Chapter 251: Abalone Collectively Come Ashore

It could be seen that the seabed had been "arched" out of the sea surface by an average of more than one meter, and in the most obvious places, it was even three meters above the sea surface.

The seabed, which should have been very deep, had suddenly risen to become land, exposing large areas of reefs, while marine life such as abalone, lobsters, and crabs that lived on the underwater rock reefs were instantly exposed to the light of day.

Thousands upon thousands of abalones were all attached to the reefs. In the past, abalones mostly lurked in the reefs, but today they were all exposed under the sun.

As for the small green lobsters, they were swimming near the underwater rocks, and those crabs were not even worth mentioning.

Ye Mu widened her eyes as she looked at the scene in front of her, shocked to the point of being unable to make a sound for a while. Only after a long time did she say, "This... did all of this suddenly pop out?"

"Yes, when Ye Lao San and I came over last time, there was no such reef island nearby. This should be due to the earthquake, pushing up the underwater reef." Ye Fu said, rubbing his hands joyfully.

Everything was pitch-black reef, with no vegetation on it at all, only some seaweed swaying there. One look and you knew it hadn't appeared on the sea surface for long.

"The earthquake is actually this good, pushing up the reefs? This... so many abalones, and small green lobsters are all exposed..."

"Who cares, catch them first! We're rich, holy crap..."

Ye Yaodong, with a joyful face, climbed directly off the boat and tentatively stepped into the water near the reef. The seawater instantly reached his knees. The small green lobsters and crabs nearby were startled and scurried everywhere. They were agile, and soon they ran back into the sea.

The ground under the water wasn't very flat, but fortunately, he was wearing rain boots, so it wouldn't hurt his feet. Wet is wet, whatever.

It could be seen that tens of thousands of huge abalones were in full view, exposed on the surface in groups. These were good things.

"Father and I will just go into the water. Mother, you and Little Sister shouldn't go into the water; the seawater is too cold. You just take the hand nets and scoop up the small green lobsters and crabs in the water."

Ye Mu saw that there were quite a few living creatures under the water, clearly visible, so scooping them up with a hand net wouldn't be a problem. "Alright, I'll go get the hand nets, you and your little sister take one side each."

Ye Yaodong and Ye Fu looked at the thousands of abalones crawling on the surrounding stone walls, their eyes shining with wolf-like greed. They were large, plump, and attached to the reefs on the shore one after another, looking very spectacular.

Under normal circumstances, abalones can survive for three to five days after leaving the water, but if exposed to strong sunlight, they will die in a few hours.

Fortunately, although it had been sunny for the past two days, the winter sun wasn't very dazzling and was quite weak.

Who knew when this reef was pushed out of the water? These abalones were still attached to the reef, perhaps because of the occasional washing of the seawater, so they were all still alive and well.

Ye Yaodong tried to reach out and pry one, but found that it was attached very firmly and was very difficult to pry off. He spent a great deal of effort before prying one off.

The abalone he just pulled off was oval-shaped, a common nine-hole abalone on the market. The shell was greenish-brown with a pearlescent luster, and it wasn't small, about the size of an infant's fist. The soft meat on top was still contracting.

He rubbed it with his thumb and turned his head joyfully to Ye Huimei. "Help me get a bucket and a hook. There are hooks in the basket in the corner of the cabin. Give one to Father too; prying this by hand is too slow."

The shape of the abalone is quite peculiar. Its body has a shell on only one side, and the other side is attached to the reef. Once there is any disturbance in the outside world, it relies on its developed muscle strength to firmly attach itself to the reef. At this time, even if you smash the shell, it won't come off the reef.

If you use brute force, it will be quite strenuous. It is best to approach carefully and then suddenly hook its shell with a small iron hook, so that you can catch it off guard and take it in one go.

Ye Huimei obediently ran directly into the cabin to find the iron hooks, and then handed a hook and a bucket to him and her father.

At this time, Ye Mu said somewhat angrily, "These small green lobsters and crabs run too fast. I just scooped one net, and the ones next to it immediately scurried into the sea. I couldn't scoop them up; I didn't scoop many in total."

Ye Yaodong climbed onto a reef and looked at the spot his mother had just scooped; it seemed they had all run away.

"Then change direction and take a look. Scoop wherever there are some? They aren't dead, so they definitely won't wait there for you to scoop them. When there's no one around, they can swim leisurely there. If someone catches them, they will definitely react and hide directly in the sea."

"They ran too fast just now. I couldn't scoop two nets before they all ran away. Isn't that too much of a pity?"

"Scoop as many as you can. Anyway, they are all picked up for free."

These were all scurrying around near the reef. Except for the hand net, no other tool was as efficient. If they ran, there was nothing they could do. They couldn't dive into the water to catch them, could they?

Fortunately, these abalones were slow-moving and couldn't distinguish direction, so they could only wait to die on the reef, waiting for them to pick them up.

These reefs were not only attached with abalones but also with many sea snails, all big sea snails or oyster snails, each at least the size of an infant's fist, and some were the size of an adult's fist, all firmly attached to the reef, looking very pleasing.

Ye Yaodong and Ye Fu used small hooks to hook down everything they saw. The sound of *Dongdong dong* rang out from the bucket from time to time, which sounded very pleasant.

