MMB Chapter 4 Trial Sea
Chapter 4 Trial Sea
The day for launching the boat was set for the 16th day of the eighth lunar month.
The day Qiu Changhai chose.
He said that the fifteenth of August is the Festival of Reunion, and launching a boat is to wish for a happy reunion.
The tide is good on the 16th, as it is full at noon, making it suitable for both rafting and swimming.
Jiang Haiping didn't understand any of this, so he just listened to whatever Qiu Changhai said.
The night before, the three men inspected the repaired fishing boat from head to tail three times.
Old Fang checked the main unit and gearbox, changed the engine oil, re-tightened all the coolant hose connections, cleaned the high-pressure oil pump plunger, and calibrated the fuel injector pressure.
Qiu Changhai inspected the hull and rudder system. All the welds on the seven steel plates that were replaced had undergone kerosene leakage tests. The rudder blades spun smoothly as if they were brand new, turning from the center to the left and right a dozen times.
Jiang Haiping checked the circuits and pipelines, found that the battery was fully charged, the navigation lights were all on, the bilge pump was draining water normally, and there were no leaks at the oil pipe joints.
After the inspection, Lao Fang squatted down by the boat raft and smoked a cigarette. The sea was dark and the moon had not yet risen. Only the temporary incandescent light in the repair shop yard was on, illuminating the rocky beach in a bluish-white light.
"Are you opening tomorrow?" Old Fang asked.
"Uncle Lin is driving. This is his boat."
Old Fang nodded without saying a word. Qiu Changhai, standing beside him, checked the cables they would be using tomorrow again, running his fingers over each one as if caressing a living creature.
Lin Xiu'e brought over a pot of delicious fish soup. It was made by her mother at home, a crucian carp and tofu soup, simmered until it turned milky white. The three of them squatted on the rocks, drinking the soup, as the sea breeze blew, dispersing the steam from the soup.
No one mentioned tomorrow. But everyone knew that if this boat broke down tomorrow, the repair shop would be finished. Fishermen don't care what you say, they only care what you do. If one boat is repaired, a hundred boats are waiting. If one boat is ruined, not a single person will come.
August 16th, sunny.
Before dawn, the fishermen of Moon Island gathered in twos and threes on the rocks opposite the boat repair site. Some were squatting, some were standing, some were smoking, and some had their arms crossed. No one had invited them, but it seemed that almost everyone on the island who could walk had come.
Lin's father stood at the front of the crowd, leaning on a bamboo cane. His leg wasn't fully healed, but he stood ramrod straight. Lin Xiu'e was supporting him.
Lao Fang and Qiu Changhai conducted a final pre-launch inspection. Jiang Haiping untied the mooring rope from the stake, leaving only one rope tied to the bow.
The tide was high. The seawater rose to the base of the courtyard wall, and the water in the stone trough was dark green and bottomless.
"Let's go into the water," Qiu Changhai said.
Old Fang released the brake on the chain hoist. The steel cable slowly extended, and the pulley slid down the rails, the hull of the boat gradually sinking into the sea. First the stern, then the middle, and finally the bow. The seawater overflowed the hull paint, the waterline, and even the ship's name.
The ship's name is "Moon Island 003" in five large white characters, which Lin Xiu'e wrote stroke by stroke yesterday.
The boat floated up.
It floated in the stone trough, its waterline neither too high nor too low, just right. The port and starboard sides were level, and the bow was slightly raised, giving it the appearance of a truly fine ship.
A low murmur rippled through the fishermen on the reef. It wasn't a cheer, but a suppressed sense of approval.
Lin's father took a step forward, leaning on his bamboo cane. Jiang Haiping jumped onto the boat, turned around, and reached out her hand. Lin's father handed the bamboo cane to his daughter, grabbed her hand, and limped onto the bow of the boat.
This is his own boat. It sank, then floated up again.
"Uncle Lin, you drive," Jiang Haiping said.
Lin's father walked to the helm and placed his hands on the helm. His hands, worn down by the sea wind and fishing nets for half his life, had large knuckles and cracked backs. He gripped the helm very gently, as if afraid of crushing it.
"Start it!" Old Fang shouted from the shore.
Mr. Lin pressed the start button. The preheating indicator light flashed for a few seconds and then went out. He turned the key. The main unit emitted a low cough, then with a bang, it came to life.
The exhaust pipe exhaled its first puff of smoke. Pale gray, it quickly turned into an almost transparent pale blue. The tachometer needle steadily rose to idle, eight hundred rpm. The engine vibrated slightly, evenly, steadily, like a heartbeat.
Old Fang squatted on the shore, his eyes fixed on the color of the exhaust pipe. After staring for a full two minutes, he turned to Qiu Changhai and said two words.
"It doesn't burn oil."
Qiu Changhai nodded.
