Chapter 494: Three-Month Agreement

After about ten minutes, A Qing and Mei Wu surfaced one after another.

Wu An pulled the two of them up.

"Check the time!"

"We agreed on half an hour!"

"If you keep doing this, don't go in the water again."

A Qing and Mei Wu quickly composed their expressions.

It was obvious to the two that Wu An was truly angry, and they hurriedly apologized.

Seeing the two's sincere attitude, Wu An's expression eased a little; Lao Fu Tou also pulled up their net bag, opened it, and exclaimed, "Oh, there's still a young azure dragon!"

"It's not small in size."

"A An, come take a look."

Wu An walked over to look.

A Qing and Mei Wu breathed a sigh of relief; thanks to Lao Fu Tou shouting, otherwise Wu An might have kept scolding them.

Lao Fu Tou's shout wasn't just to give them a way out; Wu An, seeing the still-flopping young azure dragon, was also somewhat surprised; the young azure dragon that A Qing and Mei Wu had caught was about two or three catties in size.

The young azure dragon has a high meat yield; one of this size could fill an ordinary person.

Wu An asked, "How did you catch so many?"

A Qing quickly said, "We found them in a coral crevice; A Wu Ge and I scooped them up in one pot—there were eight total, and we caught them all."

Mei Wu added, "Some of these young azure dragons hid deep and were very sneaky; we put in some effort, but wasting time was our fault—we won't do it again next time."

Lao Fu Tou said, "You ought to keep this in mind; just now A An almost wanted to go down and look for you."

A Qing and Mei Wu scratched their heads and gave an embarrassed smile.

Wu An had planned to go back into the sea, but Lao Fu Tou silently put on his gear and said, "I've already put it on," so Wu An could only stay on watch.

Lao Fu Tou went into the water first.

A Qing and Mei Wu rested for half a moment, then followed him into the water.

Lao Fu Tou was very punctual; Wu An stared at the sea surface without blinking, saw Lao Fu Tou surface on time, and smiled in relief.

"How was it?"

"Not bad. Lao Fu Tou leaned against the ship's side, sat on the deck, took big breaths, chuckled, and said, 'I'm old now; even a little work wears me out.'"

"Before, I didn't need these and could stay underwater for a long time."

The net bag was pulled up.

"Needless to say, there were white butterfly clams, plus a few sea snails; Wu An asked, 'Are these coconut snails?'"

Lao Fu Tou nodded and said, "Hmm, this weighs about four or five catties; a specimen this large isn't common, so I just took it."

Wu An asked, "Can this also produce pearls?"

Wu An nodded: "Surely it does."

"It's called beautiful pearl."

"It's worth more than the pearl of a white butterfly clam."

"Compared to the white butterfly clam, the chance of a coconut snail yielding a beautiful pearl is very small—perhaps not even one in tens of thousands of coconut snails produces a sellable beautiful pearl."

Wu An rubbed his hands: "Why not open one to see?"

Lao Fu Tou said, "Sure."

"If sold, it's not as valuable as an echo snail."

"Don't open it now; let's open them together when we get back."

Wu An nodded.

Lao Fu Tou didn't have time to rest; he quickly sorted the white butterfly clams, and once sorted, placed the fish basket in the live-fish tank to keep them.

He made three round trips.

It was already five in the afternoon; the sky wasn't dark yet, but the four of them no longer intended to dive again.

The diving work was really exhausting.

All four of them had reached their limits.

The harvest wasn't bad either.

There were over two hundred white butterfly clams, more than last time; this is after they had already sorted them on the seabed—if they had grabbed every one they saw, the haul might have doubled.

Besides the white butterfly clams, there were over ten young azure dragons.

Coconut snails were few; A Qing and Mei Wu also found two, making a total of six coconut snails.

Upon learning that coconut snails could yield beautiful pearls worth more than white butterfly clam pearls, A Qing and Mei Wu specially placed the coconut snails in a separate fish basket.

"Thanks to Mazu."

Lao Fu Tou prayed sincerely; hearing this, Wu An and the three others likewise followed suit, silently thanking Mazu and nature's gifts in their hearts.

Wu An felt uneasy, quietly making a round to check the catch.

After confirming that A Qing and Mei Wu hadn't brought up undersized white butterfly clams, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief; whether they had taken his words to heart or they themselves were already reluctant to exhaust the resource, this shows they can be companions on the same path.

A Qing smoked a cigarette and asked, "Brother, why don't we stay here for the night and work another day tomorrow?"

Wu An hesitated, then said, "No."

"Given our condition, resting one night might not be enough to recover."

"Besides, one shouldn't be too greedy in life."

Mei Wu asked, "Then how often should we come in the future?"

Wu An looked at the sea surface and said, "About three months."

"One shouldn't be without greed, but also shouldn't be overly greedy."

If it were really once every half year or once a year, he would indeed feel a bit out of sorts.

Each trip brings in one or two million.

Four times a year.

That works out to barely a job earning ten million a year.

A Qing asked, "Should we head back now?"

Lao Fu Tou came over holding a tea cup and said, "Why not find a place to drop the crab pots? At this time, heading back, the dock is at its busiest."

"Better to go back at midnight and unload the cargo at the dock."

"That's what I think; the private dock isn't easy to get to either."

"As long as we're careful, the white butterfly clams hidden under the catch aren't a big problem."

Wu An nodded: "I'll follow your lead."

"First go to Shuangzi Dao to drop the crab pots."

Lao Fu Tou naturally had no objection; when they first came to this sea area, they also came from Shuangzi Dao, so returning now is reasonable. Moreover, since Wu An said to go to Shuangzi Dao, who could object?

He went to steer the boat.

A Qing and Mei Wu were sorting the catch; a bountiful haul feels great, but sorting it is laborious, with all the work, Wu An went to cook.

Now Wu An's work on the boat is mainly logistical support.

One small lobster each.

With a knife, chop chop, then stir-fry in the pot as a topping.

Another pot boil water.

Add the rice noodles.

Add plenty of lard.

High protein, high carbs, and plenty of oil.

Soon.

Each person gets a bowl of small lobster rice noodles, gulping it down eagerly.

After eating and drinking their fill.

They kept working.

After finishing work, Wu An went to rest while A Qing and Mei Wu smoked and started sorting the crab pots again; upon reaching the vicinity of Shuangzi Dao, Wu An casually pointed and began the operation of dropping the crab pots.

Wu An didn't intervene.

A Qing and Mei Wu could handle it themselves.

After setting the crab pots, Wu An saw it was still early, so he made another late-night snack; with nothing else to do, except that Lao Fu Tou would later steer the boat—although drinking a bit wouldn't be a problem, he still abstained completely.

That's a good thing.

Wu An and the three of them had a little drink to relieve fatigue, but they didn't drink much.

Around ten o'clock at night, Lao Fu Tou steered the boat back.

Wu An took out his satellite phone to contact A Jin.

"Brother An, are you back?"

"Contacting me via satellite phone—looks like this trip brought in a big haul again."

"What is it?"

"White butterfly clams?"

As soon as the call connected, A Jin fired off a series of questions.