Chapter 907: Sea Fishing (Two Chapters Merged into One, 7,200 Words)

Ye Yaodong rubbed his chin—keeping it wouldn't be bad either; this one looked about 30 centimeters across.

"Keeping it works too. If you tell people, you can say you caught it yourself—super impressive. Who else could catch a sea turtle on a fishing line? At most I've heard of people netting one, never heard of anyone hooking one."

"Right, right, right."

"Let me pull it up first…"

"Young Master Hong's luck is great—hooked such a big sea turtle on his first try…" Wang Wang Guangliang also crowded over, flattering him. "We don't have that kind of luck."

Ye Yaodong kicked him. "Don't you know to flatter me too?"

"Hehe, it'll be Brother Dong's turn soon. Young Master Hong hooked a ra—sea turtle, you're sure to hook an even bigger fish. You're only one after the other anyway, not much difference!"

Ye Yaodong was instantly satisfied.

This kid has his style! Knows how to talk!

Everyone helped hold the sea turtle together and set it on the deck. It wasn't that heavy, but everyone wanted to touch it.

"Why is this sea turtle's back covered in barnacles? These things won't come off—they're stuck on so tight. Holy crap…"

"If they weren't stuck on so tight, when we were hauling it up just now, they'd probably have fallen off the turtle, and we wouldn't have been able to hook it either."

"That's true too. Then give me a hand here—can't get them off. If it dies later there'll be nothing to play with."

Ye Yaodong had the boatman bring over a screwdriver, pried at the remora's sucker twice, and only then managed to peel the fish off the sea turtle.

"Quick, put it back in the water, or it'll kick the bucket in a bit."

"Kick the bucket? What's that mean?"

"It means croaking, going to see the Dragon King of the Sea."

"Oh, oh." Hong Hong Wenle obediently hurried to hold the fish and toss it back into the water.

In any case, each of them had already tied the other end of the rope to the boat, so they weren't afraid of losing their grip on the rope and letting the fish escape.

Only, the moment this fish jumped into the water, it thrashed about violently a few times, but instead of diving straight down, it turned and stuck itself onto the fishing boat?

Huh? Stuck onto the fishing boat?

Hong Hong Wenle leaned half his body out over the side of the boat. Ye Yaodong was nearly scared to death and hurriedly grabbed his clothes and yanked him back.

"What are you doing? Think your life is too long?"

He didn't mind Ye Yaodong's roughness, and hurriedly pointed at the water. "No, that fish stuck onto the boat…"

Everyone ran to the rail, leaned over and looked—and sure enough, it really was stuck on the boat.

"Ah! It really is."

"It-it-it really is…"

"This fish really is lazy. Can't count on the sea turtle anymore, so it's counting on the boat." Ah Ming clicked his tongue, exclaiming in wonder.

"That's normal. Let me get a stick and poke it, knock it off the boat."

Take a person's money, dispel their worries—service has to be thorough. When there's a problem, Ye Yaodong was still pretty proactive about solving it.

But Hong Hong Wenle felt the fish was kind of interesting and decided to do it himself. He took the stick and went to poke it himself. As a result, after he poked hard a few times, the fish just died on the spot, its eyes poked into a mushy mess by him.

The moment it fell off the fishing boat, it floated on the sea surface with its belly up, white.

Ye Yaodong was speechless watching it. He told him to let him handle it, but no, he had to itch to do it himself. Now look—hooked just one and it's dead.

Wang Wang Guangliang was quite the bootlicker. Seeing Hong Hong Wenle frown, he immediately stepped forward and said: "It's nothing, it's nothing, this was an accident. I'll make it up to Young Master Hong with mine. I haven't caught a single one anyway, so it doesn't matter. The dead one counts as mine."

Ye Yaodong patted his shoulder. "Sharp enough. Young Master Hong just take his, he hasn't caught one anyway, so just take it to make up for it. We're just playing around for fun anyway, no stakes, however makes us happy."

"Alright, your sidekick here is sharp enough. When we get back, I'll have Wang Mao give your two sidekicks a red envelope each."

"Thank you, Young Master Hong. Wishing you great luck and a bountiful harvest!"

"Th-th-th-th-th-th-th-thank you…"

"That's enough thanking. Your 'thank you' is endless—just say two words."

