Back to the small fishing village in 1982

Chapter 1237 Rewarding the Old Man
Ye Yaodong still took the three people from the daytime and continued to go out to sea at night. However, due to the rise and fall of the tide, it was almost dawn when they went out to sea.

By the time we arrived at Oarfish Island, the sun was hanging bright yellow in the sky. The beach was golden, mixed with some white floating objects and white foam washed by the waves.

The four people from Xiaoxiao and Azheng's two families were already there. It seemed that they had just arrived, otherwise there wouldn't be squids floating on the beach and in the water.

When Ye Yaodong and the others arrived, they each took buckets or sacks, and a hand net, and followed them down to the beach.

"Dongzi, you guys are late. We have almost picked up all of them."

"After we've collected them, we'll dig for young barnacles on the reef."

He had been itching to try it out since he saw the densely packed area on the reef yesterday.

Since it was not suitable to go into the water early in the morning, as they were more in number, they could carry a few more sacks back.

His mother has been very busy in the past two years and rarely goes to the reef to pry these things. The fresh shellfish he eats are usually dug by his relatives, aunts and uncles, who then distribute them everywhere.

If the quantity is large, they will dig out the meat, dry it, and then sell it to him.

Everyone in the village knew that he wanted these dried goods, but the ones on some nearby islands had been dug up completely, and it would take time for them to grow again. As for the scattered ones, it was not convenient for him to sell them, so he definitely kept them for his own consumption.

Now it only grows densely on those distant islands, and since he has a lot of people with him, he can take the opportunity to pry some back.

The workshop now has a lot of staff, so there is no need to worry about not having people to do these troublesome things.

"Why did you send us the trap yesterday? Didn't I tell you to give it to us? We don't need it now." A Zheng asked, holding a bucket in one hand and a scoop net in the other.

"Give it to me, I don't need it. I'll just be at home for the next few days, and longline fishing will be enough. When my catch boat arrives next month, I'll even hire someone for a big boat."

Xiao Xiao also quickly put down the work at hand, looked up and asked in surprise: "Oh my god, you don't even drive the Dongsheng, then who are we going with?"

"Go with my dad and his friends, or let my dad take charge of the seafood boat. We'll take turns and see what happens."

"That's good."

"Now that you have acquired the freshwater ship, will you still go to Zhejiang Province this year?"

"Of course I will."

He was thinking about getting a scale and using the freshwater fishing boats to catch the jellyfish directly at sea, thus achieving a win-win situation.

Everyone can save some trouble and not have to go back and forth. After processing, they can sell the goods to him at a lower price. They can also stay where they are and catch more jellyfish, while he drives the fresh-collecting boat back and forth to sell the goods. It's a win-win situation.

But it may only be a short period of a few days. After the trench is salvaged, everyone can only do sporadic salvage on the sea surface and dispersed everywhere.

Then it would be unnecessary for him to drive the fresh fish collecting boat around to collect goods. This kind of scattered salvaging would not bring in much goods, and it would not even be enough to subsidize the fuel costs.

It will definitely only take a few days, and several large ships will have to go out to sea to trawle the nets, and the freshwater ships will then go back and forth to collect the goods from the large ships.

The small boat he kept, Boat No. 7, which he had been sailing these days, would be taken to the trench and the boatmen would salvage sea urchins.

That’s not bad either.

So you have to use your brain to make money, and you have to come up with new tricks every year to make money.

I heard that there are a lot more wooden boats in the village this year. Someone wants to replicate what he did last year, where the fishing boat pulled the small boat over, and the small boat salvaged the fishing boat and sold the goods... following his old ways... haha...

Chen Guodong came over and asked, "Brother Dong, can I go with you this year?"

"You want to follow?"

"Of course. I heard the salary is higher if you go there."

"The risk is also high. Don't you know how many people were wiped out in the town last year? Those who are still alive have been sentenced to prison. If they are lucky and the case is minor, the local border guards will plead for mercy, and a small number of them will be redeemed with money."

"Uh……"

"Don't just think about making money quickly. High returns mean high risks. Although the salary at home may not be as high as that of working outside, it is at least safe and has low risks. Think about it carefully before you decide."

"Ok."

"Work, work."

Ye Yaodong shouted at them to start working quickly, and he was also thinking that he would have to increase his salary this year.

Otherwise, with such a big incident last year, many people would probably be worried about their safety this year and afraid to go, and it would be difficult to call anyone.

Everyone scattered and caught squids wherever they could. After all the squids on the surrounding sea were divided up, Xiaoxiao and A Zheng's boat went out to trawle, leaving only the four of them on the island.

