Chapter 384

The season for swimming crabs has arrived, and the villagers' faces are all beaming with smiles.

Ye Cheng looked around; basically all the villagers who owned fishing boats had gone out to sea today, with 3-4 people per boat, bringing their families along.

After arriving at Matou, it became even more lively—a sea of people that left Ye Cheng dazzled.

Damn!

Are you sure this is Matou and not a Spring Festival travel train station?

Lao Er, just follow the main group later; there are too many Boats. After saying that, Duan Chunsheng went aboard his Boat.

A thousand sails racing, ten thousand horses galloping—damn, it's really Boats jammed with Boats.

Ye Cheng cautiously followed the main group out to sea, and Xiao Hu saw that other Boats had three or four people each, and he began to worry.

"Brother, can we two handle this? Should we call your older brother?"

Ye Cheng scratched his head; it seemed they should call him, but it was already too late—they were out at sea, and calling now would be too late.

Never mind all that; let's get it done first and talk later.

Ye Cheng followed the majority out, and this group was all heading in the same direction; at this moment, no one could resist the allure of the swimming crab.

After heading out for 40 minutes, Ye Cheng noticed these Boats beginning to scatter, left and right, with some continuing forward; Ye Cheng didn't know whom to follow.

Seeing that there were quite a few people here, he simply went forward a stretch; this place had fewer people.

However, few people also indicates that this area is already somewhat far from the core zone of the swimming crab.

Far is fine anyway; I mainly rely on the system, and with a Luck Value of 100, how could I not give myself a crit or something?

The swimming crab is a bottom-layer net; the two of them increased the weight, and seeing such large mesh, it looks like today they can only catch big haul—even if they encounter yesterday's shrimp, they'd slip through the net.

Before casting the net, Ye Cheng checked the heading of other fishing Boats, then adjusted the bow direction, and only then lowered the net.

A single trawl for swimming crabs usually takes 1-2 hours; this time it's in a dense area, so Ye Cheng plans to time the first net at about 1 hour.

In the past, nights at sea were desolate, occasionally you could see a boat; tonight the sea is like a market—after sailing a stretch you see a point of light, even a stretch of lights. Damn, what a crazy night.

During this hour, Ye Cheng was steering the Boat, while Xiao Hu prepared other things, tidying up the plastic baskets and the workspace so that loading the catch later would be easier.

As soon as the hour was up, Ye Cheng felt some pull from behind; he decisively told Xiao Hu to haul the net—this was a catch of swimming crabs, not a school of fish, and they were pulling, so the net must be full.

The winch slowly pulled up; when the trawl net had just risen halfway, Ye Cheng saw that there was catch inside—the swimming crabs were crawling frantically, trying to escape.

When the trawl net was fully hauled in, Ye Cheng could barely keep the smile off his face—there was a whole half-net of swimming crabs, estimated at several hundred jin, and this was only the first net.

"Brother, we've hit a jackpot!" Xiao Hu exclaimed happily—the first net already brought in a huge catch, a great omen.

He skillfully opened the trawl net, and at once everything slid onto the deck.

The deck was full of swimming crabs—greenish and bluish—some were still turning over, while others, using their long legs, began scurrying around looking for places to escape.

Besides the swimming crabs, none of the sea snails usually found in the bottom trawl were present—the mesh was too large to hold them.

Only a few unlucky tongue sole got swept into the net as well.

Faced with so many crabs, Ye Cheng felt both delighted and worried—no wonder others bring extra hands; with just the two of us, we'll have to work for a long time.

Fortunately, Xiao Hu had already made preparations—he placed a small stool on each side of the deck, paired with a plastic basket, and the two of us got to work.

Ye Cheng casually picked up a swimming crab to examine; this one was several centimeters long, big enough, but selecting swimming crabs requires skill—some may look large yet turn out to be empty shells when eaten.

Generally speaking, to tell whether a swimming crab has meat, you look at three aspects:

First, the shell: a bluish-gray, shiny, hard shell that springs back quickly when pressed and doesn't dent. Then check the spines on the left and right sides of the shell—on a meaty crab they should also be filled with flesh, not hollow.

Second, the legs: grip the longest leg; it should feel firm and substantial. Also, the joint where the leg meets the shell should have as small a gap as possible.

Third, weigh it—of course compare crabs of similar size; the heavier the crab, the fatter it is.

The swimming crab in Ye Cheng's hand is plump all over, and it's a female with yellow roe—it will definitely fetch a good price.

"Xiao Hu, look at this one—it's got yellow roe," Ye Cheng bragged.

Xiao Hu snorted with a laugh; although he casually kicked out a leg, sending an escaping swimming crab back, he scooped it up and showed it to Ye Cheng,

"Well, who doesn't have yellow roe then?"

Sure enough, his also had yellow roe.

"Alright, let's separate the ones with yellow roe for easier selling."

After saying that, Ye Cheng started trussing the swimming crabs—it's simple because they're relatively small and weak; just press down the two pincers and slip a loop over each side, and it's done.

These rubber bands are special—smaller loops that fit just right; if they were normal‑size bands, you'd have to wrap them four or five times.

Once one is done, Ye Cheng puts the finished crab back into the rear plastic basket, stacking them layer by layer; as for them trying to crawl out—heh, they can't.

Though the deck was covered with swimming crabs too numerous to count, Ye Cheng grew more skilled with each one, his speed picking up considerably; still, it took the two of them nearly an hour to truss most of the crabs.

The remaining smaller crabs, Ye Cheng simply tossed back into the sea.

All that was left were five tongue soles; though they weren't worth much either, Xiao Hu didn't want to just throw them away, so he dumped them into a basket—let them live or die, it didn't matter.

For this net, the two of them filled nine baskets; at 20–30 jin per basket, that's over 200 jin.

With the cleanup nearly finished, Ye Cheng began to deploy the second net—there was no choice; time was precious.

The first net took an hour to trawl and an hour to process—about two hours per net—plus the time for sailing out and back, so in one night they could manage only three nets.

Because they had to be back by about 5 a. m., arriving at the dock after 5 a. m. ensured the cargo could reach the major vegetable markets by 7 a. m.

Ye Cheng didn't time the second net to exactly an hour; he relied on feeling, and when the trailing net felt tension, he began to haul it in.