When they were returning, they said it was getting dark, but halfway through the journey, they clearly felt the waves starting to roll, the boat was shaking more violently, the wind on the sea was stronger, and the weather at the seaside was a bit unpredictable.
"The wind is picking up again."
"Well, it's a good thing I didn't open it for you. You should stay in the cabin. It might rain heavily soon."
"Let me drive, give me the compass, I can drive back."
"Go away, go away. We don't need you. You might take the wrong turn and waste time getting wet in the rain." Father Ye pushed him away without saying a word and increased the speed.
Ye Yaodong had no choice but to go to the cabin.
Dark clouds covered the sun, and the sky darkened rapidly. It was only a little after three o'clock, less than four o'clock, but it felt like it was almost six or seven o'clock. At this time, a flash of lightning streaked across the sky, brightening it up for a moment, and then darkened again.
Father Ye was also afraid of a sudden rainstorm. It was very dangerous at sea and he was most afraid of natural disasters. He concentrated on identifying the direction of the return trip, hoping to reach the shore before the rainstorm.
But after the lightning flashed, accompanied by the rumbling thunder, bean-sized raindrops fell down with a crackling sound.
It hasn't rained for more than a month, and I didn't expect it to rain so heavily when it did.
The rain fell on Ye's father, and soon he was wet from head to toe. The rain was getting heavier and heavier, gradually blurring his vision, but he still stood there upright, controlling the direction of the boat.
Ye Yaodong frowned as he watched from inside the cabin. His father was too stubborn and didn’t trust him, so he refused to give him the car. It was really…
Fortunately, the rain only comes in bursts. It was quite heavy when it first fell, but it has weakened a little now.
At this moment, a cry for help suddenly came from the sea level. He looked out from the cabin and saw a metal boat similar to theirs floating on the gray sea. There was a woman on the boat, waving her arms towards their boat and shouting for help.
The sound of the boat's engines, mixed with the sound of wind and rain, was a bit noisy. Ye Yaodong was afraid that he had heard it wrong, so he listened carefully and found that he was not mistaken. It was someone calling for help.
He immediately walked out and shouted to Ye's father who was concentrating on driving the boat, "Dad, there's someone on that boat over there calling for help."
When Ye's father heard his shout, he followed his finger and looked towards the boat not far away. There was indeed a woman waving her hand. He was standing next to the machine, but he could not hear anything because of the noise and the sound of rain.
He stopped the boat and walked towards Ye Yaodong. He heard the cry for help when he was a little further away from the machine.
"what happened?"
"I don't know. I just heard someone shouting for help from the other side of the ship. It's raining and there are thunder and lightning. Do you want to go over and take a look?"
Father Ye nodded without hesitation. "Well, the people working in this sea area are either from our village, or from Dongqiao Village or Xishan Village. Let's go over and see what's going on. We're from the same village, so if we can lend a hand, it shouldn't take long."
At that time, the people were simple and honest, and they were very kind-hearted no matter what happened. Even in this kind of weather, when Ye's father heard the call for help, he didn't say he would take care of it himself and just sailed away.
When they got closer, they heard not only cries for help, but also the occasional crying and howling of women.
Ye's father also recognized her. This was Ma Lifang, Lin Yongshou's wife, who lived on the roadside behind the mountain. The couple should have come out to haul the nets together, but why was she the only one there
He drove the boats side by side, leaving less than a meter between them, and frowned at Ma Lifang who was crying loudly, "Why are you alone? Why are you crying? Where's Shou? Why hasn't he gone home in this thundering and raining?"
"When he was casting the net, his foot got caught on the rope and he fell into the sea," she said while crying, "Just a moment before it started to rain, he said he would just drag the net one last time and then go back... Woohoo~ Who knew his foot got caught on the rope and he fell in with it."
When Ye's father and Ye Yaodong heard her choking words, they were frightened and the hairs on their hands stood up. Their feet were caught by the rope and they fell down, but there was no way to float up. Moreover, there was lightning and thunder in the weather, so even if they were called, there was nothing they could do!
Father Ye opened and closed his mouth, not knowing what to say, he just muttered: "How...how can you be so careless..."
Lin Yongshou was much younger than Ye's father, only in his early 40s. His eldest daughter was married, his second daughter was not too old, and his two sons were even younger, so the couple went out to sea on their own.
