Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes. The matter was right in front of him, but his mother was still asking him questions and didn't believe him!
"Mom, you've seen it all. Why are you still asking? It's obvious."
"When did you go out to sea? Why didn't you tell us in advance? Whose boat is it?"
"Didn't I tell you at noon that I was going out and asked A-Qing to cook some noodles for me? I'll leave after I eat. The boat is rented."
"It's only been a few hours and you're already online..."
"Oh, let's talk about it later. We don't have time now. There are still fish on the boat. I'll tell you after we've moved them and weighed them." He interrupted his mother's question with a frown. Now was not the time to go into details. The important thing to do was to move all the fish down first.
The curious villagers all widened their eyes, "What else? They haven't moved everything yet."
"Tsk tsk tsk ~ The Ye family has made a fortune again. Why is your family so prosperous recently? Have you worshipped Mazu?"
Mother Ye said to the onlookers with a smile: "Of course, we went out to sea for the first time two days ago, so we had to pay homage to Mazu and ask her to ensure smooth sailing for our family."
"It's really luck, it can't be stopped. Even Adong can catch so many mackerel when he goes out to sea. He is really successful."
"Oh, Dong and the others usually look unremarkable when they are just idle, but I didn't expect that they are so good when they get serious. They can even catch a school of mackerel. These baskets look quite big."
"Yeah, it should be several thousand kilograms, right? These fish are so big..."
Amid everyone's envious and jealous gazes, Ye Yaodong and his team finally moved all the mackerel off the boat. They were all so tired that they were sweating profusely, and their clothes on the back were soaked with sweat.
Ye Yaodong handed the bucket in his hand to his mother, "This is what I left behind. Two mackerel and some seafood. You can use the mackerel to make fish balls tonight."
"Why keep them? These two can be sold for several dollars. You can just eat them as miscellaneous fish..."
The old man has had enough of a hard life, so he would never be willing to eat anything valuable.
"Oh, you've worked so hard to catch so many fish, you should definitely reward yourself, and we already have so many, these two won't make a difference, you can take them back and make fish balls, I want to eat some!"
"Eat, eat, eat. All you do is eat. You're thinking about spending money before you even earn it. This one will cost at least one dollar..."
Lin Xiuqing held Ye's mother who was mumbling, "Mom, these two are not a big deal. Dongzi's other friends may have kept some. Let's take them back and make fish balls. The children haven't eaten them for a long time."
Now Ye's mother was silent. Everyone had stayed, so she couldn't go back, right
Ah Cai looked at them with a smile, "Have you finished moving everything? Can we weigh it now?"
"Let's agree on the price first. If it's too low, we won't sell it to you. Let's call a tractor to take it to Yujing Wharf!" Ye Yaodong is not stupid. There are so many fish. He doesn't have to do anything and can make a fortune by reselling them!
"Two cents is not a low amount. I can only make a dime from you at most. It's also because your father's big yellow croaker a few days ago helped me get to know a few more fishmongers. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to eat so many yellow croakers. There really isn't much profit. Others have to make money too. You have to leave some room for them to make money."
What you said makes a lot of sense.
In and out, it goes through several hands in the middle, there must be room for others to make money. If there is no money to be made, who would be willing to do it
Ah Zheng put his arm around Ah Cai's shoulder with a playful smile, "Brother Cai has a wide network of contacts, and it's much easier for him to make money than for the rest of us. We all earn our money through hard work, so why don't you just give us a few cents more?"
"You guys are still tired? I heard you were back within a few hours of going out. No one is as relaxed as you guys, okay?"
Xiao Xiao was impatient to listen to their arguments, "Hey, you care how many hours we're going to be there, why don't you just tell us whether to add extra money or not?"
Ye's mother also interrupted, "Yes, yes, just add a little. With so many mackerel, you can probably make dozens or even hundreds of dollars even if you only make 1 cent per pound."
Ah Cai hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and said, "At most I'll give you one point. This is what I saved from my own profits."
Ah Guang also frowned and said, "Isn't that too stingy? Only one point?"
“That’s a lot!”
"Two cents, right?"
"Normally, we don't bargain. I only gave you an extra cent because you have a lot of fish. Even if you take it to Yujing Wharf, I can't give you 21 cents. Besides, you have to pay for shipping. If you don't sell it to me, I won't lend you a basket. How are you going to pack all those fish?"
"Forget it, forget it. 2.1 cents is 2.1 cents. We can save ourselves the trouble."
Normally, the wharf does not bargain. The attitude is always "Do you want to sell or buy?" Ye Yaodong did not want to make things so complicated. The mackerel was not an expensive fish, and the profit margin was not big. Two cents was not a small amount at this time.
"Okay, if Dongzi says it's okay, then it's okay. Hurry and weigh it."
"Okay, then take some paper and write it down."
Amid the excited pointing and chattering of the onlookers, they weighed all the mackerel.
"How many pounds?"
"Where's the abacus? There are so many numbers, it's impossible to calculate them. Brother Cai, please use the abacus to calculate them."
None of them knows how to calculate...
Ye Yaodong knew how to use a calculator, but there were no calculators at that time, so people used abacus.
Everyone watched Ah Cai patiently as he fiddled with the abacus and heard the clacking sounds.
"Okay, that's 7,628 kilograms in total, 21 cents per kilogram, so the total is 1,601.88 yuan."
The villagers watching were all excited, "Wow, 1,600 yuan! That's more than the yellow croaker we netted a few days ago."
"It's impossible to compare. How many kilograms does a yellow croaker weigh? How many kilograms does this mackerel weigh? Yellow croaker is still more valuable. If this is a yellow croaker, it would be incredible."
"Who doesn't know that yellow croaker is valuable? But you also need to be lucky. It's incredible to catch so many yellow croakers."
"With so much money, each person can get 400, which is enough to catch up with others who have been fishing for two months."
"It's equivalent to a worker working for four months!"
"Why is the Ye family so lucky recently?"
"I will also go to worship Mazu tomorrow..."
… …
Unlike the reaction of the onlookers, Ye Yaodong was confused. Why was it only 1,600? He thought it could be sold for several thousand!
Maybe he still hasn’t recovered from the price hikes in his previous life, but he thinks 1,600 is too little…
"You calculated it correctly, didn't you?"
Ah Cai rolled his eyes and said, "If you suspect I made a mistake, then you come."
"I won't… "
"Let me do it!"
At this time Lin Xiuqing stood up. She had finished elementary school, knew how to read, and had learned to use an abacus, but she had not used it much and was not very proficient.
She fiddled with the abacus slowly, fearing that she had made a mistake. Ye Yaodong did not dare to disturb her. He calculated it again in his mind and felt that it seemed to be correct.
Workers only earn a little over one yuan a day, so sixteen hundred yuan is equivalent to almost three years' salary for them, which seems like a lot if you calculate it this way.