Chapter 48: A Boat Full of Shellfish

“My sharp eyes helped. Several crabs were covered in mud and hiding in the mudflats. I almost missed them,” Ye Yaodong admitted. While he acknowledged his good luck, he also credited his experience.

“I was thrilled to catch a single green crab, but compared to you, it feels so insignificant, like a small fry next to a big catch,” Azheng said, shaking his head in frustration.

“No worries, the tide hasn’t risen yet. Why don’t you keep searching around the mudflats? By the way, where are Fatty and A Guang?”

Xiaoxiao pointed toward the sandy area by the rocks. “Over there—Fatty’s napping.”

Ye Yaodong turned to look in the direction Xiaoxiao was pointing and saw Fatty lying on the sand with his hands behind his head, his hat covering his face.

“What the hell? He can sleep like that? Is he a pig?”

“He is a pig,” Xiaoxiao said with a laugh.

Speechless, Ye Yaodong shook his head.

Under the blazing sun, Fatty was using the sky as his blanket and the earth as his bed. Ye Yaodong could only marvel at his ability to fall asleep anywhere.

“As for A Guang, he went to collect small abalones. He thinks the rocks have more suitable catches for him,” Xiaoxiao explained.

“Oh,” Ye Yaodong responded, glancing toward the rocks and spotting a figure bent over. “Alright then, you all keep searching. The tide won’t rise for a while. I’m going to rest for a bit.”

With that, he headed back to the muddy area where he had been catching sea centipedes earlier. There was still half a bucket of them left, so he figured he’d rest and then continue catching more.

Though these creatures looked a bit disgusting, they were considered a delicacy by food enthusiasts.

Since the beach near his village didn’t have these, he decided to take advantage of the low tide to catch as many as he could. Whether the docks would buy them or not didn’t matter. As long as he didn’t kill them, they could survive for two to three days. With his large family, they probably wouldn’t even last two days before being devoured.

One by one, he pulled the sea centipedes out of their holes. The long ones measured 20–30 cm, while the short ones were just a few centimeters.

“You’re still catching these? Aren’t you grossed out?”

Hearing A Guang’s voice, Ye Yaodong replied without looking up, “It’s fine catching them one at a time. They’re just sea centipedes, not like I haven’t seen them before.”

“Are you catching them to sell or eat?”

“Depends if A Cai will buy them. We don’t have these at our docks. If he won’t buy them, I’ll just keep them to eat.”

A Guang glanced at the bamboo basket nearby and commented, “You’ve got green crabs too, and they’re pretty big. Not bad—a day’s work is just about worth it.”

“Jealous, aren’t you? I caught seven of them—two females and five males—all meaty ones,” Ye Yaodong said smugly, still amazed by the abundance of resources on the isolated island.

“What? Seven? You’ve got insane luck!”

A Guang’s eyes widened in disbelief as he shook the bamboo basket, revealing several large pincers at the bottom.

“Azheng and Chen Wei each caught one too. Why don’t you try searching some more? The tide hasn’t come all the way up yet.”

“I’ll go right now! Where exactly did you catch them?”

Ye Yaodong pointed in a direction and said, “There, but I’ve already searched most of it. You can go farther out—there’s an area I haven’t been to yet.”

“Got it!”

A Guang eagerly ran off in the direction Ye Yaodong had indicated. The tide, once it started rising, would come in quickly, especially since it was already past the first day of the lunar month. The water level today hadn’t receded as much.

To Ye Yaodong’s surprise, his casual suggestion led A Guang to catch two green crabs, one of which was enormous—slightly bigger than the largest one Ye Yaodong had caught.

When A Guang returned, the others were filled with envy.

Xiaoxiao joked, “Master Dongzi, when will you give me some pointers too?”

“Exactly. If I’d known earlier, I would’ve asked where you caught those crabs. Maybe I could’ve grabbed a couple too!” Azheng lamented, clearly regretting missing the opportunity while chatting with Dongzi earlier.

A Guang, now hooked by the thrill of it, sighed with some regret, “Ah, I went too late. Only found two before the tide came in. The second one almost got swept into the sea, but luckily, I was quick.”

“That’s still pretty good. Two green crabs in one go! Fatty and Xiaoxiao didn’t even get any. If I’d known that spot had them, I might’ve gone myself,” Ye Yaodong chuckled before reminding everyone, “The tide’s coming in—let’s pack up and get on the boat.”

“Alright, alright, time to go home. I’m starving!”

“Me too. My stomach feels completely empty.”

“Someone wake up that fatso…”

“Just leave him here to live like a wild man…”

“Talk so loud, you think I’m deaf? Of course I heard you!” Fatty grumbled, pulling his hat off his face.

With laughs and jokes, everyone gathered their buckets and tools and boarded the boat. A Guang untied the rope and used the bamboo pole to push the boat away from the shore before starting the engine.

It was already 3 p.m. By now, after a whole day of combing the shore, everyone was exhausted. As soon as they got on the boat, they flopped down, either sitting or leaning wherever they could.

“Shellfish hunting is harder work than I thought. Thankfully, today’s haul was decent. Feels worth the effort,” Chen Wei said as he stretched and cracked his neck.

Unlike the others, who were more boisterous, Chen Wei was quieter, often only speaking when necessary.

Fatty rolled his eyes. “Why do I feel like you’re mocking me?”

“Haha, be more confident. Take out the words ‘feel like,’” Ye Yaodong teased, laughing.

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh along.

“Fatty, you might as well have stayed home. Look at your chubby, fair face—it’s all tanned now,” Xiaoxiao joked.

“Who cares if a man is tanned? But it’s so damn hot and sunny. I’m not coming next time.”

“Tomorrow, you’ll still be baking under the sun if you help at Dongzi’s house,” someone pointed out.

Ye Yaodong quickly chimed in, “Hey, no pressure! This heat is brutal. If you don’t feel like working under the sun, I won’t push you. Come if you want.”

Feeling a little embarrassed, Fatty mumbled, “I’ll see how things go and help out if I can.”

“No worries! Building a house isn’t a one-day job. We’ve hired workers for it, so you can decide as you like,” Ye Yaodong said casually.

Everyone nodded. They figured they’d help out when they had time.

After about ten minutes of sailing, they reached the dock. Once the boat was secured, everyone disembarked, leaving Ye Yaodong to guard it.

The others went to fetch sacks for packing their haul, as the deck was piled with shellfish. They also planned to bring a handcart since the load was too heavy to carry home otherwise.

While waiting, Ye Yaodong watched as fishing boats gradually returned to the dock—it was already afternoon, the usual time for boats to come in.

Since they were all from the same village, he recognized everyone. They greeted him as they passed by, curious about the shellfish filling his boat.

“What’s with all the shells, Dongzi? Did you rob the reef?” someone joked.

“Just picked them up along the shore,” he replied vaguely, brushing off their questions.

Though the shellfish were common around the reefs and not worth much, the sheer quantity was surprising. Seeing Ye Yaodong unwilling to elaborate, they didn’t press further but couldn’t resist sneaking another look at the full boat.

It wasn’t surprising that no one else had collected so much. Most villagers only had small hand-rowed wooden boats, which they used for fishing to make a living. If everyone started foraging like this, the resources around the isolated islands would quickly be depleted.

After a short wait, Ye Yaodong spotted his mother approaching the dock. She was likely there to wait for his father’s return.

When she saw him, she called out and hurried over, breaking into a jog when she noticed the boat.

“You’re just getting back? Out the whole day—what on earth…?” Her words trailed off as her eyes widened in shock, taking in the boatload of shellfish. “Why do you have so many shells?”