Back to the small fishing village in 1982

Chapter 1013 Unloading (7000 words)
Ye Yaodong cut the red paper and folded a two-yuan banknote on each piece of red paper. He then folded the red paper into squares and put a dozen of them in his pocket.

Only when the fishing boat had passed the town's port and would reach the village's dock in about half an hour did he go back to the cabin, wake up the snoring boatmen, and ask them to prepare to dock.

"You can pack your luggage. We will be home in half an hour at most. You can move the goods out of the fish warehouse in advance and put them on the deck so that they can be easily moved to the receiving ship later."

"Oh, okay, okay..."

Everyone sat up immediately, some putting on clothes, some putting on pants.

Ye Yaodong also gave each of them a red envelope that he had prepared in advance, and they were all so happy that they couldn't stop smiling.

Originally, they were paid for going out to sea, but now they receive a red envelope every time they go out to sea. It is a pleasant surprise. Two dollars is almost equivalent to their one-day wages.

"It's been a tiring trip. I can buy a pound or two of meat for my meal when I get back."

"Haha, you are kind-hearted. You are doing what we are supposed to do."

"It's hard to make money. At our age, we are lucky to still be able to make money."

Everyone’s face was filled with joy. Although they hadn’t eaten dinner that night, they were instantly filled with energy.

After they went out to the fish warehouse to move the goods with great enthusiasm, Ye Yaodong immediately took out the cloth bag he had prepared and swept all the money in the locked iron box under the bed into the cloth bag.

This is the revenue from the sea and the sales from the shops in the city for this week.

He grabbed the coins and put them into the bag, making a rustling sound, but the roar of the machine covered up the sound, and only he could hear it.

I didn't make much money on this trip. I only caught a lot of fish from the school of fish brought by the killer whales. They were all horsehead fish, which were quite valuable when sold.

Although the fishing nets cast at other times also yielded a lot of catches, there were relatively few good catches. Many were cheap mass-market items that cost only a few cents, so one could only rely on quantity, and most of the time one could only make more money by relying on quantity.

After deducting expenses, they probably only earned a little over 2000 yuan, mainly because they stopped working for most of the day yesterday to salvage goods from the sunken ship at sea. In addition, they had collected goods from the past three days, and except for the valuable ones that were sent to the city to sell, tens of thousands of kilograms were kept back, so they sold several hundred pounds less here.

Compared with the money sent home a few days ago, the store's turnover has also decreased by more than half. The last time, there were dried sea slugs for sale, and most of the money was earned from selling this.

This time, the sales in a week were only a few thousand yuan. The shopping desire after the New Year was a bit low, probably because the New Year goods bought before the New Year have not been eaten yet.

Anyway, it’s not bad. Now I start to dry the tens of thousands of kilograms of goods that I bring home. The cost has been reduced by at least half, which means more net profit.

After he packed all the money, he took off his sweater and hung the backpack on his body. Then he put on the sweater again, hid the money inside his clothes, and then put on his cotton jacket and went out.

They carried baskets out in groups of two. There was already a lot of groceries piled on the deck, and now it looked even fuller.

Ah Guang leaned against the side of the boat with a thoughtful expression on his face, looking at the twinkling lights in the distance receding.

He walked over and asked softly, "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about what to do. Otherwise, I feel like a loser just sitting at home taking care of my wife and kids, living off them."

If Ye Yaodong didn't know that he was talking about him, he would have thought he was making a veiled attack.

After quietly cursing "Sai Linmu" in his heart, Ye Yaodong spoke.

"Don't be so ungrateful. You are the only child of a lucky man. You don't have to do anything at home to have money, and yet you call yourself a loser."

"I really feel that way. Some of you are going out to sea, some are opening shops, but I am staying at home every day. My father is still working very hard, and it is almost time for him to retire."

"When you have a son, your father will probably be able to let you follow him without worrying about anything else. It is certain that the son will inherit the father's business. You are your father's only son, so the family boat will definitely be given to you to drive. He will definitely not be able to do it for more than a few years."

"I understand that, but I'm thinking about you setting up a workshop and opening a shop to sell dried fish and fish sauce, and doing all these things in a formal way. I'm also thinking about whether I should do something too."

"You can't compare. I have people to help me run a workshop and a shop. There are my mother, my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, my wife, and my sisters-in-law at home. Everyone who can help me is helping me. Otherwise, I can't handle it by myself."

