Chapter Summaries

Ye Yaodong discovered bronze artifacts after diving to free his snagged net, then hauled up a large ding with Father Ye. The father and son decided they would hand the national treasure over, and the chapter ended with them examining the well-preserved vessel aboard their boat.

• Ye Yaodong dived to investigate the net and found it caught on a submerged reef, along with several strange objects.
• Ye Yaodong brought a three-legged bronze wine cup to the surface and told Father Ye that more artifacts remained below.
• Ye Yaodong waited for nearby fishing boats to leave before using the Net Hauler to retrieve the net.
• Ye Yaodong and Father Ye hauled aboard a huge ding, which had crushed the catch inside the net.
• Ye Yaodong and Father Ye decided to hand over the bronze artifacts and stood the ding upright on deck.

Ye Yaodong recovered a heavy locked black box after salvaging a bronze ding, then let the villagers carry the ding to the Mazu Temple as an offering. He left the box in Father Ye’s care and returned home as villagers praised his generosity.

• Ye Yaodong dived at night and brought up the black box, then hid it in a bucket as another boat approached.
• At the shore, A-Guang and Father Pei suggested placing the ding in the Mazu Temple, and Ye Yaodong agreed.
• The villagers noticed the ding, asked where it came from, and eagerly helped carry it to the Mazu Temple.
• The villagers cleaned the ding and placed it inside, and Ye Yaodong prayed to Mazu before leaving.
• Father Ye took the catch and watched over the black box while Ye Yaodong went to the temple, then villagers praised Ye Yaodong on his way home.

Ye Yaodong and Lin Xiuqing discovered a box containing a hundred gold cakes, which they decided to bury beneath an osmanthus tree and keep one cake for themselves. After Ye Yaodong hid the box, he hurried to the pier and was scolded by Father Ye for arriving late.

• Lin Xiuqing asked Ye Yaodong why he had offered the Great Ding to the temple, and he explained that it was too inauspicious for an ordinary home.
• Ye Yaodong opened the locked black box and found it packed with gold cakes, startling both him and Lin Xiuqing.
• Ye Yaodong and Lin Xiuqing counted exactly a hundred gold cakes, kept the bitten one to admire, and agreed to bury the rest beneath an osmanthus tree.
• Ye Yaodong buried the box beneath the tree before heading to the pier, where Father Ye scolded him for arriving late.

After county officials arrived to discuss the bronze cauldron Ye Yaodong had donated to Mazu Temple, they asked whether he had recovered anything else with it. Ye Yaodong admitted that a bronze wine cup had also been hauled up and went to fetch it for them.

• Villagers praised Ye Yaodong for donating the cauldron, while some women argued over whether his newfound success made him a good match.
• After several quiet days, officials from the County Cultural Center and County Government arrived and waited at Ye Yaodong's house while he was out fishing.
• Villagers warned Ye Yaodong that the officials might take the cauldron from Mazu Temple, and he hurried home after leaving his catch with his father and neighbors.
• Secretary Chen explained Ye Yaodong's late return to the officials, who went back inside with him and gathered a crowd of curious villagers outside.
• County Cultural Center Director Li Deyao asked whether anything besides the cauldron had been hauled up, and Ye Yaodong said a bronze wine cup had come with it and went to retrieve it.

Ye Yaodong showed county officials a bronze wine cup and agreed to cooperate with their investigation into the bronze artifacts. He left the cauldron’s fate to the villagers and hoped to secure recognition and a reward while protecting the temple’s interests.

• Ye Yaodong brought out the bronze wine cup, and the officials took it away for appraisal.
• Ye Yaodong said he had donated the bronze cauldron to Mazu Temple and left the decision about its removal to the villagers.
• Mother Ye objected to officials keeping Ye Yaodong from fishing, while villagers insisted the cauldron belonged to Mazu Temple.
• The County Party Secretary promised appropriate recognition and a small subsidy for Ye Yaodong’s donation and cooperation.
• Ye Yaodong agreed to help the officials visit the seabed site, and they arranged to return the next day.

Ye Yaodong waited for county officials who wanted to investigate the bronze artifacts he had recovered, while villagers and the Village Committee resisted their plan to take Mazu Temple’s Great Ding. After the officials apologized for missing their appointment, Ye Yaodong agreed to guide their divers to the site where he had found the artifacts.

