Ye Yaodong glanced behind them again at the one, two, three, four soldiers. He had no idea how professional these four hastily recruited soldiers were. The seabed was only a little over ten meters below the surface; someone skilled could freedive down there for two or three minutes without a problem.
"Let me make one thing clear first. I can take you out to sea, and I won't even ask you for fuel money. I'll cover that. But you can't touch anything on my boat. The machinery is expensive and breaks easily. My father and I have everything we own tied up in it. We can't afford any losses."
Luckily, both he and his father took great care of their machinery and equipment. After every use, before docking, they wiped everything down, covered it with nylon sacks, then put old cloth over it all so it wouldn't attract too much attention.
The old man from the Cultural Center quickly nodded. "Don't worry. I can guarantee that nobody will touch so much as a thread on your boat. We only need you to take us to that stretch of sea. We'll pay for the fuel, too."
The others nodded in agreement, telling him not to worry. They wouldn't touch anything.
"As long as you leave the things on my boat alone. I trust that educated people like you know how to behave."
Whether they did or not, he had to flatter them first. Otherwise, what if they got curious, started poking around his boat, and exposed his diving equipment?
"Rest assured, and thank you. To save time, shall we go now?"
"Wait a moment." Ye Yaodong turned to his father. "Bring a bucket of tea. The workers still have two buckets anyway. We can have A Qing boil another bucket later