Chapter 390: Army and People as One Family

Everyone crowded around Captain Chen with concern, no one bothering to blame or criticize him, and Ye Yaodong also breathed a sigh of relief, but felt even more guilty inside — if he hadn't been thinking about getting some bait to go fishing, he wouldn't have caused the man to nearly suffocate.

But who could have expected that this person would suddenly take an unusual route, switch directions, and float up right under his fishing net, getting caught perfectly in it — fortunately he didn't struggle too long either, and was pulled up in time.

However, if he hadn't been caught in the net, Ye Yaodong wouldn't have spoken up, and the four of them wouldn't have been able to knock off early to rest, and would have continued being worked to the bone until the dizziness worsened.

He said to that Captain Chen: "Sorry about that, bear with it. Once we head the boat back, your head will probably get even dizzier, and you might even throw up."

Captain Chen nodded.

The fishing boats around them, because of the clatter of the machinery, couldn't hear the conversation on their boat, but they could tell something had just happened from the commotion, and were all guessing what had occurred.

It wasn't until they saw from afar that they had netted a person and pulled him up that they understood the cause of the commotion.

But not long after, the fishing boats were once again heading back, and one by one they were all guessing whether something serious had happened — whether the person netted up had stopped breathing, or whether they needed to rush back for emergency rescue?

Or perhaps what was hauled up was simply a corpse, unrelated to the earlier commotion, and they just felt it was bad luck, so they planned to head back to bury the body?

But that didn't add up — wasn't there a small island not far away? Wouldn't dragging it there to bury be much less trouble?

The villagers on the surrounding fishing boats were making all sorts of guesses there, whispering among themselves for a while, inevitably imagining all kinds of possibilities, and then curiously tagging along.

The boats were all heading back, and they had no more show to watch, so they could only follow along back to see how things developed.

The fishing boats along the coast were basically all net-fishing boats — leaving the nets out for two or three days was no problem — and with such rare big shots around, of course they had to keep up with current events.

At this point, the boats were heading back against the wind. Those people had originally been able to barely tolerate the rocking of the boat, but now the return trip rocked even harder than it had that morning, and one by one they started leaning over the side again, vomiting and feeding the fish.

Moreover, four fewer people were standing ramrod straight — besides him and his father, only the village head and Chen Shuji were still holding firm.

That's right — four fewer!

Because not only had Captain Chen failed to hold back his dizziness and vomited, the other three soldiers were also leaning over the side of the boat throwing up. Although they only vomited once, it still showed that their current condition wasn't good — otherwise, soldiers' physical fitness should normally be top-notch.

By the time he steered the boat to shore, every one of the officials was vomiting like a half-dead dog, and he couldn't help but offer a reminder.

"Leaders, if you're still going out to salvage tomorrow, you might want to buy some seasickness medicine in advance — it'll be better."

Those people were now barely able to speak, and could only nod repeatedly there, then, supported by the village head and the village party secretary, and with their arms slung over each other's shoulders, they slowly got off the boat.

The things salvaged up onto the boat were still carried off by Ye Yaodong and his father, the two of them.

By this time, the shore was already packed with villagers who had come to watch the excitement. They had spotted the fishing boat approaching from afar and gone around spreading the word, and now they were all crowded together, craning their necks to see what had been hauled up.

But Ye Yaodong was a sly one — he took a ragged piece of clothing from the cabin and covered the bamboo basket, so no one could see what had been salvaged.

He did this for everyone's good — otherwise, if one person after another grew greedy at the sight of treasure, with their hearts clouded by lard, and complications arose, what then? This was a period of strict law enforcement.

"Huh? Why's it covered? What'd you haul up?"

"Why all the secrecy? Get some treasure or something?"

"A-Dong, what'd you haul up? Lift it and show everyone — why'd you cover it? Let us all take a look!"

"Yeah, yeah, let everyone take a look — go on, lift it."

"Let everyone see what treasures you hauled up…"

These villagers were either old folks or women, with a few young and middle-aged men — most of the able-bodied men had gone out to sea to earn money — and one by one they were craning their necks and shouting.

In front of those officials, they wouldn't dare get out of line, but with a fellow villager, they didn't hold back.

Ye Yaodong waved his hand and shouted, "What's there to see? Just a bunch of scrap copper and iron, broken vases and bowls and such. Even selling them as junk I'd find it a hassle — it's only them treating it like treasure, saying they want to take it back for study."

"Move aside, move aside, don't get in the way here. Everyone go home, nothing to see. Loitering will only cost you money…"

Chen Shuji also called out to the villagers: "Everyone make way, don't all crowd together — let us through, the leaders need to head back."

Father and son Ye Yaodong loaded a basket of salvaged goods onto the cart, along with the water bucket that only had a little tea left at the bottom and the empty bucket that had held mung bean soup, put them all on the cart, and pushed it alongside the leaders.

Once ashore, these people went from half-dead dogs to a dragon in full vigor, and headed toward his house as if it had already become their base of operations.

Shouldn't they be going to the village committee?

Was it because his house was close to the sea?

The villagers also followed closely behind, including those who had come up from the sea — a huge crowd, in grand procession, all preparing to head to his house.

