Ye Yaodong entered the cabin shivering, put his clothes on the bed, and saw that Lin Guangyuan had already put on his clothes and wrapped himself in bed.
There was no one in the other beds. Everyone was standing on the deck without coming in. They had all had enough sleep, and they were all looking curiously at the fish on the sea.
It's very rare to see someone that big.
"Are you okay? Drink some hot water."
"Fortunately, I took a shower and felt comfortable." He sniffed and said, "You should also take a shower and change clothes quickly to avoid catching a cold."
"Um."
Ye Yaodong first went to get hot water for himself, changed his clothes, and took a sip of hot tea before he felt alive. His teeth were chattering from the cold and he sneezed several times.
"What kind of fish is that, uncle? It's so big, and there are too many barnacles on it, right?"
"A gray whale is a kind of whale. This boat like mine can't catch such a big gray whale."
"Oh, it's so magical. I was actually saved by a fish. Why does this fish keep staying on the sea?"
"Who are you asking me to ask? Go to sleep quickly. I'll call you when we dock."
Most likely it's because of the barnacles all over my body.
"Okay, would you like to sleep too?"
"Um."
He was indeed tired after staying up all night. He had been frightened just now, and he just wanted to have a good rest now.
But the fish that everyone was looking at outside was also novel to him, and he was a little reluctant to sleep.
After pouring out the water, he also walked to the deck.
Several boatmen continued to point at the sea and got closer to the side of the boat. They were worried that the fish would go crazy and move away, but now they are no longer afraid.
He also came over to take a look, listened to a few words and asked some questions.
"Is this fish always following you?"
"Yes, there are three boats following us. We can obviously speed up to get rid of them, but the ones in front speed up, and the ones behind them slow down again, deliberately letting them follow."
"Did you follow it on purpose?"
Ye Yaodong felt the speed of the fishing boat, and it seemed that it was indeed not going very fast.
"I don't know if I want to catch it, so I just keep following it..."
"It doesn't look like it will attack us. It has been following it for a long time. It seems that it only touches the boat occasionally."
"Have you ever seen a big fish attack a fishing boat?"
"Of course I've seen it... but it's not this big. I don't know how long this fish will continue to follow..."
They were talking in a flurry, and Ye Yaodong was also a little confused. After thinking about it, he climbed to the top of the helm and asked again.
It turned out to be Pei's father's idea, saying that since the waves were not that big now and they were already offshore, the fish seemed to be following them, so it would be a pity to just leave alone.
So they were planning to slow down, let the fish catch up, and then find an island nearby to check for a while to see if the fish would be stranded.
Ye Yaodong also thought about how it could be cleaned up if it was covered with barnacles.
Of course Chen Laoqi was not qualified to express his opinion. He just listened to Father Ye and Father Pei.
When Father Ye met Father Pei, he naturally listened to Father Pei, and he was also curious about whether such a big fish would be stranded directly as Father Pei said if it came close to the island.
In case it gets stranded, they can use two boats to pull the big fish to the shore.
One boat can't handle this fish, so two or three boats can work together, no matter what, they can do something about it.
Ye Yaodong was surprised by Pei's father's boldness. He didn't expect that the two people's ideas were so different.
Come to think of it, let's wait until it's stranded. The barnacles on this gray whale's body are so dense that it won't take long to find a nearby island while moving forward.
However, he was too tired now. He stayed up late and was frightened. He went into the water and took a dip. He had no energy to wait there.
So he just told Chen Laoqi to give it a try first, and if the fish really stranded, ask someone to wake him up.
He returned to the cabin and squinted for a while.
Lin Guangyuan was already fast asleep.
After a while, his consciousness became blurred.
When I woke up again I was shaken awake.
"Dong...Brother Dong...hurry up...fall into the water..." Chen Shi shouted excitedly while shaking him.
Ye Yaodong was woken up in a daze with a splitting headache, "What is it?"
"The whale... fell... into the sea."
"Why did you come in to talk?" He rubbed his temples, and he didn't know how to send someone to speak eloquently to convey the message, and he couldn't understand what he meant.
"The fish... fell into the sea..."
"That gray whale fell into the sea? Let me go check it out."
He didn't understand what Chen Shi meant either.
Ye Yaodong quickly put on his clothes and followed him out. The fishing boat was currently in the middle of the sea, but there was an island not far ahead.
At this time, the three boats were docked side by side, and everyone was talking and talking.
"I saw it fell directly..."
