Back to the small fishing village in 1982

Chapter 1193 Whale Falling
Ye Yaodong walked into the cabin trembling, put his clothes on the bed, and saw that Lin Guangyuan had already put on his clothes and wrapped himself in the quilt.

There was no one on the other beds. Everyone was standing on the deck and didn't come in. They had all gotten enough sleep and were looking at the fish on the sea curiously.

Such a big size is very rare.

"Are you okay? Drink some hot water."

"Fortunately, I took a shower and feel better." He said while sniffing his nose, "You should also take a shower and change clothes quickly, otherwise you will catch a cold."

"Ah."

Ye Yaodong first went to get himself some hot water, changed his clothes, and drank a sip of hot tea. Only then did he feel alive again. His teeth were chattering from the cold and he sneezed several times.

"What kind of fish is that, uncle? It's so big, and there are too many barnacles on it, right?"

"It's a kind of gray whale. My boat can't catch a gray whale that big."

"Oh, it's amazing. I was saved by a fish. How come this fish stays on the sea surface?"

"Who should you ask? Go to sleep. I'll call you when we get to shore."

It’s probably because of the barnacles all over the body.

"Okay, you want to sleep too?"

"Ah."

He was indeed tired after staying up all night and had just been frightened. Now he just wanted to have a good rest.

But he was also curious about the fish that everyone was watching outside, and was reluctant to go to sleep.

After pouring out the water, he also walked onto the deck.

Several boatmen were still pointing at the sea and moving closer to the side of the boat. They were worried that the fish would go crazy and kept their distance from it, but now they were not afraid anymore.

He also came over to take a look, listened to a few words and asked some questions.

“This fish has been following you?”

"Yes, it was following our three boats. We could have speeded up to get rid of them. We sped up in the front and slowed down in the back. We deliberately let it follow us."

"Did you deliberately give it a follow?"

Ye Yaodong felt the speed of the fishing boat and it seemed that it was not going very fast.

"I don't know if I should catch it, so I just keep following it..."

"It doesn't look like it will attack us. It's been following us for a long time and it seems like it will only bump into the boat occasionally."

“Have you ever seen a big fish attack a fishing boat?”

"Of course I've seen it before... but not this big. I don't know how long this fish will continue to follow..."

They were talking at once, and Ye Yaodong was a little confused. After thinking about it, he climbed up to the wheelhouse and asked.

It turned out to be Pei's father's idea. He said that the waves were not that big now and they were already near the coast. It seemed that the fish had been following them all the time, so it would be a pity to just let it go on its own.

So their plan now is to slow down and let the fish catch up, then find an island nearby to wait and see if the fish is stranded.

Ye Yaodong was also thinking about the barnacles all over its body, which he could clean if it ran aground.

Of course Chen Laoqi had no right to express his opinion, so he just listened to Father Ye and Father Pei.

When Father Ye met Father Pei, he naturally listened to Father Pei. He was also very curious. If such a big fish approached the island, would it be stranded directly like Father Pei said?

If the ship runs aground, they can use two boats to drag the big fish to the shore.

If one boat can't catch the fish, two or three boats can work together to find a way.

Ye Yaodong was surprised by Pei's father's boldness. He didn't expect that the two people's ideas were so different.

After thinking about it, I decided to wait until it runs aground. The barnacles on this gray whale are too dense. It won’t take long for it to find an island nearby while moving forward.

However, he was too tired now, having stayed up late and been frightened. He went into the water to soak for a while and didn't have the energy to wait there any longer.

So he just told Chen Laoqi to give it a try first, and if the fish was really stranded, to send someone to wake him up.

He returned to the cabin and took a nap.

Lin Guangyuan has fallen asleep.

After a while, his consciousness also became blurred.

The next time I woke up was by being shaken.

“Dong…Brother Dong…hurry up…he fell into the water…” Chen Shi shouted excitedly while shaking him.

Ye Yaodong was woken up in a daze, with a splitting headache, "What is that?"

"A whale...fell...into the sea."

"Why are you the one coming in to talk?" He rubbed his temple. He didn't even bother to send someone who could speak fluently when delivering the message, so he couldn't understand what he was saying.

"The fish...fell into the sea..."

"That gray whale fell into the sea? I'll go take a look."

He didn't understand what Chen Shi meant.

Ye Yaodong quickly put on his clothes and followed out. The fishing boat was now in the middle of the sea, but there was an island not far ahead.

