"Okay, whatever you say, give me the bill. I want to go home to eat and sleep."
I was really tired after a whole day today as the workload was too heavy, but the harvest was still considerable, much better than the daily trawling.
I have to go to my brother Asheng's house later, so I can't just sit there doing this alone tomorrow.
"Come back early tomorrow. It will be hard for me to arrange a car if it's too late. If you don't send them away at night, the fish will be stale."
"Isn't it just in time? If we send him off now, we can catch the morning market."
"Is it troublesome to make temporary arrangements?" Ah Cai wrote the invoice and handed it to him. "I was sleeping soundly late at night when your mother banged on the door and woke me up. I thought there was something urgent."
"This is an extremely urgent matter. You have to be more active in making money. Why should you sleep? Why do you need to sleep for a long time when you are alive? You will definitely sleep forever after you die. Have you heard of this?"
Ye Yaodong took the list and walked out while talking.
When Ah Cai heard this, his speechless mouth twitched, "You know a lot, and you speak in a very different way."
Ye's father and mother were waiting for him on the side, and they were also very upset after hearing what he said.
Mother Ye couldn't help but nag at him, "What nonsense are you talking about..."
"What nonsense are you talking about? I know what I said is very reasonable, and you think it makes sense, right? Okay, let's go home and eat. I'm starving."
"You just talk nonsense as soon as you open your mouth." Ye's mother rolled her eyes at him and was about to push the cart but was pushed aside by Ye's father.
"Let me do it."
"Come if you want to." Ye's mother stood aside and looked at Ye Yaodong and asked, "How much did you sell today?"
"It's more than 176 yuan, which is okay."
“So much and still so-so?”
"50 nets, mother, I only made a little over 3.60 yuan per net. Is it because I caught the otter that I sold it for 60 yuan more?"
"Then you didn't sell these frog fish, did you? Wouldn't it be a little more if you included it?"
"I haven't sold any of them yet. What's the point? I was lucky to have caught three otters. Otherwise, I could only sell them for around 150 yuan. One net is still three yuan. It's just that I put out a lot of nets. If I put out 20 or 30 nets, I would only get half of it."
"It's not okay to stay up so late that night. It's tiring, but you have to pull people out of bed on such a cold night."
Father Ye interrupted and said, “So we need to ask someone to help, otherwise we won’t be able to collect the fish in time, it’s too slow.”
"Do you want to hire someone?"
"Well, let's go down and ask Brother Asheng if he wants to work with me for a few months?"
"It's so late, I guess everyone is asleep..."
"That can't be helped. He's already so late when he comes back. It will be too late to call him tomorrow. He might have gone out to do other work early in the morning. If that happens, we can only call other people temporarily, which is not reliable."
Mother Ye frowned and said, "Then I'll go and call them now. You guys go back and eat first."
"That's fine." This would save him from having to go after he finishes eating and getting even later.
Ye's mother hurriedly trotted back to the village.
Ye Yaodong felt that his biological mother was his biological mother and she was still reliable at critical moments. A few nagging and scoldings from her would not hurt him.
After Ye's mother left, the father and son continued to walk home, and Ye's father was still muttering, "I don't know if asking one person to help is enough."
"Let's see tomorrow. If it's not enough, call for another one."
"Well, I was thinking that since we have put too much fish in, and we are too busy to handle it, we can just collect some of them and keep them as supplements. If any fishing nets are broken and cannot be used, we can put out new ones."
Ye Yaodong had thought about this as well. However, if he put in more money and earned more, he could ask someone to take a look first. If he could do the job, he could put in some. If he couldn't finish it, he could take some back and keep it as a supplement.
"We'll see tomorrow and make some adjustments depending on the situation. If there's not much fish on the longline, we'll just retrieve it and not release it. We'll just use this sticky net. We've had a good catch today."
Father Ye responded, "You make your own plans and do it yourself."
The old lady in the house had already reheated the food. When she saw them walk into the yard, she brought the food out and put it on the table, allowing them to wash their hands and eat.
When they were halfway through their meal, Ye's mother came back and said, "I've already told your brother Asheng that he was supposed to go work outside the dock tomorrow. Fortunately, I told him to go in the evening, otherwise he would have to leave before dawn at three or four in the morning."
Ye Yaodong stuffed the last bite of food in his mouth and nodded, "Did you tell him how much he'll be paid? Is it calculated by the day or the month?"
"I didn't say that. Anyway, our family won't let him lose money. You can tell him tomorrow whether it's charged by day or month. It's more cost-effective to charge by day. Who knows how many days you can go in a month?"
"Well, let's talk about it tomorrow."
Father Ye also said: "We will calculate how much they charge anyway."
Ye Yaodong felt that it was okay to give a few cents more since they were family after all.
Have a good sleep till dawn.
