Ah Qing threw the cage down and turned around to call out, "Brother, it's all set up."
Wu An nodded, glanced at the time—it was exactly 5 p.m.—and said, “Okay, let’s hurry up and sort through the orders so we can get things done quickly and rest early.”
This busy work took up the whole day.
There's not a moment's rest.
The three of them spent almost another hour sorting.
After finishing their work, Aqing and Mai Hangyu leaned against the side of the boat, smoking with some difficulty. They were mainly exhausted from tying up the crabs, and their fingers were trembling.
This is exhausting.
Wu An sat down next to Old Mai and asked, "Old Mai, did you have a good time today?"
"Enjoy it to the fullest."
"I caught more squid in one day than I did in a whole year," Old Mai said with a big smile. "And I even used it to remove barnacles from sea turtles. I've got a lot to brag about these days."
Wu An said, "We're mainly here to make money. Let's find an opportunity to have a good day out."
Old Mai smiled and nodded.
That's what I meant.
He's heard it a lot.
His friends are all still busy, but he's retired and has nothing to do. However, he's not one to stay idle, otherwise he wouldn't have gone to sea with Wu An to work.
We arrived at the dock.
It was already dark, but the dock was still brightly lit.
Lao Fang and A Jin were both there.
After exchanging greetings, everyone started sorting their seafood. Some who had finished their work came over to join in the fun, and were incredibly envious when they saw all the seafood being unloaded from the boat.
Some people even inquired about where the fish traps and longline fishing were set.
Wu An gave a perfunctory reply, but secretly became more vigilant.
Who would be so kind as to ask about this? Besides, are we even acquainted? Do we even know each other? If I just offer you a cigarette and call you "bro," we're practically friends.
His recent performance has been rather glaring.
Just as I was busy working, the rain started.
No one paid any attention, they put on their raincoats and continued working. In their culture, water is wealth, rain means wealth is falling, representing abundant fortune and prosperity.
Many fishermen are hoping for rain, believing that rain right after the fishing season opens is a good omen.
This year is definitely going to be a year of wealth!
Everyone working at the docks is cheerful.
When they greet people, they always say auspicious things like "may you make a fortune."
Finished with the work.
The group headed straight to the market, weighed their goods, and paid the bills. There was nothing particularly special about it. Prices fluctuated after the fishing season opened, but they were all within the expected range.
The price of the rocket squid surprised Wu An.
Squid are divided into three categories: large, medium, and small. The large ones can sell for 35 yuan per jin, the medium ones for 30 yuan per jin, and the third category for 25 yuan per jin.
It was far beyond his expectations.
That's normal, after all, he hasn't been a fisherman for very long, and his grasp of seafood prices isn't very accurate yet.
Finally, let's settle the accounts.
Yuan.
A bumper harvest! Another bumper harvest!
The income from the past few days since the fishing season started has already exceeded 100,000!
It's quite good.
As they left the market, it was still raining outside, and the rain showed no signs of letting up. Mai Hangyu went home with Lao Mai first, while Wu An and A Qing rode their bikes to the dock.
After boarding the boat and checking it again to make sure there were no problems, the two disembarked and rode their bicycles towards the village despite the wind and rain.
First, take Aqing home.
Aqing got out of the car and asked, "Brother, aren't we going out to sea tomorrow?"
Wu An said, "It might be windy tomorrow, let's take a day off."
Aqing nodded; "Brother, then take it slow."
Wu An waved his hand, thankful that he was riding a motorcycle tricycle today; if he had been on a scooter, he would have had to stay overnight in town in such heavy rain.
Arrived at the doorstep.
Seeing two red dots flashing in front of Old Meng's house, he stopped, squinted, and called out, "Dad, Uncle Meng, smoking?"
Old Meng smiled and waved his hand.
Wu Yingwei stood up and asked, "Why are you only coming back now? Didn't you call a while ago to say you were coming back?"
Just as Wu An was about to speak, someone came out of the house with an umbrella and called out, "Is that you, An?"
