Chapter 33: Going to the Dock to Sort the Catch

After chatting with everyone for a while, Ye Yaodong only stood up and patted his backside when it was almost four o’clock.

“I’m going to the dock to help sort the catch. You guys handle the seafood. I’ll come back after the catch is divided.”

A’Guang looked at him in surprise.

“You really became sensible?”

“Get lost!”

He widened his stride and hurried toward the dock.

At this hour, the tide had already risen along the shore, so the fishing boats should be almost back.

When he reached the dock, there were already quite a few villagers waiting by the shore. Their family members had gone out to sea, and they were all waiting for the boats to return so they could help sort the catch.

Mother Ye was already waiting at the dock too. Seeing Ye Yaodong arrive, she was finally satisfied.

She had waited for ages earlier and still hadn’t seen him, so she thought this brat had ignored her words again.

The fact that he had listened meant there was still hope.

These past few days, he did seem to have improved a little.

Ye Yaodong also saw his mother and walked toward her, grinning.

“Mom, why are you here too?”

“Because I didn’t trust you. What if you didn’t listen or forgot? Then wouldn’t your father and eldest brother have no one to help?”

“How can you not trust me?”

“Are you worth trusting?”

The villagers nearby also smiled and said,

“A’Dong came out to help today too?”

“That’s how it should be. When the family’s busy, you should lend a hand. Young people need to be diligent and have some awareness.”

He casually hummed and nodded in response, his eyes fixed on the boats out at sea.

There weren’t many households in their village with boats. Aside from a few moored by the shore, most had gone out to sea.

The boat heading back toward them from ahead should be his father’s, right?

“Dongzi, is that your father’s boat?”

“Should be. Let’s wait and see. It’ll dock soon.”

The little boat gradually slowed as it approached, and they could clearly see the blue paint on the hull.

It was definitely their family’s boat.

Ye Yaodong and Mother Ye quickly walked down the stone steps, preparing to receive the catch.

Father Ye on the boat also noticed, for once, his third son had actually come to the dock to help.

But he said nothing.

After docking the boat, he and Ye Yaopeng moved the catch over to them and had them carry it ashore first.

The first basket brought down was full of swimming crabs. Behind it was another basket of mantis shrimp. Everything else was only a few jin of miscellaneous catches.

There seemed to be only two or three jin of large sword shrimp. The cheaper small sword shrimp amounted to around ten-plus jin. There were also two jin of small squid, and the shuigu fish came in different sizes and needed sorting. They looked to be around ten-plus jin too.

There were four or five jin of small yellow croakers.

The rest were mostly cheap mixed fish and small fish.

There was no major catch today, but overall, the harvest looked quite good.

After everything was unloaded, Father Ye moved the boat aside again to free up the docking spot for the boats coming in behind them.

Ye Yaodong and the others carried the catch into the buying station.

The swimming crabs had to be sorted by size because different sizes fetched different prices. They also needed to tie the crab legs together with rubber bands.

Father Ye and Ye Yaopeng had already tied most of them while they had spare time on the boat, but some remained untied.

The moment the swimming crabs were dumped out, their legs flailed wildly. They were all lively and fresh.

Ye Yaodong grabbed a few at random and felt their backs.

“They’re pretty fat. Even the small ones are hard-shelled and meaty.”

“Crabs have been fat lately. The mantis shrimp are fat too, full of meat. Some even have roe.”

The three of them quickly tied the crab legs and sorted them by size.

Mother Ye and Eldest Ye were both very surprised by Ye Yaodong’s efficient movements.

When had he ever done this kind of work?

And yet he tied them so cleanly and quickly, no slower than they did.

“Third Brother, you’re pretty fast. Couldn’t tell at all!”

“Tch, what’s so hard about this? Just because you haven’t seen me do it doesn’t mean I can’t.”

“You little brat. You don’t do work at home, but you’ve been helping others outside, haven’t you? Always so unreliable…”

Listening to his mother’s muttering, he didn’t argue back.

Sigh. This was what he deserved.

After sorting the crabs, they poured out the small basket of mantis shrimp.

Sorting mantis shrimp was much simpler. They only needed to separate the large from the small.

Sword shrimp and shuigu fish were the same. Everything had to be sorted by size.

The bigger ones could sell for a decent price. The smaller ones weren’t worth much.

They placed the worthless small fish and shrimp into a separate bucket, along with tiny eels and mixed fish. These would be brought home and dried.

After all the catch was weighed, Father Ye went over to settle the payment while they carried the fish back home first.

“Mom, how much do you think today’s catch will sell for? Big and small crabs together are over thirty jin, mantis shrimp over twenty jin, shrimp several jin, and there are other fish too. Looks pretty good.”

“Today’s catch is decent. Big crabs are bought at thirty cents, smaller ones at twenty cents. Large mantis shrimp are bought at thirty-five cents, smaller ones at twenty-six cents. Shrimp are more expensive at fifty cents. Add in all the scattered bits and pieces, it should sell for around thirty yuan. But diesel costs two yuan too, and the engine also costs money. It breaks easily and often needs repairs.”

“That’s still pretty good. You can save quite a bit in a month!”

Mother Ye glanced sideways at him.

“You think we can go out every day? You think there’s this much catch every day? We rely on the heavens for food. Who can say what’ll happen out at sea? Yesterday some people only sold ten-something yuan.”

“That’s still better than doing odd jobs.”

Ye Yaopeng sincerely invited him again.

“Third Brother, come take turns going out to sea with us. We live by the sea, so we should learn from Father.”

“Ah? You and Second Brother learn first. Once you two know how, I’ll learn.”

Mother Ye opened her mouth to scold him after hearing his excuse, but forcibly held it back.

This was the dock.

Considering he had behaved fairly diligently today, she would endure it for now.

Once the household split up, she had to make him go out to sea together.

The money being earned now could still be counted as public family funds and used to build the houses.

After the family split, if the eldest and second sons went out to sea with their father, wouldn’t they need to receive their own shares?

And if the third son continued idling around all day, he would either starve to death or rely on the old couple to support him.

What kind of thing was that?

Other families raised sons to support them in old age.

Their family had given birth to an ancestor!

Ye Yaodong had no idea what his mother was complaining about in her heart.

The moment they reached the house, he slipped away, leaving only one sentence behind: he wouldn’t be eating dinner at home tonight.

In any case, he had done all the work he needed to do today.

Mother Ye felt both helpless and relieved.

This was what the third son normally looked like.

Today he had gone to the homestead, gone shore-hunting, and helped at the dock. He had been so diligent that she almost didn’t recognize him.

Second Sister-in-law curled her lips.

“He just started looking a little reliable, and now he’s run off again.”

“Let him go. Being able to help work is already good enough. You all pick out a bowl of fish and shrimp to send back to your parents’ homes. Kill the rest. Braise the bigger ones and dry the smaller ones. Same with the small shrimp. Keep one bowl to cook and shell the rest to dry into shrimp meat. In this weather, they won’t last until tomorrow.”

The three daughters-in-law all agreed.

Lin Xiuqing’s parents’ home was farther away, so she had no chance to send fish back.

She could only watch her two sisters-in-law carry fish to their own families while she stayed behind to clean the fish.

Only after the other two had gone far did Mother Ye say to Lin Xiuqing,

“Think about when you want to visit your parents. I’ll set aside some good catch for you to take back.”

“Alright, Mother. There’s no rush. I’ll wait until Mid-Autumn to go back.”

…

With three sons, Mother Ye had always tried her best to treat everyone fairly.

(End of Chapter)