Back to the small fishing village in 1982

Chapter 1008: Going to the Place Where the Cargo Ship Sinks (7000 words)
Ye Yaodong was used to talking back, and his father didn't think there was anything wrong with him driving him away.

But when he stood up, he was still mumbling, "People are not as good as fish. If I had known earlier, I would have taken more photos during the New Year's photo shoot, so that you wouldn't have wasted time on the fish. You shouldn't have been reluctant to let go..."

"No matter what you get, you're always extravagant and you'll waste it in no time. I don't know how much the camera film costs. One photo costs one dollar..."

"How many photos did you take just now? You are so extravagant and don't take your life seriously. How can you afford to spend your money like this? Why don't you take some useful photos? I wanted to tell you last time, but you forgot because of those manta rays..."

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes, and after his father came out, he quickly squeezed into the cockpit.

Father Ye seemed to be possessed by Mother Ye. I don’t know if it’s because he’s old, but he always likes to nag.

"Save some for next year. Don't take pictures anymore. Take a few pictures next year and the year after. Be frugal and a roll of film can be used for a few more years..."

Still thinking about using it for a few more years?

"Are you hungry? Are you thirsty?"

Father Ye smacked his chapped lips twice and felt a little dry in the mouth.

"Then you need to store your camera carefully. It will get wet easily when you take it to the sea and it will break in two and a half seconds. I'm going to eat first. You can start fishing right away. I'll go down and ask someone to prepare it."

"Ah."

He heaved a sigh of relief and glanced at his father's back. He wanted to take more photos of them during the New Year, but he was reluctant to take photos of them. When he took the photos of the fish, he would tell the story again.

It's really not easy to be someone's son or grandson.

Seeing that the boatman on the deck was ready, he immediately took control of the net.

His father had never left this sea area before and had been circling around it. As expected, the net was broken when it was pulled up. The red horsehead fish appeared from the mouth of the net as soon as it was lifted out of the water, and it looked particularly beautiful in the sun.

Father Ye also said happily below, "Another bumper harvest that went viral online."

He learned the term "Baowang" from Ye Yaodong. He didn't know when the term became popular and villagers in the village would talk about it from time to time, probably because it was appropriate.

A word that is practical, simple and appropriate can easily spread in life.

"This net must have weighed four or five thousand kilograms..."

"It should be about the same. It looks better than the last one..."

"Pour it out and take a look, and you'll know roughly..."

"We still have to wait and see after we finish sorting. There are a lot of useless groceries. We have to see if there are many that can be sold. The large amount online doesn't mean anything."

After Ye Yaodong and others lowered the fishing net again, he walked out of the cockpit and stood on the rudder tower looking down. Five people, including his father, were squatting there picking up the catch.

There is a bamboo basket next to each person, and everyone starts picking with both hands at the same time. They are extremely efficient and act as if they are racing against time. The sooner they finish sorting and cleaning up, the sooner they can rest.

Each basket is filled with horsehead fish, which is also a common deep-sea fish. It is beautiful and delicious. Local people usually use it to stew rice wine or cook fish soup, or steam it, or dry-fry it or braise it. The fish meat is very tender and smooth.

If this fish is purchased by a fresh fish collection boat, it will be only a little over ten cents, but it is much better than other goods. It can be said that it is not as good as the best, but better than the worst. One time, about a thousand kilograms can be caught, which is a very good harvest.

The deck was full of what they had raked up. It looked like the pile was probably more than 1000 kilograms. Each person had a basket and had almost finished picking them all, and there were still quite a few bright red ones.

The profit from this network should be around 200 yuan.

Thanks to the humpback whales for disrupting the killer whales' feeding, they were able to get some of the scavenging.

The people below were picking and chatting, whispering. Ye Yaodong watched for a while and then returned to the cockpit to avoid being blown by the cold wind on the sea.

By the way, out of boredom, he took out the note in his hand and compared it with the coordinates displayed on the instrument table. It seemed that the distance was not far away.

After all, they were on their way back when they encountered two boats. Although the operation was slow now, they still sailed for several hours at night before they cast the nets.

I was secretly looking forward to it. When I got closer, I would follow the coordinates and take a look.

Anyway, if he moved, the Harvest would keep a distance from him depending on the situation and accommodate him, and would not let the two ships be too far apart, so it didn't matter which ship was dominant.

If one boat is seen disappearing from sight, another boat will move closer. Everyone will accommodate each other without interfering with each other.

