Back to the small fishing village in 1982

Chapter 1817 Return
Lin Dongxue's marriage has finally put a great weight on the minds of Lin's parents and Lin Xiangyang and his wife.

After all, she was the first college student in her family and the first in the whole village. She had been waiting for a long time and was still a girl, but she finally got married.

She was happy with the man she married; he was also a college student, a classmate, and he even lived in Shanghai.

Lin Guangyuan, Lin Guangming, and Lin Dongxue have all gotten married in the last year or two, so the younger ones are no longer a threat.

On the day of Lin Dongxue's wedding, Ye Yaodong arranged for a driver to use her dowry car as their wedding car, and Lin Xiuqing's Mercedes-Benz also picked them up and dropped them off, which made them look very prestigious.

In the end, Shanghai locals still look down on people from other places, especially working families, especially those from Puxi. Regardless of whether they are college graduates or not, they are all considered outsiders. The sense of superiority of locals is innate.

They wouldn't gossip about it to your face, but they certainly talked about it behind your back. They said that he married a woman from another province and had to travel all the way to a remote mountain village in another province to propose marriage.

However, the car that came with her dowry immediately made a grand impression on Lin Dongxue.

Money is always a good thing.

In addition, Lin Guangyuan and his wife rushed over in their military uniforms, and even their family members made sure to support her.

Her wedding was naturally a perfect one.

Ye Yaodong's stall in Zhou City has been well-established over the years, and anyone who is missing can be replaced.

Even if he is away for a long time, the system will still function properly. Each position has a designated person in charge, so he doesn't need to worry about anything.

His career is already taking shape, and most of the time he just needs to make a decision.

There are quite a few industries in Shanghai right now. After Lin Dongxue got married, she was transferred to work in Shanghai, so he felt relieved about the finances here. Lin Xiuqing is also here, so he's just staying put.

In his spare time, he would occasionally think about the progress of Ah Guang and his friends' coral harvesting trip to the waters off Japan and South Korea.

Logically, they shouldn't be back so quickly. After they drive out, they need to slowly explore, search, and avoid patrols.

And it's not necessarily a matter of luck; just because they detected something doesn't mean they can immediately come up to shore. The depth of the sea and the distribution of coral reefs are all uncertain factors. Plus, with a dozen or twenty boats, it's not certain that every boat will immediately have a catch.

Their ship left on May 1st, and he estimated that they might not be able to return smoothly until June or July. In any case, they would definitely be back by July at the latest, since the typhoon season is coming soon.

Ye Huimei was quite anxious. Every time he went to Shanghai, she would ask him worriedly when he would be back.

He naturally couldn't answer that either, so he could only tell her to call her hometown and ask her uncle for his past experience.

She was increasingly anxious because the fishing boats had not returned by the end of June.

Ye Yaodong was thinking about the children's summer vacation and wanted to come and visit, as well as arrange house renovations and Ye Chenghu's college entrance exam on July 7th.

"Third brother, I knew I shouldn't have let A-Guang go. We haven't heard a single word from him. It's so unbearable."

"Hmm, they should be back soon."

Ye Huimei's anxious emotions were not soothed at all.

“This time he’s back, we absolutely must not let him go again. If he’s fishing with your boats near the DYD fishing grounds, and there are also boats that can deliver messages every three or four days, there’s no need to worry about losing contact at all.”

"Now that I'm driving to Japan and South Korea, who knows how many days it will take just to get there. It's really... doing such a dangerous job, I can't sleep well at all these days..."

“You didn’t go, you really shouldn’t have let him go. Fishing at sea is dangerous enough as it is, and they still took the risk…”

"I don't know when he'll be back. It's been almost two months, and there's been no news at all. Do you have the boat captain's contact information on shore?"

Ye Yaodong told her not to be so impatient, mainly because being impatient wouldn't help.

"Did you call your uncle?"

"I called them, and they said it's normal to be gone for a month or two, and they'll definitely be back in July. They told me to be patient."

"Then just wait. There's no use in being anxious. All we can do now is wait patiently."

She sighed before sitting down, without crowding around her.

Lin Xiuqing had some things she couldn't say, so she waited until they got back to her room before telling him, "It's a good thing you didn't go, otherwise I would have been worried to death. I've noticed that she's been frowning every now and then since the beginning of this month, and she's become more and more restless as the end of the month approaches."

“It’s no use talking or persuading her, so I can only let her be. She calls my uncle every few days to check on him, and after a few words she’s calmed down for a few days, she starts overthinking again.”