"So, I feel that children without mothers are quite pitiful. With a mother around, at least she can hold up half the sky. She doesn't have to help with the housework, but just taking care of things is enough."

"That's true."

Ye Yaodong agreed very much. Although his mother was talkative and loved to show off, sometimes just lending a hand could save him a lot of trouble. The old woman had many skills and should not be underestimated.

"Let's talk about it later. Huimei hasn't given birth yet. We can't leave her alone in the city. I have to accompany her first and help you do some free work."

"I don't pay for my work!"

Ah Guang rolled his eyes at him and said, "Do I need your money?"

"Then go and help carry it. Don't stand here and think about life." Ye Yaodong raised his chin towards the workers who were busy moving the goods, motioning for him to join in.

"Together."

A Guang grabbed his cotton jacket and forced him to go to work with him.

They didn't stop until only the aisles on both sides were left on the deck, and the fishing boat was not far from the shore.

From afar, they could see the twinkling lights of the fishing village. The workshops not far from the shore were still brightly lit. The orange light allowed them to see clearly from a distance. The people inside were bustling about, all still busy and had not yet left work.

However, there was no one waiting on the shore, and no light from the flashlight was seen.

But after a while, as their fishing boat slowed down and got closer, several flashlights lit up at the workshop door, and then moved all the way to the dock. Perhaps someone had been sitting at the door watching the sea, and happened to see the light of their fishing boat, so he hurried out to receive the goods.

Father Ye slowed down, found a good spot and stopped next to the Harvest. After waiting for a short while, two fishing boats on the shore came out to pick up the cargo.

"Brother Dong, you guys are here too late, aren't you? When Uncle Pei got home this afternoon, he said you guys should arrive before dark, just like last time. But we waited and waited but didn't see the boat. Fortunately, everyone in the workshop was busy, so no one had time to think about it."

"Well, it took a while, please help pick up the goods first."

"Are two boats enough? If not, come over later to deliver another batch."

"Wait and see, there will be more things today..."

Wang Guangliang and his friends were driving the boat that belonged to his eldest and second brothers, and some that he rented to them. Anyway, they only went out to pick up cargo every few days, and between the brothers, no one cared about it.

There were more than ten tons of cargo on the ship, filling up two large ships. He originally wanted to take the quilts off the ship, but found that there was no place to put them. There were seafood everywhere, and the quilts would become fishy if they were touched by anything.

This is all I can do today. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning when I wake up and pull the quilt back.

After all the cargo was moved, he and his father checked to see if there was anything else missing from the ship, then locked up the cabins that needed to be locked and climbed onto the waiting fishing boat.

They had already sailed back on a boat. When they arrived, his mother on the shore was directing a group of women to help unload the goods. They were all familiar faces working in the workshop. There were also several older children in the family, who were also laughing and very active.

"The workshop hasn't closed yet, mother?"

"Why get off work? We have to kill fish all night long. Otherwise, how can we kill all those tens of thousands of kilograms of fish? In the afternoon, my in-laws weighed the fish he brought back and found that there were 1 kilograms of fish and more than 8 kilograms of sundries."

"You've brought back tens of thousands of kilograms of goods, at least 60,000 or 70,000 kilograms. How did you kill them all? The weather is getting a little warmer now. The wind is only cool at night. It's getting hot during the day. What if so much goods go bad?"

"We'll have to call dozens more women to help kill the fish tomorrow. There won't be enough space to dry the fish. In a couple of days, any empty space will be used to dry the fish."

"You're either sitting at home with nothing to do, or you're so busy that you can't even sleep..."

After talking to him, Ye's mother called out to a woman and asked her to help her move the goods.

"Hurry up, move these things first, then go back and continue killing fish..."

"Put them on the ground when they are full. The cart is too small to hold a few baskets. Fortunately, it is close and we can come and pull them later..."

Standing on the shore, Ye Yaodong felt that the sea breeze was not as cold and biting. Although it was still cool, it was much better than the sea. The temperature had risen a lot in just a few days.

"Let's bring the tractor over here. How long will it take to carry all these loads with a flatbed truck? A tractor can carry more, so it will be faster if we make more trips."

Ye's mother was reluctant to do so and quickly turned around to refute, "That will cost money for gas, we can just use the cart to make a few more trips."

