As soon as he stepped onto the beach, he saw squids of all sizes stranded everywhere, scattered on the beach.
The tides around were still pushing the dead squids in the sea upwards.
Father Ye said with joy: "Pick up as much as you can. If you can't pick up all, come back tomorrow."
As he said this, he squatted down and picked it up impatiently.
"Hurry up, don't waste time, don't look around, just pick it up quickly."
"I'll just see how many there are around?"
"No need to look... what to look at... ah..."
Ye's father's voice suddenly stopped. Ye Yaodong turned around in confusion and said, "Hey, damn, is he still alive?"
His father was caught off guard and had his face sprayed with ink by a dying squid, and then he reached out and wiped his face...
It became even darker.
"I didn't expect he wasn't dead yet."
"Go wash them in the water." After saying that, he squatted down and started picking them up.
But before he could pick up a few, he was sprayed in the face by the squid. Fortunately, the squid was a bit far away and the spray was a bit off, so it only hit one cheek.
Those who were sprayed white yesterday were sprayed black today, white plus black.
He didn't care and just left it there and continued picking up the squids. He would definitely get scolded later anyway, there were so many squids on the beach.
There is a saying that the blood and gallbladder in the squid's belly are like ink and can be used for writing, but the writing will fade away over the years.
This means that squid ink can be used for writing, but it will fade over time.
The reason why squid is called "squid" is because someone once used its juice to write something, and the writing was an IOU.
The words written with squid ink will remain for a period of time, but over time, they will oxidize under the action of air, so the words will disappear, so people can deny their debts.
In ancient times, there was a legend called "He Bo Cong Shi", which means that people in Jiangdong used its ink to write contracts and defraud others of their money and property.
Ye Yaodong squatted there and moved around, picking up the squids in front of him one by one and putting them into the sack. Occasionally, he would pick up other stranded small fish and conchs, and he threw them all into the sack.
In a short while, his face and hands turned pitch black.
He raised his head and glanced at his father who was not far away. His face had just turned pale. The two of them were exactly the same.
After twisting his neck, he continued.
Alas, it’s a pity that I can’t bring those kids out, so I can only pick them up by myself.
Just as they were feeling aching from picking up the food, a group of seabirds flew over and snatched the food from their mouths.
Most seabirds like to eat fish, squid, crustaceans, mollusks, etc., and they can eat everything.
Father Ye felt so heartbroken when he saw the group of seabirds pecking at him non-stop.
"Hurry up and pick them up. Even if there are only two of us, they can't eat them as fast as we can."
"Damn it! They're everywhere. They're flying here just as the tide goes out."
"There's nothing we can do. We can't pick them all up anyway, so we can only give them away cheaply."
"I was thinking of coming back tomorrow to pick them up, but if I come back tomorrow, I guess there won't be any hair left."
…
As Ye Yaodong was cursing, the sun gradually set behind the mountain. There were more and more seabirds on the beach, and the two men's sacks were almost full.
Ye Yaodong rubbed his aching waist and sighed inwardly, thinking that all the money he earned was hard-earned!
I have even been reduced to snatching food from the mouths of a group of seabirds, damn.
No, they were the ones who were trying to steal his things, and he was the first one to discover it.
"Let's go, Dad. It's almost time. The sun has set. It will be dark by the time we get back."
Just as he finished speaking, stretched his neck and twisted his waist, and was about to grab the squids from the bag, a seabird was so arrogant that it wanted to rush into his bag and grab the squids.
He instinctively raised his hand and hit it, but it dodged it quickly.
"Damn, there are some on the beach. You don't eat them, but you come here to steal them on purpose."
"What are you talking about? Let's go back."
Father Ye picked up a bag and carried it up. Seeing that he was still mumbling and looking around, he hurriedly urged him on.
“Oh, here it comes.”
He also held the mouth of the sack tightly, then carried it on his shoulder and walked towards the fishing boat.
It is still low tide, and luckily he parked on the side, quite far away, so the fishing boat was not stranded when the tide receded, and could still get out.
After wading through the water and carrying the two sacks ashore, they immediately poured the squids into bamboo baskets. If they were kept pressed down, they would easily be crushed, so it was better to pour them into the bamboo baskets.
"This bag probably weighs about 100 kilograms."
Father Ye nodded happily. "About that. A little over 30 cents per pound. The squids will probably go down in price in the future, but these two bags can sell for around 60 or 70 yuan. Add to that the two nets we pulled in earlier, the catch from longline fishing, and the ones we caught from diving, and we should be able to sell for almost 200 yuan."
Ye Yaodong was also in a good mood. He hadn't been out to sea for many days, and when he came out he had a good harvest, picking up so many squids for free.
"Tomorrow I'll go to the mountains to chop some firewood, bundle up some and throw them into the sea to lure the fish. I'll catch more during this flood season."
"Go back and ask your eldest and second brothers to get some more branches, tie them up and throw them into the sea. Let them catch squids next. There will be a lot of squids during this period of time."
"Well, go back, you drive the boat, and I'll pick it up."
When Father Ye heard this, he knew that he was going to keep some of the goods again. He frowned and said distressedly, "Leave less. Don't keep the valuable sea cucumbers and abalone. Just keep some of the miscellaneous fish to eat."
"I know, I know. Go and start the boat. It's getting dark and I can hardly see your face."
