Chapter 381 Going to sea

Chapter 381 Going to sea

Chapter 381 Going to sea
Li Changle rode his bicycle back and saw Ge Changfa chatting with several boat owners under a sweet-scented osmanthus tree at the entrance of the village.

"Good boy, I'm talking about you!" Ge Changfa walked towards him with a smile.

"What did you say about me?" Li Changle squeezed the brake, sat astride the bicycle, looked at him and smiled.

"It's spread all over the village that you bought those three warehouses!" Ge Changfa was really happy for him. "If I had known you had signed up, I would have gone to see you bargaining with Old Li this morning."

"I didn't expect to win the bid, so I didn't tell you." Li Changle looked at his happy expression and felt very happy in her heart, thinking that it was worth making this friend.

Ge Chang gave him a blank look and said, "Give it to me!"

"..." Li Changle was stunned for a moment before he reacted. He smiled and took out a cigarette, gave one to everyone present, chatted for a few words, and walked towards the village with Ge Changfa.

"I went to the pier and saw that the waves were much smaller than this morning. When do you plan to go out to sea?"

"Let's go tonight!"

"Good, the hold is full of fish!"

"The same to you!"

Li Changle returned to Nanshanao, handed the payment slip to Li's father, and told him about going out to sea tonight.

"Is it settled?"

Li Changle nodded, "Ah Lin will deliver the meat this afternoon, and I will ask Ah Niang to prepare the vegetables later."

"Okay!" Father Li put the list away and said, "Go up the mountain and change your mother. Ask her to prepare some bowls and go to the master's hall to ask the master to choose an auspicious time."

"Okay!" Li Changle put on yellow rubber shoes and went up the mountain. After hearing this, Li's mother hurriedly dropped her hoe and went down the mountain.

In the afternoon, I went to the vegetable garden with Grandma Chen to cut some cabbages and Chinese cabbages and put them in a basket. I also picked garlic sprouts and chives and dug some potatoes and taro.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law picked the vegetables clean, arranged them in layers and put them into the basket, and then took two old pumpkins and a winter melon and put them into the bamboo basket.

After dinner, Li Changle and his brothers rode their bicycles to Zhangjia Wharf, filled up their boats with fresh water, ice cubes and diesel, started the Xusheng and headed towards the wharf.

There were sporadic large ships coming from that side, and all the small fishing boats were moored at the pier, waiting to go out to sea tomorrow when the wind died down.

When we docked at the pier, we saw that Father Li was already there with Acheng, Ajie and others.

Chen Yongwei and Li Erge got off the boat and moved the dried fishing nets, newly made longline fishing lines, as well as meat, vegetables, grain and oil onto the boat.

Father Li helped the others put the meat and vegetables in order. Seeing that the auspicious time was approaching, he gave them a few more instructions before getting off the boat.

Brother Li drove the Sunrise out of the dock and asked, "Ah Le, are we still taking the old route?"

Li Changle thought about getting abalone for Uncle Hao, "Let's go with the old route. I'll ask Hao to ask about the ice factory for me, and on the way back, I'll pry some abalone from Turtle Island and catch some live grouper to send back to him."

Brother Li nodded and said, "Acheng is here, you can go back and sleep for a while. I will call you after we pass Zhushan Island."

Li Changle agreed and returned to the cabin. Seeing that Li Erge and the others had all laid down, he climbed onto the upper bunk and lay down. Soon he fell asleep.

Brother Li drove the fishing boat across Baishayang and the east of Dazhushan. When they were almost at Chuiyuan Island, Li Changle and a few others got up, lowered the trawl net into the sea, and went back to sleep.

Ah Cheng leaned back in his chair and dozed off for a while. When he was almost at Huzi Island, he stood up and stood in front of the window, watching the fishing boats breaking through the waves. "Uncle, there have been no fishing boats out to sea for about ten days this time. This time, the boats will definitely return with full cargo."