At this time, the three boats were docked side by side, and everyone was talking there.

“I saw it fall straight down…”

"The water here isn't very deep, we can go down and take a look..."

Ye Yaodong listened to everyone's discussion and understood a little bit. It was the whale that had been following them that fell under the water, so they stopped the boat to wake him up.

He looked at Chen Laoqi who was also standing on the deck, "What do you mean? Can you tell me what's going on?"

"I couldn't see clearly from the cockpit, but just now the whale was following the fishing boat. Our three boats were leading it towards the island, but it was swimming slower and slower, so we all slowed down."

"But just now it suddenly disappeared, so we stopped the boat to take a look. The boatman who had been watching said that the fish had fallen in. It didn't swim or move, it just fell straight in."

Ye Yaodong was surprised for a moment, "Falling straight down? Whale fall?"

"What whale fall?"

"Are you sure it fell straight down?"

"Yes, yes, the water is very clear. I saw clearly that the fish was swimming beside the fishing boat, but its speed was getting slower and slower. Later it simply stopped moving and fell directly to the bottom of the water. I could also see that its belly was facing up." Xiao Wu said excitedly while gesturing.

"We saw it, too. We were just staring at the fish. It was swimming at first, and we saw it moving, but then it just stopped moving and fell into the water."

Ye Yaodong's heart beat faster, whale fall!

I have only heard of it but never seen it. Could it really be a whale fall?
"I'll crawl over and ask them."

He looked at the distance to the nearby boats and used a hook to hook the Harvest, bringing the two boats closer together to make it easier for him to climb over.

Father Pei was also talking to Father Ye. When he turned around and saw him coming, he told him.

"You came just in time. Everyone said that the fish fell overboard, probably dead, into the sea. We were originally planning to lure it to an island and strand it, but we didn't expect it to die before we even got to the island."

Ye's father also said, "My in-laws said that you have two diving equipment on your boat. It shouldn't be very deep down there. There is an island nearby, so they wanted to wake you up and ask two people to go down to see if the whale is really dead and fell into the sea."

"Did the people on your boat also see the fish falling straight down?"

"Yes, they were curious about this fish and followed us, bumping into us from time to time. Later, I also felt that the force of its bumping became weaker and weaker, and even its swimming speed was as slow as a turtle."

Father Pei added, "The workers on my boat were also watching. My boat was behind yours, and the fish was falling down. Your boat was still moving forward. My workers saw the fish fall sideways, and they said for sure it was dead."

The sun is shining brightly at the moment, and visibility is quite good. The ocean is not polluted, and the water looks exceptionally clear. It is still credible to see the fish falling sideways.

"Then go down and have a look."

Ye Yaodong looked at the island in the distance, then looked at the water surface, "Where did it fall?"

"Right here."

"here……"

The two old men pointed to the water behind them at the same time.

"Then I'll call someone to go down with me and take a look."

"Wait a moment? There are waves now, it's not safe." Father Ye was a little worried.

Lin Guangyuan just had an accident this morning. Although the waves near the coast are not as big as in the early morning, there are still waves.

Father Ye was still frightened and didn't dare to take any risks.

"How far are we from the city now?"

"It'll probably be there in about an hour."

Ye Yaodong looked at the time. It was only ten o'clock in the morning, which meant that he had been dozing for nearly four hours.

It took another hour to reach the shore, which meant that the fishing boat was indeed moving very slowly, almost at a snail's pace, even slower than when they were operating.

"Then wait a bit. The market doesn't open until the evening anyway, so there's not much point in docking now."

Father Pei nodded, "Then wait, you can either go eat something or go to sleep for a while, I'll call you in the afternoon to see if the waves are smaller."

"Row."

If it is a whale fall, it will not move once it falls in, so there is no need to worry about it running away. You have to wait until the waves are calmer before you can go down.

"Then let's go eat first and talk after we're done."

"it is good."

After the deal was made, Ye Yaodong learned about the fish's movement while he was sleeping, and then returned to his boat.

"Adong, what do you mean? It's such a waste to throw such a big fish directly into the sea."

"Yeah, should we go into the water and see if he's dead?"

"If it dies directly in the sea, can we still pull it up?"

Everyone gathered around him and asked questions.

They were so excited that such a big fish died right before their eyes and fell into the sea.

"It's hard to say without seeing it with your own eyes. We have to go down into the water and take a look. We don't know how deep it is or if we can get to the bottom. The waves are a bit big now. Wait until later when the waves are smaller. One of you can go down with me to take a look. Only after we are sure can we say anything else."

