Seeing so many shellfish on the reef, everyone became excited again, and the disappointment just now disappeared without a trace in an instant.
Ye Yaodong also looked delighted. The tide had just receded a little, and when it receded to the bottom, more of the reef would be exposed.
"Everyone took their own actions."
After saying that, he was not in a hurry to dig, but looked around first. Until he saw a reef covered with wild small abalone, he bent down and dug with a screwdriver.
This wild abalone attached to the reef is different from the abalone sold on the market. It looks completely different. It is much smaller, only slightly larger than a one-yuan coin. It is oval in shape and its shell is also very thin.
This is his favorite food. It can be steamed with lily bulbs and scallion oil. It is so delicious.
With a little prying with a screwdriver, the whole piece fell off. He happily used a bucket to pry off the entire piece, and then continued to search around.
From the corner of my eye I saw a large group of Buddha's hands densely clustered in the crevices of the rocks nearby. This one is also worth some money.
Buddha's hand is also called pen holder. Its scientific name is turtle foot. The Records of Three Mountains in the Song Dynasty states that "it is named after its shape. The flesh in the valley is beautiful and the big ones are as big as a palm."
He first put on gloves to prevent his hands from being scratched by the young shells, then reached into the gap and dug it out with a screwdriver.
Only after he had dug out the entire piece of Buddha's hand did he move to another place and continue searching. When he saw some large snails, he picked them up as well.
The most common snail species on the reef is the spicy snail, as well as the horseshoe snail, shrimp snail, sesame snail and flower snail.
As long as they are big, he will accept them all.
He only dug up things that could be sold for some money. He dug the valuable ones first and left the worthless ones like dried vegetables, clams, and cow's eyes alone.
He didn't pry open the oyster juveniles growing inside. He would wait until he had dug out most of the valuable ones and then deal with those later.
As he was searching, he bumped into A Guang. He took a look in his bucket and saw everything in it. He accepted everything. He probably dug whatever he saw. The whole bucket was almost full.
"It's full, why don't you pour it into the bag?"
Ah Guang said innocently: "I only brought a bucket!"
Ye Yaodong didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Now that your bucket is full, can't you just sit and watch?"
"Let's pack them first. I'm only picking abalone and big snails. I was too excited at first and put everything in the bucket. Now it's full and there's nothing left to pack. I have to pick some."
Ah Zheng, who was also nearby, raised his head and said, "My bucket is almost full..."
The fat man sat on the reef and sighed, "My bucket was full a long time ago, and I have been resting for a while. Who knew there would be so much stuff to dig on the isolated island?"
Ye Yaodong was speechless. They saw him carrying a sack yesterday, but he didn't even prepare anything today.
Suddenly he couldn't help but feel secretly happy. Fortunately, he brought two sacks today. When he went ashore yesterday, he took a closer look and saw that it was crowded. He thought there must be a lot of goods and was afraid that one sack would not be enough.
"I saw Dongzi that you put a big bamboo basket in the bucket this morning?"
"Yes, there are two sacks in the big bamboo basket. I asked my wife to prepare them for me today. I told you yesterday that there must be goods on the isolated island, but you didn't make any more preparations. Now, after your buckets are full, you can sit down and rest. When the tide goes down, you don't have to go to the sea anymore!"
"We never thought that we would go back to the boat to get tools just after wading ashore yesterday without taking a closer look."
Everyone regretted not having prepared earlier. After the buckets were full, they could only sit on the rocks and watch Ye Yaodong dig.
Ye Yaodong was also very excited. There were no goods on the reefs at the dock, so he would pick out the big ones among the short ones. It was nothing like here on the isolated island, where there were so many good goods and they were all very big.
For example, there are two varieties of wild Dancai, one is emerald green, and the other is black with a hint of purple. The ones on the market that are all black are farmed.
The emerald green ones are as big as eggs. The black and purple ones have a white head and are slightly smaller in size, but they are still quite big.
When the bucket was full, he took it down and placed it on an open space on the side, then took out a sack to put the water spinach in. This thing grows in large patches and is very easy to dig.
After digging the Dancai, he dug out the cow's eyes nearby, mixed them together, and then picked them out when he got home.
In their local dialect, they call it cow eyes. The official name is unknown because this thing cannot be farmed and cannot be found on the market.
It is also a kind of shellfish, like scallops, but the meat is not as big as scallops. The shell is round and the color of stone. It is especially good to add some ginger and garlic to make soup!
While digging for Chinese cabbage and cow eyes, he also dug for clams and picked up snails. He dug whatever he saw and accepted everything. He put them in a sack instead of a bucket, so he didn't have to pick them out specifically like he did at the beginning.
Not until the whole sack was almost full did he drag it onto the beach and shake out another sack from the bamboo basket.
"Are you tired, Dongzi? You actually prepared two sacks. Why are you so diligent? One sack is not enough. Do you want to take a break first?" Xiaoxiao lit a cigarette and watched Ye Yaodong busying himself leisurely.
"I have to be diligent. Building a house at home costs a lot of money. My elder brother and second brother went out to sea with my father, and all the money they earned was used to build the house. I have to contribute as well. Producing more seafood as food for the workers can also reduce the family's expenses."
"Otherwise I'll have to pick up stones and carry sand. If I don't do anything, my father will break my legs."
Ah Zheng chuckled, "Oh~ Your father must have just said that. How could he not know that you can't lift your shoulders or hands? You've been beaten a lot since you were a child. What's the big deal?"
"You can't say that. My eldest son is already 5 years old. As a father, do I have no dignity? Besides, building a house is a big deal. How can I not care about it? I must help with some work. After the family is divided, I still have to support the family in Hukou."
Xiaoxiao nodded: "That makes sense!"
Ah Zheng then said positively: "We are free anyway, so let's go and help you tomorrow."
"On this hot day..."
"It's okay, we'll just help out."
Ye Yaodong thought for a moment and said, "Or I can go back and ask the workers if they have complained enough. If not, you can come and lend a hand."
"There are enough people. We can come and help. Anyway, we don't need to pay for our work, just provide meals."
"Okay, we'll definitely provide meals. You guys can decide for yourself. If you're free, go. If you're not free, forget it."
As he spoke, he had already pried open half a bag of oysters. He didn't have time to open the oysters directly at the moment, so he dug out the whole oysters and threw them into a sack, and then took it back home for the women to open them slowly.
"Can you help me carry that sack onto the boat first?"
"OK!"
As soon as they lifted the sacks onto the boat, they realized they had done something stupid!