Chapter 781: It started to rain

After they reached an agreement, A-Guang left first, leaving only Ye Yaodong and Ye Yaohua behind.

Ye Yaohua hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Dongzi, is it safe for us to pool our money and buy a share in A-Guang's fishing boat?"

"What wouldn't be safe about it?" Ye Yaodong looked at him, confused. "He's your own brother-in-law; don't you trust him? It's definitely safer than partnering with outsiders. Aren't there many people who partner up for fishing boats? Besides, you didn't invest much; you only hold a small share."

"I just feel uneasy. That's such a big boat; for every trip, the fuel costs alone must be quite high, right? And the cost of hiring workers is also huge. I don't know when we'll be able to break even."

"That's hard to say. We rely on the heavens for our livelihood; no one can guarantee a profit, nor can anyone be certain when you'll break even. You didn't invest much anyway, so what are you afraid of?"

"Besides, you don't have any major expenses. Just treat it as an investment. You'll be able to get a good share of money from this squid season alone. Just leave it there and wait to collect your share."

"I even invested three shares, 4,500! Don't worry, it's already settled, so stop overthinking it. No, you should be thinking more about the dream of getting rich and collecting your share."

"Pray that we break even in less than a year, and then have money coming in every year, collecting large sums of money every year, counting money until your hands cramp, counting money until you're laughing out loud."

Ye Yaohua was amused by what he said. The conflicted expression on his face relaxed, and the corners of his mouth split wide open.

"Alright, alright, you did invest three shares anyway."

"Yes, I invested three shares too. Go back to sleep. Let's see what A-Guang says when he comes over tomorrow. If it's finalized, then it's a done deal." Ye Yaodong said as he patted his second brother's shoulder and walked outside.

"Mm, okay. You should get some sleep early too. You're going out to sea tonight, right?"

"Yes, I'm going to check on the workshop first."

After stepping out of the courtyard gate, he patted his second brother's shoulder again, telling him to go back first while he went for a stroll himself.

Seeing that the water in the two large vats wasn't enough, he decided to just take all the buckets from his own home and his eldest and second brothers' homes, put them on a flatbed cart, and go fetch water.

He also took the washbasins from their houses to cover the buckets later, which would prevent the water from splashing out while moving. Even if it splashed a little, it would be less than without the covers.

Fetching seven or eight buckets at once saved effort and meant he didn't have to carry them back and forth. He really was smart!

It was a pity that he couldn't put the toilet bucket from the outhouse onto the cart to fetch water. Too bad, that was a toilet bucket.

By the way, when was tap water supposed to arrive?

He couldn't remember.

Ye Yaodong shook his head and pushed the cart to fetch water.

Lin Xiuqing watched his unconventional way of fetching water and felt it was indeed labor-saving; it certainly saved the trouble of carrying it back and forth.

Ye Mu also saw him push the cart back and forth, pouring water into the vat bucket by bucket, and couldn't help but complain.

"Sure enough, lazy people have many methods."

"Lazy people don't just have many methods; they also have a lot of poop and pee!" Ye Yaodong couldn't help but retort.

"You're talking about yourself, aren't you? You know it so well."

"Heh! That's true. I've taught you the method, Mother. I'm going to sleep. When the water in the vat runs out later, just use this way to transport it."

Ye Mu rolled her eyes, turned her head, and continued cleaning the squid, not responding.

Ye Yaodong took it as an acknowledgment. Anyway, with his mother helping to watch over things, he felt very reassured.

When he got up at night, he habitually went to the entrance to check the beach as usual to see if there were any waves. Seeing no wind or waves, he washed up and prepared to set off.

But when he looked up at the sky, he saw that the clouds were thick tonight, unlike the bright, starry nights of the past few days. He estimated that it would be cloudy tomorrow and there wouldn't be a strong sun.

After a simple wash, he pushed the cart toward the pier. The scattered villagers preparing to go out to sea were also there discussing the weather.

"It should be cloudy tomorrow."

"It should be. There aren't even any stars tonight, and the clouds are so thick. There shouldn't be any sun tomorrow."

"As long as it doesn't rain, it's actually more comfortable when it's cloudy. I've been tanned pitch-black during this period, even darker than tree bark."

"If the sky wants to rain, or a mother wants to remarry, there's nothing you can do about it."

"We still have to pray for the heavens' blessing, pray to Goddess Mazu that it doesn't rain..."

Ye Yaodong also looked up at the sky from time to time, also hoping it wouldn't rain.

Fortunately, after trawling all night, he didn't see any raindrops. However, when dawn broke, he didn't see the sun rising; the sky just gradually brightened up.

He estimated that it would most likely be cloudy today.

The sun wasn't scorching, and the sea breeze was still cool. However, in the afternoon while they were catching squid, the sky suddenly began to drizzle with light rain.

"Oh no, it's raining!"

"Ah, it's raining!"

Ye Fu's boat was also catching squid. When the raindrops fell, they were also shouting that it was raining.

Ye Yaodong was a bit worried, but not for himself; this light rain wouldn't affect their squid fishing unless it poured, which would affect visibility.

