Chapter 253: Chattering

The father and son hurriedly climbed onto the reef. This time they didn't dig from top to bottom, but from bottom to top, to avoid it being difficult to dig later when it sank.

"Father, pick abalones to dig first! Leave the sea snails for now."

"I know."

Before digging a few, Ye Fu stopped again and said, "I'll go pick up your mother and sister to come over too. With more people, it'll be faster, to avoid it sinking too fast and not having time to dig. Soaking in the water for a while is fine, just wash up and soak your feet when you go back early."

"That's fine, later carry them to a higher place, try to soak as little as possible."

There are priorities in things. Before, he thought the two big men could dig slowly, anyway, there was no rush. Who knew it was sinking? Then he could only let his mother and sister help, to avoid missing out.

Ye Fu hurriedly climbed onto the boat to pick up Ye Mu and Ye Huimei.

Ye Yaodong dug while looking for two good spots to step on. Once they arrived, he and his father would each carry one over.

"You guys just dig here, the terrain is higher and easier to step on, be careful, don't slip."

Ye Mu nagged, "Soaking in water is fine, cold is cold, just soak your feet when you go back and rest for a few days, digging is urgent, Huimei soak less in the water. If I had known, I would have come down to dig with you in the morning, it would have been faster."

"Who knew this would sink? I thought Father and I could dig slowly."

"Dig faster, dig faster, it's a good thing you called me. If it were just you two, how much could you dig?"

Four people, each carrying a bucket. There weren't enough iron hooks, so they used flat screwdrivers to dig.

Fortunately, the tide was receding, and the water level was dropping. Although the reef was sinking there, it hadn't risen much. One receding and one sinking, it was barely balanced.

When Ye Huimei's bucket was half full, Ye Yaodong went to help pour it onto the boat, otherwise, a little girl wouldn't have enough arm strength, and it would be too heavy to carry. By the way, he changed her to a better position to dig. He was quite fond of this younger sister.

Around 12:00, after the tide receded to the bottom, the entire reef had also descended by almost a meter, and there were two full sacks on the boat.

At this time, they had all climbed to a higher position to dig. The ones at the bottom that were too late to dig could only let them sink. Soaking in the water for a long time in the cold winter, who could stand it?

For most of the day, Ye Yaodong felt his feet were about to swell, and his knees were soaked and frozen to the point of numbness.

After the tide receded to the bottom and started to rise again, everyone clearly found that the speed of the seawater covering the reef was particularly fast, more than twice as fast as when the tide was receding.

After all, in the morning, one was sinking, and the water level was receding at the same time. Except for the height of the reef becoming lower, the water level didn't change.

In the afternoon, while sinking, the water level rose again, so the speed of submergence directly doubled.

The family of four couldn't care about getting on the boat to cook something to eat, intending to dig for a while longer, dig as much as they could.

By 1:30, because the tide was rising fast, only a meter or so of the highest part of the entire reef was left exposed, and it wasn't easy to stand around this high place.

They had to give up the struggle, carry the two women onto the boat first, and then climb up themselves. At this time, he and Ye Fu were almost soaked.

Normally, going to sea wouldn't make you soaked, and no one thought of bringing an extra set of clothes.

Taking off the rain boots and pouring out the full seawater, the father and son threw them into the corner.

Ye Mu and Ye Huimei's shoes were also wet long ago, and they took them off, barefoot.

Everyone leaned against the ship's side, watching the reef sink with the naked eye, feeling a bit of a pity, there was still a lot left undug.

"Too much of a pity, it just sank into the sea like this? Can't dig it?" Ye Mu frowned and said with heartache.

Ye Huimei stretched her head and also felt heartache. "Will it be pushed up again sometime?"

"Who knows?"

Who knew how deep it would sink? If it wasn't that deep, when the weather warmed up, he could dive down to catch them.

"How many sacks did you dig?" Ye Fu said while walking to the sacks in the corner, lifting the opening and shaking it.

Two and a half sacks of big abalones, and one sack of abalones mixed with sea snails.

Originally, before breakfast, the father and son dug more than half a sack of abalones mixed with sea snails. In the afternoon, when the tide rose, they couldn't care about digging only abalones. Anyway, they dug whatever was at hand, and dug half a sack of mixed ones and poured them in, filling one sack.

"It's fine, it's fine, we dug quite a lot, the rest should only be about 1/3 more, it's very good that it sank without being dug."

"Hmm, Third Brother is right, we picked up so many for free, we've already gotten rich." Ye Huimei nodded joyfully, her eyes curved with a smile.

"Father, you and Third Brother hurry up and take off your pants and wring out the water, I'll take them to the stove to roast."

"Hmm."

"Later, go and collect the longlines and gillnets, and we'll go back directly after collecting them."

Being soaked and stuck to the body was too uncomfortable, his feet were frozen to the point of numbness, earning money was too difficult.

Ye Fu nodded. "Go back early."

Ye Mu hurriedly said again, "There is still half a sack of shelled ones on the island nearby that haven't been carried onto the boat, move them onto the boat first."

