They planned to make a few trawling runs in the surrounding waters that morning, hoping they might get lucky and land a big catch like yesterday. Then, when the tide was about to go out that afternoon, they would head to the Isolated Island to gather seafood.
They had no intention of venturing too far out. They weren't going on a serious trawling trip, after all. Those who did left at one or two in the morning, or two or three at the latest.
It took over an hour just to reach the fishing grounds, and another hour or more before they could haul in each net.
If they went too far, they wouldn't manage many runs in a whole day. They would only waste diesel on the journey there and back.
They just wanted to see if they could strike it lucky again like yesterday. If not, they would gather seafood on the Isolated Island. With so many of them, even if each person collected only a little, they wouldn't lose out too badly.
The boat pulled away from shore. Today, Ye Yaodong no longer felt any fear, and his expression was completely relaxed. Once they were out at sea, he shouted straight at the water, "Sea, I, Ye Yaodong, am back!"
"Hahaha! Aren't you a bit too excited, Dongzi?"
"I'm excited too! Sea, I, Pei Guang, am back as well! Send us plenty of seafood!"
"Oh, hell, you'd better not tell it your name. If the sea god hears that, he definitely won't send us anything!"
"Get lost!"
"Come on, stop wasting words and cast the net! How do we do it? I don't know!" Fatty urged excitedly.
"No rush. These are shallow waters, too close to shore. There isn't much to catch here. Let's go a little farther out first," A-Guang said with the air of an old hand.
His father worked on a big boat, and his aunt's family had a small one too. A few years back, when his cousins were still too young, his aunt would always ask him to help out at sea. He knew all this well.
Ye Yaodong knew it well too, but he couldn't show that just yet. Smiling, he said, "Let's see how our luck goes today. If we get a big catch, we can all happily split the money. If not, we can still get ourselves something to eat with our drinks."
"As long as I haven't come all this way for nothing!"
"Even if the net catches nothing, we'll definitely find something on the rocks. We won't go home empty-handed. The people in our village without boats can't get to the Isolated Island, and those with boats are all out trawling. Who'd waste time taking a boat out just to gather seafood? That'd be a waste of a perfectly good boat. There must be plenty of shellfish on the island's rocks."
Every boat-owning family in the village wished for calm seas every single day so they could go out, cast their nets, and earn money.
A-Guang once again steered toward the waters near the Isolated Island. They had caught so many Spanish mackerel around here yesterday that he couldn't help hoping another big catch might turn up.
"Haha, let's try here again! Time to get to work, everyone!"
"Let me, let me..."
"Let me, let me..."
Everyone eagerly scrambled to help cast the net...
As the boat sailed on, the weights pulled the net down to the seabed. Fatty couldn't wait to ask, "How long do we have to leave it before hauling it in?"
He was the only complete novice there. The others all knew at least a little.
"Give it an hour. I'll make a few more passes around here and see if we can catch more."
"Let me steer for a bit. I want to try," Ye Yaodong said enthusiastically.
A-Guang looked him over doubtfully. "Can you handle it?"
"How can a man say he can't? You're underestimating me."
A-Zheng grinned cheekily. "Haha, Dongzi already has two sons. None of you have as many as he does, so obviously you can't match him!"
"What's so great about having two sons?"
"It's better than you not even being able to find a wife!"
"Fuck!"
That hit another sore spot, leaving A-Guang looking glum.
In those days, people in the countryside placed great importance on having sons to carry on the family line. Having two sons really was something to be proud of...
Besides, under the current rules, anyone whose first child was a boy wasn't allowed a second. Only those whose first child was a girl could have another, and even then they had to wait five years.
Unless they hid away and secretly had another child, but they would still be fined when registering the birth.
With so many people around, jokes were inevitable. They laughed and bantered on the boat for quite a while. When Ye Yaodong judged that enough time had passed, he told A-Guang to haul in the net.
As he had expected, it wasn't bursting with fish. Big catches didn't come every day, after all. It was a matter of luck.
The net held only some mantis shrimp, swimming crabs, stone crabs, shrimp, and assorted fish-not even a few pounds in all. Everyone was a little disappointed.
Ye Yaodong reassured them, "These waters are too close to shore. It's normal not to catch much. Getting a little to take home and eat is good enough."
Unwilling to give up, Fatty said, "Then shall we head a little farther out?"
"Sure. By the time we finish another run, the tide should be going out. We'll head farther offshore, make a circuit, and haul in the net when we come back."
The engine chugged loudly as the men sat on deck, looking rather bored.
A-Wei said listlessly, "If I'd known, I'd have brought a deck of cards."
"All you ever think about is playing cards. Aren't you sick of it yet? Besides, could you even play under this blazing sun?" Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes.
"Ah, it'd still beat just sitting here baking in the sun!"
"We'd have been better off bringing a pot than cards. Once we landed, we could set it up over a fire, cook, and eat everything fresh."
A-Zheng's eyes lit up. "Good point. We should've brought a pot."
Unfortunately, bottled gas wasn't common yet. Otherwise, they could have put a small gas cylinder on the boat and cooked their catch right away. Nothing could have tasted fresher.
"We didn't think of it earlier, and it's too late now. Next time."
They spent another dull hour or so waiting. Out at sea, none of them had much sense of direction. Only when they hauled in the net again did they realize they had circled back.
There was still no big catch in this net, just the same things as before, though a little more of them.
"Still just this little bit! It won't even cover the cost of taking the boat out."
"Ah, I went and shamelessly tagged along, and now we don't get any luck today," Fatty said regretfully.
"That's normal! If there were plenty to catch in these shallow waters, why would anyone take their boats farther out? Fuel costs money, you know."
After netting so many Spanish mackerel yesterday, Ye Yaodong and the others were already quite satisfied. They hadn't expected another such catch today; they had simply wanted to try their luck again.
If they got one, great. If not, it didn't matter. They would still get something to eat, and they could gather seafood too.
"All right, no catch is no catch. It's normal. The tide's already started going out, so I'll head straight ashore."
They brought the boat alongside the rocks, then jumped down one after another like dumplings dropping into a pot, each carrying his own tools and bucket. They also helped tie the boat securely to the rocks.
"Holy shit, these rocks are covered in seafood!"
"Dongzi really was right. There's loads of stuff on the rocks around this Isolated Island."
Ye Yaodong smiled. "Of course. People visit the rocks outside our wharf every few days. How much could be left there? Nobody comes to this island, so naturally everything's grown all over it."
As far as he could see, the rocks were densely covered with blue mussels and sea melon seeds, every one of them big. There were plenty of juvenile shellfish too, along with all sorts of sea snails clinging to the rocks.
"Damn, this whole patch is covered in ox-eye limpets!"
"I've got loads of goose barnacles over here..."
"Fuck, wild abalone..."
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