Chapter 762

Ye Yaodong turned the boat around and headed toward the reef. Just as he stopped the boat to retrieve the buoy, a large school of cuttlefish passed right before his eyes.

"Ah! Quick, quick, Cousin, grab the net! Another huge wave of cuttlefish is passing by..."

He grabbed the net while shouting, adjusted it casually, and then impatiently cast the entire net out.

There were no tree branches around, so he didn't need to specifically avoid anything with this cast. He caught the tail end of the cuttlefish school perfectly, and his cousin also reacted quickly, casting a net right beside him.

Both nets were pulled up together.

Ye Yaodong couldn't help but say, "If I'd known, I wouldn't have listened to my father. We should have just stayed there. We only left for a little while, and another wave came."

"It's not too late. They just happened to pass by. This haul is much bigger than the previous one. Once they get close to the small island ahead, they'll probably split up."

After all, they had dropped quite a few egg incubators around the island. Once the school split up around the island, the number of them continuing to swim forward would be even smaller.

One could imagine that they probably hadn't reached the coastal area yet.

"Good heavens, it's definitely much heavier than before."

"We can keep guarding here..." The cousin also gritted his teeth while dragging the fishing net; the veins on his forehead were bulging, and beads of sweat were dripping down.

The noon sun shone straight down from the sky, but they were leaning against the gunwale, and the sunshade above their heads couldn't completely cover the edges.

Ye Yaodong was also sweating profusely from the heat, but the sweat was just soaking into his sun hat and not running down his face.

The two of them grunted as they each pulled their respective haul of goods up and dumped them onto the deck. *Bui~ bui~*, ink sprayed everywhere~

"This haul is big, it's doubled!"

"Heh heh, we can wait here a bit longer..."

"Forget it, let's go back to the other side. Who knows which direction the cuttlefish are swimming? We might not necessarily encounter them if we just guard here. We put branches over there; it's better to wait for them there."

Ye Yaodong said this while untying the fishing net. He called his cousin over, and the two of them lifted the net together, dumping all the caught cuttlefish into a basket.

There were quite a few miscellaneous small fish and shrimp mixed in, along with a few small squids. They didn't have time to sort them; they just dragged the basket to a pile, sprinkled some ice on it, and covered it with a rag.

"What about your ground cages..."

"I'll collect them when we go back. It's not a matter of this one moment, and it'll save some ice."

"Right, right."

After the two of them lifted the baskets into the corner of the cabin and stacked them well, they immediately started the boat and headed back. At this time, the boat of their two friends arrived late, and they headed toward them first.

"Dongzi, has the fishing season arrived? Our last net haul dragged in over twenty jin of cuttlefish."

The voice of Azheng still carried a hint of surprise, but little did he know that Dongzi was about to give him an even bigger surprise.

"You guys are a step late. We've already collected nearly 200 jin."

"Ah, damn it! We rushed over here as soon as we finished pulling the net, and we're still a step late."

"No way, you guys collected nearly 200 jin just after coming out?"

He pointed his thumb toward the cabin. "Why would I lie to you? We just lifted several baskets into the cabin so the temperature outside wouldn't be too high. If you go to where you put the branches now, you might still be able to catch a little more. If you're any later, you'll probably just be picking up carcasses."

"Damn, let's go, let's go, hurry up..."

They rushed off toward another direction of the island.

Ye Yaodong also steered the boat toward his father's side first, wanting to see how much they had caught just now.

Who would have thought that upon asking, they still hadn't caught as much as he had, because the school had split up by the time it reached them.

He also told his father that as soon as they arrived, they encountered a huge wave of cuttlefish, and they almost didn't have time to cast the net, but they still only caught the tail end of a cuttlefish school.

For the rest of the afternoon, they didn't go anywhere else; they just stayed there waiting for the catch. Whenever they saw cuttlefish coming, they would cast their nets to catch them.

The quantity varied—sometimes large, sometimes small. Sometimes the interval was particularly long, which made him so bored and restless that he wanted to jump into the water to take a look.

But he could only think about it. While sitting there idly, he could only munch on tomatoes and chat.

Until the sun was about to set, Ye Yaodong saw that no cuttlefish had swum by for a long time, so he decided to give up and go collect the ground cages and shrimp cages first.

After a day without a harvest, fortunately, today was quite smooth. None of the nets got snagged on the bottom, and since they had been left down for a long enough time, the harvest was quite good. Although some of the fish and shrimp were dead when pulled up, their freshness was still acceptable.

The cousin was curious again, "Your nets are quite varied. People usually just drag nets, but you have drag nets, ground cages, and shrimp cages. In winter, you also use sticky nets. I heard before you even do longline fishing. It's all sorts of things..."

"You have to try more to know which type of fishing net is efficient and can make money. Besides, it's nothing to have a few simple fishing nets prepared on the boat; it's better to be prepared. Longline fishing is indeed a bit troublesome, but it's specifically for catching big fish."

It's just that he felt this year's drag nets were also fine, so he didn't specifically set them. After all, drag nets didn't require much manpower now; there were machines to collect them. But for longline fishing, he had to bait hook by hook, set them one by one, and collect them one by one. Setting and collecting them every day was too time-consuming...

In a word, he was just lazy.

The progress of technology is due to human laziness—no, it's to provide more convenient life services for humans.

"So you still think drag nets are better now?"

"No, I just think it's less trouble. At most, if there are holes, I just mend the net occasionally."