Ma Lifang could only cry at this moment, she knew that if he fell like this, he would not be able to float up even if he could swim well.
At this time, a huge thunder sounded in the sky. Ye Yaodong frowned and said, "Aunt, can you sail the boat? We need to get the boat to the shore quickly and call for help. We must find the person alive or the body dead. No matter what, we have to give it a try. It's useless to stay on the sea level now."
Father Ye also echoed, "It's thundering and lightning now, we should hurry to the shore first so that we can call for help to salvage the fish."
"Woo woo woo~ I don't know how to sail. Fortunately I met you guys, otherwise I wouldn't be able to go back today..."
Upon hearing this, Ye Yaodong said to his father, "Dad, move the two boats closer together. I will crawl over and drive the other boat behind you."
"Okay, then be careful."
"Um."
Ye's father moved the boat a little closer, dropped a small anchor, and pulled the two boats to zero distance, making it easier for Ye Yaodong to climb over.
Ye Yaodong turned over swiftly and looked at Ma Lifang who was still crying. He didn't know how to comfort her, so he said, "Aunt, I'll help you move the bed back first."
She choked up and said, "Okay."
The father and son braved the rain, each driving a boat, sailing forward one after the other, and they reached the shore in just half an hour.
Mother Ye, who was waiting on the shore in a straw raincoat, was surprised to see the father and son in two separate boats. "Whose boat is Dongzi driving? Ma Lifang's boat? Why is she crying? What happened? Why is she alone?"
Ma Lifang cried all the way back, and she cried even louder when she reached the dock. Even the sound of the rain could not cover up her wails.
The dock was full of people who had returned from the sea in a hurry because of the heavy rain, or who had come out to help. Everyone was either unloading goods or waiting to be weighed and sold. When they heard her loud crying, everyone around her looked over in surprise, and talked about what was wrong with her
Father Ye frowned and explained to everyone with a look of regret: "When Yongshou was casting the net, his foot was caught by the rope and he fell into the sea. When we came back, we happened to see their boat and helped to drive it back."
Everyone was shocked when they heard this. This was a serious matter. It was a life that was saved. Moreover, Lin Yongshou was in his prime and still young. Some women came on board to comfort Ma Lifang, helped her get off the boat, and accompanied her back.
Ye Yaodong also helped tie up her boat at the dock, and then returned to his own boat.
Although Ye's mother felt very sympathetic, the cargo on her own boat had not been unloaded yet. She did not have a very good relationship with the women, they just knew each other from the same village. When she saw that there were several women accompanying her back, she did not go with them.
When we boarded the boat, he said sympathetically, "She was only 40 years old, and she fell into the sea and died. What a pity. They have several children at home, and their sons are still teenagers, and it's too early for them to start a family. How can these orphans and widows live?"
"Working on the sea is risky, but what can we do? We live by the sea, so we have to do it despite the risks."
Ye's father also sighed, looking regretful. Every one or two years, someone would fall into the sea at their beach, and the chances of survival were slim.
"It's raining hard again. Come and help unload the goods first. We'll talk about anything else when we get back."
Mother Ye saw Father Ye and Ye Yaodong carrying a foam box out of the cabin, and opened it to take a look, "Ah! Such a big fish! Is this... a giant sturgeon?"
After she carefully identified it, her eyes tightened and she said with surprise and certainty: "It's a giant sturgeon!"
When he saw the fish, Father Ye's heavy mood relaxed a little, and a smile appeared on his face. "Yes, it's a big sturgeon! We are going to make a fortune today."
Mother Ye also touched the fish's body and head with joy. She even pried open the fish's gills to check its size. "This is too big. Aren't sturgeons usually only a few pounds? How much does this one cost?"
"Go away first and carry it down first."
"Oh, good."
She went to look at the other goods and realized what she had gained today.
Even without that big sturgeon, their harvest today was still pretty good. Ye's mother helped to carry down the other lighter and easier-to-carry goods first.
Everyone on the dock is now talking about Lin Yongshou falling into the sea, and no one has time to pay attention to who has caught how much.
Their big sturgeon was packed in a foam box and covered tightly so no one could see it.
Father Ye asked Mother Ye to watch on the side while they continued to move the goods from the boat. Due to the abnormal weather, there were too many large and small boats docked at the moment, and the purchasing point was full of people. They didn't feel comfortable just leaving the big sturgeon there.
