The sun was setting in the west, reflecting the golden light on the sea. Ye Yaodong was already satisfied with the profit from this jellyfish fishing trip. Even if he could not catch much fish every day and could only earn a salary, he would not care. He had already harvested enough.
.
The sea urchin was an unexpected surprise and the icing on the cake.
I hope it can be sold at a good price. When the time comes, I will give each of them a big red envelope to celebrate. If anyone goes into the water to help catch sea urchins, I will give two red envelopes.
The boatmen on the boat also hope that the sea urchins can be sold at a good price. In this case, they can continue fishing and earn an extra wage every day.
Originally, I was paid three yuan a day, which is already a high salary. I could add two more yuan a few times for watering, so it was five yuan a day, which was enough.
Even if there is no extra money, they are invited to work, and the owner asks them to salvage, they still have to go into the water, even gossip is inevitable, and everyone will probably complain about it.
Now that I can earn two more yuan, everyone is extremely satisfied, and they just follow me to earn more money.
As we drove all the way towards the town, more and more fishing boats gathered around us. Most of them were their own boats, so we had to calculate the time to return to the city.
When they arrived around the coast, many small wooden boats were still fishing there. It was not known whether they had sold out their goods or had not returned yet.
As soon as they docked, Ye Yaodong asked people to carry Pei's father's goods ashore first, and then his own goods.
For Pei's father's goods, Aguang can just collect the goods himself.
He didn't have time to take care of his goods today, so he handed them over to Aguang to look after. Later, when he was free, he could just pay him according to the goods order. Now he had to focus on that batch of nearly 500 kilograms.
sea ​​urchin.
After all the jellyfish were moved ashore, he asked others not to move them yet and just left one person to watch. The others would watch the goods for sale and help move them. He would go to several purchasing points at the dock to ask about the prices.
The purchasing points are also very sloppy, not much different from the small hut at their dock. During the recent jellyfish flood season, they have been collecting jellyfish there, and no one is fishing.
When he went to the collection point, the empty space was also filled with piles of jellyfish. There were tractors waiting at the door, and everyone was busy carrying them onto the truck.
"Hey? Is the boss here?"
"What are you doing? You have too many jellyfish and you can't sell them?"
"No... I just want to ask you, do you want sea urchin? How much does it cost per pound?"
The thin little man looked at him suspiciously and said, "Is the quantity large? If it is small, then I don't want it. I don't have time to deal with those little things. I am busy collecting jellyfish now."
"A few hundred pounds, you can see if you want it. If not, I'll ask someone else."
The boss was surprised, "How many hundreds of kilograms? That's okay. If it's just a few kilograms, I won't bother with the 10 kilograms."
"How much does it cost?"
"Five cents."
Grass!
"Forget it." Ye Yaodong hesitated and left. It was too insincere.
"Hey, wait a minute, five cents is a lot for you. What's more, now is not the time to collect these things. Now everyone is busy collecting jellyfish and has no time to deal with these bulk goods. You go to other people's houses and ask
, the price is about the same as others, so maybe they are too lazy to accept it.”
"I just saw that your store is a little bigger than others and you have more goods, so I thought I'd come over and ask you for 5 cents... I'm not a fool, and it's not like I've never sold anything before."
"Haha, since you have a lot of goods, then it's 6 cents, 7 cents is 7 cents. If you don't sell it, I won't bother."
Ye Yaodong took out a fist-sized sea urchin and asked, "Do I have to pay extra for something of this quality? It's different from the small sea urchins we usually see. This one is worth two."
"Huh?" The boss took it in surprise, "This is a deep-sea variety. Where did you get it?"
"It's fished from the sea."
"Um……"
"Just tell me whether I need to pay more for this. I am a fisherman and sell goods all the time. I know how much everything costs. Don't bully me because I am from out of town."
"I believe you. I heard from the local fishermen that you are more fair here, so don't ask other people, just come straight to you."
The boss frowned and said, "Then... let's just call it 20 cents. My price is very fair. If you ask someone else, they might think you are a foreigner."
"More."
"If you don't want to add more, just this is the number. If you don't want to sell it, go to someone else's house and ask."
"2 cents and 2 cents, just 2 cents and 2 cents. Later in the evening, I can bring you a few hundred more kilograms. There will be more tomorrow. Do you want to do a long-term business?"
"There will be more tonight and tomorrow? Is it true?"
"Really, Kuang, what are you doing? It's not good for me. I'm still here to catch jellyfish, so there's no need to lie to you."
