Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982 - Chapter 78

Chapter 78: Crab Trap Net

After dinner, Lin Xiuqing handed fifteen 10-yuan notes to Ye’s mother in front of his two sisters-in-law. Ye’s mother didn’t say much, just smiled and accepted them.

However, after dark in the evening, Ye’s mother secretly went to Ye Yaodong’s room. Fortunately, the couple hadn’t gone to sleep yet.

“Mom?”

“Shh, let’s talk inside.”

Lin Xiuqing closed the door gently, puzzled, and asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong?”

Ye’s mother took out a square handkerchief from her pocket, then unfolded the four corners of the handkerchief, revealing fifteen 10-yuan notes that Lin Xiuqing had given her in the afternoon.

The couple looked at Ye’s mother in surprise, “Mom, what are you doing?”

“I’ve discussed it with your father. It’s rare for Dongzi to want to work seriously. Consider the small wooden boat as a starting asset for your new household. You don’t need to pay for it. We two old folks are still young and can handle the work.”

Lin Xiuqing and Ye Yaodong exchanged a glance and said, “This doesn’t seem right. The small wooden boat is communal property. If we take it, the eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law will surely make a fuss when they find out.”

“If you don’t say anything, it’ll be fine, won’t it? Besides, they’re not at a loss. We know what little schemes they’re plotting. They just want to go out to sea with your father, so they won’t have any costs and still get a share of the money. You’ll have the small wooden boat to be self-reliant, while they’ll fish with your father and split the money. This way, it’s fair.”

“If you spend money to buy a small wooden boat to work independently, while they go with your father without any investment and reap the benefits, you’d be at a disadvantage. Keep the money. Your father and I understand clearly, and we won’t let any of you suffer losses.”

Originally, the third son’s assets were much weaker compared to the eldest and second sons. Ye’s father and mother didn’t expect money from their son anyway. They were paying for the house construction, so what difference would 150 yuan make?

With things put this way, Lin Xiuqing had no choice but to accept the money, gratefully saying, “Thank you, Mom.”

“Alright, keep the money safe and go to bed early.” Ye’s mother tiptoed out again.

Her parents-in-law were truly beyond reproach in their conduct. There might be a bit of favoritism, but she was genuinely grateful to have such in-laws. If only her husband could be as sensible and ambitious, that would be even better.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Ye Yaodong felt uncomfortable seeing her hopeful gaze.

“Your parents are so considerate of you. You should work hard and earn money well to live up to their expectations.”

He shifted uncomfortably and said weakly, “I know. Why talk about this so late at night? Let’s sleep early. We have work to do tomorrow.”

Lin Xiuqing glanced at him, then went to put the money back in the drawer and locked it. Only then did she get into bed to pacify the two children who were roughhousing, and instructed them not to tell anyone, absolutely anyone, about Grandma giving money to their parents, to avoid unnecessary trouble.

The next morning, when they went to the new homestead site on the beach, they passed by Lin Ji’s family, who were at the old site discussing how to build their house, saying they should build it smaller and such.

They smiled, exchanged greetings, and moved on. It wasn’t their business how others built their houses; they had their own to think about.

Last night, Ye’s father had already gone door to door, telling the workers they would resume work today. They had already laid the foundation once, so doing it again would be easier. They would just follow the previous plan.

Ye Yaodong waited until after lunch during the break to go to the dock to check on his small wooden boat. Yesterday, he had asked his father how to row when he was testing the water. Now that he tried it himself, he managed to row out.

He rowed around the shore for a while and felt it wasn’t difficult, quite easy to handle. Perhaps people from the seaside have a natural talent for boats.

By evening, he discussed with Lin Xiuqing about buying ready-made crab trap nets being expensive, and suggested buying the string to make them themselves, asking his mother to help, which she would likely be happy to do.

Lin Xiuqing nodded, having no objections.

Now that they had the boat, they definitely needed to plan well and put it to good use.

The neighbors, upon learning that they had gotten a small wooden boat for free just because they changed their homestead plot, were all envious.

“Lixiang, your family’s luck has been really good lately. Money falling from the sky while you sit at home!”

“Yes, that small wooden boat is worth quite a bit. Why don’t we ever encounter such good fortune?”

“Isn’t the person who bought the homestead plot a fool? There are so many empty plots in the village, why did they set their eyes on your family’s?”

“Haven’t you heard? It’s because that plot has good feng shui. They specifically had someone check it out, that’s why they were willing to offer a small boat as compensation. Otherwise, who would be happy to exchange when the foundation was already laid, without some benefit?”

“That’s true. You really know how to choose a location. We country folk can only sell our labor. What’s a few days of free work compared to that boat? That’s the real prize.”

Ye’s mother smiled and said, “We didn’t work for free these days either. Like the workers, we’ll be paid for our labor.”

“Ah, then you really did make a profit…”

“If it were me, I’d be a thousand times willing…”

Ye’s mother was chatting animatedly with the neighbors when Lin Xiuqing called her into the house. After learning about the third son’s plans, she was more than willing to help.

As long as her son could make progress, what did it matter if she helped out a bit more and did some work?

“Then you go buy the materials tomorrow. I’ll teach our daughter-in-law how to make them. With two people, it’ll be faster.”

“Alright.”

The crab trap net uses No. 8 wire as a frame, surrounded by 15mm mesh netting to form a square, collapsible cage net. The entire crab trap net is 2m long, divided into 10 internally connected 20cm square small net cages by 11 square wire frames.

Both sides of the small net cages have spaced bait holes. The bait holes are funnel-shaped inverted barb net openings, allowing fish and shrimp to enter but not exit.

Both ends of the crab trap net are conical fish collection bags. When blue shrimp enter the crab trap net through the bait holes, they are misled into crawling into the collection bags at both ends and are thus caught.

Making crab trap nets is much more labor-intensive than weaving nets. They would work on them after dinner. Ye Yaodong also joined in to help. Even when his friends called him to go out and play, he declined.

Seeing him so dedicated, his family members were more pleased.

As the fifteenth of the month approached again, Xiaoxiao and the others, having tasted success last time, came to ask Ye Yaodong if he wanted to go to the lonely island. Ye Yaodong gladly agreed.

“I have a small wooden boat, just no fishing net. But it’s no problem to row to the lonely island for beach combing. We can save on boat rental fees and avoid being ripped off. We can’t always count on such good luck.”

“Is it the boat your family got for free recently? Your dad is willing to let you take it out?” Aguang asked curiously.

“Yes. Tomorrow, those of you who want to go, come to my house. We’ll go together.”

Azheng thought for a moment and said, “I think we have an idle cast net at home. I’ll bring it along tomorrow. In case we run into a big catch, we’d be kicking ourselves if we didn’t have a net!”

“That’s great. Any fishing net will do, as long as it’s usable.”

He had actually thought about asking his wife to weave a cast net, but then he realized that this net is thrown by hand and requires continuous operation at sea, unlike crab traps which can be checked every day or two, or every two or three days to collect the catch.

If he couldn’t attend to the homestead site and only focused on making money at sea, his two sisters-in-law would have something to say again. The crab trap nets were more convenient.