"Work hard and we'll give you bonuses if you return with a full cargo hold!" Brother Li said as he came closer to the loudspeaker. "Everyone, take your positions and get ready to set up the net!"

Hearing the sound, Li Changle and a few others got out of bed, ran to the deck, started the machine and began to pull up the net. Everyone was a little excited as they hadn't pulled up the net for more than ten days.

Watching the towline being pulled up slowly by the net-lifting machine, even Ajie, who was a little seasick, was distracted by the net bag that was about to be pulled up.

Li Changle looked at the dark sea and suddenly felt like he was looking forward to something. "Brother, how many kilograms of fish do you think this net can catch?"

Brother Li glanced at him and said, "If I guess right, you will be cooking for the next two days."

"What if you're wrong?"

"Then I'll cook!"

Li Changle thought of the food he made and shook his head like a rattle, "I would rather eat cakes and pastries than the food you made."

"You little brat, you won't take any loss." Brother Li looked at the net bag pulled onto the deck, "It's certain that the net will burst. I wonder if there are a lot of good things pulled up?"

"It's the same as if I didn't say anything!"

As we were talking, the net bag had been pulled up, and the first net lived up to everyone's expectations and burst.

Several people were so excited watching this. Brother Li, who was standing at the window watching, waved to them happily and then sat back at the control seat.

Chen Yongwei tied up the net bag neatly and hung it on the crane arm. "Brother, I saw a lot of double-necked mullets."

"Are you seeing things?" Li Changle frowned. The double-banded trevally looked similar to the red snapper, but the price difference was huge.

"Uncle Ale, you'll see when I untie it." Wang Xincheng untied the net bag and saw countless two-banded trevally pouring out. "Fuck, why are there so many two-banded trevally?" Li Changle picked up a fish weighing more than a pound, "Can this be sold for 20 cents a pound?"

The double-banded trevally, scientifically known as Amberjack, is also called Larren fish, bonito, and green trevally. The back of the fish is blue-green, the belly is silvery white, there is a yellow vertical band in the center of the body, and a blue vertical band above and below.

"This fish is better than the bluefin bream. The one you caught can probably be sold for 12 cents per pound." Brother Li picked up a fish weighing four or five pounds and said, "This kind can be sold for three cents."

Li Changle felt better after hearing this. A thousand kilograms could be sold for around two hundred yuan, so he wouldn't lose money by just running away with it!
Brother Li started the machine again, and silver carp, swordfish, cutlassfish, grouper, whitebait... poured out of the net bag and piled up into a mountain of fish.

"Look, this fish is so beautiful." Wang Xincheng shouted as he grabbed a big fish whose dorsal fin and tail fin were both orange-yellow, and whose body had nine neatly arranged orange-yellow diagonal stripes starting from the eyes.

"There's more...here!" Wang Jie also grabbed a line and spoke word by word.

"This is a three-knife fish. It's this big. Even if it's dead, it can still be sold for three or four yuan per pound!" Brother Li took the fish and deflated it before putting it in the live tank. "Hurry up and look for any more."

"There is another one here, it has been crushed to death." Li Changle picked up a three-knife fish weighing seven or eight kilograms and said with heartache.

"Brother, there is a big yellow croaker here."

"Pick out the ones weighing one pound and one or two ounces and put them in a separate basket. You have to collect a total of thirty crabs." Li Changle stepped on a blue crab and caught it.

"Ah Hao is going to host 30 tables of wedding banquets. They have so many relatives!"

"Apart from his father, there is no success in Ah Hao's family. His uncles, his aunt who is married, and his uncle's family all eat government food."

"No wonder!" Brother Li deflated a few razorfish and pushed the bamboo basket out. "Ah Le, let's clean this place up and put the net down."

Li Changle nodded, pulled up the trawl and started to clean up. Suddenly, he heard a grunting sound like that of a piglet by the side of the boat. Just as he pricked up his ears, he was pulled by Chen Yongwei.