It was still high tide at this time and it would not recede until around noon, so the water level was high and it was easy for fishing boats to go out.

At the same time, only a little bit of the beach was exposed. Ye Yaodong couldn't go shopping for seafood on the beach. He could only pry some shells off the slippery rocks hit by the waves.

However, he was still unwilling to give up and kept crawling around on the reefs, trying to see if he could find some good things in the crevices of the rocks.

"Hey, hey, hey, there are huge blue crabs and sword shrimps in the cracks of the rocks... Quick, get me a bucket."

"I'm lucky. I just picked up a lot of big conches and threw them into the sack with the barnacles."

Ye Yaodong smiled and said, "You should also take a closer look at the gaps. A lot of goods are hidden in the gaps. If there are a lot of goods today, each of you can take some back."

"The rotten fish and shrimp we brought back yesterday were enough for my family to clean up. They were busy until dark. There were too many."

"Yes, there are too many. Fortunately, everyone gets a little bit. It takes a lot of time and firewood."

"My mom said...if I had known...I should have raised more...chickens and ducks."

"Anyway, if I boil it and then dry it and break it into pieces, it won't spoil easily. If I can't use it all, I can share it with my brothers and relatives."

Ye Yaodong said that he wouldn't need it anyway. His home was right next to the beach, and every day when the tide went out, there were many stranded fish and shrimps, which were much fresher. The chickens and ducks could just go out and find food by themselves. They only needed a small amount of rice bran every day.

"Brother Dong, don't you want to leave some?"

"Are you stupid? Brother Dong still needs these rotten fish and shrimp? Tons of fresh ones are shipped to the workshop, and these are all spoiled. How can we value them?"

"Ha ha……"

They dug and pried everywhere on the island, from the time the sun just rose to the time it hung high in the sky. Each of them filled two large sacks before they felt hungry.

The tide was late today, so they went out to sea late as well. The fried dough stick stall in the village happened to be open for business, so Ye Yaodong bought a lot of fried dough sticks and fried cakes and put them on the boat. After carrying several large sacks of juvenile barnacles onto the boat with great effort, everyone was exhausted.

However, I got excited when I saw fried dough sticks and fried pancakes.

Ye Yaodong also took out a large basket, which was padded with white cotton cloth at the bottom and covered with another layer of white cotton cloth on top. When he opened it, big snow-white steamed buns were revealed. Everyone sat up quickly with joy.

"I thought I had to light the fire to cook the noodles. Brother Dong is so thoughtful."

"It's too troublesome. There are people setting up these small stalls in the village now. It's easier to buy some and bring them on the boat. It doesn't cost much. If you buy a lot, don't be polite. Take it and eat it when you are hungry. After all, being on the water is also physical work."

"Great, we've fallen into a happy nest."

The three of them each grabbed a big steamed bun, broke it in half, stuffed the fried dough cake into the buns and ate them, and also grabbed a fried dough stick to go with it, taking a bite on the left and then a bite on the right, eating until their mouths were full of oil and their faces were filled with happiness.

"Brother Dongdong, I...I will give it to you, for...a lifetime."

"Haha, it's so happy, isn't it? I eat well and get a high salary." Chen Guodong laughed.

Another person named Lin Jianping also said: "Don't laugh at him. If I could, I would also like to work for Brother Dong for the rest of my life. It's such a good job, and others would envy it."

"No joke, Chen Shi also expressed my thoughts, haha."

Ye Yaodong just listened and didn't say anything. No matter how long he had been working, it didn't matter what anyone said. He didn't even know how long he could work for.

Anyway, as long as they are willing to stay and work hard, and he can hold on, he will continue to work. He can't let these people who follow him go hungry.

"Hurry up and eat. It's past 8 o'clock. Let's take a break after eating and go into the water at 9 o'clock. We have been working for a few hours. It's not bad to get so many bags. We also caught several blue crabs and flower crabs. The temperature has risen now. It's suitable to go into the water. It's not too hot and not too cold."

"Okay, let's try to salvage more traps today."

"When the time comes, we'll get rid of the traps, expose the reefs, and then we can dig for abalone."

"Don't tell me, the abalone has too strong a suction force, it's hard to remove it."

"It's hard to get it off, but if you can't get it off, you have to poke it with a stick."

After Ye Yaodong finished eating, he washed his hands and went to drive the boat. He only called them to go into the water after they had rested enough.

Following yesterday's pattern, I went into the water to clean out the traps that were stuck on the bottom.

Some traps are hung in a whole row below. If they are too long, they will cut the ropes appropriately, otherwise they will not be able to be pulled up.