Ye Yaodong couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't that Chen Shi wanted to thank endlessly—he had a stutter and couldn't stop. But looking at him, he seemed a tiny bit better than before.

Wang Wang Guangliang also elbowed Chen Shi with his knuckle, finally cutting off his endless thanking.

Otherwise, when people told him to stop thanking, he'd still be there thanking—that'd be awkward. He'd been hiding it pretty well before, hadn't spoken, hadn't given himself away.

Although even if he gave himself away it wouldn't matter, but at least this way he wouldn't be a laughingstock.

"I'll go get you a fish."

He scurried over happily, picked up the remora he'd been assigned, and hurried it over.

"I'll put the fish in the water first, pinch the rope—you tie that end of the rope properly for me."

"Got it."

Ye Yaodong saw they were fishing again, so he called Wang Wang Guangliang over to scrape the barnacles off that sea turtle.

"You're not catching any fish right now anyway, sitting idle is sitting idle. Scrape the sea turtle's body clean. All those barnacles clinging to it must be uncomfortable for it, and it doesn't look good either. Scrape it nicely, make it clean, then it'll be good to take back and raise."

Hong Hong Wenle quickly chimed in. "Right, help scrape its body clean. Comrade Ye Yaodong brought you along for a reason—at least there's someone to help with the work. I'll give you a double red envelope later."

"Got it! Young Master Hong, just call me whenever you need anything." Wang Wang Guangliang answered even louder, overjoyed.

He'd originally thought he was just here today to make up the numbers and have some fun—he didn't expect the young master to really be so generous.

Ye Yaodong also felt bringing them along was the right call—at least he could shear a little wool and increase his income.

Otherwise, staying home, they'd just be fighting chickens, walking dogs, slacking off and catching shrimp—never helped with any real work.

"Some of those barnacles on its body have oyster spat inside. When you pry them off, remember to pry them open and put them in a small bowl—don't waste them."

"Got it, Brother Dong, I know. Take them back and Young Master Hong can still fry up a bowl of oysters."

"Then you'd have to hook a few more to get enough for a bowl of fried oysters."

"Young Master Hong, put in some effort."

Hong Hong Wenle said with a smile: "Let's forget it, one is enough. I want to hook a big fish."

"Sea turtle is good too—longevity!"

After a few more words, everyone returned to their positions.

However, no one knew why, but there wasn't a single sound from anyone.

Even after the rope had gone taut and could no longer be lowered, they thought about reeling it back up to take a look, but all they got were remoras, nothing had latched onto them.

Ye Yaodong was also puzzled for a moment and shouted, "Is it that there are no big fish around here? The rope is only so long, and those few remoras can't have gone far either..."

Just as his words fell, the feel transmitted through the rope in his hand made him jolt with excitement, "Got one, got one~ It's finally my turn..."

"Got one? Whose?" Hong Hong Wenle cracked a joke.

Ye Yaodong, hearing his familiar tone, naturally felt their relationship had grown a bit closer, and without any burden, he shot him a flirtatious wink.

"What do you think?"

Hong Hong Wenle shuddered all over, suddenly feeling he had a loose mouth, bringing trouble upon himself, and glanced away in disgust.

"Disgusting!"

Ye Yaodong's hands didn't stop reeling in the line.

However, just as his big fish broke the surface, there was movement again next door at Hong Hong Wenle's spot, and he excitedly called out again.

His friend Jiang Chengming was unhappy and ran over shouting, "What the hell kind of dogshit luck do you guys have, you both caught something. No way, I need to change spots and crowd in with you guys, your spot here must be a feng shui treasure land."

"Pfft, your own luck is just bad."

"Once I switch to a golden fishing spot, I'll definitely catch one."

The fishing line in Ye Yaodong's hand was struggling and shaking violently, but he gripped it tightly and pulled, looking at the fish surfacing in amazement.

"Damn, this big?"

"What kind of fish is it? Two whiskers and they're pretty long, looks a lot like a catfish."

"This is a sea catfish, a marine catfish. This one is really big, must be twenty or thirty jin in weight, it's rare to get one this big, usually they don't even weigh one jin in weight. Laozi's seen the biggest and it was only four jin."

