Chapter 399

Earlier, the fish were biting the hook quite quickly; within two minutes, there would be a tugging sensation on the line. Later, it was shaking back and forth, left and right. Now, after so long, it was surprisingly quiet and motionless.

He stuck his head out over the gunwale to look; the sea surface was calm and waveless, with only the seawater flowing slowly in the wind. He tried to lift the fishing line and then shook it left and right a few times. Perhaps because the boat wasn't moving and the bait wasn't moving, the fish couldn't bite the hook?

As a result, just as he lifted the line, he felt a snag, and then when the hook was pulled up, the bait on it was completely gone.

"I felt like there was a fish just now, but I think I pulled the line too early."

"What's the rush? Fishing requires some patience. How can you throw a hook down and have a fish bite the bait immediately? It might not even take others ten or twenty minutes to catch one, what are you rushing for?"

Ye Yaodong was speechless. Who knows who it was? Just a moment ago, they were reminding him why there was no movement for so long.

Old guy!

"Let me fix the line for you..."

"Hey! No need! I'll do it myself. You go to the side and enjoy the shade. I'll fish slowly by myself and play around." Ye Yaodong directly raised the wooden stick in his hand high so his father couldn't reach it.

Ye Fu watched with envy. If he weren't bored, would he love to crowd over?

Ye Fu stopped looking in frustration and went directly to sit on a small stool, resting his chin on his hand and blowing the sea breeze.

Never had a trip out to sea been this idle; there was nothing to do, just park the boat here and let it drift.

Just at this moment, a boat really did come sailing this way blindly. Ye Fu stood up, preparing to shout for them to leave as soon as the boat got close. Who knew that before they even got near, they turned the boat around and left.

Ye Fu had no choice but to sit back down, resting his chin on his hand and muttering to himself, "Is their eyesight too good? They saw me from far away and left on their own... Sigh~ What time is it now? If I had known, I might as well have been moving things at home..."

Frequent exclamations reached his ears, along with them reporting what fish they had caught again. Ye Fu also felt a bit itchy and impatient, and after sitting idly for over half an hour, he got up and walked over again.

Just in time, Ye Yaodong pulled up a rod abruptly, "Damn, a tiger grouper, nice, nice. I was wondering why it was so fierce when it bit the hook."

As soon as Ye Fu came over and saw it, he also happily said, "Nice, nice, you actually caught a grouper."

"A grouper? I heard this fish is quite expensive," a soldier said.

Ye Yaodong smiled so wide his mouth was about to reach the back of his head, "It's alright. This tiger grouper is considered a cheap variety among groupers, but it's still okay. The few I caught just now were all things like water fish, eels, mullet, Spanish mackerel, black sea bream, and so on. Only this tiger grouper is the best. These groupers love to be active around reefs."

"It's a pity that a red snapper ran away just now. Otherwise, that fish looked like it was three or four jin, and it could have sold for a good price."

He had been fishing for a while, and he felt that the hand-line fishing sensation was very obvious, and it was strong and powerful when pulling; he felt it was better than using a rod.

Having caught over a dozen fish, he could already roughly distinguish what each vibration of the fishing line represented.

Every time a fish ate, the trembling of the fishing line caused by it could be quickly transmitted to his fingers. Whether the fish was nibbling (taking a bite and immediately letting go) or swallowing (having already swallowed the hook into its mouth), he could roughly distinguish it clearly based on the different tremblings of the fishing line.

Some fish often only have the hook in their mouths for one or two seconds. If one reacts slowly at this time, the fish will spit out the hook and escape.

He didn't pay attention just now and let one run away. He even saw a red shadow on the sea surface; it was a red snapper, but unfortunately, it died.

That red snapper was the most cunning; it wouldn't eat the bait immediately but would run with the hook and bait in its mouth. Before eating the bait, it would pull the fishing line lightly. He was the one who reeled in the line too early, letting it run away.

But it could also be considered gaining experience.

Ye Fu was just about to help him unhook the tiger grouper and put it in the bucket, but he discovered that this one didn't seem to be a tiger grouper?

"Dongzi, this one seems to be a coral grouper, not a tiger grouper."

"Ah?"

"Look at it, its eyes are on the sides of its head. The tiger grouper's eyes are on the top of its head."

"Hey, it really is. I misjudged it. I only noticed the patterns on its body and didn't look at its eyes. However, these eyes are also almost on the top of its head. If you don't look closely at close range, you can't tell them apart."

The coral grouper is also known as the 'cedar grouper'; 'cedar' is the Hong Kong fishermen's common name for coral. The cedar grouper is the grouper found in coral.

The coral grouper is very similar to the tiger grouper in both appearance and color patterns, making it very difficult to distinguish. However, the coral grouper's eyes are on the sides of its head, while the tiger grouper's eyes are on the top of its head. As long as you look carefully, it's easy to distinguish.

