Chapter 986: Pufferfish Gills

"If there's food to eat, are you still afraid you can't chew it? Even if I have to gnaw it raw, I'm going to!"

"Hahaha, Adong is still the generous one, willing to take it out to eat. Otherwise, a few pieces are just a few pieces."

"Can't help it, haven't we never tasted one this big? Let's try it and see how one this big compares to the small ones," Ye Yaodong said, his words muffled as he chewed.

"In a while, let's see if we can net one or two in the fishing net..."

"I think we'll definitely burst the net in a bit!"

"Right, right, right, I think so too. Goddess Mazu will surely bless us so our fish and shrimp fill the hold..."

Ye Yaodong listened to the discussion in his ears while eating quickly. After finishing, he went to get a camera, took a photo of the manta ray on the deck, and then, while the food was still hot, hurried off to relieve his father.

When he took the photo, that large manta ray could still slightly flick its tail; it wasn't completely dead yet. Its vitality was just too tenacious.

He took control of the fishing boat, moving it forward constantly, checking his watch from time to time to keep track of the time.

By around 2:30, he estimated that they had been dragging for between two and a half to three hours, so he walked out of the cockpit and shouted to everyone, "Get ready to haul the net~"

Hearing this, everyone immediately stood up to prepare, no longer sitting around in a disorganized sprawl.

The manta ray on the deck had been dealt with after the meal; once everyone saw it was likely dead, they went to cut off its tail and threw it into the sea.

Several people worked together—some grabbing the nose, some lifting the rear, some moving the pectoral fins—to shift the large fish into the fish hold.

This was to avoid having such a large creature lying on the deck, which made it hard to walk around, and it would also take up space when a large haul of fish came up during the net hauling.

Hearing Dongzi call for the net to be hauled, Ye Fu had two crew members each take a cable to the sides of the ship, wrap the ropes around the rollers, and use the machine's power to quickly drag the cables.

Under the pulling force of the net-winding machine, the mouth of the net on the sea surface began to gradually tighten. Once it was fully tightened, the fishing net was slowly dragged upward until it was pulled out of the water.

"Wow, what a huge haul!"

"Ah! There's a manta ray inside, and a shark too!"

"And so many toadfish..."

"Except for the manta ray and the shark, the whole net is toadfish..."

"The fishing season for toadfish hasn't passed yet..."

The moment the fishing net was dragged out of the water, everyone saw the cargo inside and began discussing it one after another.

This was only the first day out at sea, and the first time the big boat had come out. They had also seen a battle between two species on the sea earlier, so their excitement hadn't faded yet. They had to comment on everything they saw. After some time, they would probably become silent and just work hard.

Right now, there was still a sense of novelty; after a while, they would likely become numb to it.

As the net-winding machine continued to exert force, the entire fishing net was slowly hoisted up, the heavy weight causing the mast to bend directly.

Before long, the full net of catch was instantly dumped onto the deck.

Some fish were already dead due to gravity and pressure, but others, due to their tenacious vitality, were still jumping and flicking their tails when dumped onto the deck. Crabs were crawling everywhere, and mantis shrimp were constantly curling their bodies. A huge pile of miscellaneous cargo covered the entire deck, rising like a small hill.

Of course, the most conspicuous ones were the largest manta ray and the sharks. Two huge manta rays completely covered the deck, their bodies overlapping by half, with a pile of fish, shrimp, and crabs scattered on top, and a large area covered underneath their bellies.

One shark was even pressed underneath the two overlapping manta rays, with only its head poking out, still struggling constantly, trying to crawl out from under their bellies.

The other two sharks were scattered on the deck, still shaking their heads and flicking their tails. Experienced crew members immediately picked up sticks and gave the heads of those two lone sharks a few whacks until they were beaten to death and stopped moving. Only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

"It looks longer than me, really scary, right?"

"Otherwise, how would it dare to fight such a big manta ray? And even manage to take a bite out of it?"