After Ye's father had picked up most of the fish below, he would let others continue to search. He would only come up to tell him what kind of fish there was and how many baskets there were when he had nothing to do.

17 baskets of horsehead fish were picked up, weighing about 1300 kilograms, and there were also about 200 kilograms of red shrimp, more than 100 kilograms of sword shrimp, more than 100 kilograms of white pomfret, dozens of kilograms of small yellow croaker, to kilograms of toad fish, and other scattered fish that could be sold, weighing about to kilograms.

"The catch was pretty good, about 6000 kilograms, and we probably had to dump out more than 2000 kilograms of miscellaneous small fish."

"What a pity..." Ye Yaodong felt extremely regretful. He had to throw away so many things. They could be sold in the future.

In the past, a boat like theirs could only catch one or two thousand kilograms in one net. Now, at the best time, they can catch seven or eight thousand kilograms. If they are really lucky and encounter a school of fish, it is possible to catch tens of thousands of kilograms.

It’s just that they haven’t encountered a large school of fish that would allow them to catch tens of thousands of pounds.

It's all luck.

"What a pity! It's already very good. The useless stuff can be dumped back into the sea to feed some big fish. It will be like fertilizer and will help it grow faster."

"When we return, we'll dock in the city and sell the goods on the ship before going back. By the way, I have to go to the shipyard in the city to take a look."

Father Ye raised his eyebrows again and stared at him, "Why are you going to the shipyard in the city? Do you really want to build another ship to collect those junk? I thought you were just talking last time. If you really take it back, you won't even have enough money for the gas..."

"We don't specifically want to collect the junk. We just want to collect the good goods from our three ships. We also let them pick up the junk and ship it back together. This way, we can make money without wasting anything. We can also make a little more and expand the scale of the workshop."

The daily cargo of the three ships is not enough to fill up the fishing boats, and there will be no loss if the groceries are shipped back. Just selling the cargo of the three ships can make a profit.

Anyway, his own fresh-catch boat comes here every day to collect the catch, which can also bring a little extra income to the fishing boats.

There are quite a few fish in those groceries, but they can't be sold at a good price. Some of them are quite large, so they can be made into fish sauce or dried.

Those who are drying shrimps are drying shrimps, those who are drying dried mantis are drying dried mantis, nothing is wasted, and you can get meat from even the leanest groceries.

It's like hello, I'm fine, and everyone is fine.

Anyway, Aqing had agreed, so he just informed his father and didn't ask for his consent.

"Three more boats... The boat that you three brothers are jointly owning hasn't even been acquired yet, but you've already counted it..."

"Of course. I'm thinking ahead. I didn't count A Guang's aunt's boat and Uncle Zheng's boat. I've already calculated everything. I have a share in all three of them, and it's not a small share. I want to buy fresh goods from the three boats. Can you not let me buy the goods? Isn't this a sure thing?"

"Look for yourself. Look for yourself."

The last time I talked to him, he had been almost convinced, but he didn't expect it to be serious.

It's a property anyway, so let him do what he wants since he has the money. At the moment, it seems like the more he does, the better.

"I only know how to say it to you. Ah Qing has no objection. We have discussed it with my husband and I."

Ye's father waved his hand and stopped talking to him. He was going to the deck to chat with his old friends, which would make him feel more comfortable.

All the old sailors on the boat flattered him when he spoke to them, and of course he was happier talking to them.

As he gets older, he seeks more stability and is more content with the status quo. Now that everything is stable, he makes a lot of money every day and has a lot of assets. He feels that everything is good enough and he thinks it is unnecessary for Dongzi to continue to make trouble.

Poverty also limited his imagination. He didn't know how to spend the money he earned even if he was a millionaire with a monthly salary of over 10,000 yuan.

Ye Yaodong just told his father about it, and when they returned to the city and got ashore, he had to ask his father to watch over the boat.

After the comparison, you can make up your mind immediately when you get home. The sooner you decide, the sooner you can receive the goods.

The fishing boat continued to operate slowly on the sea. It seemed a bit boring without anything special happening. The simple ashtray made of iron sheet on the operating table was already filled with many cigarette butts.

It is also gradually increasing as time goes by.

The cockpit was also filled with smoke. It was not until he was about to raise the net again that he walked out of the cockpit, poured out the cigarette butt, and let the air circulate inside.

After cleaning the deck, there was not much time left before the next net was brought up, so everyone stayed on the deck to chat, eat seafood, and enjoy the scenery.

Father Ye was surrounded by everyone on the deck, talking and laughing. He smiled so brightly that his yellowed teeth almost reached behind his ears.

