After dinner.
The fishing boat continued to sail on the endless sea. The sky was dotted with stars. The gentle sea breeze blowing across the deck made Xiang Yang feel particularly refreshed.
He Mingde came over, lit up his cigarette and took a long puff. "The sea is really pitch black at night. It's really scary to look at it for too long."
"You slept late last night, why don't you go to rest?" Xiang Yang said with a smile.
"Don't you go to bed late, kid? What are you looking at here?" He Mingde asked.
"Look at the sea."
He Mingde followed Xiang Yang's line of sight and looked forward. It was pitch black under his eyes and he could not see anything clearly. He was about to speak, but suddenly fell silent again.
"Are you scared?" He Mingde asked after a long silence.
"What are you afraid of?" Xiang Yang looked at his uncle strangely.
"Buy a bigger boat." He Mingde sighed. "I didn't expect you to be so bold and ambitious, and you're also lucky. Before I resigned, I thought we would buy a fishing boat worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, hire two or three crew members, and then live a long life on the sea. But you bought an ocean-going fishing boat right away, and you're going to buy a bigger boat not long after we started working together."
"By changing to a bigger fishing boat, we can go to farther seas, find more abundant fishing grounds and catch more fish," said Xiang Yang.
He Mingde said: "But bigger fishing boats consume more energy and need to employ more people. The fuel cost of a single trip is an astronomical figure. When not at sea, it also costs money to employ a large crew."
Xiang Yang smiled and said, "Uncle, I had already decided to switch to a bigger ship. Why are you talking about this again today?"
"Because our current fishing boat is profitable." He Mingde pointed to the darkness ahead, "If we change to a bigger boat, we may not necessarily make more money. If we change boats, you will be like this darkness in front of you. No one knows what is in this darkness."
Xiang Yang turned his head and said, "I'm not sure I can make money after changing to a bigger ship, but I'm not just changing to a bigger ship to make money. I want to go to more distant seas. I want to cross the entire ocean while I'm still young and can walk. When I'm old, I can tell myself that my life was worth it and I've lived a legendary life."
He Mingde looked at Xiang Yang and blinked.
Xiang Yang continued, "And I am not unaware of what is in this darkness. It is the sea, the fishing grounds, and my catch. As long as I know that this darkness is the sea, I will not be afraid of anything. On this sea, I dare to fight, dare to struggle, and dare to risk my life to fight."
He Mingde immediately said: "Actually, you don't have to fight like this."
Xiang Yang smiled and stopped dwelling on this question. He pointed to the distance and said, "According to the map, there is a deserted island a little further ahead from here. We can camp on the deserted island tonight."
"Deserted island?" He Mingde asked doubtfully.
"It's not really a deserted island. About five years ago, it was still a deserted island. In recent years, there are more and more fishermen with deep sea capabilities, so the local fishermen transformed the island into a fishing transit station. Every night, many small fishing boats that go out to sea too far and can't return on the same day stay overnight on the island."
"Is that so?" He Mingde quickly ran to the cab to borrow a telescope from Xu Fang and looked forward. Sure enough, he saw a few yellow lights in the distance in the darkness. These were the signals from fishing boats parked on the sea, turning on searchlights to tell other fishing boats that there was a ship there.
"It seems like there really is a small island. Should we drive directly there?" He Mingde asked.
"I asked Master Xu, and he said that there are many reefs near the island, and our boat is too big to sail over. But if you want to spend the night there, we can sail the boat nearby and send a rubber boat over there."
Xiang Yang actually hadn't planned to go to the island. People who have never been to sea might find it novel to spend the night on an island, but for fishermen, they don't like to spend the night on an island unless it is absolutely necessary. The reason why Xiang Yang mentioned this was that he didn't want He Mingde to continue to worry about changing boats.
He Mingde thought for a moment and said, "Why don't we just not go over there and drive to the nearby area, turn on the searchlight and rest right away. How long will it take to get to the island by rubber boat?"
Xiang Yang nodded, "Alright."
Soon, the fishing boat gradually approached the island.
At this time, Xiang Yang saw that there was a place on the island where more than ten lights were gathered.
"Why are the fishermen on this island not going to sleep so late at night and gathering together?" Xiang Yang wondered.
"Are you playing cards?" Fang Youqun guessed, "Brother Yang, how about you let me go so I can play a hand?"
After hearing what Fang Youqun said, many crew members on the ship were eager to try. They had just received a bonus from Xiang Yang today, so how could they not be itching to try when they saw people playing cards
It was Chen Qingsheng who took the initiative. He shouted at Xiang Yang without waiting for him to speak: "What are you playing? Do you still want to go to work? Our ship will set sail early tomorrow morning. If you can't get up, you can paddle your rubber boat back to Qinglongwan."
The young men then shrank their heads and dared not mention the matter of playing cards again.
"Okay, Master Xu, turn on the searchlight on the ship, leave two people on duty, and the rest of you go back to your cabin to rest." Xiang Yang ordered.
"Wait, Captain." Xu Fang called out to Xiang Yang.
"Master Xu?"
"Captain, you see the lights on the island are not shining on the same place, and the lights are moving from time to time. It seems that they are not playing cards."
Xiang Yang looked carefully and immediately discovered that those people gave Xiang Yang the feeling that they were looking for something.
Xiang Yang immediately became curious, "Chen Qingsheng, take a few people over to take a look."
"Yes, Captain."
Chen Qingsheng called two people to row the rubber boats, and immediately carried the rubber boats and threw them into the sea.
More than 20 minutes later, Chen Qingsheng came back and shouted, "Captain, Captain."
"I'm here." Xiang Yang walked to the side of the boat and looked down at Chen Qingsheng on the rubber boat. "Hey, what is that in your hand?"
Chen Qingsheng was holding a black plastic bag in his left hand and a woven bag in his right hand. He was grinning so hard that his mouth was about to split open. "Great stuff, Captain. We won't be able to sleep tonight."
Xiang Yang asked: "What good stuff?"
Xiang Yang doesn't care about ordinary things nowadays. The seafood that can make Chen Qingsheng feel that Xiang Yang would stay up late to make a deal must at least be sea fish that can be served at banquets.
"It's grouper, all blue grouper." Chen Qingsheng had someone lift the woven bag onto the boat, which contained a fresh wild blue grouper.