"It's not moving anymore, right? It's good that it's not moving..."

"There's another one underneath the manta ray... that manta ray's tail keeps moving, but the two are lying there, one head facing us, one tail facing us, and the tail keeps flicking. I don't dare to get close."

"Wait a minute, maybe we should bleed these sharks first."

Ye Yaodong also stopped the boat when the net was hauled up, ran out to take a look, and was all smiles.

"The first haul's harvest is not bad, we got two manta rays and three big sharks. Take a longer bamboo pole to poke the manta ray's nose and push it to the corner. Knock out the other shark first to avoid it biting people, and then clean up the fish cargo on the deck."

This pile, rising like a small hill, was at least four or five thousand jin. It would take an hour or two to clean up, which was just enough time to clear it before the next wave of fishing nets was hauled up.

Ye Fu was also all smiles. "These four or five thousand jin of toadfish can also sell for dozens of yuan. The fresh-collection boat will give at most two cents. If we had netted them at home, it would be more cost-effective to drag them back and dry them into dried fish."

"No need to say, we've come this far, how could we drag them back? This is worth dozens of yuan here. Those two manta rays are also four or five hundred jin. Being so big and intact, they should be worth a good few dozen yuan. Plus the two big sharks and other miscellaneous fish and shrimp, after removing the useless ones, it should also be worth two hundred yuan, which is also very good."

For such a big net, if one haul could sell for a hundred yuan, it would be better than fishing at home for two days. And this was even the result of the fresh-collection boat discounting the price by nearly half.

"Hmm, it's okay. It's just that we aren't familiar with the nearby sea area. Except for the Fengshou, we don't know any other fishing boats, and we don't know where we can go ashore. If it's not far, selling them ashore could double the price."

"Clean it up first. You go drive the boat, I'll watch here and direct the crew to cast the net first."

If the first haul could be worth two hundred yuan, and they dragged six or seven nets a day, then if they could get twelve or thirteen hundred, it would be better than the Fengshou's first sale of goods.

He remembered that when they were calculating accounts a few months ago, the Fengshou's first time calling the fresh-collection boat to collect goods was after saving up two days of cargo, and it only sold for a little over a thousand yuan.

At that time, they went out to sea for five or six days and sold a total of three times, making over three thousand yuan. After deducting most of the fuel money, wages, and expenses, they made a net profit of over a thousand, and each share got over 180. Everyone was so happy their faces were blooming like flowers.

It was also that time that his three shares got over five hundred, and it was only his first time out.

Today, this haul had a few big items, which directly doubled the value. Although those toadfish weren't worth much, they had the advantage of being large in quantity, which was better than useless trash fish.

Ye Fu listened to him and went to drive the boat. Several crew members put the fishing net back into the water to continue dragging, and then immediately got busy with the fish cargo on the entire deck.

The two big manta rays had already been pushed to the corner by bamboo poles and did not affect them cleaning up the other cargo.

"There are few trash fish in this haul today, they are all toadfish..."

"Saves us from dumping them back into the sea. These toadfish are also large in size, and sorting them out will be quick..."

"This basket is full, lift it to the fish hold first and add some ice cubes..."

"This fish is slimy and sticky, really disgusting, like snot. As long as it tastes good, it's all cartilage. Cooking it with wine lees is also very fragrant..."

"We don't have to worry about having no fish to eat at sea..."

Everyone chatted while working, looking much better than in the morning. After Chen Shi had work to do, his attention was diverted, and his complexion was much better.

His condition was purely a kind of fear of the boundless sea, not seasickness. It was just the panic brought about by being in the middle of the vast ocean for the first time, boundless, with water on all four sides, and only the boat being the center of the world.

Ye Yaodong had taken advantage of his free time earlier to chat with him and comfort him. This had to rely on self-regulation. Now that he looked like he had recovered a bit, that was fine.