At this time, the sun had already hidden in the thick clouds. It was only 3 o'clock in the afternoon, but it looked like it was almost evening and it felt like dark was not far away.

He just came out and shouted, and when everyone was ready, he went back to the cockpit. But in just a short while, his hair had been blown into sunflowers.

My uncle got a haircut in the first month of the lunar year. He didn't have a short haircut before the New Year, so he let it grow longer and combed it into a big backcombed hair for the New Year. Now it's even longer.

He grabbed his hair and started to cast the net.

Until night falls, everyone repeats the day's work and goes to bed according to their schedule after dinner.

They were also getting farther and farther away from the coordinates that Ye Yaodong was thinking about.

After two days of fishing according to the routine, the fish warehouse was full, so they thought of contacting a fresh fish collection ship to come and collect the fish. Because it was cold, they could temporarily pile up the fish on the deck when a few nets were caught.

The last time the seafood-collecting boat was captured, we don’t know if it has been released. We can take this opportunity to see if we can contact it. If we can’t, we can try another one so that they can find out.

"After we negotiate compensation, he should be released, right?"

"Their behavior can be considered an assault on police officers. They don't have the final say on how they are released. We'll know once Uncle Pei contacts us whether the person has been released or not."

"Fortunately, the seafood collecting boat was in a better condition than the other boat. The boat was saved and did not sink into the sea."

"The other boat sank directly to the bottom of the sea. Apart from other things, it was definitely a total loss. The seafood collection boat did not sink, but it is hard to say whether it was really saved."

"Have you forgotten? The entire ship's cargo was confiscated. It can be said that at least half of their wealth was lost. The shareholders of that ship should also be earning wages on the ship, and they also had a share in the attack on the police. It's normal to just lock you up for ten days or half a month, fine you a large sum of money, and then release you."

"The goods are gone, half of my wealth is gone, and I have to pay a huge fine. This is not much better than the ship sinking. I will have to borrow a lot of money to start a comeback. But with the current conditions of each family, who has the money to borrow?"

"People in the city may not be able to easily lend out a few thousand or a few hundred yuan to others, not to mention that those who do this are fishermen, and most of them are very poor."

Father Ye nodded, "That's right, it's the same thing. Probably all the money they've earned in the past few years will be lost. But since they can get a fresh boat, it means they know people and boats. If they borrow a little bit from everywhere and ask relatives for help, they should be able to do it again..."

"You think too simply, Dad. For a whole shipload of goods, I don't say it's a lot, but at least 10,000, right? They have one freshwater fishing boat docking with seven trawlers."

"If we count him as five shareholders, each of them has to borrow at least 5 yuan, and the premise is that they have enough money on hand to pay the fine. But you can't go out to sea to collect goods with only 2000 yuan. What if someone has more goods? Which ship will owe you money? This person has to borrow at least 1 yuan."

"It's already a lot for us rural relatives to borrow 3000 or yuan. No one's money comes from the wind. For yuan, I probably have to borrow from all my relatives and friends, and I may not be able to borrow it, not to mention that the money needed will only be more. Borrowing money is a big problem."

Although the reform and opening up have been carried out for several years, most families have just achieved food and clothing, but they definitely do not have much savings. Moreover, small household appliances are on the rise and every family has a need for them, so it is not easy to borrow large sums of money.

Father Ye sighed, "If this man gets unlucky, no amount of money will be enough to support him. He has worked hard for several years, but now he is back to the days before liberation. He has bad luck and has to start all over again."

"So, I have to make more money. There is nothing that cannot be without money, and there is nothing that cannot be without illness."

"If they are really detained and fined, even if they are released and the fishing boat is returned, they will not be able to go out to sea in the short term."

"Yes."

"This also allows us to learn a lesson. At sea..."

Just as the father and son were talking, the sound of a connection came from the radio.

Pei's father was also talking about the seafood collection ship. The seafood collection ship that was used a few days ago could not be contacted, so he contacted a new seafood collection ship.

Just as they expected.

After the connection was cut off, Father Ye couldn't help but say, "If they don't want to do it after they are released, they can just sell the boat. It will be much easier for you to take it over."

"You're dreaming, Dad. We don't know them. If they really want to sell it, it won't be our turn. Their relatives and friends can buy it together. What's more, they have already done it and know the profit. Who would be willing to sell the boat directly?"

"That's right. Never mind. Then when you get back, go to the shipyard in the city and take a look."