"Brother, did you hear the piglet's grunt?"

"I heard it, too. Could it be the yellow chicken fish calling?"

Li Changle rushed to the side of the boat in one step. The gurgling sound in the water came clearly, and he shouted to Li Erge excitedly: "Brother, come and see, there seems to be a school of fish below."

Li Erge and his companions also ran over, and saw that the place where the light was shining was pitch black, with splashes of water caused by the swimming fish, and a sound similar to that of a pig grunting coming from the water.

The yellow chicken fish is named after its scale pattern which resembles a domestic chicken. Its dorsal and pectoral fins are both light yellow, its meat is white, tender and delicate, with a sweet and elastic taste.

The scientific name of yellow chicken fish is three-line sea bass, also known as yellow chicken, chicken fish, three-clawed fish, and three-line chicken fish.

When this fish is a juvenile, it has three dark brown longitudinal bands on its body sides. As it grows, these longitudinal bands will gradually disappear, and the large ones can grow to more than 40 centimeters.

He remembered that this kind of fish was most abundant in June and liked to live near reefs and coral reefs. He didn't expect to encounter it now.

"Holy crap! It's really a yellow chicken fish!" Brother Li was so happy that he started dancing with excitement. "I'll start the machine, Acheng, get the fishing net!"

Wang Xincheng pulled Wang Jie and took him to pick up the fishing net and ran towards Li Changle, "Uncle Le, this is for you!"

"Good boy, you reacted really quickly! Ajie quickly took out the remaining battery lights and hung them up."

"Okay!" Wang Jie turned around and ran towards the cabin. Brother Li also excitedly stretched his neck to look at the sea.

Li Changle and Chen Yongwei quickly straightened the net and put it on their arms. They twisted their waists and cast the fishing net out. They pulled it up without waiting for the net to sink to the bottom and hung the net rope on the crane arm.

Having a machine really saves a lot of trouble. There is no need to find someone to pull it together. Just hang it on the hook and pull it onto the deck in a moment.

Wang Xincheng shook the fish from the fishing net onto the deck. Yellow croakers weighing one or two kilograms, or three or four kilograms, were jumping around on the deck.

Brother Li craned his neck to look at the crane arm and said, "Ah Le, this net must weigh about 300 kilograms."

"Yes, I noticed it when I was pulling in the net." Li Changle was so excited, "Ajie, remember to throw the small fish back into the sea when you catch them, and send the big ones to the live tank!"

"Yeah!" Wang Jie nodded heavily, picked up the bucket and quickly caught the lively fish into the bucket.

At this time, Chen Yongwei also put away the fishing net. Wang Xincheng quickly took down the fishing net, pulled the crane over, and pulled the other fishing net onto the deck.

Li Changle stood at the bow and continued fishing. Before Ajie had caught all the fish on the deck, the third net was put on the deck.

There were several groupers in this net. Li Changle and Chen Yongwei cast six nets in succession, each of which contained three or four hundred kilograms of fish.

When the seventh net was cast, the number of yellow chicken fish caught was obviously less, about one hundred kilograms.

Li Changle and Chen Yongwei looked at each other and said, "The fish has escaped."

"Hurry up and cast two more nets!" Chen Yongwei pulled the net directly onto the deck, quickly shook the fish in the net onto the deck, turned around and cast another net.

The catch in this net was even worse than the previous one, only 70 to 80 kilograms of fish were pulled up, while Li Changle only pulled up 30 to 40 kilograms.

Either the fish were frightened and scattered, or they dived to a deeper depth?
When the two men cast the net again, they waited until the net sank before they began to pull it in. However, the amount of fish they pulled up was even less than before. The two men were sure that the fish had run away.

Li Changle called Chen Yongwei, and the two of them collected the nets, said hello to Li Erge, and then they lowered the organized trawl net into the sea and began to sort the fish on the deck.

(End of this chapter)