Lin Xiuqing's five fingers pressed against Ye Yaodong's face, pushing him away.
"You shameless one! You were serious for a moment, and now look at you!"
Ye Yaodong caught her wrist in a firm grasp, frowning.
"Did you scrape your hand?"
She pulled her hand back.
"It’s nothing, just a little scrape."
"Then let’s go wash it. Don’t look for anything anymore. If you touch the seawater later, it will hurt more."
"I’m fine, really. It doesn’t hurt, and there’s still time. The tide has just receded, so there must still be things to find. I just won’t touch the seawater. If I find anything, I’ll call you. Didn’t I do that before?"
"Don't be stubborn..."
"Oh, it’s nothing. Just fell down, let’s continue looking," she said nonchalantly, then paused after taking a few steps.
"Can you move that stone? I see a blue crab leg; it must be an orchid crab."
With her enthusiasm infectious, Ye Yaodong had no choice but to go along with her as they wandered around the rocky area once more.
Just then, big raindrops started to fall.
Right when they planned to head back, the rain suddenly stopped, so they continued searching.
After another two hours, Ye Yaodong finally said, "Alright, it’s almost noon. Let’s head home."
"Can’t we look a bit longer?" Lin Xiuqing said reluctantly.
Ye Yaodong chuckled lightly.
"What’s this? Got addicted to looking for treasures in the sea?"
"Maybe just a bit. It feels so easy today; we’ve found so much in just one morning. Usually, during the big tides on the first and fifteenth, there’s hardly this much to pick."
"Actually, the big tides on the first and fifteenth have plenty of treasures too. It’s just that our beach has been visited too many times by the villagers, so it seems like there’s less. More treasures can be found on solitary islands. Now, let's go home. I’m starving, and the sky's getting dark again."
"Alright, then let’s wait until it’s almost low tide tomorrow before coming back."
"Ha ha!" Ye Yaodong shook his head, amused.
"Let’s see how tomorrow’s typhoon will affect our area. If the storm is strong, the tide will definitely rise again tomorrow, and there will likely be heavy rain as well."
"That’s true. Then we’ll wait until the tide recedes and the rain stops before coming again."
"Mm."
They had gathered quite a lot that morning.
Just in blue crabs alone, they found eight, both big and small.
There were even more stone crabs, along with three firm blue flower crabs, and plenty of other fish like the stone nine crabs, sea eels, golden pomfrets, mei tong fish, and spring fish.
The most numerous were the clams...
Estimating the haul, they could fill a large barrel!
Of course, the most special find was a beautiful pearl, but that needed to be tucked away carefully.
The large bass in the bucket was quite impressive.
With one hand carrying the bucket and the other holding the sack, Ye Yaodong walked briskly alongside the joyful Lin Xiuqing, heading home.
However, just as they were halfway there, a torrential downpour came crashing down, forcing them to hurry back through the rain.
By the time they got home, they were completely drenched, looking like drowned chickens.
But instead of taking a shower and changing clothes, they grabbed a huge basin and dumped the contents of the sack onto it.
As soon as Ye’s mother saw them in such a state, she couldn’t help but chide, "Where have you two been? Running around on a day like this with a typhoon out there..."
Sister-in-law Ye, filled with surprise, exclaimed, "Oh! You went beachcombing? Going out on a typhoon day, you’re really brave!"
Sister-in-law Ye Er also left her work to come over.
"Wow! You’ve got quite the haul… so many blue crabs..."
The house was filled with a gaggle of kids, and the couple’s eldest son, Ye Chenghu, shouted, "You two went to the beach and didn’t take us along!"
"You little rascal! Bringing you would just get you swept away by the waves!"
"If you can go, why can’t I? Hmph!"
"Because sea monsters specifically hunt for boys and girls! Scared?"
"Not scared!"
"You little rascal!"
After a playful scolding from Ye Yaodong, he ignored him and turned to his mother.
"Where's my dad? We caught a bass; let him take a look and see how much it’s worth!"
"Ah?" Ye's mother finally noticed the bucket at her feet.
It really was a bass, but she didn’t recognize the species.
These things usually required a man’s knowledge at home, someone who understood them better.
"He’s lying down inside. I’ll go call him."
Sister-in-law Ye and sister-in-law Ye Er had already started sorting through the haul, enviously saying, "You two collected quite a lot. We didn’t expect to find so much on a day like this."
"Yeah! These blue crabs are quite big and strong; just these few can sell for a good price."
"And that bass is surely even more valuable!"
"I saw you rushing in with just a bucket; I was wondering why you hurried back so fast. Turns out you wanted to use it for the bass. How could you not even call us?"
Lin Xiuqing felt a bit embarrassed by sister-in-law Ye Er's words.
It was not intentional; she was just anxious and grabbed the bucket to run.
"I was just in a hurry, afraid the fish would die. I didn't think much at the moment," she said, then scolded the kids playfully.
"You better behave! If you get pinched by the crabs, don’t come crying!"
Suddenly, the large eel in the bucket flicked its tail, bumping into the basin, which startled several kids, causing them to retreat quickly!
"Ah! That fish is so fierce!"
Ye Yaodong waved his hand, hurriedly shooing them away.
"Get you all to one side and play, don’t cause any trouble here!"
"Rahaha!" The kids made faces at him and, sensing the rain had stopped, rushed outside to play.
Ye's father was called out by his wife to take a look at the bass in the bucket, and he gaped in astonishment.
"Where did you find this? Do we have this kind of bass around here?"
Their third son had recently gotten lucky, finding such a rare fish! This was worth more than the usual tiger bass, which was just an ordinary kind among the groupers.
"I found it in the rocky area near Dongqiao Village. I went to check out the beach to see how big the waves were, and I noticed the tide was just going out. I wandered down, and the waves must have washed it in."
"That makes sense."
This bass generally lives in the bay area.
Given that their location is pretty close to the islands across the bay, it was plausible the waves had brought it in.
"This fish is worth more than the tiger bass. We’ll have to ask Ah Cai how much it can sell for," Ye's father said, glancing down at the large basin.
"Let's pick through the rest. Anything that can be sold, let’s take it to Ah Cai’s house. The ones that aren't worth much can stay for ourselves."
"Not sure if he’ll take anything in a storm..."
"He will. Their family can oxygenate the fish, so they won’t die. After the typhoon passed, he can sell them too."
"Mm."
If it weren’t for the typhoon making transport difficult, and without a means to oxygenate the fish at home, he would have considered carrying the bucket himself to the town's inn to ask if they’d buy it, rather than letting Ah Cai profit from it.
(End of Chapter)