Chapter 909: Half in Hand

However, when the fishing boat passed by Hairun Wharf, everyone's eyes on board went wide and their necks craned forward.

Hairun Wharf, usually quiet and deserted with only a few small boats moored, was now dotted all over with flashlights swaying back and forth, bright enough that they could see them clearly even from such a great distance.

And on the shore there were actually people wearing navy-striped shirts — thanks to his good eyesight, he spotted five or six of them!

What's more, there were quite a few workers on the wharf shuttling back and forth carrying cargo from the boats. The big pieces took two or three men to lift together. Several tractors and handcarts were parked nearby, some already piled high and being hauled away.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at Hong Hong Wenle and Jiang Chengming.

He saw that both of them had relaxed. Jiang Chengming's brows had been tightly furrowed the whole way, and he hadn't spoken a single word; only Hong Hong Wenle had managed to chat with him a bit about fish. Now the look between both their brows was much more at ease.

As the fishing boat continued forward, the bustling scene at the wharf behind them grew more and more distant.

The fishing boat was now heading toward the big wharf. The town had, besides one large fishing-well wharf, the small Hairun Wharf, and two other cargo wharves — after all, this was a port town.

The cargo this batch of fishing boats had brought back was probably really connected to them; otherwise, what a coincidence that they'd be in such a rush to come back.

The legend about so-and-so, so-and-so escort — it's true.

The ones who got hit were the ones with no background, or whose connections hadn't been properly handled.

"Dong-ge, what are they moving? Unloading cargo at this hour? Don't they unload during the day?"

"The fishing boats got back late, so naturally they unload at night? Besides, it's only just been dark a little while, it's not that late. Normal, normal."

"Oh, right, it's only just been dark a little while."

"Dong-ge, are you still going out to sea tonight?"

"Of course. If I don't go out to sea I'll be eating the northwest wind. These next couple of days Fengshou Hao should be coming back too — you guys get ready for another all-nighter."

"Alright."

They chatted idly for a few lines, and before long the wharf was also in sight. Moored along the shore were trawlers, neatly lined up in a row — several dozen of them, still quite a sight.

After all, it was a town, and the surrounding villages where the water level wasn't deep enough or where there was no wharf — most of those with boats also moored them at this town wharf.

The fishing boat squeezed into a spot and moored, and Hong Hong Wenle immediately called Wang Wang Guangliang and Chen Shi to help carry the cargo. Ye Yaodong waved his hand and told the two of them to go ahead first.

He carried the few fish he'd caught back to his own boat and would wait for them on board later.

"You guys hurry up later, don't dawdle."

"Got it, we'll be quick in and quick out."

"Oh right, Hong Shao, remember to write down the contact info for your motorcycle factory on a little slip of paper and have them bring it over."

"Got it."

He almost forgot the most important thing. He had no idea how the motorcycle repair had gone after his dad and Zhou Shu worked on it all day.

Professional work should be left to the professionals. Don't make it hard on people — forcing a tractor repairman to fix a motorcycle, if it ends up worse and worse, he won't even have a place to cry.

After watching them all go ashore and leave, he also moved all his things back onto the boat, then sat on the boat playing with the fishing rod newly in his hands.

No matter how he looked at it, it felt fresh. Waiting out of boredom, he couldn't hold back — he cast a couple of rods from the shore, using the bucket of shrimp Hong Hong Wenle and the others had brought out as bait. They didn't want it anyway, and when he got off the boat he'd casually carried it over to his own boat.

He didn't expect that casually fishing nearby like this, he easily hooked two dumb fish and a black sea bream.

The fish in the sea really are easy to catch these days — even an angler would struggle to come home empty-handed.

Fishing and fishing, he was getting a bit hooked himself. By the time Wang Wang Guangliang and Chen Shi came running back, he still couldn't bear to put the rod away.

Taking the slip of paper with the phone number they had brought back for him, he asked curiously, "How big a red envelope did they give you?"

Wang Wang Guangliang pulled the red envelope from his pocket, gave it a shake, and said with a grin, "Two each, two yuan apiece."

"Quite the generous gesture."

"Yeah, really loaded. We call it wages, but they insist on calling it a red envelope."

"That's how it is — rich folks like the auspiciousness, 'red envelope' sounds nicer. Young Master Hong is so generous throwing money around — you two want to go work for him instead?"

The two immediately shook their heads. "No no no no…"

"No way. What does a young master need people like us for? He just has to call out and there's a pile of people fighting to work for him, plus he's got that big shop. I'm sticking with you, Dong-ge — whatever you tell me to do, I'll do it."

Chen Shi nodded along too.

Good that they weren't blinded by money.

"Alright then, Chen Shi, go drive the boat. I'll fish a while longer."

"B-b-b-but, D-D-D-Dong-ge, it's g-g-g-getting dark, I-I-I can't… tell… d-d-direction!"

"Are you a pig? Still can't learn it. Come out to sea with me at night and learn properly."

"Y-y-y-yes…"

Wang Wang Guangliang sidled over with a sheepish grin. "Dong-ge, let me cast a few rods for you."

"You just want to play, don't you?"

"Yeah, from the afternoon till just now, I've been doing nothing but work — just sitting there spacing out."

Ye Yaodong also remembered that he'd given the remora to Hong Hong Wenle, so the kid really had just sat and watched the whole evening.

"Then let you play for a bit. If you catch any fish, they're all yours, of course."

"Hehe, thanks, Dong-ge."

"If you don't know something, come ask me. Don't break it, and don't let a fish drag it into the sea — otherwise I'll kick you overboard to feed the fish."

