There were not many hooks left. Ye Huimei was very skilled at fishing. Except for the occasional empty hook, most of the remaining ones were frogfish. She removed the hooks with disgust.
"Why are there so many toadfish? Most of them are this kind. We can't catch them all."
"It's winter, aren't there a lot of frogfish? Aren't you enjoying eating them?"
"I can eat it, but that doesn't stop me from disliking its ugliness!"
"Leave some for the toadfish to dry in the evening, and prepare some more for the New Year. We won't go out to sea in the first month of the year, and we can spend a good New Year at home."
There are no hard bones in the toadfish. After being dried into fish jerky, the bones are very crispy. Its ugliness does not affect its deliciousness.
Actually, he wanted to dry some more mackerel, but then he thought that mackerel was only worth two or three cents now, so he decided to sell it. He didn't feel bad about drying these mackerel worth only a few cents and keeping them for later consumption.
Mother Ye nodded. "Okay, life is better this year, so we can keep more. We don't have to be so tight-fisted. The 200 kilograms we dried last time only weighed over 30 kilograms. Sharing a little won't make much."
"Then don't sell this fish today. Let's put them all in the sun. There aren't many. Take the baskets of valuable ones and sell them."
Today I collected 5 baskets of frogfish, 2 baskets of horse mackerel, half a basket of flounder, and a basket of mixed fish, such as sole fish, minnows, black sea bream, manta rays, etc. There were also a few good fish, the most pleasing one was the giant sergeant fish.
The big yellow croaker died as soon as it came ashore, but the two groupers were still swimming well in the bucket. Today's longline fishing had a good harvest, but I didn't have time to cast a few more hooks or to drag the net.
I don’t know if all the trawling boats had their nets exploded today.
After putting all the fishing lines into the baskets, he and Ye's mother carried the baskets to the corner and stacked them up to save space.
Ye's father also went to drive the boat back. This time it was already past two o'clock. If he returned to the shore, it would probably be past three o'clock.
Ye Yaodong was so cold with his bare legs that the hair on his legs stood up and he had goose bumps all over. It was so painful, but it also taught him a lesson. Next time he goes out to sea, he must bring an extra set of clothes with him.
His father was driving the boat, so he sat by the stove again, put his legs up to the fire and warm himself.
There were no boats on the way back. The weather was good today and the sun was just setting. It would take a while for it to set, so we could still cast another net. I guess the fishing boats wouldn't dock so quickly.
Ye Huimei looked from one basket to another, then ran to the corner to look through the sacks, with a big smile on her face, looking extremely excited, and it took her a while before she came back.
"Third brother, let's go fishing again on the first day of the next lunar month, shall we?"
"Are you too full? Are you too comfortable at home? Or have you never felt the sea breeze? It's so cold, but you don't want to stay at home and instead want to run to an isolated island. The cold wind will kill you." Ye Yaodong said unhappily.
"It's just once in a while. I don't go there every other day. It's okay to blow it once in a while."
"It's okay to blow it occasionally... Look at my face. In just a few months, I've changed from a pretty boy to a typical fisherman's face."
Ye Huimei looked at her third brother and saw how he had changed so much in just a few months. His face was dark red from the sea breeze, compared to his previous fair and tender face. She suddenly felt a little distressed.
Her third brother has been spoiled since he was a child. At most, he would get a little tanned in the summer because of his naughtiness, but he would soon turn white again. He has never been sunburned like he is now, and he looks older.
He has worked really hard in the past few months.
But she didn't say anything flattering, instead she playfully criticized him, "Ahaha... okay, you can't compare to dad, he has the face of a real fisherman, you're still not there, you need to keep working on it, so take me with you again."
Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes at her and said, "If you go out to sea a few more times, you'll be like me."
"Hehe..."
She sniffed and snorted a few times, then turned around and shouted to her mother unwillingly: "Mom..."
"What?"
"Hehe... We didn't dig up many shelled fish today. The reefs are full of them. Let's ask our third brother to bring us here again at the beginning of next month, otherwise we won't be able to dry the New Year's goods."
Mother Ye nodded in agreement. "We need to come back again. We didn't pry much out today. We only got half a sack. We can't dig out much meat."
Ye Yaodong just stood there staring blankly, and the little girl would look for help.
"Dongzi, please bring us here again later. We can get some more sun before the New Year..."
"That's enough. Why do you need so much? We have some left over, and there's still so much dried fish. We can take you out to sea after the first month of the lunar year, when the weather gets warmer. Why do we have to go now when it's so cold? The wind on the island is so strong..."
Ye's mother interrupted him, "Just come back next month, it won't bother you at all, you can just take us with you and leave us on the island, we can dig it ourselves, there's no need for you to do anything."
"We really need to dry more this year. A Guang doesn't have a mother, and there's no woman to take care of things at home. We need to dry more and send it over when the time comes. Your sister is going to marry him before the New Year..."
Speaking of this, Ye Yaodong had nothing to say, "Okay, okay, I'll bring you here on the first day of next month if there's no wind or waves and the weather is good."
