286: Fully loaded and ready to return

An hour later, Bai Xue and Yao Shanshan could no longer resist the temptation of Yang Qi repeatedly transporting seafood onto the "setting sail."

Fishing on the boat was nowhere near as satisfying as getting close to the seafood underwater and grabbing it directly with their hands.

The two women finally couldn't help but join the ranks of diving, catching fish, feeling for shrimp, and picking up snails.

The three continued collecting until 11:30 at night, leaving Yao Shanshan completely breathless. What surprised her was that Bai Xue didn't seem tired at all.

She clearly remembered that when they were in school, Bai Xue's physical stamina was definitely inferior to hers.

"Could it be that her physical condition improved after finding a man? That seems a bit unscientific. Maybe it's because she exercises frequently while fishing?"

After the three boarded the boat and cleaned up, they each went to their respective berths to sleep.

When Yang Qi woke up the next morning, Bai Xue and Yao Shanshan had already prepared breakfast.

While eating, the three roughly calculated their catch from fishing and diving the previous night: they brought up 105 Mouse Grouper, 63 East Star Grouper, over 20 lobsters, 35 Large Whelk, 10 Coconut Shell Snail, not counting other snails and miscellaneous fish.

After they finished eating, the three hauled up the bottom cages and, after sorting through the contents, harvested over a hundred large Crab weighing eight liang or more, and thirteen large lobsters.

They also had about ten catties of Octopus, mantis shrimp, tiger prawns, and red shrimp, which were placed separately in a live fish tank to be eaten at noon.

Now, the live fish hold was basically full.

The trip to the South China Sea, originally scheduled for seven days and seven nights, was unexpectedly full after just four days and four nights. Thinking about it, it wasn't surprising, as they had encountered many waves of fish schools this time.

Starting from the giant grouper school, they had encountered schools of Red Seed Fish, black edge goatfish, schools of Dogtooth Tuna, Pomfret storms, and schools of Mouse Grouper along the way.

Especially the Pomfret storm, which yielded at least tens of thousands of catties. Coupled with the harvest from the Pratas Island lagoon and the lobsters and snails caught while diving.

It would be strange if the hold wasn't full!

If they had been using a trawler, the Pomfret storm alone could have yielded hundreds of thousands of catties of fish.

Yang Qi decided that the next step was to simply play for two days, and then sail home.

Bai Xue suggested that they go to the place where they last encountered the dolphins to see if they could find them again, and if so, they should thank them and feed them.

The three cleaned the deck and re-secured the bottom cages; normally, they wouldn't be deploying the cages again for the next few days.

Yang Qi found the coordinates where they had encountered the dolphins and steered the "setting sail" to that location.

This was also a small reef with a beach; they had spent the night here last time.

The three surfed while waiting for the dolphins. Since the hold was full and there was no work pressure, it was purely for fun.

However, while diving, the three still couldn't resist picking up some Large Whelk and Coconut Shell Snail.

Unfortunately, they waited until sunset but never saw the dolphins. However, they fully enjoyed the beautiful sunset over the sea once again.

As night fell, the three returned to the boat to prepare dinner together. Just as they finished enjoying their seafood feast and were preparing to rest, a sound like "ying ying ying" suddenly came from outside the boat.

Bai Xue instinctively ran onto the deck to check, and under the light, she saw a pod of dolphins surrounding the boat, making cheerful sounds.

"Husband, Shanshan, the dolphins are here."

Yang Qi and Yao Shanshan rushed over upon hearing the noise, filled with surprise.

They quickly took out the miscellaneous fish, chopped them up, and fed them to the dolphins. Just like last time, the dolphins approached orderly, one by one, exposing half their bodies to accept the feed.

After eating their fill, the dolphins happily leaped and played in the water. They called out "ying ying ying" a few times toward the crew, then rushed toward the dark distance and gradually disappeared.

They didn't know if these dolphins remembered them and had specially come for this "date."

Or if they were just this affectionate with all humans. However, Yang Qi and the others preferred to believe the former, trusting that it was fate between them and the dolphins.

The next morning, the dolphins returned, and Bai Xue took another set of photos while they were being fed.

"Goodbye, we look forward to seeing you again next time!"

The three waved goodbye to the departing dolphins, as they had also decided to return home ahead of schedule.

On the way back, Yang Qi didn't even activate his special ability, afraid that if he saw another school of fish, he would catch them but have nowhere to store them. He couldn't possibly throw away some of the fish already in the freezing hold!

One shouldn't be insatiably greedy, coveting what they don't have, or being dissatisfied with their lot.

His harvest this time was already good enough; it could be said that he had surpassed the vast majority of fishermen.

The return route had been set long ago, avoiding the Pratas Island archipelago. Therefore, Yang Qi confidently allowed the two women to take turns steering.

Since the fishing boat was full and they were not in a hurry to get home, the three headed back at an economical speed.

By the time they returned to Qingshan Town, it was already past three o'clock the next afternoon.

Family members, Chen Tianming, Zhang Jun, and others, who had received calls earlier, were already waiting at the dock.

When basket after basket of Pomfret was hoisted onto the dock, everyone was stunned.

"Yang Qi, how massive was the school of Pomfret you encountered to catch this much Pomfret!"

Zhang Jun watched, feeling an agonizing itch in his heart; how he wished he could also encounter such an opportunity.

"Brother Jun, a Pomfret storm. I wonder if you've ever encountered one."

Yang Qi said somewhat proudly.

"Where would I ever encounter that! But I've seen documentaries. Did you really run into a Pomfret storm?"

Zhang Jun said enviously.

"Bai Xue, show Brother Jun what a Pomfret storm looks like."

Yang Qi said to Bai Xue.

"Brother Jun, look, at that time, the fish school was so dense, there was more fish than water. We could pull up quite a bit just using a scoop net."

Zhang Jun looked at the photos and videos Bai Xue had taken, while Yang Qi chattered non-stop beside him.

"Holy crap, you used a cast net to haul that up! That single net must weigh over a thousand catties!"

Zhang Long and several others standing next to Zhang Jun peered at the video and gasped in astonishment.

"What cast net! What I was thinking at the time was, why didn't my trawler come along? Otherwise, it would have been hundreds of thousands of catties in one haul, guaranteed."

"I'm telling you guys, if you want any fish to eat, take it now! It's mine before weighing, and after weighing, it belongs to Tian Ming!"

"Alright, would we be polite with you?"

Liu Yao said from the side.

"The fish in the live fish hold later are even better: East Star Grouper, Mouse Grouper, Red Seed Fish, Big Black Carp, large Abalone, and large lobsters."

Originally, Yang Qi knew Zhang Jun also had a large fish tank, so he called him to come and take some live East Star Grouper, Mouse Grouper, and Big Black Carp back to raise.

Unexpectedly, Liu Yao and a few others came with him, so he simply told them to take some back too.

"Holy hell, there are over ten Tuna! Those Dogtooth Tuna are huge!"

Liu Yao looked at the Tuna being hoisted up, his face filled with envy.