Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982
Chapter 81

“Hmph, what dumb luck!” Ah Guang pouted. “Dongzi, where do you think there’s a good catch? Point me in the right direction?”

Ye Yaodong looked at him speechlessly, “Do you think I’m some kind of fortune-teller? You think I can divine and calculate? If I could, would I tell you? I’d have scooped up everything myself!”

“Come on, just use your golden finger to point me somewhere. Your dumb luck is better than mine.”

“Stop bothering me. I want to make money too, go find your own spot.”

“Come on, just give me a hint…” Ah Guang still had some faith in Ye Yaodong’s luck after finding two large blue crabs thanks to his guidance last time.

“I really don’t know…”

“Just point anywhere.”

“Aren’t you annoying… Fine, fine, go over there… Now get lost and go that way…”

Annoyed to no end, Ye Yaodong randomly pointed to a spot farther away, just to get him to go away.

As it turned out, whether it was because he was truly gifted or not, Ah Guang scampered off in that direction and actually found a large stranded fish.

“Huh? Holy crap, Dongzi really is amazing! But what kind of fish is this?”

Ye Yaodong heard him shout “Holy crap” and his heart skipped a beat. He quickly ran over, wondering if he had accidentally pointed out a treasure spot.

The other two heard the commotion and rushed over as well.

“What kind of fish is it?”

“Is it a big catch?”

Ye Yaodong arrived and took a look, his eyes widening. “A sea wolf?”

The body was long and cylindrical, with a pointed mouth and broad jaw. The head was shuttle-shaped with protruding canine-like teeth. The area around the eyes was yellowish with a hint of red. It was undoubtedly a sea wolf fish.

“Huh? This is a sea wolf? It’s so big?”

“Damn, you know this fish? You actually helped Ah Guang find a sea wolf? This one must be over a meter long, right?”

Except for Ye Yaodong, the other three country bumpkins had only heard the name but never seen the actual fish. This was truly an eye-opener for them.

Ah Guang rubbed his hands together gleefully, “This one should be about 1.1 meters long, right? Too bad it’s a long, skinny fish. It probably only weighs about 30 jin.”

“I heard these fish can grow up to 1.8 meters.”

“Then this one is small…”

“Be content. Even at 5 mao per jin, it’s worth over 10 yuan. This one catch is enough to break even for today. The trip wasn’t wasted.”

Ye Yaodong was kicking himself, regretting why he had to be so meddlesome and point out this spot. Damn it, he’d never do this again. Wouldn’t it have been better to keep it for himself?

Xiao Xiao nudged Ye Yaodong with his elbow, “Point out a spot for me too, let me go look?”

“Me too…”

“Get lost, you really think I’m a fortune-teller? I’m going to look for myself!”

Ah Guang happily shook out his sack and stuffed the still-gilled sea wolf into it, saying, “I heard these sea wolf fish live in schools and can even cause sea wolf storms. Why don’t we take advantage of the tide before it fully recedes, launch the boat, and try casting a net?”

Otherwise, once the tide went out completely, the boat would be stranded and they’d have to wait for high tide to go out again.

Xiao Xiao and Ah Zheng’s eyes lit up, “Sounds good! Dongzi, let’s go cast a net and see. If we don’t catch anything, we can come back to the island. We have the whole day anyway.”

Ye Yaodong was tempted too. “Alright, let’s try one cast and see if we can catch any sea turtles or sea wolves.”

“Yeah, yeah, maybe we’ll even get a sea turtle!”

The four of them sprang into action, untying the ropes and pushing the small boat together, as the water was getting a bit shallow now.

Once on board, Ye Yaodong started rowing, moving the boat away from the shore and towards the open sea.

When he felt they had reached a good spot, he stopped and looked at Ah Zheng, “Let’s do it here. You cast the net.”

“Got it, watch me!”

Ah Zheng had been waiting for this. Hearing Ye Yaodong say it was time, he folded the rope back and forth, holding it in his left hand, while his right hand grasped the base of the net, letting it hang down.

Keeping the hand holding the rope still, he gathered the net with his other hand and placed it in the hand holding the rope. Then he leaned his body back, with the arm holding the net behind him, his body turned sideways, one leg in front for support, gathering strength.

The arm in the back suddenly thrust forward, throwing out the net, but keeping hold of the rope end in his palm. The net flew out with the rope, and as his body rotated, the net was cast in a wide spread.

It was their own net, of course he knew how to use it. Plus, this was the simplest hand-cast net.

Once this kind of net is thrown, it can be retrieved simply by pulling the rope back.

“Ah, so many white pomfrets!”

“Quick, help pull it in!”

After their initial excitement, the four worked together to haul the entire net full of pomfrets onto the boat. They hadn’t expected this pleasant surprise.

“We were trying to catch sea wolves and sea turtles, but ended up with a net full of pomfrets. They’re not small either, looks like they’re all over 5 liang (250g). This must be several dozen jin, right?”

“It’s got to be 70 or 80 jin at least.”

“These white pomfrets are great!”

“Quick, dump them out and let’s cast again. These fish swim in schools, let’s see if there are any stragglers left.”

“Right away.”

All four were extremely excited. So many fish meant more money to split, even though there were many of them, a few yuan each was still something. They quickly emptied the fish from the net onto the boat.

“You guys stand back, I’m going to cast on this side. I want to throw it better and catch more fish.”

“Hurry up, don’t dawdle. If you’re too slow, the fish will swim away.”

Just as Ah Zheng was about to cast the net, Ye Yaodong stopped him. “Wait, wait, I think we should move the boat to a better position.”

“What’s the deal? I’m not casting in the same spot anyway!”

“Listen to Dongzi! He’s been on a roll lately!”

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes. Saying he had good luck was one thing, but why say he was “on a roll”?

“Alright, this spot will do.”

“Are you sure? If you’re sure, I’ll cast.”

Ah Guang impatiently urged, “Hurry up, keep talking and I’ll kick you overboard as fish bait.”

Ah Zheng felt a bit wronged, “When Dongzi talks, you don’t find him long-winded. You still need to rely on me to cast the net. The river isn’t crossed yet, and you’re already thinking of tearing down the bridge.”

“You think you’re the only one who can cast a hand net?”

“Hmph…”

Ah Zheng grumbled a bit, then directly cast the net out. After a short while, he started to pull it in. “Ah, come help, it’s heavy! We’ve got another catch!”

“Dongzi is amazing!”

“Isn’t it because I cast well?”

“Save your breath and pull hard. Stop talking nonsense.” Ye Yaodong was getting a headache from all the chatter. More people meant more talk, endless chatter, really.

“Ah, this net is full of sea wolves! No wonder it’s so heavy.”

“There are other mixed fish too. Quick, pull it up!”

The four struggled a bit to haul this net of sea wolves onto the boat.

“It feels like it’s over 200 jin. My arms are sore. If it were any more, we couldn’t pull it up. Ah Guang’s aunt’s boat is more convenient with its net-lifting machine.”

“Hurry and empty it out so we can continue. Stop chattering.”

“Keep going, keep going!”

“If there’s a catch, we’ll pull it up even if we have to use all our strength.”

Everyone seemed to be on an adrenaline high, all in high spirits.