"No more talking. There's no ice on the boat, so it's hard to keep it fresh. I'm going to row back quickly while this sea pig is still fresh. It looks like it's worth 30 or 40 kilograms, so I can sell it for a few dollars. You guys just take your time casting the net here."
"Ah? You're not going to the deserted island?" Ah Zheng was still harboring evil intentions.
"I can't go. I visited several small islands, but the tide hasn't receded yet. It's quite steep, and it's not easy to get on the island. The rocks are slippery, too, and not very safe. Let's wait until the first or fifteenth day of the lunar month."
After hearing this, the three of them had no choice but to give up.
"I'm leaving now, you guys do your best!"
"Fine."
When he went to Acai with two buckets, Acai also praised him for his good luck, saying that he was able to catch a sea pig with just one bucket.
The scientific name of sea pig is porpoise. It is a round, fat creature with strange tentacles. It can grow to be about 150 centimeters long and weigh two to three hundred kilograms. Its whole body is lead gray or grayish white.
The one he caught was considered small, estimated to be only about 70 or 80 kilograms.
When Acai weighed himself, he found that he only weighed 72 kilograms.
"I'll charge you 0.33 cents per pound. Is that okay with you? This is the highest price I can give you. Don't bargain with me..."
Every time he sold contraband, as long as there was something good, Ye Yaodong would bargain for the price, and Ah Cai was also used to asking about it.
Ye Yaodong smiled and said, "Okay, no bargaining this time, whatever you say is fine."
Anyway, he got it for free, so he felt very happy.
Ah Cai then calculated the price with confidence, "The total is 23.76 yuan. Don't accuse me of being stingy. I'll just give you 23.80 yuan."
"Okay, Brother Cai is really generous and righteous." Ye Yaodong happily put his arm around his shoulder and watched him count.
"Shadai, will you sell it? 2 cents a pound."
"I'm not selling this. Take it home and make salted fish."
"Whatever you want, take the receipt."
He happily took the receipt, checked the numbers and found they were correct, then folded it and put it in his chest pocket, patted it and said, "Let's go."
After bringing the fish home, Ye's mother was cooking. She looked at the three stupid fish he brought back without saying anything and killed them directly.
"Mom, how long will it take to build the house?"
"It should take about seven or eight days depending on the progress. If we hadn't moved the location and laid the foundation again, our house would probably be finished."
"Well, when I came back I saw that the land had been reduced in size and covered."
"Never mind. It has nothing to do with us anyway. I estimate that your three rooms will be completed around the Mid-Autumn Festival."
"How much does it cost to build three rooms? It has been windy for several days in the past month, and the machine has been repaired twice, which has reduced more than ten days."
"It's about a thousand, which is very economical. We don't have to spend money on vegetables, only rice. The materials are all brought back by workers from the mountains and rivers. Only the sand costs a little. We don't need to buy red bricks to build a single floor. We can use stones carved from the mountains. But the workers' wages are very high. The rough work costs 1.5 yuan a day, and the stone carving masters cost 2.3 yuan. We'll calculate it after the work is finished. It's not finished yet."
Ye Yaodong nodded, and the money earned from trawling and selling yellow croakers during this period was almost enough to build a house.
"Then I'll go."
"Well, take this bucket of cold tea over with you."
"knew."
Mother Ye felt distressed when she saw her third son's face, which was tanned and red. He looked clean and fair a month or two ago. He must have worked very hard during this period.
"If you feel tired, just rest at home and bring food with me later."
"It's okay. I didn't do anything this morning. I just went to put out a trap." Then he walked out.
After such a long time, he has already adjusted his mentality after his rebirth. From the initial discomfort and the need to slowly transform his personality, now his family has become accustomed to watching him swinging a hoe.
He needs to be down-to-earth, work hard to make money and live a good life.
When they arrived at the homestead, Lin Xiuqing was drinking tea to quench her thirst. He secretly told her that he had picked up a sea pig at sea in the morning and sold it for 23.8 yuan. Her eyes lit up instantly.
"real?"
"Why would I lie to you? The bill is in my pocket. I forgot to take it back to the house just now. It shouldn't fall out. I'll show it to you in the evening."
Lin Xiuqing nodded happily holding the bowl of tea. Ye Yaodong took her hand, drank the tea she had not finished, and then scooped another bowl to drink. Then the two of them went to work together, chatting and laughing.
Anyone with a discerning eye could tell early on that the couple's relationship had improved a lot. They even worked together and smiled happily.
That night it was Ye Yaodong and his father's turn to go out to sea.
It's his turn every three days, and sometimes he can't go because of wind or the machine breaks down. In the past month, he has only been there a few times.
If he continued to follow his father after the family split up, it would be better for him to work on his own. Although he could make a lot of money by trawling, it had to be shared among four people, and his parents also gave him a small boat, which was enough.
As usual, I got up at around 1 a.m. and had a full meal before going out to sea.
When they went out, it was dark, so Ye's father drove the boat. He was also the one who cast the first net. It was not until dawn that he asked Ye Yaodong to pull up the net.
During this period of time, Ye's father also realized that among the few people, the third son had the best luck. Every time he dragged up the net, there would be one or two good catches, or a whole net of fish.
Ye Yaodong reeled in the net and dragged it from the chute to the deck. "Ah, it's a whole net of white pomfret. My damn little red hands are really good at pulling."
Father Ye glanced at him. He seemed to be more resolute, but his mouth was still rambling. "Keep casting the net."
"Dad, I have a feeling that our next catch will definitely be silver pomfret!"
"Do you think fish are Chinese cabbages?"
"Would you like to take a gamble?"
"What are you betting on?"
Ye Yaodong chuckled: "Let me bet you two packs of Friendship cigarettes. I noticed you have two packs in your pocket."
Father Ye covered his pockets with his hands and stared blankly, "I won't gamble. I managed to save some private money, but it's only enough to buy these two bags."
"It's okay. Maybe you can win two packs. If you lose, don't you have hookah at home to smoke? Or you can just roll some tobacco with a piece of paper."
"No, stop thinking about my cigarettes and get to work!"
"All right."
After his hopes were dashed, he could only go and drive the boat honestly.
In fact, Ye's father also thought that the second net might still be silver pomfret. There are indeed a lot of silver pomfret recently, and there were many silver pomfret piled up at the purchasing points yesterday.
As expected, the second net also contained silver pomfret, but mixed with a lot of orchid crabs and stone crabs.
Many silver pomfret were broken by orchid crabs, or their appearance was not good, which was a pity.
Acai would not accept these silver pomfret that looked ugly and were broken, so they could only take them back and eat them themselves.
"Let me pick this, and you go and start the boat and cast the net."
He also dragged the second net around, and for the third net he simply did what he wanted and headed out. He had a compass anyway, so it would be fine as long as he didn't run too far.