They planned to drag a few nets in the surrounding waters in the morning, hoping to encounter a big catch like yesterday. As the tide began to ebb in the afternoon, they would head to the isolated island for sea digging.
They didn't plan to venture into far-off waters. After all, they weren't planning for a serious fishing expedition. Serious fishermen would set out as early as one or two in the morning, at the latest by two or three, for proper net dragging.
Because it would take over an hour to reach the target area, and setting and lifting the net would also take more than an hour.
If they go too far, they wouldn't be able to set and lift the net more than a few times in a single day, resulting in a waste of diesel for the round trip.
They just hope to have the same stroke of luck as yesterday, to see if they can encounter a big haul. If not, they plan to go to the isolated island and dig for seafood. With so many people, if each person collects a little, it shouldn't be too much of a loss.
The boat departed from the shore, and today, Ye Yaodong no longer felt any sense of fear in his heart. He looked incredibly relaxed. When they reached the center of the sea, he shouted out to the ocean, "Sea, I, Ye Yaodong, have returned!"
"Hahaha, isn't Yaodong too excited?"
"I'm excited too! Sea, I, Pei Guang, have also returned. Bring forth an abundance of seafood!"
"Holy damn, you better not mention your name. The sea god definitely won't bring us any seafood if he hears it!"
“Roll!"
"Oh, stop talking nonsense. Hurry up and cast the net. How do I do it? I don't know!" Fatty urged excitedly.
"Don't rush. This is a shallow area near the shore, not much catch here. Let's move further out," said Ah Guang, experienced and knowledgeable.
His father worked on large ships, and his aunt's family owned a small boat. In the past few years, when his younger cousins were too young, his aunt would often ask him to join them and help out at sea. He was very familiar with these activities.
Ye Yaodong was also very familiar with it, but for the time being, he didn't want to show it. He smiled and said, "Let's see how lucky we are today. If we catch a big haul, we'll be happy to share the profits. If not, we can still catch some seafood for a nice meal."
"Just don't let me go for nothing!"
"If we can't catch anything by trawling, we can definitely find something while searching on the reef. In our village, those without boats can't come to the isolated island, and those with boats are busy trawling. Who would waste time sailing out to search for seafood? It would be a waste of resources. I'm sure there are plenty of shellfish on the reef of the isolated island."
In the village, families with boats wish for calm winds and peaceful waves every day, so they can go out to sea, cast their nets, and earn money.
Ah Guang sails his boat to the vicinity of the isolated island, not far away. Yesterday, he caught so many mackerels in this area that he still holds onto his expectations, hoping to find some valuable goods here again.
"Hahaha, let's stick to this place! Everyone, let's get to work~"
"I’m coming, I’m coming..."
"I’m going, I’m going..."
Everyone eagerly rushed to help cast the nets, competing with each other to be the first…
As the boat sailed, the fishing nets sank into the depths of the sea with the weights attached. Impatiently, Fatty asked, "How long do we have to wait before we can lift the net?"
He was the only complete novice here; the others, to varying degrees, had some experience.
"Let's wait for an hour. I'll make a few more rounds in the area to see if we can catch some more fish in the nets."
"Let me take the wheel and give it a try," Ye Yaodong said eagerly.
Ah Guang looked at him suspiciously, "Can you do it?"
"How can a man say he can't? Don't underestimate me.”
Ah Zheng grinned and said, "Haha, Yaodong already has two sons. None of you have as many as him, so you definitely can't match his skills!"
"Is having two sons something impressive?"
"It's better than not being able to get married like you!"
"Damn it!"
Being hit again, Ah Guang looked depressed.
In this era, rural areas place great emphasis on having sons to carry on the family line. Right, it is considered impressive to have two sons...
Moreover, nowadays, it is not allowed to have a second child if the firstborn is a son. The policy permits having a second child only if the firstborn is a daughter, and there must be a five-year gap before another child can be born.