When they collect these traps, they will also collect the squid eggs hanging on the traps.

They saw it with their own eyes yesterday. A group of squids swimming over from afar would hang on to anything and lay a series of eggs.

Then the squid will die immediately after laying eggs, floating on the sea surface or being hit by waves on the island.

Pickled cuttlefish eggs are also a great dish to go with rice. It's a pity that he doesn't understand industrial things, otherwise, he would have made cuttlefish eggs into cans.

These cuttlefish eggs were picked up for free, as they were not even in the traps I collected yesterday.

The four of them were busy from morning to noon. They took an hour break and looked at the squids around the branches, but there were not many.

They fished casually for an hour, but after not finding much success, they decided that it wouldn't be as good as trying to collect traps, so they went back into the water and didn't stop until the sun went down.

The longline fishing was retrieved yesterday and someone had to sort it out and repair the missing hooks and branch lines. It won’t be done so quickly.

So today we didn’t use longline fishing, and we spent the whole day taking turns to go into the water and collect ground traps.

Fortunately, he had calculated that his father should be back in the next two days, otherwise they would not be able to withstand such a high-intensity diving. Fortunately, it was only four or five meters underwater and the pressure was not high, so there would be no damage to their ears.

When the people on the Dongsheng came back, he asked them to come and take turns going into the water, and gave them some extra subsidies and more people to share the burden, so that everyone's workload could be reduced.

Except for his father and Chen Laoqi, everyone else on that boat was young and strong, and they were all experts in catching sea urchins.

Today's harvest is more than twice that of yesterday. After all, they have been stored there for a year. Except for some seaweed and silt, the goods in each trap are particularly impressive.

Those with less seaweed had more goods, those with more seaweed had less goods, but today, even they still have people wanting seaweed.

The geese are over-plucked.

One asked for it, and the other two followed suit. The three of them divided the seaweed into a small hill.

Ye Yaodong didn't care at first, but when he saw the increasing amount of seaweed, which was piled higher than others, he became speechless.

These are not just seaweeds, there are also various types of seaweed, anyway, they are all called seaweed.

"You guys don't let go at all!"

"My mother said, feed the pigs."

"My wife said to take a handful to make soup, but since you guys are going to feed the pigs, I'll take some back to feed the pigs too."

"me too."

"Just divide it up among yourselves and go back."

Today, Ye Yaodong came back with a boat full of rotten fish and shrimps. No one was surprised, they just thought it was stinky. No one was surprised either, as he also brought back a boat full of seaweed.

People can still praise him for being thrifty and not wasting anything, and they can even tease him for even taking grass.

He felt a little embarrassed when he heard it, as if he had nothing left after taking all the effort.

"They said they wanted to take them back to feed the pigs, so we dragged them back for them. The same goes for the rotten fish and shrimp. We wanted to take them back to dry and grind them to feed the chickens and ducks, so we let them do it."

This must be explained, otherwise the villagers might think that he even wants rotten fish and shrimp, and wants to dry them in the sun, or throw them into fish sauce to ferment, and his reputation would be ruined.

"In this way, I thought there were so many of them, you would have to throw them into the fish sauce to ferment, it doesn't make any difference anyway."

He knew that some people would think too much.

"It's not that serious. How can I be short of such a small amount of goods? None of these can enter my workshop."

"That's good, otherwise people wouldn't feel safe eating your fish sauce."

"Do not worry."

He explained a few words and then lined up to be weighed. He asked them to drag the juvenile shells and barnacles on the boat to the workshop on a cart first. If they wanted to take some home, they could take them themselves.

Let them distribute and deal with the remaining rotten fish, shrimp and seaweed themselves.

As for the traps, Zheng and Xiaoxiao happened to be at the dock, so he asked them to move them themselves and handle the distribution themselves.

Yesterday we just asked the workers to carry the items to them randomly, but now it’s better to let them distribute them themselves.

After weighing the goods he brought back, Ye Yaodong hurried back to the workshop.

"Ah Ching."

"Hey, are all the goods sold out?"

"Well, have you collected all the kelp?"

"It's all collected. The quantity is indeed less today, only 3 tons and 200 kilograms."

"What's the total?"

"29 tons and 295 kilograms. After lunch, they collected all of it and sent it over. After I counted the total, the village chief and the others were all grinning from ear to ear."

"It's quite a lot. If one ton is dried in the sun for every 10 tons, it's equivalent to a fresh yield of about 10 tons per mu, which is considered a high yield."

