Chapter 612: He Yuzhu is Surrounded

The sea breeze blew over, carrying a salty, fishy scent.

He Yuzhu squatted by the edge of a mat, picked up a sun-reddened prawn, peeled the shell, and tossed the meat into his mouth.

He chewed vigorously; hmm, the taste was really not bad.

Just as he was chewing, a small sedan stopped not far away with a "screech."

Ershuan had sharp eyes and immediately trotted over.

As soon as the car door opened, the Secretary stepped out.

Ershuan grinned and reached out his hand: "Secretary, you've come!"

The Secretary shook his hand, looked him up and down, and smiled: "Not bad, Ershuan. One look and I can tell your food is good; you've put on a circle of weight."

Ershuan chuckled and waved his hand around: "Take a look, sir. There's food all over the ground. Even the most honest person wouldn't go hungry here!"

The Secretary followed his hand and looked over; everywhere was covered with straw mats, all densely packed with drying dried fish and dried shrimp.

He picked up a large shrimp from a mat, peeled it, ate it, and nodded: "It is indeed not bad."

Only then did He Yuzhu walk over, looking puzzled: "Secretary, how did you manage to find this place?"

The Secretary smiled: "I made several calls to the factory, and they all said you went out to catch fish. I came to Beidaihe for a meeting this time and heard that someone was catching fish by the tens of tons and drying them. I had a feeling it was you. I asked, and sure enough, it was you, kid!"

He Yuzhu scratched his head: "Am I really that famous?"

"More than just famous? No one at the Beidaihe Sanatorium doesn't know your big name! They even say you sell it cheap, just charging for the diesel money!"

He Yuzhu hurriedly claimed credit: "Secretary, to tell you the truth, in one month, we dried over three hundred tons of dried fish! I gave most of it to the Disaster Relief Group; I've done right by the organization, haven't I?"

The Secretary looked at his smug expression and couldn't help but laugh.

He Yuzhu laughed along with him.

The Secretary put away his smile and asked seriously: "It's already August now; by the end of September, how much more can you dry?"

"If you can find me large fishing boats, I can get you twenty thousand tons of fish! Once dried, that's six thousand tons at the very least."

"Six thousand tons?" The Secretary's eyes lit up.

"However, I've organized two or three thousand people to help dry the fish. The Commune President has already come to find trouble with me several times."

The Secretary nodded: "You just focus on bringing the fish back; I'll help you coordinate the drying. The Disaster Relief Group heard it was you handling the dried fish, and they've all got their eyes on it..."

He Yuzhu sighed: "I was truly at my wit's end, so I started thinking about fishing. I originally thought about going over to the 'Little Japan' side, but then I thought, that country eats fish every day, so the fish in their surrounding waters must have been fished clean long ago. So I went to the Peninsula side to try. In that place, there are so many fish they jump right onto the boat!"

Upon hearing this, the Secretary's eyes immediately brightened: "I will help you coordinate the boats and people right now."

"Just find me ten large fishing boats. They don't need to take risks; they can just wait in safe waters. I will go to those dangerous places to bring the fish back, load them onto their boats, and they can haul them back," He Yuzhu said.

The Secretary stared at him for two seconds: "Fine. Be careful."

He Yuzhu nodded solemnly.

That evening, He Yuzhu cooked in person and prepared a full-fish feast for the Secretary—Big Yellow Fish, Small Yellow Fish, and Pacific saury, prepared in various ways.

The Secretary ate until he exclaimed it was satisfying.

Seeing the Secretary's lean appearance, He Yuzhu knew clearly in his heart that this man was also suffering from malnutrition. Before he left, he stuffed some dried fish and canned luncheon meat into the car.

The Secretary did not decline.

The next day, He Yuzhu sailed out to sea, traveled for seven hours, and circled to the east side of the Peninsula.

There was a seven-colored halo around the moon; based on experience, this was a precursor to a strong wind.

He hurriedly got to work, desperately collecting fish while the wind had yet to arrive.

It must be said, there really were a lot of fish in this place; in the span of one night, that two-thousand-ton pond was filled to the brim.

He Yuzhu gritted his teeth and had the system dig a Large Fish Pond ten times larger than the original, which cost a full five thousand catties of gold.

Five thousand catties of gold—if placed in later generations, it could buy at least over a hundred thousand tons of fish.

After the Large Fish Pond was ready, He Yuzhu began collecting fish into his space day and night.

When tired, he would nap on the boat for a while, then wake up and continue working.

Three days passed, and the Large Fish Pond was more than half full.

At this rate, it would be full in another two or three days.

Early on the fourth day, the weather suddenly changed.

The gale whipped up giant waves, and his small boat drifted between the massive swells like a leaf.

It nearly capsized several times; He Yuzhu vomited until he was dizzy and, unable to hold on any longer, gritted his teeth and hid inside the space.

Two days later, the wind stopped. He crawled out of the space and felt that his surroundings were completely unfamiliar; he had no idea where he had drifted.

Just as he was about to continue collecting fish, he looked up and froze.

On the sea surface ahead, a dozen dark gray whales were swimming slowly; each one weighed over a dozen tons, their backs rising and falling, and the water spouts they sprayed were sparkling in the sunlight.

A pod of whales!

He Yuzhu hadn't intended to touch them.

But for some reason, that pod of gray whales charged straight toward him.

The leading ones were only a few meters away from the boat, pressing down like small mountains.

There was no time to think; with a thought, he collected the entire pod of whales into the space.

The dozen gray whales lay on the ground of the space in a comatose state.

He Yuzhu didn't want them to stay unconscious like that, so he spent another five hundred catties of gold to dig a pool for them, filled it with seawater, and kept these dozen big guys inside.

As soon as the whales entered the water, they woke up immediately, looking quite happy, and kept spraying water into the air to play.

Two more days passed, and the Large Fish Pond was also completely filled.

He Yuzhu was satisfied and turned the boat around to head back. After traveling for half a day, a black shadow suddenly appeared on the horizon.

He squinted his eyes to look, and his heart skipped a beat—it was a fleet. Five ships in total.

Leading the way was a transport ship, followed by a destroyer, and there was also a Supply Ship at the rear.

A flag was fluttering on the mast, that of the United States.

He Yuzhu didn't say a word, turned around, and ran; this time, he was in no mood to fight them.

But before long, three coast patrol boats flanked him from both sides, surrounding him completely.

Several white soldiers stood on the boats, holding their guns and shouting at him.

They probably mistook him for a fisherman from South Korea, as they shouted a few times but didn't open fire.

Seeing that the other side didn't fire, He Yuzhu didn't make the first move either.

Those few soldiers stared at his boat for a long time, then suddenly huddled together and whispered.

He Yuzhu followed their gaze and his heart sank—it was over.

His boat was the same model as the M Country patrol boats, only he had painted over the markings.

The more the white soldiers looked, the more something felt wrong, and they boarded his boat with guns loaded and ready.

A big white man ducked into the cockpit, looked around, and his gaze landed on the mess of wires under the steering wheel. He froze for a moment, turned his head, and shouted outside: "John! John! Come take a look!"

Another white man wearing glasses walked in.

The big man pointed at the bundle of reconnected wires and cursed: "Damn it, look at this guy, he's absolutely insane! A boat that takes seven or eight of us to operate, and he's wired the throttle and ignition switch to the steering wheel so one person can drive it! Who the hell is this guy?"

John bent down, carefully examined the crude but sturdy signs of modification, sniffed them, and straightened up with an expression of disbelief: "This is fucking bizarre—he's actually using our patrol boat to fish!"