I am a local in North America

Chapter 35 The Big Fish That Surfaces (4500 words, please read on!)
Uncle Feng, Bob, and Brother Wang worked in pairs, maintaining a steady rhythm as they continuously cast crab traps into the sea.

The crab traps on the boat were too heavy, causing the water to rise and seawater to splash onto the deck, which would soon freeze again. You had to walk carefully, or you would slip and fall.

To avoid injury and delays in operations, shovels are used from time to time to push ice shards back into the sea from the drain.

Hoisting, tying bait cans, and combing ropes and floats all take time. Mr. Su, who is in charge of driving the boat, moves the crab fishing boat around from time to time. He has accumulated a lot of experience last year and is quite familiar with the operation.

After shooting some footage for a few minutes, Su Jierui turned off the gimbal camera and said to his dad with a smug look:

"Before I went to record 'Living Alone in the Wilderness,' I briefly introduced myself on YouTube. After that, I didn't release any new videos, and many people were guessing whether I had won this time. During this period, my number of followers actually increased a lot."

Concerning his son's future, Mr. Su, who was warming himself with tea, immediately became interested and pressed for details:
"Oh? How many more followers did you gain this time? Doesn't that mean your income will increase?"

He then sighed:
“Now the family has to cover your and Arou’s living expenses at school. Your sister’s accommodation costs $12000 a year. You two each have $1500 a month for living expenses, which is $3000 a month. The main problem is that we have too much debt on this crab fishing boat, and I’m under a lot of pressure.”

"Since your income from this part-time job has increased and you won such a large bonus, which is equivalent to several years of my hard work, does that mean I don't need to give you living expenses anymore?"

"..."

Su Jierui felt he shouldn't have brought up that topic.

The prize money he won seemed like a lot, but it was just a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of buying the beaver ranch.

Judging from the current situation, we may need to carry huge debts for a long time to come, and we will be short of money unless gold mining goes smoothly.

Seeing that his father had already brought up the issue of living expenses, Su Jierui felt embarrassed to keep asking for more and readily said:
"Okay, my family doesn't need to give me money anymore. At my age, I should be able to support myself. If I post a few more videos each month, I should be able to earn two or three thousand dollars. I don't know the exact amount, I can only refer to other people's experiences."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Su's eyes widened, and he said with delight:
"So much? The news is right, making money as an internet celebrity is really easy. Some novice fishermen work hard for a month and only earn about this much. Susan, who regularly cleans our house, has to do two or three part-time jobs every day, and she only earns about $3000 a month..."

Su Jierui replied:

"Do you think it's so easy to accumulate 20 followers? It took me more than two years and I made dozens of videos. It takes both luck and brains, okay? You could get scolded mercilessly just for saying one wrong word."

"Moreover, after being introduced by the director of the 'Living Alone in the Wilderness' program, I sent an email to TikTok the night before last. It seems they want to collaborate with me, the champion."

"I guess the person in charge I contacted is on vacation and hasn't replied yet. If they're willing to do some promotion for me, there might be some extra revenue..."

Done.

Su Jierui started thinking about his family's fishing boat again, wanting to make good use of his talent and save as much money as possible now, so that he wouldn't end up starving to death while guarding the gold mine and being forced to sell the hen that could lay golden eggs.

then.

He blinked and said to his dad:
"However, I've been following you out to sea all this time, and your YouTube fans are probably getting tired of it. We need to film some new footage. How about you take a couple of days off when I have some free time and lend me your fishing boat?"

"I want to film some footage of myself as a captain; fans might find it interesting."

"I'll have Uncle Feng and Brother Wang keep an eye on things. I'll just fish and crab in the nearshore waters. Don't worry about anything going wrong. We'll sell the fish and crabs we catch and use the profits to pay you back for the gas..."

While looking at the "crab cloud" displayed on the sonar, Mr. Su said generously:
"If we successfully catch the full quota this time, do you think I'd need your little bit of gas money? Of course I'll support your business, just go get my gas card and fill up! Just let me know in advance so you can get the fishing boat out there. You've been with us on dozens of trips in the past two years, you should have learned something by now..."

Su Jierui smiled and agreed.

I never get a chance to speak in front of my mom, she's already said everything. But I can still chat with my dad.

Having lived in the wilderness for so long, when I came back, even if I encountered a dog on the roadside, I wanted to squat down and chat with it.

Su Jie asked many questions about what was happening to his relatives, friends, and neighbors while he was away from home.

For example, Julie Payne, who lives right next door to him, suddenly got married recently.

The other person was 5 years older than Su Jerry. When she was young, she was a famously beautiful girl in the neighborhood, and she looked somewhat like Megan Fox. He and his friends had all secretly admired her during their adolescence.

