Chapter 11: Sell the Green Crabs

The Ye family members also saw Ye Yaodong's harvest at this moment, and Ye's mother, surprised, spoke first: "You even caught two green crabs?"

While speaking, she reached out and pinched them, saying happily: "They're quite hard; the two together should weigh over a jin, which can sell for one or two yuan!"

"Sell what? Take them home and eat them ourselves!"

"Eat, eat, eat! You only know how to eat, you good-for-nothing! Your wife works a whole day on the nets and earns less than one yuan, yet these two green crabs can sell for one or two yuan, and you actually want to eat them!" Ye's mother glared and simultaneously slapped him several times.

Ye Yaodong stepped back two paces to dodge his mother's palm; she had worked hard all her life, her hands were calloused, and hitting him actually hurt.

"Mother, I wasn't thinking of eating them myself. It's rare to catch two green crabs; I wanted to stew them to nourish the children in the family..."

Ye's mother's expression instantly brightened, and her tone softened; remembering the children was a good thing. "With so many children in the family, will these two be enough for anyone?"

"Even if each person gets one claw and a sip of soup, that would be fine!"

"With so many children, they'll just cry, make a fuss, and fight over them. These things are worth some money; it's better to sell them. Yesterday, your father also kept a few swimming crabs and a jin of small sword shrimp; just eat those."

Ye Yaodong frowned; the two green crabs together weighed only a little over a jin, and at current prices, they would sell for just over one yuan, which was far too cheap compared to the future.

Green crabs are also called 'xun'; they also refer to farmed green crabs as 'vegetable xun'.

In the future, wild green crabs at the dock were relatively cheap, selling for 150 yuan per jin, and you couldn't even buy wild ones in the market; the market only had farmed ones, also selling for 150 yuan per jin.

Seeing him frown tightly, Ye's mother hurriedly signaled him with her eyes, snatched the rope, and said, "I'll take them to the dock to sell at the collection point. You wait here, and dig up some sand clams while you're at it; the tide is about to rise."

This fool! His own wife works herself to death earning money, and he finally caught two green crabs. With the family division coming soon, instead of thinking of selling them for some money to give to his wife to save, he actually wanted to share them?

Ye Yaodong watched his mother walk briskly toward the shore and had to give up; selling a little was better than nothing. It was just that he hadn't adjusted his thinking yet; after all, money was valuable now, so selling a little was good.

Lin Lin Xiuqing saw her mother-in-law quickly take the green crabs to sell and felt relieved; those two green crabs could equal the value of her weaving fishing nets for several days.

Everyone has their own selfishness; her husband was already lazy and couldn't compare to his older and second brothers in earning money. Now that there was an unexpected extra income of one or two yuan, she didn't want to give it out for everyone to eat.

Seeing Ye's mother's actions, Ye's second sister-in-law pouted her lips, said nothing, and squatted down to continue digging, thinking that if it were her, she would sell them too.

Ye's first sister-in-law, however, became curious. "Yaodong, where did you catch the green crabs? No wonder I didn't see you just now."

"Over there!"

After the incident just now, he had no desire to talk to these people; he casually flicked his head to indicate a direction, then walked toward his wife and looked at the nearly full basin beside her.

"Not a bad harvest; you dug up quite a lot."

Lin Lin Xiuqing smiled faintly. "It's okay. Unfortunately, the tide is about to rise, and the ebb tide won't come until night, so we can only come again tomorrow."

She glanced at his trousers rolled up high, then looked toward the rocks. "Did you walk outside the tide to dig these up?"

At least she gave him a smile, so Ye Yaodong nodded. "Mm. There wasn't much on the nearby rock walls; the clams and snails were only the size of a fart. So I walked a bit further out. I guess those oddly shaped large rocks blocked your view of me, which is why you didn't see me."

He really became diligent? Actually dug seriously for so long? No wonder no one saw him nearby; he actually walked outside the tide.

"These clams and spicy snails are still a bit small." She reached into the basket and sorted through them.

"I've already dug up everything edible as much as possible. The clams are okay; they open up on their own when cooked. Don't look at their small size, but they should be quite meaty. The snails are a bit small; take them home, sort them out, and let the children smash them with stones and steam them with scallion oil."

"What? Scallion oil? You need oil just to boil snails? Just boil them in water, pick out the meat, and eat. Where did you learn that way of eating? You need oil just to eat snails?"

Lin Lin Xiuqing frowned and looked at him incredulously; truly, one doesn't know the value of tea, rice, oil, and salt until one runs a household!

"Uh... heh... I heard about it. Then let's just Bai Zhuo them." Ye Yaodong smiled awkwardly; he had habitually brought over the way his family ate in the future and momentarily forgot that they were using lard now, so such extravagance wasn't allowed.

Fresh seafood just needs Bai Zhuo; their family also just Bai Zhuoed whatever they could now, so they wouldn't waste money on seasonings.

Lin Lin Xiuqing frowned, gave him a strange look, and squatted down again. "Mother hasn't come back yet; I'll dig a bit longer. You might as well take the son ashore and wait."

"Okay!"

Just as well; he didn't want to work anymore either! Soaking in the water for too long made his feet uncomfortable.

Ye Ye Chengyang had buried both his feet in the sand and was still giggling there. Ye Yaodong simply picked up the child, who was having the most fun, lifted him entirely, tucked him under his arm, and took his harvest ashore as well.

As soon as the child was tucked under the armpit, he started wailing loudly, flailing his limbs, and spitting out words two by two: "Want play, want play, no, go home!"

"The tide is rising; everyone must go home!"

"No, no, Yangyang, want play!"

"Come again next time. Do you want corn at home? If we go back late, your older brothers and sisters will have eaten it all."

Once food was mentioned, the child stopped struggling and instead said: "Want eat, Yangyang, want eat!"

After going ashore, Ye Yaodong put him down and let him sit on a rock by the shore. "Sit obediently and wait for your mother to finish digging before we go back together."

"Hungry, hungry..."

"Why didn't I see you say you were hungry while you were playing? Just wait for me!"

Ye Yaodong was used to the dissatisfaction of his two sons decades later, their occasional backtalk, and their scolding him for not being steel enough. Seeing him now so small and speaking in a milky voice, he really wasn't used to it; the contrast was too great, and he couldn't even feel much pity...

Ye Ye Chengyang's mouth pouted, looking somewhat aggrieved, on the verge of tears. This sight was seen by Ye's mother, who happened to be walking over, and by Ye Ye Yaopeng and Ye Ye Yaohua, who had just finished docking their boat.

Ye's mother immediately felt heartbroken. "What's wrong, Yangyang? Who bullied you? Tell Grandma, and Grandma will hit him!"

With a backer now, Ye Ye Chengyang immediately opened his mouth and wailed loudly: "Dad, it's Dad!"

Ye's mother immediately pretended to hit Ye Yaodong twice. "Grandma has already hit your dad for you. Be good, don't cry."

Ye Ye Chengyang immediately closed his mouth and stopped wailing; his tears were under his full control, with only a bit of moisture on his eyelashes revealing traces of crying.

Ye Yaodong couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth!

Brat!

No wonder he was so unlikable when he grew up!

"Grandma, hungry, hungry, corn!"

"Okay, okay, we'll go home and cook right away."

After comforting her grandson, Ye's mother shouted to the several daughters-in-law on the beach: "Go home, stop digging; it's getting late, time to go home for dinner."

The three daughters-in-law were already hungry, their stomachs growling. Seeing their mother-in-law call them, they each took their basins and buckets ashore; after all, the tide was about to come in anyway.