"How much fuel will it consume? It's such a short distance, and the cart can only carry a small amount of fish per trip. How much time will it take to go back and forth? How many fish will be lost? It's faster to use a tractor, so I can free up my hands to go back and kill fish."

"Okay, okay, okay, you kids go and drive the tractor over here..."

Wang Guangliang sent his cousin to drive the tractor, and he continued to help on the side, muttering, "I told you in the afternoon to drive the tractor faster, but my aunt scolded me."

"Don't pay attention to her. My mother is just worried about the gas money. If you tell her that it will only cost a few cents to transport all these goods, she won't be worried anymore."

"Hey."

Everyone was moving goods back and forth between the boat and the shore, muttering to themselves, "There are so many goods," and so on, creating a lot of noise.

But you can see that everyone is very happy. It will take a few days to kill so many goods, and we can work for a few days in a row.

These women who were called here to work were all temporary workers, and were paid by the day. After all, as his mother had just said, when they had nothing to do, they would sit at the door and swat mosquitoes, and when they were busy, they couldn't even get any sleep.

Of course it is more cost-effective to pay people for each day's work. You can't just invite people to sit there and swat mosquitoes. In addition to the group of younger brothers he brought with him, they have to take turns watching over the workshop 24 hours a day, so their wages must be calculated on a monthly basis.

If he really gets a fresh-fish-collecting boat, and it docks every other day, there will be work to do every day, and there will be a steady supply of fish to kill every day, then he will have to hire regular employees.

After moving most of the goods, he stood aside and watched, and by the way, he looked at the workshop not far in front. The dried fish workshop always had a large nylon bag on the top to prevent sudden rain, but the newly built workshop next to it did not have that.

We have to rearrange the work in the next two days, otherwise there will be a lot of rain in spring and it will be Qingming Festival in a few days, and it will definitely rain.

If we are caught off guard, it will be troublesome to collect tens of thousands of kilograms of goods, and it will take a long time to collect them all.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh. He would be busy in the next few days and could no longer wander around the house and rest like he did in the past few days.

A group of people with flashlights were moving and lifting things at the dock. Carts and tractors were coming and going. It took several trips to pull all the cargo from the two ships to the workshop and unload them.

He stood at the dock and watched until all the fish were moved in, and then he moved the boxes of canned fish. He asked everyone to move them all onto the tractor, and he climbed on and drove the tractor to the gate of the yard.

His return made too much noise, and the neighbors knew that he had brought back a bunch of goods, so they went wherever there was a commotion, and when they saw the lights on the workshop, they stood at the door of the workshop, watching and talking.

The tractor drove straight past the workshop entrance. Everyone just turned around to take a look and then continued pointing at the goods all over the floor, talking and pointing, and kept shouting, "Mom, do you need any more help?"

The children in the house had heard the sound of the tractor for a long time and were used to it. They ran out of the door to take a look and then went back in. They didn't even run up to him and call him Uncle San.

"Damn it... those little bastards are too realistic. They knew I came back from the sea and I didn't have any gifts for them, so they stopped coming near me."

Lin Xiuqing was originally counting goods in the workshop. When she saw the tractor passing by, she trotted back home and said with a smile from behind.

"You are going to work at sea, not to go far away to make a lot of money. They all know that. They came close to them a few days ago and got nothing. Of course, they are no longer interested in novelty."

"The girls in the family have all gone to the workshop to help kill the fish. Only a few boys have not finished their homework and are still doing it at home. The adults in the family are too busy to take care of them, so they played until they were beaten just now and then came back to do their homework."

"You deserve to be punished. Next time if you don't want to do your homework, I will send you all to work in the workshop."

"They should be very happy. What are those boxes of stuff on your tractor?"

"Help me move it down first and carry it into the house." Ye Yaodong said as he climbed onto the tractor, took down the stacked goods, and placed them on the edge for her to catch.

After his father had just finished delivering the goods, he went to the workshop to count the goods and also took a look at the goods that Pei's father brought back in the afternoon.

Lin Xiuqing rolled up her sleeves and took it. "There's no room in the house. They're all bags of dried fish. We can only put them in the yard."

"Then put it in the yard first."

The old lady had walked to the workshop with a cane earlier, and now she walked back slowly, watching the couple busying themselves.

"Why are you in such a hurry to move? Do you want to go home and eat first? Are you hungry? It's already dark when you come back. It's already this late. You should eat first or you won't starve."

