While Ye's father was collecting the traps, he took off his wet clothes, wrung out the water, then turned the bamboo basket over and casually spread the clothes on it to dry.
He also sorted out the traps that had just been brought up from the boat, folded them up and stacked them up.
This should be put away well and saved for next time, or placed on the shore when you return. It should not be wasted and should not be left idle.
But before he continues to put it in, he has to clean it first.
Because these traps have been placed in the sea for a long time, they are covered with a lot of algae and mucus from the bodies of fish and shrimps, and they look very dirty.
Usually such attachments are heavy and will block the flow of water. What is more serious is that too many attachments will block the ground trap net, directly reducing the trap's capture effect.
Therefore, you should clean it properly when you have free time occasionally. Now it’s time to put the wind shelter away, so take advantage of the good weather to wash it and dry it before putting it back into use.
"Dongzi, it's no good. I can't pull it up again."
Father Ye was pulling the rope in his hands, his cheeks were already red from the scorching sun, sweat was dripping from his forehead, and he was sweating profusely.
"How can you talk like that, Dad? What do you mean I can't do it anymore?"
"Ah? I mean the trap is broken. Where are your ears?" Father Ye wiped the sweat from his cheeks and said speechlessly, "Go down and see if it's stuck again?"
“The trap is stuck, just say the trap is stuck... What do you mean it’s no use... There were seven or eight stuck before, and I rescued them all, how come there is still one?” Ye Yaodong walked towards him, muttering.
"Who knows? There are reefs underneath. That's trouble. If you don't know how to dive, you'll be stuck and suffer huge losses."
"If I didn't know how to dive, I wouldn't have put the trap here. It's not like I have a lot of money and can do whatever I want."
Ye Yaodong tried to pull it twice, but it didn't work. "I don't know if it got stuck in some corner again. It's really troublesome. The visibility on the seabed is limited. I just rescued what I saw. If there weren't sea cucumbers and small blue dragons underneath, who would have put a trap here for no reason?"
"Go down and see if you can still do it? Do you want to rest for a while?"
"How could I not be able to?"
"We've already collected three rows, and these are the last few. It's okay to take a break. Don't try to be brave."
"fine."
He put his wet clothes back on and jumped into the water.
Just then, a boat came over from the distance.
Father Ye looked at the boat coming towards this side with caution, and suddenly felt a little panicked, fearing that it was someone seeking revenge. Dongzi had just jumped down, but did not come up so quickly, and he could not drive the boat away now.
When the boat got closer and he saw it was Dongzi's friend's boat, he relaxed.
Let's say, the squid fishing hasn't ended yet, so the father and his two sons would definitely not be able to call for help. Besides, it's early in the morning, so they must think that they are also trawling outside and haven't come here to catch squid yet.
Xiaoxiao and A Zheng drove the boat closer and greeted Ye's father.
"Where's Dongzi? Why can't I see him?"
Father Ye thought about it and there was nothing he couldn't say. He was still holding the line of the trap in his hand, and there was also a pipe on the boat extending into the sea.
"He went into the water and the trap got stuck underneath."
Xiao Xiao was confused, "Ah? The trap is placed here?"
Ah Zheng was also surprised. "Isn't there a hidden reef here? Dongzi reminded us before that we should be careful when sailing past here. His trap is definitely stuck here. How can it be pulled up? He shouldn't be able to go too deep, right?"
"You can go down. He said it's not that deep here. Wait a moment. It will take him a while to come up."
"Why did you think of putting the trap here? Aren't you afraid that it will get stuck and you won't be able to get it out, which will cost you money?"
"Hmm... there's stuff underneath..." Ye's father responded with a smile.
Xiao Xiao suddenly had an idea, "Did Dongzi dig the sea cucumbers and abalone from down there?"
"There are also Xiao Qinglong and Jiang Yao!" After hearing his reminder, Ah Zheng came to his senses. Those good things are not easy to catch.
You can occasionally see barnacles at the low tide line, but the others are all on the seabed, and can only be found on underwater reefs or coral reefs.
“No wonder he would get sea cucumbers and abalone whenever he went out to sea.”
The two of them understood instantly. At first they wondered where he got it from, but they didn't expect that it was so far away and so close at hand.