He was worried about the squid and dried fish drying at home. A large batch had been killed just last night, and he didn't know if Lin Xiuqing had started dealing with it.

The small workshop and the courtyard were both open-air; they had to be dried in the open. A sunny day was everyone's wish, but encountering rain was tough.

The large roll of nylon bags at home could only cover their own courtyard and the entrance to his eldest and second brothers' places. Spreading them out covered a fairly large area.

The key was, he didn't know if Lin Xiuqing's reaction was fast enough at the small workshop.

A few days ago, when the two of them discussed the small workshop, they had even talked about what to do if it rained while lying in bed at night.

At the time, they said they would just go to the village committee to borrow a few rolls. Back when it was the production team, the village committee had several rolls of nylon bags. When they needed them, they could just go borrow them to cover things up.

He hoped Lin Xiuqing's reaction was fast enough, and he hoped the rain at home wouldn't be too heavy.

The weather by the sea was fickle. It might be raining heavily at sea while there was no rain at all at home, or it might be drizzling at sea while it was sunny at home. It was hard to say; it was difficult to handle.

He looked at his eldest cousin, who was staring at the sky, and said, "It's fine, let it rain if it wants to. It's just a little rain, it won't affect anything. Let's keep fishing. When the time comes, we'll check the time and go back early."

"That's right, light rain is fine, just don't let it get heavy. It was quite bright earlier, but once this rain started, it felt like the sky darkened immediately."

"Mm, as long as we can see, light rain won't affect us."

He also glanced at his father's fishing boat. The curtain of rain blurred his vision, but he could still barely see them fishing in an orderly manner. Only then did he withdraw his gaze.

As they continued fishing, they tried their best to speed up their efficiency. Although the frequency increased, the amount of catch in each net was gradually decreasing.

Sometimes a net would come up with less than two or three jin, and he didn't know if it was because the rain was gradually getting heavier.

Raindrops fell, pitter-pattering and creating layers of ripples.

Seeing that the rain was getting heavier and the squid didn't seem to be coming to the surface to spawn, and the catch wasn't much, Ye Yaodong thought about heading home early to avoid the effort outweighing the gains.

"That's it, don't cast the nets anymore. Pack up and let's go back. It's almost three o'clock."

"Okay, going back early is fine too. I see this rain looks like it's going to get heavier. If it gets too heavy later, we won't even be able to see, and it won't be easy to steer the boat back."

"Mm."

While they could still see, they should go back early to avoid the rain blurring their vision, making it hard to steer on the way back. It would be bad if they hit a reef.

Ye Yaodong told his eldest cousin to pack up what needed to be packed, then he steered the boat to pick up Lin Guangyuan and headed toward his father's boat to tell him to stop and go back early, as there didn't seem to be much catch anyway.

Then he circled the island halfway to call A-Zheng and Xiao Xiao. The two of them didn't hesitate and immediately stopped and followed.

They had actually been thinking of retreating too. Their experience wasn't as extensive as Ye Yaodong's and Ye Fu's. Seeing the rain, they had originally thought about whether to go back early.

But they hadn't waited for Dongzi's boat to come and call them, so they thought they'd wait a bit longer. If Dongzi's boat hadn't come over, they were planning to finish work and go call him to go home.

On the way back, they also saw a few scattered boats returning, drifting with the wind, withering with the rain, swaying with the waves, lonely in the wind and rain.

With three boats returning together, not to mention anything else, the safety factor looked better than a single boat swaying in the rain.

Ye Fu's boat led the way, with Ye Yaodong's, A-Zheng's, and Xiao Xiao's boats on the left and right, following closely behind. They didn't even need to think about identifying the direction; they just followed, and it felt much safer.

However, as they gradually approached the fishing village, the rain gradually eased, not as heavy as it was in the middle of the sea, but it was still drizzling.

Fishing boats around the coastal islands should have docked early, but when they reached the surrounding waters, they still saw them swaying there, rowing slowly.

They were probably greedy, thinking about catching a few more nets, which was why they were delayed until now.

"They really aren't afraid of death. Such small wooden boats, and they still can't bear to go back even when it's raining, still wanting to fish in the rain."

"Or maybe the rain wasn't that heavy in this area just now, or maybe it just started raining?"

"That's also possible."

Ye Yaodong suddenly thought of a storm he had encountered at sea in his previous life.

When the fishing boat was working, they suddenly encountered strong winds and torrential rain. The whole boat was lifted by the waves, almost at a 90-degree angle to the sea surface, and they were thrown around, rolling everywhere.

However, when the fishing boat sped up and rushed through the storm, they saw the sun, while the sea behind them was still experiencing torrential rain—it was simply two extremes.

One could only say it was insane!

Fishermen really relied on the heavens for their livelihood, relied on Goddess Mazu's blessing, and relied on their own toughness!

As their boats slowly slowed down to dock, the rain also gradually eased.

There were already quite a few fishing boats docked at the shore, and some were still unloading cargo onto the shore. There were also people coming and going wearing straw rain capes.

However, Ye Yaodong's eyes were fixed on the small workshop in the distance. From far away, he could still barely see that it seemed to have been covered with a layer of nylon bags. ===== CHAPTER 782 =====