"It's okay, we'll finish the work, the cargo has been almost unloaded, that's all."

"What are these boxes of stuff? Where did you bring them back?"

The old lady looked around slyly, then whispered, "Are you also doing smuggling?"

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes at her, "What nonsense are you talking about? You're old, and you still know this?"

"I know a lot. The women in the workshop tell me everything every day. There is nothing in the village that I don't know."

"That's amazing! At your age, you already have a position in the Intelligence Bureau?"

"Ah, I heard it when I was just walking around in the sun. The workshop will be busy again in the next few days, and I can learn a lot of things..."

Ye Yaodong couldn't help laughing. He didn't expect that even at his old age, he was still so gossipy that he could even infiltrate the village intelligence bureau and maybe even get first-hand information.

"Then what should I say? Who knows whether what those people said is true or not? Just listen to it. You really didn't do smuggling?" She asked the last sentence in a low voice, still struggling with this issue.

"No, don't worry, I'm an honest man, don't make wild assumptions and believe whatever others say. Just listen to what the women outside say casually."

"I think so too. You have always been very well behaved and you will definitely not do such a thing."

"Yes, so if you like to be lively, you can kill time by listening to those people talking, but just listen to the noise."

"Hey, okay..."

Lin Xiuqing smiled as she moved the goods and said, "When she has nothing to do, she likes to go to the workshop. When there are many people working in the workshop, she will move a stool and sit by the side to listen, and by the way, she will listen to people say a few good words and praise her."

"I am very popular now. A few days ago, when they were working, I brought a radio over to play music for them. They were very happy. They had work to do and a radio to listen to. They looked forward to my visit every day."

Ye Yaodong also laughed and teased the old lady, "So popular? If you don't want to tell me gossip, then tell me, what do people praise you for?"

"Haha, people always praise me for looking younger and younger, and getting better at dressing up. The clothes I wear are prettier than those worn by young wives, red, green, and full of flowers."

"Oh, he also praised me for being more energetic after my teeth healed, and said that I could live to be 100 years old. He also said that I would definitely be able to see five generations of our family living together, and that I would be able to hold my great-grandson in my arms in a few years..."

"All the old men and women in the village don't enjoy as much happiness as I do, and none of them have as good a life as I do."

The old lady's face was broadly smiling, and the orange light in the room was reflected, making her complexion look rosy and energetic.

"Is this a good fate? Tomorrow I'll let you wear gold and silver, that's a good fate."

Thinking of this, Ye Yaodong was also wondering whether he should make a gold ring, gold necklace, gold earrings, etc. for the old lady, and also a set for A Qing and his mother.

Which woman doesn't like jewelry? From old to young.

The price of gold is only a few dollars now. It is valuable and can be worn when you buy it.

She is already old, and has never enjoyed any happiness or worn gold or silver. Now that she is old, she has to make arrangements.

In his previous life, he only lived until 1987, and this year is 1985. Thinking of this, his heart tightened. He decided to see if he had any time in the next two days. If he went to the county town, he could stop by if he had extra time. If he didn't have extra time, he could go to the town. Their town was much more lively than the county town.

The old lady was so happy with what he said, "Hahaha, wearing gold and silver? Then everyone's eyes will be on me~"

"Just wait, everyone will envy you to death later."

"Okay, okay~"

The couple were moving things one by one while receiving them the other, and the three of them were talking and chatting there. The atmosphere was particularly warm and harmonious, and it took a while to unload half of the truck's boxes into the yard.

Lin Xiuqing wiped the sweat from her forehead and said, "These are all canned fish? I just saw them."

"Ah."

"Did you go into the water and find the shipwreck from a few days ago?"

"Yes, I'll tell you more about it later. This big bag of clothes is for you to wash. You can also take the suitcase in. I'll drive the tractor back to the workshop and visit it while I'm at it."

"Oh, okay. Then come over early to eat after you take a look. I'll heat up the food quickly."

"understood."

The old lady also shouted, "Come back early to eat, don't starve..."

What the elderly care about most is whether they have enough to eat and whether they are warmly dressed.

The group of women in the workshop had all sat down and started working with great enthusiasm. They all wore gloves on their hands and scraped the fish scales with knives. They kept whispering to each other, creating a lot of noise.

Ye Yaodong first looked at the goods that his family had unloaded, then walked to his father, looked at the goods that Uncle Pei had unloaded in the afternoon, and asked a few questions casually.

