Chapter 440: A Qing

A little over an hour later.

The deck was a mess of ocean trash, mud, mangled little green dragons missing limbs, and torn, ragged Adhesive Nets…

And clusters upon clusters of little green dragons still wrapped in the Adhesive Net.

Too many.

There was no time to deal with them.

We can't treat these little green dragons roughly; we must handle them delicately, coax each one out of the Adhesive Net and place it into a Fish Basket.

Wu An stopped the Winch that was already scorching hot and said, "Lao Fu, you take the boat and head toward Xuan Ya Dao."

Lao Fu Tou was startled, "No more Longline Fishing?"

Wu An shook his head.

If the Crab Pot's Luck Value hadn't been exhausted, he would have headed straight for Shuangzi Dao, lifted the Crab Pot, and gone home.

Judging by the Luck Value consumption, it would probably take a night before it could be raised.

Lao Fu Tou nodded, got up, and walked over to start the boat.

The moment he set the fishing boat in motion, he couldn't help but let out a quiet sigh of relief.

After all, he wasn't young anymore.

Following Wu An's pace, he could already feel his body struggling a bit.

But he felt too embarrassed to slack off.

With such a hefty salary, if he were to cheat or be sly, he wouldn't even pass his own test.

Lao Fu Tou steered the boat.

Wu An couldn't idle either; he turned a basket upside down as a stool, sat, and began unloading the cargo.

Mei Wu asked, "A An, shall we go to Xuan Ya Dao to look for Fan Dali and his brothers?"

Wu An nodded, "Right."

"Just the three of us, the efficiency is too low."

"If they aren't busy, we can ask them for a hand."

In fact, Wu An now faced only two options: either return to the dock immediately, or risk that delayed handling would cause some little green dragons to die and spoil.

Returning directly to the dock would mean having to come back again for the Crab Pot.

A round trip felt too laborious.

It would be better to go find the Fan family brothers.

Going from Xuan Ya Dao to Shuangzi Dao adds a bit of detour, but it's far better than returning to the dock to retrieve the Crab Pot.

Mei Wu worried, "If so, wouldn't all our catch on this boat be exposed?"

Wu An smiled, "Never mind."

After these few encounters, Fan Lao Tou stopped speaking, but Fan Dali and Fan Xiao Zhu proved to be trustworthy.

They're decent people.

The last time they faced Ma Weiqun, the two brothers could step up when trouble arose.

Since they're friends, there's no need to hide anything.

As for any "nest" or the like, he doesn't care at all; otherwise he wouldn't have brought the Fan father and son over to Xuan Ya Dao in the first place.

Hearing Wu An say that, Mei Wu stopped adding his two cents.

It had been sailing for a little over an hour.

Xuan Ya Dao loomed in the distance.

Lao Fu Tou shouted, "I see the float; it should be the Fan father and son's."

Wu An said, "It's getting dark soon."

"Since they have no operation, they must be sheltering on the island."

"Let's go take a look."

Lao Fu Tou replied, and slowly steered the boat toward the small island.

At this point, the wind picked up.

The waves grew larger, and the fishing boat rocked violently.

Fortunately, after only half a turn, they spotted the Fan father and son's boat; Wu An raised the loudspeaker and shouted twice.

The opposite boat started moving.

In the distance, Fan Dali stood at the bow waving at them, and soon the two boats drew alongside each other.

Fan Dali boarded, and upon seeing the deck's little green dragons, his eyes widened.

"Adhesive Net?"

"You didn't lift the Crab Pot, but switched to the Adhesive Net?"

"How many little green dragons is that? Never thought the Adhesive Net would be so effective."

A Qing shouted, "Brother Dali, can't you see who set the Adhesive Net?"

"How's your haul?"

Fan Dali crouched to help sort the little green dragons, saying, "Before you arrived we just raised the Crab Pot; we should have about ten thousand yuan worth of catch."

"It can't compare to before, but it's not bad."

"But compared with yours, it's nothing."