If it weren't for the fact that there are no hormones nowadays, he'd suspect this fish grew up eating hormones or drinking nuclear wastewater.

As he spoke, he happily reeled the fish up. Short videos truly don't deceive, using remoras to fish really works, it's feasible.

This remora probably couldn't find any big fish like sharks or dolphins to attach to, so it wandered around the area for a bit before reluctantly and slowly hitching a ride on the sea catfish first.

"Your fish has quite a bulging belly."

"It has roe, good lord, such a big sea catfish, the roe inside is a treasure too, this is way better than mullet roe, it's comparable to caviar."

The dorsal and pectoral fins of the sea catfish both have hard venomous spines with reverse barbs. Ye Yaodong carefully held the two fish that were still shaking and struggling, trying his best not to let his hands touch the venomous spines.

After looking them over, he put them in the bucket, and plucked the remora off the top, throwing it back into the sea.

Watching its figure swim away and disappear, and seeing the fishing line beside him continuously being pulled longer into the water, he finally felt relieved.

"You even know about caviar?"

Hong Hong Wenle was surprised. Caviar is more popular abroad, domestically people have only just escaped poverty, how could he know about caviar?

"Heard a leader mention it, sturgeon caviar is the finest grade."

The shield excuse came readily to his lips.

"Well I wouldn't know, is catfish roe that tasty?"

"Golden yellow, a big one, the roe inside this one alone is probably comparable to a potato, want to try it? Give it to you?"

"Forget it, each to their own skill. If I keep taking yours, wouldn't that be cheating? Let me keep fishing, I'll definitely catch one later."

"Then when you can't catch one, you can ask to buy from me!"

Hong Hong Wenle, halfway through reeling his rope, turned his head and glared at him, "Weren't you just saying you'd give it to me? Now you've turned around and want to sell it?"

"Right, jacked up the price on the spot. I just said I'd give it to you, you didn't want it, now you can only buy it. If you can't catch one, remember to say so, I'll give you a friendship price." Ye Yaodong said jokingly.

After several interactions and time spent together, he felt this young master was also quite unpretentious, didn't look down on people, and was easy to talk to. He was also pushing his luck and becoming more casual, able to joke around with fewer reservations.

Hong Hong Wenle wasn't angry either, and could still say with disdain, "Jinx, look at this one coming up, it's definitely also a twenty-something jin one, belly all bulging... Damn, why is it another sea turtle again?"

He yanked the rope forcefully, ready to properly open a mystery box, only to find it was another sea turtle, and it was dragged up belly-up, with all four limbs in the air.

"Your luck is pretty good, another big sea turtle."

"I want to catch a big fish!"

"Sea turtles also count as big fish."

"Fine, I can only pair the two together for company."

"Maybe later it can lay a few sea turtle eggs for you, can strengthen yang and nourish the kidneys."

Ye Yaodong licked his lips, feeling a bit nostalgic for the taste of sea turtle eggs. Actually, they weren't that delicious, it was just the added effects.

Hong Hong Wenle's eyes lit up at what he said, "It can still lay sea turtle eggs?"

"Yes, but if we raise it, I don't know if it will lay eggs."

"Raise it, must raise it. Look at mine, I definitely have to raise it until it lays eggs," he said, looking happily at the big sea turtle he had just pulled up, "Then I need to catch a few more to raise."

"Good luck with that."

"This one's back is quite clean, no barnacles."

"It means it usually moves around diligently, hasn't been entangled by those plankton in the sea."

Ye Yaodong looked at those two big sea turtles and his heart was also stirred, he quite wanted to raise them too, but he didn't have the conditions. Those sea turtles need seawater to raise, not as convenient as turtles, anyway there's already one Wang Ba at home.

That Wang Ba was also quite tenacious in vitality, having been played with by the three little ones at home for two years, and it was still alive and well.

"You guys both caught something, it's my turn this time, damn, I can't come back empty-handed, right?"

Jiang Chengming craned his neck to look, feeling a bit envious. If he couldn't catch a big fish, couldn't catch a sea turtle, then just let anything come, one or two of anything.

"Later I'll let you catch a slipper!"

"Bah!"

"Ah, here it comes, here it comes..." Ye Yaodong had just lowered the remora when he felt the line in his hand vibrating and shaking even faster.

