Ye Yaodong looked at the Small Wooden Boats crowding the sea until there was barely room to move. Many of the fishing boats had already hauled in several huge jellyfish.
He felt there was little point in staying there. He might as well head back first and prepare the tools for cutting up the jellyfish. He also worried that if he waited too long, the jellyfish aboard his boat would die and all his work would be wasted.
Going back would also let him use the jellyfish on his boat to teach his wife and sisters-in-law how to cut them up.
They also had to be cooked before they could be transported. There was no jellyfish processing plant in their area; otherwise, he could have delivered them straight to the plant after cutting them up and saved himself the trouble.
Watching the boatmen all around him leaning over the sides and working hard to haul in jellyfish, he wanted to remind them to bring their catch ashore early. If the jellyfish died, he would not take them.
But his boat's engine was rather loud, and the boats were fairly far apart. Even if he shouted, everyone might not hear him.
He simply called out a few words to the nearby boats, telling them he was going back to get ready and reminding them to bring the jellyfish back early, while they were still alive. Then he left.
Luckily, they were not far from shore. Once Ye Yaodong landed, he hurriedly called A-Cai, who was sitting on the shore with one leg crossed over the other, to help him lift the two large baskets of jellyfish onto the Handcart.
"What are you taking these things home for? You have to cut them up while they're alive. Do you even know how?"