Lin Xiuqing also smiled and said, "Yes, the yield is high. They also said that they will plant more in the second half of the year. They have gone back to write reports this afternoon. Some villagers have come back from the sea and asked me about it. I told them directly and asked them to go to the village committee to ask."

"Well, just leave it to the village committee to arrange it. How much did it sell for in total?"

"A little over 4000 yuan."

“That’s a pretty good profit.”

"Yes, if we work hard next year, we will make a lot of money with this year's income."

"I hope so. Right now, there are only a few people raising them, and things are more valuable because they are rare, so the prices are quite good. Once they are raised in large quantities, I don't know if the prices will drop."

Lin Xiuqing frowned and felt that it was true.

"Forget it. This is not our concern. Everyone has seen this year's success. Whether the price will be the same next year is not up to us. Even if it is half the price after widespread planting, everyone will still make a profit and will be happy. For everyone, the least valuable thing is labor."

"Well, you're right. We'll talk about next year's matters next year. We've done a great job this year."

Ye Yaodong took a walk around the workshop and heard everyone talking happily about how the kelp yield per mu had reached 10 tons this year, with one ton produced after drying, and could be sold for 140 yuan per mu.

Even those who had just returned from sea would stop at the door of the workshop and ask the women inside.

Everyone has a strong desire to share. Although the workshop does not allow people to enter or leave freely, they can still communicate and talk excitedly through the fence.

His mother was there at the time. When she saw him, she pulled him aside and said, "Why are you giving so much of this stuff back to other people to feed the chickens? We can keep some for ourselves. There's also so much seaweed. They said they'd take it back to feed the pigs. You can also keep some for your sister-in-law and the others to feed the pigs..."

"Why are you being so stingy? If I keep those goods, the villagers will worry that I will dry them and sell them, or ferment them in fish sauce."

"how come……"

"Of course they can't. They all have very rich imaginations. Even if we give them some to feed the chickens, the chickens and ducks at home are right by the beach. Can't they find something to eat on their own? Where would they get the rotten fish and shrimp?"

"Well, there's also seaweed..."

"I want grass, how stingy must I be? I don't raise pigs, and my eldest and second sisters-in-law didn't ask me for it..."

"They didn't tell me, because they told me to help them feed the pigs. They have to go out to sea to collect squids. I have to get up early and work late every day, and I have to serve those pigs for them."

Mother Ye grumbled in disgust, "How can you be so cruel? You raised so many and caught eight piglets. You're not afraid of being exhausted to death. You're already there growling and groaning before daybreak."

"The grass the kids collect is not enough for the pigs. I have to go to the mountain to collect grass for them during my lunch break. I can't even stand up straight. I have to go back to cook pig food later."

"Your father hasn't had a meal cooked by me in the past two years. Now, I cook all the food for the pigs..."

Ye Yaodong was listening to her mother nagging. When someone passed by and greeted her, she immediately put on a smiling face and greeted the person as well.

The corner of his mouth twitched. "Got it. I'll save the seaweed for you to feed the pigs tomorrow."

"Yes, that's right. It saves me from going up the mountain to collect grass for pigs. Forget about the rotten fish and shrimp, but you have to keep the seaweed. My back..."

"It would be great if they had as many people working as you do, so I wouldn't have to worry too much. Not only do they ask me to run the pig pen, but they also ask me to help raise the pigs. Once they're sold, the pigs are theirs. I don't know how many pounds of meat I can eat..."

"Forget it, forget it. I won't say any more. I'm just going to say a few words to you. Don't tell anyone, or you'll scold me. I have to go back to feed the pigs."

As Ye's mother spoke, she walked to the corner and picked up two large baskets of seaweed, both of which were full to the brim.

Ye Yaodong looked and realized that his mother had already cut half of it from someone else and piled it in the corner, ready to take it back.

Lin Xiuqing walked over and said, "Mother just gave me a lecture, saying that the two sisters-in-law haven't come back yet, and she has to go feed them again in the evening. A few workers ahead pushed back a cart full of seaweed, and she kept half of it."

"Are they following other people's boats?"

"They want to go with the two boats they rented to collect squids. Who can stop them from going?"

"Okay, got it. I'll leave it for her tomorrow."

If his mother wants it, what can he do? He has to save half for his mother tomorrow to feed the pigs.

"Oh, I forgot to tell her that I brought back three large buckets of squid eggs today, and I forgot to ask her to pickle them."

"When she finishes feeding the pigs and comes over to eat, talk to her again."

"Ah."

"Go back and wash up first. If you're hungry, eat first. The food is warming up in the pot.

"Ah."

