Chapter 252: Zhou Chenglei's Lack of Humanity
Chapter 252: Zhou Chenglei's Lack of Humanity
Jiang Xia pointed at the area where Zhou Chenglei's flashlight had just swept across the water's surface, her finger trembling with excitement. "There are fish over there! Fish that glow! I saw a bunch of glowing eyes."
Zhou Chenglei hadn't noticed, so he aimed his flashlight in that direction, but there was nothing there!
Jiang Xia took the flashlight and swept it back and forth.
But no matter how she searched, the glowing eyes were gone.
Jiang Xia said, "They probably swam away. I wonder what kind of fish they were."
Zhou Chengxin suggested, "Could they be glow-eye fish? Their eyes can glow."
Jiang Xia replied, "I'm not sure. I couldn't tell if it was their eyes or bodies glowing. It was too fast; the flashlight's light just flashed by. I felt like I saw a group of glowing eyes."
Zhou Chenglei shook his head. "No."
The glow-eye fish emit their own light, so if it was them, Zhou Chenglei should have seen them too. He suspected it was just a reflection of the light.
Due to the angle, Jiang Xia saw it, but he didn't.
Zhou Chengxin spoke up again, "What about old man fish? They have flashlights on their heads and can also glow."
Zhou Chenglei responded, "It's probably not them. Old man fish rarely swim in groups. It's likely some fish that reflect light from their bodies."
Zhou Chengxin couldn't guess either; there were countless fish species in the sea, and he didn't recognize them all.
At that moment, he felt a fish bite his hook. "I've got a bite here. Forget it if we can't find them; they probably got scared by the light and swam away."
He couldn't spare the time to discuss glowing fish with Jiang Xia and quickly started reeling in his line.
Jiang Xia turned to look at him, "Big Brother, what fish did you catch?"
"A squid! A huge squid! It's about a meter long! I've never seen such a big squid before!"
His father was right; the fish Jiang Xia touched with her hands seemed to bring different luck.
He was almost forty, and he had never even seen a squid this big, let alone caught one.
Jiang Xia gently nudged Zhou Chenglei with her elbow, "Go help him pull it up."
Zhou Chenglei didn't budge, "Squids don't struggle much. If Big Brother can reel it in, I'll help, but it'll ruin his fishing fun."
If he couldn't even reel in a single squid, what was the point of learning to fish?
It was time to step aside and let the master teach!
More importantly, he had just warmed Jiang Xia's body, and if he left now, wouldn't she get cold again?
Zhou Chengxin sighed, "..."
Did he have any humanity left?
Zhou Chenglei couldn't even be bothered to glance back, lazily sweeping the flashlight around to help Jiang Xia find the glowing eyes.
Zhou Chengxin had no choice but to pull up the squid himself.
Zhou Chenglei thought Jiang Xia might have seen a school of squids because sometimes, when the light swept across at the right angle, the squids' eyes and bodies could reflect the light.
He took off his outer jacket and put it on Jiang Xia, "Try driving the boat; just keep going forward."
Jiang Xia asked him, "What are you doing?"
"You'll see in a moment."
He walked over to Zhou Chengxin, picked up the dip net, and helped him scoop up the large squid.
The squid was huge, estimated to be over a meter long and weighing around fifty to sixty pounds.
Zhou Chengxin laughed as he looked at the squid on the deck, "I can't believe I caught such a big squid! Ah Lei, take a look; it might be bigger than the squid king the production team caught a few years ago!"
Zhou Chenglei was rummaging through his things and barely glanced up, simply responding with a "Hmm."
After admiring the catch, Zhou Chengxin quickly grabbed his fishing rod and ran towards Jiang Xia, "Xia Xia, hold my rod, and I'll keep fishing!"
Jiang Xia took hold of the fishing rod.
Zhou Chenglei spoke up, "Big Brother, you drive the boat first. I'll go with Jiang Xia to set up the net."
Then he turned to Jiang Xia, "Xia Xia, come over here."
"Oh."
Zhou Chengxin instinctively replied, "Okay," and took over Jiang Xia's position at the helm.
