Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982 - Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Returning with a Full Load

Ye Yaodong walked down to the shallow water area again with a bucket in hand, calling out to them as he approached, “Have you found anything?”

“Does finding one cat’s eye snail count as a catch?” Ah Guang looked dejected.

“Better than nothing.” He walked towards Ah Guang and returned his bucket.

“It’s so empty I’m embarrassed to carry such a big bucket.”

“Hahaha!” He found it amusing too. “Don’t worry, just give it a new name!”

“Ah~ We’ll see. It’s a waste to burn firewood just for one snail. Here, add it to your count!” With that, he tossed it into Ye Yaodong’s bucket with a clink.

“Keep looking, the tide just went out, it won’t come back up so quickly. You might still find something.”

“Whatever, you guys continue. I’ll go check around the reef wall, see if there’s anything to pick up.” Ah Guang shrugged and walked straight toward the reef wall at the edge.

“I just checked that reef wall yesterday. I picked up all the larger clams and snails, and opened all the oysters that could be opened. You won’t find much there now.”

“Doesn’t matter, I’ll just look around. If there’s nothing, I’ll head back for lunch.”

“Alright, suit yourself. With such strong sun, it’s better to head back and rest if you don’t find anything.”

“Mm.”

Seeing that his friends had probably searched the surrounding area, Ye Yaodong decided to walk towards the rocks near the shore.

Unexpectedly, after just a few steps, he felt something hard under his foot. Crouching down for a look, he saw a cat’s eye snail that had barely poked its head out from under the sand.

He picked it up, using his thumb to scrape and pinch at the water-soaked soft flesh that hadn’t had time to retract back into the shell.

Psst~ Several streams of water squirted out~

He chuckled softly and called out to Ah Guang walking ahead: “Ah Guang, look, I found a cat’s eye snail right behind where you walked, and it’s quite big too.”

“Damn!” Ah Guang turned his head to look and cursed, “I just walked past there.”

Ye Yaodong tossed it into his bucket and said with a smile, “I guess I’ve been having good luck these past couple of days!”

“I shouldn’t have come out today. Staying home and sleeping would have been so much more comfortable. Really, I’m just out here baking in the sun because I ate too much.” He complained while walking towards the reef.

Under the scorching sun, Ye Yaodong continued his treasure hunting on the beach. He didn’t find any major catches afterward – beachcombing was really all about luck.

Forty years later, even during high tide, there wouldn’t be so many things to collect on the beach, maybe just some jumping fish, rock crabs, and large clams.

Who knows why – maybe it’s due to overfishing, or maybe pollution, but seafood has become scarcer. Only on some uninhabited small islands would you find more seafood to collect.

Watching the tide slowly rise, everyone wanted to head back. It was already past one o’clock, and they were starving.

“Let’s go back, probably nothing left to collect, the tide’s coming in,” Xiao Xiao shook his bucket and called out to everyone.

“Alright, alright, let’s go back, it’s scorching hot.”

“Barely anything to collect, Dong-zi picked everything clean.”

Ye Yaodong looked at his half-full bucket, feeling quite satisfied. “I didn’t find much afterward either, just rock crabs and jumping fish, probably enough for about a bowl.”

“That tiger grouper you got is worth the trip alone, today wasn’t wasted.”

“And that nest of snow clams too! You struck gold, the miscellaneous seafood could make two or three bowls.”

He smiled, indeed his harvest today was quite good. Tomorrow would be high tide, he could come again to see if his luck was really that good.

“Let’s go, head back, I’m starving.” He casually kicked a large rock by his foot, ready to leave.

But just as he was about to turn, a tentacle extended from under the rock. His eyes widened with surprise, “An octopus?”

“Huh? You found an octopus again?” Ah Zheng, who wasn’t far from him, hurriedly ran over.

“It hid so well, if I hadn’t kicked it, its tentacle probably wouldn’t have come out.”

“Pull it out and see if it’s a red, black, or white octopus. The tentacle looks small, probably not a big one.”

In their coastal area, there were three common types of octopus: the white octopus, also called the tide-watcher, which was the smallest but most expensive and had the best texture. The red octopus was second-best, and the black octopus was the cheapest, with tough meat that was often too chewy.

He reached in along the tentacle and pulled hard to grab it, “It’s holding on really tight, it’s a black one, trash.”

“Still better than not finding any at all.”

“Dong-zi, you’re having quite good luck today! Finding a black octopus just before leaving.”

“Looking at your bucket, today’s harvest isn’t small.”

Ye Yaodong looked at the octopus tightly wrapped around his wrist, unable to throw it into the bucket. He had to use his other hand to peel it off and toss it in, but once in, its tentacles clung to the bucket trying to climb out.

“Damn, it really can climb. I’ll have to hold it. Can you guys help me move that rock a bit, see if there’s anything else underneath?”

“You think there’s another nest?”

Despite saying that, everyone still helped flip the rock on its side.

“Holy shit, there really is!” he exclaimed excitedly, “Too bad it’s a bit small.”

“Another black octopus, but that’s fine, finding anything is good!”

Xiao Xiao crouched down to help catch it and placed it in Ye Yaodong’s hands. “Alright, we can head back now, you’re really returning with a full load today.”

He grinned, knowing he could definitely have extra dishes tonight. Today hadn’t been a waste – there would be food to eat and money to make.

“You guys didn’t do too badly either. Though you didn’t get any premium stuff, the small things could make up a bowl or two.”

Ah Zheng shook his bucket, “It’s alright, could be better but could be worse. Hey~ where’s Ah Guang?”

He had wanted to tease Ah Guang but realized he wasn’t around.

At his reminder, everyone noticed that Ah Guang seemed to have disappeared.

“Ah Guang went around the reef earlier, found nothing, got upset and went home first.” Of course there was nothing to find – he had cleaned it out yesterday.

“Wasted a trip out in the sun.” Ah Wei seemed a bit gleeful at his misfortune.

“No worries, let’s pool our catches together and go drink at his place tonight,” Ye Yaodong suggested.

Among friends, sharing food was normal – he had freeloaded a meal just yesterday.

“Sounds good, if we put everything together it’ll make for a decent spread.”

“Let’s invite Fatty too. Mouse isn’t home so he’s out.”

“That fat guy wouldn’t come out in the sun, but he’ll definitely come for drinks!”

“Have him bring two jin of his home-brewed rice wine.”

“Now that’s a plan.”

Everyone had already arranged the evening’s drinks and dishes with their back-and-forth chatter.