The appearance of the large yellow croaker undoubtedly gave the two of them a great boost in their work.
The two became even more motivated.
As the fishing nets were further retrieved, although no rare fish like the large yellow croaker appeared, toadfish and other common seafood were continuously harvested.
Some of these are relatively valuable.
For example, sea bream, sea bass, crab, prawns...
In particular, one net caught over ten kilograms of mantis shrimp, which gave them a small surprise.
Just then, a boat appeared in the distance, seemingly heading in their direction, immediately drawing Feng Ye's attention.
He frowned and reminded him, "Ah Chan, a boat is coming."
"ah?"
Ah-Can, who was dissecting the fish with his head down, looked up and couldn't help but frown when he saw it.
The two exchanged a glance, both noticing the wariness in each other's eyes.
On this vast and boundless sea, the sudden appearance of a ship often signifies the unknown and unpredictable.
Ah-chan asked, "Whose boat could it be?"
Feng Ye shook his head: "It's too far, I don't know."
"Hopefully it's not a ship from Nagao Island."
A look of obvious worry appeared on Ah-chan's face.
Hopefully.
Feng Ye was also a little worried, so he quickened the pace of closing the net.
At the same time, they also focused most of their attention on that unknown ship, keeping a close eye on its movements.
If it really is a ship from Nagao Island, then there will probably be some trouble involved.
Even if people and boats manage to escape, the nets in the sea won't be retrieved in time, and they will definitely be lost.
Ouch!
Suddenly, he touched something furry in his hand.
This startled him so much that he jerked his hand back as if he had been electrocuted.
His attention instantly shifted from the ship to the spot his hand had touched.
"Holy crap, what's this? A seal, a sea lion? No, it's an otter."
Feng Ye stared wide-eyed in astonishment at the tiny figure in the fishing net.
It was a young otter, huddled in the net, shivering, its eyes filled with fear and helplessness.
Its entire body is covered with thick, dense fur, with a thick, soft undercoat that has a glossy sheen and is waterproof.
The back, from head to tail tip, and the outer sides of the limbs are a uniform dark brown, while the belly, inner sides of the limbs, and base of the tail are lighter in color than the back, appearing as a dark, dirty grayish-white. The otter, also known as the zuheng, otter cat, or fish cat, is a mammal belonging to the genus *Otter* in the family Mustelidae.
They have broad, flat heads, short snouts, concave upper edges of nose pads, small, round ears with indistinct auricles, and short, thick necks.
The limbs appear relatively short compared to the body, the toes are webbed, and the claws are short and sharp.
Otters are among the most widely distributed mammals in the world.
They live near water, inhabiting rivers, lakes, streams, coastal freshwater areas, and some near-shore islands.
It can be found in rivers at altitudes above 4,000 meters on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
They are good swimmers and divers, and mainly prey on various fish, but also on amphibians, birds, etc.
"What seals, sea lions, or otters?"
Because he sped up the net-hauling process, Ah-Can, who was busy dissecting the fish, was drawn by Feng Ye's exclamation. He looked up and was immediately surprised as well.
"Is this an otter? It's way too small."
"Yes, it's an otter cub. I don't know how it got tangled in the fishing net."
"He was probably attracted by the fish stuck in the fishing net and ended up getting himself stuck."
"Maybe."
As Feng Ye spoke, he carefully freed the otter cub from the net and held it in his hand.
The young otter didn't struggle or bite after being caught; it just stared with its big, round eyes, looking incredibly cute and adorable.
"It's too small. If it were bigger, it would be better and could be sold for a lot more money."
Ah Can looked at the otter cub in Feng Ye's hand and said with some regret.
"It is indeed too small, so spare its life and let it return to the sea."
Otter fur is a high-end fur coat, and its price is relatively expensive.
Moreover, its liver is a valuable traditional Chinese medicine, known as otter liver.
Therefore, driven by profit, otter hunters continue to hunt otters despite the fact that otters have been listed as protected animals.
Especially in an era when animal protection was basically just on paper.
Many protected animals can be traded openly and legally.
Otters are one of them, and they're not cheap.
If the otter hadn't been so small, Feng Ye wouldn't have been willing to release it.
Since no one was around to interfere, he wasn't going to turn down the money.
"It would be good to take it home and stew it."
Ah-Can licked his lips.
"Let's forget about it, it's too small, there's hardly any meat on it."
"If there's no meat, you can drink the soup!"
Feng Ye rolled her eyes at A-Can and said irritably, "Come on, how could you hurt such a cute little guy?"
Ah-Can curled his lips: "What's wrong with not being able to do it? Even though it's a cub, it's still an otter."
"We know to release berried crabs back into the wild, so why are we so ruthless when it comes to otters?"
Ah-Can shrugged awkwardly: "Fine, if you want to release them, then release them."
Feng Ye glared at him irritably, then turned to look at the approaching ship.
His brow was furrowed, and he was filled with vigilance.
Ah-Can also stopped joking and said seriously, "We need to be careful, lest they're here to cause trouble."
Feng Ye was about to nod when he suddenly felt that the ship looked familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
So he asked, "Ah Chan, do you feel a sense of familiarity? Have we seen that ship before?"
Upon hearing this, Ah-Can immediately focused his gaze and carefully examined the appearance of the ship.
After a moment, a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes, and he said uncertainly, "It seems... to be Uncle Guo's boat?"
A thought struck Feng Ye, and memories quickly flooded his mind, matching the appearance of the ship one by one.
"It really does look like Uncle Guo's boat."
"It should be right."
A relaxed smile appeared on their faces, and their tension dissipated considerably.
"It seems we were overthinking it."
"I knew it. It's not that easy to run into a ship from Longtail Island at sea. We were just too nervous."
Feng Ye nodded, but his eyes remained fixed on the ship, as if afraid that something might happen.
As the ship drew closer, they finally saw it clearly.
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