"The water here is not very deep. You can go down and have a look..."
Ye Yaodong listened to everyone's discussion and understood a little better. The whale that had been following them just fell into the water, so they stopped the boat to wake him up.
He looked at Chen Laoqi, who was also standing on the deck, "What should I say? Tell me about the situation?"
"I couldn't see clearly from the cockpit. It was just that this whale had been following the fishing boat. All three of our boats guided it closer to the island, but it swam slower and slower, and we all slowed down later."
"But it suddenly disappeared just now, so we stopped the boat and came down to take a look. The boatman who had been watching the fish said that the fish had fallen. It didn't swim or even move. It just fell directly."
Ye Yaodong was surprised, "Fall directly? Whale fall?"
"What whale falls?"
"Are you sure it fell straight down?"
"Yes, yes, the sea water is very clear. I can clearly see that the fish has been swimming beside the fishing boat just now, but the speed is getting slower and slower. It simply stops moving behind and falls directly to the bottom of the water. I also see
Its belly is facing up." Xiao Wu said excitedly while gesturing.
"We also saw it. We have been staring at this fish just now. It was still swimming, but when we saw it moving, it simply stopped moving and fell down."
Ye Yaodong's heart beat a beat fast, and the whale fell!
I have only heard of it but never seen it. Could it really be a whale falling?
"I'll crawl over and ask them."
He looked at the distance to the boats next to him and hooked the Harvest with a hook to bring the two boats closer so that he could climb over more easily.
Father Pei was also shouting to Father Ye. He turned around and saw him coming and told him.
"You came at the right time. Everyone said that the fish fell, probably died, and fell into the sea. I originally thought of leading it to the island and stranding it, but I didn't expect that it died before it reached the island."
Father Ye also said: "My relatives said that you have two pieces of diving equipment on the boat. It shouldn't be very deep down there. There is an island next to it, so I want to wake you up and ask two people to go down and take a look at that
Did the whale really die and fall into the sea?"
"You guys on the boat also saw the fish falling straight down?"
"Yes, they have been curious about this fish following us and bumping into it from time to time. Later I also felt that the force of its bumping was getting smaller and smaller, and even the swimming speed was like a turtle crawling."
Father Pei also added, "The workers on my boat have been watching. My boat fell behind you, and the fish fell down behind. Your boat was still moving forward, and my workers saw the fish flipping over and falling.
Those who went down, they definitely said they were dead."
The sun is shining brightly at the moment, so the visibility is quite good. The ocean has not been polluted yet. The water looks extremely clear. It is still believable to see the fish flipping sideways and falling down.
"Then go down and have a look."
Ye Yaodong looked at the island in the distance and then at the water surface, "Where did it fall?"
"This way."
"here……"
The two old ones pointed to a water surface behind them at the same time.
"Then I'll call the previous one and come down with me to have a look."
"Wait a minute? There are waves now and it's not safe." Father Ye was a little worried.
Lin Guangyuan just had an accident this morning. Although the waves were not as big as in the early morning, there were still waves.
Father Ye was still frightened and did not dare to take risks.
"How far are we from the city now?"
"We'll be there in about another hour."
Ye Yaodong checked the time. It was only ten o'clock in the morning. In other words, he had been squinting for nearly four hours.
It took such a long time that it still took an hour to reach the shore, which shows that the fishing boat was indeed driving very slowly just now, almost at a turtle speed, slower than when they were working.
"Then just wait. The market won't open until night anyway, so it doesn't make much sense to dock at this time."
Father Pei nodded, "Then wait. You can either go eat something and sleep for a while. I'll see if the waves are a little smaller in the afternoon and I'll call you again."
"OK."
If it's a whale fall, it won't move if it falls, so you don't have to worry about running away. You have to wait for the waves to calm down before you can go down.
"Then let's go eat first and talk after we finish."
"good."
After the decision was made, Ye Yaodong took another look at the movement of the fish while he was sleeping, and then returned to his boat.
"A Dong, what should I say? It would be such a waste to drop such a big fish directly into the sea."
"Yeah, should we go into the water and see if he's dead?"
"If he dies directly in the sea, can we drag him up?"
Everyone gathered around him and asked questions.
They were so excited that such a big fish died right before their eyes and fell into the sea.
"It's hard to say without seeing it with my own eyes. I have to go down into the water and have a look. I don't know how deep it is. Can I find out to the bottom? The waves are a bit big now. When the waves subside later, one of you can follow me down to have a look.
