Chapter 228: Family in Panic

A Qing threw the crab pot into the water, then turned and shouted, "Brother, everything's set."

Wu An nodded, checked the time—it was exactly 5 p. m. —and said, "All right, let's sort quickly, finish early, and rest early."

This busy work fills the whole day.

Not a moment to rest.

The three of them spent nearly another hour sorting.

After finishing, A Qing and Mai Hangyu leaned against the boat, puffing on cigarettes with some effort, mainly from tying up the crabs, their fingers trembling.

It's exhausting.

Wu An sat beside Lao Mai and asked, "Lao Mai, are you still enjoying yourself today?"

"Very much."

"Today's squid catch is more than I'd get in a whole year." Lao Mai beamed, chuckling, "Besides, I've even cleaned barnacles off sea turtles—I've got plenty to brag about these days."

Wu An said, "This trip is mainly about making money; let's find a chance to go out and have a good day of fun."

Lao Mai smiled and nodded.

That remark.

He's heard it plenty of times.

His friends are still busy, but since he retired he's become idle—yet he truly can't stay idle, or else he couldn't follow Wu An out to sea to work.

They arrived at the dock.

The sky was dark, but the dock was still brightly lit.

Old Fang and A Jin were there.

After greeting each other, they went their separate ways to sort; those who had finished came over to join the fun, seeing the older seafood hauled off the boat, they were envious.

Some people also asked where the crab pots and longlines had been set.

Wu An gave a casual reply, while secretly raising his guard.

Who would a decent person be asking about this? Besides, do we even know each other? Just handing over a cigarette and shouting "buddy" doesn't make us friends.

Lately his behavior has been rather conspicuous.

As they were busy, rain began to fall.

Nobody paid it any mind; they put on raincoats and kept working—here, water means wealth, so rain means wealth pouring in, a sign of rolling prosperity.

Many fishermen were still waiting and hoping for rain, believing that rain right after the sea opening is a good omen.

This year we're definitely going to strike it rich!

Working at the dock, everyone is full of joy.

When they greet someone, they all say auspicious phrases like "may you make a fortune."

After finishing work.

The group headed straight to the market, weighed the catch, counted the money—basically nothing special; after the sea opening, prices fluctuated but stayed within expectations.

The price of rocket squid, however, took Wu An by surprise.

The squid was graded into three sizes—large, medium, small—large ones actually sold for 35 per catty, medium for 30 per catty, and the lowest grade for 25 per catty.

It can be said to have greatly exceeded his expectations.

This is also normal; after all, he hasn't been a fisherman long, so his grasp of seafood prices isn't very accurate yet.

Finally, they tallied the total.

Yuan.

A bountiful harvest, another bountiful harvest!

The income from these few days since the sea opening has already exceeded 100,000!

That's still quite good.

Leaving the market, it was still raining outside, the rain showing no sign of letting up; Mai Hangyu followed Lao Mai home first, while Wu An and A Qing rode their vehicle to the dock.

They boarded the boat, did a thorough check, found nothing wrong, then disembarked and rode through wind and rain toward the village.

First they took A Qing home.

A Qing got off the vehicle and asked, "Brother, are we not going out to sea tomorrow?"

Wu An said, "Tomorrow might be windy, so let's take a day off."

A Qing nodded; "Brother, then take it easy."

Wu An waved his hand, fortunate that he was riding a motor tricycle today; if it had been a scooter, in such heavy rain he'd only be able to stay overnight in town.

They arrived at the front gate.

Seeing two red dots flashing at Lao Meng's gate, he stopped, squinted, and called out, "Dad, Uncle Meng, smoking?"

Lao Meng smiled and waved his hand.

Wu Yingwei stood up and asked, "Why are you coming back so late? Didn't you already call to say you'd be back earlier?"

Just as Wu An was about to speak, someone came out from under an umbrella and called, "Is that A An?"

