Chapter 28: Catching the Tiger Grouper

“Whoa, this fish is slippery!”

Just as Ye Yaodong poked it out, the fish darted off again, slipping right back under the rock. The rock was too large to move, so he had to keep poking around with his fire tongs to try to flush it out again.

Ah Guang crouched down, holding his empty bucket up to the crevice under the stone. “My bucket’s empty anyway. Just use it to catch this fish first.”

Seeing his friend’s empty bucket, Ye Yaodong couldn’t help but laugh—everyone else had managed to catch something, but Ah Guang’s bucket was still completely bare.

“Alright, I’ll use it.”

Ah Zheng’s eyes crinkled with laughter. “Poor Ah Guang, feeling miserable on the inside but keeping up appearances! A true brother!”

“Sigh…”

“Hahaha!”

The teasing continued, but Ye Yaodong kept a grin on his face as he worked with the fire tongs. He stirred around under the stone for ages, but the tiger grouper just wouldn’t budge. “Can you guys check the other side? It might’ve swum over there.”

“Got it! It’s over here! Bring the bucket!”

“That’s a big one.”

“Looks like it’s about a pound or two.”

“Dongzi really hit the jackpot!”

Xiaoxiao grabbed Ah Guang’s bucket, scooping the fish directly into it. “Alright, got it!”

They all leaned over, staring at the lively fish bouncing around in the bucket with envy.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t afford to buy seafood, but half the fun of gathering it themselves was the thrill of the catch. And this wasn’t just any fish—it was a tiger grouper, something really special. They couldn’t help feeling a bit jealous of Ye Yaodong’s lucky break.

“There’s not much water in the bucket. Add some more so it doesn’t die,” Ah Wei suggested.

“I’ve only got two jumping fish. Let me dump them in your bucket and I’ll use mine to scoop water.”

Xiaoxiao laughed, “Great, I just scored two extra fish!”

After filling the bucket halfway with seawater, Xiaoxiao handed it back to Ye Yaodong. “Are you going to keep it for yourself, or sell it?”

“Sell it, of course! If I brought it home to eat, my mom would chew me out and probably break my legs. Yesterday, I tried to keep two small crabs, but she scolded me good. Only when I said they were for the kids did she ease up, though she still sold them in the end.”

This tiger grouper was worth even more than yesterday’s crabs. If he kept it for cooking, he’d face his mom’s wrath, and his wife would probably be mad at him for days, too. Better to sell it for a few bucks and save her a day or two of net-weaving.

“Yeah, better to sell it. Our folks always skimp on themselves. This one’s worth over a dollar per pound. It should fetch at least three bucks—enough to cover three or four days of net weaving. It’d be such a waste to just eat it.”

“Exactly, cheaper catches are fine to eat, but this one is worth selling.”

“While it’s still alive, head over to the dock and sell it at the trading point. Meanwhile, we’ll stick around and keep looking—no point letting all the good catches end up in your bucket and me going home with an empty one!”

Everyone agreed, so Ye Yaodong nodded. “Alright, you guys have fun here. I’ll be back soon.”

Ah Zheng laughed, “No worries, take your time! Stay as long as you need—no one here’s missing you!”

“Yeah, right,” he laughed, tossing back, “I know you’re all just jealous of my good luck. Without me, you’ll be lucky to find anything big!”

“Go on, go on!”

Grinning, Ye Yaodong carried the bucket over to where Lin Xiuqing and the others were digging for clams. He set the bucket down in front of her and said, “I caught a tiger grouper. Take it to the buyer at the dock.”

“Huh? A tiger grouper!” Lin Xiuqing’s eyes lit up as she looked into the bucket. “It’s huge!”

“A tiger grouper?” his mother exclaimed, walking over with a surprised look.

Others nearby overheard and started gathering around, chattering excitedly. “Is that really a tiger grouper?”

“Where’d you catch it? That’s some good luck!”

“Got a few stone crabs in there, too?”

“Wow, even a bunch of snow clams…”

“Where’d you find all this stuff, Dongzi? We’ve been coming to this beach forever and haven’t found half of that.”

“We always find a few jumping fish or stone crabs at best. Dongzi really hit the jackpot.”

Ignoring their chatter, Ye Yaodong turned to Lin Xiuqing. “Clear out a bucket to hold the fish and take it to the buyer at the dock. This bucket’s Ah Guang’s—I need to get it back to him and head back to look around some more.”

“Sure, I’ll pour the clams into Mom’s bucket,” Lin Xiuqing said, her face beaming with joy as she quickly got to work.

Ye Yaodong figured the tiger grouper would fetch around three yuan, so he wasn’t worried about going to the dock himself. He poured the fish into his wife’s bucket and, with Ah Guang’s bucket now empty, turned to head back down the beach.

“Wait a second!” his mother called after him. “Isn’t there a bunch of snow clams in there too? If there’s enough, take those to the buyer with the grouper. Why leave them in the bucket?”

“Sell the snow clams too?”

“Of course! If they’re worth something, then sell them,” his mother replied, lifting his bucket and weighing it in her hands. “These clams are almost as big as fish balls! There’s more than a jin here; that’s worth at least another yuan or two. Why waste it on eating them?”

“Alright… let’s sell those too, then.”

Lin Xiuqing had thought the same thing earlier but didn’t bring it up, not wanting to upset him after he’d already contributed the tiger grouper. Now, with his mother’s approval, she eagerly reached for the clams.

“Careful! The stone crabs have big pincers and could pinch you. Let me do it.”

Ye Yaodong stopped his wife, carefully plucking the stone crabs out of the bucket and pinning them under his foot so they wouldn’t scuttle off. He then tossed the clams into the bucket with the grouper.

“Good now? All that’s left are a few small stone crabs, some mantis shrimp, jumping fish, and just one prawn—not worth much on their own.”

His mother nodded in satisfaction. “You’ve had good luck these last couple of days. Most folks could go beachcombing for years without finding a tiger grouper. Go look around again and see if you find anything else valuable for your wife to sell.”

“It’s not like tiger groupers are lying around everywhere, like cabbages. There’s only stuff here to gather because of the tides these last couple of days. And if there were always such bounties, Ah Guang wouldn’t be going home with an empty bucket,” he explained, casting a quick look at the women nearby who seemed tempted to join in the hunt. He was hoping they wouldn’t all abandon clam digging for fishing, or he’d have no point in going back himself.

His luck really had been unusually good recently!

“Just saying—if I didn’t keep nagging, you’d probably have cooked it up already!” his mother teased, rolling her eyes.

Who didn’t know he was lucky today? She knew perfectly well there wasn’t much left on their local beach.

“I brought it right over, didn’t I? Didn’t waste a thing…”

“Go on then, get back down there.”

Having handed over his haul, he chuckled as his mother kept up her gentle nagging. Changing his family’s view of him would take time, but he wasn’t worried. He still had decades ahead of him, and slowly but surely, they’d come to see him in a new light.