Chapter 26: Panning for Seafood

In recent years, many families' living standards had improved, and not every household was willing to go pan for seafood, not to mention such a big sun. Wasn't it fragrant to weave fishing nets at home to earn money?

And panning for seafood couldn't earn money, could only earn a mouthful to eat.

Ye Yaodong walked toward home, only seeing a few people carrying tools and buckets on the road.

Just as he reached the turning intersection, he saw the women of his family taking the children, a large group of people marching majestically.

"Going to the pier, or the beach at the intersection?"

Lin Xiuqing, holding her youngest son, stopped and answered him, "Mother said to go to the pier, your few friends are looking for you to go pan for seafood, they are waiting at the door."

"Got it, you go first, I'll be there in a moment."

Ye Yaodong ran toward home in small steps. His few friends were sitting in the shade at his door waiting, and seeing him running over from far away, they teased him a couple of times.

"Yo, our Brother Dong has become diligent, actually went to help weed in such a hot day?"

He stood in the shade, panting, and fanned himself. "Don't I have to contribute to my own new house?"

Azheng said righteously, "When is construction starting? If you need help, tell us, we'll go help you."

"Not doing your own work, running over to do work for me, won't your mother take a pestle and beat you!"

"Won't, my mother will only praise me for being diligent! Besides, we are all brothers, if something happens at my house, you will also help."

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes and muttered to himself: A doting mother makes a spoiled child.

Forgot that he was also a 'spoiled child'!

"Fine, I'll call you when I need to. You guys brought your tools, right? Wait for me, I'll go into the room to get the hook and bucket, and by the way, get a hat, it's too exposed."

"Hurry up, if it's late, it'll be picked clean by others."

"Right away!"

He ran in and couldn't find where the hook was put, so he just took a pair of fire tongs and hurried out again. The old lady held a bamboo tube and called out from behind, "Dongzi, take the tea."

He turned his head back to take the bamboo tube from the old lady. "Thanks, Grandmother, you go back! You just sit in the room or sit at the door to enjoy the cool, don't go to the backyard, if the ground is wet, be careful of slipping."

"Hey, good, good~"

"Then I'm leaving!"

A group of five people, each carrying a bucket and loaded with tools, excitedly walked toward the pier.

Hearing Xiao Xiao said with some excitement, "It seems like we haven't gone to pan for seafood to play for two years."

Azheng reminded, "More than that, right? Ever since you few got married one after another, we haven't really gone much."

"It's fine, we'll relive the old dream today, walk faster." Ye Yaodong was full of infinite hope for the life he was starting over, and his whole person seemed a bit positive.

Seeing him so fast, everyone also quickened their pace to keep up.

Upon reaching the pier, there were already quite a few people on the beach below, old and young, and his family had the most people!

And the adults were all shouting distractedly, not allowing the children to go outside the tide, only allowing them to play on the beach.

Ye Yaodong's two sons saw him come and called out loudly, "Father! Father! Mother, Father is here too!"

Lin Xiuqing looked up at the person who had arrived late. As long as he hadn't been fooling around in bed last night, it was fine. "Got it. You all play right next to me; you are not allowed to run around."

Ye's eldest sister-in-law couldn't help but say, "Yaodong has been diligent these two days!"

"Who knows how long he can keep it up? Maybe he hasn't come to pan for seafood for a long time, just fresh for a moment," Ye's second sister-in-law curled her lips. She didn't believe Ye Yaodong had changed for the better all of a sudden, after all, mountains and rivers are easy to change, but a person's nature is hard to change!

"At least he looks reliable, not like before, always unable to be seen."

"If he doesn't get more diligent and responsible, wait until the family divides to see who will support him!"

Ye Yaodong heard the discussion of the two sisters-in-law after walking closer, his brows couldn't help but frown. Women talk too much!

"Father, where are you going? Mother said don't walk below the tide."

"I'm going to catch fish and crabs, you guys play here, help dig sand clams, not allowed to follow."

Several children stopped their steps hard, could only watch him walk down with eager eyes. They also wanted to go down and play. If there were no adults, they would go down to swim, what a pity.

"Split up and act, let's see who catches more in a moment."

"Can!"

This kind of finding crabs and fish by luck couldn't compare to the speed of Ye's mother and the others digging clams, so few people spent time looking for them, so they were just idle anyway.

And Ye Yaodong also tasted the sweetness of catching two green crabs yesterday, so he walked directly toward the place with stones around.

He used the fire tongs in his hand to move a big stone, and the surprise appeared in his expectation: a big nine-section shrimp!

"Yo, I found a nine-section shrimp! This is the first victory!" He hurriedly clamped this nine-section shrimp, which was still jumping, and held it up for others to see.

Several people turned around one after another. "Luck is not bad, had a harvest the moment you came down, and it's a nine-section shrimp!"

Nine-section shrimp were big, their appearance was beautiful and exceptionally good-looking, with deep and light horizontal patterns on their bodies, and patterns on their tails. After being cooked, there were obvious nine-section white patterns, the meat was refreshing and elastic, very popular. Ye Yaodong also liked to eat them very much himself. Picking one up the moment he came out, he was very satisfied in his heart.

"Makes my eyes greedy, I also want to catch a few more," Hearing Xiao Xiao was full of motivation, kicked a stone casually. "Eh~ jumping fish? Didn't expect to have a harvest with a casual kick."

"Owow, you guys have a harvest, we can't fall behind, go... go... split up and act!"

Everyone originally held the mentality of being idle, just coming to join in the fun. Now they were also hooked.

After the tide receded, small fish and shrimp in the seabed were easily trapped by large and small stones, didn't follow the tide to retreat back to the sea, and were active in the low-lying shallow water area and beach area around the reefs, waiting for the next tide to return to the sea.

Everyone had experience, and when looking for them, they were all looking in low-lying places with stones and water.

Ye Yaodong felt his luck was a bit good. After walking two steps to the side, he saw two stone crabs hiding under a big stone.

"Caught two again, pity it's not a green crab, better than nothing."

Stone crab's cephalothorax was brown with red mottling, chelipeds were roughly bright red, appearance looked like a stone, the shell was very thick, liked to inhabit mud-sand-stone bottoms near the low tide line, or seabeds with lush seaweed, most often lurking under stones.

He used the fire tongs to clamp the two stone crabs hiding under the big stone into the bucket, and then moved to the side.

In the 80s, the beach in their village hadn't been developed yet, was still in its primitive state, and the marine products in the sea area were extremely rich. After the tide receded, walking around the beach basically wouldn't return empty-handed.

As for how much the harvest was, that depended on the tide and luck.