mesbooks Chapter 41 Cold Wave
Chapter 41 Cold Wave
Just a few days after the waterway was dredged, a cold wave swept down from the north.
The sea breeze changed overnight; it was no longer salty, fishy, and damp, but dry and cold, feeling like fine sandpaper on your face.
The leaves of the elm on the rocky beach were curled at the edges, and the loquat trees had been wrapped with straw ropes by Ah Guang early on. The canopies of several saplings were also covered with tattered fishing nets.
Plastic sheeting was nailed to the windows of the kitchen, and an old canvas was hung at the entrance of the workshop to block the wind.
Every day, after wiping the three wooden signs and sweeping the yard, Lao Fang would squat at the workshop entrance to smoke, but he had to tuck his hands into his sleeves.
Jiang Haiping mentally reviewed the preparations for winter and then went to the old parts warehouse to check the antifreeze supplies with A-Guang.
There's enough straw rope to tie up a few trees, old cotton yarn to wrap water pipes, a small roll of plastic sheeting left, and two buckets of antifreeze.
Ah-Guang wrote down the inventory quantity of each item in the register.
Ahai and Hong Xiaobing wrapped the exposed water pipes along the edge of the stone trough with old cotton yarn, then wrapped them with a layer of plastic sheeting and tied them tightly with thin wire.
Ding Haisheng inspected the welding machines and water pumps in the workshop, and drained the water from the cooling water pipes to prevent them from freezing and cracking at night.
At the dock, fishermen were also busy making preparations for winter.
Old Chen cleaned the barnacles off the bottom of the boat and repainted it with antifouling paint; Old Ma was inspecting the gearbox; Old Sun pushed the sampan to the service station and asked Qiu Changhai to check if the bottom planks were rotten.
Qiu Changhai squatted by the stone trough, tapped around with a hammer, and said that two boards needed to be replaced after winter, but they were still usable for now, and he would come back in the spring.
Old Sun nodded and pushed the boat away.
In the morning, Wang Cunzhi, wrapped in a military overcoat, rode his motorcycle to the service station.
He unloaded a cardboard box from the back seat, which contained winter supplies allocated by the province to the service station: two bundles of straw rope, a bundle of plastic sheeting, four buckets of antifreeze, several packs of candles, and a new kerosene lamp.
Old Fang took the lantern and looked at it, saying that this lantern was windproof and better than the one they were using now, and that it would be useful for night shifts repairing the boat.
Wang Cunzhi took out a notice from his pocket and handed it to Jiang Haiping, saying that the province had issued a document requiring all coastal stations to make preparations for freezing, especially the water supply pipelines and boat equipment at fishing ports and wharves. If they were damaged by freezing and could not be repaired before the spring flood season, it would delay the fishermen.
Jiang Haiping read the notice and put it in the drawer, saying that it had already been arranged in advance. The water pipes by the stone trough were wrapped with cotton yarn, and the water in the welding machine and water pump had been drained.
Wang Cunzhi squatted at the workshop entrance and checked the inventory of materials with Jiang Haiping. He also asked about the stock of refurbished machines. He said that the boats that were going to overwinter at the county aquatic products company were all under emergency repair, and the supply of refurbished parts could not meet the demand. The service station could relax a few more days after the inspection of this batch of antifreeze boats.
Before leaving, he mentioned again that Director Sun had brought it up in a meeting yesterday, saying that the province might be conducting an annual evaluation of the fishing boat repair industry this winter, and Moon Island was a pilot unit, so it was best to prepare the materials in advance.
Jiang Haiping responded, saying that the registration book and customer follow-up records were all there, and they could just compile a copy later.
In the evening, Ah Guang put the remaining straw ropes into the old parts warehouse and registered them.
Hong Xiaobing put the enamel bowl on the stone stool into the kitchen, and Lin Xiue brought out a pot of hot fish ball soup, urging everyone to drink it while it was hot.
Old Fang took the jar, warmed his hands, and said that this pot of soup was even more fragrant than the one from this morning.
Lin Xiu'e said it wasn't the soup's aroma, but rather the comforting feeling of drinking hot soup on a cold day.
Jiang Haiping took the jar, and the steam hit his face, dispelling some of the day's fatigue.
The wind picked up and grew stronger at night.
The asbestos tile roof creaked and groaned in the wind, as if something was about to roll over it.
Jiang Hai lay flat on the bed, listening to the sound of the wind and the waves crashing against the rocks outside. The sound of the waves was more muffled than usual, as if it were wrapped in something.
