Chapter 742: Mischievous

But it really is quite interesting—ordinary people feel an especially strong sense of novelty about the scenery under the sea, let alone the not-so-ordinary harvest.

Picking up something valuable every now and then always feels like a pleasant surprise.

The underwater world still hasn't been explored by many people, and even fishing boats are scarce, so the surprises just keep coming one after another.

Ye Yaodong searched around the hidden reefs while picking up odds and ends, but still couldn't find yesterday's crevice.

He figured the big-fin squid must have left—maybe after one night it swam back down to 50 meters below the surface, or maybe it was somewhere nearby, but he couldn't have searched this long without finding it otherwise.

Luckily, he picked things up as he searched, and by now his net bag was full; when he was about to head up, he happened to find another sea cucumber sprawled on the ground.

He grabbed its bouncy, springy body in his hand—it felt quite thick and sturdy—so he stuffed it straight into the net bag, floated up to the surface, and swam toward the fishing boat.

"Any luck?" Ye Fu gave him a pull and asked.

"Didn't find the soft squid—probably swam off, otherwise I wouldn't have searched this long without finding it. But I did discover a patch of Jiang Yao on the seabed; it looks like there are even more than last year, planted in clusters across the bottom."

As he spoke, he casually untied the net bag from his waist and poured the contents into a bucket.

A clatter of sounds—

"Quite a few abalones too, and one sea cucumber. These few Jiang Yao are pretty big—30 centimeters already…"

Ye Fu picked up one, then another, hefted them in turn in his hand, and put them back.

"While I was searching, I kept an eye out along the edges of the reefs—still some odds and ends to pick up, a few abalones to dig out. I also spotted a few small green dragons just now, but they were hiding in the reef crevices, and the handle of the dip net wasn't long enough—I couldn't reach them even when I stuck it in, so I had to give up."

"Then you'll just have to make a few more dives. Tomorrow have your mother make you a bigger net bag, so you can carry more at once. Otherwise, with Jiang Yao this big, you can only fit a few, and every trip down is hard work."

"Just have her cut up an old net and alter it—won't take much effort."

"Mm, let's head back first. Today's haul is good enough. Keep these few to take home and eat—no need to sell them."

Hm?

Ye Yaodong looked at his father in surprise—was this really his stingy old man?

To think he actually said to keep these few Jiang Yao to take home and eat. Don't underestimate just five or six of them—they could still fetch a few mao.

"What are you looking at? You don't want to keep them to eat?"

"No, Dad, I just feel like you've suddenly become generous? You can actually bear not to sell them and bring them home to eat? That doesn't sound like your usual style."

He's actually come around—before he could even open his mouth to say to keep them for home, his father said it first.

Is it really true that you take on the color of your company?

Sure enough, when two people spend a long time together, they influence each other. He didn't know if his father had influenced him, but his father certainly seemed to have been influenced by him.

That's a good thing!

"What style of mine?" Ye Fu gave him a look of disdain. "You've got several boats now—making money is as easy as drinking water, no different from having it blown in by the wind. Keeping a few to take home and eat is nothing to you. There are only this many here, and they're not easy to sell."

As if it were blown in by the wind—every penny he earned was hard-earned!

"You're right, just this few aren't easy to sell either. Let's keep the sea cucumber and abalone to take home and eat too!"

Now it was Ye Fu's turn to glare. "You can swallow that? Something that expensive, and you want to keep it to eat? Keep the Jiang Yao, sell the sea cucumber and abalone. There look to be eleven or twelve abalones, and none of them are small."

Ye Yaodong grinned cheekily. "You said it yourself—just those few aren't easy to sell."

Ye Fu shook his head, not bothering to banter with him, and only said: "Let's head back quickly. While the two grouper are still alive, hurry back and sell them. The sky's starting to get dark too."

"Mm, I'll rest for a day tomorrow, and that gives me time to ask Mom to alter the old net. We'll come back the day after."

After Ye Yaodong finished speaking, he went to drive the boat, while Ye Fu went to sort through basket after basket of seafood.

Trawl-net catches are always a mixed bag—no matter the size, fish, shrimp, and crab are all swept up in one net wherever the boat passes.

If not for the fact that the fishing season was approaching and he didn't want to make things too complicated, and also wanted more space on the boat, otherwise they could have set out some longlines too.

Longlines do take up a lot of space—100 hooks per basket, so 2,000 hooks would need 20 baskets stacked up, plus bait to prepare.

They'll be making big money catching squid soon, so this can be set aside for now. Anyway, the trawl-net catches have been decent lately, and Ye Yaodong doesn't really want to juggle too many things right now.