Before long, they heard Ye Mu calling out again, "There are no more small green lobsters, they've all run away. Maybe I should go into the water too and dig abalones with you."

There were dense clusters of big abalones on the reef, and she didn't know when they would finish picking them. She was anxious just watching from the boat, and her heart was itching; she also wanted to get her hands on them.

"What water are you going into? Soaking in the seawater in winter is not good for you women. If there's really nothing to scoop, I'll have Dongzi send you to that small island later, and you can go dig shellfish there."

"Mother, how many small green lobsters did you scoop? Do you have a count?"

"Not many, they're packed with the crabs, the basket isn't even full, and it looks like there are more crabs."

"Then count them first, see how many small green lobsters there are, and after counting, ask Father to send you to the small island. Leave the reef here to me and Father. Anyway, you two were originally going to dig shellfish."

In this cold weather, the seawater was icy cold, so they really couldn't come down and soak.

"Alright then." Ye Mu nodded reluctantly. At least there was work to do, and she didn't have to just watch from the boat.

Ye Huimei also knew that she was getting married soon, and soaking in the seawater for a long time wasn't very good, so she never asked to go into the water. Going to the isolated island nearby with her mother to dig some shellfish was also fine; maybe she could pick up some treasures.

While Ye Mu was counting the small green lobsters, the father and son's buckets were almost half full, and they couldn't stop at all.

They didn't specifically separate the abalones and sea snails; it was too troublesome. They just dug them all into the bucket together, and they could slowly sort them later.

"Holy crap, we dug for half a bucket and only dug one area. How many will there be when all these abalones and sea snails are dug back?"

Ye Fu was also beaming with joy. "We can definitely sell them for a lot of money. Abalones are very expensive, and these are all not small. Usually, they are on the underwater reefs, so where could we catch them?"

"Father, today's goods will be split half and half between us. Those small green lobsters and crabs were caught by Mother and Little Sister, so they count as yours. As for the oarfish from the past two days, I'll calculate it for you at the end of the month."

"It's fine, calculate it all together, half and half is fine. I haven't earned less money since I hired you as a boatman. This period of time, I've earned much more than trawling with your eldest and second brothers. As for the oarfish, just calculate the profit together with the usual fish goods. After all, you discovered it; I just helped lift it. If I had seen it, I might have just ignored it."

Ye Fu's mind was still very clear. Ye Lao San's luck was indeed better than the average person's. Looking at the dense clusters of abalones on the reef in front of him, his old face blossomed with joy.

"Then we'll talk about it later. Dig first, pick all the abalones on the reef back first."

"I don't know when we'll finish digging. We don't even need to trawl today."

"Why trawl? We can't even finish picking these abalones. Just throw those longlines and gillnets into the sea, and we can collect them when we go back."

These abalones were enough to make them rich. They didn't need the longlines and gillnets. Ye Yaodong smiled until his teeth were showing.

Ye Huimei said triumphantly, trying to take credit, "I told you to bring me along. If we had brought Auntie or Second Aunt, we might have had to split more than half, and our family would have earned half less."

Ye Mu couldn't help but say, "Your Auntie and Second Aunt aren't outsiders..."

"But they aren't our own family either. Fertile water shouldn't flow into outsiders' fields, right Father!"

Ye Fu smiled and nodded. "Our own family is better."

"I've counted, there are 26 small green lobsters. Some are only two or three taels, and a few big ones are six or seven taels. It's okay, they should sell for a good price."

"I wonder what these small green lobsters taste like..." Ye Huimei picked up the antennae of a big one, and saw its tail immediately curl up and move constantly.

Ye Mu glared at Ye Huimei, "When did you become like your third brother, only knowing how to eat?"

"It's not like you didn't raise me. Father follows Third Brother to sea, and every three days there are good things brought back. Hehe, it's much better than following Eldest and Second Brother to sea..."

"Your father and Eldest and Second Brother know how to live a life, your Third Brother..."

"What about me? I give you food and you still have to talk? Eating can't even block your mouth, Mother." Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes. "Little Sister, let's keep a few more small green lobsters today, one for each of us, everyone taste the flavor!"

"Hehe~"

"You spendthrift~ you want to eat everything... can't you save it to sell for money..."

Ye Fu also nagged, "Don't keep everything to squander, sell it for money when you should..."

"Mother, look, we definitely earned a lot of money from these abalones today. Keeping a few small green lobsters to reward ourselves isn't too much, right?"

"You have to earn money, but you can't treat yourself poorly, right? In the past, we had no money, so being frugal was fine. But now, look, all three of your sons are married, houses are built, families are separated, and your daughter is about to get married. You and Father have no unfulfilled wishes, and there's no place to spend a lot of money. You can't take all that money to the grave, can you?"

"Saving some money for retirement, for emergencies, and eating something good when we earn big money occasionally, that's nothing, right? There's no need to be frugal and treat ourselves poorly..."

Ye Mu originally wanted to refute a few words when she heard the beginning, but after listening, she felt that what Ye Lao San said seemed to make sense?

Houses were built for the sons, they were married, and the daughter was getting married. It seemed there really was no place to spend a lot of money?

Then eating something good occasionally to improve the food didn't seem too much?

"Hahaha... Third Brother is really good at talking!" ===== CHAPTER 252 =====