He put on gloves and helped with the sorting. Everyone held a basket and picked the toadfish first, as toadfish accounted for a relatively large proportion of the entire deck.

An old fisherman had already bled the two big sharks first. When everyone was searching, whenever they encountered fish that needed bleeding, they threw them all into a basket, then pushed it over for him to continue bleeding.

There was no need for anyone to say anything; everyone spontaneously performed their own duties. Before the production team was disbanded, there wasn't a single person of age who hadn't been to sea, it was just that they hadn't run this far. Everyone was used to the work at sea.

This was the benefit of having experience.

The fishing boat kept moving forward, and the Fengshou was also working while moving in the distance. There were no abnormal conditions on the surrounding sea surface. It was just that he didn't know if they had also hauled a net and what their harvest was like.

Ye Yaodong squatted for an hour until his waist was sore before he and the workers roughly sorted out the cargo and lifted it into the fish hold.

For the remaining small miscellaneous items on the deck that weren't worth much, everyone picked a few bowls of what they liked to eat, preparing to cook them in the evening. The rest were all swept away with brooms and dumped back into the sea basket by basket.

"It's a pity. If we could send them home, we could eat them for a long time just by pickling or drying them."

"Oh, there's plenty in the sea. The fresh-collection boat wouldn't even want these if we gave them away; they'd complain about them taking up space."

Ye Yaodong watched them dump the baskets of cargo that weren't worth much back into the sea, his heart dripping with blood. They could all be used to ferment fish sauce, be dried, or be pickled as salted fish.

In the future, where would there be fish that no one wanted? There were only high and low prices. Now, they were actually being disliked for taking up space and could only be dumped back to where they came from.

"I've pretty much finished killing the ones left behind. You guys just rinse them off and hang them up. After drying on the boat for two days, we'll have something to eat."

"Then let's take a rope and thread them through..."

Using local materials, everyone was very familiar with the process.

"Should we kill the manta ray we picked up earlier together? It's just right to be free now, the second net hasn't come up yet. When the second net comes up, it'll be about time to make dinner again. If we want to kill it, we should kill it while it's fresh," asked the old crew member responsible for killing fish, named Chen Laoqi.

Everyone looked at Ye Yaodong, waiting for him to speak.

After all, it was he who said just now that they should keep it to taste, but he might change his mind. They had to ask first; a few pieces were still a few pieces.

Ye Yaodong nodded. "You kill it while you're at it. We'll steam a bowl tonight. Everyone taste it and see what's different between a manta ray of several hundred jin and one of a few jin."

"Alright!"

"Adong is generous!"

"Yeah, he's even willing to eat this. No wonder he can do big things and make big money. He doesn't even put this little bit of stuff in his eyes, hehe."

"It's mainly because I feel it's not worth selling it cheaply. It's better to keep it for everyone to taste."

"Should... should we... wait for the fresh-collection... boat... to come... and ask... first!"

For the last word, Chen Shi shouted with effort, and then he stopped, not stuttering.

Ever since he followed Ye Yaodong, Ye Yaodong hadn't disliked him, and he had started to speak more. He wasn't as stuttering as he was at the beginning.

At first, he was disliked by everyone and was so autistic that he didn't even dare to speak. Sometimes he wouldn't say a word in his daily life, at most occasionally saying a word or two to friends, but he would also be disliked and begged to shut up.

Now, when friends told him to shut up, he would have the thick skin to say a few more words. When everyone scolded him, he could even scold them back, making people so angry they jumped.

Practicing more really made him stutter less. He himself could see the improvement, and he could also boldly open his mouth to chat with people he wasn't familiar with.

"No need. It'll be two days before the fresh-collection boat comes. Such a big fish will take a few days to finish. If we wait two days to start eating, when will we finish? Let's start butchering now, and start eating tonight while it's fresh."

"Are you sure about killing it? I'll go kill it then? Do you want to ask your father?"