• Ye Yaodong waited all day for the county officials, but they failed to appear, frustrating him and Father Ye.
• Secretary Chen told Ye Yaodong that the officials wanted the villagers to agree to donate the Great Ding, and the two discussed how difficult that would be.
• The following morning, villagers blocked the officials at the village entrance with nets until the Village Committee arrived.
• The officials returned with Village Committee members and several soldiers, apologized for keeping Ye Yaodong waiting, and asked him to take them to the bronze-artifact recovery site.
• Ye Yaodong refused Secretary Chen’s suggestion that he change the Great Ding’s recipient, then agreed to guide the officials’ divers to the site.

Ye Yaodong took the Cultural Center officials, village leaders, and soldiers to the nearby waters where he had found bronze relics. The soldiers located more objects and a likely artificial reef on the seabed, and the group prepared to investigate further and report the finds for salvage.

• Ye Yaodong agreed to take the officials and soldiers out, warning them not to touch his boat’s equipment, and Lin Xiuqing gave him mung bean soup for the trip.
• Ye Yaodong steered the group to the remembered location while the officials explained to the villagers that bronze objects were cultural relics belonging to the country.
• After many passengers became seasick, two soldiers dived to the seabed and surfaced with a muddy bronze wine cup.
• The soldiers reported that the seabed was fifteen or sixteen meters deep and that several more objects lay near a submerged reef they suspected was artificial.
• The County Party Secretary thanked the soldiers and asked them to make more dives while the authorities arranged to request a professional salvage team.

Ye Yaodong watched soldiers salvage bronze artifacts, porcelain fragments, and three black chests from the sea while the Cultural Center prepared to send the relics to a museum. After the divers continued searching, Ye Yaodong tried to fish for bait, and the chapter ended with him trading barbs with Father Ye aboard the boat.

• Ye Yaodong watched four soldiers take turns diving as nearby fishermen gathered to observe the salvage.
• The soldiers brought up bronze wine vessels, porcelain fragments, and a third black chest, while the Cultural Center representative said the relics would be sent to a museum.
• Ye Yaodong asked about the chests and learned they would be taken away unopened to avoid damaging them.
• After drinking mung bean soup and resting, the soldiers resumed diving, and Ye Yaodong went to fetch his fishing gear.
• Ye Yaodong discovered he had no bait, so he cast a net to try to catch some, while Father Ye criticized him for wasting the morning.
• Father Ye started to remove a boot to hit Ye Yaodong, but stopped when Ye Yaodong warned him that people were watching.

Ye Yaodong accidentally caught the missing Captain Chen in his fishing net after warning the officials that the divers were at risk from repeated breath-hold dives. Captain Chen was freed and sent for oxygen treatment, while the salvage work ended for the day.

• Ye Yaodong cast his net from the far side of the boat while Father Ye and Secretary Chen watched.
• The soldiers realized Captain Chen had not surfaced, and two divers went back down to search for him.
• Ye Yaodong and Father Ye felt a powerful tug on the net and hauled Captain Chen aboard, still clutching two bronze chamber pots.
• Ye Yaodong urged the officials to send Captain Chen and the other soldiers for oxygen treatment after their strenuous dives.
• Captain Chen recovered enough to hand the artifacts to the Cultural Center representative, and the officials agreed to end the salvage work for the day.

After Captain Chen was caught in Ye Yaodong’s fishing net and nearly suffocated, Ye Yaodong took him and three other servicemen to town for oxygen. The officials and servicemen returned to the village, where the men were arranged to stay overnight, and Ye Yaodong treated them to a filling meal.

• Ye Yaodong apologized to Captain Chen after the net incident, and the four servicemen agreed to return to shore rather than continue working.
• Ye Yaodong and Father Ye brought the salvaged objects ashore while the sick servicemen were helped off the boat.
• Ye Yaodong took the four servicemen to the town clinic for oxygen as villagers gathered to see what had been hauled up.
• Ye Yaodong persuaded Secretary Chen to send the crowd toward the village instead of his house, and the Village Chief arranged for the servicemen to stay at Father Ye’s old house.
• Ye Yaodong took the four servicemen out for local food, and they ate their fill.

Ye Yaodong escorted four PLA soldiers back to his village after treating them to a meal and fighting off local thugs who recognized him from an old feud. Along the way, he defended his choice to fish during the soldiers’ earlier salvage outing and told them about the grim custom of waiting a month for drowned bodies to surface.