It was clearly a fish that had just been possessed, because with an extra burden on its body, it was struggling fiercely, and the vibration transmitted through his hand was clearly different.

"Another catch?"

Everyone stretched their necks to look.

Ye Yaodong tugged at the line, ignoring the thrashing, pulling sensation from the sea, and hauled hard on the nylon cord.

Luckily, this remora had a rock-solid suction—its dorsal fin was being yanked, but it didn't let go. With a die-together-if-we-must attitude, the two fish were hauled back up in no time.

"That's another sea catfish!"

"Hehe, its belly's still all bulged out, plenty of roe inside. Not bad luck today!"

Ye Yaodong was delighted. He figured he'd stumbled upon a school of catfish that had swum into the nearshore waters to spawn—both fish he'd caught had bulging bellies.

The sea catfish, also known as the Chinese sea catfish, likes to move about in slow-moving, muddy-bottomed sea areas. When it's time to spawn, it swims from the deep sea toward the coast. Today they'd probably run right into them.

They have one peculiar trait: it's said that foreign fishermen once happened to notice that the dried skull of a sea catfish looks remarkably like the image of Jesus on the cross. So in some places, people regard the sea catfish as a "sacred fish," and its skull is used as a protective charm to ward off evil and avert disaster.

Some antique shops sell these vividly colored sea catfish skulls, and they don't come cheap.

But he was a believer in Goddess Mazu, a devout follower of Goddess Mazu—these kinds of anecdotes were just fun to hear for a moment.

"Is the roe in its belly really good?"

"I heard it's best at medium-rare, each egg like a gold coin, and one bite tastes like the sea."

"You've never tried it?"

"Nope, I'll give it a try when we get back. Want one? I'll sell you one at a high price."

Hong Hong Wenle's eyes went wide again. "Why does it always turn into selling it to me at a high price? A second ago you said it was a friendship price."

"And before that I said I'd give it to you for free, but you didn't want it, right? What I do is called sitting on the ground and raising the price—different price every minute. By the time you ask again, I'll be selling it to you at a sky-high price."

"Damn, you're so sly, it's a waste you're not in business."

"Hehe."

Ah Ming also said with a laugh, "Ah Le, just wait. Once I hook one, I'll sell it to you at a sky-high price."

"Get lost. I bet you'll go home empty-handed."

"No way, just wait and watch me show off my prowess."

Hong Hong Wenle was about to take a jab at him when he felt his line twitch again. "Huh… seems like I've got another one…"

"Damn, what kind of dogshit luck do you two have? Taking turns hooking stuff…"

"That's called a streak of great fortune."

No sooner had he finished speaking than, just as everyone was wondering what he'd catch this time, another sea turtle floated up to the surface.

But this time the sea turtle was a bit special—when it was hauled up, a big jellyfish came up along with it.

"A jellyfish?"

"What's this called? One arrow, two eagles?"

"It really is one arrow, two eagles—remora stuck to sea turtle, sea turtle grabbed jellyfish."

"So sea turtles eat jellyfish?"

Apart from Ye Yaodong, the other four were all newbies, leaning over the boat's edge with looks of pure astonishment.

This sea turtle was clamping the jellyfish tightly in its mouth, turning its head around in a daze, looking about. It had clearly been in the middle of feeding—so why was it suddenly being pulled backward, up to the surface?

Its feeding was interrupted too.

Hong Hong Wenle watched, fascinated, and didn't rush to haul it up. After the sea turtle looked around for a bit, it decided to finish the jellyfish in its mouth first.

Right under everyone's eyes, the sea turtle tore at the jellyfish like it was eating noodles, and in a few quick bites slurped the whole thing down.

Hong Hong Wenle was utterly fascinated—it was his first time seeing a sea turtle feed. "Why does it look like it's eating jelly?"

Jiangcheng Ming chimed in, "I think so too."

"That's nothing. Last year when I was catching jellyfish in Zhejiang, behind every school of jellyfish on the surface there were sea turtles sneaking bites. When you looked out over the whole scene, it was quite a sight…"

"Really? Your life sounds pretty exciting…"

The well-fed don't know the hunger of the starving!