They contacted the fresh-catch boat in the morning, and it wasn't until the afternoon that the boat came to take away the full warehouse and deck of goods. The two-day trawling results were just over 2000 yuan, and he also spent 890 yuan on gas and ice.

After deducting the expenses for gas and ice in town, I made a net profit of five or six hundred yuan in two days.

However, there will be no expenses for the next two or three days at sea. If we can sell more than 2000 in the next two or three days, it will be pure profit, but we still have to continue to add oil and ice.

It's also because the storage capacity of their fishing boats is too small, the technology is not that advanced now, and the amount of fish caught every day is huge, so they contact the fresh-catch boats frequently, and they only add small amounts and ice multiple times.

The two fishing boats worked in coordination with each other on the sea, casting net after net, 24 hours a day without stopping. They worked for three consecutive days. After selling the cargo on the boats again, they had been out for 5 days.

The fishing boats are also preparing to start their return journey, but on the way back, they will definitely work while returning. When the offshore waters are not deep enough and not suitable for fishing, they will collect the nets and speed back as fast as they can.

On the way back to trawling, his luck was not so good. The cabin was not full for the next two days, but it was much closer to the coordinates he was thinking about.

At this point, he estimated that if he drove at full speed to reach the city, it would only take two to three hours.

It was early morning, and when he was handing over his shift to his father, he specifically reminded his father before returning to bed not to stray too far from the coordinates. When he woke up and had lunch, it would be midday when the sun was at its highest, so it would be relatively friendly to go into the water.

Father Ye knew that he had been thinking about it for many days and had been talking about it since he got on the boat. However, he did not pretend to obey him and did as he said. He slowly approached the coordinates throughout the morning and would listen to his arrangements when he woke up.

He is very determined now. Even if he is not allowed to go into the water now, he will still go down next time.

Father Ye himself actually wanted to know whether anything could be salvaged. After all, he had seen the ship sink with his own eyes, so it was certain that there was something in the cabin.

Ye Yaodong was worried about something and couldn't fall asleep. In addition, the sound of the machine next to his ears made him not fall asleep at all. He just kept his eyes closed to rest.

Whether you can sleep or not, you have to close your eyes and conserve your energy.

After staying at home for two days, he finally regained some energy. However, during these few days at sea, he became listless and haggard again. He had a beard with stubble that he hadn't cleaned off, and he also had dark circles under his eyes. It was not easy to make money at sea.

It’s not too bad, he’s only going out to sea for a short period of time and will be back in a few days, so he can have some time to recuperate.

He closed his eyes and rested until he heard movement coming from other beds. Chen Shi and another boatman got up, so he sat up with them.

"Brother Dongdongdong? You... don't you want to... sleep for a while?"

"No, I've had enough sleep."

"We have work to do, why don't you get some more sleep?"

"It's okay, there's something else."

Father Ye couldn't help himself when he came over. "How about we wait until the weather is warm before going into the water? Anyway, since it's sunk there, if the Maritime Administration hasn't gone to salvage it, it must not be lost. After being stored in the sea for a few months, those cans will not go bad. They are all sealed."

"When we came out, I said I wanted to go down, but you told me to wait until we got back to go in the water. Now you're asking me to wait until it's hot. I've told you everything. What else can I say?"

"It's only the beginning of spring, but it's still very cold. It's easy to catch a cold when the seasons change. The sea breeze is still blowing at sea."

"It's okay. We're already here. Don't say anything. I'm a young man, strong and healthy. What's there to be afraid of? I'm not an old man like you. It's just a few days since it sank. Let's go down and take a look. After dinner, boil a pot of water. It will be fine when I come out of the water."

"Fine,"

In fact, he should not have listened to his father. He should have gone into the water to take a look when he just came out, when he was in good spirits and in strong physical condition. Anyway, he had some spare clothes with him, so he could just take a hot shower after getting ashore.

He simply washed up. There was still some goods that had not been sorted out on the deck. Most of them ate in shifts, and only occasionally would they eat together.

The three people who had just got up took advantage of the fact that the next net had not been collected yet, and the little cargo on the deck was more than enough for others, so they hurried to eat. After dinner, he planned to let his father pull up the net again.

After collecting it, they stopped lowering the net and slowly approached the coordinates of the sinking cargo ship nearby.

It just so happened that he was also calculating the time, and now the tide was receding.

This way the boatmen also had work to do, picking up cargo on the deck, and he would go into the water to check on the situation.

