They planned to trawl several nets around the nearby sea in the morning, hoping to catch some big haul like the day before.
By the time the afternoon approached and the tide receded, they would head to the lonely island to scavenge the shore.
They had no intention of venturing too far from shore, as this was not a serious trawling endeavor.
Serious trawlers would leave as early as one or two in the morning, the latest by three, to reach their destination.
It took more than an hour to travel to the fishing area, and they would need another hour to haul in a net.
If they went too far, they would hardly make many trips in a day and would waste fuel on the return journey.
They just wanted to see if luck would be on their side again, and if not, they would gather some shellfish on the lonely island.
With so many people, everyone would get their share, and they wouldn’t come back empty-handed.
As the boat set sail from the shore, Ye Yaodong felt a sense of ease wash over him, devoid of fear.
Once they reached the middle of the sea, he shouted loudly, “Ocean, I Ye Yaodong am back again!”
“Hahaha, Dongzi is too excited!”
“I’m excited too! Ocean, I Pei Guang am back, bring us a lot of seafood!”
“Don’t mention your name, the Sea God might refuse to give us seafood!”
“Go away!”
“Ah, stop the nonsense and hurry up with the nets. I don’t know how to do it!” The fat man urged excitedly.
“No need to rush. This is shallow water, too close to shore, so there won't be much catch. Let's head a bit farther first,” A Guang said, with years of experience.
His father operated a large fishing boat, and his aunt had a smaller one.
In previous years, he helped his cousins when they were too young to handle it all.
Ye Yaodong was familiar with this too, although he kept a low profile for the moment.
With a smile, he said, “Let’s see how our luck holds today. If we catch big fish, everyone will be happy to share; if not, we can at least get some snacks to enjoy.”
“Let’s just not make a trip for nothing!”
“If we can’t catch enough in the nets, we can definitely find something on the rocks; we won't return empty-handed. People in our village can’t come to the lonely island without a boat. Those who have boats are out trawling; no one would waste time coming just to scavenge. The lonely island must have a lot of shells on its rocks.”
Those with boats in the village wished for calm weather every day to earn money from fishing.
A Guang navigated the boat to the area around the lonely island, where they had caught a lot of mackerel yesterday.
He had hopes of encountering more good catches there.
“Hahaha, this is the place! Everyone, let’s get to work~”
“I’ll do it, I’ll do it…”
“I’ll do it, I’ll do it…”
Everyone eagerly scrambled to help cast the nets…
As the boat sailed, the nets sank to the seabed, and Fatty couldn’t wait to ask, “How long do we have to wait before we pull up the nets?”
He was the only one among them without any experience, while the others knew a bit more.
“Let’s wait for an hour. I’ll circle around a bit more to see if we can catch some extra fish.”
“Let me steer the boat; I want to try!” Ye Yaodong said, filled with enthusiasm.
A Guang eyed him skeptically, “Can you handle it?”
“A man cannot say he can’t do it! Don’t underestimate me.”
A Zheng joked with a grin, “Haha, Dongzi has two sons already. None of you have even one; he must be better at this!”
“Having two sons is impressive?”
“At least it’s better than you who can’t get married!”
“Damn it!”
Feeling somewhat downcast now, A Guang displayed his frustration.
In these times, especially in rural areas, having sons for the family line was highly valued, so having two sons was indeed noteworthy.
Besides, with the one-child policy in place, families could not have a second child unless the first was a girl and would have to wait five years.
Of course, some resorted to secretly having children, but they would face fines when registering the births.
Playful banter filled the air as they waited on the boat.
After a while, Ye Yaodong decided it was time to pull up the nets.
As expected, there was no big catch; after all, big fish were not caught every day and one could only rely on luck.
This net only yielded some prawns, blue crabs, rock crabs, and a few small fish.
Everyone felt a bit disappointed.
Ye Yaodong comforted them, saying, “We are too close to shore; it’s normal not to catch much. We can take back a few for snacks.”
Fatty reluctantly said, “Then should we go a little farther out?”
“Sure, we can drag one more net since the tide is about to go out. Let’s head a bit farther into the sea, circle back, and then pull in the nets.”
As the boat’s engine roared with a heavy sound, the group sat somewhat bored on the deck.
A Wei sighed, “If I had known, I would have brought a deck of cards to play.”
“All you think about is cards; aren’t you tired of it? And how can you play under this blazing sun?” Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes.
“Hey, sitting here under the sun is better than doing nothing, isn’t it?”
“Bringing cards would be pointless; better to have brought a pot. Once we’re back on land, we could cook up a meal right away.”
A Zheng’s eyes lit up, “Very true. Should have thought to bring a pot.”
Unfortunately, gas stoves hadn’t become common yet.
If they had a portable one, they could enjoy fresh catch straight on the boat.
“Didn’t think of that earlier; it’s too late now. We’ll consider it next time.”
They waited idly for over an hour, losing all sense of direction.
When they finally pulled the nets again, they realized they had drifted back.
The catch was still not impressive, just more of the same but in slightly larger quantities.
“Is this all we got? We won't even cover the boat fare.”
“Sigh, I came out specially, so why is there no good fortune today?” Fatty said regretfully.
“Normal! If this shallow area had so much catch, why would anyone take their boat further out? Aren’t we saving on fuel?”
Having caught so much mackerel yesterday, Ye Yaodong and the others were quite satisfied and didn’t expect to hit fortune again today.
They simply wanted to test their luck.
If they got lucky, it would be great; if not, it was fine.
They could still earn enough to eat and glean some shells.
“Well, no catch means no catch; that’s to be expected. The tide is already retreating, and it will be at its lowest by noon, so I’ll steer the boat back to shore.”
After anchoring the boat amid the rocks, everyone jumped off, each bringing their own tools and buckets, while also ensuring the boat was tied up securely.
“Wow, these rocks are loaded with goods!”
“Dongzi was right; there are indeed plenty of goodies on the rocks of this lonely island!”
Ye Yaodong smiled, “Of course! The rocks outside our pier are visited every few days. How much could there be? This lonely island, no one has come here, so it must be flourishing!”
His eyes were met with a rich bounty of mussels and clams, all in generous size, and numerous baby shellfish, along with various snails clinging to the rocks.
“Wow, this whole area is filled with cowrie shells!”
“I found a ton of Buddha Hands here…”
“Damn it, wild abalone…”
(End of this chapter)