The two men, one fat and one thin, one tall and one short, were similar to the fat and thin monk in Wei Xiaobao. They sat there chatting and bragging, and the scene looked quite harmonious.
Ye Yaodong felt that although Ah Cai was a little sly, he knew a lot.
Ah Cai also felt that although he was talking nonsense, his words were quite interesting and it was very enjoyable to chat with him, not boring at all.
"Hey, you must have made a lot of money in the past few years since the reform and opening up, right? Last year, our village wanted to find a millionaire, win a medal, and be in the spotlight. Why didn't they ask you to join Agui and the others?"
Ah Cai cracked melon seeds and glanced at him. "I don't have any property, just a shabby house. What's the point of looking for me? The idea of selecting the 10,000-yuan households is to find the kind of people who work hard, endure hardships, and earn money diligently, who can serve as role models for the people of the whole country, and then promote the glory of labor and the wealth gained through labor, etc."
"People like us who sit there all day and do menial work, how can we be suitable? If I could do it, why would the government still be cracking down on speculation? It should just promote it. Besides, I only earn a little money through hard work. How can those little money be enough to make a millionaire?"
"I don't have any ships, money, land or industry. What does it have to do with me?"
"Your brother Hong attracted the interest of the county leaders at that time only because your sister-in-law bumped into him in front of so many people. In fact, he was not qualified."
Ye Yaodong nodded, that was right.
"Your transformation as a second-rate person is quite interesting. Now you seem to be working hard..."
"Get lost, I'm a good young man!"
"By the way, why didn't you go out to sea today?"
"My father-in-law came home, so I didn't go out to sea."
"So sensible?"
Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes at him and looked to the side, just in time to see another boat coming back, "A boat is about to dock, get up and work, stop bragging..."
Ah Cai stood up and stretched his neck to take a look. "The one next door, I didn't take him... Oh, there's another boat behind, that boat also belongs to Lao Pei, he hasn't come over yet, you should get up and help with the work."
Ye Yaodong looked out toward the sea, then glanced toward the village. Uncle Pei came over pushing a cart, so he sat down and continued to eat his melon seeds.
"Uncle Pei is here."
Pei's father pushed the car to the front with a sullen look on his face.
"What's up, uncle? Your second boat is back again."
Father Pei took a small basket from the cart and showed it to them. "I thought it was difficult to kill the toadfish, so I asked the two hired people to do it. I asked the two daughters at home to kill the miscellaneous fish, and they ended up pouring out a big swallow pomfret with a basin."
"ah!"
"Uh... another one hidden?"
"Isn't it? It almost pissed me off. The other boat didn't do that before. Some time ago, they caught a yellow croaker weighing more than two kilograms and showed it out openly. Your friend is not that good. He has only been doing it for a few days."
Ye Yaodong pouted, "I was wondering why you were so reluctant to bring back those baskets of fish for you. You took quite a few worthless things anyway. Is it really necessary to be like this? So there must be something fishy going on."
"Let's weigh the fish first and wait until Guang comes back."
Ah Cai took his basket and laughed, "We should find someone honest and with a good reputation."
"Let's talk about it when we get home tonight."
Ah Cai said again: "Then there is no need to share this fish, just weigh it and take it. People are thinking of keeping it for themselves, so you don't need to share it."
Father Pei nodded.
Ye Yaodong thought that if he wanted to build another ship, he would have to be careful when recruiting people and not be nepotistic. Even Uncle Pei himself could see some loopholes.
I don’t know if the good stuff is only hidden in the miscellaneous fish today. If it is hidden several times, it would be a big loss.
If he wants to build another boat, he has to think carefully so as not to put all the money into other people's pockets and make wedding clothes for others.
Or maybe he could keep his father at home. His father is old now, so he could stay at home and catch some fish.
His cousins are all very reliable, and Brother Asheng is also okay. He can ask them to be boatmen when the time comes.
Pei's father was forced to learn his lesson. When the second boat came in, he checked it very carefully this time. He also told the captain what had just happened and gave him a warning.
The captain repeatedly assured that he would never do such a thing, that only a win-win situation could lead to long-term cooperation, and that he would never be so short-sighted as to cut off his own source of income, as his whole family depended on this ship for their livelihood.
Pei's father also kept all the fish on the boat that could not be sold at a high price, including the miscellaneous fish, but told the captain to keep whatever fish he wanted and take some back. He was not a stingy person.
Except for the cargo that had just been taken home, the rest of the cargo from the two ships filled up a large open space on the shore. There were more than a dozen baskets full, which made Ye Yaodong marvel.
"Some time ago, they said that the trawl catch was low, but recently I see where it's low? It's almost as much as rice."
"You're exaggerating! How can it be the same as rice?" Father Pei said with a smile, "It comes and goes, no one can tell. Sometimes there is stock, and sometimes there is no stock. I heard that there was no stock some time ago, so I changed the place to fish recently."