Today they got back earlier than yesterday—it was just getting dark when they docked—but compared to the other villagers, they were on the late side; only a scattered few late-returners were still at the dock, hauling things back and forth.

But when they docked, someone still came over with a smile to ask him, "I heard the boat you bought has been brought back—congratulations."

"Buying a boat back at a time like this means you're going to make big money…"

"This guy's luck really just comes whenever it wants, here one moment and there the next…"

Ye Yaodong just smiled at their flattery—he still had a pile of cargo on the boat to unload, no time to chat with them.

Ye Fu, on the other hand, was all smiles. "The sooner it's brought back, the sooner we can rest easy."

"Need a hand? We just finished our work too—let us help you carry some."

"No need, no need, there isn't much…"

"It's nothing, just a matter of lending a hand. Everyone helps lift a bit, and it'll be done in no time…"

Everyone was so enthusiastic they wouldn't take no for an answer—they just rolled up their sleeves, climbed onto the boat, and started helping unload the cargo.

Father and son couldn't refuse everyone's enthusiasm either, so they just smiled and exchanged a few polite words, then joined in unloading.

When a person's fortunes are on the rise, the people who come flocking naturally increase. Besides, with little tasks like hauling and lifting, everyone is happy to lend a hand.

But when everyone saw Ye Fu carrying two buckets with two live grouper inside, they were all surprised.

Actually, this was Ye Fu deliberately showing off—he purposely carried the buckets right up to everyone to let them see.

"Good luck today. While Dongzi was trawling and had nothing to do, he dropped in a line to fish, and unexpectedly caught two grouper."

This was the story the father and son had come up with on the way back.

Otherwise, if they said Dongzi saw two grouper fighting when he went underwater, nearly perishing together, and he picked up the bargain, that would be a bit hard to explain.

Saying they were caught on a line, so they were still alive and kicking, was more believable and didn't need much further explanation—everyone would just be envious.

Hearing that Ye Yaodong had caught them, everyone indeed was just envious.

"Your luck is too good—everything you do succeeds."

"Yeah, grouper aren't easy to catch… you hooked two in one go, that's some serious luck…"

"Huh? Has Ah Dong worshipped some god or something?" This person spoke very quietly. "Otherwise, how did he suddenly turn his luck around these past year or two? His luck keeps getting better and better…"

Ye Yaodong found it both funny and exasperating upon hearing that.

Everyone just loved worshipping the gods too much.

"I worshipped Goddess Mazu, very sincerely. I go to offer incense on the first and fifteenth of every month."

"Well, we haven't missed the first and fifteenth either…"

"Maybe you weren't sincere enough."

"Really? We were pretty sincere…"

"When you go worship, you have to bring offerings. You go with empty hands to offer incense—it's just like going to someone's house empty-handed to ask them for a favor."

Everyone frowned, dubious. It wasn't like a birthday worship requiring incense—did everyday worship on the first and fifteenth really require offerings too?

Could Goddess Mazu even accept bribes?

Ye Yaodong didn't care whether they believed him or not. After rattling off a few more lines of nonsense, he urged A-Cai to hurry up and weigh the goods.

A-Cai found it amusing. "He's probably secretly worshipped Goddess Mazu and become her sworn son."

In the past two years, some local families with newborn boys would send them to the temple to worship Guanyin as a sworn son, praying for safe growth. They valued sons more and were more superstitious—but worshipping Goddess Mazu as a sworn son? That really hadn't happened…

"Cut the nonsense, hurry up. It's already dark."

"Alright, alright. Let me grab a basket first to weigh these two grouper…"

"How much per jin?"

"I won't shortchange you."

That was true enough. He could shortchange anyone, but not him.

Since he'd said so, Ye Yaodong felt too embarrassed to keep asking.

As their relationship grew closer, he sometimes really couldn't bring himself to keep pressing about the price.

No, no—business is business. He had to thicken his skin a bit, or he'd be the one losing out.

In the end, the two groupers sold for 26 yuan, and he was thoroughly satisfied. The bigger golden-spot grouper was more valuable—one was two jin, sold for 16. The other, a mouse grouper, was smaller, just over a jin, and he took it for 10.

Although the price might be higher if he sent them to town, it probably wouldn't be much more, and it would be too much hassle. They'd been caught for a while now—better not have them die on the way, or the loss would be terrible.

The rest of the goods were weighed. Today he'd sold nearly a hundred yuan. The nosy villagers hadn't left at all. Seeing him earn over 80 yuan from today's catch, they were green with envy.

"We only sold a bit over 40 today…"

"I only sold a little over 30…"

"I also had two valuable groupers, plus over a jin of abalone. Otherwise, I wouldn't have much more than you guys either."

