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Chapter 25: A Mess on the Boat
Chapter 25: A Mess on the Boat
Zhou Chenglei ignored Yang Da. He had already made it clear that he wasn't selling to him.
Xu Wen'an was a bit anxious. "Let's get the sea bream off the boat first. I need to have them delivered back to the restaurant."
Old Hou said, "I'm not in a hurry. Let's unload the sea bream for Manager Xu first. The rest will be mine."
Xu Wen'an checked the basket and, seeing that there were no small fish passing as larger ones, he asked Zhou Chenglei to start unloading.
Zhou Chenglei and his father began moving the sea bream off the boat.
Xu Wen'an and Old Hou also pitched in to help.
Jiang Xia, meanwhile, sorted through the miscellaneous fish on the boat, keeping an eye on the catch. She thought the restaurant might need shrimp, so she started picking them out.
The four of them finished unloading quickly.
Old Hou returned to the boat and asked, "Can we see the yellow croakers?"
Zhou's father opened the live fish hold, showed them the fish, and then closed it again.
Yang Da also leaned in for a look. The yellow croakers were a brilliant golden color, and some were even still alive, which was quite rare. Usually, when caught by trawling, they were dead.
Yang Da's eyes widened as he looked at Zhou Chenglei. "Comrade, brother, big brother..."
Zhou Chenglei ignored him.
Old Hou said, "You must have encountered a school of yellow croakers at dawn, and you didn't use a trawl net, did you?"
It was a question, but it was phrased as a statement.
Zhou's father smiled and nodded. "We encountered the school shortly after we set out to sea."
Xu Wen'an remarked, "No wonder they're so golden."
Old Hou said, "What great luck!"
Zhou's father smiled. "Credit goes to my daughter-in-law."
Both men glanced at Jiang Xia. The sun hadn't set yet, and she was wrapped up tightly, so they couldn't see what she looked like. However, bringing a woman on a fishing trip was quite rare in their area, but they didn't mind.
Live yellow croakers fetched a higher price than dead ones.
However, the yellow croakers hadn't been sorted yet. They varied in size, but most were around one pound or eight to nine ounces, with a few particularly large ones.
Zhou Chenglei haggled with the two men.
In the end, they agreed on a price of 1.25 yuan per pound for the yellow croakers, regardless of size. They were directly scooped up and placed in baskets.
Xu Wen'an also bought the shrimp that Jiang Xia had picked out, along with a hundred pounds of mackerel, a grouper, and a few sea bass.
Old Hou bought the remaining sea bream, yellow croakers, and mackerel.
Zhou Chenglei didn't sell the miscellaneous fish, even though he considered buying them himself. The pile of miscellaneous fish contained quite a few valuable catches, but since they hadn't been sorted, the price was low. Jiang Xia had already picked out some of the larger fish.
In the end, they sold four baskets of one-pound sea bream for 440 yuan, three baskets of one-and-a-half-pound sea bream for 390 yuan, a basket and a half of two-pound sea bream for 204 yuan, five three-pound sea bream for 36 yuan, and one four-pound sea bream for 15 yuan. The smaller sea bream, under one pound, sold for 80 yuan per basket.
The sea bream alone brought in 1,165 yuan!
This was equivalent to what others might earn from a year or more at sea.
The yellow croakers sold for 572.20 yuan.
The mackerel, about 300 pounds at 0.30 yuan per pound, brought in 105.70 yuan.
The sea bass sold for 3.55 yuan.
The shrimp and squid sold for 11.20 yuan.
The larger fish picked from the miscellaneous catch sold for 43.70 yuan.
In total, they made 1,901.35 yuan.
There was still a pile of small fish and shrimp left on the deck, which might fetch a few more yuan.
Jiang Xia said, "If we drag one more net, we might make it to two thousand!"
Zhou's father's dark face broke into a wide smile. "This is already fantastic. Apart from the large ships that go out to sea for long periods, our boat has never made this much before."
Today was definitely his moment to shine!
It was enough to brag about for the rest of his life!
After years of fishing, the most he had ever earned in one trip was nearly 200 yuan. The idea of making close to 2,000 yuan was something he had never even dared to dream about.
Two thousand yuan!
He used to earn less than that in a whole year of fishing.
Zhou Chenglei steered the boat without a word.
Jiang Xia, who hadn't yet experienced the prices of this era, didn't fully grasp the value of 2,000 yuan, but she was still happy.
