Father Ye could not make sense of what was happening, but even from a distance, he saw the fish scrambling to jump aboard. It looked a little unusual.
Dongzi had always been full of crafty ideas. He wondered whether his son had come up with something again to make these fish leap desperately onto the boat.
Although he was too far away to see what kind of fish they were, Dongzi and the others were standing by and watching without stopping them or moving the boat away. That probably meant it was a good thing, right?
Afraid that heading straight over would interfere with the jumping fish, he quickly changed direction and approached from the other side.
Ye Yaodong also saw his father's boat turn back.
"Dongzi? What's going on over there?"
His boat's engine was already off. Without its chugging, he could hear his father's question clearly from the bow.
"Maybe it's the effect of fishing with lights? Those are needlefish. They're attracted to light. When I came aboard, I hit my head on the bulb, so I moved it toward the edge. Then, just as we passed through here, these fish started jumping aboard. They gave me a fright too. I was sitting right under the bulb a moment before..."
"Are you all right, then? Did any of them stab you?" Father Ye looked him up and down and relaxed when he saw that he was unhurt.
"No. Their aim isn't that good, and I reacted fast and dodged to the side. Hey, Dad, why don't you move your bulb to the edge too and see if you can attract some needlefish onto your boat?"
"This school should be almost past by now, shouldn't it?" Father Ye hesitated. "You've been stopped here for a while. I can see