Chapter 906: Remora Fishing

Sure enough, the moment he finished asking, the fishing boat stopped, and the boatman came over to ask whether he wanted to fish or cast a net.

Hong Hong Wenle said as if it were the most natural thing in the world, "Of course we fish first. Trawling is so boring—just standing on the boat like an idiot, waiting to watch the net go down and come back up. Might as well fish first. When we don't feel like fishing anymore, and we're taking a break, you can cast one net, and we'll tow one back to go with our drinks."

After hearing him out, Ye Yaodong took a very thick needle, with a thick, stiff nylon line threaded through the back of it, and he poked a hole in the back of a remora, threading the line he had on him straight through it.

At first the remora didn't react, but when it did a moment later, it thrashed a few times and splashed a faceful of water droplets at him—but by then the line was already through.

"That's it?"

"Pretty much, let's give it a try?"

There were only five remoras in the bucket in total. Ye Yaodong threaded a thick, stiff nylon line through the dorsal fin of each one, and once they were all threaded, he tied them off with a dead knot.

"So we just hold the line in our hands?"

"Tie it to the boat. I'm afraid once the fish gets too active down there, swimming too fast, the pulling force will be too violent and just snap the line right off on you, and there won't be anything you can do about it."

"Fair enough, then let's tie it to the machine on the boat."

Ye Yaodong handed the five lines over to them. "Then you do it yourselves. You only get a sense of participation when you do it with your own hands. Each line is fifty or sixty meters long. After you put the fish in the water, tie the line on."

"Just fishing like this doesn't seem like much fun. How about we have a competition?" Hong Hong Wenle had a sudden idea. "You brought two friends, I brought one, that's exactly five people. Let's see who can catch the most fish with the remoras later?"

Ye Yaodong was all for it—he hadn't even tried it himself yet.

"Sounds good, at least we won't be bored just sitting there."

"Yeah, one fish per person works out perfectly."

"Really?"

Wang Wang Guangliang and Chen Shi were instantly energized. Sitting around idle and bored just now, he had almost dozed off.

"Give it a try. None of us have done it anyway. If it's no fun, we'll just use fishing rods—I brought an extra one when we came out. Grab it yourself later." He said this to Ye Yaodong.

"You got it!"

The hard-earned fee in hand ahead of time!

After Ye Yaodong finished answering, he called Wang Wang Guangliang and Chen Shi over. Once the two young masters had made their picks, the remaining three were divided up, one for each of the three of them.

Each of them picked up a bucket, put their chosen remora inside, and then found a spot of their own to release it into the sea.

It was already past four o'clock, and he had no idea how long they'd be fishing. He just treated it like coming out to have fun. After all, he was getting paid. Towing a net all day himself only earned him a few dozen yuan, but now coming out he could earn a hundred or two from the fishing rods.

Ye Yaodong didn't stand too far away either—he kept a two-meter distance from Hong Hong Wenle so they could talk easily.

Watching him pinch the line in his hand and pour the fish from the bucket into the sea, he followed suit with the same motion.

After pouring and tying the line in his hand, he didn't forget to call out and chat.

"Young Master Hong, did you happen to keep the manufacturer's contact info for your motorcycle?"

"Huh?" Hong Hong Wenle turned his head, puzzled. "What do you want it for?"

"I want to ask you for the motorcycle factory's phone number."

"Damn, you can't actually be thinking of buying one, right? You really surprised me. Where'd you strike it rich? Come on, tell me about it. I was just saying to myself, why has he been asking me about motorcycles all day today?"

"No, it's because there's a broken motorcycle at home. I want to get it fixed. But you see, the village only has someone who repairs tractors—no one fixes motorcycles. I'm worried it won't be repaired properly and just gets worse the more they work on it."

"Where'd it come from? Don't tell me you picked it up. Where could you even pick one up? I squat there every day."

Ye Yaodong saw that he didn't put on any airs, was pretty easy to talk to, and could take a joke or two, so he told him about how he had asked Director Chen for the broken motorcycle yesterday.

This time, Hong Hong Wenle's jaw dropped all over again.

"Good lord! You've got connections like that? Even the bureau chief looks after you? That's something! Can't tell at all—never judge a book by its cover. Come on, tell me, how did you get in with the director of the Haishi Bureau? Leaders like that aren't easy to get close to, let alone over a broken motorcycle. I heard those things have serial numbers."

Hong Hong Wenle suddenly found him even more interesting. Originally he had just thought the guy looked pretty easy on the eyes, was fun to talk to, and could be kept around to kill time when bored.

He hadn't expected a country kid to have the ability to get in with a big shot. It really opened his eyes. Who would have thought, really, who would have thought.

"Heh, it was an accident. The story's a long one if I start telling it—not the place for a long tale out at sea. You still haven't told me about the motorcycle factory."

"Oh, that? Simple. When I get back, I'll find you a number. Just give them a call and ask. But you'd better repaint it a different color and get rid of the serial number, so you don't cause trouble for the leader."

Ye Yaodong nodded.

"Hey, by the way, isn't that military motorcycle of yours more impressive than mine?"

"Yours is newer, but the military one is a sidecar motorcycle. It's a bit old, but it's seriously cool, and it's big. Each has its own merits."

