Chapter 35: Crab Army

The pincer and foot Ye Cheng holds are orchid-colored; it's an orchid crab.

In terms of texture, orchid crab meat is relatively delicate, fresh and delicious, suitable for steaming or making soup; the meat flavor is fresh and firm.

Swimming crab meat is fresh and sweet, with ample meat, suitable for various cooking methods such as steaming and braising, especially crab soup which is fresh and delicious.

The dish that leaves Ye Cheng the deepest impression is stir-fried swimming crab with rice cake; the crab is delicious, and the rice cake is even more delicious.

Although the two crabs are similar in size and taste, orchid crab is slightly more expensive, purely because orchid crab is relatively rarer.

I didn't expect to get orchid crab tonight; a luck value of 60 seems still okay.

"Xiao Hu, did you bring the rope?" Ye Cheng asked.

"I did, big brother; do I need you to worry about such a small thing?" Xiao Hu cheerfully took out the rope and tied up the crab.

Orchid crab is smaller than blue crab and weaker, so tying it up isn't too laborious; it's about six taels, which is acceptable.

After tying it up, Ye Cheng took a flashlight and began searching on the beach.

Crabs usually hide by day and come out at night; at night they go out to feed, so Ye Cheng doesn't even need to flip stones or use a flashlight—moonlight alone is enough to see them, the commotion is too great.

Swimming crabs still run fairly fast; Ye Cheng took a big step forward and pressed down on one, which was also an orchid crab, estimated at about five taels; Ye Cheng first threw it into the bucket, to tie it later.

"Brother, look at this." Xiao Hu raised something over there—a sea snail.

"What the heck, it's so far away, I can't see clearly, what is it?"

"Brother, these are whelks; there are lots of whelks over here." Xiao Hu shouted.

Whelks are a type of sea snail, oval-shaped, with white shells bearing obvious floral patterns, easy to recognize.

Moreover, their meat is fresh and crisp, making them popular, and the price is moderate.

"Alright, you gather your whelks; I'll handle the crabs, big brother."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Cheng saw a protrusion under his foot; he picked it up and saw it was also a whelk, decent size—come on in.

Tonight seems to be a swimming crab special; after walking a few steps, Ye Cheng found another swimming crab, though just an ordinary one, but looking at its body it's quite plump—not bad, kid, you've worked hard to grow this fat.

Ye Cheng walked two steps toward the sea when suddenly he heard a rustling sound, as if many things were crawling densely.

He pulled out his flashlight and shone it that way, "Whoa!"

A carpet of swimming crabs was crawling there; at a glance there seemed to be over a hundred.

"Xiao Hu, Xiao Hu, hurry over, we're picking up crabs!" Ye Cheng shouted excitedly.

"Huh? Coming!" Xiao Hu replied, coming around from the other side.

Ye Cheng no longer needed the flashlight; using it now would be an insult to this army of crabs.

Don't underestimate the crabs just because they're small; they run fast, darting several meters in an instant.

Ye Cheng bent over, not caring what kind of crab it was or whether it would pinch him, he just picked them up and tossed them into the bucket.

The first time he used too much force, he threw one straight out—a waste.

In the quiet night, you could hear the two of them seemingly competing to toss crabs into the bucket, thud, one after another.

A few minutes later, Xiao Hu shouted excitedly, "Brother, my bucket is full."

"My bucket is full too, damn it." Ye Cheng looked at the remaining dozens of swimming crabs, feeling unwilling.

"Go get a snakeskin bag; I'll follow them."

After saying that, Ye Cheng picked up the bucket and, taking small steps, started running after the crab swarm.

After running several dozen meters, the crab swarm suddenly slipped into the sea.

"Damn, that's so unscrupulous." Ye Cheng couldn't care less; he took two steps forward, picked up a swimming crab and threw it onto the beach—you can still find them on the beach, but once they're in the sea, only the East Sea Dragon King could find you.

However, he bent over too much; as soon as he picked one up, the bucket tilted and three crabs ran out.

"Shit!" Ye Cheng swore, finally understanding the difficulty of the bear breaking the pole in the elementary school text.

Forget it; this time we're unprepared, there's nothing to do—Ye Cheng could only watch helplessly as the swimming crab swarm entered the sea.

"Brother, I'm here—where are you, where are you?" Xiao Hu rushed over, carrying a snakeskin bag.

"Over there, go ahead." Ye Cheng pointed at the sea.

Xiao Hu gave Ye Cheng a speechless look, "Brother, you're herding crabs into the sea now?"

Ye Cheng's face also turned red; lacking experience, if he stood on one side of the shore, they probably wouldn't go into the sea—he should have walked onto the beach.

"Alright, let's pack them up first—how many do we have?"

"Several dozen, I don't know exactly—a crowd of them, scrambling about nonstop."

Ye Cheng poured the swimming crabs from his bucket into it as well—mainly orchid crabs, with a small portion of swimming crabs.

Once the crabs were in the bag, they went crazy, each trying to crawl out; Ye Cheng had to use his hand to push them back down.

"We should tie it with rope; if we don't, they'll all escape soon."

Ye Cheng really didn't expect this outcome; yesterday was fine—he caught them one by one, tying as he went—but now it's a whole group at once, damn it, we can't avoid tying them.

Xiao Hu also wore a bitter expression, worrying over the dozens of crabs; Ye Cheng couldn't rely on him—having seen yesterday's situation, he could only handle it alone.

Suddenly, Xiao Hu's eyes lit up: "Brother, why not call Zhang Guafu? Let her do the tying while we handle driving the crabs ashore."

Ye Cheng felt a stir in his heart; that's not impossible.

But it's so late now; I don't know if we'll get scolded for it.

"Then you go call someone; I'll keep watch on things." Ye Cheng said to Xiao Hu.

Xiao Hu's face darkened: "Brother, you're screwing me over again; going to call her at this hour will definitely get me scolded."

Besides, she's a widow; if I, a grown man, go to her place in the middle of the night and someone sees me…

"Damn, you're a grown man and still worried about reputation?"

"My mom said men should also keep themselves pure and not mess around; I still need to marry a wife someday."

This kid, still so traditional.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Ye Cheng had nothing left to say.

"Hey, bro, you do have a phone, right? Just call them over, that way we can still save time." Xiao Hu had a brainwave.

Ye Cheng tapped his own head, "Oh right, I forgot about the newly bought phone. It seems I've grown accustomed to the leisurely life; my brain has also deteriorated, not like back when I was at the big company—I used to have several ideas a day."

Zhang Guafu does have a phone, but I don't know who gave it to her.

Ye Cheng dialed directly, and after a long while the other side finally answered.