His father did not come back today, but his guess was correct. He would come back at noon the next day. He found out when he saw the Dongsheng when he came back in the evening.

By the time he reached the shore, his father was already there waiting to help.

He also told him about the recent trip to the sea, and that the money from the sales had already been given to A Qing.

Under his father's curious gaze, he explained to him the goods and traps on the ship, as well as the situation during the flood season.

I also talked to his father and asked him to take all the workers to the sea to salvage the traps tomorrow.

However, the tide goes out about 50 minutes later every day than the previous day, so we don’t have to get up so early tomorrow and everyone can get a good rest today.

"Then I'll go and talk to them. Mazu's birthday is coming soon. I think the Dongsheng doesn't need to go out to sea. After the birthday is over, you can take them out to sea to salvage traps. Go out early and come back late, and you can even listen to a play when you come back in the evening."

"Okay, then, Dad, I'm going to the city tomorrow. Why don't you take them out to sea to salvage the traps? Chen Shi and the others have been going with me these past few days. They know where it is and what to do. You can just go along and watch, and you don't have to get in the water."

"Why are you going to the city? Didn't Qing say that he had taken all the kelp to the city this morning?"

"Yes, I'll go check out the remaining inventory and see how my father-in-law's sales have been these past two days. The day before yesterday, I asked my mother to find a girl who graduated from junior high school and knows how to do accounting. I'll send her to the city together."

After he finished speaking, seeing that his father didn't seem to understand, he explained again that he was in urgent need of someone to do accounting.

The day before yesterday he asked A Qing to inquire about it, and his mother had already found the person yesterday. It turned out to be a girl named Huang Mei from the neighboring Xishan Village.

Getting a salary every month is a great attraction for a girl.

What kind of work can a girl find? She can't find any work, so she can only help with the housework and cooking.

Being able to let a girl graduate from junior high school, this family is considered to be very open-minded and loves their daughter.

It just so happened that his father came back, so he could spare some time to do other things. He just arranged the people in the right positions and then assigned them the work.

Anyway, the money must not be handled by anyone else, and it must be kept by his father-in-law, so that there must be receipts for withdrawing money.

"Okay, then you go and do your thing, I'll go out to the sea and take a look."

"Oh, by the way, remember to save the seaweed for my mother to feed the pigs. She is very resentful."

"I know. You just keep nagging me all day long. You even complain when I help my wife with some chores. I've been ordered around by you guys all day long, but I haven't complained at all."

Ye Yaodong: I paid them!
He actually wanted to go to the city to ask his godfather if he could get two more sets of diving equipment. The navy must have them, but he didn't know whether they were easy to get.

He felt that there were only two sets, which were not enough and too inefficient, and it would also be slow to salvage sea urchins.

Therefore, he had to make a trip to the city in the near future to give it a try.

"Okay, I'll leave it to you. I may not be back tomorrow, so you have to work for two more days."

"I knew the pig's feet I had at noon would not be in vain."

Ye Yaodong smiled, "Filial piety is filial piety, and work is work. If you are not given pig's feet to eat, don't you have to help?"

"Hey, go, go..."

"I'm leaving?"

"Hey wait wait, why are you leaving? This thing hasn't been weighed yet, come back!"

He had just stood on tiptoe when his father quickly grabbed him.

Then his father turned around and left.

"It's my turn to go. I'll go talk to the others as I have to go out to work tomorrow."

I will ask A-Qing to buy some pig's trotters for the old man tomorrow.

While Ye Yaodong was having dinner, he also talked to his mother and asked her to inform the girl who did the accounts after dinner to go to the city with him early the next morning.

After dinner, Lin Xiuqing also packed up his things to take to the city tomorrow.

"We brought back quite a few squids today. We cooked a few for dinner at night and covered the rest with ice. It looks like a full bucket. Give half to godfather tomorrow and give half to my father and my eldest and second brothers."

"There is also a large jar of pickled squid eggs from my mother. You should bring it with you tomorrow. It's not convenient to send it to godfather, so give it to him first. You don't need to give it to my father and the others. We can't eat it right away anyway."

"I pickled what I brought back today, and I can send them a jar in a few days. It's very convenient to send things to them."

Ye Yaodong nodded, "Got it."

"Is there anything else you want to bring? I'll prepare it for you in advance."

"No, these are all you need. Homemade things are better. No need to prepare anything else."

"Okay, let's load another truckload of dried fish tomorrow and store it in the city."

"Ah."

The update time has been quite slow recently, basically around 2 o'clock. Don't wait, just take a nap, and watch it when you get up tomorrow morning. It will be more comfortable.