Catch the sea: start with a sand shovel and take over the entire beach

Zhao Qin cut open two pieces of the retrieved wood, and the old Taoist priest's prediction was correct; they were indeed Vietnamese rosewood and Dalbergia cochinchinensis.

He was quite conflicted about what to do with the wood.

The simplest way is to call any one of He, Huo, or Li right now. They should be able to offer a good price for these twenty-odd pieces of wood.

But Zhao Qin couldn't bear to part with it!

"We can make at least several sets of furniture," Mr. Chen estimated.

Zhao Qin had an idea in mind and hurriedly ran to the wheelhouse. He returned shortly after, and by dinnertime, the group that had been digging for snails had also returned.

Without Zhao Qin and the sea otter's participation, they had caught about 2800 jin of seafood today.

As they began eating in a circle, Zhao Anguo took a sip of wine and said, "There's not much to do on this island. If we want to fish, we'll have to find another place. Let's discuss whether we should move forward or backward."

"They're definitely heading home," Chen Dong interjected.

Everyone else looked at Zhao Qin, only to hear him say, "What I mean is to look ahead a bit more. We've come all this way, and who knows when we'll be able to come back again. Why don't we look ahead a bit more, but not too far, maybe 100 nautical miles more at most."

“I think it’s a good idea. On the islands further back, during the fishing ban period, people can still come and visit when they have free time, but they won’t be able to travel this far anymore.” Mr. Chen also largely agreed.

"Okay, regardless of the harvest, we'll head back in three days. It's already a day or two later than expected, so I need to find some time to call home and let them know."

"No rush, we can fight when we set off on our way back."

After the decision was made, everyone chatted about their own things. After eating and drinking, they continued to distribute snails. At 10 o'clock, everyone rested.

Zhao Qin woke up around 4 a.m. Chen Xun was on night watch. "Qin, why don't you sleep a little longer?"

"Brother Xun, I'm going into the water to look for Hu Zi. Don't tell anyone else." Zhao Qin hadn't changed his clothes, only wearing a headlamp.

Chen Xun nodded. In the past, he would not have felt comfortable letting Zhao Qin go into the sea alone if it were dark. But as he experienced more and more, he finally understood that no one could hurt Zhao Qin in the sea.

The group of tiger cubs wasn't far away. After entering the water, he swam for a few minutes when suddenly something pushed him up. He initially thought it was just the sea otters playing around again.

But when I finally got a firm footing, I realized it was Dazhuang. I sat on Dazhuang's back and chatted with him. "Let's go back tomorrow. I don't need your help here. You haven't been hungry these past few days, have you? There are so many snails and shellfish on the island, but I haven't seen you go to eat them."

The most frustrating thing was that Dazhuang couldn't speak, but Zhao Qin knew it could understand him.

They soon arrived at Tiger's area, and he immediately climbed onto Big Tiger. "How have you been these past few days?"

Tiger not only chats with him, but he's also incredibly talkative. Often, when Zhao Qin asks a question, the other kids can give him several replies all at once, and occasionally they'll even start arguing with each other because their answers are different.

"You can go back tomorrow too, you don't need to stay here with me. Oh, you like it here too, the food is plentiful. Okay, then you can stay here and have some more time."

He put his hands behind his head as a pillow and lay on Da Hu's back, chatting idly with him.

As dawn broke and it was time to return to the boat, I got up, intending to jump into the water, when Da Hu delivered another piece of news.

"What, where?"

The tiger swayed its tail and began to move. Upon reaching the destination, Zhao Qin jumped into the sea and dived. After a while, he touched the bottom and quickly swam upwards. He hadn't brought an oxygen tank, and the dive had already made him feel suffocated.

Climbing back up behind Hu Zi, he sighed, "It's troublesome. It's nearly forty meters deep. It's too dangerous for anyone else to dive down. I have to come alone."

Big Tiger whimpered twice, saying it could do it easily. Zhao Qin laughed and said, "You're mocking us, aren't you? If you're so capable, come and take a ride on land with me."

He had Tiger carry him back to the boat.

The people on the boat were used to seeing him get off the tiger. After being pulled onto the boat by Ahe, Zhao Anguo urged him to quickly take a shower and change his clothes.

After he changed his clothes, breakfast was almost ready. While he was eating, Old Cat called him to the wheelhouse.

Old Cat pointed to the GPS, "Go west, about 80 nautical miles, there's an island group, why don't we go there and take a look?"

Zhao Qin looked at the map carefully, pointed to an area and said, "Brother Cat, take Ma Huan Island and Banlu Reef as the farthest point. Do not cross Banlu Reef. Even if there is no seafood on the islands we pass, we will have to turn back."

The area he demarcated was 40 nautical miles from Ren'ai Reef; getting any closer could be dangerous.

"Okay, shall I start the boat now?"

"Wait a minute, let's go to the deck, I have something to say."

Zhao Qin gathered everyone together and then told them about their discovery: "We've been wondering why, when we came here we were supposed to be salvaging a Ming Dynasty shipwreck, but all we've salvaged are Qing Dynasty artifacts."

Everyone put down their bowls and waited quietly for what was to come.

"The reason is simple: we actually looked in the wrong place. There are shipwrecks from both the Ming and Qing dynasties here."

"What about the Ming Dynasty?" Ahe asked.

Chen Dong reacted the fastest, "Aqin, you found something from the Ming Dynasty?"

Zhao Qin nodded, "We're family, so I won't hide it from you. Hu Zi and I guessed and conjectured, but we managed to communicate about 70-80%. Before dawn, I heard Hu Zi's calls and thought he was stranded, so I swam over to check. It turned out that Hu Zi led me to that place."

"Then what are we waiting for? Hurry up and finish your rice, then we can continue scooping."

"Yes, yes, this is much more exciting than picking seafood."

Zhao Ping and Chen Dong were so engrossed in their conversation that they lost all interest in eating and immediately urged each other to go over.

"Don't rush, let Qin finish speaking." It was Chen's father who remained calm and stopped everyone's commotion.

"The water there is too deep."

It's like pouring a bucket of cold water over your head; if the water is too deep for anyone to dive to the bottom, it means that even if you see a good treasure, you can only look at it.

"How did you determine that?" Zhao Anguo asked.

"Dad, the water is about 40 meters deep. I can dive down without much problem, but you can't."

After a moment of silence, Zhao Ping offered a suggestion, "Aqin, let's try this first, if it doesn't work..."

"No, we can't even try. It's that deep. Unless you're a professional diving athlete, who has undergone very rigorous training, you can't go that deep."

"So, we'll just watch?" Ahe asked.

"What I mean is, there's no point in everyone staying. Xun-ge and I will stay with the small boat and see if we can get the sea otters to help search the bottom. You guys go to the island we booked for beachcombing first."

Our work shouldn't take too long; Tiger can carry us to find the boat later.

"No, what if we go the wrong way?" Zhao Anguo was the first to shake his head in opposition.

Zhao Qin pointed to the island next to him where they had been digging for snails for three days, "If we don't meet up within three days, you can wait on this island. If we can't find you, we'll wait on the edge of the island too."

Seeing that Zhao Anguo still had something to say, Zhao Qin advised again, "Father, with Hu Ziqun around, there will be no danger. Finding you will be a piece of cake."

"Aqin, I'll stay too," Qian Bijun said.

"Brother, don't forget me." Ahe raised his hand.

"Alright, having more people is useless. Just Xun and I are enough. It's settled then. Everyone, hurry up and eat. We'll set sail after we finish eating."