Ah Zheng scratched his head and said innocently, "I didn't say anything wrong!"
Xiaoxiao laughed so hard that she almost couldn't straighten her back, slapped her thighs wildly, and coughed violently~
"That's right, that's right, your metaphor is so vivid and figurative, it's absolutely correct, hahahaha~"
Ah Zheng rolled his eyes and slapped away the hand that was grabbing his pants tightly, "You are sick! Go away and stop pulling my pants!"
"Hahaha~ I didn't know there was another analogy like this. First grade really wasn't in vain!"
"Go to hell!"
Ye Yaodong looked at the two of them speechlessly. How could he have such weird friends
"How many blue-ringed sea snakes did you collect?"
Xiao Xiao laughed so hard that he almost had a stitch in his side. Ah Zheng rolled his eyes at him and said, "Not many, maybe seven or eight. They might be quite far away."
"I'll give you some here. There's too much. Bring the boats together and grab as many as you can. They're all dead anyway, so you won't be able to sell them for much."
"Okay," Ah Zheng hooked the side of Ye Yaodong's boat with a hook, brought the two boats together, and crossed over.
But when he got closer, he hesitated again, not daring to reach out his hand, "Can you grab it?"
Ye Yaodong raised his eyebrows, "I'm giving it to you, but you still want me to catch it?"
"Shouldn't we be more sincere when giving gifts to others?"
"Get lost, take it or leave it, if you don't want it I'll give it away."
He swallowed, still feeling nauseous, "Xiao Xiao, come here!"
"So useless?" Xiao Xiao came over wearing gloves, suppressed his nausea, and grabbed one directly from the boat, but was frightened by its tail and threw it back, "Fuck, it can still move!"
"What are you afraid of? They're all headless. Just grab the ones in the bucket. The ones that fell on the boat were just cut off and jumped out of the bucket. They should still have some life left."
"How disgusting! If only Guang was here, he wouldn't be afraid of snakes. He would definitely be able to catch every one of these sea snakes alive, instead of wasting their heads like we did."
"He's not here yet, so there's no point in saying this. Hurry up and catch a few more. After you're done I'm going to reel in the line and go home."
Xiao Xiao motioned for Ah Zheng to come over with the bucket to take it, and then asked as he grabbed it, "Aren't you staying overnight?"
"You're letting me stay the night?"
"Go to hell, let me ask you, don't you leave those hooks out at sea overnight?"
"Please explain clearly. I misunderstood you and thought you had some special hobby. There is a section of the main line that is tangled with the hook. I took it back to sort it out and repair some of the hooks. When I caught these sea snakes just now, I was afraid that the snake heads were still alive, so I didn't dare to take out the hooks. I cut the branch line and threw it into the sea. I need to take it back to repair it."
"We also cut the branch lines directly. Fortunately, there are not many missing. We can leave them overnight and collect them tomorrow."
Xiaoxiao caught seven or eight and said that was enough. Ye Yaodong asked him to catch more, but he refused. He just wanted enough to share between himself and A Zheng. If he caught more, he would just give them away, which was unnecessary.
Since he said that, he didn't force it. He drove the boat back to the point where the hooks were placed, started to pull up the anchor at the end, reeled in the line, picked up the fish, and collected the buoy and sinker, and pulled the rope again from beginning to end.
And untie the connection points of each branch line, put them into the basket in sequence, and finally pull out the tail anchor. Only then have all the hooks in the five baskets been collected.
This time the interval was not long, and there were still mostly empty hooks, but there were also a few big fish occasionally. Overall, today's harvest was also very good.
Ye Yaodong finished his work with satisfaction. It was four o'clock and time to go home.
After his boat docked, the villagers on the shore were shocked again, not only because his boat was full of fish, but also because of the two barrels of blue-ringed sea snakes!
A boat returned from the sea early in the afternoon and described vividly what it had seen and heard on the sea that day. It also brought back a few live blue-ringed sea snakes and sold them for a good price.
By now the news had spread all over the shore. No one expected that Ye Yaodong actually had two full buckets, which really shocked them.
Ye's mother ran over in surprise. She was originally waiting on the shore for Ye's father's boat to come back to help pick up the goods, but she didn't expect that the third brother had such a surprise waiting for her.
"Dongzi, how did you catch it? This snake is very poisonous. The news has spread all over the village. It is said that there were hundreds of thousands of snakes gathered in the sea this afternoon, stretching for several miles."
Ye Yaodong chuckled twice, it spread so fast, there were obviously only about 20,000 or 30,000 messages, gathered over a thousand meters, but it turned out to be tens of thousands of messages stretching for several nautical miles.
You know, one nautical mile is equal to 1.8 kilometers, so several nautical miles is an exaggeration. The place just now was not a deep sea. If it were a deep sea, there might be hundreds of thousands of fish of several nautical miles.
"Not that many. The rumors are exaggerated. I estimate that there are only about 20,000 or 30,000. We don't dare to get close to them. There may be some far away. Anyway, our field of vision is limited, so this is probably the number we estimate."
“That’s a lot,” Ye’s mother smiled widely, but then she felt something was wrong, “Why aren’t your blue-ringed sea snakes moving?”
"There is no head! I cut off the head and threw it into the sea."