Since it was guessed, Ye's father had nothing to say. Who made them come at such a coincidence
He changed the subject and asked, "Why did you come here so early today? Didn't you drag an extra net?"
Xiao Xiao: "Oh, don't mention it. After we put out the hooks, we were ready to drag the net, but when we were halfway through, we found two boats in the surrounding sea area. And for some reason, they chased each other and ended up hooking the net we were putting out, and it was a mess."
"It's probably revenge."
Ah Zheng nodded, "That's what we thought. After all, there were a lot of fights at sea recently. It's probably because enemies are jealous of each other when they meet."
Xiaoxiao added, "After the net was hauled up, it was a mess and we didn't have time to sort it out, so we simply didn't haul the net up today and came here early to see if we could catch more squid."
"Well... our luck is not very good. Let's see if we can get more squids today. If there are not many, we will not come here recently, and you'd better avoid it." Ye's father reminded.
Xiao Xiao and Zheng exchanged a glance and said, "Let's take a look at what we have gained today. If you don't come here tomorrow, we won't come either."
"Well, just in case. We can't afford to lose the property on the ship."
Seeing that it was still early, the two decided to wait by the side and chat with Ye's father, but the longer they waited, the more frightened they became.
Didn’t Dongzi stay in the water for too long
Normally, three to five minutes would be enough time to stay underwater. Ten minutes had passed and he hadn't even emerged yet. What was going on? How could a normal person stay underwater for such a long time
And when they came over, they didn't know how long he had been in the water.
"Uncle... How long has Dongzi been down there? Isn't this too long? Is there any problem? Should we go down and take a look?"
"It's okay, he should be coming up soon. It's almost time for him to surface." Father Ye said as he pulled the trap in his hand.
It is loose now and can be pulled up.
The two of them watched the trap being dragged out of the water little by little, and looked at the little green dragon lying on the net and still jumping around, and the words "as expected" popped up in their minds.
"Fuck, we got quite a lot tonight, you guys are awesome!"
“I saw several sea cucumbers.”
Father Ye smiled and said, "This is really troublesome. It always gets stuck. Only when the weather gets warmer recently can we go into the water."
"Dongzi is also bold..."
At this moment, there was a splash on the water, and a person emerged. Everyone looked over.
“Come up!”
Xiaoxiao and A Zheng looked at the equipment on his face and couldn't help but take a few more glances out of curiosity.
Ye Yaodong took the stuff off his face and wiped the seawater off his face. "Why did you come here so early? Didn't you go hauling the nets?"
"without… "
They repeated what they had just said to Ye's father.
"Dongzi, what were you wearing just now? I was wondering why there was a tube on the boat extending into the sea. I was just wondering."
"Is it because of this that you can stay underwater for so long?"
Ye Yaodong climbed onto the boat using his hands and feet. Since he had been seen, there was nothing to hide. He just had to not tell Lin Ji about it.
"This is diving equipment. With these, you can stay in the water for 10 to 20 minutes, but you can't go too deep. Fortunately, the seabed around here is not deep either."
"No wonder, how much does this set cost? Why do the things on the feet look like duck flippers?" Ah Zheng was a little tempted. With these equipment, they could also go shopping in the water.
"It's not cheap. I had to ask someone to find a connection to buy it. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to buy it."
Xiao Xiao shook her head and said, "Forget it. You can tell at a glance that we can't afford this thing. We haven't even paid back the money we owe."
"That's right." Ah Zheng was instantly deflated.
"If you are interested, I can teach you and let you go underwater, but you have to keep it a secret and not tell anyone about my equipment."
Anyway, the traps have been rescued now, and it is not time to catch squids yet. Besides, he has an idea in his mind that it is too slow for him to go into the water alone, and it is not good to go into the water too many times.
Their eyes lit up instantly.
"Don't worry, we won't tell anyone."
"Yes, you are afraid of being stolen, right? We won't tell anyone."
Ye's father looked at him with a frustrated expression and said, "If I don't teach you, I will teach others."
Ye Yaodong also received his father's gaze and understood what he meant. He quickly said, "It's not that I won't teach you. This is risky. You are a bit old and have rheumatism. It's better not to go into the water. Anyway, I'm here, you just watch."
Knowing that his son was worried about him, Ye's father stopped talking.