Chapter 497

Even Pei's father looked at the water surface at the bottom in disbelief, "No wonder there are so many jellyfish around, it turns out it's because of the underwater terrain."

"It should be. If there are so many every year, it must be because of the terrain. I don't know how long this trench has existed. I heard it takes an earthquake or something to form."

"Anyway, whatever. Let's hurry up and scoop ours. They'll come to collect the goods at nine o'clock. You guys hurry up and scoop. We've already scooped several dozen."

"Eh, alright, alright..."

Ye Yaodong added: "When we've scooped almost enough later, we'll each drag a net back to save some time and process them directly on the shore in the afternoon."

"That's good..."

Under the reflection of the scorching sun, golden rays of light appeared on the sea surface, and the blue waves were dyed golden, as if inlaid with a layer of bright gold edges, sparkling and undulating.

Patches of jellyfish, following the surging of the seawater, were also sinking and floating there. Everyone was busy sweating like rain, chatting with each other and not feeling bored.

"There seem to be several sea turtles at the bottom. I just saw several of them biting jellyfish there."

"I saw it too. That bite, that pull, that suck—it's more efficient than me eating noodles..." Ye Yaopeng also couldn't help but complain.

"It's a pity, such a big jellyfish all went into their mouths. That's all money. I don't know how many jin they eat a day. If it were all given to us, how good would that be..."

Ye's father couldn't help but say: "Can you scoop them all? Sea turtles just eat jellyfish, can you not let them eat? Unless you scoop all the sea turtles at the bottom, just now another group of sea turtles plunged into the jellyfish group."

"Ah? A group? No wonder I said how come I see sea turtles from time to time."

"Then doesn't this all go into their stomachs?"

"How much must this eat? What a pity, don't let them ruin it all..."

Ye's father couldn't help but slap his thigh in regret, "Sigh, what a pity. If I had known, I would have scooped the sea turtles just now. They are at the bottom day and night, so doesn't the jellyfish on the sea surface get cheapened by them? We probably haven't scooped as much as they've eaten."

"Alright, alright, hurry up and scoop! Where can they eat day and night? The surrounding sea surface is all patches. Take advantage of the early morning when they all float up and scoop more. Later, when the sun is high at noon, most of them will sink into the water."

"Scoop faster, scoop faster..."

Pei's father also couldn't help but feel it was a pity, "If I had known, I would have called two more workers. I thought calling three people was enough."

"Who could have thought? It's not easy to call people either, right? It's not near, and the work time isn't long." Ye's father echoed.

The three boats were scattered around, everyone sweating like rain, until they were somewhat exhausted, and it was almost eight o'clock. Only then did Ye Yaodong call everyone to rest for a while.

"Stop scooping, it's almost 8 o'clock. Let's rest for a while, then we'll put the nets down and drag them back while we go."

"We're going back already? I wish I had eight hands."

"Two hands are already exhausting you to death, if you had eight hands, would you still have your life?" Ye Yaodong said with a smile, "Alright, we have to be moderate, otherwise if we overwork, our bodies won't be able to take it. Later, after we drag them back, unload them, and sell them, I'll come out for another trip."

The three of them hurriedly echoed, and after pulling up what was in their hands, they sat to the side, each drinking three large ladles of tea, gasping for air there.

"This sea is like the sky turned upside down, it's quite good-looking."

"It's mainly because the seawater is clear and blue, so it looks good."

Ye's father also stood on the side with his hands on his hips, gasping for air. Seeing the two boats next door still scooping there, he shouted at them, "Alright, time's up, get ready to put the nets down and drag one net back."

Ye Yaopeng wiped his sweat and said regretfully: "We came late. If I had known, I would have followed closely before."

Ye Yaohua couldn't help but complain, "You have too many 'if I had knowns'... everything is 'if I had known'..."

Ye Yaopeng turned his head and glared at him, "Who could have predicted this?"

"Alright, alright, rest for a while and then hurry up and work. What are you arguing about?"

With Ye's father speaking, the two brothers just bickered a few times and then stopped.

Everyone wanted to take advantage of the return trip to cast a net and scoop a wave, so they didn't care about resting and hurriedly took out the fishing nets to organize them.

The people on Ye Yaodong's boat had already organized the fishing nets one step ahead, so they could just drive the boat and cast the nets now, and they could leave first.

As the boat slowly moved, the fishing nets were put into the sea bit by bit, and the others hurriedly picked up their knives to process the jellyfish they had just scooped up while there was still time.

They were all quite bold; there were so many jellyfish floating on the sea surface, big and small, and they all scooped the big ones.

The size of the ones scooped up was not less than 50 jin each, and the umbrellas on top were as big as small round tables.

Ye Yaodong grabbed one and flipped the umbrella end, and it was still alive, "Be careful when you grab them, don't get stung. Although you are all wearing gloves, you are all bare-chested, don't get your arms stung. The whole Lu family went to get an IV drip yesterday."

"We've handled them many times, we'll be careful."