"There are quite a lot of goods..."

"I just looked at the stock my in-laws brought back this afternoon. They've killed quite a few, but there are still about 3 kilograms left. Adding what we brought back, it's really too much..."

"I've already made an agreement with mom. We'll kill them all tonight and call another group of people to take over tomorrow morning. Otherwise, we won't be able to finish killing them all."

"That's good! With so much stuff, it will take several days and nights to kill. More people should hurry up to clean it up, dry it and store it, in case the weather is bad next time."

"Ah."

He took a casual look and went to the workshop on the other side. There were several people in the warehouse carrying and pickling things back and forth, and his mother was there too.

According to his mother, since everyone next door was staying up all night killing fish, they might as well ask someone to do it here. The work of fermenting fish sauce is not more troublesome than killing fish. It is much easier and it certainly cannot be finished in one night. It is better to finish it sooner so that we can feel relieved sooner.

Ye Yaodong looked at the empty space at the corner, where there was a row of two or three hundred large vats, and said something nonsense.

"Has the big vat been delivered?"

"It has been delivered. I asked the guys in the workshop to urge for the delivery when they went to the county to deliver the fish sauce two days ago. It was delivered the day before yesterday."

"That saves me a trip, and the goods I brought back this time can be put to good use."

"It's almost ready for use. There are still a dozen barrels in the vacant lot next door that can't be filtered yet. They have to wait until next month when they are filtered and packaged before they can be moved over for use."

He nodded. If his mother could occasionally take time to come over and make arrangements, he could really save a lot of trouble. His mother was very familiar with some of the women in the village, and many things were very easy to arrange.

His mother deserves the primary credit for the fact that the fish sauce workshop is now running smoothly.

A Guang is right, children without mothers are so pitiful.

After inspecting the workshop, Ye's father came over to find him again, "Are you done? If you are, come home for dinner."

"Okay, let's go."

He responded and walked out, but after walking a short distance, he turned back and called his mother, and took out some remaining red envelopes that he had prepared in his pocket.

"Mom, come out for a moment..."

"Here are a few red envelopes. You can give them to the boatmen on Uncle Pei's side later..." He also gave his mother a string of names.

Mother Ye took the pile of red envelopes with both hands in confusion, "What are you doing? There is too much money, and you are giving out red envelopes again? Why didn't you give me some? You gave them to outsiders... The people on his side are none of your business..."

"Why are you complaining? I asked you to give a red envelope, so you gave it. Why are you still talking so much? Go back later and let Dad talk to you again."

After Ye Yaodong said this casually, he followed his father out again. Ye's mother hurriedly chased after him with the red envelope.

"What did you do again?"

"Uncle Pei and his crew helped me a lot while we were at sea, so I'm grateful to them."

Mother Ye was nervous, "Are you in danger?"

"No, don't think too much. Didn't we just see a lot of boxes being unloaded from the ship? Aren't you still asking what they are? It was Uncle Pei's people who helped to salvage them."

"Oh, I'm glad they're not in danger. I'll take them there now, before they all go to sleep. What's in your boxes?"

"What are you curious about? Let dad tell you when we get back."

"You're being mysterious all day long, and you still have to go home and talk about it..."

Mother Ye glanced at the little boy and muttered a few words, then she separated from the father and son and went to the village.

As they walked, Ye Yaodong talked to his father about buying nylon bags to use as a rain awning and putting it up on the roof of the fish sauce workshop. He was ready to hand this over to his father as he was too busy.

He has to go to the county town to see Director Chen early tomorrow morning, and go to the shipyard to discuss the plan of collecting fresh fish ships. Then he has to go to Lin Ji to deal with the batch of canned fish in the yard. He doesn't know if anyone is at home.

Then I have to see if I am free in the next two days. If I am free, I have to call all my cousins ​​to talk about repairing the tomb.

Father Ye nodded and agreed, knowing that he was very busy.

"Also, by the way, go ask the carpenter if the sign plaque I want is ready?"

"Got it, is there anything else?"

"Yes, remember to collect the quilts on the boat tomorrow and let A-Qing hang them out to dry. If there's anything else I can't remember at the moment, I'll tell you when I remember it."

"Ah."

Father Ye now completely follows his lead and at most expresses his opinions occasionally.

…………

(End of this chapter)