Chapter 45: The Reef is Packed with Goods

Seeing so many shellfish on the rocks, everyone’s disappointment instantly vanished. Excitement took over again.

Ye Yao Dong’s face lit up with joy as the tide had only just begun to recede. When it was fully out, more of the rocks would be exposed.

“Everyone, spread out and start looking.”

He didn’t rush to start digging himself. Instead, he took a moment to scan the area. It wasn’t until he spotted a rock covered in wild small abalones that he bent down to pry them off with a screwdriver.

These wild abalones, clinging to the rocks, were different from the ones sold in the market. They were much smaller, about the size of a one-yuan coin, oval-shaped, and had a thinner shell.

These were his favorite—they could be steamed with golden needles and scallions, which made them incredibly fragrant.

With a slight twist of the screwdriver, an entire abalone came loose. He happily placed it in his bucket and pried off the whole cluster before continuing to search around.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a cluster of Buddha’s hand shells nestled in the cracks of another rock. These were also worth something.

Buddha’s hand, also known as a “pen rack,” is scientifically called “tortoise feet.” According to the “Three Mountains Gazetteer” from the Song Dynasty, it was described as “shaped like a hand, with tender meat in the valley, and the larger ones are like palms.”

He put on gloves to avoid being scratched by the young clams, then reached into the cracks with his screwdriver to pry them loose.

After digging out an entire cluster of Buddha’s hand shells, he moved on and continued to search. He also picked up any large snails he found along the way.

The rocks were teeming with snails, especially spicy snails, horseshoe snails, green shrimp snails, sesame snails, and flower snails.

Anything large, he wasn’t picky—he took them all.

He only dug for the valuable things first, leaving the less valuable seaweed, clams, and cow eyes for later.

He didn’t bother with the juvenile oysters and clams either, planning to come back for them once he’d collected everything worth selling.

As he was looking around, he bumped into Ah Guang. He glanced at his bucket, which was overflowing with everything—he probably just took whatever he saw. It was nearly full.

“Your bucket’s full. Why not empty it into a bag?”

Ah Guang looked innocent. “I only brought one bucket!”

Ye Yao Dong couldn’t help but laugh in frustration. “Well, now that it’s full, are you just going to sit there and watch?”

“Let’s keep filling it. Right now, I’m only picking abalones and big snails. I got too excited at first and threw everything in. Now that it’s full, I’ll have to be picky.”

Ah Zheng, who was nearby, looked up. “My bucket’s almost full too.”

Fatty, sitting on a rock, sighed. “My bucket was full a long time ago. I’ve been resting for a while. Who knew the island had so much to dig up.”

Ye Yao Dong was speechless. They had seen him bring sacks yesterday, but today they hadn’t prepared at all.

He couldn’t help but secretly feel a bit smug. Fortunately, he had brought two sacks today. Yesterday, when they landed, he had taken a good look around and saw how densely packed the area was. He guessed there would be a lot of goods, so he brought extra sacks just in case one wouldn’t be enough.

“I saw you still had a big bamboo basket this morning, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, inside the bamboo basket were two sacks. My wife helped me prepare them. I told you yesterday—this island has goods! Yet you guys didn’t bring enough. Now you’re all going to have to sit out once your buckets are full. When the tide recedes, you won’t even need to go back out!”

“We never thought about it. Yesterday, we just waded ashore without paying much attention, and then went back to the boat to get our tools,” they all lamented, regretting not preparing earlier. After their buckets were full, they could only sit on the rocks and watch Ye Yao Dong continue digging.

Ye Yao Dong, however, was in high spirits. On the pier, the rocks barely had anything of value, and he would dig through the smaller ones to find bigger pieces. But here on the isolated island, the rocks were teeming with good finds, and the shells were large.

Take the seaweed, for example. There were two types of wild seaweed. One was emerald green, while the other was black with a hint of purple. The completely black ones in the market were farmed, but the green ones were plump and the size of eggs. The black with purple had a slightly smaller head but were still considered large.

Once his bucket was full, he set it aside and took out a sack to collect the seaweed. These plants grew in clusters, and harvesting them was easy.

After digging up the seaweed, he moved on to collect cow eyes, mixing them in the same sack. When he got home, he would sort them out.

Locally, they referred to them as “cow eyes,” though the official name was unknown since these couldn’t be farmed and were rarely seen on the market. They were a type of shellfish, similar to scallops but smaller. Their shells were round and stone-colored, and when boiled with some ginger and garlic, they made a delicious soup.

As he dug up seaweed and cow eyes, he also picked up sea cucumbers and snails, taking whatever he came across. He filled the sack with everything, no longer being selective like at the beginning.

When the sack was almost full, he dragged it to the beach and pulled out another sack from the bamboo basket.

“Aren’t you tired, Dongzi? You really did bring two sacks. Why are you so hardworking? One sack isn’t enough, do you want to rest for a bit?” Xiao Xiao lit a cigarette and casually watched Ye Yao Dong work.

“If I don’t work hard, who will? We need a lot of money to build the house. My older brothers are out at sea with my dad, and they use the money they make to help with the construction. I have to pitch in too. The more seafood I gather, the less we have to spend on food for the workers.”

“If I don’t do it, my dad will make me carry stones or sand, and if I sit idle, he’ll probably break my legs,” Ye Yao Dong added with a laugh.

Azheng chuckled, “Haha, your dad is just talking. He knows you’re not strong enough for that. You’ve been beaten enough already, so what’s the big deal?”

“You can’t say that. My first son is already five years old. As a father, I can’t just ignore it, can I? Building a house is a big deal, I can’t just brush it off, I need to help out. After the property is divided, I’ll still have to support the family,” Ye Yao Dong replied seriously.

Xiao Xiao nodded. “That makes sense.”

Azheng eagerly added, “Anyway, we’re just sitting around. Why don’t we come help tomorrow?”

“In this heat?” Ye Yao Dong frowned.

“It’s fine, we’ll just give a little help.”

Ye Yao Dong thought for a moment. “I’ll check if the workers are enough. If not, you guys can come help.”

“We’re good. We can help too, just as long as we don’t need to get paid. As long as we get food, we’re fine.”

“Alright, no problem, we’ll feed you. If you’re free, just come. If not, no worries.”

While they were talking, Ye Yao Dong had already pried open half a bag of juvenile clams. He wasn’t in the mood to open the oysters yet, so he just threw all the clams into the sack to deal with later, when he could let the women at home open them.

“Can you guys help me carry that sack onto the boat?”

“Sure!”

However, as soon as they lifted the sack onto the boat, they realized they had made a foolish mistake!