Chapter 54: Picking Abalone and Sea Cucumber on the Island

“Comrade Qian, if you’re willing to treat us islanders, you can take the barefoot doctor exam that will be held in Bailong Commune in half a month. Once you pass, our brigade can build a clinic on the island.”

This proposal made Qian Xiaolan’s heart skip a beat. Although she wouldn’t stay here forever, it was a pretty good option for now. Qian Xiaolan thanked the brigade leader and left, planning to go to the commune tomorrow to ask about the specific exam scope.

The brigade leader, suppressing his excitement, saw Qian Xiaolan off. He bounced around in his room for a while before going to deal with the conflicts among the educated youths. These educated youths had been sent down to the countryside for over ten years, and they were driving him crazy. They argued about the most trivial things every day. Like, “I love you, you love him, he loves her…” “I’m sorry to you, you’re sorry to him, he’s sorry to her…” This time, it was because some people were going back to the city, and some couldn’t. They were making a fuss. It was enough. He wished the higher-ups would send a notice to send all these ancestors back. Otherwise, he would be like his old man and retire early from being so angry.

Qian Xiaolan was unaware of the brigade leader’s inner monologue. At this moment, she was carrying her seafood-catching tools and walking towards the beach with Wang Yufeng. This time, she was lucky. She met Wang Auntie on the way, and Wang Auntie called out to her, asking her to come along and ride her boat to the island opposite for catching seafood. Qian Xiaolan happily agreed and boarded Wang Auntie’s boat, surrounded by envious eyes.

Only Wang Auntie’s boat was still on the island. Everyone else’s boats had gone out to sea with the big ship. Wang Auntie rowed the oars, and the boat swayed as it left the shore and headed towards the island opposite.

“Comrade Qian, let me tell you, that small island opposite doesn’t have much, but there are a lot of abalone. If you’re lucky, you can also find a lot of sea cucumbers. Those were only eaten by wealthy families in the past. Hey, I don’t know what happened in recent years, but it feels like life is getting worse. We don’t even dare to sell the seafood we catch ourselves. Otherwise, it’s considered cutting off the capitalist tail.”

Qian Xiaolan sighed too. Wasn’t it all because of the Gang of Four’s mischief? But it was already March 1977. This kind of life was almost over. She smiled faintly, “Auntie, don’t be pessimistic. Our lives will get better and better. Maybe one day, the national policies will change, and we can trade freely.”

Wang Auntie thought about it and then happily chatted with Qian Xiaolan about other topics.

Half an hour later, they arrived at a small island. It was really small, and you could see the whole thing at a glance. After landing, Qian Xiaolan carried her bucket and followed Wang Auntie towards the center of the island. The terrain was low-lying, and the center of the island was submerged by seawater, only revealing uneven reefs and countless oysters on the reefs.

“Little Qian, we’ll look for seafood among these reefs. Don’t bother with the oysters for now. They’re everywhere on our island.” Wang Auntie finished speaking to Qian Xiaolan and then went in a different direction.

Qian Xiaolan gratefully thanked her and bent down to start searching. The seawater didn’t submerge very deep, only reaching her calves. She was wearing rain boots, so it was just right. However, it did affect her vision. She squinted and searched in the water for a long time before finally finding a large conch.

They say everything is difficult at the beginning, and catching seafood is no exception. When you can’t find anything, you can’t find anything. But once you find one, the rest are easy to find. You can spot them right away.

After finding the conch, less than a minute later, she saw seventeen or eighteen abalone at the bottom of a reef submerged by seawater. The abalone clung tightly to the stones. She couldn’t tear them off with her hands, so she had to use a small shovel to pry them off.

She could hear the sound of waves crashing against the reefs. One scoop, one abalone, one scoop, one abalone. The rhythm magically synced with the waves.

After scooping up that pile of abalone, she saw another large pile nearby. A full harvest, full of joy. Who understands this feeling, my fellow people?

After scooping up the abalone, she saw a blue crab waving its two large claws at her. Hey, little guy, you’re quite fierce. I hate it when people threaten me, and you’ve run into the wrong person. So, sorry, you’re going to be my food.

Qian Xiaolan mumbled to herself, then stepped on the blue crab’s back, controlling it tightly, preventing it from moving. Then, she took out the prepared straw, twisted it a few times, let the crab’s large claws clamp onto it, wrapped it around the entire crab shell twice, tied a knot, and done! She grabbed it and threw it into the bucket. She turned around and saw two more conchs on the reef. She tore them off and threw them into the bucket. She stood up to rest her eyes and met Wang Auntie’s gaze. Wang Auntie shouted, “Little Qian, have you found anything?”

“Auntie, I found a lot of abalone.”

“That’s good. Keep looking. Be careful not to fall!” Wang Auntie finished speaking, waved to her, and bent down again.

Qian Xiaolan smiled, walked a few steps forward, and bent down to search in the puddle. Suddenly, her gaze was drawn to a dark figure. She looked closely and saw a brown sea cucumber.

Qian Xiaolan grabbed it. It felt heavy in her hand, probably about two taels. They say sea cucumbers like to live in groups. She searched around. Sure enough, not far away, she saw several more sea cucumbers.

Pick, pick, pick! Collect, collect, collect! Qian Xiaolan picked up all the ones that were about the same size. She left the smaller ones to grow.

After collecting that pile of sea cucumbers, she picked up five nests of abalone, two nests of sea cucumbers, three blue crabs, four octopuses, and six conchs and put them in the bucket. Wang Auntie called out to her to go back.

As they were about to meet, Wang Auntie sighed, clutching her waist, “I didn’t have good luck today. I only found twenty or so abalone and some conchs. I didn’t see any sea cucumbers. How about your harvest, Little Qian?”

Qian Xiaolan silently moved half of the sea cucumbers and abalone in the bucket into her space. She also moved half of the blue crabs and octopuses into her space. Even so, when Wang Auntie saw Qian Xiaolan’s harvest, she was still amazed.

“Little Qian, you’re lucky. You found so much on your first trip here. Hey, next time, we should bring a fishing net. I just saw a big fish slip away from my feet. It’s such a pity.”

“Hmm, we also need to bring more buckets. I also saw several fish slip away from my feet. I couldn’t catch them without any tools. It’s such a pity.”

Of course, that was impossible. Anything she saw, even if she couldn’t catch it with her hands, could be put into her space. At this moment, two large eels and several rockfish were lying in her space.

Qian Xiaolan returned home with a full harvest. It was almost five o’clock. She quickly washed her hands and started cooking. She put the rice in the pot first. After starting the fire, she stuffed some hard firewood into the stove to simmer the rice. She filled a basin with water and sat by the stove to process the sea cucumbers and abalone.

Sea cucumbers, due to the action of their autolytic enzymes, would turn into water if left out of water for five to eight hours. She had to process them quickly, otherwise, it would be a waste.