Ye Yaodong didn't care. Although sometimes he was closer to his friends than to his brothers, brothers were still brothers after all.
As long as they are not afraid of risks, it’s fine. Not everyone has the adventurous spirit. Some people may prefer stability.
Working in the sea is inherently risky, but it is an unavoidable choice, in order to make money. Going into the water is not necessarily the same, there are choices.
He responded casually and continued working, not taking it to heart.
We pulled up all the branches that had been put down, and picked up all the squid eggs on them, and we harvested half a heavy bucket.
There are gradually more squids on the sea surface, but compared with the crowded scene in the past few days, today's squids are sparse.
Moreover, after scooping up the fish once, it is not easy to gather them again. You have to scoop up the fish once and move to another position, which greatly reduces the efficiency of fishing.
Ye Yaodong also felt it was a pity. Fortunately, he caught a lot of abalone when he went into the water earlier to make up for it. Otherwise, he would not have made much if he only relied on squid today.
He felt it was a waste of time to work here for a while and then stop.
He has become accustomed to earning more than others.
"Dad, it seems that there are not many fish left. We can't catch many with one net. Why don't we go and use the troll net? There are already fishing nets on the boat anyway."
"That's fine. They can't gather together now. Let's go out and drag the net and come back to take a look."
After the father and son reached an agreement, they dragged the fishing net out of the cabin, sorted it out, and headed the boat out to sea.
They didn't go very far, but chose a nearby sea area to operate. Fortunately, there were no ships trawling around today.
I cast a net and the harvest was average, mostly water carp.
There are many kinds of fish in the sea. You don’t know what kind of fish you have caught in the net until you catch them. Today you may catch pomfret, tomorrow you may catch small yellow croaker, and the day after tomorrow you may catch big yellow croaker.
The stomachs of these water carps are filled with fish eggs, and the stomachs of the medium-sized ones are also bulging. Now is their spawning season.
There are quite a few small ones, but the small ones cannot be sold at a good price, so they can only be kept and dried. The medium-sized and larger ones can barely be sold for eight cents per pound.
The father and son did not have time to pick and choose right now. After pouring all the catch into the basket, they saw that the sea was not far from the longline fishing spot, so they went to collect the hooks. It was getting late anyway, as the previous trawling took them three hours.
It was just the right time to collect the longline fishing and go back, catch some squid at the end, and then return. The schedule was perfectly arranged. Both father and son are masters of time management.
Just as Ye Yaodong was collecting the hook, he saw a black object floating along the water flow not far away, but it was too far away to see clearly.
He stretched out his hand and pointed in that direction, "Dad, look over there, what is that?"
Ye's father was sorting the fish. When he heard his voice, he straightened his back, clenched his right fist, and punched his lower back a few times.
As I get older, my waist is no longer very useful and I can’t bend it for a while.
Father Ye looked in the direction of his finger and walked towards him. "What is that? It's black and shiny? Anyone knows what it is? Come over and take a look later. Your head is wrapped tightly, how can you see so far?"
"I'm wearing sunscreen. I'm not blind."
Ye Yaodong's hands were busy non-stop, collecting fish and reeling in line, his eyes occasionally looking into the distance, always keeping an eye on the situation.
Suddenly, he seemed to think of something, and his eyes lit up, "Hey, this is floating on the sea, do you think it could be ambergris?"
"Ah? Are you dreaming? This is black. Where did so much ambergris come from? No one in our village has picked one up in a hundred years. You're so lucky to have picked one up."
"Tsk, that's hard to say. Anything is possible. There is also black ambergris. Maybe I'm just lucky. Besides, just because no one in the village picked it up doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There are many people who don't know the value of a treasure. Maybe you treated it as trash when it appeared right in front of you."
Well... this is...
Father Ye really thought about it seriously. If it were him, if something was thrown to the side of his boat, he might treat it as debris and ignore it.
"Then when it floats over, scoop it up and take a look."
Father Ye stopped bending over to work and kept his eyes on the floating object.
The floating object drifted with the wind and the current, ups and downs, hit by a wave from time to time, sank, and then immediately floated up, drifting closer and closer.
It was not until the thing floated not far from the boat that the father and son could see its surface clearly. It was angular and black.
"Dancai?" Ye Yaodong felt that his eyesight was a little better.
"It seems so?" Father Ye also stretched his neck.
"Pick it up and have a look."
Father Ye took a long-handled hand-held net, which was just enough to reach the target.
As soon as they picked up the goods and brought them to them, both the father and son were a little disappointed.
Ye Yaodong took out a spherical object from the net. It was covered with messy shellfish and had a sharp surface.
"It's really a delicious dish."
"I told you, there is no such thing as so much ambergris. You are just dreaming."
"Think about it, it's okay. What's the saying? Make bold assumptions and verify them carefully."
Fishermen often throw buoys into the sea for positioning purposes near the coast, and the one in his hand is one of them.
It is made of metal, hollow, and black. It is tied with a rope and stones and thrown into the sea. After a long time, the rope breaks and the buoy rolls around in the sea. Muskels will grow on it, growing densely.