Both the father and son had black faces and had no time to wash. They were racing against time to snatch the fish from the seabirds. After they were carried onto the boat, they followed closely on board to sort them out.
But it's not a big problem. Men don't care much about their image. No one can see them at sea anyway.
And there was no mirror, so both the father and the son felt their faces were a little wet and just wiped them a few times without anyone laughing at the other.
It is impossible to expect them to wipe each other's face gently.
Father Ye gave them a few more instructions, saying that they only needed to get a few random fish and crabs, enough for one meal, and that they didn't need to leave anything else for them, and that he should leave a little for himself...
"Got it. Go ahead and start the boat. I know what's going on."
Because Aqing gave birth to a child, his mother had to take care of the confinement meals. During this period, his father, mother and grandma all ate at his place, so that his mother didn't have to run back and forth and cook for both sides.
After driving his father to drive the boat, he carried the bucket with his back to him and took the lead in stretching out his claws towards the squids, taking their heads one by one!
There is also the supply for today and tomorrow, two days.
The squid will shrink when boiled, so one is not too much for one person. It is very delicious when braised.
There are also sea cucumbers. Just leave 4 for today. Aqing and the old lady will each have one, and they will eat them for two days.
Forget about the rest, just leave some shrimps for the two kids to go with the rice, and then pick out some miscellaneous fish to braise after we get ashore.
There are still some leftover sandworms in the bucket. You can take them back and stir-fry them with leeks to make another bowl of soup. You can also leave four or five crabs and fry them in half.
People living by the sea can only eat seafood for every meal, and add one or two stir-fried vegetables, which is enough for the whole family.
He put everything that should be kept into the bucket and went over the menu in his mind again before he carried the bucket to the corner with satisfaction.
The sky gradually darkened, and by the time the fishing boat docked, it was also dark.
Ye's mother was waiting on the shore, and she was getting so anxious that it was dark before she saw the familiar boat docking.
When she ran to the shore, she was almost scared, "You...you..."
"Why do you look like you've seen a ghost? Come up and help me."
Ye Yaodong glanced at his father and said, "Don't you look like a ghost?"
After hearing two familiar voices, Ye's mother breathed a sigh of relief. "Why are you two so dark? Have you become pirates?"
"I was picking up a squid and got sprayed all over my face, but I didn't have time to clean it up." Ye Yaodong wiped his face while hearing this, and instantly there were several black and yellow streaks on his face...
Ye's mother was almost exhausted. "It's late at night. If someone sees it, it will scare them to death. Why not just wipe it with a handkerchief and some water?"
Father Ye also made the same move and wiped his face. "What's the big deal? It's black anyway. I use the water to cook. I don't have time to get sea water."
Ye's mother didn't bother to say anything to the two rough guys, so they went on board to help.
"Other ships have already docked, how did you get here?"
"Didn't we say we would pick up squids? Aren't there several baskets in the corner?"
Only then did Ye's mother notice that he was talking about picking up.
"Picked? Not caught?"
"No, these squids died after laying eggs and were washed ashore on the island. We spent half the afternoon picking up only two bags."
"Ah? There is such a good thing." Ye's mother was overjoyed. "It's the squid fishing season. We can go pick some tomorrow. It's a pity that I have to stay at home to take care of the confinement. Otherwise, I would have gone with you to help."
"It's not certain that there will be food tomorrow. A bunch of seabirds are circling the island. They haven't left even after we left. They've eaten more food than we have."
"Pity."
"There's nothing to regret. It's good enough to pick up 200 kilograms. I'll cut some branches to trap them tomorrow. It's faster than picking them up."
"Yes, I saw some squids in their trawling nets today. I guess they will start trapping next."
"Carry it down first," Ye Yaodong urged.
Several purchasing points have closed, only Acai's is still open, mainly to wait for Ye Yaodong's goods.
The cargo from Ye Yaodong's fishing boats is collected by him. No matter how late it is, he has to wait for the fishing boats to come back and collect the cargo before closing the shop, which usually doesn't happen very late.
When Ah Cai saw their cargo coming over, he couldn't help but ask, "Why is it so late? Only your ship hasn't come back yet, while the other ships have all returned long ago."
"Don't you know that the finale always appears last?" Ye Yaodong replied jokingly.
"What good stuff are there? Sea cucumber, abalone, and small green dragon?"
“Both.”
"You're really good. You can get it every time you go out to sea. Do you have a secret base?"
"Do you think I'm raising myself?"
"I suspected so, too."
Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes and said, "Stop talking nonsense and weigh it quickly. My wife is still waiting for my fish to produce milk."
"Okay, okay, how much is the fine?"
"Aren't they all 500?"
"You have a good relationship with Secretary Chen, I thought you could be less."
"You wish. Secretary Chen is fair and selfless. We are all the same."
"As long as you can give birth to the baby, 500 yuan is nothing to you."
"Who said that? 500 yuan is a huge sum of money for me. It almost emptied my family's savings."
Ah Cai was speechless. He didn't believe him. How could he not know how much money he made? No less than a lot!
"How much is squid these days?" Ye Yaodong changed the subject.
"36 cents. There are more squids these days."
“Will the price drop again?”
"About the same. If it increases, it will probably drop a few points."
"Got it, weigh it quickly."
Ye Yaodong put the goods he was keeping into the bucket that had been used to keep the goods, and gave it to his mother, asking her to take it back first as there were elderly people, children, and a woman who had just given birth at home.