Chapter 39: Adding Flowers to Brocade

Ye Yaodong was also extremely excited. He had only wanted to come out and overcome the lingering fear of seawater, yet he had unexpectedly gained such a huge harvest.

Had he really become blessed by koi luck?

Grinning, he joked,

“More than just worshipping Mazu—I practically sacrificed myself to Mazu in exchange for this good luck.”

A’Zheng’s eyes widened.

“Damn… so sacrifices are required? If I’d known earlier, we shouldn’t have saved you just now. Maybe we could’ve hauled in even more!”

“Get lost. Sacrifice yourself later and maybe we’ll catch even more!”

“Hehe, once I get back, I’m going to the Mazu temple too.”

A’Guang interrupted their idle chatter.

“Are we still casting the net again or not? It’s been so long already. The fish that escaped probably swam far away, and who knows which direction they scattered in.”

Ye Yaodong said,

“We should still have enough fuel, right? Let’s cast one final net. The last haul still had over ten fish. Don’t let the ones that slipped through escape. Let’s keep circling nearby a few more times. Even if there aren’t any more Spanish mackerel, we can still net other seafood. Then tonight we can celebrate properly with drinks.”

“There’s still enough fuel. Then let’s do one final cast. We’ll drag it a little longer this time. Even without mackerel, we can still catch some stone crabs, small yellow croakers, and the like. Enough for a few dishes to go with drinks, and we won’t even need to buy seafood at the dock.”

Aside from the Spanish mackerel, the previous few hauls had also brought in scattered seafood, all of which they had sorted into buckets.

For this last net, none of them expected to catch much. After casting it, they didn’t bother watching it and instead walked into the cabin, staring at the cabin full of Spanish mackerel, unable to hide their excitement.

Today, they had truly struck it rich!

Ever since spotting the Spanish mackerel, Ye Yaodong’s attention had been completely focused on them. While the boat cruised over the sea casting nets, he hadn’t felt even the slightest panic or fear.

Only now did he realize that by charging head-on into his fear, he had completely overcome it!

This was great!

Rubbing his chin, he said,

“Our cabin full of fish should weigh several thousand jin, right?”

“Definitely. Look how huge those fish are. Most are nearly half a meter long, and each one weighs over four or five jin. We cast seven or eight nets. We probably caught half the whole school.”

“I even saw one in the live hold just now that was nearly a meter long. That one definitely weighed over eight jin.”

“I saw that one too. Damn, this trip was worth it!”

“Hahaha~”

Everyone chatted excitedly, one sentence after another. It had been far too long since they had felt this thrilled. Who wouldn’t be happy after making a fortune?

A’Zheng kicked the bucket at his feet, looked at the shore-hunting tools inside, and quickly asked,

“So… are we still going shore hunting later?”

“Shore hunt my ass. Once we pull up this net, we’re heading straight back. A whole boat full of Spanish mackerel—we need to hurry and sell them for money! Don’t tell me you’re not anxious too?”

Ye Yaodong was speechless that he could even ask such a stupid question.

“Of course I’m anxious. I was just asking casually. What if you guys thought it was rare to come out here and wanted to shore hunt a bit while we’re at it?”

“Are you dumb? Obviously selling the fish for money comes first. Once we get back, have A’Guang ask his aunt again to rent the boat for another day. We can come back tomorrow to shore hunt. The tide’s only slowly rising anyway. The reefs should still be exposed tomorrow.”

A’Guang nodded in agreement.

“Right, right. We’ll rent the boat again tomorrow and come shore hunting. Maybe we’ll run into more luck too.”

“The boat’s rented? Not borrowed? Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

After talking for so long, only Xiaoxiao had noticed that detail.

“Aiya, what’s the difference between renting and borrowing? It’s only a little money. Doesn’t matter who pays. Besides, we made a killing today, so who cares about such a tiny amount?”

A’Guang said carelessly.

Ye Yaodong also revealed a genuine smile.

“Exactly. It’s just a little money. Splitting up the profits after selling these fish is what really matters.”

“Right, right. Once we haul up this last net, let’s hurry back. I wonder how long we’ve already been out.”

As they chatted, they began putting back on the clothes they had stripped off earlier. They’d been so focused on the Spanish mackerel that they hadn’t cared about anything else.

Since the last net had been dragging for quite a while, and to avoid wasting time, A’Guang simply steered the boat back toward the dock. They circled through the central waters before finally hauling in the net.

None of them had much hope for this last haul, yet unexpectedly, there was a pleasant surprise!

A huge sea bass weighing five or six jin appeared in everyone’s view as the net was pulled up!

“Ah! Sea bass! A huge sea bass…”

“Aiya… there’s actually another big catch!”

“Hahaha, icing on the cake! We were already about to haul the net and dock, yet we still managed to catch such a huge sea bass!”

“Haha, there are also quite a lot of small fish and shrimp. We’ve got plenty of drinking snacks now!”

If they had caught this sea bass before encountering the school of Spanish mackerel, everyone would definitely have been wildly excited.

But now that they had already seen jade before porcelain, this huge sea bass only made them happy for a moment. It couldn’t compare to the excitement of catching the mackerel school.

After sorting through the seafood, aside from the large sea bass and several Spanish mackerel, the rest were all cheap small fish, shrimp, and crabs. They filled two large buckets. Though they wouldn’t sell for much, they’d be perfect to eat.

“Sell the sea bass too. This thing’s worth several mao per jin…”

Hearing Xiaoxiao’s words, the corner of Ye Yaodong’s mouth twitched involuntarily.

In his previous life, sea bass had a wholesale price of around thirty-five to forty yuan per jin, while the retail price depended on the location and could easily double. Yet now, it was only worth a few mao per jin and was still being called “several mao”…

The biggest contrast he felt after returning to 1982 was the price difference.

He always unconsciously compared things to the year 2022 from his previous life.

And every comparison made his heart ache.

If only he had some kind of cheat ability that let him travel between 1982 and 2022…

Then he could catch seafood in 1982 and sell it in 2022…

Ah, such beautiful fantasies. Unfortunately, aside from having somewhat better luck, he had no golden finger at all.

Still, being able to live again was already the biggest bug possible. He should cherish his blessings instead.

Maybe good luck itself was his cheat ability.

Who else had luck like this?

A’Guang? Xiaoxiao? A’Zheng?

He didn’t believe it.

After all, he was the reincarnated one. He believed more and more that the luck had come because of him.

Just as his thoughts drifted away, A’Zheng’s voice pulled him back.

“Should we sell it? There’s only one sea bass. Why not keep it and make sea bass soup tonight? We already have so many Spanish mackerel. We won’t miss one sea bass.”

“I think so too. Let’s keep the sea bass. We should also keep one Spanish mackerel to braise. Or making mackerel dumplings would be good too.”

“Then let’s keep them. We already have this many fish. We won’t miss one or two. It’s been a long time since I’ve had sea bass and mackerel dumplings…”

Slurp—

Ye Yaodong felt like he could almost hear everyone drooling.

Sure enough, they really were all a bunch of spendthrifts.

Instead of thinking about selling everything for money, they wanted to secretly keep a few fish for themselves.

But… he was thinking the same thing too.

(End of Chapter)