"No need. When it's killed, he might eat more than me. But remember to keep its fish gills when you kill it, don't throw them away."

"Keep the fish gills, right? I'll remember that."

Chen Laoqi called two people to help drag the fish out of the fish hold and kill it together.

Weighing over two hundred jin, a single knife cut produced thick meat. Originally, the pectoral fins on both sides of this manta ray were cartilage plus skin, and there were no hard thorns on the whole body.

But because this size was so large, the meat was also very thick. What was cut down was no longer just skin and cartilage, but snowy white fish meat exposed.

Ye Yaodong watched him cut directly towards the pectoral fin without thinking of separating the fish head first, so he directed him to cut the fish head first.

"Are we not eating the pectoral fins first? Aren't we supposed to eat the meat from the edges first? You want to cut the fish head first? With such a big fish head plus the meat of the pectoral fins, we won't be able to finish it tonight."

"No, don't cook other fish. Just cook this fish head tonight, use it to make a tofu soup, cut a piece of the pectoral fin meat to steam, and then make another dish, and it'll be enough to eat."

"That works too."

Ye Yaodong mainly wanted to take advantage of the freshness to take off the manta ray's fish gills.

This manta ray's fish gills were also called "Peng fish gills," and also called "Mobula gills," because manta rays were also called Mobula.

Peng fish gills were mainly made by processing the gills of this kind of fish, and they were a kind of pure natural precious marine health product.

This didn't need much processing; just take them out, wash away the salty taste with clean water, and dry them for storage.

Peng fish gills mainly had the effects of clearing heat, promoting rash eruption, detoxifying, and promoting lactation. They were commonly used to treat measles, pox toxins, and insufficient breast milk. In traditional Chinese medicine, they were regarded as a good medicine for clearing heat and detoxifying, and were also a natural "fever reducer," specifically treating children's fever, tonsillitis, and were very good for bronchitis and laryngitis.

Now, no one was hyping them up, and people in their countryside didn't know the value and use of this thing.

By the future, after influenza A and bird flu frequently became news headlines, the market for Peng fish gills gradually grew. Later, the price of Mobula gills was hyped up to as high as 200 US dollars per kilogram in the dried seafood market.

To a terrifying extent.

Although many things had a certain value, they were just ordinary medicines before being hyped up. But as long as they were hyped up, they became miraculous medicines.

Ye Yaodong thought about keeping that incomplete manta ray, also wanting to cut off its fish gills, dry them, and take them home for backup. Several children at home were still young, what if they needed them?

Anyway, these Peng fish gills were blown out of proportion in the future, so they should have some unique features. Now, it was better to keep it to eat meat and get a Peng fish gill than to sell it cheaply because of a small missing piece of pectoral fin.

A manta ray weighing over two hundred jin would have fish gills weighing several jin when cut off. Dried, they should be worth at least one or two jin.

He watched Chen Laoqi cut for a long time before cutting off the fish head, and then told him to be careful. If he didn't remind them, these rough guys would just cut randomly. Anyway, whether it was cut well or badly, it would be put directly into the pot to eat themselves.

"Don't cut and slash randomly. Don't break the fish gills. I want them taken off intact."

"You want them taken off intact? Then I'll be careful."

Ye Yaodong waited until the bright red fish gills were cut off, with the manta ray's blood still sticking to them, a large bloody piece, and told him to throw them into a bucket of clean water first.

"What's the use of this? Do we need to stew it separately? These fish gills don't taste good, right? Eat the meat of such a big fish, what's good about fish gills?"

"So Adong likes to eat fish gills?"

"No, I want to dry them and store them."

"What's the use of these fish gills? Why do you want to store them?"

"They can clear heat and detoxify, and can also treat children's throat inflammation, coughs, and so on. Keep them for backup."

"Oh, I see. That works too. Anyway, it's not some rare thing, it's better than spending money to buy medicine..."