Early in the morning, Ye Yaosheng actively ran to the door and waited. Ye Yaodong and the others were still having breakfast, so they quickly invited him in to eat together.
But he quickly refused.
Lin Xiuqing was taking out aluminum lunch boxes to pack their meals for today on the boat. When she saw him, she quickly asked him, "Did you bring a lunch box?"
"Lunch box? No."
"Then go home and get one. I don't have any lunch boxes here."
"oh."
Because they were busy closing the net yesterday, they had no time to cook anything. They only found time to cook noodles once from morning to night, and by the evening they were already exhausted. After Lin Xiuqing found out last night, she did not cook porridge this morning, but cooked dry rice, to avoid the porridge being gone after a few pees.
Dry rice is more filling, and you can cook more and put it in lunch boxes for them to take on board to eat.
If they feel hungry during the fishing season, they can just heat it up on the stove. This saves them the trouble of cooking noodles, which saves trouble and time.
She also cooked a big pot of radish and bone soup. When she went to the village early in the morning, she saw a pork seller pushing a cart. Pig skulls were cheap, only 5 cents a pound, so she bought half one.
They eat radishes in winter and ginger in summer. Cook a big pot and put it in a small bucket and bring it to the boat for them. When they want to eat, just heat it up with the rice. No other dishes are needed, just dried fish. There is still space in the lunch box for more rice.
When Ye Yaosheng came back with his lunch box, he saw it and said with a smile, "Your food is good, with fish, meat and vegetables."
Lin Xiuqing also smiled and said, "I was afraid that I would be too busy on the boat to cook, so I prepared it in advance. When the soup is hot in the pot, I can put the rice on top to heat it up together. This way, I can have a hot meal even in a cold day, and I don't have to cook a pot of noodle soup in a small pot."
"That's very thoughtful. It's good to have a wife at home."
"If you earn more money, you can remarry. You are only in your 30s, so it is not too late to get married."
Ye Yaodong glanced at his father. Yesterday on the boat, he said that if you are not married at the age of 30, you are crazy. People in their 30s can become grandfathers. If you are not married, you will die. What a shame. Now he says it is not too late.
Ye Yaosheng just laughed and said nothing.
After the rice and soup were packed, everything was put on the cart and Ye Yaosheng rushed to push the cart.
The longline had not been retrieved at sea for a day, so as soon as he went out to sea, Ye Yaodong drove the boat directly to the longline location, preparing to collect the 1,000 hooks first and then the sticky net.
This will prevent you from being too busy and delaying it for another day, as the fish on the hook will no longer be fresh.
After knowing this, Ye Yaosheng could not help but say, "Your stall is really big. Not only did you make 50 sticky nets, you also made 1,000 row hooks. It would be strange if you and your father could handle this."
"I haven't released so many fish before. Why don't I give it a try? I spent a lot of money on that roller. I have to put more nets to make back my money, right? It's 700 yuan."
"Haha, that's really a huge investment."
"Well, while the weather is good, put out more." Ye Yaodong also talked to him about his wages.
Ye Yaosheng is a worker, whether he is paid monthly or daily is up to his employer, and it is not his turn to decide.
However, although Ye Yaodong was paid by the day, the wage was not low. It was three yuan a day, the same wage as for catching jellyfish. As a result, he had no objection, as other people working at sea only earned a little more than two yuan a day.
"You let me take advantage of you again."
"What do you mean by taking advantage of others? I invite everyone. It's just that the first time is strange, the second time is familiar, please feel more at ease."
"good."
Today was pretty smooth at sea, without any accidents or anyone else. After collecting the longline, we started with the sticky net.
Maybe because it was left for two days, the longline fishing yielded very good results and the fish was still very fresh.
They also caught a Philippine pomfret weighing more than ten kilograms, which was about 50 centimeters long. This made them very happy. In addition to this big Philippine pomfret, they also caught hundreds of smaller ones weighing only one or two kilograms.
Ye Yaodong thought that it was probably because a group of Fischers happened to pass by, which led to the longline fishing line catching them.
The Fischbacher is a fish that often hunts in coastal waters and likes to live in groups.
Apart from this, there are all kinds of fish that are common in daily life.
This made him feel a little reluctant to give up. He originally wanted to see if he had caught much today. If not, he would give up the longline fishing to avoid being too busy.
Father Ye also knew his original plan and was a little reluctant, "This harvest looks good."
"It's OK, but I'm a bit too busy. And it's troublesome. I need to ask someone to sort them out after I collect them. And when I put them down the next day, I have to hang bait on them one by one. It's too troublesome and will delay things. Let's just forget it for now."
"Ah, I thought so too. Today's harvest is pretty good. It would be a pity to give up."
"I can't keep up. There are 50 sticky nets here. I just finished two hours of longline fishing today. I guess I'll have to work until dark again."
"Well, you should speed up the process of collecting the net so that we can collect the fish faster in the back."