"Definitely, definitely. Even if I fall in, the rod can't fall in. If you sold me I wouldn't be worth that rod."

"Knowing your limits is a good thing."

Ye Yaodong briefly showed him how to use it, then went to drive the boat first, leaving the rest for him to try fishing on his own and figure it out.

From the town back to the village it still took over half an hour — closer than walking, farther than biking. The water route wasn't as good as the land route.

However, when he reached the village wharf, he got quite a fright from Lin Ji sitting on the shore.

Why is this guy also sitting on the shore?

And he didn't even have a flashlight on — pitch black all around, with only the faint glow of a cigarette tip showing whenever they took an occasional drag.

It was only after he moored and saw the glow of the cigarette that he figured out there were five or six people on the shore.

On shore, some people also tossed their cigarette butts on the ground and stubbed them out with their feet, but they all remained standing in place, none of them stepping forward.

"It's you!"

Lin Ji nodded and said, "Why are you docking so late today? The buying stations are all closed. I thought no boats were coming in."

"No, I went into town for a bit and just got back. I wasn't out fishing on purpose. Why haven't you been pulling rickshaws in the city lately?"

The few underlings beside them suddenly choked on their cigarettes a few times.

Lin Ji said calmly, "Yeah, the weather's too hot. Pulling a rickshaw under the sun is too grueling—you can get heatstroke, and you don't even earn enough to buy medicine. In this hot weather I'll head home to rest for a few months first, then go out and earn money again once autumn comes."

"Didn't you say you were going to switch to shining shoes?"

"Shining shoes is too competitive."

"Oh, maybe you could try roasting sweet potatoes."

"Ahem, let's talk about that later."

"By the way, when I was coming back I passed Hairun Dock and saw a lot of boats unloading cargo. They probably couldn't finish during the day and only just docked now. Your uncle's big ship should be late too, which is why you've only just come out to receive the goods."

"No idea when Uncle Pei's Harvest ship will show up either. Probably in the next day or two. Don't know if it'll be back during the day or at night."

Ye Yaodong didn't know what their situation was, so he just shared what he knew and threw in a little smokescreen on the side—after all, he still had two attendants with him.

Lin Ji froze for a moment, nodded, and said nothing.

"I'm heading back first—I'm starving. Haven't even had dinner." Ye Yaodong shouldered his fishing rod and beckoned the other two, who were carrying baskets, to follow him.

"Mm."

The moment Ye Yaodong got home, he sent Wang Wang Guangliang and Chen Shi home first.

He couldn't be bothered to eat first. He handed over the fish he'd caught to Lin Lin Xiuqing, telling her not to touch them for now—he had to make a trip to the village committee first.

He'd arranged with the village chief during the day to go pick up the Type 56 semi-automatic and the muzzle-loading gun once it got dark in the evening. It was already a bit late now.

But being a little late was fine too—hard to see in the dark.

Lin Lin Xiuqing looked at the bucket by her feet and the fishing rod in her hand, watched his back as he hurried off, and muttered a few words: "Every day he says he has rest time, but it's the same as no rest. Running off like this every day—isn't that no rest?"

"Day after day I don't even know what he's up to? And he brings back this fishing rod—what's it even for? Who knows. Herding ducks, maybe…"

"Messing about. I've never seen him do any proper work—just fiddling with all this random stuff every day…"

"The moment he goes out, he's gone the whole day. Apart from meals you never see him. Now he comes back and runs off again without even eating."

"Put his things away properly for him, or he won't be able to find them when he gets back." The old lady said cheerfully.

"He won't even let me kill these fish. If we don't cook them tonight and just leave them there, they'll be rotten by tomorrow."

The old lady spoke up for him again: "Wait till he gets back and ask him how he wants them cooked. If you don't cook them the way he wants, he won't eat them."

Lin Lin Xiuqing shot her a look—he'd been spoiled rotten exactly like this.

"He won't be home to eat tomorrow either. He's going out to sea at night."

"Why don't you cook it later and leave it there, so he can take it out to sea with him at night?"

He's your ancestor, not mine.

Lin Lin Xiuqing grumbled to herself, but she still moved the bucket of fish to the side and hung the fishing rod behind the door, so it wouldn't fall over and break later.

Ye Yaodong went to the village chief's house first, then went with the village chief to the village committee to pick up the gun. On the way, he listened to the village chief grumble about how he never came to collect things promptly.

"Wasn't I worried about people seeing? It's easier to hide once it's dark. You don't want the villagers chasing you down demanding things, do you?"

"Take it and get back quick. If you don't know how to use it, you can ask your dad. This gun has a very strong recoil—don't go messing around with it on your own."

He looked at the wooden long gun in his hands, the corners of his mouth almost splitting back to his ears.

The gun had a slender shape, and the handling motions looked very imposing and elegant. He'd only ever seen it on TV—it was the standard weapon of the PLA Honor Guard.

Caliber 7.62 mm, 10-round magazine feed, barrel length over one meter, firing intermediate-power rifle cartridges. Concentrated fire could strike targets over 800 meters away, with an effective range of 400 meters.

In reality, the bullet still had killing power at 1,500 meters. It was extremely lethal on the battlefield—a very powerful rifle with very high accuracy. Fit a scope on it and it became a sniper rifle.

The village chief watched him put his finger on the trigger, turning and aiming this way and that, and panicked badly. He quickly ducked aside and urged him to take it and get back right away.

"Get me a sack to put it in. Everyone's sitting at their door enjoying the cool right now—this gun's so long, it's awkward to carry."

"Fine, fine, fine—you didn't even think to bring one with you…"