After Xiaoxiao and Azheng had their meal, they said goodbye and left.
Ye Yaodong looked at the rapidly decreasing number of squids on the beach ahead and decided not to go down and compete with the seabirds for them. He wanted to take advantage of the time he still had to go out and drag back another net.
In the afternoon, after he had raised the net, he returned to the buoy where the branches were placed. Before the fishing boats got close, the father and son saw schools of squids gathering under the sea, so they did not get too close and stopped fishing directly.
One net down, full of ~
The number of squids today is obviously more than yesterday. When the net was pulled up, the number of squids under the water surface decreased a little, but they gathered again after a while.
They then cast another net and saw that the number of fish underwater had decreased a lot, so they moved forward a little further.
They moved around the entire afternoon, two people taking turns, stopping only three times to rest, but the catch in each net varied.
When the sun set in the west, the father and son were exhausted. They leaned against the side of the boat and wiped the black sweat from their foreheads.
Ye Yaodong twisted his sore arm. It was tiring to cast the net too frequently. Fortunately, there were two people taking turns and it only took half a day.
"The sun has set, are you going back?"
Father Ye looked at the squids swimming over not far away and was reluctant to let them go. "Shall we cast two more nets? There are quite a few more squids swimming over here."
"You can't catch all of them. I've been tiring all day since I came out at night. I'm almost done. We've caught quite a lot today, several hundred kilograms. I'll come back at night. Anyway, I can catch fish for many days."
Who can stand sleeping for only a few hours a day, drifting on the sea for so long, and working intensively by casting nets
You have to rest when it is time to rest, otherwise what will you do if you have the life to earn money but not the life to spend it
Father Ye was still reluctant to leave. "There will be fewer squids after dusk. Let's just cast two more nets and then go back."
Alas, the older generation is really used to doing this!
Ye Yaodong said helplessly: "Okay, let's each cast another net, and we should be able to catch almost all the squids this time."
"Um."
Finally, they cast two more nets before returning. It was getting dark at this time, and Ye Yaodong drove the boat back at a faster speed.
By the time the fishing boat docked, it was already dark. They really came here under the stars and returned under the stars. Fortunately, the catch was good, otherwise Ye Yaodong would really cry.
The fishing boat was filled with bamboo baskets, which were stacked up to avoid taking up space. They were mostly filled with squid, and only two baskets were not full of fish.
A lot of squid eggs were collected today, weighing about three or four pounds. They were all caused by a branch accidentally caught in the net, so Ye Yaodong took them down.
When they were carrying the goods off the boat, they also met two couples, Ye Yaopeng and Ye Yaohua, who were weighing the goods. They both had happy looks on their faces, and seeing the bamboo baskets around them filled with squids, they knew they had a good harvest.
"Dad, Adong, you guys have been busy and you're only back now."
"I can't bear to come back. It's all money. I'd better cast as many nets as possible." Ye Yaodong said tiredly.
"We think so too, which is why we are so busy now."
As they talked, they walked towards the boat, intending to help carry it down first.
Father Ye asked with concern: "How many loads did you collect today?"
"We haven't finished weighing yet. There are fourteen full baskets of squid. We also dragged two nets, and there are quite a few fish, shrimps and crabs as well." Ye Yaopeng said happily with a grin.
They are not afraid of hard work as long as there is a reward.
"That's almost seven loads, a little better than ours. We have twelve baskets, so it's a good harvest."
"Yes, there are four of us. Two of us are collecting the traps, and two of us are trawling the nets. Tomorrow everyone will put out branches to trap the fish. I don't know if the number will decrease."
Father Ye said as they walked, "Not really. It's not even the peak season yet and we couldn't catch all the fish in the past two days. It won't be that far behind."
"That's good. I haven't been out to sea much in the first half of the year. I'm counting on this wave..."
Although the price of squid dropped by two cents today, the family sold a little more today than yesterday.
After the great harvest, they walked back happily, looking forward to going out to sea again tomorrow.
But the weather was not good. After just one day of clear weather, it started to rain heavily again at night. Ye Yaodong heard the sound of dripping rain in his sleep. After waking up for a while, he continued to sleep peacefully. He did not have to get up to go out to sea at night.
The fishermen in the village who had just finished tying up branches for egg-laying had no choice but to go back to sleep after hearing the sound of rain at night. When they woke up the next morning, they started cursing.
We were all prepared to do a great job, but things never went as planned.
All we can do is wait and hope that the rain will pass quickly, because the fishing season does not wait for anyone, and once it’s over, it’s over.
Ye Yaodong and his two brothers were also standing at the door and watching, all of them feeling extremely regretful.
"This rain is coming at a very bad time."
"We can't help it. It's going to rain and my mother has to get married. Fortunately, we worked two days longer than others."
"I don't know when it will stop. It's a gloomy day, so it doesn't look like it will stop that soon."
