at his father when he felt a tugging force on the net in his hands, and it was actually pulling in the opposite direction, struggling to tear the net free from his grip. He instantly tightened his hold on the net and said excitedly, "Holy crap, there's a big one! A big one, Dad… come help…"

Ye Fu, looking surprised, hurried over to help, no longer grumbling or scolding him, his face full of joy as he said, "So heavy… you really did net a big one? Pull hard…"

The father and son had been bickering just moments ago, but now they instantly made peace.

Chen Shuji also laughed from the side, "Nobody can beat Ah-Dong's luck. The sea is dead calm, yet he still managed to net a big fish. Judging by how hard you two are working, that fish down there must be no small catch!"

Ye Fu said happily over and over, "Just luck, just luck. Dongzi's luck at sea has always been great…"

The father and son hauled in the net, loosening and tightening with practiced skill to keep the fish from breaking the net.

At first, an especially strong tugging force came from inside the net; holding the other end, they could both feel how violently the thing inside was struggling.

But after just a short while, the big fish inside seemed to have exhausted its strength and stopped struggling. They found it strange—out of energy that fast? Normally a big fish would thrash about for ten or twenty minutes before it could be hauled up.

Both father and son were puzzled, but as they hauled it up with effort, it felt much smoother. They no longer had to loosen and tighten—just pull the net in with all their might.

As the net came up bit by bit, the joy on their faces grew, and they relaxed a little inside.

But just then, a sudden commotion broke out behind them, and Chen Shuji also walked toward the group across the way.

"Where's the team leader?"

"Isn't he in the water?"

"Didn't he come up?"

"No, I didn't see him. I only saw you come up."

"Huh? He was just a little behind me, right? I've been up for a little while now, already handed over the artifacts. I was so busy talking just now that I only just noticed the team leader didn't come up."

"What's going on? Why didn't he come up together?"

"Didn't I say? We found four bronze vessels shaped like chamber pots. He told me to bring two up first, and the other two were scattered a bit apart. He gestured for me to come up first while he went to pick them up. Logically he should have come up too. Holy crap, I'm going down to check—don't let anything happen…"

"You just came up, let your heart and lungs rest a bit. We'll go down and check…"

Splash, splash—two more sounds…

Everyone on the boat looked tensely at the sea. Ye Yaodong, hearing the commotion, turned his head to glance over, then pricked up his ears to listen while splitting his attention, his grip on the net not weakening.

He wondered what had happened. This net was almost up—haul it in first, then go over and check. He thought to himself.

The net gradually surfaced, but in an instant, both father and son were dumbfounded…

"A person?"

How did the person they had just said was missing end up in the net?

Where was the fish they were promised?

"Holy crap! How is it a person?"

Ye Fu was also stunned. "Huh? How is it a person??"

"What person?" Chen Shuji, hearing the commotion on their side, ran back over. "Ah? In the net?! Quick, quick, pull it up~ Everyone come quick, that Team Leader Chen is in the net…"

Chen Shuji shouted excitedly at the top of his lungs.

Instantly, a crowd of people swarmed over to the gunwale, exclaiming in shock.

"He's in the net!

!"

"How did he end up in the net?"

"Quick, quick, pull him up…"

"Oh my, how did Team Leader Chen end up in the net?"

The father and son were immediately shoved aside. Everyone pulled together, and in no time they hauled the person up, then worked together to untangle the net and lay him flat on the deck.

His face was contorted in pain, his lips turned a faint bluish-purple from lack of oxygen, his mouth and nose breathing rapidly, his chest heaving violently.

But he was still fully conscious, gripping two bronze vessels resembling chamber pots with all his might.

"Thank goodness… Team Leader Chen, are you alright?"

"Team Leader Chen, how do you feel?"

"Comrade soldier…"

"Team leader, how are you?"

The two soldiers who had gone into the water to look for him hadn't found him, and once they hit their limit they had no choice but to come up, only to discover the team leader was already on the boat.

Team Leader Chen lay there recovering for quite a while, then handed the two bronze chamber-pot vessels he had been gripping tightly to the old man from the cultural center, and said slowly, "I'm fine."

The veins on his hands were bulging, and he was gasping for breath between words, yet he said he was fine.

"This... how did you get caught in the fishing net?"

Ahem... Ye Yaodong stood awkwardly behind the crowd, exchanged a glance with Ye Fu, then rubbed his nose—he hadn't expected such a coincidence, catching this soldier in the net.

Come to think of it, hadn't he been going up and down on the other side of the boat the whole time? Why did he suddenly surface on this side this time? He had clearly intended to avoid them, so as not to affect their work.

Ye Fu's mouth moved a few times, clearly wanting to scold someone, but he held back—this wasn't the moment to berate his son, he had to help cover for him.

He squeezed into the crowd, "Sorry about that, Comrade PLA, really sorry about this. We specifically went to the other side of the boat to cast our net, just so we wouldn't disturb you. We didn't expect you to surface on this side, and get caught in the fishing net of all things..."

"It's fine, I was too anxious, rushed in without looking carefully..." Captain Chen said between breaths.

Ye Yaodong said guiltily, "I'll have them send a boat over from the other side, and accompany you to the hospital for oxygen first. Don't force yourself—I know you must be dizzy, head hurting, can't catch your breath right now."

"Right, right, right, Captain go to the hospital first, we'll handle things here..."

The others chimed in agreement.

Ye Yaodong looked at the other few soldiers, thought for a moment—surely it wasn't only this one who was caught in the net and feeling dizzy. Even though they'd all been trained, and had rested on and off throughout the day, the frequent high-intensity breath-holding would absolutely have left their brains oxygen-deprived. The others must be feeling drowsy and dizzy right now too.

Just now, from when he caught the man in the net to hauling him up, not much time had passed, and this soldier had quickly assessed the situation, stopped struggling, and cooperated by letting himself be pulled up.

When it came down to it, they'd simply dived too many times today—their brains were already in an oxygen-deprived state, which was why their faces looked so awful right now.

He looked at those leaders, "I suggest these PLA comrades all go for oxygen together. Today they've been taking turns going into the water at high intensity. Even though they rested, holding their breath for too long and too frequently can easily cause oxygen deprivation to the brain and other organs—especially damage to the heart and lungs."

"Their bodies are basically already in a state of severe oxygen deprivation. Oxygen therapy can relieve it and help them recover as soon as possible."

If it weren't for the guilt, he wouldn't have spoken up.

These soldiers were really honest too.

Normally, the interval between underwater breath-holding should be more than one hour. What they'd done today was excessive, trained or not.

It was also a credit to the county officials' conscience—they didn't drag their feet, just thought briefly, discussed a few sentences, and nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, going into the water too frequently. From morning till now, they haven't rested much. Thank you for your hard work, PLA comrades. Let's call it a day for today—you go with Captain Chen to the hospital for a checkup first. Getting back early is good for you too, and it'll give us time to submit our report today."

"Right, thankfully Comrade Ye Yaodong reminded us. This was our oversight—we simply don't know enough about diving and salvage work."

"You've really worked hard today, PLA comrades. You're truly so dedicated—even when feeling unwell, you still did your utmost to cooperate. Thank you so much."

Everyone's polite words were beautifully phrased.

"You're too kind. This is our mission—the orders we received were to cooperate with your work as much as possible. Thank you, leaders, for your consideration."

Being able to knock off early and rest, the soldiers were more than happy to oblige.