So many people gathering at his house again — how could that be allowed?

He hurriedly asked Chen Shuji, "Chen Shuji, it'd be more appropriate to push these things to the village committee, right? Then you can arrange for the leaders to take them back. There's no need to come to my place after that. I've been adding on to the house these past couple of days — it's covered in dust and a mess. It wouldn't be right for the leaders to come over and eat dust."

A perfect excuse! This house addition really came at the right time.

"And these few PLA comrades — just arrange a tractor, and I'll take them to the township health clinic for oxygen."

Chen Shuji turned to the county official with an accommodating smile. "What do you think, my lord?"

"That's fine too. Anyway, we're definitely coming back tomorrow. Going to the county — the mountain road has eighteen twists and turns, it'd waste too much time, and they're in no state with their heads all dizzy and swollen — they might get carsick again. The township hospital is closer, more convenient. It's just the food and lodging tonight…"

The village head quickly picked up the thread. "Don't worry, leaders — food and lodging in the village is no problem, we'll arrange it. At night, just stay at Ye Lao San's place. Anyway, A-Dong and the others have moved out, there are plenty of rooms there, and they're empty anyway. It's hot now — lay out a mat and make a floor bed, and it'll be easy to sleep."

Ye Yaodong glanced at the village head, who was volunteering his father's place for trouble, and smiled and agreed — settling a few soldiers wasn't a problem.

Ye Fu also said enthusiastically, "That's fine, that's fine. The PLA comrades can stay at our old place at night — there are still two empty rooms, enough to sleep in."

These leaders were also very pleased with how accommodating they were: "Alright then, we'll trouble your family to look after these few PLA comrades. The county will issue subsidies for food and lodging."

"Good, good, good… that's no trouble at all."

A huge crowd swarmed straight toward the village again, and Ye Yaodong breathed a sigh of relief.

It wasn't a good thing that everyone habitually headed to his house — he didn't want his home to become their temporary base of operations.

Treasures aside, there was still a little baby at home. His mother and wife were already busy enough taking care of the child and managing food and drink for the workers — no need to give them more to do, serving a bunch of big shots.

After pushing the things to the village committee and unloading them, Ye Fu pushed the cart home, while Ye Yaodong took the four soldiers onto a tractor and headed to the township hospital.

Along the way, he put his gift of the gab to full use, chatting with them and getting friendly. It turned out these few were navy men, all from this province — one married, three unmarried.

But that was all he knew — asking about anything else, they all clamped their mouths shut tight, like gourds with their mouths sawed off, not saying where their base was or where they'd come from.

He didn't dare ask any more — what if they took him for a spy? He was just curious, after all.

After finishing the oxygen, their Captain Chen's complexion was much more normal. He said the dizzy feeling had eased, though he'd need to come back tomorrow for more oxygen.

The other three also visibly looked a bit better in spirits.

"By the way, weren't you guys pushing it a bit too hard? Even training isn't like this, is it?"

"Our superiors told us to cooperate!"

So stubborn!

"Then are you going to keep diving in to salvage things tomorrow?"

All three looked at Captain Chen, who said: "If needed, on the condition that life and safety are guaranteed, we will do our best to cooperate."

Impressive, truly impressive!

Ye Yaodong could only admire them—such high level of consciousness. No wonder people say our country's soldiers are the GOAT!

"Alright, I suggest you don't push yourselves. Also, about today's matter—sorry about that."

"Don't blame yourselves. You fishermen have to make a living too, with a whole family depending on you. Wanting to cast a couple of nets in your spare time is normal. It was my own condition that wasn't great at the time, I didn't pay close attention."

Listen to that, just listen—so considerate, so understanding. Truly the people's soldiers!

"Good brothers, let's go, I'm treating you all to a restaurant." Ye Yaodong swept out with a broad palm, speaking with heroic spirit reaching the clouds.

Captain Chen chuckled, "No need, let's head back to the village first, it's not mealtime yet…"

"What's there to be polite about? None of us ate lunch, just took on some water—two trips to the latrine and it's gone. I'm so hungry my chest is sticking to my back, you lot must have thrown it all up too."

"Those officers of theirs are something—no preparation at all, just rushed us out to sea. Only let us work, didn't bother with food. If Laozi hadn't boldly called a stop, you'd all still be soaking in the water. A person is iron, rice is steel—one meal missed and you're starving. Let's go, let's go, I'm treating you to our local specialty snacks."

"Really no need, we'll just buy a few steamed buns later."

"Steamed buns? Where would you get steamed buns? We don't have those here, only flatbreads. Come on, come on, don't be like a Miss, dragging your feet…"

"You have those over at Min Nanhu, right? The devils definitely don't have them… give me five bowls… five flatbreads stuffed with fried dough… do you have pan-fried buns?"

"That's enough, enough, let's eat first…"

"Give me five pan-fried buns too, eat plenty…"

The five men swept clean everything they'd ordered. Ye Yaodong even let out a satisfied burp, patted his belly, and said, "The feeling of being full is too good. You all ate enough? Want some more?"

"Enough, enough."