Chapter 242: A Cheng, I feel like you came out here just to have a picnic

"How do we do this, bro?" Xiao Hu looked at all this stuff and felt a bit dizzy; luckily he doesn't have trypophobia, otherwise he really couldn't bear to look.

Ye Cheng looked at the oysters in his hand; this one could sell for a few dollars, and this whole oyster bed could bring in several thousand dollars, no problem.

Just...

It's a bit tiring.

"Just pick them up; it's just bending over, think of it as picking up loose change."

Having made up their minds, the three went to the boat shop and got a few boxes; they couldn't just toss the oysters onto the ship one by one.

The meritorious sea turtle brothers were fed some oyster meat by Ye Cheng, then they lay leisurely on the beach enjoying the sunshine and sand.

The miserable trio began working hard on the beach, performing just one motion: pick up, shake, then toss into the box.

Just like textile workers, it requires no skill, merely a boring repetitive motion.

After half an hour of picking, Xiao Hu became a bit withdrawn from picking.

"Bro, it's so boring."

"Then let me dance to relieve the boredom?"

"Forget it, bro; your dance isn't even as nice as the sea turtle's."

"Then let the sea turtle dance for you."

Ye Cheng was also bored stiff, so he could only chat with Xiao Hu while working.

After picking for a while, Ye Guowei stopped, looked around, and said solemnly,

"A Cheng, this is too slow."

Ye Cheng glanced, "Damn, it's slow, but there's nothing we can do."

"Bro, what do you suggest we do?"

"Use a shovel to scoop, directly scoop it up, then sort it out on the boat."

Ye Cheng thought, a shovel would indeed be much faster, so they did that.

There were shovels on the boat; each of the three got one and began scraping the oysters off the stone surfaces.

Although it took a bit more effort than picking, efficiency increased a lot—half an hour's work now equaled an hour's earlier effort, and a large patch of the beach had been cleared of oysters.

The three paused, then together loaded the boxes of oysters onto the boat; since they were all oysters, no need to be careful—just dump them in the hold like stones.

Dumping them in like that directly lined the hold's bottom, and it looked completely full.

"Damn, it looks pretty satisfying," Ye Cheng remarked, taking out cigarettes and handing one to each.

After a brief rest, the three resumed work.

They worked until noon, all three exhausted; the hold was more than half full, and the boat's draft had dropped considerably.

Ye Guowei looked and said, "Two more loads and we'll be about done; the boat can't hold much more."

"Great, two more loads and I feel like vomiting at the sight of oysters now," Ye Cheng said with a wry smile.

"Damn, having too much of anything is annoying—except money."

They ate some rations; this time it wasn't really rations, just instant noodles.

Ye Cheng really didn't want to chew on steamed buns; there was no need—if they had the means, why not get something better?

Right, he also brought sausages.

Plus Jiang Yunxiang's braised beef and a few bottles of happy drink.

Ye Guowei stared, dumbfounded: "A Cheng, I feel like you came out here just to have a picnic."

Ye Cheng picked up a slice of beef, dipped it in the instant noodles, rolled it with a sausage, and stuffed it into his mouth,

"Big brother, you need to learn to enjoy yourself; we work so hard, we should be able to eat something good—look at sister-in-law's braised beef, such perfect tendon meat, how great is that?"

Xiao Hu, not as refined as Ye Cheng in eating, forked three slices of beef with his instant-noodle fork and gulped them down in one mouthful.

Seeing his wife's braised beef being devoured by Xiao Hu like Zhu Bajie eating ginseng fruit, Ye Guowei felt a pang of heartache and couldn't help but complain,

"Xiao Hu, with such a big appetite, how did you even get raised back then?"

"Brother Guowei, I had nothing to eat as a kid; now that my brother has food, I naturally want to eat more."

Ye Guowei's face darkened; "If you want to eat more, why not eat your own family's food?"

Ye Cheng fed a slice of braised beef to the big sea turtle, which actually complained: "Brother, you should eat cooked food; this is tastier than raw, and you can add spice—later I'll take you for hot pot, even better."

Xiao Hu looked at Ye Cheng speechlessly: "Bro, hot pot is so hot, you'd literally cook that sea turtle."

Upon hearing that he'd be cooked, the big sea turtle seemed to understand and gave Ye Cheng's calf a headbutt, making Ye Cheng laugh.

The three of them, after downing half a catty of beef, instantly felt energized.

Ye Cheng patted his full belly, feeling satisfied: "Bro, you know how in Water Margin they'd cut two catties of beef at a shop—could they finish it? My bucket of noodles plus two taels of beef fills me up."

"They were tiger hunters; you're gathering from the sea—can't be the same. Get back to work."

After finishing their meal, the three continued the laborers' work—shoveling oysters with shovels.

By 3 p. m., the oysters were nearly done, the boat was nearly full, and there was really no more space.

Loading any more would probably mean throwing the big sea turtle overboard.

The three packed up and then set off back.

The boat sat deep in the water, so it moved relatively slowly.

On the way back, Ye Cheng specifically had Ye Guowei teach him to drive the boat; he already knew a bit, and with Ye Guowei's hands-on instruction, operating the boat was no problem.

However, he probably still needs to get a boating license.

Coming took an hour, returning took an hour and a half; by the time they reached the dock, it was already past five.

From afar they saw Wang Defa standing on the dock, craning his neck.

As soon as the boat docked, Wang Defa hurriedly pulled Ye Cheng ashore, saying, "Old Two, I've thought about the price—if we knock off another thousand, how about 37,000?"

Ye Cheng shook his head: "32,000 flat, and that's only out of consideration for Xiao Hu; otherwise I'd ask 30,000."

Wang Defa looked troubled; the price of 30,002 was actually acceptable to him, he was just a bit reluctant.

"Add a bit more, 30,004, no, 30,003, how about that?" Wang Defa wore a grimace of clenched teeth, as if he had made a great decision.

Seeing Wang Defa's face red from holding back, Ye Cheng thought it was fine, nodded, "Alright, 30,003 it is, from now on this boat is mine, okay?"

"Cheng, Cheng! It's yours, but..." Wang Defa suddenly looked embarrassed at Ye Cheng.

Ye Cheng instantly understood, "It's the boat rental fee for today, right? Renting the boat is renting the boat, I'll pay the money as agreed, okay?"

Hearing Ye Cheng agree to pay today's boat rental fee, Wang Defa's face instantly blossomed like fireworks, he vigorously patted Ye Cheng's shoulder,

"Lao Er, I always said you're a good person; I've seen you had promise since childhood. Look, now you have money and you're generous, hahaha."

Xiao Hu waited until the two finished their discussion before approaching; after all, he was Wang Defa's nephew, so he wasn't good at speaking.

"Xiao Hu, from now on follow A Cheng and work hard, you have a future." Wang Defa is now happy as what?