Lin's father slowly pushed down the throttle. The engine speed rose from 800 to 1200, 1500, and 1800. The boat began to move forward, and the reefs on both sides of the trough slowly receded. The engine's sound changed from a low growl to a high chorus, and the pale blue smoke from the exhaust pipe stretched into a straight line, leaving a white wake at the stern.
The rocky beach came to an end. The boat slid out of the rocky trough and into the open sea.
Lin's father turned the rudder to the left. The boat tilted at an angle, tracing an arc. Starboard. Jiang Haiping stood at the bow, feeling the boat's response. The rudder turned, and the bow followed, without hesitation or unnecessary swaying. The rudder blade, adjusted by Qiu Changhai, looked brand new.
Lin's father straightened the rudder and turned it to the right. Left rudder. The boat spun smoothly around as well.
He pushed the throttle forward again. At 2,000 revolutions per minute, the speed reached eight knots. At 2,200 revolutions per minute, the speed reached ten knots. This was the maximum speed the ship was designed for; any higher would be overloaded.
Lin's father placed his hand on the accelerator, paused for a few seconds, and then continued to push forward.
Two thousand four hundred revolutions. Ship speed eleven knots.
Old Fang stood on the shore, his expression unseen. Qiu Changhai squatted down and stubbed out his cigarette on the rocks. A small pile of cigarette butts had already accumulated on the rocks.
Lin's father pushed the accelerator to the floor. Two thousand six hundred revolutions per minute. The engine roared, the entire boat vibrated, and seawater cleaved up from the bow, splashing more than a meter high. The boat's speed was twelve and a half knots.
It is two and a half knots faster than its design speed.
Mr. Lin eased off the throttle. The boat's speed gradually decreased, and the engine's roar turned into a low hum. He straightened the rudder, aligning the bow with the Moon Island pier, and then turned off the engine.
The sea quieted down. Only the gentle sound of waves lapping against the hull could be heard.
Lin's father stood at the helm, his hand still on the steering wheel. He didn't turn around, and his shoulders were trembling.
Lin Xiue stood on the shore, tears streaming down her face. She was still clutching the bamboo pole in her hand, so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
The fishermen on the reef did not applaud or cheer.
A shirtless middle-aged man stood up and patted the gravel off his backside. His surname was Chen; he was the Old Chen that Lin's father had mentioned, one of the three partners.
"Old Lin!" Old Chen shouted towards the boat.
Lin's father turned around.
"My boat shakes too. It shakes whenever the main engine goes up to 2000 RPM. Could you take a look at it sometime?"
Old Chen left after he finished speaking.
Behind him, one fisherman after another stood up.
"Old Lin, my boat has a heavy starboard rudder."
"Old Lin, my boat's exhaust pipe is emitting black smoke."
"Old Lin, my boat is covered in barnacles, and I can't even remove them with a shovel."
Lin's father stood on the boat, unable to utter a single word.
Jiang Haiping answered for him.
"Starting tomorrow, we'll look at each one one by one. Register first, then schedule."
The fishermen dispersed. As they left, several of them glanced back at the boat floating in the stone trough. The newly painted hull gleamed in the sun, the welds were neat and tidy, and the five large white characters of the boat's name, "Moon Island 003," stood upright.
It doesn't look like a sunken ship.
In the evening, three tables were set up in the yard of the ship repair shop.
The tables were borrowed from various households, varying in height. The chairs were benches, stools, and overturned fish baskets. The dishes were brought by each household: steamed ribbonfish, braised pomfret, boiled shrimp, seaweed buns, sweet potato porridge, and mixed fish flatbread. The liquor was bulk sweet potato liquor, poured into rough porcelain bowls, the rough texture of the bottom visible when shaken.
Old Chen picked up a bowl of wine and stood up.
"Old Lin, I was wrong about what happened before."
Lin's father also stood up, limping, holding a bowl.
"The ship sank, it's not your fault, it's not my fault. It was the ship's fate."
He drank his wine. Old Chen drank his too. Old Ma sat beside him, saying nothing, and downed his own wine in one gulp. Three men, three boats, over a decade of partnership. A shipwreck almost ruined their friendship, but it remains.
Old Fang was surrounded by several fishermen offering him drinks, and his face turned red from the alcohol. Someone asked him how to fix his engine shaking, and he squatted down, holding his bowl of wine, and began drawing on the ground with chopsticks. He drew the intake valves, exhaust valves, pistons, connecting rods, and crankshaft with perfect clarity. When he finished and stood up, half the wine in his bowl had spilled.
Qiu Changhai sat in the corner, and no one offered him a drink. He was too taciturn, and the fishermen were all afraid of him. But the bowl in front of him was piled high with food, all secretly picked up by Lin's mother.
Jiang Haiping sat down next to Lin Xiu'e. She had stopped crying, her eyes were still red, but the corners of her mouth were turned up.
"Ping-ge," she whispered, "my dad smiled today."