• Ye Yaodong and Captain Chen beat seven or eight thugs who tried to ambush them, and Ye Yaodong made the men swear not to trouble him again.
• Ye Yaodong asked Captain Chen about getting his nephews into the army, and Captain Chen explained the schooling, age, and political vetting requirements.
• At the Village Committee, Ye Yaodong defended casting his net during the salvage outing, and the village chief and Secretary Chen agreed the exhausted officials had likely wanted to return ashore early.
• Ye Yaodong led the four PLA soldiers toward his old house and learned that a boatman’s family had gone out to retrieve two bodies that surfaced after a month at sea.
• Ye Yaodong told Captain Chen about fishermen’s beliefs regarding drowned bodies, then joked that his young sons would not study well but his three-month-old daughter would.

Ye Yaodong hosted Captain Chen and the other soldiers while county and Museum officials came to inspect the Bronze Ding and discuss its transfer from Mazu Temple. As villagers grew angry and crowded the Village Committee, Ye Yaodong hinted to Secretary Chen that money might help resolve the dispute, but Secretary Chen misunderstood him.

• Ye Yaodong settled the four soldiers at his old home, then warned his relatives not to dive for or sell cultural relics from the sea.
• The soldiers helped carry materials for Old Lady's new room while Ye Yaodong prepared to take the county officials and Museum staff to the wreck site.
• Ye Yaodong and the officials found villagers diving near the site, so the village chief promised to inspect their boats and keep them away.
• The soldiers confirmed the Bronze Ding's underwater location and helped Ye Yaodong mark it with a buoy.
• Villagers opposed the officials' plan to take the Bronze Ding from Mazu Temple and gathered noisily outside the Village Committee.
• Ye Yaodong made a money-counting gesture to Secretary Chen, who asked whether he meant paying off the villagers.

Ye Yaodong proposed that the museum donate money to rebuild White Sand Village’s Mazu Temple in exchange for taking the bronze ding, calming the villagers and giving the officials a possible solution. He left the village cadres with ideas for raising more funds while they negotiated with the officials.

• Ye Yaodong suggested that the museum donate money to rebuild Mazu Temple as recognition for Mazu and compensation for taking the bronze ding.
• The Village Chief and Secretary Chen presented the temple proposal to the angry villagers, who quieted down and agreed to wait while the officials discussed it.
• Ye Yaodong told the village cadres to negotiate for a substantial donation, since the villagers could refuse to release the ding if the officials offered too little.
• Ye Yaodong suggested publicizing the rebuilding effort to attract donations from people who worked at sea.
• Ye Yaodong proposed making small Mazu statues for boat owners to enshrine aboard their vessels, and the village cadres welcomed the idea.

Ye Yaodong returned home after observing the negotiations over the Bronze Ding and discussed the villagers’ reaction with Lin Xiuqing. After a family lunch, A-Guang visited with watermelons and offered Ye Chenghu a chance to pick more from Back Hill, leaving Ye Chengyang at home to eat watermelon.

• Ye Yaodong told Lin Xiuqing that the villagers had been calmed down after officials proposed using money from the Bronze Ding negotiations to repair Mazu Temple.
• Ye Yaodong and Lin Xiuqing discovered that Ye Chenghu and Ye Chengyang had brought home a watermelon stolen from Back Hill, and Ye Yaodong scolded them.
• Ye Yaodong invited Father Ye and Mother Ye to move in with his family, but Mother Ye refused to leave the Old House.
• A-Guang brought watermelons after taking a day off, and he offered Ye Chenghu the chance to pick as many as he wanted from Back Hill.
• Ye Chenghu eagerly left with A-Guang to pick watermelons, while Ye Yaodong kept Ye Chengyang home to eat watermelon.

Ye Yaodong reluctantly agreed to guard the salvage site at sea for a few more days after Secretary Chen offered village positions to his wife and mother. He told his mother she had joined the Women's Federation, and she was thrilled but still doubted him.

• Ye Yaodong told Secretary Chen he had finished helping with the salvage preparations and wanted to return to fishing.
• Secretary Chen persuaded Ye Yaodong to keep watch over the salvage area, since the salvage team had not arrived and villagers might try to take relics.
• Secretary Chen offered Ye Yaodong's mother a Women's Federation position and said his wife could help at the Village Committee office.
• Ye Yaodong accepted the arrangement and agreed to go check the salvage area with his father.
• Ye Yaodong told Mother Ye she was now a village official, and she celebrated the news while asking whether he was telling the truth.

