Chapter 39: Adding Flowers to the Brocade

Ye Yaodong was also very excited. He hadn’t expected that by simply coming out to overcome his fear of the sea, he would gain such a harvest.

Had the koi spirit really possessed him?

He smiled and joked, “Not only did I pray, but I offered my whole self as a sacrifice to Mazu to get this good fortune.”

Azheng’s eyes widened. “Ah… I didn’t know we needed a sacrifice. If I had known, I wouldn’t have saved you just now! Maybe we could have caught even more!”

“Get lost! If I sacrifice you, maybe we’ll catch even more!”

“Hehe, I’ll go to Mazu’s temple to pray when I get back.”

Aguang interrupted their banter, “Should we cast the net again? It’s been a while, the fish that slipped through probably swam far away, and we don’t even know which direction they escaped in.”

Ye Yaodong said, “We should still have enough fuel, right? Let’s cast one last net. There were at least a dozen fish in that last haul. We can’t let the ones that got away slip past us; let’s continue circling around. Even if we don’t catch mackerel, we can still net some other seafood and have a good feast tonight to celebrate.”

“We still have enough fuel, so let’s cast one last net. We can drag it a little longer. If we don’t catch mackerel, we might get some rock crabs or small yellow croakers. We can get a few bowls for drinking, so we won’t have to buy seafood at the dock.”

In the previous hauls, they had also caught some scattered seafood along with the mackerel and had placed them in the water bucket.

For their final net, they weren’t expecting to catch much. After casting it, they didn’t pay much attention to it and headed straight to the cabin, looking at the boat filled with mackerel, and everyone couldn’t hide their excitement. They had truly struck it rich today!

Ever since Ye Yaodong spotted the mackerel, his attention had been completely focused on them. As the boat sailed on the sea to cast the net and catch the fish, he didn’t feel any panic or fear; it suddenly hit him that he had faced his fears and completely conquered them!

Wonderful!

He rubbed his chin. “We should have a few thousand pounds of fish in this boat, right?”

“Definitely! Look at the size of those fish, they’re nearly half a meter long, each weighing four or five pounds. We’ve cast the net seven or eight times; we must have caught at least half.”

“I saw one in the live well that was almost a meter long; that one definitely weighs over eight pounds.”

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

“Hahaha~”

Everyone was chatting excitedly, it had been a long time since they had felt this excited; who wouldn’t be happy about striking it rich?

Azheng kicked the water bucket by his feet, looking at the tools for sifting through the sea, and quickly asked, “Are we still going to sift through the sea later?”

“Sift? Forget it! Once we haul in this net, we’ll hurry back. We need to sell this boatload of mackerel for cash! I don’t believe you’re not anxious about it!” Ye Yaodong was bemused that he could even ask such a silly question.

“Of course I’m anxious! I was just asking casually. What if you guys felt it wasn’t easy to come out and wanted to sift for a bit?”

“Are you silly? It’s way more important to sell the fish for cash first! We can ask Aguang to rent the boat for another day when we get back, and we can come out to sift tomorrow. The tide will still be rising slowly; the rocks should still be exposed tomorrow.”

Aguang nodded in agreement. “Yeah, yeah, we’ll rent a boat tomorrow to sift through the sea and try our luck again.”

“Wait, the boat is rented? Not borrowed? Why didn’t you say this earlier?” After so much discussion, only Xiaoxiao had noticed this detail.

“Ah, what’s the problem whether it’s rented or borrowed? It’s just a little money; who pays doesn’t matter. Besides, we’ve made a killing today, so what’s a little money?” Aguang said dismissively.

Ye Yaodong also showed a sincere smile. “Right? It’s just a small amount of money. Once we sell these mackerel, splitting the profits is what really matters.”

“Right, right, right! As soon as we haul in this net, we’ll hurry back. We don’t even know how long we’ve been out here.”

As they talked, they put on the clothes and pants they had taken off earlier. They had been so focused on catching the mackerel that they hadn’t thought about anything else.

They let the last net drag a little longer, and just as they were about to haul it in, Aguang simply headed straight for the dock, turning in the middle of the sea before pulling the net up.

Originally, everyone had low expectations for the final haul, but unexpectedly, there was a surprise!

A 5-6 pound large bass emerged into view as the net was lifted!

“Ah, a bass! A big bass…”

“Wow… there’s actually a big catch!”

“Adding flowers to the brocade, hahaha! We were about to pull the net in and didn’t expect to catch a big bass!”

“Haha, and we caught quite a few small fish and shrimp too! We’ve got food for our drinks!”

If they had caught this bass before encountering the mackerel, everyone would have been thrilled. But now, with the mackerel already in hand, the big bass only brought them a moment of joy, lacking the excitement they felt when they caught the mackerel.

After sorting through the catch, they found not only the large bass but also a few mackerel, along with some small, less valuable fish, shrimp, and crabs, filling up two large buckets. They wouldn’t sell for much, but they’d make for good eating.

“Let’s sell the bass too; it goes for several dimes a pound…”

When Ye Yaodong heard Xiaoxiao’s words, he couldn’t help but twitch his lips. The market price for sea bass was about 35-40 yuan per pound in his last life, and the selling price varied by location, sometimes doubling. Now it was being referred to as “several dimes” per pound…

Returning to 1982 made him acutely aware of the price differences. He always found himself comparing it to 2022.

Every time he compared, his heart twitched. If only he had a golden finger that allowed him to travel back and forth between 1982 and 2022, that would be wonderful.

Then he could sell the seafood he caught in 1982 at 2022 prices…

Sigh, it was nice to think about, but he didn’t have any golden fingers, just a little luck on his side.

He thought that being able to relive his life once was the biggest “bug.” He should appreciate the blessing he had; maybe his good fortune was his golden finger.

After all, who else had this kind of luck?

Aguang? Xiaoxiao? Azheng? He didn’t believe it. Who made him a reincarnator? He believed that luck was something he brought with him.

As he got lost in thought, Azheng’s voice pulled him back to reality.

“Are we selling it? There’s only one bass. Why not keep it to make a bass soup tonight? We’ve got so many mackerel; we’re not missing out by keeping this bass!”

“I think so too. Let’s keep the bass. We can also keep a mackerel to braise, or making mackerel dumplings wouldn’t be bad either.”

“Then let’s keep it? With so many fish, what’s a couple of them? It’s been a while since I had bass or mackerel dumplings…”

Slurp~ Ye Yaodong felt like he could hear everyone salivating; it was true they were all a bunch of spendthrifts.

Instead of thinking about selling everything for money, they were trying to keep a few fish for themselves to eat.

But… he was thinking the same way…