"Ah?" Ye's mother slapped her thigh in annoyance. "Oh, these sea snakes are quite valuable. They just bought a live one for 5 yuan. You have so many, you can sell them for a lot of money. Why did you cut off their heads and kill them?"
"Ah? Is it so expensive?"
Ye Yaodong was surprised and felt sorry. He had two buckets, and there were at least 60 or 70 fish, if not 70 or 80. But he had no choice. He didn't dare to catch them alive, and he didn't have a container to put them in. He only had two buckets. Could he just throw them on the boat and let them swim freely? Would he still want to live
"Yeah, why did you cut your hair? What if you killed it? What a pity, it's so valuable..."
"I had nothing to put it in. This snake was very venomous. I didn't dare catch it alive, so I just killed it directly."
Mother Ye looked at the fish on the boat being thrown everywhere and the snakes in the bucket piled up to the point of bursting out. She also knew that he really couldn't catch any alive, and she felt a little sorry.
"Well, forget it. You wait here. I'll get you a basket and put these fish on the shore first."
"OK."
As a result, as soon as Ye's mother got ashore, a group of villagers surrounded her and talked about how Ye Yaodong was going to get rich again. She expressed regret and said that they were all dead, killed by him cutting off their heads. Everyone felt sorry for them, but they felt balanced in the dark part of their hearts.
"We caught so many, but they were killed. What a pity. We get five dollars for each one. If these two buckets were all alive, we could sell them for hundreds of dollars. We wouldn't have to work for a year."
"Yes, this sea snake is a good thing. It would be great if we could catch it alive."
"Who said it wasn't? But you can't just take money and not your life!" Ye's mother was also heartbroken.
"This one was just killed. It's good to use it to make wine or stew..."
"Are you going to sell them or not? Do you want to give them to Ah Cai or keep them for yourself? How about selling me two? One for soaking in wine and one for stewing in the evening."
"Leave me two!"
"I want one too. This one is already dead and has no head. It should be very cheap, right?"
"If it's cheap, I'll buy two."
…
Everyone was thinking that even if they took it back alive, they would still have to kill it before cooking it, so it didn't matter whether it had a head or not. If it was cheaper without a head, it might be more popular.
When Ye's mother heard that everyone wanted to eat them, she smiled brightly. Who wouldn't be happy to sell them for money? They couldn't even finish eating so many of them at home, so they gave them away everywhere. It would be better to sell them for money.
"Let me ask Ah Cai how much he charges. I'll sell it to you later."
After asking the price, Ye's mother took the plastic basket and ran to Ye Yaodong and said that everyone wanted to buy two.
"They said they were selling it for one dollar each. Sell it. We have no use for so many of them."
He thought for a while and said, "Then let's keep ten. You can take two to soak in wine, and I'll keep two or three to soak in wine, and also make a jar for my father-in-law. Give one to the eldest and second brothers, and give two to Uncle Lin, and ask him to help with the boat."
I also gave him two from A Guang. This guy often sent things to the old house under his name every other day, and he was almost saying it openly.
"Ten doesn't seem to be enough, leave two more."
After listening to his calculations, Ye's mother also felt that ten were not too many. These sea snakes were rare and were discounted to one dollar. The third brother's family was still financially comfortable and the fish on the boat could be sold for a lot of money today, so it wouldn't matter if they kept a few more.
"Then you decide. Let's send the fish to Ah Cai to be weighed first."
"good."
The villagers at the dock all gathered around them, and as soon as they finished weighing the goods, they rushed to buy snakes, with each person buying two snakes.
It was high tide at that moment, and it was time for the fishing boats to dock. The dock was bustling with people, and it was almost sold out in just a few minutes.
If Ye Yaodong hadn't reacted quickly and protected the remaining dozen or so, there would probably be no one left.
Ye's mother happily helped collect the money and said to the villagers with a smile: "No more, no more, we have to keep the rest for ourselves."
Those who didn't buy any were asked to share one or two, but Ye Yaodong just smiled and refused.
This blue-ringed sea snake is a rare creature. I was lucky today, but I may not be able to catch it next time.
Mother Ye narrowed her eyes in a smile and handed the money she had just earned from selling the sea snakes to Ye Yaodong, "Take it home and have your wife put it away. Take the remaining sea snakes back quickly, or someone will see them and want them later. I still have to wait for your father's boat to come in at the dock, and I'll come to get them from you later."
"Um."
Ye Yaodong didn't even count how much money he got. He stuffed a handful of bills into his pocket. It wouldn't be too late to count them when he got home.
Today, the blue grouper was dead, so although it was big, it was still not as good as a live one. I just sold it for 21 yuan. The ten big red conger eels were more valuable, weighing 86 kilograms in total, and I sold them for more than 60 yuan. There were also other fish. Not counting the blue-ringed sea snakes, he has made more than 100 yuan today.
Happy~
He was carrying two buckets and walking towards home in a happy mood. In the buckets was a yellow bream that he had specially reserved. He would steam it and feed the two children at night. He would also stew a sea snake in a clear soup and have some vegetables. It would be enough for a family of four. The two children were young and could not eat much, and it would not be good to leave leftovers overnight.
When he happily stepped into the house, he was surprised to find a strange man in the house.