Look, we can only say anything else after we are sure."
"No problem, all of us young ones can go in."
Ye Yaodong smiled and said, "Go and cook, wait until the waves subside."
Everyone deserves to be well.
He also returned to the cabin and continued to lie down. It was not that fast to cook. He would close his eyes and rest for at least an hour. Taking advantage of the fact that the boat was stopped and there was no sound, he could still close his eyes for a while.
But as soon as his eyes closed, all he could think about was the whale falling.
If you really want to find out that this whale is dead, you still have to find a way to drag it back. Even if it is dead, you can do research and contribute by dragging it back. I don’t know why it died suddenly.
Could it be that there are too many barnacles on my body and I can't move forward with a heavy load?
There are three fishing boats here. It's not a big problem to tow dozens of tons back. I don't know how deep it is. If it's too deep, they won't be able to reach it, so they have to give up.
Let's wait until we get into the water to check the situation.
The more Ye Yaodong thought about it, the clearer his mind became, and the more he couldn't sleep. He didn't get up again until they called for dinner.
After eating, he looked at the sea again. There were still waves, so he went back to the cabin, and this time he slept better.
It was already 3pm when I was woken up again.
"A Dong, the waves have slowed down in the afternoon and they are calling you."
Ye Yaodong immediately got up and stretched, "Is there any sun outside?"
"Yes, the sun hasn't set yet, nor has it hidden behind the clouds."
"good."
Father Ye, Father Pei, and his two brothers all climbed over and waited on his boat.
"Are you awake?"
"Sober up."
He looked at the sea and then at the setting sun, "Which of you will come down with me?"
Everyone, look at me and I look at you.
"I...I..."
"Okay, then let Chen Shi go down with me and take a look."
Chen Shi nodded and began to take off his clothes.
Ye Yaodong just woke up and felt very cold, so he did not take off his clothes immediately, but warmed up first.
Once you have adapted to the cold wind and your body feels warm and flexible, you take off your clothes and put on your equipment.
Father Ye frowned and said earnestly, "Be careful. If you feel there are waves, just come up. You can come back in two days."
He nodded. He still had this sense of propriety, having been in the water countless times.
However, people are still not resistant to freezing in the middle of winter. Jumping into the water to save Lin Guangyuan in the early morning was all due to his lonesome courage and courage, and he didn't feel much at all. This would be a little different.
As soon as he got into the water, he felt bone-chillingly cold, and it felt like he was freezing to the bone.
After swimming tremblingly in the water for a while, relying on my own immunity, I felt that my body was gradually getting warmer and less stiff.
He gestured OK to Chen Shi, who was also flopping on the water. Chen Shi also said OK back to him, and the two of them slowly dived underwater together.
They had fished for sea urchins countless times together, and everyone on the ship understood the meaning of this gesture.
Ye Yaodong followed Chen Shi as he slowly dived underwater. It had only been a few months since the last dive. Their limbs were very coordinated, and the gray seabed felt familiar to them.
The location they came down to was where they pointed during the day, but it wasn't that accurate.
The seabed here is not that deep. Ye Yaodong estimated that it was only about 10 meters. His feet could reach the bottom and the light was still good.
However, the bottom of the sea was full of various reefs and dense seaweed, so they didn't see any gray whales around them.
Ye Yaodong made a gesture to Chen Shi, instructing him to follow him and not to scatter.
The two of them walked around the surrounding reefs together, and then they saw fish and shrimps of all sizes swimming around a spot on the edge. They all swam toward a patch of seagrass.
He took the lead and swam forward with his flippers, looking down from above. Before he got close, he saw the gray whale carcass blocked by a piece of seaweed, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
Found it!
It’s really a whale fall!
A whale falls and everything comes alive!
The two were a little excited, but they still slowly landed forward, startling a small group of fish and shrimp.
Ye Yaodong was illiterate and a very ordinary fisherman in his last life. He had only heard of whale falling, but this was the first time he saw it.
At this time, the body of this gray whale was surrounded by other marine animals, various fish, and squid. There were also marine worms under the seabed that were slowly approaching.
It hasn't been long since the whale fell, and there are not many marine life around it, and there are no big fish, just some small fish and shrimps around.
The two of them circled around the gray whale, and then swam upstream together in tacit agreement through their eyes and gestures.
Now that you have found the place and confirmed it, you can go up first.
With two splashes, the two of them emerged from the water one after another. All the people in the three boats leaned on the edge of the boat and looked at them.
