The wind was strong on the deck, howling and making people's clothes flutter.
Feng Ye tightened his coat and quickly ran back to the driver's seat to drink tea and smoke.
In just a short while, his exposed hands turned bright red from the cold, and his fingers became stiff.
Sitting in the wheelhouse, you can see what's happening on the deck through the porthole, but because of the dim lighting, you can't see it very clearly.
The net they just hauled in was mostly filled with purplish-red squid on top, which the boatmen were sorting and classifying in an orderly fashion.
Dried squid strips? That was in my past life. I haven't even had them since I was reborn.
He really does miss it.
With the Lunar New Year approaching, I quickly made a batch of squid strips. We can enjoy them at home, entertain guests, sell them, or give them as gifts.
The boatmen should also be given some, as a New Year's gift.
He had originally planned to give them some New Year's gifts, since they had all worked hard on the ship for so long.
However, this means that the dried squid strips from this net of red squid won't be enough.
Thinking of this, Feng Ye turned his head to look at the Dong Sheng and Feng Shou ships not far away, wondering if they had caught any red squid.
Logically speaking, some should have been caught.
Squid are gregarious and not very far apart, so it makes no sense that the Donglai ship caught them all while the other two ships caught nothing.
He didn't expect any red squid from the Harvest, but if the East Rising caught any, he had to keep them.
I need to hurry up and tell my older brother, lest they sell the red squid.
With that in mind, he immediately switched the radio frequency from the public channel to the channel they used for their conversation.
It was quiet inside, without a sound.
Feng Ye tried calling out a few times before finally hearing a response from the Dong Sheng.
However, it was not Feng Xuan who spoke, but Xiao Mingshi.
"Uncle, it's you. Has my brother gone to sleep?"
"Yes, he just changed shifts recently. What do you need him for? If it's urgent, I'll go wake him up."
"No need to call, it's not urgent. I just wanted to ask if you've caught any red squid over there?"
"I stayed in the driver's seat the whole time and didn't go down to check, so I'm not sure what goods were caught."
"Then ask around and see if they have it."
"Okay, I'll go ask for you right away."
After a while, Xiao Mingshi's voice came through the radio again: "Ah Ye, I've asked around, and the net we just caught did indeed have red squid, and quite a lot of them, probably two or three thousand catties."
Feng Ye was overjoyed; there really were some, and even more than he had.
“That’s great. When my brother wakes up, tell him not to sell this batch of red squid. I want to keep it to take home.”
"No problem, I'll tell him when he wakes up. But why are you suddenly keeping so many red squid to take back? Are you going to dry them?"
Xiao Mingshi asked curiously.
Feng Ye smiled and said, "I plan to make these red squid into squid strips..."
"That sounds pretty good. I'm really looking forward to trying your squid strips."
"Once it's made, I'll definitely save a portion for you. You'll see how delicious it is then."
As the two were talking, Xiao Zhaojun's voice suddenly broke in: "Aye, I also have some red squid here, but only a little over 1,000 jin. Do you want some?"
"Yes, of course I want it."
Feng Ye was overjoyed.
He hadn't really expected any red squid from the Harvest Ship, since Xiao Guowen also had a dried fish workshop where they could dry their own.
However, just to confirm, he still asked, "Aren't you going to keep it to dry yourself at home?"
"Forget it, it's not much anyway, I'm too lazy to bother, I might as well give it to you."
"Thank you very much. I'll send some to you to try once I've dried them."
Xiao Zhaojun laughed heartily: "Then I'll just wait to reap the benefits..."
The three chatted for a while longer, and Feng Ye told them to keep any squid they caught later, then hung up the phone.
The total weight of the three boats of red squid is estimated to be around 6,000 jin (3,000 catties), which should be enough.
After all, this is the first time we've made this product, and we don't know how the market will react yet, so we can't take too many risks.
Although red squid is cheap, it takes four or five kilograms of squid to dry one kilogram of squid strips. Adding in labor, time and other costs, the total cost is not low.
Feng Ye planned to first conduct a small-batch trial sale to see the market reaction.
If it's popular, we can expand production after the New Year, and we could also consider creating a brand for dried squid.
These are so easy to catch. They're plentiful in the sea and readily available in the market. You can buy them anytime and never worry about running out of stock.
If further cost reduction is desired in the future, one could even commission a custom-made squid fishing boat from a shipyard and go out to sea to catch squid themselves.
This creates a complete supply chain from fishing and production to sales, resulting in greater profit margins.
As Feng Ye smugly thought to himself, he kept the fishing boat in the right direction, his eyes occasionally glancing at the fish finder's screen, adjusting his course according to the finder's instructions, and chasing after areas with dense schools of fish.
The screen was filled with green and yellow dots, but unfortunately not red, indicating that the fish were not dense enough and there were no spots that needed too much attention.
From the fifth or sixth day after setting sail, the fish finder showed this pattern most of the time.
Feng Ye was now quite bored, with no one to chat with.
The Harvest is currently being sailed by Xiao Zhaojun, while the East Rise is being sailed by his uncle, who is a generation older than him. There is a generation gap between them, and they can't really talk to each other.
Life at sea is inherently monotonous and dull; the excitement comes only from occasionally encountering schools of fish or catching rare and valuable catches.
The old folks often say, "There are three kinds of hardship in the world: rowing a boat, blacksmithing, and grinding tofu."
Although we no longer need to row a boat and it's not as arduous as before, the long periods of solitude and monotony still test one's patience.
Meanwhile, Ye Chenliang and his group on the deck were sorting things and chatting animatedly, with occasional bursts of hearty laughter.
However, Feng Ye did not get out of the cab and remained in the driver's seat.
It was really windy and cold on the deck, and he couldn't stand it.
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