However, it was just a joke between them. After listening, Su Jierui felt a little sentimental, recalling the countless times he had seen the other person through the window, but he had no other thoughts.

I can only say that I saw my neighbor Julie Payne a few times in the first half of the year, and she has changed so much from before. It makes me sigh at how fast time flies and how short her prime is. It's hard to reconcile her with my impression of her from years ago.

The crab fishermen on deck continued to cast crab traps. Su Jierui took a moment to reply to his friend Tang Jie's message, only saying that he hadn't received his bonus yet and was still in school, and declined the proposal to buy a boat together.

The prize money has already been used, and he doesn't want to spend every day on the fishing boat; this favor is indeed difficult to do.

Tang Jie didn't say much. He was just excited in the morning. After calming down and thinking about it carefully, he also felt that it was not appropriate.

When two people jointly purchase a fishing boat, they usually work on the boat. If they hire additional fishermen, the labor costs will be prohibitively high.

They chatted briefly, agreed to have a meal together in a few days, and quickly ended the conversation.

The fishing boat, which was newly purchased last year, had a fast satellite broadband internet speed. Su Jierui held the computer and browsed the news, and chatted with the junior schoolmate named Qian Shuyao for a few minutes.

With nowhere to go during her vacation, she stayed in her dorm at the University of British Columbia. The dorm was reportedly deserted, with only a few international students not going home.

While browsing the news.

Su Jierui also saw a news article and, holding his laptop, said to his dad:
"Do you know that the owners and families of the missing crew members of the 'Golden Crab' crab fishing boat, which I just mentioned, have raised a total of $10 in reward money to find the boat and its crew?"

"The Coast Guard and some civilian rescue organizations seem to have been looking for them, but there are still no leads..."

Mr. Su simply turned his head, then tapped his headphones with his finger and said:

"I know. The local radio stations have been talking about this for the past two days, and some fishing boat and shrimp boat owners have even given up their holidays to go out to sea and try their luck in order to earn the bounty."

"Don't even think about the money. It's only seven or eight degrees below zero at sea, and it gets even colder at night. If the Golden Crab were still around, things would be fine, but if the ship has already sunk, even if the crew members are on inflatable lifeboats, they're probably doomed."

“I don’t want to suddenly see someone lying on the sea. The worst thing about going out to sea is encountering this kind of thing. Your grandfather had it before, and he gritted his teeth and fished it out and brought it back to the dock. When he got home, his face was pale, his hands were shaking, and he had nightmares for several days in a row.”

"Later, I went to Chinatown to find a fortune teller. The fortune teller said that he had helped bring the person back, which was considered a good deed. He gave me some talismans, which I burned, soaked in water, and drank. That's how I recovered..."

In the past, his grandparents and parents all went to sea. Su Jierui heard about all sorts of accidents growing up and would worry about them.

Thinking of the families of those crew members, who must be anxiously waiting for definite news at home, he felt a little uncomfortable. Unfortunately, his own talent for exploration was extremely limited, especially compared to the vast ocean, so he couldn't help at all. After having lunch with his mother, Su Jerry went to the deck to help. His father and Uncle Feng wouldn't let him get involved in dangerous things, so he could only fill the bait cans with frozen bait.

The seabed was teeming with king crabs, and he had no idea how many had already crawled into the crab traps. He could only wait patiently.

The group worked from morning until noon, and from noon until evening, finally casting all the crab traps into the sea. Standing at the stern and looking back, they could vaguely see some scattered buoys, which would light up at night.

On the deck, exposed to the cold wind and with extremely high work intensity, Uncle Feng and Bob, the crab fishermen they had temporarily hired, had lips that turned white from exhaustion and faces that were a little purple from the cold.

At this moment, these crab fishermen can finally breathe a sigh of relief and sit in the restaurant to prepare for their meal, with no extra energy left.

Even so, Bob still felt excited, raised his beer glass and laughed:

"Congratulations on a great harvest today! I've looked at the sonar images several times, and based on my experience, the crab traps must have been dropped on the crab swarm and their path. We'll know how many king crabs are in the traps tomorrow morning!"

Mr. Su, whose personality was always very stable, reminded him at this moment:
"It's dangerous to drink on a fishing boat, so we'll only have one drink, and no one should drink more. If we catch a lot of crabs, I'll take you to a tavern to celebrate when we get ashore, and all the expenses will be on me!"

Uncle Feng nodded with a happy expression and asked:

"The crab traps that were first set out this morning have been there for about six or seven hours now. It will be about 24 hours by tomorrow morning. Why don't you all go to bed early tonight and pull up a set of traps early tomorrow morning to check? If the harvest is not great, we can adjust the position of the crab traps in time and continue to set them up again following the direction of the crab tide."