Zhou Chenglei kept his hand on the fishing rod, waiting for Jiang Xia to return and continue her boat-steering lesson. Little did he know that the fishing rod would not be used again today.
Zhou Chenglei wrapped a green cloth around a flashlight.
Jiang Xia stood curiously beside him, asking, "Why wrap the flashlight with cloth?"
Zhou Chenglei replied, "To change the color of the light."
He turned on the flashlight, directing the beam into the water. The light hitting the water's surface took on a slightly green hue.
At that moment, Zhou Chengxin realized, "Zhou Chenglei, what are you up to? I thought you said we'd start dragging the net?"
Zhou Chenglei turned off the flashlight and, while securing the cloth, said, "No rush, it's not dawn yet. I'll take Jiang Xia to play with the light and catch some squid. Big Brother, stop the boat for a bit, let's do this together!"
Zhou Chengxin: "..."
@%&%...
This was Zhou Chengxin's indescribable inner monologue! Fortunately, catching squid with light doesn't require steering the boat, so stopping the boat was fine.
Zhou Chengxin halted the boat and walked over.
After securing the cloth, Zhou Chenglei handed the flashlight to Zhou Chengxin, saying, "Big Brother, you hold the flashlight to attract the squid, and I'll get another one."
Zhou Chengxin took the flashlight and stood there, shining it on the sea surface.
Zhou Chenglei then took out another flashlight, wrapped it with a light green cloth, turned it on, and handed it to Zhou Chengxin, "Hold this one too and shine it together."
Instinctively, Zhou Chengxin took it, holding both flashlights and illuminating the sea surface.
Zhou Chenglei picked up two dip nets from the deck and, taking Jiang Xia's hand, led her to the side of the boat.
Zhou Chengxin returned the flashlight to Zhou Chenglei.
Zhou Chenglei didn't take it, saying, "Just hold it, Big Brother."
Zhou Chengxin: "..."
So today, he was just a scarecrow holding a lamp to attract squid?
Some sea creatures are phototactic, so some fishing boats use light to lure specific fish species.
Squid, in particular, are attracted to light, like moths to a flame.
Even Jiang Xia knew that a type of small squid could be caught using light.
It didn't seem like the peak season for this type of squid, but that didn't mean there were none; it just meant there weren't as many.
During the peak season, one net could catch over ten pounds, and even outside the season, with good luck, you could still catch a few pounds for a satisfying meal.
Moreover, these small squid were delicious! Freshly caught, they could be quickly boiled and dressed, and a simple dip in soy sauce made for a heavenly treat.
Last night, someone had kept her up late, so this morning, she had only hastily eaten a few bites for breakfast. She had brought some boiled eggs on the boat to eat if she got hungry, but now, thinking of the taste of small squid, Jiang Xia lost her appetite for the boiled eggs.
She stood up.
Zhou Chenglei noticed her standing and immediately looked at her.
"I'll boil some water, and we can cook some squid in a bit."
There was an anthracite coal stove on the boat to heat water.
Zhou Chenglei pulled her up, saying, "I'll do it, you sit."
Straw Man Zhou held two flashlights, silently watching Zhou Chenglei's busywork.
For his brother, he wouldn't lift a finger, but for his wife, he'd eagerly rush to help! Such a man who valued his wife over his brother!
After about fifteen minutes, Zhou Chenglei lit the anthracite coal and put water on to boil. He returned to Jiang Xia's side, saying, "Now we can check if there are any squid."
Jiang Xia picked up the dip net, ready to catch the squid.
The green light made it hard to see the squid, so Zhou Chenglei turned on the two flashlights, the only ones available. These two were headlamps.
"Big Brother, you can turn off the flashlight you're holding and use these two headlamps instead."
The green light was to attract the squid, but it was hard to see if any were present in the green light. A different color light was needed to spot them.
Zhou Chengxin gave Zhou Chenglei a glare and turned off the two flashlights. He took the two headlamps Zhou Chenglei handed him and shone them on the sea surface.
With this illumination, Jiang Xia spotted a small group of squid in the seawater, emitting a faint glow under the light.
(End of Chapter)
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