"Anyway, it's probably no use what anyone says unless we see her come back. I'm too lazy to talk to her now, and I don't have time to keep comforting her."

Ye Yaodong nodded, "It'll be fine once we get back."

"I should learn a lesson from this experience and not go there again. I should stop doing things that are both dangerous and illegal. I should just stick to my old profession."

“Ah Guang was thinking of making a quick buck, then going ashore, handing the boat over to someone else to manage, and just waiting to collect the money every month, becoming a boat owner.”

"That's not bad, I'll learn from you."

"Ha, you can't learn from me. My business is so big, I'm still busy every day even after I've gone ashore. But if he goes ashore, he can retire right away and have a blast."

"That too."

Ye Yaodong changed the subject, "How's your son's studying lately? He's taking the college entrance exam in a few days."

"After the last unified exam, his teacher said that if he performed consistently, he should have no problem getting into a junior college. There should be about ten students in his class who get into junior colleges and five or six who get into universities."

"If you can pass the exam, that's fine; otherwise, you'll have to come to sea with me."

"Recently, I've been doing practice tests until 11 or 12 every night before going to sleep, and then I get up at 6 in the morning."

"After the exam, I'll take him out to play for a few days."

"Hmm, are you going to stay here with him until he finishes his exam? I thought you would come a day or two before the exam."

"That was what I was thinking, but I was worried, so I came to check it out beforehand since I had some free time these past few days."

However, they didn't really talk much when they arrived. They only exchanged a few words in the evening before Ye Chenghu went back to his room with his backpack.

Before he lay down, he brought a glass of milk into his room. They were still doing their homework and he didn't dare to say a word, afraid of disturbing them.

Unexpectedly, he was quite serious when he needed to be.

Ye Yaodong originally planned to stay until Ye Chenghu took the college entrance examination before returning to Zhoushan City. However, less than two days later, he received a call from his father saying that A Guang and the others had returned.

He instantly perked up and quickly called out to Ye Huimei.

"Your man is back!"

Ye Huimei was cooking in the kitchen when she heard this, so she quickly dropped the spatula and ran out overjoyed.

"You're back? When did you get back? You're finally back. Was it Ah Guang who called?"

"It was a call from Dad."

"What did Father say?"

"Dad said it was a message sent back by the cargo ship. Their ship was still behind, but the cargo ship docked first and sent the message first."

Ye Huimei breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "It's good that you're back safe and sound. It saves me from worrying so much."

"I'm planning to go back to Zhoushan this afternoon. Do you want to come with me?"

"Yes, I'll bring all three kids along. They're on summer vacation anyway, so I'll take them all to Zhoushan to see their dad."

"Alright then, you cook the rice, prepare it later, and we'll go back after we eat."

Ye Huimei went to cook with peace of mind. She felt relaxed and had the energy to do anything.

Ye Xiaoxi moved closer to Ye Yaodong and said, "Dad, I'll go to Zhou City with you too."

"Okay, I'll call your mother beforehand, and you and your second brother will come back with us too."

Ye Chengyang was playing a game and responded without objection, "Dad, Uncle is back. Did he bring back a lot of coral? Can we sell it for a lot of money?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen it before. Children shouldn't ask so many questions."

Ye Xiaoxi whispered to Pei Yu, "Your dad must have made a lot of money and come back."

Pei Yu said, "I hope my father won't go to sea anymore. I haven't seen him for so long, and it's very dangerous."

“I heard from my dad that your dad can retire when he comes back. If your dad can retire, he’ll definitely be just like my grandpa, and you’ll be able to see him every day.”

That would be best.

"I want to go back to my hometown for a visit. Do you want to go back too? Let's go back together after my older brother finishes his college entrance exam. It's so boring here. Our hometown is so much more fun."

Pei Yu nodded heavily, "Yes, it's much more fun in our hometown village. There's nowhere to go here."

Ye Xiaoxi and she reached an agreement, so they immediately ran to find Ye Yaodong.

"Dad, after my older brother finishes his college entrance exam, shall we go back to our hometown?"

"Want to go back to your hometown? Wait until your uncle comes back, then see if they went back. If they did, you can go back with him."

Aren't you going to reply?

“I reckon I’ll go back with you guys for two days, and then I’ll have to come back upstairs to get busy. You guys have a two-month summer vacation, but I don’t have a two-month summer vacation.”

"That's fine, we can go back with our uncle."