When Ye Yaodong thought of the good things waiting for him under the water, he became excited and energetic. He did not have any of the lethargy before sleeping. He just looked a little sloppy.

As soon as he finished his meal, he took over his father's job to pull up the nets. The boatmen also took turns, some eating while others pulling up the nets.

This net caught a lot of goods. It was estimated that the bag that was hung up weighed about four or five thousand kilograms, which should be enough to fill the cabin.

His mind was now completely focused on the water, so he didn't really care about the package of goods.

He had told the boatman in advance not to lower the fish down again after pulling it up, and then he slowed down and slowly moved towards the reef.

Father Ye also stood on the sea and watched until he saw the boat stop steadily. He then felt relieved and dropped the anchor to prevent the boat from drifting with the wind.

"Let's stop here first. I'll go down and take a look. If it's far away, we can move it a little further. It's normal for the coordinates to deviate when sailing on the sea."

"Then go down and take a look first. Go slowly and don't be in a hurry."

"Ah."

"Adong wants to go into the water?"

"I was wondering why you suddenly stopped fishing. The sea is colder than on land. It's just the beginning of spring, so it's so cold. You'll easily catch a cold. What are you going to do? The fishing net isn't hanging on the bottom, so it's nothing..."

"It's very dangerous under the sea. Didn't we see a big fish half the size of a boat the day before yesterday? What if you run into it when you go into the water? It can swallow you right away with its mouth open."

"No, as long as you don't provoke these big fish under the sea, they generally won't take the initiative to provoke humans. Sharks will only track you when they smell blood. If you want to give it to her to eat, she will probably think you are too small, but it's enough to fill her teeth."

Those big whales and big sharks look at you probably the same way you look at a toad on the ground, looking weird and difficult to eat.

"Why did you go into the water?"

Ye Yaodong felt that there was nothing to hide from them. "Didn't a cargo ship sink here a few days ago? Another seafood ship escaped safely..."

"Oh~ So you want to go down and take a look at the cargo ship?"

"We may not be able to see it, right? Even if we see it, we can't reach it. We can only go down to three or four meters, or four or five meters at most. The whole ship is more than 30 meters long and it is tilted and sinking, but who knows if it is tilted under the water? How much is the tilt?"

"Although there are reefs underneath, who knows how deep they are or where the ship sank. It's not easy to find the ship underwater with just a coordinate in the vast ocean."

"Let alone two or three hundred meters deep, if it's a hundred meters deep, you won't even be able to see a shadow."

Ye Yaodong shrugged. "It's okay. I'll go down and take a look. If we can't find it, we can change positions. I have a whole day to spend here. Don't talk for now. Organize the goods and help me move the things into the cabin."

Everyone worked together to half-drag and half-lift the machine he had hidden in the storage room of the cabin, which was almost like doing half a set of warm-up exercises.

Several boatmen looked at each other. Seeing that he had taken off his clothes and was only wearing long-sleeved shirt and long trousers, and said that he would spend the whole day, they knew that he was determined and there was no need to persuade him.

Father Ye also said: "If you want to go down, then go down and take a look. I will go and boil some hot water for you."

Anyway, I can earn decent money on this trip to the sea, so it’s okay to waste a whole day.

You can take your time during the day and wait until night time, then you can go to the city and cast another net.

After docking, we went to sell the goods in the early morning, and then went to the shipyard at daybreak.

Dongzi had already made all the arrangements himself, so he didn't want to persuade him anymore, because a grown-up son is no longer under the control of his father.

After Ye Yaodong took off all his clothes, he warmed up for a while to avoid cramps and high blood pressure before putting on his equipment and jumping into the water.

The moment he entered the water, he shivered violently from the cold. His whole body was tense, his scalp was numb, his teeth were chattering, but he couldn't speak.

Winter swimming does require great courage and perseverance.

After shivering for a while under the water, he quickly moved and stayed there for about five to eight minutes. His head was dizzy, his limbs were numb, and his breathing was rapid.

After waiting for a while and getting familiar with the water temperature, he stopped tiptoeing and swam slowly.

As he exercised more and kept diving deeper, the water temperature wasn't so cold anymore. His body gradually warmed up and his breathing quickened a bit.

His movements became more and more natural.

The sunshine in early spring can only be considered warm and gentle, not hot, so the light under the water is not as good as in summer.

After going down to five or six meters, he didn't see any trace of reefs around, so he knew he had found the wrong place.

He swung his flippers directly onto the shore and prepared to move forward. He had just checked and it was safe to move forward.

(End of this chapter)