A soldier chimed in, "See if it's more expensive than a tiger grouper?"

"About the same. Don't think that just because it carries the name of that place, Hong Kong, its value has gone up. Actually, it's about the same. Hong Kong will return to our country sooner or later, so its status is naturally the same."

Captain Chen agreed and said, "You're right, Hong Kong will return sooner or later!"

After Ye Yaodong finished organizing the fishing line, Ye Fu thoughtfully hung the bait for him again. He also suddenly had a change of heart and handed the wooden stick he was using to choose the fishing line to his father, and also handed over the stone he was holding in his other hand.

"Here, you play for a while!"

"Fishing is fishing, how is it playing?" After Ye Fu muttered a sentence, he happily took it.

Several soldiers watched with envy; they were also very bored!

"I don't know which turtle's grandson came up with the bad idea to send us to the sea to watch the site. It would have been enough to just have the wharf loudspeaker call out that approaching is prohibited. They actually had to send us over. It's so idle that I can't even find a mosquito to swat at sea."

Ye Yaodong sat in the position Ye Fu was originally sitting in. He was also bored and couldn't help but rest his chin on his hand and complain.

"Cough cough... it was those people from the museum," Captain Chen said with two dry coughs.

"Damn it, why didn't they come themselves? They just use their mouths. Once they come, they treat themselves like masters. I don't know if the efficiency of those above is high or not? When will the salvage team come? How many more days do we have to watch the site at sea?"

"Hey, don't be noisy. You're talking so loudly that the fish won't bite the hook," Ye Fu said impatiently, looking at the line in his hand, which had been motionless for a long time.

"The fish are several meters or over ten meters underwater. Can they still hear me blabbering above the sea?"

"If you're idle and have nothing to do, go to that island over there and dig up some shellfish, instead of sitting here idly."

"That's fine too," anyway, he was wearing a sun hat, it's just...

"Why didn't you go just now? Now you remember to send me."

"I was just listening to you over there saying what fish you caught again and again. My hands were itchy, how could I think of going to the island to dig for shellfish? I just remembered now. Your mother always says there's nothing else at home except dried fish, and it's all eaten up. You go dig some for her to take back and dry."

He looked at his watch; it wasn't even ten o'clock yet. If he didn't do something, the time would be too hard to endure. "Then you fish one more hook for me, and I'll go."

"Take it, take it. I ask you to do a tiny bit of work, and you're still bargaining!"

The father and son's way of getting along actually opened the eyes of the four soldiers. One kept talking back, and the other kept complaining, but it seemed quite harmonious.

As soon as the wooden stick and fishing line were handed to Ye Yaodong, a violent tugging sensation suddenly came, scaring him so much that he almost didn't hold the wooden stick well and dropped it into the water.

"Damn, at least give me some time to prepare? It was motionless in your hands for a long time, and as soon as it was handed to me, it bit the hook and ran. It seems, Dad, you going to the island to dig for shellfish is more appropriate."

"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and pull it up."

"Isn't that what I'm doing?"

Ye Yaodong gritted his teeth. His palms were already marked with a red line from the fishing line, but he still couldn't pull it up even a little bit.

Fortunately, his fishing line was relatively thick and tied quite tightly on the stick. With the stick held tightly in his hand and his large build, he wasn't easily dragged into the sea by the fish.

If it had been his father, who was short and stout, it would have been hard to say.

It's just, what kind of fish is biting the hook down there? The pulling force is actually so great, damn.

He released and reeled in the line from time to time just to tire out the fish, but it was quite difficult.

"This hook must be a big fish. This force is too great, isn't it? Let us help you..." Two of the soldiers, one on each side, stood to his left and right and also started helping to pull.

Ye Fu also wanted to help, but there was no room for him to stand. He could only give a few instructions, "Comrades of the People's Liberation Army, be careful with your hands, don't get cut by the fishing line. This fish is too big, and without a fishing rod, it's not easy to pull it up with just this thin fishing line."

"Isn't it because you broke the fishing rod."

"You're bringing it up again when everything is fine. I'll cut a bamboo pole and return it to you when we go back tonight. How long ago was that, and you still have to dig it up to talk about it."

Ye Yaodong ignored his father's words and only said to the two people on his left and right, "Loosen the line in your hands, I'll do it myself. When you encounter a big fish, you have to tire it out by loosening and tightening the line to have a chance to pull it up. You can't pull it with such brute force. I don't know if this fishing line will be snapped..."

Saying this, he was already spitting in his heart. It didn't matter if the line snapped, but the fish couldn't run away.

With such a fierce pulling force, the fish is definitely not small. Whether we can make enough money today depends on whether this big fish can be pulled up.

"Damn, it really has strength... it's still running... damn..."