Chapter 117 Chapter 117 Black Bean Sauce Fish
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By chance, they met a captain uncle, and the days after Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao boarded the ship were no longer so precarious.
Food and water were delivered to their door, and each person was given two sets of warm clothing. Not only that, the manager in charge of arranging the rooms also started to smile and immediately offered to give them a more comfortable single room.
There was no reason to refuse food and drink, after all, only when you are full can you have the strength to work. But as for changing rooms, there was no reward without merit, so Gu Mengran politely declined.
Although Ding Pengyi is the supreme commander of the Giant, the ship does not belong to him alone.
The hundreds of people on the ship are a collective, and have long had strict order and rules. Those who are capable should work harder and get more. If they enjoy special treatment as soon as they arrive and occupy other people's resources, wouldn't they really become relatives and friends?
There is strength in numbers. Finding grandpa will take time and effort. Gu Mengran doesn't even have time to build good relationships with other people, so how could he become an annoying relationship-holder?
But Ding Pengyi was not just talking, he really racked his brains to take care of the grandson of his old friend. When he was refused to arrange a room, he made a fuss about "work". On the grounds that Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao had rich driving experience, he directly transferred the two people who had just boarded the ship and were supposed to work at the bottom to the driving room.
But Gu Mengran had no way to refuse. Finding a ship in the ocean does not rely on the eyes but on radar. Only by entering the cockpit can they personally participate in the search for the Fengyi.
then--
Amid the envious and jealous looks of others, Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao gritted their teeth and walked into the cab.
In a blink of an eye, more than a month has passed. The temperature continues to drop with time. The sea is still as rough as before, but the huge ship seems to have sailed into an ice area. The open and flat deck is tightly wrapped in a thick layer of ice armor, and all you can see is white.
The rain turned into heavy snow, and the seawater that hit the upper deck mixed with the snow and condensed into a thick layer of ice under the help of the cold air. The decks were gradually sealed and occupied by the ice. The mechanical arm had just thawed, and the guardrail was frozen into a forest of icicles.
The knocking sounds of "ding-ling-dong-long, bang-bang-dang-dang" rang from morning to noon.
The tempered laminated glass blocked the invading cold but could not block the sound. Gu Mengran was sitting in the cab and when he looked up he saw the people de-icing the deck in the wind and snow.
When the weather is cold and the waves are big, the deck will be frozen by ice every now and then. If it is not cleared in time, the accumulation of a large amount of ice will cause the waterline to be too deep, affecting the stability of the ship. The equipment on the deck will also be damaged if it stays in a low temperature state for a long time.
De-icing has become a daily job. Not to mention being tired, the main thing is it’s cold.
The trawl net had been in the water for more than 24 hours, and the Giant cancelled its automatic navigation and slowly began to slow down. Liang Zhao followed the other crew members to the deck to help and prepare to retrieve the trawl net. There were only a few people left in the huge cabin, which was quite deserted.
Gu Mengran had never heard of using a supertanker to cast a net to catch fish.
He also wanted to go to the deck to help and see if this new attempt could bring any results, but because of the captain's care, he had no chance to leave the cabin. He was like a green plant kept in a greenhouse and could not tolerate even a little cold wind.
The captain and the first mate were talking in front of the bridge. Gu Mengran was eager to speak but couldn't find a suitable opportunity. He finally waited until the first mate left with the telescope. Just as he was about to get up and go forward, the captain's walkie-talkie rang again.
"Captain, this is the deck. The towing planks are set up, the winch is cleaned, and the sailors are in place. We can start!"
Ding Pengyi picked up the intercom and answered: "OK, tell the de-icing people to return to the cabin quickly and stay away from the winch and mechanical arm. Pay attention, safety is the top priority."
With a "received" sound, Ding Pengyi dropped the intercom and shouted, "Everyone return to your positions, follow my instructions, and prepare to retrieve the trawl net."
"receive!"
Gu Mengran: ...
The buttocks that had just been lifted up fell back down again.
A trawl is different from a traditional fishing net. It is equivalent to a soft and tough net bucket. After being put into the water, it is expanded by the water flow and then towed forward by the ship. The fish, shrimps and crabs in the waters it passes through will naturally be dragged into the net bag.
It is easy to put down the net but difficult to pull it up. The Giant is too tall, and there is a long distance between the deck and the water surface. The large trawl net is too long, which causes half of it to hang in the air, with the heaviest net bag still hanging in the water.
Pulling from above and tugging from below, if the fragile trawl breaks, all efforts will be wasted.
After setting up the towing board as a buffer, the winch started to work, the two pull ropes were gradually retracted, and the net successfully floated to the surface. The winch continued to operate, the pull rope soaked in seawater was stretched straight, the buoy was raised to the deck with the winch, and the green net bag was instantly exposed to the water.
The net bag rubbed against the smooth towing board and rose slowly. The sailors who had been waiting on the deck for a long time came forward to help, tidying up the knotted net ropes and deformed net circles to prevent the trawl net from getting stuck in the gap between the deck and the towing board.
It was a long and tense process. No one dared to take it lightly until the net bag appeared. In the unusually quiet cabin, one could even hear faint breathing sounds. When most of the net bag was successfully returned to the deck, the captain gave an order:
"The mechanical arm is moving. Quick, go up and help!"
In an instant, the wheelhouse and the deck became busy again.