The boss stared at him for a while and hesitated, "Okay, let's take it at a loss. I don't even make 20 cents anymore. I'm just doing good deeds..."
"Okay, I'm going to ask people to move it over now. Even if there's a lot of it, otherwise I wouldn't be too lazy to sell it. We have a lot of people ourselves, so we can just eat it."
"It's such a waste to eat it. Of course, if you can sell it for money, you have to sell it for money..."
Ye Yaodong had already walked out, but the boss was still talking behind him.
The several baskets of sea urchins brought ashore have sharp needle-like spines, are shiny black, and are all very even in size, so there is no need to pick at all.
The owner of the purchasing point lifted a basket and poured it out. After a while, he found that there was no fish in troubled waters or mixed sizes or different sizes. He was also very satisfied.
He emptied all the baskets, took out Ye Yaodong's basket and returned it to him, and then weighed it directly.
They were all experienced dough sticks, and they all estimated the weight accurately by hand. They said it was nearly 500 kilograms, but it actually weighed 490 kilograms. They sold it for a total of 107 yuan and 80 cents.
Ye Yaodong was very satisfied. At noon, everyone took turns to go into the water twice and achieved this result. At that time, it was the first time for everyone to go into the water and they were not very familiar with it.
I'll go back later and go into the water again, and I should be able to harvest a little more in the evening.
However, you shouldn’t go into the water too many times a day.
A longer interval and a longer rest are fine, but don't go into the water continuously.
He decided not to go into the water when the water was cold in the morning. He would go down twice at noon and twice in the afternoon. It was just right, so he just went to swim a few laps in the water and take it easy.
I can sell it for an extra 200 yuan a day, and in the next half month, I can also sell it for an extra two to three thousand yuan, which is the icing on the cake.
If you can't catch enough jellyfish, just wait until next year and treat it as making up for the loss of less jellyfish catch in the coming year.
After receiving the money, Ye Yaodong and others happily walked out. The boss was still shouting from behind, asking him to remember to deliver it in the evening.
Ye Yaodong turned his back to the person and only raised his hand and waved twice to show that he understood.
Aguang's side is still busy. All the fishing boats have docked in the afternoon, and the batch harvest and accounting are not so fast.
He said hello and said he would come back in the evening to pick up the order and calculate the money. He would leave it at his place first, and then left with the others.
You have to go to the event, otherwise it will be too late, the sun will set, the temperature will be low, and you will easily catch a cold.
Father Ye was also waiting there eagerly. When he saw them coming back, he immediately sailed over and climbed over to ask. He was very happy when he found out that they were selling for just over 100.
"It's pretty good, pretty good. It can be sold for more than 100 points. Three waves a day can sell for more than 300. This is not much less than jellyfish. The daily receipts of jellyfish may not be as much as this."
"I plan to let them go down twice a day, one at noon and one in the afternoon, and don't go out in the morning. The temperature is low in the morning and it's easy to catch a cold."
"That's okay. It just so happens that there are less jellyfish now, so sea urchins can take over. In this way, the income can still keep up with before."
Ye Yaodong nodded.
While they were talking, the eldest cousin had already actively put on a mask, flippers and other things.
"Dongzi, should I go down now?"
"Hey, okay."
The eldest cousin jumped into the water with a splash.
Get into the water early, finish fishing early and rest early, so as not to have low visibility in the water when the sun sets later.
Everyone was watching there. Father Ye asked another boat to catch jellyfish by himself. He also wanted to watch from here. Anyway, there was no need for so many people. Five people on that boat were too many now.
Ye Yaodong leaned against the side of the boat, smoking a cigarette and thinking that if he went back at night, he could arrange for more people to rest from tomorrow and take care of the house.
The few people on his boat remained the same, and the other boat arranged for three people to rest and three people to fish, taking turns day by day.
Anyway, now jellyfish occasionally pop up here and there, so you don’t need too many people, three people are enough to handle it.
Everyone was watching there, chatting and guessing how many pounds they could gain this time.
"It would be convenient if there were more sets of these diving equipment, and you could catch more, but I don't know how much it would cost?"
"It's definitely not easy to do. They say they did it because of connections."
"Mainly, it's not of use at ordinary times. If the weather is cold, whoever goes under the water will freeze to death."
“Can’t we still come next year anyway?”
"Next year is still very early, so what are you talking about next year? Why not guess how much more you can get on this trip?"
"It's definitely possible, I should be able to collect about 60 kilograms..."