"Aw, just come out and say mine isn't as good as the sidecar one, why don't you."

"Depends on personal taste. I think the sidecar one looks impressive, and you can carry people and cargo in the sidecar—very convenient."

"Tsk tsk tsk, even though it's broken, you still picked up a real bargain. Regular folks can't get their hands on a military one like that. I asked around and around before and couldn't get one, so I just went and bought a new one myself."

At this point, Hong Hong Wenle was genuinely envious. What luck—someone just hands you a motorcycle, fix it up, and you've struck gold.

"Hey, how about you sell it to me? I'll pay a high price!"

Ye Yaodong was startled. "It's broken! Don't you already have one?"

"But I don't have a sidecar one. It doesn't matter if it's broken—I can send it in for repairs. Just sell it to me."

"That won't do. The leader just gave it to me, and the moment I turn around and sell it—what kind of behavior is that? I can't do something like that. No matter how much you offer, I won't sell."

Even if he sold it as scrap iron, he couldn't be so blinded by money as to turn around and sell it to Hong Hong Wenle at a high price. If Director Chen found out, his impression would plummet, and their future relationship would be ruined.

Damn, rich people—don't they all just love cars? Never enough, can they even drive them all?

Not selling, not selling, absolutely not selling! He needed it himself!

Hong Hong Wenle said regretfully, "Fair enough. Forget it, I'll try to get another one next time. Hey, I say, with connections like that, you've got a big tree to shade you—why are you still out fishing? You could cozy up to the right people and become a worker in the city, eat the ration grain—wouldn't that be nice?"

"What's so good about the city? Everything costs money. A whole family crammed into one room, can't even spread out. In the countryside, I don't spend a cent on food or drink, and I can still earn money. I've got a house, a car, land, a boat, and money. Work when I want, rest when I want—isn't that more comfortable than the city?"

"There's some logic to that, but a lot of people can't see it. They all like to flock to the city, thinking that once they're there, they're a cut above the rest."

"That's not wrong either. Workers have proper jobs, and becoming a city dweller is something to be proud of—it does look glamorous. But you can only say each person has their own ambitions. I think life right now is pretty good. No need to move to the city."

Hong Hong Wenle nodded and opened his mouth, just about to say something, when he suddenly felt the pulling force on the line in his hand change.

"Ah! Something's biting?"

"Got a fish on?"

Hong Hong Wenle happily reeled in the line at once. "I don't know, the rope's been in my hand the whole time, and I suddenly felt the pull was a bit different."

"Definitely got something!"

Ye Yaodong was getting excited too. In his past life he'd heard about it from fellow boatmen but never tried it himself. It sounded like it should work, but actually hooking one still came as a pleasant surprise.

But the rope in his hand just kept running out the line the whole time, pausing now and then, then running again for a stretch — he didn't feel anything off.

"Ah, Brother Le hooked one?"

"Hooked something? A great start…"

"Don't know yet, just felt the pull was different. Let me reel it up and take a look first. You guys can reel yours up too — what if you hook something and don't notice?"

While Hong Hong Wenle was reeling in, the others were also thinking of reeling theirs up to have a look.

Still, reeling up wasn't nearly as effortless as letting it down. The sea is wide for fish to leap — the water is its territory. But they still reeled theirs up a step ahead of Hong Hong Wenle.

The remora tied to the rope still only had its head — looking as if someone had stepped on it — and hadn't found a big shot to hitch a ride on yet.

Disappointed, they tossed the fish back into the sea, let all the ropes in their hands drop down to drift freely, and every one of them crowded around Hong Hong Wenle to watch.

"Not reeled up yet?"

"Is it a big fish?"

"Damn, forgot to wear gloves, the rope's cutting into my hand a bit…"

"Let me help, I've got gloves on." Ye Yaodong always made it a habit to wear gloves when going out to sea.

This kind of nylon line cuts into the hands the worst — even the thick kind easily leaves bloody welts.

Luckily the boatman had gloves on board too, and hurriedly passed several pairs over for them all to put on.

He helped reel in some line first. Actually it wasn't too bad — when pulling, it just felt like the thing in the water was struggling a bit harder, still manageable.

As the line came up little by little, Hong Hong Wenle also came over with his gloves on to take over. Just then he felt it was almost up — right below the surface.

Hong Hong Wenle gave a slight pull, and a big fellow suddenly broke the surface of the water.

"Ah! A turtle?" Wang Wang Guangliang shouted in surprise.

"Turtle your head — it's a sea turtle!"

"Right, right, right — the ones in the sea are sea turtles, the ones in the river are turtles."

"A sea turtle? Sea turtle's great, super nourishing. Kill a chicken tonight and stew them together!" The friend Hong Hong Wenle had brought along — seemed to be called A Ming — was chattering excitedly over there.

"Sea turtle? Isn't that just our Big Young Master Hong? Big Young Master Hong is also a returnee from overseas — 'hai gui,' short for 'hai wai gui lao.' Sea turtle sounds like 'hai gui' — first cast and you hook a sea turtle this big. Sea turtle's a great omen — longevity, good fortune, great luck!"

Hong Hong Wenle was also very happy. "All you know is eating. Something this big, I'm going to take it to the shop and keep it as a lucky mascot."