Nodding, Mr. Su only took a small sip of beer and said:

"That's what I was thinking too. Let's all get some rest soon."

Just then, a strange sound came from the sea outside, like the sound of a large fish leaping out of the water.

Several veteran fishermen who made their living at sea year-round instinctively looked out. Su Jierui was also taken aback, then decisively reached for his camera and said:
"What kind of fish is making such a racket? I see there's a hand net on the deck. I ate too much at lunch and I'm not hungry yet, I'll go cast a net and see what happens."

Uncle Feng also put down his chopsticks, stood up and said:
"I'm too tired from the day, and I can't eat right now. Let's go take a look together."

"Hand-throw nets are used for fishing at the dock, so they probably won't be of any use here. You might as well try casting a few lines and fishing for big fish in the deep sea."

"However, it seems this fish has come to the surface. If we catch it and freeze it, we can use it to fuel our return trip to Seattle in a few days, saving us from buying so many supplies at the dock."

Old Man Su was also curious, so he stood up and laughed:
"Come on! I'll take a look too. Old Feng, you should rest for a bit; we'll be busy tomorrow..."

I went outside and onto the deck.

A gust of cold wind blew by, and Su Jierui's hair stood on end.

Standing by the deck railing, I could see a large fish, brown with dark brown spots, lying on its side near the water's surface.

It seemed unable to swim, its body swaying gently, and the splashes of water from its tail made it a conspicuous target.

Old Uncle Feng, a man of wide experience, examined it carefully for a while and asked with a puzzled tone:

"This is... a giant Pacific cod?"

"How did it get onto the surface of the sea? Could it be that its swim bladder is inflated and it can't swim anymore? Quickly, scoop it up..."

"Oh, boss, you want to film a video? Then you go ahead and film, I'll go get the long hook..."

Su Jierui had only seen this kind of fish at the dock, but none of them were this big. This one on the surface of the sea is almost 1 meter long.

It was lying on its side on the sea surface, its over-inflated swim bladder preventing it from diving.

Due to the change in seawater pressure, its eyes bulged slightly, its body appeared clumsy and flustered, and it kept slapping the surface of the sea with its tail, looking extremely vulnerable at this moment.

As they discussed and wondered what had happened to the giant Pacific cod, in the distance, where the lights of the crab fishing boats were faintly visible, they could see the dorsal fin of an orca gliding across the sea, its body marked with striking white stripes.

Su Jerry immediately understood—the orca pod was hunting!

It is estimated that this giant Pacific cod was chased by killer whales and, in its panic, was also disturbed by the sonar of the crab fishing boats, which caused it to drift into the shallow waters.

Before the orca could even bite, the fish's swim bladder became displaced due to a sudden change in pressure.

As "street urchins" of the ocean, orcas will hunt other large fish for amusement even when they are not hungry, and sometimes they will attack sea turtles and dolphins, treating them as their toys.

The same was true for this unfortunate giant Pacific cod. It clearly had no chance of escaping, but the nearby pod of killer whales did not eat it. Instead, they circled the crab boat at a distance before sinking into the sea and disappearing.

After Su's father moved the boat over, Uncle Feng skillfully used a hook with a long handle to pull the big fish onto the boat.

During this time, crab fisherman Bob also came to help, saying:

"Wow! Such a big cod? It must weigh over 35 pounds. With its size, it's bound to fetch a premium."

Su Jerry asked curiously, "About how much is it worth?"

"I estimate it can sell for around $200? Some Japanese restaurants will specifically go to the docks to buy some premium fish."

Bob's tone was uncertain as he added:
"Unfortunately, we are a crab fishing boat and don't have a quota for catching cod. If you want to keep it, I can try to help you sell it, but it will become stale after being frozen for a few days. Selling it for $100 shouldn't be a problem."

Upon hearing this, Su Jierui knew that the footage being shot would need to be edited in post-production.

Both Canada and the United States have imposed strict restrictions on fishing vessels, and the penalties for violations are quite severe.

He was worried about getting into trouble, so how could he possibly hand over his secrets to outsiders for such a small gain?

Without even a second's hesitation, Su Jierui shook his head and said:

"Let's eat it as an extra meal tomorrow. The temperature on the sea surface is so low that even if we just pierced its swim bladder and released it, it probably wouldn't survive. If we bring it ashore and get caught, it would be a loss, whether it's a fine or affecting other fishing operations."

Mr. Su was quite satisfied with this answer and continued:

"Hmm, I'll make it into fish fillets later for you guys as an extra treat tomorrow. Steamed or pan-fried cod is delicious."

(End of this chapter)