The farce early in the morning gradually came to an end with Mrs. Ye's cursing.
After finishing their meal, a group of children stood at the door with their schoolbags on their backs, watching them sort crabs and tie up crab legs. They were all reluctant to go to school.
When Mrs. Ye finished washing the dishes and came out, she saw that they were still gathered there talking and had not gone out to school. She became furious again, went back to the house, picked up the whip and hit them again.
Of course, the one who suffered was Ye Chenghai.
He jumped up instantly, with a sad face, "Why did you hit me again?"
"You are the one I want to beat. You are still reluctant to leave at the appointed time. Have you not eaten your breakfast yet and are you waiting to be whipped?"
"I'm not the only one here... Hey... Don't run... Wait for me..."
I walked too slowly, and ended up getting whipped again...
Oh, it’s so hard to be the boss…
Ye Yaodong, his father and his mother were tying up and sorting the crabs in two baskets, and the old lady was helping slowly beside them.
It only took the four of them a short while to pick out the crabs and tie their legs.
They kept and ate the thinner ones, those with broken legs, and those that were dead. If they picked out intact ones, they weighed more than 40 kilograms. Crabs are quite tenacious.
He kept more than ten pounds for himself and asked his mother to distribute them to relatives and friends, as his family couldn't finish them all, and then he carried several sorted baskets into the car.
Although there is not much in each basket, they still need to be sorted out and put into baskets, and the big yellow croaker caught last night should also be carried onto the cart.
When we sent them to the dock, the crabs were sold for more than 12 yuan, the yellow croakers were sold for more than 16 yuan, and the two together were sold for less than 29 yuan.
This can be considered as unexpected wealth.
He happily collected the manifest and asked Acai to save him another 50 kilograms of miscellaneous fish and shrimp as bait today.
There are still quite a few sandworms at home, which can also be used as fish bait, so the number of fish and shrimps can be reduced appropriately. If he didn't want to have more varieties of fish bait and he also wanted to dry more sandworms, he wouldn't have to buy any of them. Sandworms would be enough as bait.
He went home happily. He didn't know how long it would take to clean up the two large baskets of sandworms. Fortunately, there were many people at home who could help with the work.
On the way back, Sister Ye Dasao and Sister Ye Ersao were also helping with the cleaning with their claws, and were talking about how they would catch more sandworms to dry in the sun when the tide went out. Sandworms are indeed delicious and can also nourish the yin and strengthen the kidneys.
Even though there are two baskets here and some left over from yesterday, the total number is not small, but actually not much can be dried out. One pound of sandworms can only produce a little over one or two ounces, and it takes about eight pounds to produce one pound of dried ones.
He also kept a few pounds of bait, and brought a bucket back to his father-in-law and mother-in-law yesterday. The rest is estimated to be about 6 or 7 pounds. When they come to pick up Lin Guangyuan, they have to take some dry ones back. In total, there is not much, and each family can only get one or two pounds...
No, I have to send Lin Guangyuan to catch more in the afternoon!
Ye's mother was also there and said, "I'll go with you guys when the tide goes out this afternoon. Catch more. It tastes good no matter how you cook it. There has been a lot of rain since the beginning of spring, so we haven't been out to sea much. We don't have much stock at home. We've almost eaten all the dried food, so we need to dry more."
“We thought so too…”
Today is the 16th day of the lunar calendar. The tide was at full strength at around 1:00 p.m. and lasted for more than an hour as a G tide. It then gradually began to recede, reaching the bottom at around 7:00 p.m.
It just so happens that the kids have finished school at that time in the afternoon, so they can be sent out!
He was not afraid of not catching any sandworms today. They would usually come out to mate and reproduce for a few days. If there were no sandworms on the surface of the beach, he could dig under the sand to find some.
Just as they were busy, Aunt Lan from next door and her three daughters-in-law came over to clean the house. When they saw them, they came over to say hello.
"You~ There are so many sandworms. You caught them on the beach. Did you go to the beach to catch them so early?"
Mrs. Lan also said, "This must be several dozen kilograms, and we can dry a lot of it. How long did you take to collect it? There should still be some when the tide goes out in the afternoon, right? We can catch some then, they are very fresh."
Mother Ye smiled and said, "The house has been built for a few days. When are we going to move in?"
"It's still another half month before the day comes, so we should take some time to come here and clean up in advance. We also need to tidy up the area around the entrance and make a small plot of land to grow some vegetables."
"We have to grow some vegetables. There is not much land around us, so we can only grow some for our own consumption wherever we can."
"Yes, that's why we came here early to do it. The men are not at home, they are out at sea, so we women have to do it."
…
After they talked for a few words, they went to work on the new house next door.
Mrs. Ye said somewhat unhappily, "A few more families have appeared next door. Fortunately, the giant squid was discovered early in the first month of the lunar year, otherwise they might have discovered it first."
Ye Yaodong looked at his second sister-in-law in surprise. She had a very clear mind. How could she think so far ahead? Several months had passed...