Upon hearing that it was his elder brother Wu Ping, Wu An quickly responded.
"I'm fine. It's just that the rain has made me a little late, and I didn't dare to ride too fast on the road," Wu An shouted a little louder.
Now, the rain is pouring down even harder.
"Let's go home first, let's go home first." Wu Yingwei walked along, and Wu Ping quickly opened his umbrella in response.
Wu An restarted the motorcycle.
I turned off the motorcycle while talking to my dad, otherwise the engine noise combined with the rain would make it impossible to talk without shouting.
Old Meng said with a smile, "Since it started raining, your dad has walked back and forth seven or eight times. If you hadn't come back soon, I wouldn't have been able to keep up with this pack of cigarettes."
Wu An suddenly realized why his father and elder brother were so worried; it was because of this fish.
He invited Lao Meng to his home for dinner.
Old Meng waved his hand: "I've already eaten."
Wu An then rode his bicycle home.
He gave the remaining shrimp, crab, and fish to Mei Yueqin, asking her to simply steam them and eat them.
After Mei Yueqin took the food, she quickly gave him a sip of hot tea and told him to go take a bath and change his clothes. Once he was done, the table was already full of steaming hot food.
Mei Yueqin asked, "A'an, would you like some wine?"
Wu An nodded.
"White?"
"Okay, getting caught in the rain will warm you up."
Actually, it's not cold here when it rains, but it does hurt a bit when the rain hits your body while riding a bike.
They were eating.
Mr. Li called and said that he could come to modify the fishing boat tomorrow.
The main problem is the limited time. Wu An can only give them two days at most. They have to go out to sea as soon as the weather is good. Making money is the right thing to do.
After discussing it with Mr. Li, we decided to expand the cold storage and add an automatic winch. We can get it done in two days by working overtime.
Adding cold storage will take up space in the boat awning, which means that the space in the boat awning will be greatly reduced in the future. Wu An said that this is not a big problem.
Going out to sea to fish is for making money, not for enjoyment, so a smaller boat awning is fine.
As for the live fish hold, it can be enlarged, but it is quite difficult. The live fish hold is closely related to the size of the fishing boat. If you want to increase the size of the live fish hold, you have to first enlarge and lengthen the fishing boat.
Mr. Li reiterated that it would be better to buy a bigger fishing boat than to struggle on this one.
Wu An heeded the advice.
Mr. Li did not accept the deposit, saying that he would pay it all at once after the goods were delivered, and he was not afraid that Wu An would renege on the debt.
Hang up the phone.
Wu An had barely taken a couple of bites when his phone rang again. It was Mai Hangyu calling, saying that he had confirmed the time with the school teacher and would arrive in three days.
Wu An chatted with him for a couple of minutes and then hung up the phone.
After hanging up the phone, Wu An saw that Gu Anran had sent several messages, and replied to them while eating.
"You've eaten cold food, let me heat it up for you."
Mei Yueqin picked up two dishes and went to microwave them.
Wu An told her not to bother, and that it was fine to eat something cold.
"No, you're so busy every day, working so hard, you can't afford to get an upset stomach."
"I can take a break these next couple of days."
"So you're free tomorrow?"
"Nothing else, just going to Gu Anran's house for a meal."
"ah?"
Upon hearing this, Wu Yingwei stared at him wide-eyed: "Why didn't you say something so important sooner!"
Wu An scratched his head: "Is this a big deal?"
"Of course you're nervous, isn't it? It's your first time here, aren't you?"
"Ah An, your sister-in-law has to talk to you. How can you be so careless? Are you so nervous that you don't know what to do?"
"You haven't even gotten a haircut, and you don't have any new clothes at home. We agreed on a certain time tomorrow, so you should at least be all dressed neatly."
"Ah An, don't be afraid. I've been there, I'll give you a little lesson tonight, I know this stuff."
Looking at the three men who seemed to be facing a formidable enemy, Wu An thought to himself, "I'm not flustered, nervous, or afraid at all."
What does he think?
These three were even more flustered, nervous, and afraid than he was.
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