"Come up!"
The two slowly approached their fishing boat, and the people on the boat held hands and pulled them up.
"Did you find it?"
"Found it!"
Everyone looked happy.
"I just said that if you come up so quickly, you should have found it. If you haven't found it, you may still be looking for it underneath."
Father Pei was happy, "Then can we find a way to drag this whale back?"
Ye Yaodong took a breath and asked, "How are you going to delay it?"
"Bring some ropes down and tie up its head, tail and fins. Then we use a net hoist to collect the ropes at the same time. You don't have to hang it up, as long as it can be dragged in the sea.
Just move."
"Is this possible? What if it hits a reef? I guess if we hang up the tail, its head will still be on the bottom of the sea."
"Is it okay to close it a little higher? If you pull the fish's tail out of the water, your head won't even have to touch the ground."
"There are rocks underneath, let's try it first."
Ye Yaodong frowned and thought, feeling that he could only treat a dead horse as a living doctor.
If he encounters a big rock and gets stuck, he can only go back into the water to have a look and try changing direction.
"Then let's try it and see. Anyway, the ropes are ready-made on our boat, and the depth isn't very deep, only about 10 meters. We can't say anymore."
"Then try it."
"We have to take turns to go down. The gray whale is big and the binding rope is not that easy to get. We have to go down two by two to tie it up."
After speaking, Ye Yaodong introduced them to the seabed scene they saw and the location of the gray whale among the aquatic plants. If he explained it clearly, it would be easier for them to find it when they went down, save time and do more things.
After he finished speaking and letting them understand clearly, he replaced two boatmen on the boat and carried a bundle of ropes down.
Ye Yaodong and Chen Shi wrapped themselves in their big cotton-padded jackets and took a rest.
People on other boats watched them carrying strange things into the water, and they were all whispering and asking questions.
Not everyone has seen Ye Yaodong's diving equipment. It was the first time for the people on the SF Express to see it.
They all kept praising Ye Yaodong for being able to get everything. Weirdly, Ye Yaodong didn't hear them.
He was chatting with his father, brothers and Father Pei.
"Dongzi, if we drag a whale as big as ours back to the leaders of the Ocean Bureau, will we be rewarded again this time?" Father Ye asked with hope.
Others immediately looked at him expectantly.
Is this because he was in the newspaper two days ago and was stimulated by the cash reward and certificate of commendation?
"Is it possible?"
"Whales seem to be quite common too?"
"But I haven't heard of anyone being caught?"
"What, isn't this big fish worth studying? There should be rewards for turning it in, right?"
"It's hard to say." Ye Yaodong shattered their hopes. "Didn't the village also salvage a sea monster before? The donation seemed to be only 50 yuan as a reward, and there was no mention of the subsequent results."
"Forget it."
"But I can't guarantee how big the reward will be, but if you drag it back, it will definitely be published in the newspapers. Such a big whale is so rare. You may still see your own news in 50 years."
Everyone's disappointed expressions immediately turned to joy.
"Then we will drag it back and sell it for money. After all, if we catch such a big whale, there should be reporters to interview it." Father Pei was very happy.
Ye Yaopeng was also full of joy, "The things I caught overseas a while ago were all published in newspapers, and fishermen were encouraged to catch them. Now that we have caught such a big whale, does it mean we have caught up with the east wind?"
Ye Yaodong nodded, it makes sense.
"Let's take a look at the situation when they get into the water first. Wait and see, it's not that easy to handle such a big fish."
Now I have a beautiful idea of ​​each one, but I am afraid that it will all come to nothing later.
Father Ye smiled and said: "It's only an hour away from the shore. As long as the ropes can be fixed and the three boats can reel in the lines together, there should be no problem."
"I hope so."
Father Pei said: "It's already past three o'clock, so we have to move faster. It's best to get it done before the sun goes down, so that it can still be daytime when we reach the shore."
"You can't dock directly at the pier. You have to find a beach to let the whale beach and expose its body. The water depth at the pier is relatively deep."
"Dongzi is right." Ye Yaohua also agreed.
They chatted about their plans after the bundling was successful, all looking at the sea.
Ye Yaodong still held a watch in his hand to check the time.
The two boatmen who went down waited for more than ten minutes before coming back up, still holding the other end of the rope in their hands, taking off their masks and smiling.
"It's tied. We tied two fins on both sides."
