Chapter 344: Father and Son Holding to the Bottom Line

The crab pots entered the sea one after another.

Wu An glanced at the system; 115 luck points remained.

Very good.

After a while, raising the longline again might consume another 50 points, leaving over sixty luck points; if we encounter a school of fish, casually casting the net would use them up.

If we don't encounter them, each of us will fish with a fishing rod.

We can easily use up the luck points.

Looking at it this way.

The adhesive net is very useful.

Of course, the crab pots are also indispensable.

"Let's go, set out to collect the adhesive nets."

Just after 1 p. m., the fishing boat set sail again, heading straight for Shuangzi Dao to retrieve the longline.

Everyone sat to rest.

A Qing couldn't relax, standing at the boat's edge staring at that fishing vessel.

As we passed, someone on that fishing boat was still holding a flag and signaling.

A Qing couldn't understand it.

Let Lao Fu Tou look; that person had already put down the chess pieces.

Lao Fu Tou thought for a moment; "Looking at it this way, the other side probably has no ill intent."

A Qing hummed twice: "That would be best."

Wu An called A Qing back.

At this time the heat is brutal; even wearing a hat and standing in the sun feels like being in a steamer, and the slightest movement makes one feel sweat oozing all over.

Out on this open sea, there isn't even a bit of shade.

A Qing returned to the cabin, wiped himself with a wet towel, and said, "Brother, that fishing boat hasn't moved; I'm really worried they're up to something. Why don't we circle around again later before heading back?"

Wu An thought, then said, "How about we go to Shuangzi Dao, collect the adhesive nets, and then return?"

"Let's go to Shuangzi Dao when it's time to collect the adhesive nets."

Upon hearing this, Lao Fu Tou exclaimed, "That's too much trouble!"

"The round trip would take over an hour."

"We'd be throwing fuel money into the sea for nothing."

A Qing said, "My mom says, 'Careful sailing yields a ten-thousand-year boat.'"

Wu An nodded: "Aunt Juan's saying is spot on."

"Then it's settled."

"It's just a little fuel money."

Lao Fu Tou's mouth twitched.

Heavens.

Which fisherman doesn't value fuel money?

These days, near‑shore resources are deteriorating, and consequently the cost of going out to fish keeps rising; who knows how many fishermen actually rely on fuel subsidies to get by—without them they'd rather leave their boats docked at the pier and refrain from fishing than go out to sea.

I'd guess that among the boats drifting on the high seas, only Wu An can afford to be so reckless.

He can't be persuaded either.

After all, they indeed have the means to be reckless.

Actually.

He is also somewhat worried.

If those crab pots were stolen, it would be utterly miserable.

Wu Ping and Mei Wu nodded; the two of them aren't really familiar with maritime conditions and think that just running the boat out to sea isn't a big deal.

As long as we can guard those crab pots, spending a bit of fuel money is fine.

……

A pitch‑black fishing boat.

Three people aboard.

An old man with a hunched back, and two brothers about thirty who look very much alike—one fat, one thin; neither is particularly tall nor short, their height is about average around here.

Wu An's stature—people used to tease him as a child for being a genetic mutation; otherwise, Wu Yingwei is only 1.7 meters tall, so how could Wu An have grown to over 1.8 meters?

Wu An's elder brother Wu Ping is only slightly taller than Wu Yingwei.

Wu An himself knows it's because his sister‑in‑law came to live with the family, never letting him go hungry or thirsty and always finding ways to give him extra nutrition, which is why he is so tall today.

Just eating high‑protein, low‑fat seafood—let alone growing tall, not becoming as thin as a reed is already good.

"Dad, quit fiddling with the chess pieces and just say hello—what's a hello anyway? They surely think we're thieves." Pang Zi nudged the old man, his face displeased, and said, "If you ask me, we shouldn't be circling that ship aimlessly."

We've burned so much fuel.

And what did we get out of it? Nothing at all.

While we still have time, let's hurry to our sea area and drop the crab pots.

Pang Zi glanced at Shou Zi crouched silent on the deck, not expecting his brother to say anything either—he's always been a tight‑lipped sort.

As the saying goes, the child who cries gets milk.

He's gotten this fat precisely because he's been shouting since childhood.

The old man sighed, "Da Li, Xiao Zhu, we've come all this way—how could we just leave?"

"Let's listen to Dad once more and go over as well."

There are thirty in total, we've deployed them all.

The fat guy, that is Fan Dali, shouted excitedly: "It's so far over there; you've deployed the crab pots, we'll have to come back tomorrow—how much fuel will that cost?"

Dad, I disagree anyway.

Besides, everyone else has deployed their crab pots; if we go over there again, it wouldn't be appropriate.

Second brother, say something.

Fan Dali kicked his brother.

Fan Xiao Zhu coughed and said, "I'll follow you."

Hmm.

He spoke, yet it was as if he hadn't.

Fan Lao Tou said: "They've been working that long, surely the catch isn't small; that kid is especially lucky—I've seen it several times, he's sold a lot of shrimp and crab, definitely from deploying crab pots."

Our main thing is the crab pots.

The sea area we usually go to is no good; if it weren't unavoidable, Dad couldn't go along with what others are doing.

This isn't unavoidable.

Fan Dali looked impatient: "Enough, enough, enough—I've heard these words who knows how many times; stop repeating them."

Fan Lao Tou: "Fine, fine, we're leaving, right? Anyway, we can't catch anything at sea, so we'll just sell the boat when we get back."

You two brothers go out to work.

Go to the electronics factory; there are lots of young women there.

Fan Dali shook his head: "I'm not going."

Even if you threw me into the Women's Kingdom, our family has no money, I still couldn't get a wife.

Fan Xiao Zhu looked up: "What Brother said is right."

Fan Lao Tou: "Then listen to me; we'll go to the other side of the island and deploy the crab pots."

The family's two bachelors are both almost thirty.

He is worried.

So they've gone all in, firmly following Wu An, hoping to get some luck and score some goods.

They drove the fishing boat close to "Xuan Ya Dao".

The father and son three sized up the floats, saw nothing special about this place, avoided the floats, confirmed an area without floats, and the old man asked: "Boss, should we start deploying here?"

Fan Dali shook his head: "Dad, go a bit farther; don't stay together or it'll be unclear."

Dad, even though we're poor, we still have ambition.

Second brother, what do you say?

Fan Xiao Zhu nodded: "Brother, I'll follow you."

Fan Lao Tou: "..."

He is both relieved and troubled.

He feels relieved that he raised these two kids well; at least both kids turned out fine.

But what troubles him is that, given the family's situation, they still insist on some bottom line.

But he is the father.

Some things are really hard to say; all he can do is endure.

They moved the boat farther out, and the father and son three began work.

The other side.

Shuangzi Dao.

Wu An and them also began work.

Lao Fu Tou is the only one who knows; not only must they get hands-on, but also receive on-site instruction—A Qing, Mei Wu, and Wu Ping, once they've learned, immediately start practical drills.

So.

Wu An ran to drive the boat.

With the winch operation, the adhesive net was slowly pulled out of the seawater.

The harvest is not bad.

As soon as the net came out of the water, it brought up several fish.

So the problem arises: the catch is too much, what to do if we can't process it?