Ye Yaodong spoke the truth, "Different fish catches mostly have different targeted fishing nets. It's hard to say which is better or worse; it all depends on individual needs."

It's just that there don't seem to be that many types of fishing nets now. After all, many seafood products don't have much value at the moment, which can't compare to the future surge in prices, and then there will be more targeted fishing nets.

"That's true too. Some people think shrimp prices are high, so they specifically set shrimp cages instead of ground cages."

"As for these shrimp cages, it's not that I wanted to bother with them; my aunt's husband gave them to my father."

"It looks like your aunt's husband is still quite partial to you."

"No, my father is the same toward my older brother and second brother. The boat my older brother and second brother were driving was originally his. Before, he even calculated the rent, but starting this month, he stopped calculating it, which is equivalent to dividing the boat among them."

"Ah?" The cousin was surprised. "Then if it's divided directly to your older brother and second brother, wouldn't you have no share?"

"It doesn't matter!"

"Yeah, you already have three boats, so the share of that boat doesn't matter."

"Hmm."

Actually, the main thing was that his older brother and second brother were also diligent and conscientious. The rent they paid every month could be considered installment payments. His father didn't lose out, and he wasn't greedy either.

Whatever he wanted to have, he earned it himself. There was no need to affect their brotherhood for the sake of those petty profits. His older brother and second brother were originally quite good, and his father had already done enough for him.

To him, his father was worth far more than that boat.

"Your brotherhood looks good too. In the village, some families can fight over dividing the family property, just for those pots and pans, hoes and sickles, let alone a boat."

"It's all caused by poverty. Alright, you tidy things up and sort the shrimp by size. I'll steer the boat to meet up with my father, and then we'll go back. We can still make it home before dark."

A few words of idle chat are enough; how could they waste their breath talking forever? Getting down to business is what's important.

Transporting them back early to kill and dry them while they are fresh—the weather has been good these past two days, so the dried cuttlefish will definitely look beautiful.

It's hard to say how long this fishing season will last—ten days, half a month, or even longer is possible. Since a proprietor has already placed an order, he must take the opportunity to dry more and sell them to him.

Although the price wasn't mentioned, he wasn't afraid of the trouble or the investment. He had already saved up the final payment for the big boat, and he had over ten thousand yuan on hand.

Even if the other party went back on their word because the cost was too high, he wouldn't be afraid; he could afford it.

He could also test the waters himself and calculate the costs. If they sell well and there's a profit, he could collect more to dry when the prices are lower later on.

After all, everything has risks; how could everything be smooth sailing? To make money, one must invest. He didn't know how to do anything else, only how to fish.

Buying a shop to sell dried fish was originally just a coincidence; he felt he couldn't miss it, and then it was the result of a sudden change of mind. He wasn't a business genius to begin with; he just took it one step at a time and explored slowly.

Take a gamble, and a bicycle turns into a motorcycle, a motorcycle into an Alto, and an Alto into an Audi.

The three boats met up, chatted a few words about the harvest, and then headed straight back.

The quantity he and his father collected was about the same, both having eleven baskets. The difference wasn't much; they should both have over five hundred jin. Azheng and Hearing Xiao Xiao would be a bit worse off; they went late, and after catching slowly, they only had six or seven baskets.

It's estimated that the quantity will gradually increase tomorrow.

After their fishing boats docked, hearing everyone exchange information, they realized that the small boats along the coast had only caught a little over 100 jin at most, but that was still much better than the harvests from previous net settings. The fellow villagers on the shore all had joyful expressions on their faces.

No big boats had docked yet, only their three boats. After all, everyone was a bit greedy, holding onto the mentality of waiting a bit longer to see if they could harvest a little more.

Seeing their fishing boats return, Acai beamed with joy and actively helped push the flatbed cart forward, intending to help receive the goods.

"How many hundred jin did you collect today? The harvest must be very good, right? Many small boats even collected over a hundred jin."

"It's alright, we were lucky. I have about five or six hundred jin here."

"Good, good, good, not bad, not bad. It's only the first day and there's already such a quantity; tomorrow will definitely be more... Come, come, come... I'll help you lift them together..."

Ye Yaodong looked at his beaming face and that active attitude, and felt a bit embarrassed...

"Ahem, sorry, I plan to keep them and take them home to dry!"

"Ah?"

"Yeah, this boatload of mine is to be kept and taken home to dry, and the boat next to it, my father's, is also to be kept and taken home to dry for me. I'll just sell you the few baskets of miscellaneous goods from the drag net."

"Are you serious? You're joking, right? It adds up to over a thousand jin, and you're still keeping them all to take home to dry?" Acai widened his eyes, looking at him in disbelief.

"That's over 300 yuan! Isn't it better to just exchange this directly for money? You're still taking them home to dry; what if you can't sell them? These are so valuable, just sell them to me, and you can exchange them for money immediately. You'll save yourself the trouble and the risk, and you'll have money coming in right away..."

The villagers nearby had originally come over to watch the excitement and see how many jin they had caught. Hearing that Adong wanted to keep them to take home to dry, they were all surprised. These weren't those cheap dried fish.

Ye Yaodong didn't pay attention to the whispering of others and said with a smile, "A proprietor called to place an order in advance, so I have to keep them and take them home to dry for him. I'm really sorry."

"Ah! A proprietor wants them? Sigh! You're really something..."