Back to the small fishing village in 1982

Chapter 1848 Rainy Day
After coordinating with the cargo ship and unloading the supplies, night slowly fell, and the workers continued their busy trawling work in an orderly manner.

It's already August, and the weather is still hot, but it gets a little cooler at night, and you might even need to wear a jacket.

Don't assume that the sea breeze will make it cool at sea. The sun is also blazing, and with the reflection of the seawater and no shade from any direction, it's even hotter. The ultraviolet rays are also stronger at sea, and the crew members on the ship are all tanned.

Even Ye Yaodong got quite tanned. He only used sun protection when he went out on the deck, wearing a sun hat that only exposed his eyes. But it was hot in the summer, and it was inconvenient to wear. When he returned to the cockpit, he took it off immediately. He would still get tanned from the sea breeze.

Sometimes he would wear a mask just like the workers, but his face would show marks from the mask. Seeing the marks on the workers' faces, he stopped wearing one.

The workers wear masks to prevent the stench. Every day, the ship handles one or two hundred tons of cargo, and even in the sweltering summer heat, no matter how much the deck is washed, it will still have a fishy smell.

In addition, the smell of fish powder can sometimes drift into their mouths and noses with the wind due to the direction of the trawl, so they have to wear masks to prevent the odor.

So all the workers on deck were wearing masks, and no one took them off, so when Ah Zheng arrived, he didn't notice what it looked like when everyone had taken off their masks.

When everyone took off their masks at dinner, he saw that each one had a mask mark on it and burst into laughter.

"Why do you all have such deep marks on your faces! Dongzi, why don't you have any? Have you been wearing masks all day long?"

“Sometimes the smell of fishmeal from the processing plant drifts over with the wind, and it’s so stinky. I sometimes wear a mask, but when I’m in the sun, I always wear a sun hat that only exposes my eyes.”

"Luckily I ran fast, otherwise I would have gotten as tanned as everyone else. Now, although I'm tanned, at least the tan is even."

"You'll be the same in a few days."

"Aren't we going back soon?"

"I won't go back unless there's a typhoon. Don't you dare think that to me. It only works when it's good, not bad."

"You're like a tapeworm in my stomach."

"Eat your food, how disgusting. You can stay up until midnight tonight before you go to sleep."

"no problem."

The outlines of the fishing boats were faintly visible on the inky sea. As night fell, their fleet continued to operate with only navigation lights on to minimize risks.

The navigation lights on both sides of the ship, like two weary stars, flickered on and off as the ship rocked against the waves.

Sitting in the cockpit, listening to the noisy sounds around him, Ye Yaodong felt less bored; he still needed someone to keep him company while fishing.

He abruptly interrupted the incessant chatter, "You've been back for so many days, have you even checked on your ship?"

"I've looked at it, it's still a long way off. Let's see if we can submit it by the end of next year. Such inefficiency..."

Ye Yaodong punched him directly, "You're quite the runner. You said you'd go back for a few days, but you've been running back and forth between Shanghai and your hometown."

He gave a sheepish laugh. "I came back from my hometown, and the seafood harvesting boat hasn't docked yet, so I thought I'd take advantage of the time I still have to make a trip to Shanghai to check it out?"

“Perfect timing, then you can book my time for this year and next year. Come out with me.”

"Depend on."

"You also need to train a group of crew members in advance, otherwise it will be difficult to get them started on the spot."

"Could you spare some manpower for me?" Ah Zheng asked with a fawning smile.

"I pay my own salary."

“That’s not a problem. I’ll pay the salaries of the people I hire, but to save some money, let’s wait until the middle of next year to hire more people. Anyway, the salaries of three people working together are paid by three people. Now that I’m coming to your ship to learn ahead of time, I should also calculate their salaries.”

Ye Yaodong glanced at him sideways, giving him a look that said he should interpret it himself.

"You're dreaming! You want to get double pay?"

Ah Zheng suddenly remembered that a few months ago he had tried to extort some wages from him.

"Heh heh, robbing the rich to help the poor! Who told you to be so rich?"

"Do you think my money grows on trees? I'm being lenient by not making you pay tuition."

"Hey, hey, hey, I'll get to work right away! Look, look, there's another big school of fish. Let me check if everything's ready on deck."

He quickly slipped away.

Ye Yaodong looked at the display screen. He had already seen it and now he could clearly see that it was a school of saury mixed with mackerel, with a thickness of about 170 meters and a depth of 60-170 meters.

This is a rare and large school of fish, with large numbers of fish appearing every day. This is the largest number of fish we've seen in the past month.

Although fish are cheap, the quantity is large, so winning by volume is just as effective.

The other fishing boats are now operating independently. This batch of fish is enough for his boat to catch for two days. After all, during the process of casting the net, the fish will be disturbed and scatter in all directions, so it is impossible to catch them all in one net.

He pressed the ship's intercom button, "Prepare quickly on deck. A school of fish has been spotted about one nautical mile to the southeast, with a thickness of about 170 meters and a depth of 60-170 meters. It is suspected to be saury and mackerel, plus a large number of squid."

A shout came from the deck: "Roger that, ready in 10 minutes."

Just as the deck was ready and the nets were being lowered as instructed, the sea suddenly began to boil, with large swathes of white foam surging up – a scene that felt strangely familiar.