He turned over and drifted off to sleep.
Just as dawn was breaking, Ah Guang's urgent knocking on the door startled him awake: "Brother Ping, the stone trough is frozen!"
Jiang Haiping put on his cotton-padded coat and ran out.
As dawn broke, the seawater in the stone trough froze into a grayish-white ice surface overnight.
In the thinner sections, the dark green seawater underneath is visible; in the thicker sections, a hard crust has formed.
Four fishing boats awaiting repair were frozen in the stone trough, their hulls bound by ice shells, and their mooring ropes frozen stiff, like iron rods.
Thin patches of ice had accumulated on the rocky beach, making a crunching sound when stepped on.
A layer of white frost covered the loquat leaves, and ice crystals formed on the straw rope that A-Guang wore, which would break at the slightest touch.
Old Fang squatted by the stone trough and tapped the ice surface with his hand hammer.
The ice shell wasn't thick enough to withstand the impact of a sledgehammer, but the fishing boat was frozen inside, with its bottom plate and the ice shell frozen together. Without breaking the ice, the boat couldn't move.
He stood up, stubbed out his cigarette, and said, "To break the ice, we need to break the ice surface and move the boat around. Otherwise, the ice will get thicker and thicker as it freezes, and the pressure will crack the bottom of the boat."
Ding Haisheng carried a shovel to the edge of the stone trough and shoveled at the ice surface several times.
A crack appeared in the ice, with pieces of ice floating on the surface, beneath which lay dark green seawater.
Ahai led Hong Xiaobing to break a ring of ice along the bottom of the first fishing boat, loosening the connection between the boat and the ice.
Jiang Haiping used a shovel to push the floating ice out piece by piece, his fingers turning red from the cold, and the base of his hand burning from the shovel handle.
Old Chen, Old Ma, and Old Zhou carried shovels down from the dock passageway and joined in the icebreaking without saying a word.
Old Sun also arrived, using a bamboo pole to drive the broken ice out of the stone trough, where it slowly drifted away with the tide.
When the sun rose as high as the mast, the ice in the stone trough was completely shattered.
The four fishing boats floated back to the surface, swaying gently, their mooring lines replaced with new ones.
Old Fang squatted down by the dock and inspected the bottom of the boat, but found no cracks from freezing.
He stood up, patted the ice crystals off his pants, and said that luckily it wasn't too deep; if it had been frozen for another day, the bottom of the boat would have been in serious trouble.
People gradually dispersed.
Old Chen carried his shovel back, Old Ma followed behind, and Old Sun carried a bamboo pole as they slowly walked along the seawall.
Ah Guang carefully collected the shovels one by one and made a note in the register: Several shovels, used for breaking ice in the stone trough, returned in good condition.
Qiu Changhai re-inspected the insulation layer of the water pipes beside the stone trough, wrapped the plastic sheet that had been blown off by the wind with another layer, and tied it tightly with thin wire.
Jiang Haiping squatted on the rocks and washed his hands. The icy water was bone-chilling, and his fingers turned white inch by inch from the fingertips inward.
He shook his hands and stood up, looking at the ice shards floating in the stone trough, thinking that the service station had survived another test.
In the evening, Lin Xiu'e brought out hot ginger soup. The ginger was old ginger that her mother had sent. It had been sliced and simmered for a long time, and the spiciness was pungent.
Everyone squatted at the workshop entrance with a bowl in hand and drank. After finishing one bowl, A-Guang filled another, saying that the ginger soup was even warmer than the fish ball soup.
Old Fang said that fish ball soup is filling and ginger soup is warming, so both are good.
Lin Xiu'e ladled another spoonful for Lao Fang, and the steam from the ginger soup rose in the twilight.
That evening, Jiang Haiping sat in the workshop looking through the notice left by Wang Cunzhi and checked the inventory of materials registered by A Guang.
There's still more than half a bundle of straw rope left, not much cotton yarn left, and only one and a half buckets of antifreeze used.
He made a list of supplies he might need for the winter in his notebook, intending to tell Wang Cunzhi in advance so that he wouldn't have to look for them later.
The straw ropes on the loquat tree outside the window were whitened by the moonlight, and the tattered fishing nets on top of a few seedlings fluttered gently in the wind.
The seawater in the stone trough has returned to its original dark green color, and all the broken ice has drifted away.
The service station had another peaceful night.