Unless you hide and secretly give birth, but even then, you will be fined when registering the child in the household registration.
With a large group of people, it was inevitable for some playful banter. Everyone laughed and joked while waiting on the boat for quite some time. Seeing that it was about time, Ye Yaodong instructed Ah Guang to start pulling up the net.
As he had expected, the net didn't yield a big catch. After all, valuable goods were not available every day; it required some luck.
The net only contained a few shrimps, swimming crabs, stone crabs, small fish, and miscellaneous fish. There was only a few jin of catch, leaving everyone somewhat disappointed.
Ye Yaodong consoled them, saying, "We are fishing too close to the shore in this area, so it's normal to have a small catch. Even if it's just a little, we can still take the catch home and have a meal."
Fatty, feeling somewhat discontented, "How about we sail a bit further out?"
“That's fine. Since it's almost low tide after pulling up the net, let's sail a bit further out to sea, make a round, and then come back to cast the net again."
The boat's engine emitted a heavy clattering sound, and a few people sat bored on the deck.
Ah Wei said boredly, "If I knew earlier, I would have brought out a deck of cards to play."
"You're always playing cards. Aren't you tired of it? Besides, can you handle playing under this scorching sun?" Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes in response.
"Well, it's better than just sitting here and getting sunburned!"
"Instead of cards, we should have brought a cooking pot. After we get off the boat, we can bury the pot and cook our food. We'll have a fresh and hot meal."
Ah Zheng's eyes lit up, "That's a good idea. If only we had brought a cooking pot."
It's a pity that gas tanks are not widely available yet. Otherwise, they could have placed a small gas tank on the boat and enjoyed freshly caught and cooked seafood. It would have been incredibly delicious.
"We didn't think of it earlier, but it's too late now. We'll consider it next time."
After waiting for over an hour with nothing much to do, everyone lost their sense of direction at sea. It was only when they started pulling up the net again that they realized they had circled back to their starting point.
Once again, the net didn't yield any valuable goods. It contained the same items as before, just in slightly larger quantities.
"We only have this little amount! We won't even earn back the cost of the boat."
"Sigh, I mustered up the cheek to come along, but why didn't we have any good luck today?" Fatty said with a regretful expression.
"It's normal, isn't it? If there were big catches near the shallow waters, who would bother sailing further out? They'd rather save on fuel costs.”
After catching so many mackerels yesterday, Ye Yaodong and a few others were quite content. They didn't have high expectations of encountering the same luck today; they simply wanted to try their luck once again.
If they caught something, it would be great. If not, it didn't matter much either way. They could still earn enough for a meal and enjoy their time exploring the sea.
"Alright, if there's no catch, then there's no catch. It's normal. The tide has already started receding, and by 12 o'clock, it will be at its lowest. I'll head straight to the shore.”
They moored the boat onto the reef, and one by one like dumplings being dropped into a pot, they jumped into the water with their respective tools and buckets. In the process, they also secured the boat tightly to the reef.
"Damn it, this reef is densely packed, there are a lot of goods!"
"Yaodong wasn't wrong after all. There really are plenty of things on the rocks of this isolated island.”
Ye Yaodong smiled and replied, "Of course. The reefs outside our pier are frequented by people every few days, so there wouldn't be much left. But on this isolated island, no one has ever been here before. It's no wonder it's filled with treasures."
As far as his eyes could see, there were dense clusters of mussels and sea melon seeds, each one large in size. There were also numerous baby clams and various types of snails clinging to the rocks.
"Damn, this whole area is filled with abalone!"
"I've got plenty of sea cucumbers here..."
"Damn, wild abalones..."
(end of this chapter)
***
Goddes Mazu: ....I'm not wanted anymore? _｡ﾟ( ﾟஇ‸இﾟ)ﾟ｡_
Sea God: My time to shine ⌐ ͡ ■ ͜ʖ ͡ ■)
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