When Ye Yaodong saw Xiao Qinglong, he felt like he was given an injection of chicken blood and revived to full health. He had been exhausted both physically and mentally after a whole day, but now he felt energetic again.
He quickened his pace and pulled up the remaining half of the net in one go.
"Ah! Three! Three coming at once..."
Father Ye caught his breath, endured the pain in his throat, and pointed at the shrimp cage with his index finger and said, "This is good, this is good..."
Of course this is good.
Ye Yaodong untied the rope that bound the fish bag at the bottom and poured the entire net of catch into the basket. The green crayfish inside somersaulted when they came out and then crawled around actively, which was a delight to see.
He reached out and grabbed one, watching its tail curling up constantly. "Not bad, relatively large, weighing one pound. The other two are a little smaller, probably only about seven or eight ounces."
"I didn't expect there were lobsters here." Father Ye also caught one and took a look.
Ye Yaodong didn't expect that he had just collected so many shrimp cages and didn't see any small blue dragons. He didn't expect that there were three in this shrimp cage.
"I don't know if there are any left, so keep watching."
"Hey, hurry up and collect them. I'll get them in a separate bucket."
Father Ye walked to the corner, put away his precious hookah, and went to get an empty bucket. After thinking for a while, he filled another bucket with sea water and finally caught all the little green dragons in the bucket.
Then he leaned over to the side of the boat, and looked eagerly at Ye Yaodong as he put down the row of shrimp cages and continued to collect them.
However, after collecting the entire row, they only saw one more in the last net.
"Four."
"That's fine, that's fine too. I thought it was only under the reef over there, but I didn't expect it to be here too."
"We are all in the same sea area, so it's normal to have them." After saying that, Ye Yaodong continued to collect a buoy and a row of ten shrimp cages.
It was fast to collect a row of shrimp cages, but it was also slow. It took half an hour to collect and put back the last row.
There are indeed surprises.
"Six in total! Two of them are relatively large, probably a little over a pound, and the remaining four should be around 70-80 taels, 80-90 taels."
"Sure, sure. These can be sold for several dollars. Add to that the big mackerel, the sword shrimps in this basket, and a lot of other fish. Today's harvest is pretty good." Father Ye calculated the approximate value of today's harvest and was very satisfied.
They are quite diligent. When they set the nets, they also put down the shrimp cages and drag the nets. They make full use of every available time.
In the future, most fishermen will only set out one type of net at a time, go home to rest after setting the net, and then collect the nets the next day.
How can they do what they do now, setting up many kinds of networks in one trip and making full use of them just to make a little more money
"This basket is not entirely filled with sword shrimps. If you pick them out, I estimate that only half of them are left."
Ye Yaodong didn't dare to reach down and fish it out. The spines on the shrimp heads were very sharp. No matter how rough his hands were, if they pierced the flesh, it would still be painful enough to make him hiss.
It would be even more terrifying if it got stuck in the gap between the nails, and there would be crabs and fish inside.
He only stretched out his hand and fiddled with the surface a few times, but even so, his hand was pricked several times, and a blood bead popped out. He sucked it twice without caring.
"That's not a small amount. Half of it is more than 20 kilograms, and it can be sold for more than ten yuan. Shrimp is still quite expensive now." Father Ye said as he walked to the stern of the boat. "Okay, you go and drive the boat. I'll take some goods from the stern and clean them up, and then I'll sort this basket."
"Um."
Ye Yaodong pulled up the anchor before starting the boat back. The sun had already set behind the mountain, but the sky was still bright, and the days were gradually getting longer.
He checked the time out of habit. It was 5:40. He would have to go back at 7:00. It was hard to make money working day and night.
In this life, he really did all the work that he didn't do in his previous life, and also earned the money that he didn't earn in his previous life.
Thinking of this, he felt that he was fine again.
Feeling his pocket, he took out a cigarette, lit it, and took two puffs to refresh himself.
He didn't have any free time the whole day. Normally, if he didn't work, a pack of cigarettes would only last him one or two days, but on the boat it would last him three or four days.
He steered the boat with one hand holding the steering handle and holding a half-burned cigarette in the other hand, moving against the wind. He looked quite high-spirited, and no one knew what he was thinking about, but the corner of his mouth was always raised.