Ye's father was driving the boat there. He first let the fishing boat turn around the edge of this island. Feeling the boat's speed slow down, he accelerated a bit more, and then drove toward the village at a constant speed.

The two boats behind hadn't started casting nets yet, but it didn't matter. With their boat docking first, the people collecting the goods could collect theirs first.

When they drove to the shore, many fishing boats were also rowing toward the shore one after another, all returning with a full load, and the fishermen's faces showed the joyful smiles of a bumper harvest.

I heard that after the production team disbanded, their village all earned quite well during the jellyfish fishing season last year.

Ye Yaodong and the others also hurried to segment them; it would be best if they could be collected in one wave.

But when their fishing boat docked on the sea surface, the shore suddenly became chaotic, and the people on the surrounding boats also hurriedly got off the boats and waded toward the shore.

The young and strong men on the small boats and bamboo rafts that were originally unloading goods on the beach also hurriedly picked up the bamboo poles for poling the boats and ran forward aggressively.

Ye's father discovered this and hurriedly shouted: "Look, did an accident happen on the shore?"

The four of them were originally lowering their heads to hurry up and segment, but after hearing this, they all stood up one after another and looked into the distance.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh my, are they fighting again?"

"There are quite a lot of people..."

"Is it people from the neighboring village coming to settle the score? They were caught off guard yesterday and weren't reconciled, so they called people over again today?"

"Possibly."

"Tsk tsk tsk—isn't it good to earn money peacefully? Fighting delays things so much!"

"People fight for a breath, Buddhas fight for a stick of incense. The conflict between two villages can't just be let go. How can fighting be delayed? Once the temper rises, they roll up their sleeves and do it. Who knows if after a night, the anger has grown even more."

Ye's father listened to their discussion and said: "We'll segment them on the beach later, and we'll carry the jellyfish blood onto the shore after they finish fighting later."

"Hmm, when Chen Jianian comes over later, just let him call people to the beach to collect them. Stop watching, there's still a net of jellyfish behind, and we still have to drag them to the beach one by one slowly."

"Work, work..."

Although they said stop watching, everyone's focus was still cast on the shore from time to time.

There was some distance, but they could see the beach. The temporary sheds built by the women had been dismantled, and the long wooden boards specially set up for segmenting jellyfish had also been overturned, and jellyfish were scattered everywhere.

The young and strong men were pushing and shoving there, and the women were all standing to the side in fear.

Boats were constantly docking on the beach, and more and more people were joining in one after another. Even when Chen Jianian calculated the time and came over, he was caught in the crossfire.

He ran halfway before he put on the shoe he had lost, and patted the footprints on his butt behind him.

"My god, I was just passing by and got kicked several times. Fortunately, I ran fast, otherwise I would have been left behind. These people are really impulsive. They didn't finish fighting yesterday, and they're continuing today."

He dug into his pocket again, "Fortunately, the money didn't fall out. I was so afraid it would fall out, I kept pinching it with one hand in my pants pocket, holding it tightly."

Ye Yaodong saw him take out a large stack of "Great Unity" notes, and his eyes lit up.

Ye's father was also excited, "Did you get the money?"

Chen Jianian also said with a smile: "Yeah, I couldn't wait in the morning, so I went to settle the accounts when I was free. I was scolded by my friend, who told me to go settle the accounts in the afternoon next time and not to go in the morning, otherwise he wouldn't give it to me."

Ye Yaodong also said happily: "That's how it is. Businessmen hate people coming to the door to ask for money in the morning the most. Go in the afternoon next time."

"Haha, wasn't I afraid you guys couldn't wait? This first sum of money must be put into the pocket early to be at ease, otherwise what if you guys thought I ran away?"

"No, no, we still have that little bit of trust."

"Come, come, come, here's the money. You count it and see if the amount is correct. The cargo list is also here."

He stuffed the money into Ye Yaodong's hand, took out a few sheets of paper, found one, placed it on top, and pointed it out for them to see.

"This is the 520 yuan plus 77 yuan 4 mao 4 fen sold on the first day. I'll take 5 percent, and there's 567 yuan 5 mao 6 fen left."

Just now, the boats of Ye Yaopeng, Ye Yaohua, and Pei's father also docked one after another. Seeing Chen Jianian take out a large stack of money to give to Ye Yaodong, they all excitedly surrounded them.

"Dongzi, is this the money?"

"Is this the money from the first day of selling goods? So much? Can we get it so fast?"

Chen Jianian said with a smile: "It's an acquaintance, and I was afraid you guys would be anxious, so I went to get it the next day. I was scolded when I went in the morning, but it's okay, as long as I can get the money. You count it and see if the amount is correct? If it's not correct, we'll count it again."

Ye Yaodong glanced at the cargo list and pretended to be indifferent, "What's correct or not? It's definitely correct. Your math is definitely better than mine, could you have calculated it wrong for me? Thank you very much, sorry for your trouble running back and forth."

"What trouble? I'm also earning money. Without you guys, I wouldn't be able to earn this money. You count it first, count if it's correct. Close brothers settle accounts clearly, we must settle this account clearly."

"Alright."