Chapter 439: The first festival after rebirth is coming

Wu An saw the adhesive net was ready to be hauled, so he didn't bother thinking about naming the small island anymore.

He happened to hear A Qing and Mei Wu talking about how beautiful the large coral reef they had just seen was, so he casually named it Beautiful Island.

Lao Fu Tou heard it, his mouth twitched, but he didn't object.

Anyway, a name is just a name.

They call it Beautiful Island; other fishermen seeing it might shout a different name.

However.

This side, like Huo Ming Dao, has complicated sea conditions, so few fishing boats come by.

That's them.

They run around at sea as if oil were free.

Lao Fu Tou also felt that his skills had become quite outrageously good.

Seeing Wu An go to drive the boat, he asked, "Are we going to haul the adhesive net now?"

Wu An said, "Haul."

"After we finish hauling, we'll rest."

"If we do it quickly, we can still go to Xuan Ya Dao to drink with the Fan family brothers."

Soon.

The fishing boat started.

Lao Fu Tou felt uneasy, came over smoking a cigarette to have a look.

It wasn't far away.

Moreover, the sea conditions here weren't as complex as before near the coral reef base, so Wu An easily steered the boat to the vicinity of the adhesive net's float.

He stopped the boat.

Looking back, he saw Mei Wu and A Qing eating fruit, so he didn't urge them to work.

They were all exhausted.

Since setting out yesterday at dawn, they had deployed crab pots, cast nets, longlines and adhesive nets; after eating they started hauling the longlines, and while rushing they hardly rested, just busy baiting the longlines.

With such high-intensity work, if they weren't earning a lot, everyone would have collapsed long ago.

He lit a cigarette for Lao Fu Tou.

Wu An glanced at the calendar on the side and casually said, "Lao Fu, a festival is coming up soon."

Lao Fu Tou blinked, then realized, "Yeah."

"Without noticing, it's already the end of September."

"This year Mid-Autumn and National Day are together, right?"

Wu An nodded and asked, "What are you planning to do for it…"

Actually, having said that.

He then felt a bit regretful.

National Day isn't much to say about, but Mid-Autumn is a day for family reunion; Lao Fu Tou is a five-guarantees household, so such a day might not be friendly for him.

Lao Fu Tou smiled: "What can we do about it?"

"Every year it's just like this."

"The village will organize events, still quite lively."

Wu An realized.

Yeah.

Although he's a five-guarantees household, it's not like being helpless in the city; in the village, regardless of relations, everyone is basically family, bones connected.

Lao Fu Tou also has nephews and nieces in the village.

Moreover, the village is still very warm-hearted.

In this regard.

Wu An actually has more say.

Why.

In his previous life, after leaving his hometown, he had been struggling in the city, having seen much of human warmth and coldness, worldly vicissitudes, especially during festivals.

He would just stay alone in a rented room playing with his phone, all day not even wanting to step outside.

Even if he went out.

There was no one to find, nowhere to go.

Wu An smiled: "Not bad, I haven't properly celebrated a festival in many years."

Lao Fu Tou narrowed his eyes, staring at Wu An.

He felt a bit strange.

Wu An is young, yet his gaze makes him feel weathered.

He casually said, "If we don't go out to sea, we can properly prepare."

Wu An nodded: "Yes."

The two chatted intermittently; A Qing walked over and asked, "Brother, shall we haul the net?"

Wu An glanced at the time.

It was already almost 3 p. m.

"Let's haul."

Wu An stood up, used a hook to pull the float up; with the winch helping, it was still very easy, but Lao Fu Tou couldn't help reminding him to be careful and try not to tangle the net.

As the net head came out of the water, Wu An standing beside could feel the winch obviously straining more, the sound it made completely different from the start.

It was still Lao Fu Tou and Mei Wu who handled untangling and repairing the nets; the two grew ever more in sync, while Wu An and A Qing each took charge—one operating the winch and observing, the other collecting the fish.

When the catch was hauled out of the water, everyone was dumbfounded.

Because what was caught on the adhesive net and hauled up wasn't a fish at all, but a small blue dragon.

The small blue dragon brandished its teeth and claws; although it didn't have the two fearsome large pincers of a mythical turtle lobster, its spines were also extremely dangerous.

If accidentally scratched, it not only hurts but also risks infection.

A Qing was dumbfounded: "Brother, I… I can't handle this alone."

He reached out.

As a result, the small blue dragon, sensing danger, struggled even more violently while tangled in the adhesive net, snapping off its long whiskers.

Seeing this, A Qing felt heartbroken and shouted at the small blue dragon: "My goodness, don't move."

Please struggle gently.

Even if breaking the whiskers doesn't hurt you, I still feel sorry for you.

You're actually quite valuable—don't ruin yourself like this, okay?

Wu An was also helpless.

After thinking, he said: "First, haul this net up."

We don't need the net.

I remember there are several pairs of scissors on the boat—just cut the net open and get the small blue dragon out.

Lao Fu Tou felt sorry: "There are so many nets; we can't possibly cut them all, can we?"

Wu An laughed: "If every net's catch required cutting, then we'd cut them all."

A few small blue dragons could buy an adhesive net.

A Qing also shouted: "Brother's right—you can't catch a wolf without being willing to lose a cub."

Mei Wu said: "Then we don't need to untangle the nets; all four of us can work together. Look, a few more small blue dragon whiskers have fallen off. If we had untangled the nets earlier, we might have preserved their whiskers."

Lao Fu Tou, who simply felt sorry for the adhesive net out of habit, always hoping a set of nets would last a year, laughed and said: "I'll go with what you say."

He couldn't refuse.

Indeed, we couldn't keep up.

Even ordinary sea fish are a hassle to process, let alone these teeth-and-claws brandishing small blue dragons; if handled carefully, the four of us might not be able to finish the work in a day.

The first adhesive net hauled up was mostly small blue dragons, plus some ordinary shrimp and crabs.

A Qing and Mei Wu got to work together.

Scissors cut the adhesive net open, the small blue dragon was tossed onto the deck, then grabbed—A Qing wasn't doing this for the first time; his moves were practiced, swift, accurate, and ruthless, while Mei Wu was slightly less skilled.

But he was eager to learn and picked it up quickly.

Practical experience is the best teacher.

The second, third, and subsequent adhesive nets hauled up mostly held small blue dragons; Lao Fu Tou said the seabed below must be a lobster nest.

What amazed Lao Fu Tou was that, although the seabed of a typical lobster nest is usually complex and snagging nets is almost inevitable, after hauling up nearly ten nets, not a single one had gotten caught on the bottom.

That is, one net had a big tear; even so, because it was catching small blue dragons, the whole net, though tattered, was still hauled up, and not a single small blue dragon fell out.

A Qing shouted strangely: "I feel surrounded by these small blue dragons."

Don't come over, you guys.

He glanced over.

That's not the case.

The entire deck was covered in small blue dragons.