The sky gradually darkened and visibility became low, so Ye Yaodong turned on the flashlight in advance.
The fishing boats dock at different times. When they come back, it is already dark on the shore. The lights of the fishermen are bright everywhere. There are sparks on the sea, which are probably the returning fishing boats, and there are also small boats swaying on the shore.
"It looks like we're not the only ones who come back late. Everyone else comes back late as well."
"We all work from dawn to dusk. Let's hurry up and unload the cargo and weigh it before the fishing boats behind us come to the shore, so as to avoid being late and having to wait in line."
It was already dark, and there were only a few people on the shore busy loading and unloading fish from carts, or carrying buckets back home.
When Acai saw their boat dock, he hurried over to help with the moving.
"Did you catch a lot today? Did you catch anything good?"
"Six little blue dragons, are they good? There's also a golden mackerel weighing about 50 to 60 kilograms, some other mackerel, and quite a few sword shrimps."
Ah Cai was surprised for a moment, "You are lucky. Your harvest is much better than your elder brother and second brother. They only have some miscellaneous goods."
"Oh? They came back first?"
It was rare, as his two elder brothers had always been the first to get up early and go to bed late. It might also be that there were not many goods, so they came back early.
"I came back an hour earlier than you guys, before dark." Ah Cai said as he started looking around on the boat, "Where are Xiao Qinglong and Huang Jinbai?"
"I put it in the cabin. It gets a little too hot in the sun during the day. I'm afraid it will get damaged."
Ah Cai went to take a look in the cabin and found that it was indeed a big fish. There were not many trawlers in the surrounding villages, even in the neighboring villages. At most, they could only fish in the surrounding waters. Big fish might appear occasionally, but there were not many that weighed fifty or sixty kilograms. They had to rely on luck.
"This fish is a bit cheaper than the mackerel, but it's big enough. One fish is enough to make up for the average person's net. Come and help carry it down first."
"Um."
Father Ye also smiled and said, "Today I specially put out a few rows of shrimp cages. I was lucky. I caught 6 small blue dragons and a lot of sword shrimps."
"You guys have always had good luck."
They chatted for a while while carrying the things, and habitually asked each other about their gains.
Except for the boats that have not returned yet, we found that they caught the most. They dragged three nets, which was comparable to those who dragged five nets, but the shrimp cages also contributed to it.
It's free anyway. If I put it outside and the waves are really big and I can't go out to collect it, I won't feel too bad if it is lost by the waves.
However, when weighing the fish, Ye Yaodong deliberately picked out a smaller green dragon that was particularly good at crawling and threw it into the bucket alone.
"You want to take it home to eat again? You've already tasted it and seen how it tastes, why are you still eating it? It's so expensive..."
"Xiaojiu hasn't eaten it yet, so leave one for her. She's older now and has two teeth now, so she can eat these things."
It just so happens that there are still five days until her first birthday. She was born on the third day of March, and today is the 27th day of the lunar calendar. He looked at the calendar yesterday and found that this month has only 29 days in the lunar calendar.
Father Ye opened his mouth and wanted to say something about the little girl, but then he remembered that he loved his daughter very much and the women in the family always said slogans like "It doesn't matter whether you have a boy or a girl", "Girls are no worse than boys", etc.
He swallowed his words again.
Forget it. He has wasted a lot of good things anyway, so out of sight, out of mind. It’s not his money, and he still relies on the three brothers to support him in his old age.
Ah Cai smiled and said, "Leave it for your daughter? You really love your daughter, but my daughter is already grown up. How about you give me half of your daughter and let her be my son's wife when she grows up?"
Ye Yaodong looked him up and down with disdain. A dragon gives birth to a dragon, a phoenix gives birth to a phoenix, and a mouse gives birth to a son who can dig holes!
Like father, like son!
With his short stature and round belly, he was a little skeptical whether his son could succeed in his counterattack.
"You wish! You make my money and you want to take my people. Don't let me see your son next time."
Ah Cai: “???”
Is this going to cause trouble for his son too
"Hurry up and weigh the goods. What are you looking at? Stop thinking crooked ideas!"
Acai shook his head. This kind of father-in-law looked unreliable, and he even disliked him.