Father Ye glanced at him and said unhappily, "You are the only one who knows a lot. Keep collecting, and quickly collect the remaining two baskets of hooks."
Ye Yaodong shrugged his shoulders, threw the angular ball in his hand into a bamboo basket in the corner, and continued to work.
We can dig it up and eat it anyway, so it won’t be wasted.
This is pure natural, wild and pollution-free seafood.
He continued to pull the rope upwards with all his strength, but found that this time the rope was a little heavy, and the weight was a little wrong.
"Big stuff!" he said in surprise.
It was so heavy when I pulled it in my hand, "It must be a big deal!"
"Is this true? Don't be so surprised."
One moment he was talking about ambergris, the next moment he was talking about big goods, even Father Ye was a little skeptical.
"Why would I lie to you? If you don't believe me, come and try it."
Father Ye glanced at him and didn't think he was kidding. He took the rope and pulled it. He found it was really heavy. He smiled and said, "Not bad."
This time, without asking anyone else for help, Ye's father pulled it up himself.
"It's so heavy. The more I pull it, the heavier it gets. What are you just standing there for? Come and give me a hand. You are so tactless."
Ye Yaodong pursed his lips and refused to argue with his father.
"Wow, it feels like I haven't pulled a big cargo in a while, and it's so heavy?"
Father Ye also echoed happily, "I don't know what kind of fish it is, it's so heavy, it must weigh several dozen kilograms."
“Just know it’s a big fish!”
"Try harder."
Ye Yaodong gritted his teeth, the veins on his hands bulged, and the same went for Ye's father.
Both the father and son leaned back and used their hands to exert strength, and the cargo in the water gradually emerged from the water.
Looking at the fishing net-like object looming under the water, both the father and son were dumbfounded.
Ye Yaodong's hands loosened a little. He opened his eyes wide and opened his mouth. "Fuck, what the hell is this? Can it hook a fishing net?"
Father Ye quickly grabbed the fishing net that was sinking again, "Don't let go, hold on to it first."
You may be surprised, but you must not relax your grip.
Ye Yaodong pulled the rope hard again, "Fuck, you are teasing me, today it's a floating ball, and then a broken ground trap net, I spent a lot of time to get this broken thing, I was so happy for nothing, I thought it was a big fish."
"Let the trap be a trap. I don't know where it got washed away. Let's pull it up and have a look. Maybe it can be used again after repairing it."
"It's broken everywhere..."
"Pull it up first. It looks like it can still be repaired. Once it's repaired, we can have an extra trap."
“It’ll take another three years of patching, right? No wonder it was so heavy when I pulled it up just now. It was fate that I encountered it. I don’t know if there’s anything in the fish bag underneath…” Ye Yaodong muttered as he pulled it up with all his strength.
The long ground trap net was pulled onto the deck little by little. The net was covered with all kinds of garbage and seaweed. It was so dirty that its original color could not be seen.
There were holes here and there, which made Ye Yaodong feel disgusted.
"It's already so broken, and you're still trying to fix it... I thought there might be something inside. There are holes and small holes everywhere, so it must have all escaped."
"There are crabs. They are small green crabs."
There happened to be a small blue crab hanging on a small section of fishing net that had just been pulled up. Father Ye said happily when he saw it.
“At least the work was not in vain”
"Pull them all up first."
They chattered as they slowly pulled up the fishing net. They were both happy to see two big blue flower crabs stuck in the net.
"Not bad, one blue crab and two orchid crabs, this catch was not in vain... Ah~ Shit~ Eastern star grouper?"
"Eastern Star Spot?"
"It's a grouper, damn..."
Both the father and the son widened their eyes in surprise, and saw a blue grouper in the fish bag that had just been pulled up!
Its body is covered with fine white spots, shaped like stars in the sky. This is a genuine grouper, not a fake one that was caught by the machine before.
The grouper is not necessarily red, but the red grouper is definitely the most valuable because red is full of festive feeling.
The one in the fish bag is blue because the blue grouper has black pupils in its eyes.
Although it’s not red, it’s still happy enough.
Ye Yaodong excitedly untied the rope at one end of the fish collecting bag. The blue grouper inside was still alive and was jumping around when he poured it into the basket.
There are also a few scattered fish, a few mantis shrimps, and stone crabs, some alive and some dead.
The number was not large, but both the father and son were so happy that they couldn't stop smiling.
That's a grouper. One is worth everything. This broken trap net is totally worth it.
“It’s a good deal.”
“See you were disgusted just now…” Father Ye’s old face smiled like a chrysanthemum.
"Looking at this broken trap, I thought there was nothing there. If there was anything, it would have all been gone. I didn't expect there is still something there. I don't know who owns it."
"Whoever fishes it out owns it. Go and deflate it while it's still alive after being pulled out. Deflate it and keep it alive."
Being alive is worth more than being dead!
"immediately."
Ye Yaodong grabbed the fish head, but the grouper struggled too hard and its body kept shaking, so he simply held it in his arms.