Fortunately, the sun was shining brightly yesterday, so I dried the skinned fish overnight and all day long. Otherwise, it would have gone bad in this weather. That’s why they usually dry fish in autumn and winter.
"It's either rainy or windy all year long. There are more than 300 days, but I only go there for about 100 days. The harvest is uncertain. Sigh..."
"We have no choice but to live by the sea. Life is much better now than in previous years, and everyone can save some money. In previous years, every household worked hard for a whole year and only got 300 or 400 yuan. Some families even owed the production team for food."
"Yes, now everyone can have enough food and clothes, no longer have to eat sweet potatoes, and we can have some money left over."
"I heard that other places are more miserable, but we are not so hungry here by the sea."
Mrs. Ye also came out and said regretfully, "It's only been a day or two since I left, and it's raining. I missed out on making so much money this day. It's really infuriating."
Ye Yaodong shrugged and spread his hands, "Just take a break. Working non-stop every day is unbearable."
"It's just tiring for a while. Why worry about being tired when you can make money? I can go out to sea every day..."
He pursed his lips, and it would take him a day to say something like this.
Getting up at 2 a.m. every day, doing physical work at sea and coming back at 5 or 6 in the evening, sleeping only five or six hours a day, and not eating well, would you like to try it
"The rain won't stop any time soon, so we can go back to sleep."
He was just about to stretch, but when he raised his hand, he heard a baby crying in the room. He immediately smiled and hurried in.
When he woke up early in the morning, he saw the mother and daughter were still sleeping, lying on their sides in the same position. They were so cute. He didn't dare to disturb them, so he finally woke up.
As soon as I pushed the door open, I saw Lin Xiuqing breastfeeding.
"Why are you eating again?"
"What else? She's so young, isn't she just going to sleep and eat, eat and sleep again?"
"At least wake up and play for a while. I haven't held her for almost two days. She's been sleeping the whole time."
"She did wake up to play, but you weren't home."
At this time, Ye Xiaoxi was holding her rations in her mouth while opening her big wet eyes. She looked left and right curiously, and her mouth was still moving.
"Wake up, wake up, stop eating, get up and play..."
Neither the mother nor the daughter paid any attention to him.
Ye Yaodong looked at the pile of red envelopes beside the pillow and said, "When did so many red envelopes come? Let's not hold our daughter's full moon celebration. After all, we have one more child than allowed. We don't need to accept any favors. Let's return them all."
"They were delivered one by one yesterday. I wanted to discuss it with you last night, but since you came back too late and too tired yesterday, I put it aside for now."
"Well, then don't do it."
"I thought so too. It's a loss to hold a wedding banquet anyway. This is the third one. There's no need to hold another one. I'll ask my mother to send it back after the rain stops."
Ye Yaodong nodded.
After seeing the child spit out her rations and stop eating, he happily picked her up directly, "Huh~ Feeling heavier again?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? You've been my boss for three times. You don't know how to say such things."
"Oh, yes, yes, I can't say that..."
He immediately shut up and concentrated on teasing the child and talking to her. It was rare to see her awake.
Lin Xiuqing leaned against the head of the bed with a smile on his face, looking at the father and daughter with tenderness. His kind and gentle expression was so rare.
Normally, she would either roll her eyes, glance at her two sons, or raise her eyebrows. She doesn't look so gentle and cheerful now. It's worth the risk she took to give birth to them.
It’s great to have both a son and a daughter.
There was a happy atmosphere inside the house, but outside the house it started raining and continued for three days. Ye Yaodong also happily held his child at home for three days.
When we woke up early on the fourth day, we found that the rain had stopped. After three days of gloomy weather, the sky suddenly cleared up and became exceptionally bright and clear after being washed by the heavy rain. The sky was glowing red. Everyone was very happy and the whole village became active and lively.
Ye Yaodong also took advantage of the clear weather and went to the mountain with his father to cut more branches. Since they were free today, they could spend more time to release the branches at night.
The family was working at the door in the afternoon, when they saw Lin's father and mother pushing a cart over. Ye's father and mother smiled and put down their work to greet them, but Lin Guangyuan slumped his shoulders.
"Hey, why are you here so soon?"
Ye Yaodong poked him with a branch, "Haven't you had enough fun?"
"No, I've only been here a few days, and it's been raining for several days."
"Then stay a few more days."
"They must be here to pick me up. I definitely can't stay."
"Then let's play next time."
Lin Guangyuan sighed, "Will you take me out to sea next time?"
"Do you really want to go?"
"Of course."
"Then ask your grandparents to stay for a night or two. I'll take them to pick up some squids."
It is safe to let them pick squids on the island. If they happen to catch them, we can let them pick up more and take them back. It would be a waste to let the seabirds eat them.
If there is nothing to pick up, you can pry or dig on the stone wall.
When Lin Guangyuan heard this, his eyes lit up instantly, "Really?"
"Um."