Even after all the goods were unloaded from the ship, they did not make a fuss, but lined up obediently. Their mood had already been affected, and those who should be excited had already been too excited.
When it was their turn to be weighed, Father Ye smiled and opened the foam box, "Weigh this big sturgeon first, and let's decide how much you want it to be. If it's too cheap, I won't sell it to you!"
Ah Cai looked around nonchalantly at first, but he didn't expect that after just one look, his eyes tightened and he rushed forward in surprise, "Big sturgeon? This big?"
The people waiting around were also surprised and gathered around, "Oh my goodness, it's actually this big?"
"What kind of sturgeon can grow so big?"
"It is indeed a sturgeon. Damn, how many kilograms does this one weigh?"
"I've been fishing for 30 years, and I've never seen such a big sturgeon. I'm rich, I'm rich..."
"Yeah, we've made a fortune! How lucky are you, Old San Ye? We actually caught another big sturgeon. Wow, wow, wow, wow! This one is worth a lot of money!"
"This is not cheap. For a fish this big, how much does its isinglass weigh?"
The crowd's attention immediately shifted from Lin Yongshou's affairs to the big sturgeon, and they looked even more excited than they were.
Father Ye smiled and said, "We were lucky. It was still eating when we caught it. It had a 20-30-ounce water carp in its mouth. This basket of water carp was caught with the same net as this big sturgeon."
"You are really lucky. It seems that changing the residential land has not affected your family's luck..."
"The relative from Linji bought the land for nothing and also got a small boat..."
Ye Yaodong quickly stopped them from spreading rumors, "Hey, uncle, who can say for sure about luck? We bought and sold the land willingly. It's not us who wanted to sell it to him, it's him who wanted to buy it from us. He hasn't moved in yet, maybe that piece of land will bring him good luck and make them rich. How can you say that we got a boat for nothing?"
After all, in his previous life, the family in Linji did make a lot of money thanks to that relative of his. Now that he bought it and made a fortune, it can be regarded as a Feng Shui treasure land, right? Hehe~
"Haha, that's right..."
"Everyone, please make way for us and lift the fish onto the scale to see how heavy it is." Ye's mother was anxious to know how much the fish weighed and how much it could be sold for.
Ah Cai also smiled and said, "Yes, weigh it first, then I can give you a price. Such a big sturgeon is not common."
"First come first serve..."
Everyone was also curious about how heavy the fish was.
After the father and son lifted the fish onto the scale, Acai put a 25-kilogram weight on it first, but the scale was still lifted high and did not fall down. He moved the thing on the scale bar to the far right, and the scale did not fall down either.
He then added another 1 kg one, and there was still no reaction. Only after he put in two more did the scale jump down.
Ah Cai slid the thing on the scale, causing the scale to swing in a suspended state, and then he looked at the number on it, "55 jin 5 liang! This fish is really big."
The people around were in an uproar.
"Hiss~ Ten catties of fish weigh one ounce of maw, so this fish maw must weigh six ounces, right?"
"Hiss~ I'm rich! This sturgeon fish maw is not cheap. One pound costs several hundred, right?"
"More than that! It's too expensive. Besides, the usual sturgeon fish maw is not this big. This one weighs 6 taels, it must be more expensive!"
"Yeah yeah… "
Although Acai was happy, he also felt a little embarrassed. It was difficult for him to offer a price for such a valuable item.
The father and son stared at him eagerly, waiting for him to name the price. If he said too little, he would be scolded by these people. If he said too much, he would lose a lot. How can a businessman not make money
He thought for a moment and said, "Your fish has already passed the weight limit, so just leave it with me. I'll contact a seller for you later and see how much they'll pay for it. I'll charge you a 5% commission. How do you do that?"
Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes. "You bought both ends and you want 5 points? Who are you trying to rip off? 2 points is the most I can get! This fish costs hundreds of dollars. Don't bully us because we are country people."
"Uh..." Ah Cai was choked and laughed awkwardly, "Okay, okay, I'll tell the buyer when the time comes and ask him to pay my agency fee as well."
Ye Yaodong snorted in his heart. He was acting as a pimp in the middle, so how could the buyer not give him money
After temporarily dealing with this big sturgeon, they continued to weigh other goods.