The water is not very deep, so if you go down, you will reach the bottom in one go. If they stay under there for so long, it will be a waste of time for them to be tied up.
"Okay, it's simple. Let's go first and tie the fish's tail later. The head of the fish is difficult to tie on the bottom of the sea. We don't need to tie it later. We can just pull the fins and tail on both sides. It's the same."
"good."
"Tie it tighter and check the fin rope when two people go down."
"good."
Two more people took turns to go down. This time, Chen Shi followed Xiao Wu down.
On his ship, except for Chen Laoqi and his father, who are the same age, the others are all younger in their 30s. Chen Shi and Xiaowu are the youngest, one is 19 and the other is 20.
The two of them went down and stayed there for more than ten minutes before coming back up.
"nailed it."
"Okay, thank you for your hard work. It went pretty well."
Father Pei and Father Ye are both gearing up.
"You guys hurry up and take a rest. We'll also go back to our boat. Each of us will take a rope."
"good."
After Ye Yaodong assigned a rope to each of the two elders, he watched them climb back into their own boats. He also handed the rope to Chen Laoqi.
"Get ready first, don't worry, wait for them to change clothes first."
Chen Laoqi nodded.
Ye Yaodong was still wet and did not change because he thought that when the fishing boat towed the gray whale later, he would go into the water to take a look at the situation.
After waiting for a while, everyone else was in their places, the SF Express and Harvest ships were also started, and the people on board had all changed their clothes.
They each raised their flags to indicate that they were ready.
The three boats started moving at the same time.
The sea surface became calm for a while, and nothing could be seen except the waves, but they could still hear the creaking sound of the net machine, indicating that it was moving.
Ye Yaodong stood on the deck, watching the three boats moving forward slowly, with the afterglow of the setting sun shining on the sea.
After a while, he saw a clear whale tail under the water.
Others also exclaimed.
"The tail is hanging!"
"Pull it up, tuck your tail up."
"Get up, it's the first time I've caught such a big fish, it's amazing..."
"Who said it was the first time to catch such a big one? Adong has previously caught one with a mouth like a saw, called a sawfish, but not here, in Wenzhou."
"Didn't you catch a very large hairtail in the past two years? It looks similar to this..."
Everyone was very excited, looking at the large piece of tail protruding from the sea, which was full of barnacles. Fortunately, they had been watching it all day today, and they didn't have trypophobia.
The three boats continued to drag forward and returned to the city. They were all familiar with the voyage. The only thing they were not familiar with was the situation on the seabed. They could only try their luck.
The fishing boat moved forward slowly, and the speed was not comparable to the speed of the previous round trip. Fortunately, there was no lag for a moment.
Everyone stood on the deck and watched.
After more than ten minutes of sailing, he could no longer move forward. Chen Laoqi, who was driving the boat, ran out and called him, and Ye Yaodong jumped into the water to take a look.
The gray whale was suspended in the sea with its tail upwards and its head downwards. All he had to do to get down was to dive slowly along the body of the gray whale.
The gray whale's body was still surrounded by some fish and shrimps. When he went down to the bottom, he actually saw the reef. The gray whale's head was blocked by the reef and it could not move forward.
After knowing the situation underneath, he went up to the water and talked to Chen Laoqi, asking him to talk to the other two boats about changing directions.
After struggling for a while, I continued moving forward.
Along the way, he went into the water three times and guided the direction three times to ensure that the fishing boat could move forward slowly.
"Almost there..."
"We're about to dock..."
The boat trip was originally expected to take one hour, but because of this gray whale, we drove for more than two hours and didn't reach a beach near the pier until dark.
Fortunately, the next hour went smoothly and there was no need to enter the water. Otherwise, he would have been invisible.
Ye Yaodong looked at the time and it was already 6:30, and breathed a sigh of relief, shivering with his hands wrapped in a big cotton-padded jacket.
"I'm freezing to death, we're finally here, Ha Qi..."
He relied on constant pouring of hot water to sustain him along the way, and the body's own heat after getting out of the water kept him going until now.
"What a pity, it's already dark..."
"It's good if you can get there, what's the pity?"
"It was dark and no one saw it. We didn't have to shock everyone. We finally managed to drag this fish back, but it was already dark."
Ye Yaodong sneezed again, "It'll be good if we can drag it back. The boat will stop soon. I'll go change clothes."
Fortunately, all the goods on their ship were sold to the fresh-carrying ship yesterday, and there are not many goods left on the ship now.
Chapter completed!