"That's great. It's good to have some. You can keep some to dry at home and give it to me."
"Okay, okay, I heard this morning that you collected a lot of dried fish yesterday. Lao Lin sold them for a good price and made a lot of money. I was still hesitating whether I should dry some as well. I didn't expect you to come over this afternoon."
"You have two ships with so many ships. When the time comes, you will earn all the money, and I will just be working for nothing."
"Just kidding. Lately, the catch from trawl nets is still not as much as that from sticky nets. That's because sticky nets require extra money, and they are unwilling to spend the money. For trawl nets, I have the fishing nets and net-lifting machines ready-made here, so you don't have to spend any extra money, which can save a little."
Ye Yaodong nodded randomly and looked at the sea again, "I don't know what time my father and the others will be back. It's getting dark already."
"It should be about done, right? I've weighed all the goods. Can you help me check it? I have to make a few more trips."
"Okay, go ahead."
He waited at the dock for another half an hour. Even Xiaoxiao and A Zheng's boats had returned, but he still didn't see his own boat. He could only wait patiently.
It was not until it was completely dark that his mother came out and waited for a long time before their boat came into sight in the distance.
At this moment, he finally understood how A-Qing and his mother felt as they waited all day for them to come home.
It was pitch black, with only a few flashlights shining from boats in the distance. They were so far away. Don't ask him how he knew it was his boat, because all the boats in his village and the neighboring village had basically docked, except for his boat.
He and his mother agreed that the boat that was returning was his family's boat.
"Finally I'm back! I have to wait until dark every time and can't go earlier. If it really doesn't work, I'd better go earlier!" Ye's mother stretched her neck and muttered to herself.
"Who can handle emergencies at sea? There are speeds in doing things, and you have to wait for the tide to rise before you go out. You can't just go out to sea whenever you want."
Ye's mother glanced at him and said, "How could I not know? I just said that and you refute everything."
"The truth is, no one can say it."
Ye's mother didn't argue with him, "I wanted to come back early today to help kill the fish, but now I don't know what time I'll finish killing the fish in the evening."
"Let's see how many there are later, otherwise we can just hire one or two more people."
"It's so convenient to tell you. If you hire two more people, it will cost one or two more people."
"Then you can do less work, right? If you keep the lights on, the electricity bill will be higher, right? Finish your work early, turn off the lights and rest early."
This time, Ye's mother did not refute.
The boat slowly approached the shore, and after confirming that it was undoubtedly theirs, the mother and son hurried to greet it.
Ye's mother had just complained about me on the shore, and now that she was on the boat she didn't complain about me coming back late. She was just happy when she saw the boat full of goods.
“We have gained a lot today.”
Father Ye's weather-beaten face was also covered with a smile, "It's okay, but the wind-blown fishing nets are always tangled in the machine and difficult to untie. I was a bit slow in collecting the goods, so it has been delayed until now. Two fishing nets are also broken. The holes are too big and can't be used."
Ye Yaodong took a quick look and saw that the harvest was not bad. He said, "It doesn't matter if it's broken. There are still so many. There is no need to make up for it for the time being. It saves me from having to work until dark every day."
Ah Guang came over with a big basket and said, "We also caught a big fish, which weighs more than ten pounds. We can use it to make rice dumplings during the winter solstice."
Ye Yaodong shone his flashlight over there and immediately took a look at it with interest. It was a diamondfin mullet, a very common large mullet that is usually caught through deep-sea light fishing.
This is a fish with a very strong tendency to phototaxis, so every night it will follow the light and float to the sea surface or mid-layer waters.
Basically, it catches fish or crustaceans. Of course, it is also the prey of many large carnivorous fish. Because of its large size and weight, it does not swim very fast.
They also like to put the meat of this big fish into rice dumplings here, which is more fresh.
"It's really big. It's just right for each of us to cut a piece and make rice dumplings at home. We don't have to buy more."
Ye Yaosheng smiled and said, "I just made a bet with Ah Guang. He bet that you would keep it for yourself. I said that it was so big that I would definitely sell it for two or three dollars. It seems that he still understands you."
Ah Guang grinned, "Of course he should. We grew up together wearing open-crotch pants. I want to take some home to eat, and he must want to take some home to eat, too. We'll have to buy more in a few days anyway, so why not eat the fresher ones we caught ourselves? It doesn't matter if there's just one more fish."
"It's fresh, but it's only this small. It would be a pity to keep it and eat it." Mother Ye was reluctant to eat it.
"You can stay and eat here, and it doesn't cost you money. If you go out to buy food, you'll have to pay for it yourself. Why would you spend your own money when you can eat at Dongzi's?" A Guang said with a smile.
Ye's mother also laughed, "How can you calculate it like this?"