Huo Xi followed Yang Fu's gaze, took off the small satchel on her chest, and handed it to Huo Erhuai: "Dad, take it."
Huo Erhuai happily took it and almost missed it. It was heavy and very heavy.
Putting it in his arms, it bulged like a woman who had been pregnant for several months, and the three of them couldn't help but feel happy.
"If we catch more fish today, we will definitely be able to sell them for more money tomorrow."
"But we have no place to pretend."
Huo Erhuai was also a little troubled. His boat could hold a hundred stones of grain, but how many loads of fish could it hold?
But his fishing box is only that big. How about buying a few more fishing baskets? Seeing that he can make money but not enough, he feels a little worried.
Both uncles looked at Huo Xi.
Huo Xi thought for a while and then said: "Buying a few fishing baskets takes up too much space. Let's buy a few fishing bags. When the time comes, we will catch the fish and put them in the fishing bags, keep them in the water, and then open them up tomorrow when we want to sell them."
"
The fishing bag is the same as the shrimp pot and crab pot. It can be folded up and stored and does not take up much space.
"Okay, let's go buy a fish bag."
"Buy a few more. If a fisherman wants to buy them, we can make a profit on the price difference." Yang Fu said happily.
Huo Xi looked at him blankly.
"What's wrong?" Yang Fu didn't know why.
Huo Xi burst out laughing, and Huo Erhuai also laughed.
Yang Fu looked at Huo Xi, then looked up at Huo Erhuai.
Huo Erhuai touched his head with emotion. His Fu'er was now only thinking about getting money from home.
"Uncle, you can always think about making money for the family. Dad is happy."
Yang Fu raised his head with pride. Xi'er always thought about making money, and he also wanted to make money to support his family.
Walking ahead happily, he ran towards the shop selling fishing gear.
By the time the three people returned to the boat, Yang had already mended the fishing net.
When I received the money, I counted it several times. I saw that I had received one or two six yuan for selling fish today, and I was so happy that I couldn't even close my mouth.
Huo Erhuai was urged to row the boat to the mouth of the Yangtze River.
"I took stock of our remaining supplies today, and there is still a lot of tung oil."
"Why are you just counting the tung oil?" Yang Fu was stunned for a moment after saying this, "Sister, do you want us to have a night out tonight?"
Yang nodded: "Let's strike while the iron is hot, and take advantage of the high fishing prices these days to catch more fish. You and Xi'er can go to bed at night, and your brother-in-law and I will be busy."
"Mom, I want to help you too."
"Sister, I'll help you too."
Yang and Huo Erhuai looked at each other, smiled and nodded.
Huo Xi felt a little emotional. Since she and Nian'er arrived on the boat, Huo Erhuai and Yang rarely hunted at night.
One is that it is hard work, and the other is that the visibility is low at night and the risk is high.
But to say that the catch is big, it must be at night. In addition to night, there are also the two periods of morning and dusk. At noon, when the sun is shining, there is almost no catch.
Fishing is very different from farming.
Farmers all look forward to fine weather, but fishermen prefer weather with cloudy skies and drizzle, weather before and after thunderstorms, or weather that clears up after a long rain.
Morning or dusk are also best for fishing.
Working at sunrise and resting at sunset is not suitable for most fishermen.
Most people reverse day and night because they often catch more fish when setting nets at night than during the day.
Because many fish tend to light, just like moths like to fly to the fire, fish will float up as soon as there is light.
For example, the whitebait likes light. And the squid, the light fish, has strong phototaxis, so most of the fishermen on the beach go out to sea at night.
But this kind of light is different from strong sunlight. Fish don’t like strong sunlight during the day, and most of them sink to the bottom of the water, so it is difficult to fish.
But Huo Erhuai and Yang were hunting all night. In addition to the two children Huo Xi and Huo Nian on the boat, the price of tung oil was not low.
The lighting equipment at this time was not that good, visibility was not high at night, and tung oil was also expensive. A pound of tung oil cost more than ten or twenty yuan. Many pounds of tung oil had to be burned in one night.
If the catch is not so much, it will not be enough to burn tung oil.
It is different from modern fishing boats that have dozens or hundreds of kilowatt fish-collecting lights hung on the hull, bow and stern for night fishing. They are made with great effort, and the gasoline for the generator only costs a few dollars.
But the fishermen here don't have the conditions. Even though they know they can catch a lot of fish at night, they can't do it on a large scale.
At this time, the family agreed to fish at night, so they rowed the boat toward the mouth of the Yangtze River. On the way, they met the boats of Yu Jiang and the Zou family.
The two families somehow got together.
"Dad, let's invite the two of them together. There are many people at night. If we light more torches, we might catch more fish."
Huo Xi needs manpower. She already knows it by now. It is difficult to find a way out alone. All the forces, connections and resources that can be united must be united.
"Okay. Let's call the two of them." Yang made the decision.
It’s not that they have the confidence now that their family has money in savings. It’s because Yang and Huo Erhuai have always had a heart to pity the poor and cherish the weak. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have saved her by the Qinhuai River at the risk of being beaten and killed.
Huo Xi and Huo Nian.
Yu Jiang and Uncle Zou heard this and hurriedly declined, fearing that they would take away their business.
"No, we went to the fish market today to sell fish, and saw that the Huibin Building in the inner city was purchasing and asked us to provide fish and shrimp for three days. Our family can't provide much, otherwise we would have to find some big fish along the way.
If you collect more shrimps, it will delay things."
After Huo Erhuai finished speaking, Mrs. Yang also responded: "Yes, we don't have to worry about selling. Besides, my family has to fish at night. I'm afraid we need to light a lot of torches at night, and we need people to set up the net, pull the net, and pick up the fish. My family cherishes the strength of my son.
I'm young, and I'm worried that Nian'er will wake up and have to take care of him. The three of us are together and we'll have someone to take care of him."
There are too many conditions for fishing at night. If the net is full, a person and the boat can be sunk by someone who is not careful when pulling the net. The surrounding area is completely dark, and no one can even call for help.
Even though they knew it was the Huo family who was taking care of them, they felt comfortable after hearing such words.
"That's okay, the three of us will be together at night." Uncle Zou agreed, and Yu Jiang also nodded in agreement.
So the three families rowed the boat to the mouth of the Yangtze River together.
Before dark, they each occupied a water area and lowered their nets. They all caught a lot of fish.
When it got dark, Yang and Huo Xi made a simple yet sumptuous dinner and invited the two families to eat together.
When it got dark, they made torches together, soaked them in tung oil, put a lot of torches on the three boats, rowed the boats apart, formed a circle, and started to lower the nets.
The men from the three families were busy lowering the nets, pulling the lines, and closing the nets, while the women and half-grown children gathered on the Huo family's boat, busy untying the fish, picking up the fish, and removing weeds and debris from the fishing nets.
The lively fish were quickly thrown into the fishing box. Some of the fish struggled hard in the net, were seriously injured, half-dead, and did not look good. They were scaled and gutted while they were fresh, cut in half, smeared with salt, and made into salted fish without stopping for a moment.
The torches on the three boats burned extremely brightly, illuminating the nearby water like daylight.
Huo Xi was very excited. This was the first time she followed Ye Zai. She was in good spirits and was so busy that she didn't feel tired at all.
I saw all the fish on the bottom swimming toward the light, and they were busy scratching the edge of the boat to look.
Morning~ Most of the residents at the beach will wait at the beach in the early morning or dusk. Fishing boats will come ashore and they can often buy fresh catches.