Around eight o'clock in the morning, as the sun rose, five fishing boats of different sizes slowly appeared in the sea outside Dongtou Village.
It was Feng Ye and his group who had just returned from selling fish in the county town.
The other fishing boats gradually dispersed along the way, each heading towards the dock of its own village.
On the Harvest, Feng Ye, Feng Xuan, and A Can hid in the shade of the cabin to avoid being exposed to the sun.
Although the morning sun isn't too harsh, it can get quite hot if you stay in it for too long.
As the sea breeze blew in their faces and the dock drew ever closer, the three felt no excitement, but rather a little guilty and uneasy.
"We're almost home. Let me calculate how much it will cost."
Feng Ye took out the money from his pocket and counted it: "I still have 9804 yuan here, so I'll forget about the other 4 yuan. Here, take one yuan each, and keep it for now."
He stuffed the two yuan into his pocket and continued, "I paid a 1000 yuan deposit, and I still need to pay a few yuan more, so I'm still short..."
"Hmm, we're still short one piece. I'll put up one piece, and you all put up one piece each."
After saying that, he added somewhat uncertainly, "I didn't miscalculate, did I?"
"It should be correct, right?"
Ah-chan wasn't sure either.
"Let's leave it at that for now. When you get back, Ah Ye, please calculate it again with paper and pen. If you make a mistake, then let us know."
Feng Xuan shook his head; he couldn't even do the mental arithmetic, and he was too lazy to strain his brain cells.
"Alright, I'll go back and calculate it again. If it's correct, I won't say anything more."
Feng Ye put the money away again.
"Have you figured out how to tell your family about such a large sum of money?"
Upon hearing A-Can's words, Feng Ye and Feng Xuan exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of helplessness in each other's eyes.
"What else can I do but tell the truth? I think Ah Ling will support me."
Feng Ye sighed and wearily shook his sore and stiff arms.
He made it sound so easy, but he wasn't really sure about it.
After all, it's not a small amount of money; it's over 27,000 yuan, a huge sum.
These days, although having 10,000 yuan in savings isn't worth much anymore, there aren't many families with that much money in savings.
Going to the county to sell fish not only leaves you with no money to bring back, but also means you have to pay out of pocket.
And it's such a large sum of money to be paid at once, I wonder if Ah Ling will make a fuss.
"Well, whether you stick your neck out or not, you'll get stabbed anyway. At worst, you'll just get a scolding."
Feng Xuan shrugged, appearing somewhat magnanimous, but a hint of worry was still visible in his eyes.
"Brother Xuan, aren't you afraid of upsetting your wife and making her go back to her parents' home?"
Ah-chan said half-jokingly.
"It shouldn't be that bad, right?"
Feng Xuan gave a wry smile, his tone very uncertain.
He turned to Feng Ye: "Ah Ye, if Alan is really so angry with me that she wants to go back to her parents' home, you and Ah Ling have to help me persuade her."
“Of course that’s no problem, but it hasn’t happened yet, so don’t worry about it too much.” Feng Ye shook his head. “By the way, it’s true that we shouldn’t tell our parents yet.”
"I know." Feng Xuan nodded, then asked A-Can, "What about you? How are you going to tell your parents?"
"Hehe, I've thought about it and I'm not going to tell them yet. I'll wait until things are settled before I talk to them. Anyway, I have so much money of my own, I don't need to ask them for it."
Ah-chan said with a smug smile.
Feng Ye and Feng Xuan both gave wry smiles.
Ah-chan can do that, but they can't.
There's no way around it; the money isn't with them, it's all with their wives.
...
The Harvest cut through the waves and soon arrived at the deep water area outside the dock.
After anchoring, the people on board transferred to another fishing boat that had stopped alongside them.
This was agreed upon when we set off from the county, that this boat would give us a ride.
“After you get back, come to my house and we’ll split the money from this voyage. You all need the money anyway.”
Xiao Zhaojun walked over and spoke to Feng Ye and the other two.
"Then thank you very much, Uncle Jun."
Feng Ye, Feng Xuan, and A-Can responded in unison, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Xiao Zhaojun's suggestion undoubtedly solved a problem for them, at least they could use less of their savings.
"No need to thank me, I'll share it with you sooner or later anyway."
Xiao Zhaojun waved his hand, "You guys go back... never mind, let's do it this afternoon. Everyone hasn't slept much all night, let's get a good sleep this morning and talk about it this afternoon."
"Afternoon is fine too, but I have to say, I'm actually a bit sleepy."
As Feng Ye was speaking, he couldn't help but yawn, which was quite unfortunate.
Feng Xuan and A-Can nodded in agreement, clearly also feeling exhausted.
The fishing boat set off, slowly heading towards the dock not far away.
A large crowd had gathered at the dock to welcome the returning fishing boats.
They were originally gathering seafood on the nearby beach, but when they saw the fishing boats returning, they all ran to the dock to wait.
Ye Qingling and Du Guilan were among them, each carrying a bucket, but the three little ones were nowhere to be seen.
Looking at Ye Qingling, who was happily welcoming him, Feng Ye couldn't help but feel a little guilty.
Feng Xuan also looked in Du Guilan's direction with some trepidation.
Ah-chan was quite composed, even though his mother was also in the crowd.
The fishing boat slowly approached the shore, and everyone else eagerly jumped off the boat, heading towards their families who were waiting for them.
Xiao Zhaojun whispered, "Feeling guilty, aren't you?"
Feng Ye nodded: "A little."
Feng Xuan just gave a wry smile and didn't say anything.
"Take care of yourself."
Xiao Zhaojun patted them on the shoulder and got off the boat.
"Let's go, we have to face it eventually."
Feng Ye threw down a sentence and walked towards Ye Qingling, who was waiting to greet him.
Ye Qingling greeted them with a smile: "You're back so early. I thought you wouldn't be back until the afternoon."
"Those fish were sold out by dawn, what else could they do if they didn't come back?"
Feng Ye forced a smile, but in his mind he was already planning how to explain the shop to Ye Qingling.
"They're all sold out? So fast? Dad said you encountered a sardine run yesterday and caught a lot of fish? There were over 10,000 catties of sardines alone, and more than a dozen big fish."
"That's right, to be more precise, there were over 17,000 catties of sardines and 18 large fish."
“I know, Dad told me you caught a particularly large red octopus.”
"Yes, it weighs a full 236 jin (163 catties). You've never seen a boar this big before, have you?"
"So big?" Ye Qingling exclaimed in surprise. "I only heard Dad say it was big, I never imagined it would be this big. How much did it sell for?"
"Hehe, it's 1300 yuan short by two yuan, which is 5.5 yuan per jin."
"So expensive! So much money!" Ye Qingling exclaimed in surprise. "What about the others? How much did they cost in total?"
"Ahem, we sold a total of [amount], mainly because the price of tuna was very good, and also that big red snapper."
Ye Qingling's eyes lit up when she heard the number.
Wow, so many!
She said excitedly, "People started returning one after another yesterday afternoon, all with boats full of sardines. They all said it was because of the blessing of Mazu, because we expanded the Mazu Temple on our island, which is a reward for us."
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