Everyone Was Stunned

Ye Yaodong smiled at everyone. "I want to keep two or three Spanish mackerel to take home. Work on our house starts tomorrow, and we have to feed the workers, so I can use them to make fish balls. There's also this mixed seafood-we can't finish it all in one meal, so I'd like to take some home for tomorrow's dishes. We're splitting the catch evenly anyway. Just deduct the value of whatever I keep from my share after we sell it..."

"Oh, come on, what's this about deducting money? We're all good friends. Take however many you want..."

"Exactly. If you want a few, just take them. Why talk about deducting money? Are we strangers or something?"

"Right. We've got hundreds of Spanish mackerel. What difference will a few make? Since work on your house starts tomorrow, you might as well keep more. You can cut them into chunks and salt them. Fresh fish won't keep in this heat, but salted fish will last a few more days. We caught them ourselves, so they didn't cost us anything. What's wrong with keeping a few extra?"

Their words warmed his heart. He hadn't made these friends for nothing.

He smiled and shook his head. "These fish are worth a bit. Keeping that many to eat would be a little extravagant. Two will do. My dad goes trawling every day, and he always brings home some cheaper Fish Catch. Those will keep until the next day just fine for feeding the workers."

"Let's split these two buckets of seafood, too. Keep some to go with our drinks tonight, and everyone can take a little of the rest home. That'll give your families another couple of dishes."

"And you should each keep two Spanish mackerel for your families, too. They're good for either Spanish mackerel dumplings or fish balls."

He didn't like Spanish mackerel dumplings, but he did like fish balls.

Since none of them wanted to deduct anything from his share, they might as well split it evenly and each take some home for their families.

Listening to his arrangements, they all felt that something about him had changed.

He was actually thinking of his family, and looking out for theirs, too.

A-Guang patted his shoulder. "Dong, you seem to have suddenly grown up a little. Is it because you're about to set up your own household?"

"Of course. I'm about to become the head of a household. Once I'm not living with my parents anymore, I'll definitely mature even more."

"Because you'll get scolded less, right? Hahaha!" A-Zheng teased.

"Get lost! You never miss a chance to undermine me!"

"Then let's do what A-Dong said. We'll each keep two Spanish mackerel to take home. Pick whatever little fish and shrimp you want, and we'll have the rest with our drinks tonight."

A-Guang shook his head. "I don't need any. It's just me and my two younger sisters at home. We can't eat much. As long as there's something to go with our drinks tonight, I'm good."

A-Zheng said, "My four older sisters are all married, so it's just me and my parents at home. We can't eat much either. I'll take one Spanish mackerel and pick out a bowl of little shrimp."

"Suit yourselves. I'll pick some from whatever's left," Ye Yaodong said casually.

As they neared the pier, the four of them picked out what they wanted to keep, each setting aside one or two Spanish mackerel as needed.

The tide still hadn't come all the way in at the pier, and some people were still digging for sand clams.

The water was too shallow to bring the boat in, so they had to stop beside some rocks a short distance away and climb ashore over them.

They left one person on the boat while the others ran to the buying station for baskets. They had never expected to net so many fish and hadn't prepared anything-not even baskets.

A-Cai at the buying station watched them barge in like bandits. Without so much as a greeting, they carried off the entire stack of bamboo baskets, which stood over waist-high, then asked whether he had any more.

"What are you doing? What's going on? Where are you taking all my baskets? That's a whole lot of them!"

"We caught several thousand jin of Spanish mackerel. Come help us carry them." With that, Ye Yaodong grabbed A-Cai and hurriedly hauled away all the remaining baskets as well.

"What do you mean, several thousand jin of Spanish mackerel? Where did you catch them? Is that really true? Don't try to fool me!" A-Cai stumbled as Ye Yaodong dragged him along before shaking off his hand.

"Oh, stop asking questions and hurry up. You'll see when we get there."

With the tide still too low for any boats to enter the pier, he had nothing to do anyway, so he followed them to the boat, half believing them.

The moment he stepped aboard, he saw the live well crammed with Spanish mackerel. His eyes lit up. "They really are Spanish mackerel! So many! Did you catch a whole netful from a school of them?"

Without even looking up, A-Guang said, "More than one netful. There are even more in the hold. Hurry up and help us load them."

"How much are you paying for Spanish mackerel?" That was what Ye Yaodong cared about most.

"Two mao."

"Shit, can't you give us a little more?"

"That's already a good price. I'll only make one or two fen when I resell them."

"Like hell I believe you. Help us carry them ashore first."

"Ah! There are this many in the hold, too? Where did you run into this small school of Spanish mackerel?" A-Cai was stunned. Even the hold was packed full of them.

"Why all the questions? Come help!"

As basket after basket of Spanish mackerel was carried off the boat, everyone around the pier was stunned.

Their village pier was only a small one. Usually, it only handled catches from small trawlers or fish traps, and no single boat brought in very much. They had never seen basket after basket of Spanish mackerel like this, and everyone at the buying station started talking.

"Good heavens, so many Spanish mackerel! Whose boat caught them?"

"How are there so many? Did a big boat dock here?"

"Definitely not. There's no sign of a big boat."

"Tsk, tsk. Someone's struck it rich again! Just a few days ago, Third Ye caught a whole netful of large yellow croaker. Now someone's caught several thousand jin of Spanish mackerel."

"Who was it? Didn't I just see A-Dong and his friends?"

"A-Dong, A-Guang, and the others..."

"No way! Those guys can actually do something useful?"

Basket after basket of Spanish mackerel filled the buying station. The people digging for sand clams on the beach below also heard that someone had netted several thousand jin of Spanish mackerel, and that Ye Yaodong was among them.

The members of the Ye family were all astonished. Dong had netted several thousand jin of Spanish mackerel?

Was that really true? When had he gone out to sea?

"Come on, let's go up and have a look. The tide's almost in anyway." Mother Ye stood up, too impatient to wait.

When had her third son ever been this dependable?

Holding her son, Lin Xiuqing was both surprised and delighted. She knew her husband had gone out to sea, but hadn't he gone to the isolated island to gather seafood? How had he ended up netting several thousand jin of Spanish mackerel?

Still doubtful, the Ye family walked over to the buying station. Seeing baskets of Spanish mackerel covering the ground, with Ye Yaodong and A-Guang carrying over yet another basket, they gaped in astonishment.

Lin Xiuqing was the first to recover. Once he set down the basket, she tugged at his arm. "A-Dong, did you catch all these Spanish mackerel?"

"Not just me. A-Guang, Xiao Xiao, and A-Zheng all had a share in it."

"You really caught them?" Mother Ye still found it hard to believe. Her third son couldn't lift a thing or carry a load on his shoulders. When had he ever done any proper work?