Chapter 16: Going Out to Sea with Second Uncle

Wang Haisheng is eight years younger than Xiao Hu's father, his body is still sturdy, and I don't know what his grandfather was thinking back then, only having a second child after such a long time.

"Uncle, we're here." Xiao Hu brought Ye Cheng aboard the boat together.

I thought there were only the three of them on the boat, but besides his second uncle, there were actually two customers, holding two fishing rods, chatting excitedly.

"Second Uncle, who is this?" Xiao Hu asked curiously.

"Two bosses, they hired my boat to go sea fishing." Wang Haisheng said.

"You're that generous? You must have taken money."

Wang Haisheng's face sank, and he directly gave Xiao Hu a flick on the forehead, "You little brat, what's wrong with taking money? Taking money is fine, hurry up."

"A Cheng, you two sit in the back; the two bosses up front want to fish."

"Uncle, are we still collecting the fish traps?"

"Collect them, it's on the way; you just help me collect the fish traps when you get there, nothing else to do."

Ye Cheng nodded, "Um, Second Uncle, you said yesterday we could set us down on Nameless Island, right?"

His second uncle feigned ignorance for a moment, "Oh, that thing, what are you going to do there? That place is boring, next time, next time."

Upon hearing Wang Haisheng want to back out, Ye Cheng immediately stood up, "Uncle, if you don't go there, we'll get off the boat."

"Xiao Hu, get off the boat." Ye Cheng shouted.

"Xiao Hu, don't listen to him, listen to Second Uncle; Second Uncle will give you 15 yuan." Wang Haisheng hurriedly grabbed Wang Xiaohu.

I thought Xiao Hu would definitely listen to his uncle, but Xiao Hu flicked his arm and followed Ye Cheng jumping off the boat, "My brother isn't going, neither am I, no matter how much money."

Now Wang Haisheng was dumbfounded; he can't manage it alone.

"Lao Wang, can we still go or not launch the boat?" Over there, the two bosses were already impatient.

"Going, going, we'll leave right away." Wang Haisheng said, turning his head, nodding and bowing.

Then he turned his head, gave Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu a resentful look, and said helplessly, "Fine, go ahead, but remember, there's no pay for you going there."

"Okay, we don't want wages, but whatever we gather from foraging later is ours; you can't charge a transport fee." Ye Cheng made a request.

"Okay, okay, hurry up and come help." Wang Haisheng said casually, and the foraged goods will be yours, as if you could haul in a lot.

Seeing Wang Haisheng agree, the two hurried aboard and helped set off from the dock.

Today the weather is decent, the wind and waves aren't big, it's a good time to go out to sea.

It's about an hour's journey to Nameless Island; along the way Wang Haisheng stopped twice, he set a few fish traps and placed buoys.

Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu helped pull them up together; they were all in shallow sea areas.

"Uncle, there are blue crabs." Xiao Hu exclaimed.

The fish trap contained various sizes of things; there were two slightly larger blue crabs, about five taels each, while the rest were small crabs and shrimp.

"Not bad, Xiao Hu, nice job catching blue crabs." Wang Haisheng was overjoyed.

He has over a dozen fish traps along the way; if they all yielded this much, this trip would be a bountiful harvest.

However, the second fish trap was lacking, only some swimming crabs, much cheaper than blue crabs, plus some shrimp and octopus, still okay.

The two bosses also came over interestedly, took a look, shook their heads, "Lao Wang, your blue crabs are small."

Wang Haisheng replied, "That's because the two bosses usually eat too well; these five-tael blue crabs are fine, and fish traps yielding a catty of blue crabs are rare."

"Then later we'll have you prepare some seafood and octopus; this fresh stuff will definitely be tasty."

"Sure thing, rest assured, it's absolutely the taste of the sea."

This guy actually knows how to do business, even arranging seafood for us.

Actually, as the economy improves and people have more money, many wealthy folks like to go out to sea to fish.

Once caught, they're prepared right on the boat; although it can't match restaurant flavor, seafood is all about freshness, and even this simple preparation is still delicious.

Wang Haisheng continued on his route, retrieved all the fish traps, gathering several dozen catties of shrimp and fish, then dropped Ye Cheng and the other off at Nameless Island, while he himself took the two bosses out to sea fish, planning to pick them up on the return trip.

"Brother, where should we dig?" Xiao Hu said excitedly, having earned this much money over two consecutive days, he's grown to love the feeling of making money.

Ye Cheng had been to Nameless Island before; the place they're staying now is just sand, with little marine produce.

On the other side of the island there's a relatively large beach, where there might be more stuff.

"Let's go, let's dig on the other side."

Ye Cheng took Xiao Hu, the two grabbed shovels and water, crossed the island, which took just over twenty minutes.

After crossing, before them lay a wide beach.

However, this is quite different from Baiyun Village, which is mostly mudflat—stepping down yields mud—here it's a patchwork of small pools, and Ye Cheng already anticipates what might be inside.

Xiao Hu couldn't wait and rushed over, while Ye Cheng also found a small pool to examine.

The water is shallow, just a thin layer; whatever's at the bottom is clearly visible, though the water is a bit murky, mixed with aquatic plants and floating debris, requiring careful discrimination.

Perhaps due to the vibrations from Ye Cheng's walking, something moved in the mud and sand below, but it's unclear what it is.

Ye Cheng cautiously probed with the shovel; there was indeed movement, he cleared away the aquatic plants above, revealing the object in the mud and sand—a sea cucumber.

A sea cucumber lay hidden in the mud and sand, exposing most of its body.

The genuine article has no aggression; it's easy to catch by hand.

Just as Ye Cheng was about to grab it, Xiao Hu shouted from the side, "Brother, look."

Ye Cheng turned his head; Xiao Hu was excited, holding a blackish sea cucumber in his hand.

Damn, this lucky aura works—it actually let this kid get there first.

Ye Cheng wasn't about to be outdone; he directly pulled a sea cucumber from the pool, a thick, sturdy sea cucumber, earning him 15 points straight away.

Sea cucumber is a good tonic; of course, in later times its reputation was tarnished due to certain sports teams, but that doesn't affect its nourishing nature.

Moreover, sea cucumber tastes good, is easy to eat, can be dried and later rehydrated for consumption; it's indeed a rare delicacy, and the famous dish Buddha Jumps Over the Wall must include sea cucumber.

Now sea cucumbers are farmed, driving prices down, but wild is wild; people hold the belief that only wild ones are effective.

Thus genuine wild sea cucumber still commands a decent price; back when Ye Cheng attended banquets, sea cucumbers were sold individually.