Chapter 498: Release

Ye Yaodong dipped his thumb and index finger into his mouth to moisten them twice, then began to count the bills one by one with a rustling sound. He counted back and forth twice, and both times it was 56 bills.

"That's right, it's correct."

He put away the 56 ten-yuan bills and the seven yuan in change. He handed the remaining fifty-six cents to Chen Jianian, "It's such a hot day, just take this to buy some popsicles or two packs of cigarettes."

"Hehe, you're too kind, this let me earn a bit more again."

"It's only right. We should all earn money together. I'm still counting on your help to handle the money for the remaining goods."

Chen Jianian took the money and patted his chest happily, promising with certainty, "For sure. Since you trust me, I must handle things properly for you. I'm also counting on us coming back to earn another sum next year."

"Good, good, good..."

Everyone there was envious. The others who hadn't known now also realized that Ye Yaodong had sold nearly 600 yuan worth of goods on his very first day here.

"Dongzi is still the boldest; he knows how to make money."

"Yeah, who would have thought that coming to the waters around Zhejiang and Fujian to salvage jellyfish could be so profitable."

Ye Yaodong smiled and said, "This is what they call high risk accompanied by high returns. Everything has its risks. We make a living on the sea; although we earn more than others, we are also in more danger than them."

Pei Fu smiled and said, "Anyway, following you on this trip was the right choice."

Ye Yaopeng also said enviously, "Dongzi really made the right call with that batch of jellyfish. Just one delivery, and the profit directly increased fivefold. We can continue to catch them here; this trip will really fill our pockets."

"I told you long ago to come with Dongzi, but you weren't willing. You thought it was too far, felt it wasn't safe, and had no confidence. Look, if we had come the day before yesterday, we could have caught one more day's worth..."

"Alright, alright, stop going on about it... Didn't we all come in the end? If we hadn't come, how would we know what the situation was like here? Wasn't I just thinking about being cautious?"

The two brothers started bickering again because of this.

Pei Fu smiled to smooth things over, interrupting them, "We didn't arrive too late; didn't we just happen to catch up? Today we even found a natural trench, so we can make a big profit again."

Ye Fu also glared at his two sons, "No need for hindsight now. Get to work quickly. Move all the goods on the boat to the beach first; they'll be coming to collect the goods in a while. And there's still a net of jellyfish at the stern waiting for you to handle."

"Let's go, let's go, let's go to the boat to move the goods..."

Stimulated by the money, everyone was like they had been injected with chicken blood, and they hurriedly went to the boat to move the goods with high spirits.

Before long, the people collecting the goods also took a detour and arrived.

Seeing the heated battle on the shore, they couldn't help but complain, "Why are they fighting here too?"

"They already had a fight yesterday afternoon. Who knows when it will stop."

Because they needed to weigh the goods, everyone withdrew their attention and didn't say much more.

Because they found a trench today, they didn't need to drift around the sea looking for jellyfish, and their harvest was greater than yesterday's.

Although he didn't know how many jin of jellyfish they had dragged in, the quantity after processing was half more than yesterday. The jellyfish heads and skins added up to a little over 3,000 jin. He estimated that what they caught in the morning should be around 5,000 jin, about a hundred or so.

Although the price had dropped by five cents compared to yesterday, the quantity had increased, so they could still earn a little more than yesterday.

His two older brothers and Pei Fu also finished weighing and received today's collection slip. All three were extremely happy, and then they took the tractor to detour around the people fighting on the shore and went to the educated youth spot to collect what they had caught on the way yesterday.

Ye Fu went to the stern slipway of the boat to collect the fishing gear and untangle the nets.

Ye Yaodong had a large sum of money on him and it wasn't convenient to go into the water; he would get wet as soon as he did. So, he waited on the shore, and as they dragged the jellyfish up, he processed them on the spot.

He lit a cigarette and glanced at the two groups of people fighting to the death in the distance. Although he felt he shouldn't be rejoicing, he still felt that the fight between the two groups was quite timely, as it directly diverted the attention of the entire village.

They were selling and processing goods here, and for the time being, no one from the village saw them. Otherwise, if three large boats were all selling large batches of jellyfish, plus dragging another large net, exceeding the quantity caught by the villagers daily, it would have attracted their attention.

After all, being on someone else's turf, it was better to be as low-key as possible. They still wanted to stay for a few more days and catch a bit more; they couldn't afford to make people jealous.

Ye Fu also felt that the fight was happening at just the right time, urging the others to quickly pull the jellyfish out of the nets one by one. He also took a hook and dragged them onto the beach as he hooked them.

Ye Yaodong used a knife on the shore to process the jellyfish as they were dragged up. His technique was skilled and his speed was fast. By the time the four of them dragged a batch up, he could finish processing one.

By the time all the jellyfish were dragged onto the shore, he had already finished processing a quarter of them. Compared to his two brothers and Pei Fu, who were still scrambling to catch the jellyfish one by one, their group was extremely efficient.

"The jellyfish are all up. There are still some fish and shrimp in the nets, and three sea turtles of different species, some big and some small. Do you intend to release them?"