"Um."
After achieving her goal, Ye Huimei raised her eyebrows at him proudly. Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes at her and continued to roast by the fire.
When the fishing boat was getting closer to the dock, he put on his less wet pants and made do with it.
It was high tide at the moment, so the fishing boats went directly to the shore. Ye Yaodong and his father first lifted the frogfish they were going to keep onto a cart and asked Ye Huimei to watch over them.
Ah Cai sat at the door watching the father and son moving things. He was a little surprised. He looked at the sky and then at his watch. Wasn’t it just after three o’clock
"Is it windy? Why are you back so early? Why are there so many people going there today?"
"There's no wind, and no trawler has come ashore yet?"
"Yes, you are the first to arrive at the shore. What goods have you got today? Are you going to keep these frogfish for drying?"
"Yes, seeing that the weather has been good recently, I plan to dry more to store for the New Year. There are other things on the boat, wait a minute."
After Ye Yaodong and Ye's father moved all the goods they wanted to keep onto the cart, they went to carry other fish. They carried baskets of fish into Acai's purchasing point, and then they carried bamboo baskets filled with sergeants and mako sharks, which immediately made Acai's eyes light up.
"Such a big cobia? This is a giant cobia, great, it turns out that big fish come out in big winds and waves, are there any bigger ones coming?"
“There are no big fish.”
"Ah?" Ah Cai was a little puzzled. "No more? That's all? The waves on the sea have been rolling for two days, and this is all you got? Then why did you come back so early?"
"Why rush? There are no big fish. There are others waiting."
After Ye Yaodong finished speaking, he walked out with his father. Ah Cai was also curious about what else was there, so he followed them to the shore. He saw them carrying another basket down from the boat, and stretched his neck to take a look.
"Fuck, little blue dragon!"
He was pleasantly surprised and shocked. "That's quite a lot! How did you catch them? They are in the coral reefs at the bottom of the sea, so they are hard to catch."
"We are lucky today. Please help us carry it in. This is not heavy. There are other goods on the ship, etc..."
Ah Cai took the basket from him and cursed, "Damn it, you told me there was none before, but now you still have some, are you kidding me?"
"Are you asking if there are any big fish? Didn't I tell you there aren't any?"
Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes and continued to carry things on the boat.
Actually, Ah Cai just said a few words to grumble, and moved the bamboo basket containing the small green dragons to the purchasing point. He happily took out a few and took a look at them, but out of the corner of his eye he saw the father and son carrying in a huge sack.
He quickly put down the crayfish in his hand and asked curiously, "What is this? Shells? Did you go fishing today without a trawl? No wonder so many people went there and the fish stocks shrunk significantly."
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand to untie the rope tied to the sack, and looked inside. His eyes widened in shock. "Ah? Holy shit, abalone? This sack is full of abalone?"
Ye Yaodong ignored his noise and walked further outside with his father.
"Fuck, you still have some on your boat?" Ah Cai stared at their backs, somewhat unable to believe that they had actually dug up so many abalone.
When did abalone become so easy to catch and so abundant
Aren't these all reef creatures living on the seafloor? Where did they come from? Why are they so powerful? There are more than one sack. No wonder they landed earlier today. I was still wondering before.
Damn it!
He hurriedly followed, and as soon as the father and son carried the goods from the boat ashore, he rushed to help take over.
After carrying three and a half bags of abalone onto the shore, Ah Cai was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth. He asked hurriedly: "Are there any more? Are there any more?"
"No more, they are all here. This bag contains big conches and abalone, you need to pour them out and pick them out. The other two and a half bags have already been picked."
"Have you disturbed the abalone's nest? Why are there so many?"
"It's a reef. A reef suddenly appeared on the sea, and it was covered with abalone..." Before he could finish his words, Ye's mother spoke excitedly.
Ah Cai's eyes almost popped out of his head, "Damn it, you guys can even encounter such a good thing?"
Ye Yaodong looked at his mother, who was talking and gesturing excitedly with a beaming face, describing how big the abalone was. The reef was full of them, but they had only dug up less than half of them. What a pity...
That's quite an exaggeration... We've already dug almost 2/3 of it...
He couldn't help but hold his forehead... Middle-aged woman... Finally saw what it means to spread rumors...
In fact, he was not afraid to tell Ah Cai. The reefs had sunk back into the sea anyway. If he didn't tell anyone, the villagers might discuss and speculate even more after they knew about it.
He interrupted his mother and added, "We accidentally encountered a reef that was pushed up at sea this morning. It was probably caused by the earthquake a few days ago. The reef was covered with dense abalone and conchs. Unfortunately, it didn't stay out of the water for long. We didn't dig much before it sank again..."
"The little blue dragon was also caught near the reef, but it ran away too fast. I just caught one with my hand net and the rest ran away."
"Fuck, you've encountered all kinds of good things. No wonder you guys came back so early."
"It's not that easy to dig. My feet are all swollen. Now, hurry up and weigh the goods in the sacks. Otherwise, all the fishing boats will come in and you won't be able to handle it."