Chapter 93: The Supreme Yellow Butter Crab Among Roe Crabs

That damn Uncle Jinshui, I just casually said I added MSG—he wouldn't really have told anyone, would he?

Um...

He couldn't imagine how those sea creatures, used to natural flavors, would react to a sudden pile of industrial MSG—would they spit it out or find it delicious?

Whatever, if anyone asks I'll just say I don't know.

No initiative, no refusal, no responsibility!

This has nothing to do with me; maybe they bought MSG to develop a new cuisine—you're overthinking.

Li Quezi didn't argue, just chuckled lightly, 'Anyway, if someone buys, I sell—they can do whatever they want.'

I never expected buying cigarettes from Li Quezi would also bring this unexpected windfall, leaving Ye Cheng speechless.

I guess I'll get scolded again.

If this keeps up, I might just earn the title of 'rich but unkind'.

After leaving Li Quezi's, Ye Cheng called Xiao Hu, and the two set off with their gear to go foraging.

Since we have a motorcycle, we plan to head straight to the outskirts for foraging.

As we walked, Ye Cheng deliberately detoured to the village entrance—not to show off, just to see how many people were fishing.

Brother, there are so many anglers. Xiao Hu pointed at the seaside reefs, damn, each stood like a statue of a wife waiting for her husband—posture perfect, expression focused; in a contest they'd surely win first place.

The only problem is, nobody has caught anything all afternoon.

No catch.

Even tens of meters away, Ye Cheng could hear curses drifting on the wind, most likely aimed at him.

Never mind them; I don't get why people blindly chase trends just to make money—this will lose you money down the line.

He twisted the throttle, and Ye Cheng pulled Xiao Hu along as they left the village.

Foraging in the village doesn't work anymore, and Liu Village is no good either.

These don't matter.

The sea is vast; walk along the shore and you'll always find a suitable spot.

Besides, we've been there before; the village loafers just like to stroll, we can go anywhere.

Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu already had a secret beach.

Called a secret beach, but it's really just a hard-to-reach spot with few people.

Starting from the village, after passing Liu Village, turn onto a small path, ride another ten minutes then get off, then walk through a small grove to reach the beach.

Because the path is rough, few people come here.

This beach isn't sand or mudflat; it's mostly small stones.

The two carried the water tank and tools, hacking away blocking branches as they went, before they could enter.

A small cove, the water isn't too rough; if developed, it would definitely be a great barbecue spot.

Let's get to work; it's already afternoon, staying here till evening gets a bit creepy.

Foraging are seasoned workers now; the two split up, left and right, and started working.

Here it's all shallow water; stepping in wets the shoes, so Ye Cheng could only roll up his pant legs, the cool seawater covering the tops of his feet.

Occasionally, gentle waves would roll in and lightly slap the calves.

The water is very clear, you can't see anything.

Ye Cheng bent down, found a stone and started turning it over.

In this kind of place, foraging doesn't need a shovel—no mudflat, no seawater pools, no net—just flip stones; everything else is nonsense.

He lightly flipped a stone; a crab startled a bit but didn't dare run—Ye Cheng pressed it down and lifted it up: a swimming crab, not small; after the last crab boom, it's been ages since he'd seen one.

'Brother, long time no see,' Ye Cheng greeted it kindly and tossed it into the bucket.

After walking two steps forward, Ye Cheng saw a slightly larger stone, pried it with a shovel; the stone churned up a bit of murky water, and something slipped out in the murk, hiding under another stone.

'Brother, you think the teacher didn't notice your cheating on the exam? I saw it crystal clear.'

Ye Cheng didn't even need to move his feet; he turned over that yellowish pebble, revealing the crab underneath.

The little guy still wanted to escape, but after hesitating, before he could pick a spot, Ye Cheng pressed him down.

A blue crab; Ye Cheng picked it up and saw its body was yellowish, legs thick, very full—could it be a roe crab?

He turned it over; round shell, all yellow—sure enough, it's a roe crab.

Blue crabs come in two types: meat crabs and roe crabs.

Meat crabs are ordinary blue crabs; their bodies are bluish-white, especially the abdominal flap, which is completely white.

While roe crabs specifically refer to pregnant females; their bodies are yellowish, inside they have roe, the shell also turns yellow; eating them is much better than just eating the meat, and of course they're much more expensive.

Roe crabs also have a premium kind called yellow butter crab; its roe is even fuller—plainly speaking, the roe oozes oil.

The difference between yellow butter crab and ordinary roe crab lies in the joints: pull apart a leg and the joint where it meets the body is yellow, and the joint on the leg itself is also yellow.

Ye Cheng picked up the one in his hand and examined it closely; the joints looked glazed, yellowish—a standard yellow butter crab.

And it's wild—this is great.

Ye Cheng carefully placed this precious crab into the bucket and continued forward.

Sunlight poured down, the stone hill ahead reflected a bright glint; Ye Cheng looked over—it was a cat's eye snail clinging to the stone.

Cat's eye snails are also called big fragrant snails; they're several times larger than fragrant snails, with a chewy, firm texture; fragrant snails are crisp and tender; both often appear on everyone's dinner tables as seafood.

There are plenty of cat's eye snails here; Ye Cheng bent his head and began picking them up one by one, using a finger to dig out the exposed snail meat, prying them off the stone; the snail meat nervously shot out a stream of clear water then retracted into its shell.

He picked up about twenty-plus cat's eye snails; the big ones were half a palm size, the small ones as long as a thumb; each was substantial, and the bucket suddenly felt heavy.

'Xiao Hu, what did you get?' Ye Cheng shouted to Xiao Hu.

Xiao Hu raised his right hand; in it was a frantically struggling crab, looks like a swimming crab,

'Brother, I got a bit of both crab and snail.' Xiao Hu replied loudly.

Ye Cheng nodded; having goods is enough.

He walked forward a few steps, began rummaging under the stones; the stuff under the stones was rather mixed. Apart from finding two not-large blue crabs, Ye Cheng also dug up several big shrimp, tiger shrimp.

Seeing the bucket already more than half full, Ye Cheng took out the snakeskin bag and poured everything directly into it; the lone yellow butter crab remained in the bucket—this is top-grade goods.

A little further ahead, there was a break in the beach, below which nothing could be seen.

Ye Cheng walked closer and looked down; it was still the same kind of beach, only the water was a bit deeper.