Ye Yaodong glanced at the fishing nets they were dragging onto the shore, "Release them? We don't catch sea turtles anyway, let alone those few. Let's put them back into the sea."

"As you wish."

"I'll go take a look."

He picked up a basket and walked towards the fishing nets, dumping out the seafood inside along the way.

Besides jellyfish and sea turtles, this net also dragged in six or seven jin of shrimp, crabs, and fish. Nearshore resources were indeed a bit scarcer.

This amount of goods, if added to what the other two boats dragged in, would be enough for their dozen or so people to eat for two meals. The vegetable money could be considered saved.

He picked up the sea turtles from the basket one by one and placed them into the water, letting them swim back to the sea on their own.

"It's not easy for you guys to grow to such a size. I'll do a good deed today, just consider it a daily good deed..."

Throughout history, there have been activities of releasing captive animals.

Releasing animals, in Buddhism, is an act of immeasurable merit. This is not only accumulating merit for oneself but also accumulating blessings for one's children.

Turtles also signify longevity, and releasing turtles also means praying for longevity, peace, health, and a life free of illness and disaster for oneself and one's relatives.

Just then, Ye Yaodong thought, is today the 15th of the lunar month?

It is said that releasing animals on the 1st and 15th is the most efficacious!

He couldn't help but become interested. Seeing that the sea turtle in his hand had quite a few barnacles growing on its back, he had originally intended to put it directly into the water, but he pressed it down to keep it from moving.

"Brother Asheng, go help me get a small knife."

After saying this, he muttered to the sea turtle, "Heaven has the virtue of cherishing life. You're lucky to have met me. Today is the 15th, so I'll be a good person to the end and scrape the barnacles off your back for you."

He took the small knife handed over by Ye Yaosheng and began to scrape it from the edge.

"Scraping it off makes you healthier. Helping you scrape it clean reduces your weight so you can swim faster and not be crushed to death. Remember to bless me well after you return to the sea..."

"Don't move around, the knife has no eyes, it'll be done soon..."

"I really have to say, this process is quite stress-relieving..."

Ye Yaosheng watched his strange behavior and was speechless; who let him be the boss.

He shook his head with a wry smile and went back to help Ye Fu with the processing.

Ye Yaodong muttered to himself while scraping. Watching the barnacles on the turtle shell become fewer and fewer, until they were completely cleaned off, he felt refreshed instantly.

"Mission accomplished!" He patted the sea turtle's head with the small knife, "Go on~"

After the sea turtle was no longer restrained, it began to crawl on the beach with its four limbs, but after crawling only a few steps, the sea turtle suddenly turned its head back.

Ye Yaodong was instantly even happier.

In his previous life, he had heard people say that when releasing a turtle, if the turtle turns its head back, it signifies good fortune, that it is grateful to you, and is thanking you.

"It's really quite spiritual. It must be that it feels its body weight is lighter and it's more comfortable."

After this sea turtle turned its head back, it continued to crawl forward and then slowly swam into the sea.

Nearby, Ye Yaopeng and Ye Yaosheng were originally busy dragging jellyfish onto the beach and didn't see his act of releasing the turtle. They only noticed him after they finished dragging the jellyfish, seeing him squatting there for quite a while.

"Dongzi, what are you doing?"

"Why did you release the sea turtle? This can be sold for money."

"Today is the 15th, I heard that releasing animals is quite efficacious, so I tried it. I just saw the sea turtle turn its head back, it really feels quite efficacious."

Ye Yaodong then popularized the theory of releasing animals to them.

Ye Yaohua scratched his head, "Really? It seems like people often released turtles in the past."

"Yeah."

After responding, he returned to their group, looked at his watch, and pondered for a moment.

"Dad, you and the two cousins just process them on the beach. You should have enough to keep busy here. Brother Asheng and I will go out to sea one more time. Dragging a net back will be just in time for a meal. We can go out to sea again in the afternoon and catch another wave of them."

"Alright, then go ahead, be careful. Call your older brother and the others to go together. Several boats together can also look out for each other. If they run into anything, others will have to think twice when they see you have many people."

Ye Fu also saw that the surrounding villages didn't seem peaceful, and it looked like armed fights were a common occurrence. As outsiders who were unfamiliar with the place, they had to stick together to feel safe.

"Yeah, I'll go tell my older brother and the others, and call Uncle Pei as well."

They certainly had no objections to going out to drag another net back before eating. If they could earn more money, what did being a little tired or a little troubled matter?

It was just that what made Ye Yaodong laugh was that his older brother and second brother were also releasing the two sea turtles they had caught.

Ye Yaopeng said helplessly, "Your second brother thinks what you did is very right and makes a lot of sense."

Haha~

Ye Yaodong didn't expect his second brother to believe him so much now, which was a bit funny.

Pei Fu also found it funny.

"Second brother feels that anyway, it's not like we're short of this bit of money, and he also wants to do some good deeds and accumulate some virtue."

Ye Yaohua chuckled honestly.

Ye Yaodong said again, "Alright, let's go, hurry up and drag another net."

"Yeah, let's go." ===== CHAPTER 499 =====