Chapter 570

"Hey, why weren't you more careful? This fish is very vicious. Are you okay, Third Uncle?"

Ye Yaodong also looked behind him, "What's wrong? Did you get bitten? I forgot to remind you that this fish is still alive."

Ye Fu took his thumb out to look at it, and blood immediately seeped out again. He had no choice but to put it back in his mouth and mumble, "It's fine, it'll be better in a while."

"Be more careful. I told you to wear gloves this morning, but you wouldn't."

"It's inconvenient to work while wearing gloves."

Ye Fu said while looking for the toolbox. Seeing it by Ye Yaosheng's feet, he walked over and found a small piece of white adhesive tape.

Ye Yaosheng also put down his work, first helping him cut a slit in the white tape with scissors, and then pulling it hard. A small strip of white tape was torn off and stuck onto Ye Fu's thumb.

There were no Band-Aids back then. If there was a wound, people would just smear some plant ash on it. If there was no plant ash, they would use this kind of slightly sticky tape, cut a small strip, and wrap it to stop the bleeding.

"Wear gloves, Third Uncle. Don't think that just because your hands have thick calluses, it's fine. It hurts when you get bitten. It's not inconvenient to wear gloves once you get used to it, and it's warmer, so your hands won't be freezing."

"Okay, okay."

Ye Yaodong was muttering over there, "I told you to wear them a long time ago, but you wouldn't listen. You had to get bitten once before you'd listen when someone else told you to wear them."

Ye Fu watched him muttering over there, but because of the strong wind, he couldn't hear clearly what he was saying, so he just ignored it, put on his gloves, and continued working. In his heart, however, he was even more satisfied with this nephew.

Ye Er Uncle wasn't much of a person, but the father and son's perception of Ye Yaosheng was getting better and better.

Ye Er Uncle had many petty schemes but wouldn't be the one to step forward; he liked to stay in the background and always urged Ye First Uncle to step forward whenever something happened. However, ever since Ye First Uncle's two sons were arrested, he seemed to have aged overnight, and most of his spirit was gone. The two of them rarely hung out together anymore.

People have to interact and get familiar with each other to truly understand one another.

Today, because there were two fewer nets and the fishing net didn't get caught by the machine, the progress of collecting was faster. Just as the sun went down, they put the fishing net back down again.

Although the quantity was less, the cargo collected today was more than yesterday's—it weighed over 1,300 jin.

When Ye Yaodong was weighing the cargo, he also took the opportunity to ask Ah Cai. Ah Cai had a thorough understanding of everyone's harvest and could be considered to answer every question asked.

After silently recording it in his mind, he roughly calculated it on the way back. He had pre-ordered cargo from eight boats the day before yesterday. Over these two days, some caught more and some caught less. On average, one boat could produce about 200 jin for drying.

Just from what was dried in these two days, they should be able to produce about 3,000 jin in a few days—the output was huge!

Sure enough, resources were better in this era.

"What are you doing? What are you thinking about? I see your mouth opening and closing, but there's no sound. I called you, but you didn't react."

"Ah? Oh..."

He had been too absorbed in his calculations and only just realized his father was calling him.

"I was calculating how much cargo all our boats caught in these two days. I was thinking that if we go out to sea a few more times, we should be able to prepare all the dried fish in advance."

"Hmm..."

"I want to go to the shipyard below Nanlu in the county town to take a look and learn more after we deliver a batch of goods in a few days."

"Ah? Learn what?" Ye Fu looked at him with confusion and bewilderment.

"I want to order a bigger boat, preferably with perfect fresh-keeping and freezing equipment and a bigger hold."

Logically, since refrigerators already exist now, these technologies should have been applied to boats, but he just didn't know how well they were applied and whether they were mature.

In his previous life, he had heard that the fish caught by South Korea tasted better than those caught by China because they had some kind of quick-freezing fresh-keeping technology.

In his previous life, he was just muddling through his days on boats, living one day at a time, and didn't pay special attention to these things, so he really didn't know much about it.

If he really intended to order a boat, he still had to go take a look early and discuss the specific details.

Custom-made boats wouldn't be ready that quickly, especially the big boats he would need for deep-sea fishing in the future. Every aspect had to be guaranteed, especially safety technology.

He was actually worried that the current technology wouldn't be up to par, but he had to go and learn about it in advance, right?

He couldn't always just wander around this one-acre, three-fen plot of nearshore water and fish out all the nearshore resources.

