Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982 - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Beach Combing

In recent years, many families’ living standards had improved, and not every household was willing to go beach combing anymore, especially under such a strong sun. Wasn’t it better to stay home and earn money by weaving fishing nets?

Moreover, beach combing barely made any money; it only provided food for the table.

As Ye Yaodong walked home, he only saw a few people carrying tools and buckets along the way.

Just as he reached the corner, he saw the women of his family with their children, quite a large group moving together.

“Are you going to the dock or the beach at the intersection?”

Lin Xiuqing, carrying her young son, stopped to answer him, “Mother said we’re going to the dock. Your friends are waiting at the door to go beach combing with you.”

“Got it, you go ahead first, I’ll be there shortly.”

Ye Yaodong jogged home, where his friends were sitting in the shade by his doorway. Seeing him running from afar, they teased him.

“You, our Brother Dong has become hardworking, helping with weeding even in this heat?”

Panting under the tree shade, he fanned himself with his hand, “Shouldn’t I put in some effort for my own new home?”

A-Zheng righteously said: “When are you starting construction? Let us know if you need help, we’ll lend a hand.”

“You won’t do work at your own home but want to come help with mine? Won’t your mother beat you with a rolling pin?”

“No way! My mother will just praise me for being diligent! Besides, we’re all brothers. If something comes up at my place, you’d help too, right?”

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes, thinking to himself: doting mothers spoil children.

He forgot he was a ‘spoiled child’ himself!

“Fine, I’ll call you when I need help. Did you all bring your tools? Wait for me, I’ll go get my hook and bucket, and grab a hat too – it’s too sunny.”

“Hurry up, or others will pick everything clean.”

“Right away!”

He ran inside but couldn’t find where he’d put his hook, so he just grabbed a fire tong and rushed back out. The old lady called out from behind with a bamboo container, “Dong-zi, take this tea with you.”

He turned back to take the bamboo container from his grandmother, “Thanks, Grandmother. Go back inside! Just sit in the house or at the doorway to stay cool. Don’t go to the backyard – be careful of slipping if the ground is wet.”

“Alright, alright~”

“I’m off then!”

The group of five, each carrying their buckets and tools, excitedly headed toward the dock.

Xiao-xiao said somewhat nostalgically: “Feels like it’s been two years since we went beach combing for fun.”

A-Zheng reminded him: “More than that, right? We haven’t really gone since you all got married one after another.”

“No matter, today we’ll relive old memories. Let’s hurry.” Ye Yaodong, now full of endless hope for his second chance at life, seemed particularly enthusiastic.

Seeing his pace, everyone else quickened their steps to keep up.

When they reached the dock, there were already quite a few people on the beach below – both old and young – but his family group was the largest!

The adults were all busy shouting, warning children not to go beyond the tide line, only allowing them to play on the beach.

When Ye Yaodong’s two sons saw him arrive, they called out loudly, “Father! Father! Mother, Father’s here too!”

Lin Xiuqing glanced up at the late arrival. At least he hadn’t fooled around with her in bed last night, “I know, stay next to me and don’t run off.”

Ye’s eldest sister-in-law couldn’t help saying: “Yaodong has been quite diligent these past couple days!”

“Who knows how long it’ll last? Maybe he’s just excited because we haven’t been beach combing in a while,” the second sister-in-law pursed her lips. She didn’t believe Ye Yaodong had suddenly changed for the better – after all, a leopard can’t change its spots!

“At least he seems to be improving, not disappearing all the time like before.”

“He better become more diligent and responsible, or who’s going to support him after the family splits up!”

Ye Yaodong heard his sisters-in-law’s discussion as he approached and couldn’t help but frown – women just talk too much!

“Father, where are you going? Mother said not to go down to the tide line.”

“I’m going to catch fish and crabs. You stay here and help dig for clams, no following me.”

The children reluctantly stopped in their tracks, only able to watch longingly as he went down. They wanted to go down and play too – if there were no adults around, they would’ve gone swimming, but alas.

“Let’s split up and see who catches the most later.”

“Sure!”

This luck-based search for crabs, fish, and shrimp wasn’t as efficient as digging for clams like Ye’s mother and the others, so few people bothered spending time on it – just them with nothing better to do.

But Ye Yaodong had tasted success yesterday with catching two blue crabs, so he headed straight for the rocky areas.

He used his fire tongs to move aside a large rock, and to his expected delight, there was a large mantis shrimp!

“Hey you all, I found a mantis shrimp! First catch of the day!” He quickly grabbed the still-jumping mantis shrimp with his tongs, holding it up for others to see.

Everyone turned to look, “Good luck! A catch right away, and a mantis shrimp at that!”

Mantis shrimp were large, beautiful in appearance, with alternating light and dark horizontal patterns on their bodies and decorated tails. When cooked, they showed distinct white patterns across nine segments. Their meat was fresh and springy, highly sought after. Ye Yaodong himself loved eating them, and starting the day with such a good catch left him very satisfied.

“Making me jealous, I want to catch several too,” Xiao-xiao said with renewed enthusiasm, casually kicking aside a rock. “Oh! A jumping fish? Didn’t expect to find something just like that.”

“Oh, you both got something already, we can’t fall behind. Let’s go… go… spread out!”

Everyone had come with a casual attitude, just joining in for fun, but now their interest was properly piqued.

After the tide retreated, small fish and shrimp often got trapped by rocks of various sizes, unable to return to the sea with the tide. They would remain active in the shallow water and tidal flats around the reefs until the next high tide would allow them to return to the ocean.

Everyone was experienced, searching in low-lying areas with rocks and water.

Ye Yaodong felt his luck was quite good – just two steps to the side and he found two stone crabs hiding under a large rock.

“Caught two more, though unfortunately not blue crabs. Better than nothing.”

Stone crabs had brownish carapaces with red mottling, and their claws were mostly bright red. They looked like stones, with thick shells, and preferred to live near the low tide line in muddy, rocky bottoms or seaweed-rich seafloor, most often lurking under rocks.

He used his fire tongs to directly transfer the two stone crabs hiding under the large rock into his bucket, then moved on to the next spot.

In the 1980s, their village’s beach was still undeveloped, remaining in its natural state. Marine life was extremely abundant, and after the tide went out, almost no one would return empty-handed from a walk on the beach.

As for how much one could harvest – that depended on the tide and luck.