They waited for the entire afternoon.
They were told that the people from the Oceanographic Institute would arrive in a few hours, but they waited until dusk, after the sun had set, and still no one had come.
The crowd that had gathered in the morning had mostly dispersed long ago, with only a few idlers still pointing and waiting with them.
Now it's a different group of people, mostly fishermen who have returned from the sea, and their families.
"Why haven't they arrived yet? The sun has already set."
"Sigh, we've been waiting all day. If we keep going like this, it'll be completely dark by the time we get here."
"I don't know what they're doing. It should only take five or six hours to get here from Xiamen, but it's been almost ten hours and they still haven't arrived."
Everyone was getting impatient and kept grumbling.
Fang Yi felt a little embarrassed, since he was the one who contacted the person.
He was also extremely anxious, but there was nothing he could do. All he could do was reassure everyone again and again: "Everyone, please be patient and wait a little longer. We should be here soon."
After waiting a while, a loud ship's horn sounded from the direction of the sea.
Everyone perked up and looked towards the distant sea.
A white engineering vessel was seen sailing towards them, and various kinds of equipment could be clearly seen on its deck.
"A large ship is coming."
"Is this what they use to pull this whale?"
"I think so?"
The crowd began to discuss again, speculating about the ship's purpose.
"It's finally here!"
Feng Ye breathed a sigh of relief.
Without even asking, he knew it must be people from the Provincial Oceanographic Institute who had arrived.
Because this is a crane ship.
As the ship drew closer, everyone could see it more and more clearly.
There were quite a few people standing on the deck, all looking in this direction.
Fang Yi quickly disembarked, took a few policemen with him, and followed Feng Jiaqing to start the small boat.
At this time, the area around where the Donglai, Dongsheng, and Fengshou were docked, as well as the sea outside, was packed with fishing boats.
They need to clear a path so that the crane ship can approach smoothly.
Feng Ye and the others on the boat were also helping out, shouting loudly to the surrounding fishing boats to cooperate and make way for them.
With everyone working together, the fishing boat slowly moved, finally clearing a channel.
The crane ship smoothly entered the channel and slowly approached the location where the three ships were moored.
Fang Yi said something to the people on the ship, and then a middle-aged man got off the crane ship and sat on a small boat onto the Donglai.
"Sorry I'm late."
The middle-aged man immediately apologized to everyone, saying, "Contacting the crane ship already took some time, and the crane ship is slow, which is why it has been delayed until now."
"This is Professor Ji, an expert from the Institute of Oceanography."
Fang Yi introduced the middle-aged man's identity, and then introduced Feng Ye and the others to Professor Li.
Professor Ji extended his hand to shake hands with everyone, expressing his apologies while also thanking them for bringing the gray whale back, providing a valuable sample for marine research.
While they were exchanging pleasantries, the remaining people on the crane ship also began to get busy.
Several people jumped into the sea with ropes, preparing to tie up the gray whale so that it would be easier to lift it.
After some preparation, the crane boom was lowered, the ropes were hooked up, the tow lines on the three ships were untied, and the lifting of the gray whale began.
The gray whale slowly rose, its massive body appearing particularly magnificent in the afterglow of the setting sun.
The only downside is that its body is covered in disgusting barnacles, which really affects the overall impression.
The reporter waited until this moment before raising his camera and snapping photos incessantly, the flashes going off one after another, capturing the instant the gray whale was successfully hoisted.
As the gray whale was hoisted higher and higher, the surrounding crowd gasped in amazement.
When the gray whale fully emerged from the water and was suspended in the air, it looked to be several stories high, and everyone had to crane their necks to see it all.
"That's fucking huge!"
"I knew this fish was big, but I didn't expect it to be this big."
"This must be at least fourteen or fifteen meters long! It's huge!"
"It definitely exists, but I don't know how heavy it is."
"At least twenty or thirty tons, but unfortunately we couldn't see it being weighed."
"How can we weigh such a big fish? We can't find a scale that big."
"You're ignorant about this. There's a type of weighbridge called a floor scale, which is specifically designed to weigh heavy objects like this. It can weigh not only 20 or 30 tons, but even trucks weighing hundreds of tons."
"Yes, I've heard of this kind of scale too..."
With the roar of the crane, the gray whale was hoisted higher and higher under the watchful eyes of the crowd, finally landing steadily on the deck of the crane ship.
After expressing his gratitude repeatedly, Professor Ji bid farewell to everyone and returned to the crane ship in a small boat.
Everyone watched as the crane ship slowly sailed away and gradually disappeared on the horizon.
The crowd, still somewhat unsatisfied, dispersed, some going home, others going back to work.
The discussions on the dock continued unabated, with various speculations and exclamations about the gray whale still echoing in the air.
Fang Yi also said to them, "It's all over, I should go now."
Feng Ye nodded: "If you want to go to sea again in the future, just let me know and I'll make arrangements."
"We'll talk about it later. But this trip to sea was alright, even though the waves were a bit big. But it was worth it to encounter such a huge gray whale."
Fang Yi waved his hand, disembarked, and left with his police officers.
Xiao Zhaojun came aboard the Harvest and asked, "What do we do now, go home or go out to sea?"
He was unaware of Feng Ye's plan.
"Go home, rest for a few days, and go out to sea again after the Mid-Autumn Festival."
"Okay, let's go straight home then."
"It's getting dark, and everyone must be hungry. There's not much food on the boat, so let's go get something to eat before we go back."
"Um."
After gathering everyone, the group disembarked and headed in a large procession toward a restaurant near the dock, chatting as they went.
The most talked-about topic was the gray whale, and when it would be published in the newspapers.
Of course, everyone was also looking forward to the reward and guessing how much the prize money would be.
This was a great disappointment for Feng Jiaqing and Feng Jialing, because they were not included in the newspapers or received any awards.
We randomly picked a restaurant, quickly ate a simple dinner, and then hurried back to the dock to set sail home.
Four ships, three large and one small, started up one after another, slowly leaving the dock and sailing into the night.
A sea breeze caresses your face, and starlight twinkles.
It was already very late, close to 9 pm, and there was still more than an hour's flight ahead.
Even if I rush back now, I won't get home until late at night.
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