"The boss of that acquisition site was too bully. He even said 5 points at the beginning, which was too much..."
"That's right. If you put it at our dock, the common ones are worth seven or eight cents. I don't know how much a big deep-sea one costs, but it's definitely higher than the price here."
"On the last day, let's just take it home and give it to Ah Cai. Don't sell it to them. The people outside are too bad."
"Normally, outsiders will be bullied wherever they go..."
Everyone chatted, and after a while, the eldest cousin came up.
This time, Father Ye didn't need to do anything. They spontaneously went to roll the wheel to receive the goods alone, and the remaining people helped to pull the eldest cousin up.
"How much does it weigh this time?"
"I don't know. The weight estimate under water is not accurate. We will know when we collect it. Who will be next?"
"I, I, I..."
"Then let's go to Chen Shi."
"Why."
"I think your stuttering seems to be getting better..."
"It's okay..."
From eight words for stuttering to three words for stuttering, there has indeed been progress, Ye Yaodong thought.
My eldest cousin has indeed made progress this time, and can also collect fifty or sixty pounds. After getting familiar with it, I will definitely gain more every time.
Ye Yaodong also took turns with them, but he went down last.
This is the fourth time he has gone down today, but the sun is setting now, and the light on the seabed is not as abundant as at noon. It is even foggier than at noon, but it is still barely visible, so he can only go down twice this time in the afternoon.
.
He pushed aside the nearby water plants and ran directly to the trench, with a clear purpose and a quick victory.
After the two trips were completed, the sky became a little dark, and the sky was filled with glow. After Ye Yaodong climbed up, they hurriedly and slowly sailed back.
His father had already arranged for another boat to be sailed back to the island first, with the net bags they put on it. Every evening they would return to the island first, collect the net bags, cut up the jellyfish and transport them back together.
This wave of sales in the evening was more than in the afternoon, because everyone was familiar with the business and the efficiency was higher. The sales were a full 135 yuan, one-third more.
Ye Yaodong was extremely satisfied. He collected the money and planned to tell the people who would stay to visit the house tomorrow to buy some meat and treat them to extra meals tomorrow when he went back.
As for the sea urchins he pried off from the bottom of the sea when he first entered the water at noon, he never took them out and kept them for extra meals at night.
The total price of jellyfish sold today has also shrunk.
After returning home, Aguang gave him the money he had not paid in the afternoon.
Throughout the whole day today, the amount of the two boats was less than 750, and he didn't mention the fraction. The bulk was from the jellyfish blood. The jellyfish blood was caught two days ago. It was dried for a day yesterday and sold this morning.
of.
Moreover, they received the goods as usual this morning, but the volume started to shrink in the afternoon. It is estimated that they will make less money selling the goods tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, because there is less blood on the big heads of jellyfish.
Prices were already falling due to the increase in goods, and now it's even worse.
The people in the next room are already discussing that they will settle the accounts today and start fishing for their own money tomorrow. Anyway, the trench has been almost empty by them, and there is no point in forming a partnership.
Fortunately, there was a large sea urchin growing in the trench, which allowed him to make up for his losses.
When he came back in the evening, everyone had spread the word and knew that he had discovered a sea urchin nest under the trench. They were all jealous, but they also knew that he had to use tools to get down to more than ten meters under the water.
Moment after moment, I felt so regretful that I could only shake my head.
In this situation, they have no ability to get a share of the pie, so they can only watch helplessly.
But fortunately, everyone has made a lot of money during this period, and they are basically grateful. People like them who came here last year can share the place with them so that they can also earn this money.
Although Ah Zheng and Xiao Xiao had gone into trouble with Ye Yaodong before, but in this situation, Ye Yaodong didn't invite them to join. Of course, they didn't have the nerve to take the initiative to speak, so they could only hold back.
After all, he also hired long-term workers to work in the water, so there was no need to share the profits with them. Asking them to work together in the water, there was no need for so many people.
Ye Yaodong arranged for three people to rest the next day, and the remaining people continued to go to sea.
The villagers were a little unwilling to give up. They did not believe that the trench had been hollowed out by them, and they fantasized that a large number of them would emerge after one night.
So early in the morning, everyone did not go their own way to fish, and they all went to the trench.
After the night passed, as everyone expected, a lot of jellyfish appeared in the trench. Everyone looked happy, but soon their faces fell.
How can the little bit that emerges be enough for their twenty-five boats to catch?
It only took a few strikes, or at most half an hour, before they were surrounded by a group of them and completely wiped out.
