Chapter 683: Back into the Sea

Lin Lin Xiuqing has loosened up now—when Ye Yaodong said he wanted to fry up some small fish as a reward for the child laborers that afternoon, she agreed to fry them.

After all, when that full bucket of catch they hauled back was poured out, there really was quite a lot—fish, shrimp, crab, shellfish, sea snails, truly everything one could want, a messy pile of odds and ends. The kids didn't mind, picking up anything big or small and bringing it all back.

"No need for any fancy cooking, just steam everything in one pot, that'll do. Those few sea urchins, scoop them out and make a steamed egg custard."

"Got it. Then for dinner I'll stir-fry a bowl of the bamboo shoots we dug up this morning, and boil some seaweed for soup, that'll be enough."

Ye Yaodong nodded, very satisfied with the dinner menu—all mountain delicacies (bamboo shoots) and seafood (the day's catch) earned by their own labor today!

Ye Chenghu and Ye Ye Chengyang ate their dinner with great gusto too—one bowl of sea urchin steamed egg each, plus the seafood they had picked up with their own hands. Who wouldn't love eating the fruits of their own labor?

At night, Ye Yaodong got up before it was time to head out to sea, because after the rain had cleared, Ah Zheng was going to the city again to buy fish for drying, and would also help him transport a cartload of dried fish to the city along the way.

It had rained the past few days, but luckily the first batch Ah Zheng collected wasn't a huge amount. It was all brought under the eaves, and the empty rooms in the house were used to hang them up with windows open for ventilation—barely managed to salvage them, none had gone rotten. Today they hurried to take them out again to dry in the sun.

Going forward, he figured it would stay clear for a few days, and thought about taking the chance to dry a bit more. It happened that his youngest daughter had come down with a high fever yesterday from the change of seasons, and Xiao Xiao wasn't at ease, wanting to rest one more day, so he wouldn't go out to sea tonight.

After Ye Yaodong had loaded all the dried fish onto the cart and stacked them properly, he paid the cart fare on the spot. Once the man was sent off, he went back inside to prepare for going out to sea.

It was a good thing he didn't go out to sea every day, and now Ah Zheng was helping out with sourcing goods too—otherwise, with all the back-and-forth running around, he'd have worn himself out completely.

Before dark, he had already loaded all the gill nets he planned to bring out to sea onto the handcart, along with those 50-plus shrimp traps, stacking them together and tying them to the cart with rope to keep them from falling off, saving himself a second trip. Once his father arrived, they'd set off.

Still, he figured these gill nets wouldn't last many more days—spring had begun, and the toadfish were migrating back.

Besides, these fishing nets were already quite badly damaged. Although they hadn't set them many times since the new year, they had been very careful when picking off the fish during retrieval, and had folded them up neatly when recovering them.

But even so, long use wears them out easily. They had been careful, never having replaced any, but his older brother and Ye Ye Erge had already replenished a new batch—ordinary people couldn't make theirs last as long.

But there weren't many good ones left either—some were only slightly damaged, others more severely, varying in degree. Making do, they could still barely be used.

He estimated that after the toadfish season passed, the nets would be completely worn out. Actually, they could be retired now too—it was just putting them to use until they were spent.

One spring rain brings warmth; ten spring rains, and you wear a single layer.

Going out to sea at night, he could already clearly feel that the sea wind blowing in was no longer bone-chillingly cold, just still a bit chilly—that, he figured, was just the temperature difference between morning and evening.

After they had set all the fishing nets down, the sun was already high in the sky, and he no longer felt any chill. The sea wind blowing in was instead a bit warm, and they could clearly smell the scent of spring.

"Dad, these gill nets are probably only about thirty-four left. Judging by the degree of damage, we can probably set them once or twice more before they're unusable."

"Mm, no need to patch them. Spring has just begun, so we'll switch to the trawl net. We can also play the longline fishing by ear and put it to use."

"That's what I was thinking too. Drive the boat a bit further ahead, and I'll drop the shrimp traps along the way."

The technique for setting shrimp traps is similar to that of bottom traps—the only difference between the two is the size of the mesh; other differences aren't significant.

Ye Yaodong had long since tied all the traps together with rope at intervals of 4 to 10 meters each, just like with the bottom traps—ten to a group, with a stone tied to one end and thrown into the sea, and a buoy tied to the other end before lowering them into the water.

In between, he also threw in some tiny fish he had saved from the chickens and ducks during the day as bait.

It was only 50 shrimp traps—not a huge number. With Ye Father's cooperation, they finished setting them in less than an hour.

"When we head back in the evening, should we retrieve them, or come back tomorrow morning to retrieve them?" Ye Yaodong looked at his father. "Retrieve them once in the evening, then come out again in the wee hours and retrieve another batch?"

Normally, shrimp traps are put out in the evening and retrieved the next morning. If they wait until the early hours of the second day, the interval between them would be considered a bit long.

"Let's wait and see later whether the trawl net brings in a lot. If there's plenty, we'll drag one more net and skip retrieving them today—come back tomorrow to retrieve them. If the trawl doesn't bring in much, we'll just retrieve them along the way before heading back, to make up the numbers."

