Returning to the Small Fishing Village in 1982
Returning to the Small Fishing Village in 1982 Chapter 58

Chapter 58: Soaked and Dripping, Heading Home

Lin Xiuqing’s fingers covered his face, pushing him away with a forceful shove. This shameless man had behaved seriously for a while, but now he was back to being his usual playful self.

Ye Yaodong, however, grabbed her wrist and frowned. “Did you hurt your hand?”

She pulled her hand back. “It’s fine, just a little scrape.”

“Then you should wash it when we get back. Don’t keep looking. If you touch seawater, it’ll hurt more.”

“It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt. It’s still early, the tide just went out, there should still be things to find. I won’t touch the seawater. If I find something, I’ll call you. I’ve done this before, remember?”

“Don’t push yourself…”

“Ah, it’s nothing. Just a fall, nothing big. Hurry and keep looking,” she said dismissively, continuing to search carefully. After taking a few more steps, she suddenly stopped. “Move this stone, I see a blue crab foot. It looks like an orchid crab.”

She was in high spirits, and Ye Yaodong couldn’t do much but follow along.

The two of them wandered around the rocky area again. At this moment, a few big raindrops fell. Just when they were about to head back, the rain stopped, so they decided to keep searching.

After wandering around for another two hours, Ye Yaodong finally spoke up, “Alright, it’s almost noon. Let’s head back.”

“Don’t we search for a little longer?” Lin Xiuqing asked reluctantly.

Ye Yaodong chuckled, “What’s this, addicted to collecting sea treasures?”

“Yeah, kind of. It feels so easy today. We’ve found so much in just the morning. In the past, during the big tides, there was never this much to collect.”

“The big tides on the first and fifteenth are actually quite bountiful, but since our beach has been visited by so many people from the village, it feels like there’s less. The isolated islands still have plenty. Alright, let’s go. I’m starving, and the sky’s getting cloudy again.”

“Fine, then we’ll come back tomorrow when the tide is low again.”

“Heh~” Ye Yaodong laughed lightly, shaking his head. “Let’s see how tomorrow goes. If the typhoon is strong, the tide won’t go out, it’ll probably rise higher, and we might even get heavy rainfall.”

“True, then forget it. We’ll come back when the tide goes out and the rain stops.”

“Mm.”

They had already collected quite a lot that morning. They had eight green crabs, varying in size, and even more rock crabs. There were three blue flower crabs, quite solid and worth a bit of money. They also had more than ten stone crabs, large sea eels, golden pomfret, mei tong fish, and spring fish, along with some small fish and shrimp. The clams were the most abundant…

If they emptied the sack, it would fill up a large bucket!

Of course, the most special find was the Mele pearl, but they decided to keep it hidden for now. The barramundi and grouper in the water bucket were also pretty good.

Ye Yaodong held the water bucket with one hand and the sack with the other, while Lin Xiuqing walked beside him, her face full of joy. The two of them walked home with quick steps.

Just as they were about halfway home, a torrential downpour started, and they had to rush home through the rain.

By the time they reached home, they were drenched, but instead of taking a shower and changing clothes first, they grabbed a large basin and immediately dumped out the contents of the sack.

When Ye’s mother saw them drenched, she couldn’t help but mutter, “Where did you two go? Running around on a typhoon day…”

Ye’s eldest sister-in-law, excited, said, “Ah~ you went treasure hunting at the beach? You’re brave, going out in a typhoon!”

Ye’s second sister-in-law also put down her work and came over, “Wow, you’ve found a lot… ah? So many green crabs…”

A bunch of children crowded around, and Ye Yaodong’s eldest son, Ye Chenghu, shouted from the side, “You went to the beach and didn’t take us!”

“Little rascal, you’re everywhere. Do you want to be swept away by the waves?”

“If you guys can go, why can’t I? Hmph!”

“Because sea monsters only take in young boys and girls! Are you scared?”

“No!”

“Little rascal!”

Ye Yaodong chuckled and cursed lightly before ignoring him. He turned to his mother and asked, “Where’s Dad? We caught a barramundi and grouper, let’s show him and see how much it’s worth!”

“Ah?” Only now did Ye’s mother notice the water bucket at her feet. There really was a grouper in it, but she didn’t recognize the species.

These kinds of fish were something the men in the family knew more about.

“He’s lying down in the house. I’ll go get him.”

Ye’s eldest and second sisters-in-law had already started sorting through the catch. They looked enviously and said, “You really caught a lot, didn’t expect so much on a typhoon day.”

“Yeah, some of these green crabs are huge and tough. Just these few are worth several bucks.”

“That grouper must be worth more!”

“We saw you rush back with a bucket earlier, but when we asked you, you didn’t answer. Turns out you were carrying the grouper, but you didn’t even call us…”

Lin Xiuqing felt a little awkward at Ye’s second sister-in-law’s words. It wasn’t intentional; she was just in a hurry, so she grabbed it and ran off.

“I was just in a hurry, worried the fish might die, didn’t think too much,” she said, giving a few small slaps to the children’s hands. “Don’t be naughty, or the crabs will bite you. Don’t cry then!”

Suddenly, the large sea eel in the bucket twitched its tail and knocked into the basin, causing a few of the kids to jump back in fright!

“Ah~ that fish is so fierce!”

Ye Yaodong waved his hand, quickly ushering them away. “Go, go, go! All of you go play over there, don’t get in the way here!”

“Tehe~” The kids stuck out their tongues and made faces before running out to play outside again, now that the rain had stopped.

Ye’s father had been called out by Ye’s mother to take a look. When he saw the grouper in the bucket, his mouth opened in surprise. “Where did you find this? Do we have these kinds of groupers around here?”

“Looks like our third son is lucky lately. He found such a rare fish. This one is worth much more than the tiger grouper. Tiger grouper is just a common variety among groupers.”

“I found it near the rocky area by East Bridge Village. I was just walking along the beach, checking out how big the waves were. The tide was just going out, so I went down to take a look. The waves were rising one after the other, so I think it was swept in by the waves.”

“That’s possible.”

This type of barramundi grouper usually lived in the waters near Taiwan. Since their area was close to the islands near Taiwan, it made sense that the fish could have been swept in by the waves.

“This one’s more expensive than the tiger grouper. As for how much it’s worth, we’ll need to ask Ah Cai,” Ye’s father said, looking at the large basin on the ground. “Sort through this too, take out the things that can be sold, and take them to Ah Cai’s house. What’s not worth much, we’ll keep to eat.”

“Do you think he’ll buy from us on a typhoon day?”

“He will. His family can oxygenate the fish, so it won’t die. He can sell it after the typhoon passes.”

“Mm.”

If it weren’t for the lack of transportation due to the typhoon and the difficulty of traveling, and if he could oxygenate the fish at home, Ye Yaodong would have thought about taking the bucket to the town hotel to ask if they’d buy it, to avoid losing out on the opportunity.

ShangWiz[Translator]

Hola! ^^ I'm ShangWiz, Creating content is my passion, and your support makes all the difference. If you enjoy my work and want to see more, please consider donating on my Ko-fi. Every contribution helps me continue doing what I love and brings more awesome updates your way. Thank you so much for your support! 😊

Leave A Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

@

error: Content is protected !!