After lunch, Ye Yaodong took Ye Huimei and the five children back to Zhoushan City.

When I arrived at the factory, I heard that they had all returned and were having dinner. Their return was just in time.

Ye Yaodong went directly to the cafeteria to find them. There weren't many people in the cafeteria at the moment, just a few people at their table, including the lively scene his father had described.

As soon as he stepped inside, they called out to him and waved.

"Okay, they all came back safe and sound."

Ye Yaodong noticed that they looked a bit thinner and darker, but their spirits seemed alright.

"Don't even mention it, I almost didn't make it back."

Ah Guang said something that made Ye Huimei tense up instantly.

"what happened?"

"What do you mean?" Ye Yaodong pulled up a chair and sat down.

"They were discovered and chased everywhere. Fortunately, everyone scattered and fled. However, we were unfamiliar with the sea area, and because we were being chased, we ran aground on a reef in our panic. Luckily, there were two boats with us, and after some maneuvering, we finally made it back."

Those few simple words made his heart leap into his throat.

"You?"

"That wasn't me..."

Ah Zheng raised his hand, "It's me! I'm the unlucky one. Luckily, when I was running away, there was Ah Guang's boat next to me. When I ran aground, I quickly contacted him, and he rushed back to pick me up. We rummaged through the things on the boat and transferred everyone to his boat, which is how we escaped this disaster."

"So, your ship?"

"The ship was lost in that sea area. There was no time to run away. After hitting the reef, the ship tilted a bit, and people almost fell into the sea. Fortunately, everyone was very vigilant during the escape, and I managed to bring the goods back in time, so it wasn't a complete loss."

Xiao Xiao chimed in, "It's just that they didn't earn as much as we did. The important thing is that everyone is alright. As for the boat, we can just buy a new one. Fortunately, we still have a catch to offset the loss of the fishing boat."

"Not the best, but not the worst either. Luckily, I'm not the most unlucky one."

Ah Guang said, "You're lucky amidst misfortune. Unlucky people don't even have time to deal with their goods; they can only grab a few items and run off with someone."

"That was terrifying! The patrol boat just appeared out of nowhere. It was so dangerous."

"Fortunately, everyone scattered and fled. There was only one patrol boat, so it couldn't catch up with so many of our boats."

"You should thank me for sailing in the same direction as you, otherwise, if the boat had hit the reef at that speed, it would have immediately tilted."

"Yes, what you said makes me shudder when I think about it."

Ye Yaodong listened to their rambling conversation, his appetite whetted, feeling a sense of thrill and excitement.

"No, could you please tell me the whole story from beginning to end? You're just spouting off bits and pieces, and I can't understand it. All I can feel is the thrill and excitement."

"Yes, it's thrilling and exciting, hovering on the line between life and death, and between returning with a full load and losing everything," Xiao Xiao said.

"My heart still pounds when I think about it now." Ah Zheng clutched his chest, his expression slightly exaggerated.
Ah Guang slowly recounted the story to him, "We drove for about four days on the way there. When we were almost at our destination, we slowed down and disguised ourselves as fishing boats, pretending to fish. We then slowly scouted the surrounding waters and searched for fish..."

"At first, we thought we could rush over, grab a bunch of fish, and run away quickly, and come back soon, but that's not how it works. There are many fishing boats, so we have to split up to explore and search separately. We're not familiar with the sea area, so we have to split into teams."

"Then we definitely can't gather together during the day, it's too conspicuous. We can only do it at night, with all the lights on the boat turned off, and sneak around to detect and catch fish. We also need fishing boats to keep watch, and we have to take turns."

"It was supposed to be at the end of the month, and we were planning to make one last big profit before heading back, but who knew we'd run into a patrol ship."

"At that time, all the ships were concentrated in one bay, you know, so we made a final push, and all the ships came at once. The radar flashes were all concentrated in one place, and we were discovered."

"We were in a panic. I yelled in the channel and everyone abandoned their tools and threw them into the sea. In our panic, we all weighed anchor and ran in all directions."

"That guy with the megaphone was so angry he was jumping up and down, chasing after us. We were both excited and thrilled, and we wanted to provoke him..."

Ah Zheng excitedly slapped his thigh, "You know what? They weren't chasing us at first. I was running halfway when the fishing boat suddenly ran aground. It hit the reef hard, and the boat shook violently. Everyone on board was thrown to pieces. The bow of the boat was tilted up at a 60-degree angle, and then it was violently thrown back to the surface and crashed into the reef..."

(End of this chapter)