As the sun painted the sky a fiery red, Ye Father glanced at the time and decided it was time for the second net.
He made his way to the slipway, only to find that this net seemed fuller than the last, making it harder to haul in.
He shouted to Ye Yaodong, "Come help me out!"
The father and son teamed up to pull the net up from the slipway.
"Goodness, this is exhausting! Did we stumble into a school of stingrays?" Ye Father exclaimed.
"Looks like our luck is in today; we have another great catch! This whole area is filled with stingrays," Ye Father said, his face lighting up with joy.
The fish swarmed together, and one well-cast net was far more rewarding than the scattered shrimp and crabs they had caught before.
Ye Yaodong smiled widely, "This net is packed! We're going to strike it rich today. Look, we even caught two Chinese fan rays, and this big blue shark isn’t small either! It must weigh forty to fifty pounds!"
The blue shark was known as one of the most beautiful sharks in the ocean, a stunning creature indeed.
For now, it was still plentiful in the seas, but after forty years, it would be classified as endangered.
Many countries, especially Japan, sought to catch blue sharks.
"Well, we can still make a few bucks from this catch," Ye Father remarked.
Shark meat wasn’t worth much; the real value lay in the fins.
However, for the resource-poor they were, it was still a sizable amount of fish meat to feed their family.
He felt a swell of pride, "See, I told you I have good luck! If we sell these two nets, we should make around fifty yuan."
Luck was indeed a mysterious thing.
If one happily claimed to be lucky, perhaps they would indeed attract good fortune.
Conversely, if one always talked about bad luck, misfortune might surely follow.
"Yes, these two nets have been quite fruitful; that’s enough for a month’s pay for a worker. We could even throw out a third net today. You go start the boat and set up the net; I’ll handle the rest here," Ye Father said, satisfied.
These two nets were worth more than their combined catches from the past few outings.
He couldn't help but think about his third son, whose luck seemed to be quite good lately.
Perhaps it was the vigor of someone new to fishing.
It was a perfect opportunity to maximize the good fortune, and Ye Yaodong showed a natural talent for fishing, easily picking it up without much instruction.
If his son continued to work diligently after separating the family, the older generations wouldn’t have to worry about him starving.
Finally, there was a glimmer of hope.
Ye Yaodong continued with the third net, but the catch wasn’t as bountiful as the previous two, and to their surprise, there weren’t any stingrays in this one.
They wondered if they had run away or if they had already been caught.
Instead, the net was filled with hundreds of small paddlefish!
"Why are we catching paddlefish? This kind of fish hardly fetches even five cents a pound!" Ye Father complained.
"Let’s say three cents for buying!"
Ye Father wasn’t too disappointed; fishing was all about luck.
Who could expect every cast to yield a splendid haul? Even though this net’s value was not much, it was on par with their regular catches.
Despite its low price, paddlefish could be dried or salted for a tasty flavor that their family enjoyed.
Ye Yaodong was quite unpretentious in his tastes.
While most ordinary people scorned paddlefish, he appreciated the coarse meat, finding it flavorful after long cooking.
It was just the selling price that was too low.
If he had to buy it, perhaps he would think differently and consider it a sweet deal.
“Since we did well on the first two nets, let’s save this one for drying or maybe for some salting. We can leave some for ourselves or for the workers; either way, it’s worth it,” he reasoned.
"Typhoons just passed; we can't afford to run out of food at home, so it's wise to stock up."
Even cheap fish could be quite satisfying, either for personal meals or to feed the workers.
"You're being foolish! When has a typhoon come every day?" Ye Father glared at him.
"Let’s see how the next few nets go."
"It’ll be good for sure!"
"After we finish sorting this, let’s have something to eat before continuing with the nets."
By now, the meals prepared by Ye Mother in the early hours had gone cold.
Luckily, it was summer, so they didn’t mind eating it cold.
Their meals were simple—a bowl of clams and a bowl of stir-fried greens.
After all, they hadn’t gone out for a few days, and their home had only greens and the clams they had foraged yesterday, since they had finished all the dried fish.
Yesterday's haul of seafood had already been sold for money, while what they couldn’t sell was merely enough for one meal, given they had nine adults and eight children consuming food daily.
Ye Mother was skilled at budgeting, simmering sweet potato strands in porridge to make sure they had enough to eat.
Naturally, the workers, who toiled physically, couldn’t be forced to eat sweet potato porridge.
Ye Mother always made them white rice while saving the sweet potato for her family.
When they sailed out to sea, it was also white rice.
After all, they only had one meal while out at sea, eating once before setting out for the night.
After finishing their rice and meals, Ye Yaodong hurried back to the boat to cast the next net, which made Ye Father quite pleased; he was noticing his son's diligence!
In truth, Ye Yaodong enjoyed fishing.
Each time they cast the net felt like opening a mystery box—one could never really tell what kind of fish waited inside.
Whether it was a good haul or a mix, the joy of catching a big fish was unmatched.
While many modern people fished for fun, he personally found it rewarding, reveling in the satisfaction of the catch.
Buying fish was something anyone could manage.
Seeing how well Ye Yaodong had dragged in the first two nets and how well he handled the boat, Ye Father didn’t pay much attention as he lowered down the fourth net, simply cautioning, “Be careful not to hit the rocks."
Ye Father closed his eyes briefly to rest.
Today’s harvest was already plentiful enough, and he didn’t mind letting his third son take the reins, clearly showing he learned things faster than the older siblings.
Ye Yaodong piloted the boat seriously, waiting until he felt the time was right before waking his dozing father to prepare to haul the net.
“Dad, this one looks pretty full too!”
The two struggled a bit to pull it up.
“Let’s get it up and see what we’ve got.”
When they finally got the entire net up onto the boat, they were astonished, “Whoa, more stingrays! We've hit a jackpot! Three out of four nets were stingrays today!”
“Stingray or not, as long as we have fish to sell, that’s all that matters,” Ye Father said happily.
This catch was even more abundant than the earlier two nets.
Ye Yaodong was already feeling quite accomplished.
With so many stingrays today, they were indeed going to profit.
“There haven’t been many crabs or prawns today. For the last net, should we try somewhere else? This area seems drained of stingrays now.”
Ye Father shot him a look. “Why do we need so many kinds? As long as we have something to sell, let’s stay here and see if we can pull up one more net of stingrays!”
“Alright, whatever you say!” There might still be stingrays to catch.
However, the last net surprised both of them; instead of stingrays, it was packed with swimming crabs, prawns, and some random fish.
All in all, they still had around thirty pounds.
They weren’t overly disappointed; this was just part of a normal fishing haul.
But to their astonishment, when they began to untangle the net, there was an unexpected treasure!
“Wow! Red grouper! This net surprisingly caught a big red grouper!”
(End of Chapter)