"No problem, we young ones can all go down."

Ye Yaodong smiled and said, "Go cook and wait until the waves die down."

Everyone should be fine.

He also went back to the cabin and continued to lie down. Cooking a meal was not so quick, it would take at least an hour. He closed his eyes and rested first. Now that the ship was stopped and there was no sound, he could take a nap for a while.

But as soon as he closed his eyes, all he could think about was the whale fall.

If we really find that the whale is dead, we still have to find a way to tow it back. It's dead anyway, and towing it back can still be used for research and contribution. We don't know why it suddenly died.

Could it be that there are too many barnacles on his body and he can't move forward with the weight?

There are three fishing boats here, so it is not a big problem to tow back dozens of tons. However, we don’t know how deep it is underneath. If it is too deep, we can’t reach it and have to give up.

Let's wait and see what's going on in the water.

The more Ye Yaodong thought about it, the clearer his mind became, and the more he couldn't fall asleep. He didn't get up until they called him to eat.

After eating, he looked at the sea again. There were still waves, so he went back to the cabin and slept well this time.

It was already 3pm when I was woken up again.

"Adong, the waves are getting smaller this afternoon, and they are calling you."

Ye Yaodong immediately got up and stretched, "Is there sunshine outside?"

"Yes, the sun hasn't set yet, and it hasn't hidden behind the clouds."

"it is good."

Father Ye, Father Pei, and his two brothers all crawled over and waited on his boat.

"Are you awake?"

"Sober up."

He looked out at the sea, then at the setting sun, and said, "Who of you will come with me?"

Everyone, look at me and I'll look at you.

"me……"

"Okay, then Chen Shi, come with me and take a look."

Chen Shi nodded and began to take off his clothes.

Ye Yaodong had just woken up and felt very cold, so he did not take off his clothes immediately, but warmed up first.

After getting used to the cold wind and feeling warm and flexible, I took off my clothes and put on my equipment.

Father Ye frowned and admonished, "Be careful. If you feel the waves, come up. You can come back in two days."

He nodded. He still had some sense of propriety, having been in the water countless times.

However, he was still a little cold in the winter, and he jumped into the water in the early morning to save Lin Guangyuan out of his own courage and bravery, and he didn't feel much at all. This will be a little different.

As soon as he got into the water, he felt icy cold, as if he was frozen to the bones.

After swimming shivering on the water for a while, I felt my body gradually warming up and becoming less stiff thanks to my own immunity.

He made an OK gesture to Chen Shi, who was also struggling on the water. Chen Shi also responded with an OK. Then they both slowly dived into the water together.

They had fished for sea urchins together countless times, and everyone on the boat understood the meaning of the gesture.

Ye Yaodong followed Chen Shi and slowly dived underwater. It had only been a few months since their last dive. Both of them were very coordinated in their movements, and the gray seabed also felt familiar to them.

The location they came down to was the one they pointed to during the day, but it wasn't that accurate.

The seabed here is not that deep. Ye Yaodong estimated that it is only about 10 meters. His feet have reached the bottom and the light is still good.

However, the seabed was full of various reefs and dense seaweed, so they didn't see any gray whales around even when they went down to the bottom.

Ye Yaodong made a gesture to Chen Shi, indicating that he should follow him and not separate.

The two of them circled around the surrounding reefs and saw fish and shrimps of all sizes swimming around a certain spot on the edge. They all swam towards a patch of seaweed.

He took the lead and swam forward, flapping his flippers, from top to bottom. Before he got close, he saw the body of a gray whale blocked by a piece of seaweed. His eyes suddenly lit up.

found it!
It’s really a whale fall!
A whale falls into existence!
The two were a little excited, but they still slowly descended forward, startling a small school of fish and shrimp.

Ye Yaodong was an illiterate and an ordinary fisherman in his previous life. He had only heard of whale falls, but this was the first time he saw one.

At this time, the body of the gray whale was surrounded by other marine animals, various fish and squids, and there were also marine worms slowly approaching under the sea.

It had not been long since the whale fell, and there were not many marine creatures around, nor any big fish, just some small fish and shrimps.

The two of them circled around the gray whale, and then swam upwards in unison through eye contact and gestures.

Now that you have found the place and confirmed it, you can go up first.

With two splashes, the two men emerged from the water one after another. The people on the three boats all leaned on the edge of the boat and looked at them.

"Come up!"