Ye Yaodong secured village positions for Mother Ye and Lin Xiuqing after helping the Village Committee with the salvaged Bronze Artifact. He and Father Ye patrolled the waters and collected fishing pots, then Ye Yaodong told Lin Xiuqing about her new clerical job and she planned to report to the Village Committee the next day.

• Ye Yaodong told Mother Ye that she had joined the Women's Federation and would start work the next day, and she excitedly shared the news with Father Ye.
• Ye Yaodong explained to Father Ye that the Village Committee had assigned them to patrol the coast and had arranged a clerical job for Lin Xiuqing.
• Ye Yaodong and Father Ye ordered two boats away from the restricted salvage area, then Ye Yaodong dove to free and collect their fishing pots near the Submerged Reef.
• Lin Xiuqing waited for Ye Yaodong to return, and he told her to save the fish and shrimp for food and bait.
• Ye Yaodong told Lin Xiuqing that Secretary Chen had arranged a clerical position for her, and she agreed to check in at the Village Committee the next day and ask when she should begin working.

Ye Yaodong went out to sea with the soldiers to keep watch and set his fishing pots while they helped with the work. He tried handline fishing, caught a spotted sea bass, and left the soldiers eager to join in.

• Lin Xiuqing dressed in her yellow floral outfit, and Ye Yaodong teased her before going out to sea with the soldiers.
• Ye Yaodong and the soldiers found three suspicious boats near their marked waters, and the boats fled when they saw the soldiers.
• Ye Yaodong set his fishing pots while the soldiers volunteered to help, then prepared a handline and bait.
• Ye Yaodong felt a bite, hooked a spotted sea bass, and pulled it aboard.
• The soldiers admired his catch and eagerly asked for more lines and hooks so they could fish too.

Ye Yaodong fished near the shipwreck with Father Ye and Captain Chen, while the crew discussed his catch and the treasure recovered from the wreck. The chapter left Father Ye stunned by the value of Ye Yaodong’s gold ingots, while Ye Yaodong resumed fishing and waited for a bite.

• Ye Yaodong cast his line, caught a goatfish, and warned the soldiers not to touch its venomous spines.
• Father Ye steered the boat toward the buoy above the shipwreck while Ye Yaodong untangled his line and baited the hook.
• Ye Yaodong asked Captain Chen about the artifacts and chests recovered from the wreck, and Captain Chen said they were Western Han treasures, including jewelry and gold ingots.
• Father Ye realized Ye Yaodong had found a chest of gold ingots and struggled to contain his shock at the fortune.
• Ye Yaodong joked about being born in the wrong era, then noticed his line still had no bite.

Ye Yaodong and the soldiers fished while guarding the sea, and he caught several fish before a powerful bite nearly pulled the line from his hands. He began fighting the unseen fish, hoping to land a catch large enough to make the trip worthwhile.

• Ye Yaodong caught a grouper, and Father Ye identified it as a Qingshui grouper rather than a tiger grouper.
• Ye Yaodong handed the fishing line to Father Ye, then agreed to go dig shellfish on the island after one more cast.
• A fierce pull hit the line as Ye Yaodong took it back, nearly wrenching the stick from his hands.
• Two soldiers tried to help, but Ye Yaodong told them to let him play the fish by alternating slack and tension.
• Ye Yaodong struggled to control the powerful fish as it kept running beneath the boat.

Ye Yaodong hauled a large Akahata fish aboard, then went with Captain Chen and another soldier to gather shellfish on a rocky island. The chapter ended when Captain Chen spotted a large round axis crab and called Ye Yaodong by a name that made him stumble.

• Ye Yaodong and Father Ye pulled a large Akahata fish from the water and Father Ye hooked it onto the deck.
• Father Ye bled the fish while Ye Yaodong untangled the handline, then steered the boat to a nearby island.
• Ye Yaodong went ashore with Captain Chen and another soldier, showing them how to identify and collect shellfish on the reef.
• Ye Yaodong spotted a round axis crab in a rock crevice but chose not to collect it.
• Captain Chen found the crab and called out to Ye Yaodong, who stumbled at being addressed as Aotian.