Ye Yaodong grumbled inwardly, "I'm doing this because life forced me to, brother. If I had money, would I still be a fisherman? Out in wind and rain day after day, working from starlight to dusk, living off the heavens—and you call that exciting?"

Hong Hong Wenle felt his words had been a bit out of touch with the hardships of life. "True enough. But you look fine, don't you? Those fishermen all have these weathered faces, but you don't look like a fisherman at all—you're even better off than Jiangcheng Ming."

"Damn, can you stop using me as the comparison?"

Ye Yaodong rubbed his cheek. "I feel like it'd be a waste if I didn't go live off a woman. Any rich ladies you could introduce?"

The two young rich men, who had been glaring a moment ago, were now dumbfounded—someone actually wanting to live off a woman, and saying it so matter-of-factly?

"Huh, looks like I'm about to hook another one. Damn, I'm too strong—can't even manage to live off a woman."

Both men were instantly speechless again.

How does this guy have no shame at all?

Wang Wang Guangliang suddenly found himself admiring Ye Yaodong even more. Speaking so uninhibitedly in front of two rich people, showing his true nature, saying whatever he wanted without making anyone dislike him—amazing.

But when Ye Yaodong later found out what he'd been thinking, he just wanted to grumble about it.

He wasn't counting on getting much benefit from them anyway—if there was something to gain, he'd take it; if not, he didn't care. No need to be a shameless lickspittle, clinging on and trying to please them.

That might even backfire and make people think he had no backbone at all.

A few well-placed words to make people happy and liven up the mood was enough.

Also, damn it—he was a rich person too right now. He just couldn't spend money however he wanted, that's all.

That's all!

The hardships of building wealth from scratch—Ye Yaodong suddenly felt he understood them a little.

"Holy crap, another sea catfish! What's going on today? You two take turns hooking stuff, but you only catch sea turtles, and I only catch catfish."

On the surface, the two fish he'd just hauled up were stacked high, and the scene was so familiar—the same picture, seen three times now when pulling them in.

"Did one of you poke a catfish nest, and the other poke a sea turtle nest?" Jiangcheng Ming said in surprise.

Hong Hong Wenle was also amused. "Now that's interesting!"

"It's too interesting, I'm dying laughing. You can fish like this? They come up in whole nests!"

Ye Yaodong muttered a complaint, but still carefully avoided the hard venomous spines on its dorsal and pectoral fins, separating the two fish that were stuck together, and let the remora return to the sea.

But this one, though its belly was still swollen, wasn't as big as the previous two.

"When will it be my turn? The wheel of fortune turns, it should be my turn by now, right?" Jiangcheng Ming said gloomily.

"Just wait, watch me catch another sea turtle."

"Forget it, I don't believe whatever you pull up next will be a sea turtle again."

"Want to bet?"

"No!"

Hong Hong Wenle mocked his friend. "Lost your confidence? Then let's bet on whether you can catch any fish at all?"

"Fine, then let's bet on that... Huh? My line stopped moving?" He was startled and quickly tried tugging it, but there was no struggling force at all.

Earlier it had been moving back and forth constantly. Although the line was only so long, once it was taut it would still twitch.

"Pull it up and see."

He tried reeling in once more. Earlier he had already reeled in twice, unable to wait, and both times it was empty save for a remora.

However, once he reeled it in, he would rather he hadn't.

The moment the line broke the water's surface, everyone saw the remora stuck to a thermos, and Jiangcheng Ming's face instantly darkened.

"Hahaha, a thermos! You actually caught a thermos, hahahahaha..."

Hong Hong Wenle laughed at him without holding back.

"Damn, how does the sea have every kind of trash in it."

Gloomily, he lifted the line and slapped the fish and the thermos against the sea surface a few times to vent his frustration, not even bothering to reel them in.

But Ye Yaodong turned and helped him reel the line in, took the remora off and tossed it back into the sea, and held the thermos in his hand.

"A'liang, bring me a thin stick."

"Okay."

Hong Hong Wenle asked with a puzzled laugh, "Why are you still holding the bottle? Throw it back into the sea."

"Let's poke around inside, maybe there's something in there?"

"What could be in there? A gold ring and a gold bracelet?"

"You never know."