Even the ones with a diameter of about ten centimeters were not spared. It was a sure kill.
After it was completely empty, everyone dispersed and went to the sea to search again.
There were only two of their boats left in the trench. Ye Yaodong thought for a moment, there was no need for both of their boats to be here if they were scattered one by one. Anyway, they were not going into the water so early in the morning.
He let his father's boat stay in the trench to catch fish sporadically, while he sailed the boat out for a spin on the sea to catch as many as he could, maximizing the benefits and saving everyone from sitting there in a daze.
.
Father Ye also agreed, "That's okay, as long as I have a boat here. Just remember to check the time and come back early."
"knew."
"I don't want you to deliver the goods back to the pier any later. I'll just go. You can take your brothers and get into the water early and see if you can go down one or two more times and get some more sea urchins up."
Ye's father was heartbroken yesterday when he found out that Jellyfish's profits had shrunk by nearly a quarter after it had lost money. It was all money, and it would be even less tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
He also hopes to catch more sea urchins to make up for it. Anyway, when he comes back after delivering the goods, he can still catch all the jellyfish that have floated up but have not yet drifted out.
"That's okay, then I'll go wander around the sea and look for it first."
"Go ahead, don't run too far."
"knew."
Ye Yaodong drove the boat around aimlessly on the sea. Occasionally, when he saw jellyfish floating by, he would be poked by others, and if they were close, he would catch them with a hand net.
Sometimes we simply turn off the engine and let the fishing boat float along with the wind and find it as it happens. Anyway, we already have the sea urchins at the bottom. Now we can catch as many jellyfish as we want.
Sometimes when I see it, I purposely sail to get there.
It was probably not the end yet, and there were quite a lot of jellyfish floating nearby. They caught them sporadically all morning, and they still weighed two to three thousand kilograms, which was no worse than waiting for the fish in the trench.
It can be said that it is less than the previous one but more than the lower one.
The offshore sea area is wide and the range is large, and there are more targets that can be found. There is no need to compete with a bunch of small wooden boats like on the coast.
These areas farther away can only be fished by trawlers, and small wooden boats cannot reach here.
Ye Yaodong returned after waiting for the right time and moved all the divided goods to his father's boat. While they were moving, Uncle Pei also calculated the right time to drive back.
However, after Father Ye sailed away, Father Pei did not leave immediately, but asked him curiously.
"Are you ready to go into the water now?"
When they were carrying it, Father Pei saw that their boat was empty and there were no sea urchins, so he asked about it in confusion, and he explained it.
"It's a little later, it's only around eight o'clock now, take your time, don't be in a hurry."
"Oh, I thought I was about to go into the water now and wanted to take a look. If you don't go into the water now, why don't you show me your diving equipment and let me try it out?"
Everyone has curiosity, and Ye Yaodong shrugged obediently.
"Okay, then you can crawl over here."
This is not his real father, and he doesn't want to persuade him not to get into the water or anything, so as not to think he is stingy. Men of this age are a little unwilling to admit defeat, so it's okay to give him a try.
Father Pei hooked his boat with a hook and brought the two boats together. He climbed over neatly and saw that they had taken out the tools in the corner and prepared them there.
With a curious look on his face, he looked over it with great interest, and asked Ye Yaodong to teach him how to wear it.
Ye Yaodong also put them on for him one by one, and took the trouble to explain the precautions and other things.
In fact, he was quite annoyed. He was willing to talk over and over again, but he could only pretend to be patient and knew everything. He was an elder, a friend's father and an in-law, so he could only be polite.
Father Pei also went into the water as he was told.
It only took five minutes before Father Pei came up immediately.
"Why so fast?" Ye Yaodong was surprised.
Everyone also helped to pull Father Pei up.
"Oh, I'm old and can't do it anymore. I went down and saw the trench. It was exactly what you said. In fact, I didn't feel any discomfort at all. But when I lowered my head and saw the long trench that looked like a black hole, I felt...
I can't help but feel panicked, always worrying about something strange crawling out of the black hole-like place underneath."
Ye Yaodong looked clear.
"Oh, that's it. That's normal. Two cousins ​​also went into the water before. They also felt scared after going down and came up. It should be a phobia of the deep sea. They feel that the bottom is unfathomable. They feel panic after watching it, not to mention
It fell to the bottom.”
Father Pei nodded, "That's probably the case, but I feel a little panicked when I descend to the bottom of the sea. I don't know how deep it is, but it can't compare to the moment I saw the trench."
