Lin Xiuqing hurried back, panting as she handed the bucket to Ye Yaodong.
Ye Yaodong took the bucket and filled it with seawater, curiously asking, “Why didn’t your mother and the others come with you?”
She blinked her eyes and replied, “I didn’t say anything.”
Ye Yaodong chuckled lightly, thinking, isn’t it obvious? “Didn’t they ask you what you needed the bucket for?”
“I rushed in and got the bucket, then hurried out again. They were behind me asking, but I didn’t have time to answer.”
“Oh!”
Watching a sea bass slide into the bucket, Lin Xiuqing opened the sack to check their haul, but it didn’t seem like much more had been added.
“Didn’t you look around a bit more? Didn’t anything else come in after I left?”
“The big catch is right here! Why would I want to wander off? The tide is still going out, no need to rush. Let’s leave the bucket here for now; no one’s going to come out in this typhoon weather anyway.”
She was lifting the bucket when she had to set it down again.
Half a bucket of water was indeed a bit heavy.
Ye Yaodong bent down to grab a rock crab, muttering, “If I’d known, I should have asked you to bring the tongs too. It would be easier to pick up crabs.”
Lin Xiuqing said with irritation, “You should’ve said something earlier.”
“I forgot for a moment; I only remembered when I saw that broken-legged little blue crab.” Now there were no phones to call anyway.
The two continued moving around the rocky area, shifting stones when they saw any that might hide crabs.
Their catch was quite abundant.
Stone Jiugong caught five or six, and as for the rock crabs, they picked up over ten in no time, along with a few red ones.
Ye Yaodong was bending over so much that his back ached.
He straightened up and stretched, saying, “I’m only 25; why does my back feel like this?”
Lin Xiuqing cast him a sidelong glance, her cheeks slightly reddened. “You’re one to talk.”
“There’s no one around, what’s there to be embarrassed about?”
It certainly had been a busy few days; it felt as if their bodies were being worn thin.
A good rest was definitely needed tonight.
“Eh? There’s a red one! Why is everything just one? How do we cook it when we take it back? It’s not even enough for a bowl.”
“Having one is good enough. We can cook them all together in one pot. That’ll save us trouble.”
“Ah, here’s another one! We can fry it with green peppers for a dish.”
As the couple walked and chatted, from the joy of discovering goods to now casually glancing around, Lin Xiuqing’s excitement had settled to calm.
“Wow! A conch came in with the waves! Why is it so big? Is it just a shell?” Lin Xiuqing stared as a giant conch, almost the size of her head, was pushed up by the waves.
She wondered if there was any meat inside.
Curiosity got the better of her, and with a casual kick, the conch flipped over, its flesh shrinking slightly.
There is meat!
She happily squatted down to pick it up.
This conch was definitely bigger than her head! It must be worth something!
“A Dong, what kind of conch is this? It’s so big!”
Ye Yaodong looked over, his eyes widening. “Coconut snail?! It’s that big?”
“Coconut snail?” For someone from the mountains like her, it was no surprise she didn’t recognize it.
Very few people in her village had seen such a large conch.
He tossed aside the sack he was holding and hurried over, exclaiming, “Wow, this coconut snail is at least three or four pounds!”
“Is it worth a lot?” Lin Xiuqing’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Whether it’s worth something or not depends on what’s inside. If there’s treasure, it could be a big windfall for us!”
She looked puzzled, “What do you mean? What treasure could be inside?”
“Good thing I’m here. If you had found this by yourself, would you have sold it right away?”
“Otherwise?” The more she heard, the more confused she became.
What kind of secret was there in a conch? “What kind of treasure could it even have?”
“We can’t know for sure until we dig out the meat.”
“Ah? If we dig out the meat, how can we sell the conch?”
“If we don’t dig out the meat, how will we know if there’s treasure inside? A conch this big could have a shell that is also quite valuable and can be made into crafts.”
But compared to treasure, how much could this conch really be worth?
Most fishermen by the sea knew that anything caught with shells needed to be opened to see if any rare valuables were hidden inside, especially if it was large.
Lin Xiuqing was anxious.
It felt like forever waiting for him to say what treasure might be inside. “What’s inside exactly? Pearls?”
Ye Yaodong smiled at her teasingly, “We haven’t opened it yet, who knows? I’ll let you know when we do, so you don’t get too excited over nothing!”
She was left staring in frustration!
“Then hurry and open it!”
Ye Yaodong raised his hands in helplessness, “I have no tools! If I had a hook, I could open it. Otherwise, we might just have to take it home and cook it to take the meat out.”
“Fine! Let’s just wait until we get home to open it.”
After thinking a bit, he suggested, “How about I go borrow a hook from the shop?”
If they opened it at home and found treasure, who knew who might get jealous? He felt a strong itch of curiosity himself about what was inside.
“Okay! I’ll go right now!”
“I’ll go. You stay here and watch; you’ve already run back and forth once.”
“It’s fine!” With that, she took off running.
She was just as eager to find out what was inside.
Ye Yaodong could only wait and ponder, examining the coconut snail.
From the outside, he couldn’t tell if there was anything inside.
The snail meat contracted a bit when touched, still quite lively.
If it weren’t for the worry that smashing it would cause bits of shell to mix with the meat and make it hard to pick out, he would have just smashed it open for convenience.
While he waited, he wandered around a bit with the coconut snail, catching two more stone crabs and three rock crabs, throwing them all into the sack.
He still held the coconut snail carefully, refusing to toss it in with the others.
Lin Xiuqing was anxious and when she ran back, she accidentally tripped and scraped her knee, limping toward him.
Ye Yaodong spotted her from afar and rushed over.
“What happened? Did you fall?”
“Yeah, I tripped over a rock while running.”
Her knee was torn, wet with dirt, and he couldn’t help but frown.
He crouched down to lift her pant leg and look at it, but she quickly dodged away.
“It’s fine; I’ll just patch my pants when I get home.”
“Who’s worried about your pants? Show me your knee!”
“No need; I’m fine! Hurry up and get the hook to open the conch!”
“Let’s check your knee first; the conch can wait…”
“Are you annoying? Hurry up…” Lin Xiuqing shoved the hook into his arms, urging him.
With no other choice, Ye Yaodong had to begin opening the coconut snail for her.
For these coconut snails, the local way of extracting the meat was to use a hook to hang it by its foot, letting it dangle for a while.
Because the spiraled part of the coconut snail is short, it can’t hold firmly onto the insides.
It would naturally loosen under the weight of its shell after being hung upside down for a while, leaving the intact meat hanging from the hook.
(End of Chapter)