"I'll wash them for you. Is it okay to just wash them clean?"

That saved trouble. Ye Yaodong said with a smile, "Just wash them and hang them up to dry."

"Alright."

The uncles were very proactive in helping him wash them, hanging them up to dry, and doing the work, so he didn't need to get his hands dirty.

"Nothing to do now, you guys take a break too. We'll have to haul the net again in a bit."

"Alright, alright..."

Everyone lowered their heads, watching Chen Laoqi kill the manta ray, and responded without even raising their heads.

Ye Yaodong didn't bother with them. Anyway, the fish gills were already hung up. He planned to go to the cockpit to see his father and, by the way, use the maritime radio to connect to Uncle Pei's side to see if they had hauled the net? What was the harvest like?

They had only adjusted the frequency when they got the new machine, and hadn't tried to talk on it at sea yet.

Just as he turned to go to the cockpit, he saw a super large manta ray flying over in mid-air. He was stunned for a moment and let out a cry.

"Ah! The manta ray is flying again."

Everyone turned their heads one after another.

"Ah, it flew over?"

"Oh my, it flew over our heads..."

"Quick, move away..."

Everyone hurriedly dodged to the side. Although they didn't know what danger there would be, the feeling of being covered by a shadow underneath wasn't very good.

Everyone kept looking up. Suddenly, a large black and white thing appeared from the manta ray's belly.

"What's that?"

"Is it poop?"

Everyone widened their eyes, their necks tilted at ninety degrees looking at the sky above their heads, watching that large thing on its belly suddenly detach, fall down, and go *plop*.

Everyone's eyes also followed from top to bottom.

"What..."

"Ah? Is it a small manta ray?"

"Is this giving birth while flying?"

"Does this fish give birth while flying?"

"My god, I've lived a long time to see this? I've never seen a fish give birth while flying. Don't they all give birth in a nest in the sea?"

From Ye Yaodong seeing a manta ray fly up, to everyone noticing the manta ray flying over their heads, and then to giving birth, it was all just a flash, the whole process only taking a few seconds.

Actually, it wasn't "flying," but a short leap.

"Just one? Does this fish only give birth to one?"

"So that's how it gives birth directly. I thought it was like other fish, laying fish roe."

Everyone watched the manta ray just leap up, cross the fishing boat, and glide back into the water. After not seeing its shadow, they walked up to take a look.

"It really is giving birth from high altitude... I've lived a long time to see this..." Ye Yaodong also had nothing to say. Fortunately, it didn't hit anyone.

In his previous life, he had brushed past short videos and heard that this kind of manta ray often gave birth while flying in the air. Today, he really opened his eyes.

It was still good in this era. Such a large Mobula hadn't been overfished, and they could still see such strange natural phenomena.

"This small manta is still alive, its mouth is opening and closing and still moving there. Should we throw it into the live hold?"

Everyone was still wearing gloves, so they directly picked up the small manta ray's tail. This one was just born, so they weren't afraid of the small thorns on its tail.

"Throw it back into the sea to grow. It's useless to take it when it's so small."

Who knows, its mother might still be waiting for it under the water. It accidentally fell onto his boat.

Throw it back, and in a few years, it could grow several meters big. By then, it would be more valuable when caught.

"Then throw it back into the sea?"

"Throw it."

A parabola swung, and it sank into the water.

"I didn't expect it to be so big just after being born. It looks quite like a ray. If I hadn't seen it fall from that big manta's belly, I would have thought it was a ray."

"Strange, giving birth in mid-air, and not afraid of falling to death..."

Ye Yaodong watched the fish fall into the water, then leaned against the ship's side to watch for a while. Only after seeing a large black shadow under the water, which sank again after a while, and only seeing the blue, clear seawater, did he walk towards the cockpit again.

Ye Fu was also curious about what fell from mid-air. As soon as he came over, he asked immediately.

Ye Yaodong told him about it.

