Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982 - Chapter 55

Chapter 55: Abundant Harvest on a Typhoon Day

“Quick, quick, that clam is about to roll back into the sea!”

Lin Xiuqing stepped into the waves with a beaming smile, her whole face radiating joy. Ye Yaodong couldn’t help but steal several glances at her – it had been many years since he’d seen her laugh so freely and happily.

After retrieving the clam from the sea, she walked towards him cheerfully, waving her hand, “This is the biggest one I’ve found, it’s as big as my fist!”

“Mm, put it in the sack. Let’s walk towards the rocky reef, searching as we go. By the time we get there, the tide should have reached the rocks.”

She nodded with a smile.

Ye Yaodong had only walked a few steps when he couldn’t help but stop, crouching down to dig with his finger at a spot where there were bubble holes in the sand, and pulled out a sand clam.

“Your eyes are so sharp!”

After saying this, she too spotted a hole and dug, finding one herself.

Sand clams were unevenly distributed on the beach, usually requiring time to search for them. They were easiest to find right after the tide receded when their air holes were visible.

“Do you want to dig here for a while, or keep moving forward?” Ye Yaodong asked quickly, seeing her happily engrossed in digging.

She stood up reluctantly, “Never mind, let’s not dig anymore. Shall we go ahead to the reef and see if there’s anything good to collect?”

“Mm.”

When they reached a small area of mudflats with scattered rocks, both were pleasantly surprised again.

“There’s a fish there.”

“It’s a sea crucian carp.”

It was already dead, stranded on the beach. Ye Yaodong checked its gills – they had turned dark red. It probably died in the sea before being washed ashore.

“It’s not fresh anymore, let’s not take it. Throw it back into the sea!”

“Alright.” Lin Xiuqing looked disappointed – they had finally found another fish, but it wasn’t fresh.

Sea crucian carp, also called black crucian, differed from regular crucian carp mainly in habitat – sea crucian lived in the ocean, while regular crucian lived in lakes and marshes.

She picked up the fish and walked towards the waves. Just after throwing it back into the sea, a wave rolled in, and she quickly stepped back. Unexpectedly, when the water receded, there was a large blue crab on the beach.

“Dong, Dong, quick, there’s a big blue crab, come catch it quickly, it’s crawling away…”

Hearing this, Ye Yaodong ran over and saw a large blue crab wielding its two claws, moving sideways quickly across the beach. He quickly stepped on it, then grabbed it up – its large claws still waving threateningly.

“Good one, this is two jin! Lucky – coming out during the typhoon wasn’t wasted!”

Lin Xiuqing’s face bloomed with happiness, “It really was right to come out today.”

“When I asked you earlier, you were reluctant. This one crab is worth two days of your net-weaving.”

“I didn’t know then. Come on, let’s follow the waves forward.”

Now it was her turn to eagerly pull him along.

Following the tide, they collected as they walked, gathering quite a few fish, shrimp, crabs, and clams of various sizes. Though none were particularly valuable, it was still quite satisfying.

Their beach wasn’t small, and coming down from the shore, they walked with frequent stops, sometimes going back up to check for stranded seafood. It took them over half an hour to reach the rocky area.

Just as they stopped, Ye Yaodong spotted two rabbitfish swimming in a small pool between two reef rocks, and on the rock wall of the small crevice, there was a whelk the size of a baby’s fist attached.

After catching the fish, at his wife’s request, he let her pry off the whelk.

Rabbitfish were often mistaken for yellow croaker by amateurs – they looked very similar and were similarly priced.

“Too bad there are only two, and they’re so small.”

Lin Xiuqing looked up with a smile: “It’s fine, we can steam them together with the golden pomfret and the small bass we found earlier – make a mixed fish platter.”

“Mm, let’s split up and look around more.”

The tide had receded further down, and searching separately would be quicker. Ye Yaodong had barely walked a few steps when he heard Lin Xiuqing’s excited voice: “A conger eel! Dong, there’s a conger eel here, it’s huge!”

He hurried over to where she was, and saw a conger eel of about 3-4 jin swimming in a low-lying pool, apparently stranded there by the waves.

These conger eels had dangerous teeth – one bite would draw blood immediately. Care was needed when catching them. Ye Yaodong aimed carefully and stepped directly on its head, watching as its tail thrashed wildly.

No matter how much it struggled, it was useless. He grabbed its head and threw it straight into the sack.

Seeing that he had caught the eel, Lin Xiuqing continued searching around the rocky area.

“Dong, Dong, a grouper, there’s a grouper here!”

Was his wife having incredible luck today? She kept making all the finds!

“Damn, it’s a lyretail grouper, how did it end up here?”

Lin Xiuqing couldn’t identify all the grouper species, she just knew it was a grouper, but Ye Yaodong was more familiar and recognized it immediately.

The lyretail was a type of grouper, oval-bodied, laterally compressed but robust, living in clear coral reef areas. Young fish often appeared in reef flats or tide pools, while adults usually stayed in deeper waters. Who would have thought that a typhoon’s turbulent waves would wash one up here!

Today’s harvest was truly great – the trip wasn’t wasted at all. If they’d known, they really should have brought a water bucket.

“Do you want to run home and get a bucket? I’ll watch here?”

This wasn’t like the common seafood they’d collected earlier. Although it wouldn’t fetch a very high price in this era, it was still a rare catch. It would be better to keep it alive – it could be sold to big restaurants for display in their aquariums.

“Is this fish worth a lot?”

“Of course! You can tell from its patterns that it’s uncommon. This lyretail grouper isn’t from our waters – who knows how the waves brought it here.”

Hearing this confirmation, Lin Xiuqing got excited, “You watch it here, don’t let it get washed away by the waves or rain, I’ll run home right away to get a bucket.”

Today, he wasn’t sure if it was his luck or his wife’s luck – he had mostly just followed behind her collecting.

They say newcomers have better luck at mahjong and cards – did this apply to beach combing too?

The key was that she wasn’t really a newcomer, just that this was her first time out during a typhoon.

This fish was quite valuable, and he didn’t want to leave it out of his sight to go beach combing, so he had to stand there watching. Unexpectedly, while he was standing there not searching, a blue crab crawled out from between the rocks.

It was like it was delivering itself – might as well take it!

Their coastal waters were rich in blue crabs, but unfortunately, this volunteering crab was missing one leg, and its other leg didn’t match its body size – clearly the original had broken off and this was regrown.

Although it weighed one jin, its value was greatly reduced!

Usually, a blue crab missing one large claw would sell for at least a third less, and since this other claw had just regrown recently, it was practically the same as not having it – it wouldn’t fetch much price at all. Perfect to take home and stew with codonopsis pilosula to build up the children’s strength.