"Whoa, this fish is slippery!"
Ye Yaodong had just poked it out of its hiding spot and tried to grab it, but it darted back in again.
The rock was too heavy to move, so he could only keep stirring around with the fire tongs to coax the fish out once more.
A Guang crouched down with his empty bucket, aiming for the gap under the rock.
"Since my bucket is empty, I'll use it to catch this fish first."
Ye Yaodong couldn’t help but chuckle at A Guang's empty bucket.
Everyone else had their catches, while his bucket remained void of anything.
"Alright, just put it in mine!"
A Zheng's eyes crinkled in amusement.
"A Guang must be feeling quite down inside, yet he still has to force a smile. Poor guy!"
"Ah~"
"Hahaha~"
Hearing them tease A Guang, Ye Yaodong smiled, stirring beneath the rock for a while when he suddenly realized that the tiger grouper still hadn’t come out.
"You guys go check on the other side; it might have swum over there."
"It's here! It's here! It swam out! Hand me the bucket!"
"Wow, it’s quite big."
"Looks like it weighs a pound or two."
"Seems like Dongzi is really lucky today!"
Xiao Xiao took the bucket that A Guang passed over and scooped the lively tiger grouper right into it.
"Got it! We caught it!"
Several heads leaned in closer, gazing at the fish in the bucket with envy.
Buying seafood wasn’t the issue; everyone could afford it.
Going to the shore was about the thrill and satisfaction of catching their own seafood.
And this wasn’t just any fish; it was a tiger grouper.
They couldn’t help but poke fun at Ye Yaodong for his good fortune.
"The seawater in this bucket is too little; we need to get more, or it might die."
A Wei chimed in, "I’ll pour my two little jumping fish into your bucket; then you can use that for water."
Xiao Xiao chuckled, "Then I’ve gained two fish!"
Once they filled the bucket with half water, Xiao Xiao handed it to Ye Yaodong.
"So, are you planning to keep it for yourself or sell it?"
"Sell it, of course! If I keep it, my mother will scold me half to death! Yesterday, I caught two little crabs and intended to keep them, but she scolded me endlessly, insisting they were for the kids. Only when she calmed down a bit did I sell them."
This tiger grouper was worth much more than the two little crabs from yesterday.
He knew if he brought it home to cook, not only would his mother scold him, but his wife would also be mad for several days.
Selling it for a few coins would be nice; it would save her from having to weave for an entire day just to earn a single coin.
Though he didn’t know how much savings his wife had, he figured it couldn’t be much.
"Yeah, better to sell it. The older generations always saved what they could. A pound of this fish could sell for over a coin; at this size, it should bring in three coins, worth three to four days of their hard work. It’d be a waste to just eat it all."
"Exactly! For the cheaper seafood, we can eat casually, but for this, we should sell it!"
"While it's still alive, you should take it to the dock to sell. Plus, it gives us a chance to see if there’s more good stuff around? If all that comes back is just you with an empty bucket, I’ll be miserable!"
Everyone nodded in agreement, and Ye Yaodong replied, "Fine, you all stay here and have fun. I’ll be back shortly."
A Zheng laughed, "No worries! Take your time! If you don’t come back, we’ll be fine here without you!"
“You're just jealous of my good luck! If I’m not around, you won’t find any good stuff either!”
"Get lost already!"
He merrily carried the bucket toward the group digging for clams.
After finding Lin Xiuqing, he set the bucket in front of her.
"I caught a grouper, a tiger grouper. You can take it to sell."
"Huh? A tiger grouper!" Lin Xiuqing’s eyes shone with excitement as she looked at the bucket.
"What a big one!"
"What tiger grouper? Lao San, you caught a tiger grouper?" Ye's mother also came over, astonished.
"A tiger grouper?"
Hearing this, people gathered around, chattering excitedly.
"It really is a tiger grouper!"
"Where did you find it? What luck you have?"
"Do you have any stone crabs with it?"
"Oh, and snow frogs too..."
"Where on earth did Dongzi find all these? We’ve never seen anything like this!"
"We went down to the beach and only found a few jumping fish and stone crabs. A Dong is really lucky today!"
Ye Yaodong ignored the crowd's astonishment and said to Lin Xiuqing, "Make sure to free up a bucket for the fish. Then take this tiger grouper to sell. This bucket belongs to A Guang, so I need to return it and see if there’s anything else."
"Sure, I’ll pour the clams into my bucket. Just wait a moment."
Lin Xiuqing smiled brightly and hurried to clear the bucket.
He reckoned the tiger grouper would only fetch around three coins, and he was too lazy to head to the buying spot.
After dumping the fish into his wife’s bucket, he took his empty bucket and continued downward towards the beach.
"Wait a moment!"
Ye's mother called after him, "Don’t you have snow frogs still in your bucket? How many do you have? If there’s more, take them out too. Let A Qing take them to sell as well, rather than leaving them in there!"
"Huh? We’re selling the snow frogs too?"
"Of course! Anything valuable should be sold," Ye’s mother said, shaking his bucket.
"These you’ve collected are nearly the size of fish balls and weigh over a pound. They should sell for a couple of coins. Are you just going to keep them to eat?"
"Fine then… let’s sell them all."
Lin Xiuqing had meant to say this earlier but feared it might upset him, since he’d already contributed one tiger grouper.
With Ye’s mother saying this, she was eager to help.
"Be careful, those stone crabs have big claws and can pinch."
Ye Yaodong stopped his wife from reaching in, instead pulling out the stone crabs himself, stepping on them to keep them still, and then retrieving the snow frogs, tossing them into the bucket with the tiger grouper.
"Is this good then? Just some worthless stone crabs and shrimp, along with the jumping fish. The nine-section shrimp is just one and isn’t worth anything."
Ye’s mother nodded, satisfied.
"You’ve been pretty lucky these past few days. It’s not easy to find a tiger grouper after years of beachcombing. Go see if there’s more good stuff and bring it back for your wife to sell."
"Not so easy to find! You think they’re as common as cabbages? Only with the tides these past few days have we spotted some things. Finding anything truly depends on luck; you can’t just expect a beach full of goods to grab."
As for A Guang and his empty bucket? Seeing the women nearby looking eager, he hastily added, "If they’re not clamming, they’ll head down to the beach too, and I can skip looking."
His luck had indeed been good lately!
"I was just saying that. If I didn’t remind you, you’d probably waste everything!" Ye’s mother said, glaring at him.
Who didn’t know he was just lucky? She knew how scarce things were on this beach.
"Didn't I bring some back? I’m not wasting things..."
"Go, go, go! Get back down there and look some more."
Sigh, he had to give up everything, and now his mother had to nag him.
Changing the family's view of him wouldn’t be easy, but that was fine.
He lived until the age of sixty-five in his past life; he had plenty of time ahead, and changes would come gradually, accepted little by little.
(End of Chapter)