"You think this is like in the TV dramas, where a gold ring and gold bracelet were hidden inside a vase, and you just happened to fish it up from the sea?"

"Huh? You sure know how to imagine!"

Jiangcheng Ming said with disdain, "He's watched too many TV shows and movies."

Ye Yaodong took a long stick, stirred it around inside the thermos, and really did feel something foreign.

He handed it to Jiangcheng Ming. "You try."

Jiangcheng Ming took it doubtfully, imitated his motions and tried once, and his eyes lit up. "Damn, holy shit, this actually works, there's something inside!"

"What is it?" Hong Hong Wenle asked impatiently.

"I don't know, can't get it out."

"Smash it."

"Alright, watch me."

He raised the thermos high. The outer layer of plastic was already very fragile. One smash, and the plastic shell and the glass inner liner shattered into pieces together.

And on the ground was a bunch of homeless little Bai Zhang squirming around. Seeing this, Jiangcheng Ming's eyes went wide, and he cursed happily several times in a row.

"This is even possible? Damn, good thing I didn't just toss the bottle back into the sea. Who knew there was a whole world inside? Comrade Ye Yaodong, how did you know there'd be something inside?"

Ye Yaodong pretended to be unfathomably profound. "Because octopuses like to crawl into bottles and jars, so I figured I'd try and see if there was anything inside. I didn't expect that when you smashed it open, there'd be a whole nest inside."

"Looks like all the luck you didn't catch earlier is concentrated here. Your one catch is worth five, six, seven, eight of ours. One pull and up comes a whole nest. Hurry up and count how many are inside."

Jiangcheng Ming was also proud of himself. His one strike had directly turned the tables, going from disadvantage to advantage. But when he squatted down and looked for a long while, he reached out and pulled back, reached out and pulled back, grabbed one and then quickly flung it away, stood up and took two steps back.

"Ah... damn it, I don't dare grab them. They're all sticky and squirmy in my hand."

"You do it, you do it, Comrade Ye Yaodong, you help me grab them and put them in the bucket."

Ye Yaodong: "..."

So useless...

"Fine."

He counted as he grabbed them. There really were quite a lot, big ones and small ones, a full seven in total.

"Seven, hehe. Didn't expect I'd still be able to turn the tables. Even though they're small, I've already won on numbers."

"You call that winning? One sea turtle from me could flatten all your octopuses."

"Tch, can't go by size. Earlier we said the contest was who catches more, so of course it goes by numbers."

Jiangcheng Ming was smug, thinking he was just too awesome. Randomly catching a thermos and smashing it open yielded a whole nest of little Bai Zhang, turning a loss into a win. Turns out he was the true Child of Destiny!

"The sky hasn't gone dark yet. We can only count who's caught more and who's caught less once we're back. Isn't there still one person at the bottom who hasn't caught anything at all?"

Chen Shi, who had been named directly, just grinned foolishly without a word. Anyway, he was just here to make up the numbers. Brother Dong bringing him along to earn some extra cash was already great. He knew that if he opened his mouth he'd easily become annoying, so he tried his best to stay mute.

"Fine, fine, fine, let's keep competing. I'm already way ahead anyway."

"Tiny little things..." Hong Hong Wenle, unwilling to concede, muttered disdainfully.

And indeed it was true. Any sea turtle he casually caught was the size of a small washbasin, while those few little Bai Zhang, though numerous, gathered together were only about the size of two hands.

They couldn't even compare to one sea turtle in size, yet they won on numbers. Who could accept that?

"Hehe, let me show you the greatness of this lord here. One catch from me is worth more than the three of you combined."

The corner of Ye Yaodong's mouth couldn't help but twitch—can Chen Shi even count?

"Shut it, so much nonsense, you're scaring away all my sea turtles."

Hong Hong Wenle showed some disdain, then returned to his spot, ready to put in some effort.

Jiangcheng Ming also strutted over smugly to take his place.

After that, Ye Yaodong and Hong Hong Wenle didn't end up with one bucket at a turtle nest and the other at a catfish nest again.

They didn't know if all the big fish nearby had swum off, but no one was getting any bites. After waiting half an hour without a single catch, they reluctantly called the boatman to move to a new fishing spot.

Each of them had just gotten a taste of the fun and were still in high spirits.