The two men slowly approached their own fishing boat, and the people on the boat lent a hand and pulled them up.

"Did you find it?"

"found it!"

Everyone looked happy.

"I said that since you came up so quickly, you must have found it. If not, you might still be looking for it down there."

Father Pei was happy, "Then can we find a way to tow this whale back?"

Ye Yaodong took a breath and asked, "How are you going to delay it?"

"Bring some ropes down with you, and tie up its head, tail, and fins. Then we'll use the net-lift to collect the ropes at the same time. There's no need to hoist it up, as long as it can be dragged in the sea."

"Will this work? What if we hit a reef? I guess even if we hang it up by the tail, its head will still be on the seabed."

"Can you pull it higher? If you pull the fish's tail out of the water, the head probably won't even have to touch the ground."

"There are reefs underneath, let's try it first."

Ye Yaodong frowned and thought, feeling that he could only try his best.

If he encountered a large reef and was stuck there, he could only go down into the water to take a look and try changing direction.

"Then let's give it a try. We have ropes on board anyway, and it's not that deep, just 10 meters. If it doesn't work, we can try again later."

"Then try it."

"We have to take turns. The gray whale is big, so it's not easy to tie it up with ropes. We have to take turns to tie it up, two by two."

After Ye Yaodong finished speaking, he introduced to them the underwater scene they saw and the location of the gray whale in the water plants. If he explained it clearly, it would be easier for them to find it when they went down, saving time and allowing them to do more work.

After he finished talking and made them understand clearly, two more boatmen went down carrying a bundle of ropes.

Ye Yaodong and Chen Shixian wrapped themselves in their cotton-padded jackets and took a rest.

The people on other boats watched them go down into the water with the strange things, and they were all whispering and asking each other questions.

Not everyone had seen Ye Yaodong’s diving equipment. The people on the SF Express saw it for the first time.

They kept praising Ye Yaodong for being able to get everything, but strangely enough, Ye Yaodong didn't hear them.

He was chatting with his father, brothers and Pei's father.

"Dongzi, if we tow such a big whale back and hand it over to the leaders of the Ocean Bureau, will we get another reward this time?" Ye's father asked hopefully.

The others immediately looked at him expectantly.

Was he stimulated by the fact that he was in the newspapers a few days ago and received a cash reward and a certificate of commendation?

"is it possible?"

“Whales seem to be quite common, too?”

"But I haven't heard that anyone has been caught yet?"

"Well, can't this kind of big fish be studied? There should be a reward for handing it in, right?"

"It's hard to say," Ye Yaodong dashed their hopes, "Didn't the village salvage a sea monster before? I think the reward was only 50 yuan for the donation, and there was no news about the result afterwards."

"That's it."

"I can't guarantee how much the reward will be, but it will definitely be in the newspapers if you tow it back. Such a big whale is so rare. You may still see it in the news 50 years later."

Everyone's disappointed expressions immediately turned into happy ones.

"Then we'll drag it back and sell it. Anyway, since we've caught such a big whale, there will probably be reporters interviewing us." Pei's father was very happy.

Ye Yaopeng was also very happy. "The fish we caught a while ago was all over the newspapers, and they encouraged fishermen to fish. Now that we have caught such a big whale, it can be considered as catching the east wind."

Ye Yaodong nodded, that made sense.

"Let's see what happens when they get into the water first. We'll see. It's not that easy to catch such a big fish."

Now everyone has beautiful visions, but they are afraid that it will all be in vain later.

Father Ye smiled and said, "It's only an hour from here to the shore. As long as we can secure the ropes, there shouldn't be any problem with the three boats reeling in the lines together."

"Hopefully."

Father Pei said, "It's already past 3 o'clock. We have to move faster. It's best to finish it before the sun goes down. That way we can dock during the day."

"We can't just dock at the pier. We have to find a beach to strand the whale and expose its body. The water is deeper at the pier."

"Dongzi is right." Ye Yaohua also agreed.

They talked about their plans after the successful binding, and their eyes were always looking at the sea.

Ye Yaodong was holding a watch in his hand to check the time.

The two boatmen who went down came up after staying for more than ten minutes, still holding the other end of the rope in their hands. After taking off their masks, they looked smiling.

"It's done. We tied two to each fin."

The water is not very deep. If you go down, you will reach the bottom in no time. It is a waste of time for them to stay at the bottom for such a long time.

