Chapter 486: Colorful Jellyfish

Ye Yaodong was also very happy. Originally, he had just been idling and scooping them up for fun, never expecting an unexpected harvest.

He took the fish out of the net, and it was still able to twitch a couple of times.

Chen Jianian said with some regret, "It's only about one jin; it doesn't count as big, a bit small."

"It's alright, I was just scooping for fun anyway, the size doesn't matter," he said indifferently.

Ye Yaosheng chimed in with a smile, "As long as it's auspicious, that's good."

Ye Yaodong nodded. This fish was indeed quite auspicious, and it looked good too, with a bright, vibrant red color. Under the sunlight, the scales on its body still held water droplets, crystal clear and beautiful.

Generally, people fishing by the seaside would consider catching a red seabream an auspicious sign.

As long as the meaning is good, that's enough.

Whether it's big or not isn't important.

Actually, there is a story behind the origin of the name "Jiaji Fish" (Red Seabream)...

Legend has it that when Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, was on an eastern expedition, he arrived at Dengzhou (present-day Penglai, Shandong).

One day, he chose an auspicious day to cross the sea and visit the immortal mountains on the sea (present-day Changshan Island). After tasting the beautiful and delicious fish on the island, he asked the accompanying civil and military officials, "What is the name of this fish?"

The officials dared not speak nonsense, so they bowed and replied, "It is for Your Majesty to bestow the name."

Taizong was pleased, thinking that since he had chosen an auspicious day to cross the sea, and tasting the fresh fish added luster to the auspicious day, he bestowed the name "Jiaji Fish" (Auspicious-Adding Fish).

The black Jiaji fish is called black seabream, also known as sea crucian carp; the red Jiaji fish is called red seabream; the one with yellow fins is called yellow seabream or yellowfin seabream.

As long as the fish in the sea are a little different, they have different names.

There was nothing at hand to hold the fish, so Ye Yaodong had to walk back to the small cabin to find a bucket, and by the way, took a few ice cubes from the bucket containing jellyfish brains to keep it fresh. Otherwise, it would spoil after a few hours in the high temperature.

After settling it properly, he continued to play. There was a hand-scoop net nearby, and the eldest cousin also took it to learn from him, putting it into the water to scoop for fun. When they felt the resistance increase, they would lift it up, and from time to time, they could bring up some small fish and shrimp.

It was difficult to get bigger fish; after all, few fish swam on the surface, they were all several meters underwater, and only occasionally would an individual swim to the surface to catch a breath.

As time passed, the sun rose higher and higher, becoming more and more scorching, and the temperature gradually climbed, but the sea breeze brought by the sailing boat remained cool.

Along the way, they intermittently encountered many fishing boats, some large and some small, but they were sailing fast and disappeared after a while.

Ye Yaodong looked into the distance. The far end of the sea was a deep blue horizon, and further away were small islands like stars, stretching to the extreme of his vision.

He looked down at his watch; it was already eleven o'clock. If his father's prediction was accurate, it would probably take another hour to arrive.

The journey by boat was monotonous. Besides playing with the hand-scoop net, one could only stand there looking at the scenery, blowing the sea breeze, and daydreaming.

Fortunately, everyone on the boat was an old hand and didn't get seasick. If there wasn't a lack of extra space on the boat, he could have brought a deck of cards to play together.

Just as everyone was looking around in boredom, the eldest cousin, leaning on the side of the boat, suddenly exclaimed, "There are jellyfish, the net is so heavy..."

In an instant, Ye Yaodong also felt that his hand-scoop net was very heavy, and the resistance transmitted from his hand as the fishing boat moved forward became even greater. Everyone looked down at the sea surface in unison.

At the same time, the speed of the fishing boat suddenly slowed down. Everyone looked around again, extremely pleasantly surprised.

They saw many colorful jellyfish groups floating on the surrounding sea surface. At a glance, it was a beautiful sight.

Before Ye Yaodong could shout, Ye Fu had already stopped the boat.

He was steering the boat in front; how could he not know the situation on the surrounding sea surface? It was just that stopping the boat also required slowing down.

After the boat was stopped and the anchor was dropped, Ye Fu walked over excitedly.

"Dongzi, this really is the jellyfish fishing season. There are so many jellyfish floating on the sea ahead, and they are all sorts of colors."

"I caught one."

Taking advantage of the boat stopping, Ye Yaodong hurriedly used both hands to scoop up the hand-scoop net.

It was very heavy. He estimated that this one weighed more than 30 jin, bigger than the ones he scooped up there two days ago.

If the boat hadn't stopped, he wouldn't have been able to scoop up this jellyfish.

Ye Fu also saw the jellyfish in his net and said happily, "This one is big, it has substance. One is worth several of the ones we killed before."

The one at the eldest cousin's place was a bit difficult to scoop up. He felt he couldn't lift it after trying several times, and he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"The one in my net won't work, it's too big, I can't scoop it up, I can only let it go first."

Everyone looked over and saw him tilt the net, and a huge water-blue jellyfish floated to the surface again.

"Good fellow, the one in your net weighs at least fifty or sixty jin."

"I think it feels like sixty or seventy jin."

The eldest cousin nodded, "About the same, that's why it's hard to scoop up."

