Chapter 49: Time to Split the Money

“These aren’t mine. I brought sacks, so these two bags are mine, plus this small pile here. The others didn’t bring sacks, so they just dumped everything on the boat. They all ran home to grab bags now.”

After explaining, Ye Yaodong handed the bamboo basket and bucket to his mother.

“This is what I caught. Take it to Ah Cai and ask whether he buys sea worms. There are also seven mud crabs in this basket…”

Mother Ye was completely stunned by his haul.

“So many mud crabs? The isolated island has that much stuff to catch? And sea worms too? This bucket’s pretty heavy!”

Looking at the constantly wriggling sea worms in the bucket, she didn’t feel disgusted at all. Instead, she looked delighted, her eyes practically glowing. Sea worms were good stuff, and their own tidal flats near the village didn’t have any.

“The island hasn’t been touched by people, so the reefs are packed full of everything. Look at these mussels and clams—every single one is huge. The others also caught a few mud crabs. There’s really a lot there. If I wasn’t worried about bringing back too much shellfish for us to finish, I could’ve dug up even more.”

“That’s enough, enough. If it spoils before we finish eating, it’ll just be a waste. I’ll take these to sell for you. Anything else?”

Mother Ye happily carried the bucket in one hand and the bamboo basket in the other. It was rare for her third son to be this dependable, and she felt even happier than if she herself had made money.

Ye Yaodong nudged the small pile at his feet.

“There’s still more here that needs sorting. Some of the snails are pretty big and can be sold, along with the goose barnacles. The mussels and stuff aren’t worth much though, so just keep them for the construction workers to eat.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll go sell these first. We’ll sort through the shellfish later tonight before taking them home.”

By the time the others returned with sacks to pack their catch, Father Ye’s fishing boat had also come back.

After hearing Mother Ye mention that Third Brother had caught half a bucket of sea worms, seven mud crabs that sold for over ten yuan, and also brought back two whole sacks of shellfish, Father Ye’s attitude softened considerably. Their own catch today wasn’t as good as yesterday’s—they’d only sold around twenty yuan worth.

For Third Brother to go out in the morning and come back in the afternoon with that much was already impressive enough.

After the whole family helped move the shellfish home, Mother Ye first picked out some mussels and used them to cook a big pot of noodle soup for the workers as a snack. It should’ve been made earlier, but going out to meet Father Ye’s boat had delayed her.

The moment he got home, Ye Yaodong downed more than half a kettle of tea before finally sitting down in the main hall to rest while waiting for dinner.

Father Ye sat bare-chested, taking a few puffs from his treasured water pipe before asking,

“Did the others catch much too?”

“Not as much as me.”

After working all day, he honestly didn’t feel much like talking. He just wanted to hurry up, eat, and rest properly.

“There won’t be another good tide tomorrow. When the fifteenth comes around and the tide gets good again, see if you can rent a boat to go out again.”

“That old lady keeps jacking up the price. It’s hard to rent, and it’s too expensive. We’ll talk about it later.”

What if they couldn’t even earn back the cost? Then the whole day would’ve been wasted.

Father Ye nodded.

“Then we’ll decide later. After dinner, go with your wife to Ah Cai’s house and collect the thousand-plus yuan from yesterday’s fish sale. We’ll split everyone’s share properly.”

“Mhm.”

After Mother Ye delivered snacks to the workers, Lin Xiuqing also learned that Ye Yaodong had returned. She took the money Mother Ye secretly stuffed into her hand and hurried home without even bothering to eat first.

By the time she ran back, Ye Yaodong had just finished eating and set down his bowl and chopsticks.

“Did you eat the snack? Mom left some in the pot.”

“Okay.”

Father Ye and Ye Yaohua left for the construction site after eating, leaving the husband and wife at home talking.

While eating, Lin Xiuqing asked,

“Mom didn’t say much earlier because there were too many people around. She just secretly stuffed a pile of small bills into my hand and whispered that it was from selling your catch.”