He kept the sea cucumber and Jiang Yao for himself—only one of each anyway. He'd go back, cut them into sections, and give some to Ye Ye Xiaoxi to nourish her.

Ever since she turned one and learned to walk, she got steadier on her feet day by day, chattering nonstop. Perfect timing to give her a sea cucumber to eat—build up her strength and boost her immunity.

Everyone nodded. He'd just happened to catch some good stuff; otherwise, his haul really wasn't much more than anyone else's.

After Ye Yaodong put away the receipt, he and his father loaded all the goods meant to be brought home onto the cart.

However, when he reached the doorway, he saw three little figures sitting in a row at the door—but from the look of it, they didn't seem to be waiting for him to come home?

"What are you three doing here?"

"Dad, we're waiting for Mom!" Ye Ye Chengyang said.

"Why wait for your mom? Where did she go?"

Ye Chenghu said, "Mom went to take a phone call. She wouldn't let us follow and told us to watch our sister. But the sister insisted on sitting at the door waiting for Mom and refused to go inside, so we had no choice but to sit at the door and wait with her. Otherwise, if she ran off, we wouldn't even know."

"Whose phone call?"

"No idea. She said it was for you."

"Oh, then it's probably your maternal grandparents calling. Let's go inside first."

"Ah! Ah!" Ye Ye Xiaoxi called out twice, as if protesting.

Ye Yaodong simply picked her up and held her in his arms. She hadn't been bathed yet and was filthy all over—she looked even less clean than he did. What on earth had she been playing with all day?

Her clothes were spotted with stains, dirt all over her sleeves and pants. Anyone who didn't know better would think she'd been working in the fields.

"How did you get this dirty? Haven't you been washed yet?"

She didn't say a word, just kept looking toward the door.

Ye Ye Chengyang tattled from the side, "She just snuck off to the field next door to pull up chives."

"Really? That amazing? Then we'll have scrambled eggs with chives for dinner tonight."

Ye Yaodong, stubble-faced, leaned in and kissed her neck a few times, making her giggle and squirm away.

"Mom got mad and scolded her, saying she'd pulled the chive patch bald and you still praised her!" Ye Chenghu stood with hands on hips, feeling his status threatened.

"It's fine. Chives grow fast. Cut one batch and another comes right after—can't finish them all."

Ye Chenghu pouted. If it had been them, they'd definitely get a beating.

Ye Yaodong walked into the house with a grin, holding the child, and the first thing he saw was a basket on the stove, brimming with chives.

The old lady said with a smile, "This child had already been bathed. While her two brothers were washing up, she snuck off to the vegetable patch to play again. The hot water ran out, and the water in the pot hadn't boiled yet, so I hadn't given her another wash. Then someone called from the door saying there was a phone call for you, so Ah Qing hurried out to take it."

"Naughty!"

Ye Yaodong laughed and scolded, then set her down.

But the moment he put her down, she immediately lifted her legs and toddled unsteadily toward the door again.

Seeing this, Ye Chenghu quickly went to shut the door.

"Can't get out now!"

"Hai! Hai!"

Everyone:??

What is she saying?

Ye Chenghu looked utterly bewildered. "What did sister say?"

Ye Yaodong didn't know what she was saying and ignored her. "Have you all eaten?"

"We've all eaten. Are you and your father going to eat first, or bathe first?" the old lady asked.

Ye Fu said, "Let's eat first. I'll go back to bathe after we eat."

"Then let's all eat together first."

"Hai! Hai!" Ye Ye Xiaoxi stood by the door, glared at Ye Chenghu, and said loudly again.

This time Ye Ye Chengyang seemed to understand. "Brother, I think the little sister said 'bad'!"

This time everyone suddenly realized.

Ye Yaodong burst out laughing. "She already knows how to say 'bad'! If she had mud on her hands, she'd probably smear it all over your face."

Ye Chenghu stood with hands on hips. "You're not going out! You're filthy."

"Hai! Hai!"

The adults in the room all found it rather funny; even Ye Fu was amused.

"She just learned to walk and already knows how to scold people. She won't be a pushover when she grows up."

"Takes after me!" Ye Yaodong said, a little proud.

The old lady also said cheerfully, "That's good — she won't get taken advantage of."

Ye Yaodong took off his dirty clothes and pants, sat at the table, and while eating glanced at the two siblings still in a standoff at the door.

He saw Ye Ye Xiaoxi, acting like a little brat, lean right against the door panel, then sit down on the ground, her two short little legs stretched out straight.

Filthy as she was, eyes wide open, looking as if she was sulking — no matter how you looked at her, it was funny.

His rice tasted even better for it.