"That's fine, let's do the simple one first. When we go down, we'll tie the fish tail first. The fish head is hard to tie on the seabed, so we don't need to tie it later. We can just pull the fins and tail on both sides, and it will be the same."

"it is good."

"Tie it firmly. When two more people go down, check the rope of the fin as well."

"it is good."

Two more people took turns to go down, this time it was Chen Shi and Xiao Wu who went down.

Except for Chen Laoqi, who is the same age as his father, the others on his boat are younger, around 30 years old. Chen Shi and Xiaowu are the youngest, one is 19 and the other 20.

The two of them stayed there for more than ten minutes before coming up.

"nailed it."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work. It went pretty smoothly."

Both Mr. Pei and Mr. Ye were ready to go.

"You guys hurry up and take a rest, we will go back to our boat, everyone will take a rope."

"it is good."

After Ye Yaodong distributed a rope to each of the two old men, he watched them climb back to their own boats. He also handed the rope to Chen Laoqi.

"Don't rush to prepare. Wait for them to change their clothes first."

Chen Laoqi nodded.

Ye Yaodong's clothes were still wet, but he didn't change them because he wanted to go into the water to take a look when the fishing boat towed the gray whale.

After waiting for a while, everyone was in their positions, the SF Express and Fengshou ships were started, and the people on his ship had changed their clothes.

They each raised their flags to indicate that they were ready.

The three boats started moving at the same time.

The sea was calm for a while, and nothing could be seen except the waves, but they could still hear the creaking sound of the net lifter, which meant it was moving.

Ye Yaodong stood on the deck, watching the three boats moving slowly forward, the afterglow of the setting sun shining on the sea.

After a while, he saw a clear section of the whale's tail below the water.

Others also exclaimed.

"The tail is hanging up!"

"It's been pulled in. The tail is pulled in."

"I got up. This is the first time I caught such a big fish. It's amazing..."

"Who said this is the first time they've caught such a big one? Dong has caught one with a mouth that looks like a saw before, called a sawfish, but it wasn't here, it was in Vancouver."

"Didn't we catch a huge hairtail fish a few years ago? It looks similar to this one..."

Everyone was very excited, looking at the large piece of the tail exposed above the sea, full of barnacles. Fortunately, they had been watching it all day and didn't have any intensive phobia.

The three boats continued to drag forward, returning to the city. They were all very familiar with the journey. The only thing they were not familiar with was the conditions on the seabed. They could only take their chances.

The fishing boat moved forward slowly, but its speed was nowhere near as fast as the previous round trip. Fortunately, there was no lag for a while.

Everyone stood on the deck and watched.

After sailing for more than ten minutes, the boat seemed to be unable to move forward. Chen Laoqi, who was driving the boat, ran out and called him. Ye Yaodong jumped into the water to take a look as he was prepared.

The gray whale was hanging in the sea with its tail facing up and its head facing down. All he had to do to get down was to slowly dive along the body of the gray whale.

There were still some fish and shrimps surrounding the gray whale's body. When he reached the bottom, he actually saw reefs. The gray whale's head was blocked by the reefs and it could not move forward.

After knowing the situation below, he went into the water and talked to Chen Laoqi, asking him to tell the other two boats to change direction.

After struggling for a while, I continued to move forward.

Along the way, he went into the water three times and gave directions three times to ensure that the fishing boat could move forward slowly.

"Coming……"

"We'll be docking soon..."

The boat trip was originally expected to take one hour, but because of the gray whale it took more than two hours, and it was not until dark that we arrived at a beach near the pier.

Fortunately, the next hour went smoothly and there was no need to go into the water, otherwise he would not be able to see.

Ye Yaodong looked at the time and it was already 6:30. He breathed a sigh of relief and shivered with his hands wrapped in a thick cotton jacket.

"I'm freezing to death. We're finally here, haha..."

He had been relying on the constant drinking of hot water throughout the journey, as well as the heat from his body just coming out of the water to keep him going until now.

"What a pity, it's getting dark..."

"It's good that we can get there. What's so regretful about it?"

"It was dark and no one saw it. We didn't want to shock everyone. We finally dragged this fish back, but it was dark."

Ye Yaodong sneezed again. "It's good enough that we can tow it back. The boat will stop soon. I'll go change my clothes."

Fortunately, all the goods on their ship were sold to the fresh-catch ship yesterday, and there are not many goods left on the ship now.

We can move all of them onto one boat later, send one boat to dock and take them to the market to sell, while the other two boats can stay here and watch the big fish.