The noisy voices, the hum of running machinery, the hum of engines, the silent Giant instantly turned into a bustling city, heads popped out of the stern deck windows, and everyone was looking forward to the final result.
It took nearly an hour and a half, and with a burst of screams and explosions, finally, a huge, bulging net bag was completely pulled onto the deck.
A strong fishy smell immediately filled the air. As the rope was untied, it was like surging waves. There was a "rushing" sound, and tens of thousands of fish, shrimps and crabs rushed out of the net bag quickly and rapidly like a tide.
The stern deck was still far away, and although nothing could be seen clearly, everyone knew by the sight of the vast expanse of white that today was a great harvest!
The crew in the wheelhouse could no longer sit still, and they all looked around, like a pot of boiling water, boiling instantly:
"Oh my god! That's too much, right? How many pounds does it weigh?"
"Jin? My friend, this should be measured in tons."
"It's so crowded that my eyes are dazzled! Do you think there will be king crabs or something?"
"Don't say that, it's really possible. There are king crabs in the East China Sea."
"I have never seen so many fish and shrimps in my life. Is this enough for us to eat for half a year?"
"That's an exaggeration. With so many of us, we can only eat for three months at most!"
"Ha ha ha ha……"
Although people were in the cockpit, their hearts had already drifted to the deck, and no one had the heart to work anymore.
Seeing this, Ding Pengyi simply waved his hand and said, "Go, go, if you want to join in the fun, go now, don't poke your head around here. Remember to ask the others to bring their gear and sort out the fish and shrimp."
Some people were too cold to go out, while others were not afraid of the cold and were only interested in joining in the fun. Gu Mengran was one of the latter and hurriedly walked out of the cab with the group.
The biting cold could not stop people's enthusiasm. They took out all the movable containers in the cabin, including pots, pans, buckets, etc., and rushed out from the poop like a swarm of bees, rushing to the deck in a hurry.
Gu Mengran thought he was very fast, but it was too late. People gathered in three layers inside and outside the bow deck, and there was no way to get through. He could not see any fish or shrimp at all, and could only smell the fishy smell.
Instead of joining in the fun, I was freezing cold.
Gu Mengran was about to give up and rubbed his hands to leave, but at this moment, the crowd that had been crowded together suddenly dispersed, and the mountains of fish and shrimp were spread out on the deck with tools so that more people could sort them.
He thought it was just good luck and coincidence, but the next moment, he met a pair of smiling eyes across the crowd. Gu Mengran then realized that Liang Zhao, who was working on the deck, had already discovered him.
By making use of his "connections", Gu Mengran finally reaped the rewards of today.
Fish, shrimps and crabs are piled up in layers, and even if they are spread out, they look like a towering "seafood mountain". There are lively barramundi, strange-looking lobsters, thick and long snake-like seven-star eels, and swaying octopuses...
There were many varieties and huge quantities, among which there were many deep-sea fish that Gu Mengran could not name. The most abundant were the shrimps that were abundant in the East China Sea, small, sweet and delicious shrimps, also known as dog shrimps.
Gu Mengran was dazzled, just as the crew member said:
"I've lived for more than 20 years, and I've never seen so much seafood."
The sorting work is simple, boring and very tiring. There is a sense of novelty in the beginning, and everyone works hard, each one more efficient than the other. Later, when the sea breeze blows, picking up fish and shrimps that are no different from ice cubes, everyone feels younger and is frozen like grandchildren.
As the sky gradually darkened, the last large bucket of shrimps was carried back to the house and put away. Gu Mengran, Liang Zhao, and two other crew members came out of the storage cabin sweating profusely.
His clothes were wet and dry, and he smelled of sweat. Gu Mengran was just about to call Liang Zhao to go to the public bathroom to take a shower together when a loud shout came from the end of the corridor.
"It's time to eat, the seafood feast is about to begin!"
Gu Mengran paused, immediately pulled Liang Zhao around, and returned to their storage compartment to get the dishes and chopsticks.
If you are not active in eating, there is something wrong with your thinking.
Today was a bumper harvest, so the dinner was naturally extra sumptuous.
Unfortunately, there were not enough seasonings on the boat, so the chef only cooked a dish of black bean curd with mullet. The shrimps and swimming crabs were cooked in the simplest way, steamed.
After waiting in line for ten minutes, Gu Mengran finally got the dinner he had been longing for. After Liang Zhao walked out of the queue with the bowl in his hand, the two of them chose an empty table in the corner of the restaurant to eat.
After doing physical work for an afternoon, Gu Mengran was already hungry. He picked up the chopsticks and poked into the fish belly. He carefully selected a piece of tender fish belly meat with few bones.
The rich aroma of fermented black beans wafted around his nose. Gu Mengran had already imagined how delicious it would be. But before he could put the tender and fragrant fish meat into his mouth, the chief engineer who was eating at the table opposite him suddenly took out a "hissing" walkie-talkie.
"Old man, old man! Are you in the restaurant?"
The intercom rang, and it was the first mate's voice.
Originally, this had nothing to do with Gu Mengran, but after the old master pressed the intercom to respond, the first mate's excited voice sounded again: "Help me see if Gu Mengran is in the restaurant, hurry up! It's urgent."
They were just separated by a table, and the distance was very close, so Gu Mengran could hear it clearly.
"Old Gui, did you hear that? If you see him, tell him to come to the bridge. The radar has detected ships that are suspected to be the Yongyue and Fengyi!"
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