“Mm…”

Ye Yaodong told her about today’s harvest and pointed toward the backyard, indicating there was still a heap of shellfish there.

“After you finish eating, sort through it and see if there’s anything worth selling. Then bring it to Ah Cai’s place and collect yesterday’s payment too.”

Lin Xiuqing nodded with smiling eyes.

Nothing made her happier than seeing her husband capable of making money.

Watching the obvious change in her attitude these past few days, Ye Yaodong felt all the hard work was worth it.

“Mom seemed to have sold the three little white octopuses too. Otherwise we could’ve stewed them in rice wine for you.”

“What’s there to eat? Anything worth money should obviously be sold. Dad’s been dragging nets lately anyway, so there’s already plenty of small fish and shrimp at home. We’re not lacking food right now, and you even dug up so many shellfish we can’t finish them all.”

But to him, that was completely different.

In his previous life, she’d died of intestinal cancer. He’d always believed it had something to do with poor diet, and he’d carried that guilt for years. Since he’d been given another chance, he wanted her to eat better whenever possible.

“Mm. We’ll talk about it after the family splits up.”

With the whole extended family living together, they couldn’t exactly eat special food in secret. Besides, he’d previously been a useless freeloader. If they started making private dishes now, his sisters-in-law would definitely complain again.

Lin Xiuqing quickly finished eating, washed the dishes, and went into the backyard to sort through the catch, picking out everything she thought could sell for money.

Large snails, goose barnacles, wild abalones, and the like were all separated into their own bucket, leaving behind only the small, low-value shellfish for the family to eat.

Honestly, when Ye Yaodong had collected them, he’d already been choosing the larger ones. After her sorting, there wasn’t much left.

Thankfully, she didn’t think the mussels or clams were worth anything, so they still had two full sacks remaining.

“Should we shuck the oysters and sell them?”

“Forget it. That whole sack would definitely require Mom and the others to help. You alone couldn’t possibly finish opening them all tonight. Let’s just keep them for the family to eat.”

“Alright then…”

Lin Xiuqing looked slightly regretful. That whole sack of oyster clusters could’ve yielded several jin of oyster meat.

Ye Yaodong smiled faintly at her money-loving expression.

“Once you’re done, bring yesterday’s receipt. I’ll go gather A’Guang and the others, and we’ll collect the money from Ah Cai together.”

“Okay.”

Walking out of Ah Cai’s house with such a large sum tucked against his chest, Ye Yaodong looked toward the sea not far away.

This ocean was the village’s treasure vault.

He’d heard that his grandfather originally wasn’t from this village. During the famine years, he’d wandered here while begging for food and eventually settled down, relying on the sea to survive.

This sea had raised countless people.

After withdrawing his gaze, he grinned happily.

“Let’s go! Time to split the loot at A’Guang’s house!”

To people of this era, 1,601 yuan and 8 mao was an enormous amount of money—equivalent to two years’ wages for a worker.

After deducting boat rental and fuel costs, each of the four of them still got around 397 yuan.

“My wife already calculated it. Each person gets around 397. Count your own share first, then check the leftover change afterward and make sure the numbers add up.”

Ye Yaodong dumped the pile of bills onto the table and let everyone count their own shares.

The money from the other seafood they sold had already been set aside separately by Lin Xiuqing and wasn’t mixed in.

Everyone happily counted their money and stuffed it into their clothes. Afterward, 1 yuan, 8 mao, and 8 fen still remained on the table.

Ye Yaodong smiled and asked,

“There’s still over a yuan left. You guys wanna split it or…”

“No need to split it, right? A few mao each isn’t meaningful. Use it to buy alcohol.”

“Yeah, let’s buy liquor! We worked ourselves to death all day. Tonight we celebrate properly. We already dragged up some seafood earlier anyway, and we’ve got shellfish too. Plenty of food for drinking.”

“Sounds good, sounds good!”

“Let’s call the others over too!”

“They’re gonna be so jealous…”

(End of Chapter)