Before Ye Yaodong could ask a question, A-Zheng picked up his binoculars and said, "It's not a big fish, it's tens of thousands of fish escaping. The patterns look like mackerel?"

"Mackerel is good. Mackerel is expensive now, much better than saury. Adjust the direction of the net opening."

Ye Yaodong looked at the row of screens in front of him and figured it out.

"There is a group of large fish underwater, and it is probably chasing this school of fish."

"What kind of large fish?"

"We can only detect very large fish; we need to get closer to determine what kind of fish it is."

He was adjusting the direction of the opening in the fishing net, and the fishing boat was slowly moving towards the target school of fish.

"tuna!"

Ah Zheng was pleasantly surprised, "Tuna, damn, this fish is so expensive, I didn't expect to find this kind of thing."

"You're so ignorant. I don't even know how many tuna I've caught in the last two months. Everyone's tired of eating them."

"Damn! They'll catch one and kill it later, and I won't get to eat it."

Ye Yaodong stared at the screens and ignored him. Watching the fishing net pierce through the school of fish, he relaxed, picked up his thermos, and took a sip of tea to refresh himself.

The fishing boats kept circling around the detected school of fish to catch them.

"You can see for yourself what you want to eat when it's scooped up."

"We won't be able to catch all the fish until tomorrow morning. Let's talk about it after we wake up."

The walkie-talkie on the table crackled, its sound mingling with the roar of waves crashing against the hull, particularly jarring in the quiet night.

"I detected a large patch of white light on the sea surface. According to the sound waves transmitted back by the sonar, it should be a school of fish."

"It looks a bit like a school of squid, with countless tiny points of light moving around, sometimes bright and sometimes dim."

"It must be a squid. What other fish would glow in the middle of the night?"

"Why can't it be a jellyfish?"

"Don't jinx it, what's the use of catching jellyfish?"

People chatted and joked in the channel to keep themselves awake in the dark, otherwise the long night would be too boring and lonely.

"My goodness, it really is a school of squid, they're all glowing, even the shadows under the boat are illuminated."

"And lots of krill..."

"I've detected what looks like a large fish, so I'm speeding towards the boss's boat number one."

Ye Yaodong calmly replied, "I already knew that. They are hunting, and a large group of them are Spanish mackerel."

"Mackerel is great..."

He worked until around midnight and then handed over the shift to A-Zheng.

The next day, I slept until I naturally woke up before going back to the deck. Every day was the same, except for the fish I caught.

However, the sky was gloomy when I woke up this morning, and it felt like it was going to rain heavily. The weather forecast last night also said that it would be sunny turning cloudy.

Just then, the loudspeaker came on.

"Attention everyone, the weather forecast says it will be cloudy with heavy rain today. Please prepare for the rain and also bring in all the dried fish drying on the deck."

As soon as the weather forecast announced rain, the crew members went back to their cabins in an orderly fashion to get raincoats and put on life jackets in case the rain got too heavy and something happened.

The dried fish hanging on the rope to dry were all taken down and put in the freezer. They will be taken out to continue drying when the weather gets better, since they won't spoil anyway.

Ye Yaodong immediately went back to put on his raincoat and life jacket.

Over the past two months, there have been two or three heavy rains, with the strongest winds reaching level 7 and waves reaching three meters high.

Summer rain comes and goes quickly, and it rarely rains in general.

"It started raining as soon as I arrived. I've hit the jackpot!"

"Be careful, visibility is limited in heavy rain, so be sure to wear your life jacket."

Ye Yaodong gave instructions and then checked that all the crew members on the deck were wearing life jackets before he felt at ease.

About half an hour later, large raindrops began to fall from the sky, becoming increasingly dense and larger.

The rain didn't fall vertically; it came at an angle with the sea breeze, hitting people's faces directly and making a crackling sound as it hit the deck.

The rain seemed to lessen the fishmeal stench in the air. Everyone stuffed their masks into their pockets and continued sorting the catch from the fishing nets as usual.

The cargo in the sea hasn't been fully retrieved yet, so the crane still has to keep it hanging.

Ye Yaodong went up to the cockpit and asked the captain, "What wind force is the weather forecast reporting?"

"They say it will be a level 5-7 gale, and visibility will drop to less than 500 meters, so be careful."

"We'll delay setting up the nets once we finish harvesting this batch of goods. The wind is so strong, we have to be careful. If it rains heavily, visibility will also be low, making it difficult to set up the nets."

"Ok."

His gaze pierced through the dense curtain of rain, looking into the distance. Now that the rain was heavy, visibility on the sea was limited. All he could see was rain, and even with binoculars, he could only see fish jumping and leaping on the surface.

This is all because the heavy rain reduced the oxygen in the water, causing the fish on the surface to jump out of the water to breathe.

The captain added, "Once this batch of cargo is sorted, let everyone go back to the cabin to rest for a while, and we'll talk again after the storm has passed."

"Yes, we can notify the other fishing boats to suspend operations if possible, and to haul in the nets as soon as possible if they can. Working at sea without nets will also help us better cope with changing weather."

The captain nodded and immediately used the walkie-talkie to notify the other fishing boats.

Ye Yaodong also pressed the ship's public address system to notify the deck.

P.S.: I'll update with another 4000-word chapter later.
(End of this chapter)