Chapter 45: The Reef Was Densely Packed

Seeing so many shellfish on the reef, everyone grew excited again. The disappointment from earlier instantly vanished without a trace.

Ye Yaodong was also visibly delighted. The tide had only just started going out. Once it fully receded, even more of the reef surface would be exposed.

“Everyone split up and do your own thing.”

After saying that, he didn’t rush to dig. Instead, he first searched around the area. Only when he found a reef covered in small wild abalone did he bend down and start prying them off with a screwdriver.

These small wild abalone attached to the reef were different from the abalone sold in markets. They looked completely different and were much smaller, only slightly larger than a one-yuan coin. They were oval-shaped, and their shells were thin.

This was something he loved eating. Steamed with enoki mushrooms and scallion oil, they were incredibly fragrant.

With just a slight pry from the screwdriver, one whole abalone popped off. He happily caught it in his bucket, pried off the entire patch, then continued searching nearby.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a large cluster of goose barnacles growing densely in a crack between the rocks. These were worth a bit of money too.

Goose barnacles were also called bijia. Their scientific name was turtle-foot barnacle. In the Song dynasty’s Records of the Three Mountains, it was written: “Named for its shape; the flesh within is delicious, and the large ones are as big as a palm.”

He first put on gloves to avoid having his hands scraped by the juvenile shellfish, then reached into the crevice and used the screwdriver to dig them out.

Only after digging out that entire patch of goose barnacles did he move on and continue searching. Whenever he saw large snails, he picked them up too.

The most common snails on the reef were spicy snails, followed by horse-hoof snails, green shrimp snails, sesame snails, and spotted snails.

As long as they were big, he accepted them all.

The things he dug first were all the ones that could sell for some money. Valuable things came first. As for cheaper ones like mussels, sea melon seeds, and “ox eyes,” he left them alone for now.

He also didn’t pry open the juvenile oyster clusters with oysters inside. After he finished digging up the valuable things, he could slowly deal with those later.

As he searched, he bumped into A’Guang and glanced into his bucket. There was a little of everything inside. Clearly, he had dug up anything he saw. His entire bucket was almost full.

“It’s already full. Why don’t you pour it into a sack?”

A’Guang innocently said,

“I only brought one bucket!”

Ye Yaodong instantly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Then now that your bucket’s full, can’t you only sit and watch?”

“I’ll keep filling it for now. From now on, I’ll only pick abalone and big snails. I got too excited at first and threw everything into the bucket. Now it’s full, so I have to be selective.”

A’Zheng also lifted his head nearby.

“My bucket’s almost full too…”

Fatty sat on the reef and sighed.

“My bucket’s been full for ages. I’ve been resting for quite a while already. Who knew there’d be so much to dig on this island?”

Ye Yaodong was speechless at them.

Yesterday they had all seen him bring a sack. Yet today, they still hadn’t prepared anything extra.

He suddenly couldn’t help secretly feeling pleased.

Luckily, he had specially brought two sacks today. Yesterday, when they landed, he had taken a careful glance around and seen the reef densely covered with seafood. He figured there should be plenty, so he worried one sack wouldn’t be enough.

“I saw you had a big bamboo basket in your bucket this morning?”

“Yeah. There are two sacks inside the bamboo basket too. I specially had my wife prepare them today. I told you yesterday that the isolated island definitely had goods, but you guys still didn’t prepare more. Great now—once your buckets are full, you can sit aside and rest. When the tide goes out completely, you won’t even need to keep foraging.”

“How could we have known? Yesterday we had barely waded ashore before going back to the boat for tools. We didn’t look carefully at all.”

Everyone regretted not preparing earlier. Once their buckets filled up, they could only sit on the rocks and watch Ye Yaodong dig.

Ye Yaodong was full of enthusiasm.

The reefs near the dock never had much to find. He always had to pick the best among the worst there. How could they compare to this isolated island, where good stuff densely covered the rocks and everything was large?

Take the mussels, for example. There were two wild varieties: one emerald green, and another black with a hint of purple. The completely black ones in the market were farmed.

The emerald green ones were all as large as eggs. The black-purple ones had slightly white tips and were a little smaller, but still quite large.

After filling his bucket, he carried it down and placed it on an open patch, then took out a sack to collect mussels. These things grew in large patches, and digging them was especially simple.

After digging mussels, he dug up ox eyes nearby too, throwing them all together. He could sort them out after returning home.

In their local dialect, they called them ox eyes. He didn’t know their official name, because these things couldn’t be farmed and weren’t seen in markets.

They were also a kind of shellfish, similar to scallops, except the meat wasn’t as large. The shell was round and had the color of stone. Cooked into soup with a bit of ginger and minced garlic, they were excellent.

While digging mussels and ox eyes, he also dug sea melon seeds and picked snails. Whatever he saw, he took. Since he was using a sack instead of a bucket, he no longer had to be as picky as before.

Only when an entire sack was nearly full did he drag it to the beach and shake out another sack from the bamboo basket.

“Tired, Dongzi? You really prepared two sacks. Why are you so hardworking? Isn’t one sack enough? Want to rest first?”

Xiaoxiao lit a cigarette and leisurely watched Ye Yaodong work.

“I have to be hardworking. My family’s building a house, and that costs a lot of money. My eldest and second brothers are going out to sea with my father, and all the money they earn is going toward the house. I have to contribute too. Gathering more seafood for the workers can reduce the family’s food expenses.”

“Otherwise I’ll have to go haul stones and sand. If I still do nothing, my dad really will break my legs.”

A’Zheng chuckled.

“Heh, your dad’s probably just saying that. Doesn’t he know you can’t carry loads or lift anything? You’ve been beaten plenty growing up anyway. What difference does it make?”

“You can’t put it that way. My eldest son is already five by traditional age. As his father, don’t I need some face too? Besides, building a house is a major event. How can I act like it has nothing to do with me? I definitely have to help with something. Once the family splits, I’ll have to support my wife and kids.”

Xiaoxiao nodded.

“Makes sense.”

A’Zheng immediately said enthusiastically,

“Anyway, we’re idle too. Tomorrow we’ll go help you out.”

“In this heat…”

“It’s fine. We’ll just help a little.”

Ye Yaodong thought for a moment.

“How about I go back and ask whether they’ve hired enough workers. If they’re short, then you guys can come lend a hand.”

“Even if there are enough workers, we can still come help. No need to pay wages. Just feed us.”

“Sure. Food is definitely included. Up to you guys then. Come if you’re free, forget it if you’re not.”

While they spoke, he had already pried nearly half a sack of juvenile oyster clusters. Right now, he didn’t have time to open the oysters directly. Instead, he dug out the entire cluster and threw it into the sack. Once they brought them home, the women could slowly open them.

“Help me carry that sack onto the boat first?”

“Sure!”

But the moment they carried the sack onto the boat, they realized they had just done something stupid!

(End of Chapter)