126: My scalp is numb from tying crabs

At six in the morning, Yang Qi woke up, piloted the setting sail, and headed towards the longline and trap fishing grounds.

He arrived at the destination around eight o'clock, found a place to anchor the boat, and started preparing breakfast for everyone: fish porridge with steamed buns and pickled cucumbers brought from home.

While he was cooking, a sleepy Zhang Jun came down from the flybridge. Last night, he had slept on the flybridge's sofa, covered by a thin blanket.

Yang Qi, on the other hand, had slept on the small bed in the cockpit.

"Brother Jun, you're up! Go wash up first, breakfast will be ready soon."

Yang Qi greeted Zhang Jun.

"Okay, I'll go wash up first."

When he came out of the rest cabin again, Zhang Fei and Bai Lang were following him.

Everyone, suppressing the discomfort of the night, began to eat breakfast.

Next was retrieving the longlines. The harvest was only passable, at least in Yang Qi's opinion.

Two baskets of 200-meter longlines, with roughly 200 hooks in total. They caught over 80 fish. The hook-up rate was a little over 40%.

The valuable ones were about 20 Groupers. Aside from two Spotted Groupers weighing over ten catties each, the others weren't too big, all under four catties. All those under one catty were released back into the sea.

The rest were some less valuable fish, including red seabream, Sea Bass, Black Seabream, yellow seabream, Yellow Chicken Fish, and large needlefish, among others.

This time, the longlines were not redeployed. Yang Qi did not plan to go out to sea for the next few days.

Next was retrieving the traps, and the trap harvest was much better. Even the smallest trap had about four catties of Crabs.

Many other traps, besides Crabs, also contained Spiny Lobsters, conger eels, and many other bottom-dwelling creatures like snails, and even two large conchs, several catties each, had found their way in.

It was again time for Yang Qi and Bai Lang to get busy—tying Crabs.

Zhang Fei had already started piloting the boat back, while Zhang Jun stood beside the two of them, helping to deliver each basket of tied Crabs to the live fish hold.

Tying six hundred catties of Crabs left the two of them exhausted and disoriented. Several hours of continuous work left them numb with fatigue.

Zhang Jun lit three more cigarettes and handed one to each of them. The three stopped to smoke and rest.

"Ah! Tying Crabs really needs professional fishermen; we're just too slow!"

Yang Qi said.

Bai Lang suggested:

"How about we spread some crushed ice over the pile of Crabs? This can lower their body temperature and increase their vitality."

"I think that's a good idea, otherwise the sun might just kill the Crabs," Zhang Jun agreed with Bai Lang's suggestion.

The few of them immediately got to work, moving baskets of crushed ice and quickly covering the pile of Crabs.

Then they gritted their teeth and continued tying Crabs, as getting them into the live fish hold as soon as possible was the safest option.

However, by the time the setting sail returned to Qingshan Town, there were still about a hundred catties of Crabs untied.

Chen Lanying, Bai Xue, and others, along with Chen Tianming, who had received the call for help, were already waiting at the pier.

They immediately boarded the boat to tie Crabs, but still, over thirty catties died.

In fact, most Crabs caught by many fishing boats using trawls, gillnets, and traps are tied.

If they aren't tied, these Crabs will fight each other, and then their value will be greatly reduced due to broken legs and claws.

Because there were many people on their fishing boat, and they worked professionally, they were far superior to Yang Qi and Bai Lang.

Of course, sometimes when there were simply too many to tie, some smaller ones were released back into the sea, and the larger ones could only be directly packed for later tying when time permitted.

Originally, these freshly dead Crabs could have been sold as chilled seafood, but Yang Qi decided to give them all to the staff and two security uncles at the training center's pier.

At this moment, Zhang Jun put his arm around Chen Tianming and walked towards the freezer hold:

"Hahahaha, little cousin! Come, come, come, I'll take you to see the catch. How did you know I caught a three-meter-long Sailfish?"

"Hmm, it's the kind of fish from the novel 'The Old Man and the Sea.' What's going on? You also knew I caught a big Tuna. That's right, the Tuna was almost two hundred catties. Hahahaha, I'll take you to see it!"

Chen Tianming looked at the smug Zhang Jun, rolling his eyes, somewhat speechless.

He couldn't help but curse inwardly: "Show-off, 'how did I know'? If you didn't say anything, I wouldn't have known at all, okay!"

But on his lips, he played along with Zhang Jun's boasting.

"Cousin, you're just amazing!"

Zhang Jun, pointing at a three-meter-long Sailfish, was spitting everywhere, gesticulating wildly, and talking boastfully.

"Little cousin, let me tell you! At that time..."

Just as he was getting excited, a call came in.

Zhang Jun was a bit annoyed, interrupted in the middle of his bragging. Chen Tianming finally let out a sigh of relief, walked a few meters away from this "Tang Monk," and began to observe the catch in the freezer hold.

Zhang Jun grumbled as he took out his phone and saw it was Yu Dafu.

"Hello, Old Yu!"

"A Jun! Are you back? I..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Zhang Jun quickly interjected:

"Old Yu, how did you know I caught a three-meter-long Sailfish!"

"Let me tell you! ..."

Yu Dafu on the other end of the phone rolled his eyes, thinking to himself: "MMP, if you hadn't posted it on your Moments, who would have known!"

"Don't talk yet, I'm almost at Qingshan Town. It's your little brother's pier, right? You'll have to share some of the good stuff with me later!"

Yu Dafu knew Zhang Jun's personality and quickly and clearly stated his intentions.

"Ah! This... I can only promise to share a portion of what I caught myself with you; I can't control what others caught."

Zhang Jun said. He had some regrets, having been so engrossed in showing off photos that he forgot about Old Yu.

He felt he might have brought a competitor to his little cousin. But it was fine, Old Yu didn't ask for much.

Meanwhile, Chen Tianming had already started directing the crane to lift the Tuna out of the freezer hold. Plastic sheets were already laid out on the ground by the shore.

Before the crane could lift all the Tuna ashore, the few of them saw two cars drive up and park nearby. Six people got out of the cars, with Yu Dafu leading, followed by Wang Hu, Chang Jianqiang, and three others Yang Qi didn't recognize.

Seeing these people walk over together, Zhang Jun was a bit surprised, "How did you all come together?"

"It's all because we were stunned by the photos you posted on your Moments!"

"A Jun, did you really catch such a big Sailfish?"

"You're amazing now! You must have benefited from Yang Qi's luck."

The few of them surrounded Zhang Jun, chattering non-stop, their faces full of envy and jealousy.

"Yang Qi, you're truly incredible; you even made this Air Force Commander succeed."

"Yes! Yang Qi, I've never seen such an amazing angler as you."

A few who knew Yang Qi also busied themselves greeting him.

Yang Qi smiled and replied, "Gentlemen, bosses, please don't praise me. This is all Brother Jun's good luck and solid skills. It has nothing to do with me!"