Ye Yaodong also glanced at it and said indifferently, "It's okay, I'll get one up to see first. There are still quite a few on this sea surface, it doesn't matter if you don't get that one."

While speaking, he also scooped up the one in his hand. The water under the net dripped into the sea with a splash.

Everyone said in unison, "It's really quite big!"

"The one just now was even bigger..."

"We really encountered the jellyfish fishing season. Dongzi, this trip was the right choice..."

Chen Jianian also said happily, "I said this is the jellyfish fishing season here, it won't be wrong."

"Although there are many jellyfish on the sea, it's hard to say how the market is. We still have to sell the jellyfish we've already processed on the boat first. How much longer until we reach the shore, Dad?" Ye Yaodong looked at Ye Fu and asked, his heart feeling a bit hot and urgent.

"This is already the border between Fujian and Zhejiang. To reach the shore, we can find a small pier in a village to dock at any time, but to reach Yangping County, we probably have to sail for a while longer. It's uncertain how long it will take. Let's continue sailing forward for a while and see."

Chen Jianian had mentioned going to Yangping County, which was a border county town in Zhejiang Province near Fujian Province, and also the destination of their trip.

"Don't worry, as long as there's no problem with the way you've processed these jellyfish, someone will definitely want them. I've already asked for you in advance. As long as we dock at Yangping County, I can contact the factory to pull the goods over," Chen Jianian guaranteed and said affirmatively.

Ye Yaodong nodded.

"There's a fishing season here, so there should be fishing boats catching them nearby, but why is the sea surface empty, with only floating jellyfish?" Ye Yaosheng asked suspiciously.

"Is it possible that at this time, the boats have already returned one after another to unload a batch? After all, they have to be killed alive," the eldest cousin pondered.

The second cousin also chimed in, "Very likely, after all, it's noon. It's just right to pull a boat back, eat lunch, and then come out again."

Ye Yaodong also tended to believe that the boats had already pulled a batch back, or it was also possible that this place was a bit far and the sea area was wide, so no boats could be seen.

Ye Yaosheng asked hesitantly again, "Third Uncle, Dongzi, what should we do now? The things on the boat are piled up full. We have nowhere to put them if we scoop them up now."

Others also turned their heads to look at the baskets piled up on the boat, and suddenly they were all a bit worried. It was true; there was no space left on the boat to put them. Originally, only a path for walking was left.

If they couldn't scoop them up, it would be a pity. There were so many, and they happened to pass by and see them. It felt like a huge loss not to drag a net along.

Ye Fu thought for a while and said, "Put the fishing net down along the slide, and we'll drag it while sailing, without lifting the net. When we reach the place, drag it directly to the shore. The water level around the coast is shallow, so it doesn't matter if it sinks after the boat stops. By then, we can pull it up with manpower."

Ye Yaodong had also thought of this just now. Although the boat couldn't stop during the dragging process, and it would sink if it stopped, it didn't matter if it sank because the water level at the shore was shallow. Anyway, they still had strong labor.

Moreover, the load-bearing capacity of the net-lifting machine was one ton. If it exceeded this weight, the net-lifting machine would be overloaded.

Looking at the jellyfish floating by from time to time on the sea, there were very few small ones, basically all on the larger side. The small ones were more than ten jin, and the big ones were sixty or seventy jin each. Taking the average, if they scooped up 30 of them at 30 jin each, 900 jin, the net-lifting machine wouldn't be able to pull it up because the weight of the fishing net itself was not light, and there were quite a number of lead weights tied to it.

If there were many nets, they would still have to rely on manpower to slowly drag them to the shore.

Others felt it was feasible after hearing what Ye Fu said.

"Then let's put the net down."

Ye Yaodong nodded, "I'll go to the cabin and drag the fishing net out."

Several people became busy in an instant, helping to organize the fishing net one after another.

They had been out at sea for several hours, just standing there watching. Now that they finally had a place to use their skills, the three men hired were all very active.

Ye Fu also went to the front to pull the anchor, preparing to sail.

As the fishing boat moved forward at a slow speed, they released the net gear from the tail slide, connected the net board to the towing cable, detached it from the two net board frames, and gradually released the two towing cables.

When the towing cable was released to the predetermined length, Ye Fu sailed in the direction pointed by the compass. Their sailing direction remained unchanged, but because they had to fish, the sailing speed slowed down.

With these jellyfish floating on the sea, Ye Yaodong had a few more expectations for this trip.

Ye Fu was the same.

At this time, he couldn't help but think of the eldest and second sons. If they had come along on this trip, it would be great. With him leading, he wouldn't be afraid of getting lost.

Never expected that the usually honest second son would have such a decisive moment. It was just that the eldest son was more steady and didn't agree, which was a pity.

But one couldn't blame the eldest son. Being steady about unknown things was correct.

Ye Fu made up his mind that after docking, he would sell the jellyfish on the boat. If they could sell for a good price, he would let Dongzi call back immediately.

The fishing boat moved forward at a constant speed at a specific speed. Watching one village after another disappear behind them, Ye Fu continued to sail forward unhurriedly.

Along the way, they could intermittently see jellyfish of various colors floating on the sea surface, and they also encountered many fishing boats that were working, all catching jellyfish.

The jellyfish in the fishing nets were all floating on the sea surface, and the passing boats could see them clearly. ===== CHAPTER 487 =====