After observing for a while without seeing any conger eels, Wu An asked, "Ah Qing, how many conger eels are there?"
Aqing shook her head: "Anyway, there are a lot."
Wu An remained silent.
Fan Xiaozhu said, "Forty-six of them should weigh around five hundred jin."
"There are also twelve red eels, weighing about 100 jin (50 kg) each."
"Ah An, you're really lucky."
Even though I've said it many times, I still can't help but say it every time I see it.
Wu An smiled and casually said, "I wonder what will happen next."
The winch is working non-stop.
In the middle section, there are continuous empty hooks.
The sea eels hadn't surfaced for a long time. Mei Wu was reeling in the line by himself, while A Qing and the others sat idly smoking.
After chatting with Old Man Fan and Old Man Fu for a while, Old Man Fan exclaimed in surprise, "What?"
"You only arrived last night, and this is your first time catching longline fishing?"
"That golden pomfret weighs about a thousand pounds..."
Old Fu laughed and said, "I caught it."
After saying that, he made a fishing gesture.
Upon hearing this, Fan Dali asked, "Did you really catch it?"
Ah Qing boasted, "Of course!"
“We caught them one by one.”
"I've been fishing for several hours."
Fan Dali asked, "Does this school of fish stay together?"
Aqing asked in a serious tone, "Will the fish scatter?"
Fan Dali: "..."
Ah Qing continued, "We're fishing for them; they won't scatter."
Fan Dali: "..."
Ah Qing's words left everyone speechless.
Wu An and his friends could catch so many golden pomfret with just fishing rods. They used all sorts of methods, including gillnets, fish traps, and longline fishing, but in the end, they still caught less than others.
Who can I complain to about this?
Comparing yourself to others can be incredibly frustrating.
Fan Dali finally understood what "imitating someone else's work" meant.
I can't learn it.
If you can't learn it, why not join?
Fan Dali made a decision in his heart.
Fan Xiaozhu said, "You guys are really amazing."
Ah Qing got even more excited and laughed, "Hey, catching a few golden pomfret won't make much money, what's so great about that?"
“I’m telling you this, but you mustn’t tell anyone else.”
Fan Dali and Fan Xiaozhu asked curiously.
Aqing looked at Wu An.
Wu An nodded slightly.
Ah Qing is definitely going to bring up the swordfish.
Go ahead and say it.
There's nothing to hide about this.
Anyway, once we get to the dock, many people will see us.
Seeing this, Aqing felt confident enough to show off. He lit another cigarette, took a drag, and said, "Let's go, I'll show you around."
"Don't get too excited when you see it later."
Aqing led the two towards the cold storage.
Old Man Fan followed curiously, and when they saw the swordfish in the cold storage, the three of them widened their eyes in unison. Fan Xiaozhu couldn't help but exclaim "Holy crap!" several times.
Ah Qing, with a cigarette in one hand and picking his ear with the other, said while puffing out smoke, "Hey, I told you guys not to get excited, why are you still shouting like that?"
Fan Xiaozhu pointed at the swordfish and asked, "Don't tell me you caught this too?"
Ah Qing shrugged: "No, the swordfish rushed onto the boat on its own."
Fan Xiaozhu: "..."
Fan Dali suddenly turned around, walked quickly towards Wu An, and said, "Ah An, no, boss, Xiao Zhu and I are willing to work on your ship."
Wu An beamed: "Good, good, good."
Old Man Fan walked over, wanting to speak, but Fan Xiaozhu grabbed him and pulled him into a corner.
Old Man Fan sighed: "Xiao Zhu, have you thought it through?"
Fan Xiaozhu said, "I'll listen to my brother."
Old Man Fan said, "Alright, I'm relieved that you brothers are of one mind."
"Anyway, if there's no future following Wu An, then we can come back and the three of us can keep busy."
Fan Xiaozhu nodded.
That's what he thought too.
He whispered, "I think my brother did the right thing. Those swordfish cost a lot of money. Even if it's just one percent, we can still make a lot of money."
"This is just a small boat."
“Then trawlers must be able to make money more easily.”
Old Fan snorted: "Don't be too optimistic about anything. He's just messing around like this, it's like a blind cat catching a dead mouse. Who knows what the situation would be like if they really switched to a trawler?"
"Pah, pah, pah."
"What am I saying, Mazu? Just ignore what I'm saying and don't listen to it."
Old Fan wrapped his left hand around his right, making a gesture as if worshipping the goddess Mazu, and muttered something under his breath.
Fan Xiaozhu smiled and was about to speak when he heard shouts coming from the winch, clamoring about some kind of big yellow croaker. Old Man Fan quickly ran over to see.
Ah Qing was jumping and hopping on the deck, while Fan Dali held up a large golden fish, his face contorted with joy, his eyes practically disappearing as he laughed.
Old Man Fan: "Holy crap..."
Although the large yellow croaker had absolutely nothing to do with the Fan family, Fan Xiaozhu was still very happy and said, "Dad, you know, it's like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse. We didn't see the dead mouse, but we certainly found a lot of dead fish."
"Oh, yo-ho, heh-hai..." Even Old Fu was excited, making meaningless noises as he rubbed his hands on his body. He happened to touch the cigarette box and took it out with trembling hands.
He not only smoked one for himself, but also gave one to everyone.
Wu An was also very happy. No wonder the last bit of luck he had left with the longline fishing was gone for half a day without any movement, and then it suddenly disappeared. It seemed that the big yellow croaker was the culprit.
The subsequent longline fishing yielded three large yellow croakers, and nothing else.
Old Fu weighed the three large yellow croakers and announced loudly, "3.5 jin, 2.4 jin, and this one is the biggest, 4.8 jin, almost 11 jin in total!"
Looking at them, Wu An said with some regret, "It's a pity they're all dead. It would be better if they were alive."
Old Fu laughed and said, "That's pretty good. These three fish alone can sell for tens of thousands."
Wu An shook his head: "It was just good luck that I caught a few big yellow croakers, otherwise the harvest would have been just average."
Old Fu said, "That's normal."
"It's autumn."
"When the weather gets cold, the fish become less active."
"Once the trawlers arrive, we can temporarily put longline fishing on hold."
Wu An nodded.
Old Fu called out, "Mei Wu, don't just stand there, hurry up and put it in the warehouse."
Mei Wu happily agreed and, together with A Qing, carried the basket to the warehouse.
Looking at these people, Old Man Fan tugged at the Fan brothers, Fan Dali and Fan Dali, and whispered, "See? They're singing in unison, deliberately showing off to us."
Fan Xiaozhu smiled and said, "Dad, it's okay. Soon we'll be one of them too."
Fan Dali said, "I should have told A'an earlier. Look at this cargo. If we were the boatmen, we could have made a lot of money."
Fan Xiaozhu: "It's better than us having to do it ourselves."
Old Man Fan: "..."
Okay, okay, okay.
So now he's the only outsider here, huh?
Then I'll leave!
After finishing with the longline fishing, I still need to go to Twin Islands to collect the bottom traps.
Old Fan didn't follow; he returned to his own boat.
Wu An asked, "What's wrong with your dad? Why does he look so unhappy?"
Fan Dali: "Ignore him."
Fan Xiaozhu: "Yes."
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