Taking advantage of the fact that there were few fishing boats going to the deep sea now and that deep-sea resources were abundant, he could get a head start.

Ye Fu was extremely surprised and put down the load he was carrying on his shoulders, "Didn't you say you wanted to buy another boat and collect rent like Ah Guang? Why do you want a bigger boat? And what's this about freezing and all that mess?"

"Isn't it because I can't buy one? I've been telling you to ask around, but I haven't seen you find any."

"It's only been a few months since I started asking around—only two or three months. How could it be that fast? Some people ask for more than half a year and still might not find any. Why are you in such a rush? Isn't one boat enough for you to operate?"

Ye Fu didn't even catch his breath and continued, "This boat is enough for you to make money. Look, just how much can you earn from selling dried fish this month alone? Why are you so impatient? Look, in the whole village, there are few people who earn more than you now."

"It's true that no one earns more than me, but people always have to have dreams..."

"Dreams my foot! Everyone's biggest dream is to earn money, and haven't you already earned it? You've earned so much money—others haven't earned as much in their whole lives as you have now. What else are you dreaming about?"

"I didn't say I wouldn't let you buy a boat. Your idea of buying a boat to collect rent like your in-laws is also quite good. Just wait a bit longer."

"If it's possible, buying a few more boats to collect rent wouldn't be bad. If you don't want to work in the future, you can use it for retirement. You're very lazy anyway, so collecting rent is suitable for you—you'll have money coming in comfortably."

"You've earned quite a bit of money now. If you collect a few more boats and really don't want to work, you'll have an income and won't have to sit around eating up your savings. As long as the boat isn't too dilapidated, it can be operated for decades..."

"You just wait slowly and think about it carefully. Buying a boat isn't like buying vegetables; you can't rush it, and it's not like they're just there for the taking..."

Ye Yaodong's mouth twitched. He had only said one sentence, and his father had already given a long speech, arranging his retirement life of collecting rent in advance.

Sure enough, collecting rent is the most stable industry!

"Father, I want to order a bigger boat. If I can come across a boat of over ten meters, I can also buy it to collect rent; they don't conflict."

"Ah? Bigger boats are expensive—they're incredibly expensive, costing several times more. A boat isn't a house; being a little bigger means wasting a little more material. If a boat is a little bigger, the equipment that needs to be driven and operated relatively needs to be more advanced, and that machinery is very expensive..."

"I know, that's why I want to go and ask. I can only decide after I've seen it clearly. I can't just sit there and think about it by myself."

Ye Fu frowned, "But it's enough for us to fish in the nearshore, and we haven't earned less. Going to places further away is risky. Dongzi, we have to take it slow. You can't become a big fat man in one bite, and money has to be earned slowly."

"You also can't think that you're very capable of earning money now and get a big head just because you've earned a lot. After all, you're still very green, and your experience in operating a boat isn't that sufficient. You've only been out to sea for two years. We have to walk slowly, one footprint at a time."

"I can still work, and I can follow you for a few more years to help you. Let's not be too anxious. You're already much better than your two brothers and everyone else in the village..."

The more Ye Fu spoke, the slower his tone became. He looked quite like he wanted to reason with him properly, and he was very earnest.

It was really rare to actually be able to hear his father praise him, saying he was better than his two brothers and better than the people in the village!

And he had taken the initiative to say he wanted to help him work for a few more years. His father being able to talk to him calmly could already be considered a huge improvement; he rarely spoke so nicely.

Ye Yaodong's heart was bubbling with joy, but joy was joy—his mind still wouldn't change.

"Can I go and take a look first? Just learn about it."

Since his father's attitude was so good, he naturally had to be a bit softer too.

"If you're not going to buy it, don't look at it. If you get tempted after seeing it but can't afford it, your heart will just itch."

"It's quite good for us to buy another boat to collect rent. As long as you have money, you can buy as many as you want. The risk of this big boat going further away is too great. I heard your Brother Brother Brother Asheng once encountered a sea storm and almost didn't make it back."

Ye Fu looked around. Dongzi had just told Brother Brother Asheng to go back first, and they would push the cargo home themselves. By now, he had already walked far away and couldn't be called back.

Otherwise, he would have called him back to tell Dongzi how dangerous the sea was.

"You've experienced little, your experience is insufficient, and you've always had smooth sailing. We can operate the boat for a few more years, and we can talk about it after we're stable. The boat you have now earns quite a bit, Dongzi..."