"That works too."

Originally these few shrimp traps were just for making up the numbers anyway. He's too lazy now to even set the bottom traps—there are too many kinds of fishing gear. If he set them all, he'd never be able to handle it all. When it's time to let some things go, he has to pick and choose. Those can only be kept on standby for now.

For example, once the weather warms up a bit, he plans to take the bottom traps to Oarfish Island to set them for sea cucumbers and small green dragons—these good things can't be missed.

The weather is still too cold now—if anyone goes into the water, they won't be able to take it.

As Ye Yaodong spoke, he also dragged the large fishing net out of the cabin, and Ye Father stepped forward to help tidy up the net.

"The heavy rain just passed—wonder if we'll get a few more good things."

"Hard to say, depends on luck."

The two tow ropes of the trawl net had originally been piled on the gunwales on both sides. Once the net entered the sea, the cables were pulled rapidly, snaking along like winding serpents, and within just a few minutes they were all in the water.

After the fishing net sank into the sea, Ye Father went to drive the boat at a steady speed for the operation. Ye Yaodong also started having nothing to do, so he simply lay down on the gunwale and dozed off.

He'd gotten up too early in the night, and once the sun shone down, the warmth made him drowsy. Taking advantage of the time while the fishing boat was working, he could nap for a bit before getting up—otherwise, he'd still have a whole day's worth of work ahead.

As for him, when he ran boats in his previous life, he had long since mastered the ability to fall asleep anytime, anywhere, seizing the chance.

It's just that sleeping lying on the gunwale isn't very steady. The rocking of the boat during operation is normal, but it was the splashes brought up during the operation that woke him up.

After the waves struck the hull, a small amount of spray would scatter and land on his cheeks.

At first it was just small waves, dripping a few times—he didn't pay attention, turned his head to the other side, and continued sleeping.

But then came a wave like scattered flowers from heaven, with water droplets pouring down from his head in large amounts. The wet feeling made him think in his sleep that it was raining heavily, and he immediately woke up with a start.

"It's raining!?"

Coming to his senses, he looked at the sky where the bright sun hung high, wiped the water droplets from his face, and touched his hair that was damp with moisture.

"It's the waves. Thought it was raining… damn it, these waves coming in waves really are 'rowing without oars.'"

He touched the corner of his mouth again, unable to tell whether it was saliva or seawater. He had just been dreaming that he was driving a speedboat, popping open a bottle of champagne, and feeling just great…

What a killjoy…

Watching the waves rolling on the sea surface, he figured it was better to sit against the side of the cabin. Whether sitting, lying down, or standing and leaning, he could sleep.

However, before he left, he spotted a strange fish on the sea surface—golden yellow, just a little bigger than a palm. "Looks like a pufferfish? But how is it golden?"

Because the fishing boat was working, it wasn't moving very fast. The fish actually drifted along at the side. Ye Yaodong saw a dip net on the deck by the gunwale, so he casually picked it up, stretched out his hand, and gave it a try. Although it was a bit of a distance away, he actually managed to scoop it up.

Ye Father watched his actions from afar and asked curiously at the top of his voice: "What are you scooping up?"

"Saw a strange golden-yellow fish." He pulled the net back and looked. "Uh, it really is a pufferfish, a golden pufferfish…"

He reached in, pulled it out, and placed it in his palm. Unexpectedly, it kept spitting at him, as if looking down on him?

Looking down on him?

Or despising him?

It actually kept spitting at him nonstop!

Damn you!

Laozi has eaten countless numbers of your brothers and sisters, but I have never actually eaten a golden one.

It's only palm-sized; who knows how it grew golden? He might as well fetch a bucket of seawater and toss it in to raise for a while, lest he crush it to death while holding it in his hands right now.

However, before he could even study why this one was golden or whether it was edible, his father saw it while hauling in the net, turned around, and dumped it back into the sea; he wanted to stop him but was too late.

"I caught it and put it in the bucket to raise. How can you just dump it without asking me?"

"What for? Do you want to dry pufferfish again to eat? People have died from eating them before."

"I'm just looking, not eating. I saw it was golden and was curious; I've never seen one before."

"Golden is golden. What does it matter? Anyway, it can't be eaten. Dumped is dumped. You can't possibly know everything in the sea. Come help haul the net first; that way we can free up the bucket for other things."

Because the value differs, the "treatment" of the catch naturally varies. Useless things must return to dust, return to earth, return to the sea; only the useful ones deserve to be taken back.

"There are so many baskets; are you afraid there won't be anything to fill them? How many tons of fish do you have to pack?" Ye Yaodong was dissatisfied. At least ask him. He didn't even ask a single question while he was curious.

Ye's father paid no attention to his complaints. "Hurry up and help. The net might burst. The net-hauling machine is creaking and groaning."

"That just means it needs lubricating!"

"Nonsense~" a>vas>div>Scan the code to download Hongxiu and Xiangxun for benefits; new users get full-site free reading for a limited time div>div>div>