"Ah, that works too?"

"Anyway, what I saw was it falling directly from the belly. Don't worry about it. Anyway, it was thrown back into the sea. You connect to Uncle Pei and ask him if there's any situation on his side? Have they hauled a net? See how the harvest is?"

Ye Fu immediately responded, saying what was in his heart. He also really wanted to know what Uncle Pei had caught in the first net.

The maritime radio was right at his hand, and he turned on the channel directly.

"Hello, hello, Old Pei, can you hear me? Can you hear me?"

"Yes, yes, you're quite good at using it. It was put to use immediately to connect with me. Is there any situation on the sea surface..."

The distance between the two sides wasn't too far, but the signal wasn't very good either. Both sides could hear each other speak, it was just that there was a lot of noise, but they could communicate, which was quite convenient.

Ye Fu was all smiles. "It's like making a phone call. This thing is good."

"Hehe, how is your first net harvest?"

"We caught two manta rays, three big sharks, and a whole net of toadfish and trash fish, also four or five thousand. How about you?"

"What a coincidence, we also hauled up two manta rays and two big sharks in our first net. Tsk tsk tsk, that manta ray is really big. I've never caught one that big before. It looks scary, taking up half the deck. It's still lying there right now, we haven't gone to cut off its tail yet."

"Then your harvest is also not bad."

"Luck is quite good today. The whole net is also mostly toadfish, and there are very few trash fish. At most, there are only a thousand jin of useless ones, which we dumped back into the sea. This net can probably sell for one or two hundred yuan. The harvest is very good."

"It's still cold now, the toadfish fishing season hasn't passed yet."

"It's good that it hasn't passed. Catch a bit more, it's better than catching useless cargo. One or two cents is still one or two cents. Have you hauled your second net yet?"

"Not yet, it's almost time." Ye Fu also looked at the watch on the table.

"It's about the same here. Seeing you cast the net earlier, I also hurriedly followed to cast the net. Anyway, we are all staying in one place, and we can look after each other."

"Alright, alright, alright... wait until the day after tomorrow to call the fresh-collection boat... to come over to collect the goods..."

"Contact me again if there's any situation..."

"Alright, alright, alright..."

The channel's sound kept crackling. After they chatted briefly about their respective harvests, they hung up.

Ye Yaodong heard everything on the side.

"The harvest is about the same."

"Hmm, we are all in one place, it should be about the same. Should we haul the net now?"

"Wait another ten minutes or so, wait until 5:30. After hauling the net, we'll cook, and after sorting is done, we'll rest if we should rest. At that time, our six people will be divided into two shifts to sleep."

"That works too."

It's equivalent to only being able to haul two nets from morning until dark. The time is all spent on the road of departure, so usually, fishing boats rush to go out at night, maybe they can haul one more net.

"How many days are you prepared to go back on this trip?"

Ye Yaodong shrugged his shoulders. "Look at the weather. Stay for two more days if possible. By the way, look at Uncle Pei's meaning. Everyone came out together, we can't just say we're going back. We'll discuss it then."

Ye Fu didn't realize himself that he was increasingly asking for Ye Yaodong's opinion, looking at his meaning to do things, taking him as the backbone, and taking his opinion first.

"Then look at the wind and waves in a few days. If it's quite calm, stay for a few more days. It's rare to come out. Going back and forth takes most of the day, and it consumes a lot of oil."

"Also have to look at the harvest situation. The net of small squid we caught when testing the water was really an explosion of luck, catching valuable cargo."

Although manta rays are more valuable, they can't catch a whole net, but it's still okay.

"Going out to sea is just gambling on luck, all depending on fate. If the sea luck is strong, you can get rich. If the luck is bad, everything is in vain. Safety is the most important, getting rich has to take a back seat."

"Hmm, safe and rich. I'll go call them to prepare, and take advantage of the time before dark to haul the second net."

"Good."