He finished and let out a heavy sigh.

A Qing, pretending to boast, said, "Ten thousand yuan versus all these little green dragons, the several thousand jin of Small Yellow Fish in the hold, and the red‑spotted, tiger‑spotted, and black‑hair live fish in the live‑fish warehouse—there's no way they can compare."

Fan Dali was left speechless, turning his gaze to Wu An.

Wu An nodded with a smile.

Fan Dali scratched his head and shouted, "I want to jump into the sea."

"If I had known earlier, I would have just followed you."

"Running farther is just running farther; that bit of fuel is nothing."

A Qing still wanted to speak.

Wu An stopped him.

Can't stimulate any further.

He was still worried Fan Dali might lose his composure; who knows, he might really jump into the sea.

A Qing was also quite pleased.

Earlier, Wu An had brought Fan Dali to this side of Xuan Ya Dao; he hadn't objected, but deep down he still had his own little thought, which was simple: he didn't want the Fan family father and son's haul to exceed theirs.

That's normal.

The Fan family father and son being able to work here on Xuan Ya Dao counts as them showing the way and yielding this spot; if the Fan family father and son made a fortune here, he'd certainly feel resentful.

Now seeing the Fan family father and son's haul not great, the worry in his heart finally eased.

Although he also felt that being this happy wasn't right, he just couldn't control himself.

Wu An didn't know what A Qing was thinking; seeing Fan Dali help untie the small green dragon, he asked, "Are you taking a break now?"

Fan Dali nodded: "The wind suddenly picked up tonight; work is a bit dangerous."

Wu An said: "That's fine."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony."

"Since you have nothing to do, help me tidy up the small green dragon together."

Fan Dali nodded: "Then go call Xiao Zhu as well."

A Qing got up to go call.

Fan Xiao Zhu quickly came aboard; seeing so many small green dragons, he was quite surprised, but didn't say much, squatted down and got to work.

As they worked, the sky turned completely dark.

Lao Fu Tou turned on the lamp and kept working.

……

After an hour, only the last adhesive net remained.

Fan Dali and Fan Xiao Zhu brothers huddled together to discuss; after a moment, Fan Dali said: "There's not much left; let's go back first to prepare dinner."

"After you finish cleaning up, come over directly."

Wu An said: "Thanks, I have wine on my boat; since we're not working tonight, let's have a drink."

"Alright, then we'll head over first."

Everyone together, the last adhesive net was cleared up quickly.

Mei Wu put the small green dragon from the last fish basket into the live fish warehouse, came out, and said cheerfully: "The live fish warehouse is full."

Wu An smiled: "Good thing I only prepared fifteen sets of adhesive nets."

"If every haul were like this, you'd need to prepare a hundred sets."

"Aren't you afraid of working yourself to death?"

"I'd rather die from work."

One net of small green dragons weighs at least over a hundred catties; this net is worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Is doing this work more satisfying than robbing a bank?

A Qing said: "A Wu Ge, you really were right to worry; with this situation, just us few people really can't keep up."

"Fortunately we have Dali Ge and Xiao Zhu Ge helping today."

After saying that, he rubbed his waist.

Everyone says young people don't have waist trouble, but he clearly felt his back sore and waist aching.

He turned to look at Lao Fu Tou.

He had already been bent over for a long time.

After stopping the boat, he also came over to help, never idle for a moment.

He took a puff of a cigarette.

A Qing and Mei Wu then got busy again, simply cleaning the deck.

Lao Fu Tou went to check the condition of the live fish warehouse.

The catch in the live fish warehouse was too much; if not watched closely, problems easily arise.

Wu An had nothing to do, so he first went onto the Fan family father and son's fishing boat.

The Fan family's fishing boat is a bit more dilapidated; it's been used by Fan Lao Tou since his youth.

Fan Lao Tou said, this boat was built with his father's help, and it will soon be passed down to the Fan brothers.

Truly, one boat passed down three generations.