Maybe after being cheated out of money, she suddenly received a large sum of money, which left a deep impression on her mind. You know, she had previously complained that the new house was a bit remote.
"Zhou Yongsheng's family is also going to build a house next door. I heard they will wait until after May Day to start construction," Ye's mother said casually while busying herself. "It would be good if more families built houses here. It would be more lively."
"They don't even build together, they bang and bang all day long, it's so noisy..."
“Isn’t it the same when building a house…”
There is strength in numbers. Everyone chatted and moved quickly, and the two baskets of sandworms were gradually empty.
Mother Ye saw that there was only a little left and left it to them to do, while she went to fetch water for washing.
After washing the sandworms, she took advantage of the good weather to dry them out, and then she had to busy herself with the baskets of anchovies.
Fish sauce is made from fermented small fish and salt, and it's delicious, just as tasty as the infamous canned herrings.
Ye Yaodong watched his mother pour the small fish into a large vat, mix them with sea salt in a ratio of 3:2 and start pickling them. As for how much fish sauce could be produced from a large sack of anchovies, he didn't know because he had never calculated it.
After it's done, it can be sold. The family can't finish that big jar in a million years, and it can't be eaten as a meal. It's just a condiment to enhance the flavor. However, it is indispensable for every household in their area.
While Ye's father helped Ye's mother, he went into the room to play with the children.
When the tide went out in the afternoon, the family went to the beach with their tools, ready to catch more sandworms.
I don't know if the news leaked out by Aunt Lan's family next door, but when the tide went out in the afternoon, quite a lot of people came to the beach. The sandworms in the shallow water were swept away as soon as they emerged, so they could only dig slowly and painstakingly on the beach, which greatly reduced their efficiency.
When digging sandworms, you don't shovel them out directly at the entrance of the hole. Instead, you can shovel them out quickly around the entrance by stepping on the shovel. This way, you can be more efficient.
At this moment, Ye's father and mother were each holding a shovel and digging there, while Ye's eldest and second sisters-in-law were picking up the trash.
When the children came home from school and saw the beach full of people, they were also stunned.
“When will this be dug up?”
"Dig slowly, just treat it as fun."
After a group of helpers came, Ye Yaodong stopped working seriously and started wandering around, taking a look at other people's harvests.
Hmm... not as much as they catch with shovels...
After looking around, I only picked up a few cat's eye snails that could spray water and a few jumping fish.
There were too many people on the beach, so I guess most of them had been picked up.
Both of his hands were full, so he had to walk back, but he saw Ye Chenghu reaching for a conch on the beach. He was so scared that he immediately ran up and kicked it away.
"father?"
"Don't pick up anything you don't recognize," he said as he walked over to the snail, "Come here."
Ye Chenghu looked over with a puzzled look on his face, "Huh?"
"Let me teach you how to recognize it. This is called a cone snail. The shell is thin and pointed in the front and thick in the back. Its shape is a bit like a chicken heart or a taro. It is extremely poisonous. The small opening has fangs that can shoot out venom. If it touches you, it can kill you."
There are many small seafoods to pick up at the beach, but there are also deadly things, so you need to be careful, especially in this day and age when marine resources are abundant and unidentified objects often appear on the beach.
Ye Chenghu was so frightened that he froze and didn't move.
"Don't touch things you don't recognize in the future." He looked at the children who gathered around him, "You too should be careful when playing on the beach. Don't pick up things you don't recognize."
"Oh, I see, Uncle San."
"Go and play!"
After letting them identify it carefully, he kicked the cone snail far back into the sea. This snail is actually very easy to identify.
Seeing Ye Chenghu still there, he patted his head again and said, "Go dig for sandworms, I'll give you some pocket money when I come back later!"
"Really?" Ye Chenghu's eyes lit up with surprise.
Children have a bad memory.
"Really? You can only get it if you work hard. Go ahead."
He ran away happily again, leaving this episode behind him.
The whole family came out as soon as the tide went out, and worked for two or three hours. When they went back at lunchtime, they only dug about 20 kilograms, which was despised by the children.
“Not as many as we caught yesterday!”
“Not as many as we caught at night!”
"Too many people!"
Ye Yaodong also felt that his efficiency was too low today, and he would have to use the back door to deal with these things in the future.
"Uncle, we're going to..."
Ye Yaodong knocked him on the head unceremoniously and said, "Stay home and sleep at night. If I find out that you sneak off to the beach, I will send you home tomorrow and never let you come over to play again."
Lin Guangyuan immediately shut up, "I mean, what time do you go out to sea at night?"
"A little after two."
"What time will you be back?"
“I don’t know what time it is in the afternoon. It depends on the situation, the tide, the weather, and the harvest.”
"All right."
"I want to go out to sea when you are older."
"All right."
Because he had to go out to sea at night, Ye Yaodong went to sleep after returning from the literacy class.
He attends the literacy class in a disinterested manner, only going when he has free time, so he has not graduated yet. He continues to attend the class with the mentality of learning as many words as possible.