"I know."

Ye Yaodong looked at the small green lobsters crawling around in the basket, grabbed a few, and looked at the size.

Their shells were olive-colored, looking very hard, and the colors were colorful, just with big heads and short abdomens.

Some small ones, just as his mother said, were about two or three taels, and individual big ones were five or six taels, six or seven taels. Keeping a dozen or so, there weren't many left.

It was a pity, these small green lobsters ran fast, and as soon as the hand net scooped them, they were scared and scurried everywhere, running back into the sea, otherwise they could have caught more.

"I saw quite a few at the time, but as soon as I scooped, they all ran away." Ye Huimei said with some regret on the side.

"It's okay, these small green lobsters aren't easy to catch, we'll have a treat tonight."

After Ye Yaodong finished speaking, he put down the small green lobsters and went to steer the boat, first going to the small island to carry the half sack of shellfish for his mother, and then he immediately steered the boat to collect the gillnets.

Only one gillnet was placed, and with the help of the rolling wheel, it was very light. Ye Mu and Ye Huimei directly took over the work and started. He and Ye Fu sat by the stove to roast by the fire first.

Before long, he heard his sister's exclamations coming from his ear.

"Ah... so big... so ugly..."

"Why are there so many toadfish?"

"Eww~ what is this? The shape looks like pomfret, but it has colorful stripes..."

Ye Yaodong answered casually, "It's a coral reef fish, I don't know what it's called, it's too small, throw it back into the sea to raise it! There's a needle in the tool basket next to you, poke it in from the side of the fish belly, pierce the fish bladder, and throw it back."

"Oh, why is it so troublesome?" Ye Huimei asked, but she still followed suit, and then threw the fish back into the sea, and it disappeared in an instant.

Fortunately, the gillnet hadn't been in the sea for long, and the fish were still very active when pulled up. After throwing them back into the sea, they swam away alive and kicking.

"If you don't pierce its fish bladder and release it, it will still die. It looks quite good, it's a pity if it dies."

Quality old fishermen, when they encounter live small fish, generally release them. Fishermen in later generations also know about sustainable marine development, catching big fish and releasing small fish, unless they are already dead when caught, such as by trawling.

"Why?"

"Because the air pressure on the seabed is different from the air pressure on the sea surface, it can't adapt, its belly will explode, if you release it directly, it will still die."

"Oh."

"Work faster, asking about everything!"

"I'm just curious, I've never been to sea."

Ye Yaodong and Ye Fu both put their four feet on the coal stove. All four feet were soaked and wrinkled, and they only had some feeling after roasting on the coal stove for a long time.

"Father, when you go back, use ginger to boil water to soak your feet, soak for a few days and it will be better."

"Hmm, there are a few days when we can't go to sea next, fortunately, we dug quite a few abalones today..."

"Ah, small green lobster! So big..."

The father and son heard the exclamation over there and turned their heads to look. They saw Ye Huimei fiddling with the fishing net, untying the small green lobster that was entangled inside.

The long antennae of the small green lobster caught in mid-air kept moving, and its tail kept curling and releasing. This one was obviously much bigger than the ones in the basket.

"This one is so big, look!"

"It's a jin, right? Not bad! There's actually a small green lobster stuck in your net today."

Ye Huimei's mouth couldn't close with joy.

"Work faster, don't play, there are two toadfish inside that haven't been taken out yet, there isn't much fishing net left, pull it up quickly, we still have to collect the longlines later." Ye Mu urged.

"Oh, coming."

She put the small green lobster into the basket and excitedly ran to help collect the gillnets, but when she saw the mucus all over the toadfish, she was disgusted when she reached out to grab it.

"So ugly, my hands are all sticky..."

Disgust is disgust, but it didn't prevent her from grabbing it skillfully.

When she saw the flat body of the flounder, with both eyes on the same side, she nagged again, "The fish on the seabed look so strange."

Although she grew up by the sea, she had never really been to sea. In the past, the family didn't have a boat, she only helped weave nets at home, or went to the beach with her family during high tide, went to the pier to pan for the sea, today coming out to catch fish was really the first time, which made her a bit excited.

When she saw a five or six-jin devil fish also stuck, she continued to nag, "Are the fish on the seabed all this flat? I heard that the tail thorn of this fish seems to be poisonous, should it be cut off first?"

The whole boat was filled with her chattering voice, which seemed a bit lively and not boring at all.

"Wait a minute, collect that longline for me too?" She was in high spirits, feeling that she hadn't collected enough, the feeling of collecting fish was too fun.

Ye Yaodong smiled and shouted at her, "Aren't you tired, aren't you sleepy? From night until now, you've been working all day."

"It's okay, I feel it's quite fun."

"If you seriously go to sea with your man in the future, you will feel tired and won't want to do it."

Ye Mu's casual remark instantly made Ye Huimei break her defense again.

"What are you talking about, Mother, collect your net quickly!" ===== CHAPTER 254 =====