"How much can a large ship earn from a single deep-sea fishing trip?" Jiang Xia asked.
"It varies, but I’ve heard that most trips can earn over a thousand. The deep sea is teeming with fish."
Jiang Xia nodded. "Once we have enough money, we’ll buy a large ship."
Her father-in-law didn’t respond, knowing that a large ship costs over ten thousand, which wasn’t easy to come by. He crouched down to sort through the pile of mixed fish that still needed to be separated.
The sun had set, and the evening sky was ablaze with a breathtaking display of colors, half of the sea shimmering in green and the other half in red.
Jiang Xia took off her straw hat and removed her face scarf, letting the sea breeze wash over her, instantly making her feel refreshed.
She faced the wind, taking a deep breath of the salty sea air.
Zhou Chenglei, who was driving the boat, glanced at her. The sea breeze gently tousled her soft strands of hair, and her eyes were gentle and kind.
The sky was beautiful, the sea was beautiful, and she was even more beautiful.
Jiang Xia put her hat and scarf away and crouched down to start sorting through the pile of mixed fish and shrimp.
When they returned to the village’s small dock, many fishing boats were already parked there. A long queue had formed at the buying station, and Jiang Xia saw the villagers carrying baskets of fish, their faces beaming with joy, indicating a good catch.
A few more fishing boats were still drifting back from the sea.
Zhou’s mother had been waiting at the dock for a long time and finally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw their boat return.
Fishing in the sea was lucrative, but it came with great risks. The family’s hearts were on edge from the moment the boat set sail.
Tian Caihua also came to the dock to help, though her real intention was to see how much the second family had earned today, to have a clear idea.
When the boat finally docked, Zhou’s mother approached, asking her husband, who was tying the ropes, "Why are you so late? Did you catch a lot?"
Without waiting for an answer, she glanced at the cargo on the boat and her heart sank.
Unbelievable!
There was only a small pile of mixed fish?
Zhou’s mother quickly climbed aboard, turning her head to look around, unable to believe her eyes but forced to accept the reality.
Was this really just a pile of worthless small fish?
What bad luck today!
Tian Caihua also took a look and felt the same way. "Not much catch today! Why so little? I’ve never seen such a poor haul!"
The villagers glanced at Zhou’s father’s boat, and one of them commented, "Yongfu, your luck isn’t great today!"
Zhou’s father smiled. "It’s not bad."
At that moment, the old men from earlier climbed aboard and burst into laughter. "Not bad? Zhou, your mouth is harder than a diamond! No, I should say you have a broad heart, being satisfied with such a small catch. Keep it up, ha-ha."
They all felt their predictions had come true and couldn’t help but gloat. "We told you not to take a woman out to sea; it brings bad luck. You didn’t listen. Look! After a whole day, you caught such a small pile of worthless fish. You probably lost money on fuel! Everyone else did well today, at least forty bucks, and I made over a hundred. Bingqiang made almost two hundred! I doubt you even made ten."
Zhou Bingqiang added, "If you don’t listen to the elders, you’ll suffer. We’ve always said women bring bad luck and shouldn’t go out to sea. You didn’t believe us! I’m telling you, your boat won’t catch much good fish anymore! Don’t say I didn’t warn you, better switch boats soon!"
Tian Caihua’s face darkened, and she shot a glare at Jiang Xia’s back, her dislike reaching its peak. She couldn’t help muttering, "Why did you even go out to sea? Can you even fish? Just causing trouble!"
The family only had one boat, and they relied on it for their livelihood!
Jiang Xia had dirtied the boat!
The more Tian Caihua thought about it, the angrier and more aggrieved she felt, her eyes welling up with tears.
What could they do with a dirty boat?
If they went out to sea, they might have bad luck again!
If they didn’t go, they’d go hungry and drink seawater?
She even wanted Jiang Xia to compensate her for a new boat!
Zhou’s mother, not wanting to air their dirty laundry, gave Tian Caihua a stern look. "What century are we in? Still believing in feudal superstitions? Women can hold up half the sky! Who can guarantee a good catch every time they go out to sea? Who hasn’t had a day when they only caught a few fish or shrimp?"
Even as she said this, Zhou’s mother was also afraid. If she had known, she wouldn’t have let Jiang Xia go out to sea this morning.
Whoever marries her is doomed to have bad luck!
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(End of Chapter)
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