Upon hearing it was his elder brother Wu Ping, Wu An quickly replied.

"I'm fine, it's just the rain—I was delayed a bit and didn't dare ride too fast on the road." Wu An shouted a little louder.

At this moment, the rain grew heavier.

"Go home first, go home first." Wu Yingwei walked on, and Wu Ping hurriedly held up his umbrella in response.

Wu An restarted the motor tricycle.

Earlier, when talking with his father, he had turned off the engine; otherwise, the engine noise plus the rain would force him to shout to be heard.

Lao Meng chuckled, "Since the rain started, your dad has gone back and forth seven or eight times; if you didn't come back, I couldn't even finish this pack of cigarettes."

Wu An realized, no wonder his father and elder brother were worried—it was because of this fish.

He greeted Lao Meng to come to his house to eat.

Lao Meng waved his hand: "I've already eaten."

Wu An then rode his bike home.

He handed the leftover shrimp crab fish to Mei Yueqin, letting her simply steam it to eat.

After Mei Yueqin took it, she quickly had him drink a cup of hot tea, then go take a shower and change clothes; after she was busy, the table was already full of steaming hot dishes.

Mei Yueqin asked: "A An, want some wine?"

Wu An nodded.

"White liquor?"

"Fine, I got soaked in the rain; a drink will drive out the chill."

Actually, it's not cold when it rains here; rather, riding in the rain, the drops hitting the body hurt a bit.

They were eating.

Boss Li's phone call came through, saying they could go modify the fishing boat tomorrow.

Mainly, the time is tight; Wu An can at most spare two days, and once the weather clears they have to go out to sea—making money is the proper way.

After discussing with Boss Li, they decided to expand the cold storage and add an automatic winch; with two days of overtime work, it can be done.

Increasing the cold storage would take up space on the boat's awning, meaning the awning space would be greatly reduced thereafter; Wu An said it's not a problem.

Going out to sea to fish is to make money, not for enjoyment; a smaller awning is fine.

As for the live fish hold, it can be enlarged, but the difficulty is higher; the live fish hold and the fishing boat's volume are closely related, so to increase the live fish hold's volume, the boat must first be enlarged and lengthened.

Boss Li still said the same thing: rather than doing this, it's better to buy a bigger fishing boat; there's no need to compete on this boat.

Wu An heeded the advice.

Boss Li didn't take a deposit, saying they'd settle upon delivery, and he wasn't worried Wu An would default.

He hung up the phone.

Wu An had barely taken a couple of bites when his phone rang again; it was Mai Hangyu calling, saying he had confirmed the time with the school teacher and would arrive in three days.

Wu An chatted with him briefly and then hung up.

After hanging up, Wu An saw that Gu Anran had sent several messages, and he replied while eating.

"It's all gone cold; I'll go heat it up for you."

Mei Yueqin picked up two dishes and went to the microwave.

Wu An told her not to bother; eating cold food is fine.

"That won't do; you're busy to the point of exhaustion, working yourself ragged—you can't risk upsetting your stomach."

"These two days you can rest."

"So tomorrow you're free?"

"No other plans—just going to Gu Anran's house for a meal."

"Ah?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Yingwei glared over: "Such a big matter, why didn't you say it sooner!"

Wu An scratched his head: "Is this a big deal?"

"Nonsense, it's your first time visiting—aren't you nervous?"

"A An, sister-in-law, I have to say this about you: how can you be so careless? Are you so nervous you don't know what to do?"

"You haven't even had a haircut, there are no new clothes at home, you said you'd go tomorrow—at the very least you should tidy up properly."

"A An, don't worry, brother, I've been through this; I'll give you a crash course tonight—I know this well."

Wu An looked at the three people, who seemed to be facing a formidable foe, and thought: I'm not the least bit nervous, not anxious, and not afraid at all.

How did he feel?

These three were even more nervous, more anxious, and more afraid than he was.