Ye Yaodong got up to head out to sea that night as usual. As long as there was no wind or heavy surf, they had to leave on time. After all, fine weather was scarce in winter, so they had to make more trips while the weather held.
He just couldn't do any longline fishing today. He hadn't collected bait beforehand; he had forgotten to tell his father, and hadn't asked A-Cai to save any either. He had hurried off carrying the oarfish.
He couldn't set the gill net either. He needed to take it to someone to clean and straighten out, then dry it. Luckily, he could still trawl.
He had it all planned out: he would trawl today. But just after taking the boat out, he discovered that the wind and waves offshore were rather strong. Thinking of the legend about earthquake fish, he decisively gave up, turned the boat around, and headed back.
He had originally thought that since he hadn't heard of any earthquakes here in his previous life, there probably wouldn't be much impact. He hadn't expected the wind and waves to pick up so soon that night. Things at sea really were unpredictable and ever-changing.
The trip out and back wasted more than an hour. Once he got home, he explained things to his wife, then crawled back under the covers to catch some more sleep.
He didn't wake until nine. When he got up, the sky outside was clear for miles. Although the sun wasn't blazing, there was still some faint sunshine. There was no sign at all of the wind and waves raging at sea.
After thinking it over, he told A Qing and went to look beyond the pier. If the waves out there weren't too big, he planned to check