Jiang Haiping looked at Lin's father. Lin's father was holding a wine bowl and talking to Old Chen, his wrinkles crinkling into a smile. He still had a limp, still owed loans, had four children to support, and his boat had just been repaired; he didn't know how many fish he would catch this autumn. But he smiled.
Jiang Haiping picked up the bowl and took a sip of the sweet potato liquor. It was spicy. The spiciness went from his throat all the way to his stomach.
Ah Hai brought over a bowl of wine. He had been helping out all day, moving cables, handing out tools, and running errands to call for help.
"Brother Ping, when can my boat be repaired?"
"Have you registered?"
"Registered. Third in line."
"Then wait. We'll call you when it's your turn."
Ah Hai grinned, picked up the bowl, and left.
Old Fang slipped away from the group of fishermen and staggered over to sit down next to Jiang Haiping. He was drunk, and his tongue was a little thick.
"Kid, today this ship's main engine reached a top speed of 2,600 knots, and the ship's speed was 12.5 knots."
"Um."
Do you know what this means?
Jiang Haiping is equal.
"This means that the gearbox of your grandfather's tugboat had an insufficiently adjusted clearance between the two shafts. The transmission efficiency could be improved."
Old Fang finished the wine in his bowl.
"I'll go back tomorrow and readjust the gearbox on that tugboat."
Jiang Haiping was taken aback.
"Master Fang, we're having a celebratory drink today. You mean this?"
"What's there to celebrate?" Old Fang stood up, patted his backside, and said, "Once a ship repairman has fixed one ship, he should start thinking about the next one."
He carried the empty bowl toward the wine jar, but after taking two steps, he turned back.
"By the way, have you decided on a name for your ship repair shop yet?"
Jiang Haiping hadn't thought about that.
Old Fang saw him stunned, shook his head, and left.
Lin Xiu'e whispered from the side, "Can't we just call the Moon Island boat repair shop?"
"It's fine," Jiang Haiping thought for a moment, "but it feels like something's missing."
He didn't think any further. The moon rose, round and bright, hanging above the wall of the ship repair site, illuminating the rocky beach in a silvery light. In the stone trough, "Moon Island 003" floated quietly on the water, its hull gently rocking as if breathing.
Lin Xiu'e looked up at the moon, then looked down at the boat.
"Brother Ping."
"Um."
"That ship was originally called Moon Island 003. My dad said that 003 meant the third partner ship. There were also 001 and 002 before that, but they were both sold."
Jiang Haiping listened as she finished speaking.
"This boat isn't the same one anymore. Seven planks have been replaced, the gearbox has been replaced, and the rudder blades have been adjusted. Old Fang says it's even sturdier than a new boat."
She looked at Jiang Haiping.
"It should have a new name."
Jiang Haiping looked at the ship. The moonlight shone on the ship's name, "Moon Island 003," which stood quietly.
"What do you want to call it?"
Lin Xiu'e thought about it for a long time.
"Let's call it the Peace Ship."
Why?
"Because your name is Haiping. Because this ship was able to come back to life because of you. Because my dad said that a ship captain doesn't ask for anything, he just wants peace."
After she finished speaking, she lowered her head, and the tips of her ears turned red.
Jiang Haiping looked at her. The moonlight shone on her face, making her red, tear-stained eyes sparkle.
"Okay. Let's call it 'Peaceful Ship'."
The next morning, when Jiang Haiping arrived at the ship repair shop, Lin Xiu'e was already there. She was squatting at the bow, holding a paintbrush, carefully writing the new name on the bow. The characters were still large and written with great force, just like the ones she had written in her pinyin notebook. After writing the last stroke, she took a step back, looked at it, and nodded in satisfaction.
"Ping An Hao" (Peaceful Ship). Three large white characters.
Old Fang squatted on the bank smoking, staring at those three words.
"A good name."
"She got it," Jiang Haiping said.
Old Fang glanced at him but didn't say anything.
Qiu Changhai came out of the stone house, holding a wooden plaque in his hand. The plaque was made from leftover ship planks from yesterday, with smooth edges and five characters painted in red on it.
Moon Island boat repair site.
"Hang it up." Qiu Changhai handed the wooden sign to Jiang Haiping.
Jiang Haiping took it and walked to the courtyard gate. The gate was made of two rock pillars and an old ship plank. He nailed the wooden sign to the plank. The sign vibrated slightly as he hammered in the nail. After the last hammer blow, he took a step back.
Moon Island boat repair site.
In the stone trough, the "Ping An" floated on the water. On the rocky beach, Old Chen's trembling fishing boat had been rafted and was waiting to be dismantled for inspection.
Eleven boats were listed in the register.
Old Fang squatted under the first boat waiting to be repaired, tapping the hull with a hammer, listening to the sound, and drawing white circles.
Qiu Changhai pushed the gas cutting equipment over, the wheels of the acetylene cylinder creaking on the rocks.
On the fourth day after the ship repair shop opened, it was already overwhelmed with work.