"Sigh... I originally wanted to give it a try and see if it was useful. Then I decided to bite the bullet and see if I could ask you to buy one. But now it seems that I am not going to eat this..."
Ye Yaodong: "..."
Uncle Pei really knows how to think.
I didn't have much contact with him before, I just thought he was an elder who was very easy to talk to. I went to their house to drink every day, and occasionally I bumped into him at home. He didn't say anything, and he smiled and drank with them.
Now it seems that people all think for themselves.
My biological father is the best. No matter how good others are, they still have selfish motives and ideas.
"Okay, I'll go over first."
"Oh okay."
Others asked him too after watching his boat sail away.
"Dongzi, how easy are you to do this?"
"Who said it's not easy to do? How can it be done if it's said to be possible?"
"Then Uncle Pei just wanted to ask you to do it."
"He took it for granted, but fortunately he gave up the idea." Ye Yaodong pursed his lips and changed the subject, "Okay, there are jellyfish popping up over there, go over and fish them out, don't let them float out or sink into the water again.
.”
"Oh, right away."
After everyone's attention was diverted, they chatted about other things.
It was not until 9 o'clock that Ye Yaodong asked them to catch all the jellyfish on the sea, and then he asked them to start taking turns in the water.
Wait for the ones that will pop up again. If you can get them, let others poke them with bamboo poles. If you can't reach them, wait for your father to come back and fish them out.
This wave is like this, and the wave in the afternoon is also like this.
His father also asked his father to take the sea urchin back to sell in the afternoon. This time, the efficiency was even higher, selling for 150 yuan. Everyone has become better with practice.
By the evening the difference was not that big, and it was still selling for just over a hundred and fifty.
Equivalent to one day today, the profit from sea urchins alone is as high as 300 yuan.
But correspondingly, the number of jellyfish is less. After all, there is no comparison between this morning and yesterday morning, and there is no comparison between the jellyfish blood.
In the next few days, the income from sea urchins has been stable at 300 or early 300 per day, depending on everyone's status that day.
The daily selling price of jellyfish has also tended to be stable and steadily decreasing. Without the natural trench, the daily income has been reduced by one-third to half. At the best time, two boats can be sold for more than 600.
But as time goes by, the selling price has been falling. In just a few days, it has dropped to 500. This shows that the number of jellyfish is gradually decreasing, and the peak flood season is probably over.
They have been fishing peacefully, and as the number of their catches has been greatly reduced, the locals have become more pleasing to their eyes, and everyone is the same.
We continued fishing until the end of the month, during which time it also rained heavily, lasting three days and two nights before it cleared up.
The past two months have been blessed by God. The weather has been very good most of the time. In the summer, there are very few cloudy days. It is basically either sunny or it rains heavily due to the influence of typhoons. This month, at most, the tail of the typhoon will sweep away.
, the effect lasts for several days.
There is no need to use fishing nets to catch jellyfish, and they do not need to fish for three days and dry the nets for two days. They only rest when it rains and is cloudy and unsuitable for fishing.
In fact, the workers who caught jellyfish were quite relaxed. They took turns every day for the next half month, with half of them resting and the other half fishing.
The four people who went into the water to catch sea urchins and him, the boss of the boat, would have a harder time.
There is no harm without comparison. Pay should be proportional to income.
It makes no sense that when people take turns to rest, they have to take turns to get into the water, so they should be subsidized.
He is so diligent and deserves to make money.
As the end of the month approaches, their daily income from sea urchins is still fixed at around 300, but their income from jellyfish has suddenly dropped to the point where it is no longer comparable to sea urchins.
Even so, it was better than nothing, and everyone decided to continue fishing for two more days. Although the drop was severe, it was still better than trawling. The daily income of a boat was just over 100, and after deducting labor and fuel expenses, it was enough.
If you trawl at home, it only costs a few dozen yuan a day. When the delivery is good, it will cost you seventy or eighty yuan. When the goods are not received, it will cost you thirty yuan.
Anyway, there are still a few days until the Mid-Autumn Festival at the end of the month. If the expenses such as labor and oil are reduced to the same level as the trawl at home, it will not be too late to go back home.
Everyone thought very well, but it turned out that some people lost half of their profits again the next day, and some people were able to continue to maintain their current profits. It was all down to luck.
Now some people couldn't sit still. If they stayed for one more day, they would have to pay the workers on the boat more than ten yuan, and the gas money would also cost twenty or thirty yuan.
After deducting expenses, you don't earn much at all. Some people can't wait to go back.
Chapter completed!