Chapter 309: Ye the Skinflayer

"Third Uncle, your sack is inconvenient. Every time we catch one, we have to run back and forth to throw it in."

"Then empty out your baskets. Catch them into the baskets first, and pour them into the sack later."

"Okay."

The children each poured the little seafood they had just gathered into one basket, then used their own baskets to keep catching.

"Wow, these are so fat~" Ye Ye Chenghai grabbed a wriggling sandworm. "Third Uncle, if we catch all these sandworms, how much money can we sell them for?"

"Won't fetch much. Just dry them in the sun, everyone takes a share, and we eat them ourselves."

"Won't fetch much money?"

Ye Yaodong raised an eyebrow. "Want to make money? Go carry cargo at the dock!"

"Ah? No no no… eating them ourselves is pretty good…"

Dying of laughter!

The others all teased him. "Brother Brother Ahai, aren't you the one most looking forward to earning money?"

"He earned one whole yuan last time…"

"Why not go again?"

Ye Ye Chenghai rolled his eyes. "You try carrying cargo for a day and you'll know."

"Hehe~ I'd still rather go herd the sheep. There are so many good things on the mountain. I saw the loquats over there have grown really big."

"Do you want to herd the sheep, or sneak over and pick them?"

"Hehe~"

Listening to their banter, Ye Yaodong couldn't help but urge them on. "Hurry up and catch them. Stop dawdling, or once they retract back in, it'll be hard to dig them out later."

Every year from April to September is the sandworm breeding season. The "spring-struck" sandworms crawl out of the sand to mate, to increase the fertilization rate.

Since they'd stumbled upon them, they had to catch them all in one sweep. With so many mouths at home, they had to grab plenty or there wouldn't be enough to go around.

Sandworm meat is crisp and tender, delicious, nutritious, rich in protein, and its flavor actually surpasses that of sea cucumber and shark fin.

Because sea cucumber and shark fin have little flavor of their own, you must add chicken or lean pork when cooking them, or they'll be tasteless.

Sandworms, on the other hand, have a naturally fresh flavor. They don't need other ingredients to be distinctive—whatever you cook them with, their sweet, fresh taste comes through.

Once dried, they can be fried, stir-fried, stewed, braised, or made into soup. The soup turns milky white, extremely fresh and flavorful, with a rich consistency, earning them the name "natural MSG." Deep-fried, they turn crisp and fragrant, perfect as a drinking snack.

Selling them now wouldn't fetch much, but keeping them to eat is delicious—perfect for helping Ah Qing produce more milk.

Wearing gloves, he didn't find it disgusting. Any sandworms that had burrowed up through the sand in front of him, or were half-buried, he grabbed and tossed into the sack.

In no time, the bottom of the sack was covered with wriggling sandworms, and the children's baskets were also packed full.

The three little girls were catching them too, but their faces were full of disgust. They weren't as excited or as efficient as the boys.

As they caught them, their mouths kept chattering happily nonstop.

"So many…"

"Lots of them have burrowed back into the sand…"

"Just grab the ones on the surface. There are plenty more over there…"

"Do you have these sandworms here every day?" Lin Lin Guangyuan was beaming, his eyes sparkling, catching them with great delight.

"How could we have them every day? We only see them occasionally, and not this many either. Clams, though—we can pick those every day."

【Honestly, I've been using the Huanyuan app to read books and catch up on updates lately. It has lots of voice options for switching sources. The. huanyuanapp works on both Android and iOS.】

"Crabs too. Anyway, when the tide goes out, there's always something to pick on the beach."

Lin Lin Guangyuan looked envious. "It's so nice here. You step outside and there's little seafood to pick. Your mouths must be spoiled…"

"Hahaha~" Listening to their childish chatter, Ye Yaodong found it especially funny. "Pour the sandworms from your baskets over here. Once they're almost full, they'll be hard to carry."

"Coming, coming…"

One by one, they cheerfully carried their full baskets over and lined up to pour them in. Boys are tough—while pouring, some even reached into the sack to play with the worms.

After emptying all their baskets, Ye Yaodong hefted the sack and estimated it was almost 20 jin. Such efficiency, in just a short while.

You really can't underestimate child labor. Give them something fun to do, and they're incredibly eager.

"When we get back, I'll fry up a bowl for you as a reward!"

"Ah, great! Let's dig more…"

With that promise, the children were pumped up like never before, even more eager. They carried their baskets farther out to catch more.

Ye Yaodong carried the sack aside, picked up the iron shovel, and continued scraping the boat's hull. After resting a while while catching sandworms, his arms weren't sore anymore.

Large patches of young shellfish and barnacles on the hull were still waiting to be scraped off. He had to hurry. The sandworm-catching could be left to the kids.

Once they finished catching sandworms, he'd order them back to keep picking. Make full use of them!

Cleaning the hull was also physical labor—you had to hold the shovel up high and use force, and the hull's surface area was considerable. Ye Yaodong worked for a while, then rested for a while.

When he stopped, he didn't stay idle. He picked up the sack and started gathering. Some young shellfish had been cracked by his shovel, their shells split open, revealing yellowish-green, snot-like little oysters inside.

A few limpet shells had also been knocked open, exposing fresh meat.

While gathering, he sorted them carefully. Empty shells and cracked ones, he tossed far away. In no time, he'd gathered half a sack of limpets and barnacles.

Some limpets and barnacles were attached to each other—the barnacles clinging to the limpets. Those would have to be knocked apart back home.

Under his repeated work-and-rest rhythm, the shellfish on the hull fell off in large patches, and the hull grew cleaner and cleaner. After he painstakingly pried everything clean, he'd filled two sacks.

He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted loudly toward the scattered group of big and little kids: "Kids! Come back and get to work!"

"Coming, coming…"

A group of older and younger kids came running excitedly. But Ye Ye Chengyang's legs were short, and afraid of being left behind, he panicked and tripped while running, spilling his entire small basket of sandworms.

The instant the sandworms touched the sand, they all burrowed back in.

Ye Ye Chengyang immediately burst into heartbroken wailing. "Ah, my sandworms~ sandworms~"

Ye Yaodong jogged over and picked him up. "They ran, so they ran. There are plenty more in the sack over there."

"No, my sandworm~"

Ye Yaodong looked at the holes on the sand surface, tried digging around, and really pulled another one out. "Here, caught it, stop crying."

He stopped crying on the spot, his eyelashes still wet, and stared wide-eyed, then immediately broke into a smile through his tears. "There's more, there's more."

Saying that, he reached out to dig himself.

"Go help your brother over there pick them up, I'll catch them for you here."

"Mm-mm." He nodded like a pestle pounding garlic, then immediately happily sprinted off toward the others.

Ye Yaodong also stood up with his empty basket and followed behind.

A little distraction and he'd be fine, why go through all that trouble digging? Kids have short memories, in a bit they won't even remember.

After handing the work off to the child laborers, Landlord Ye shoved his hands in his pockets and wandered around the area, and in no time had a big ghost-head crab in each hand.

After tossing them into the sack, he casually picked up his basket and strolled around again, and in a short while had picked a small basket full of assorted small seafood.

"Third Uncle~"

"Little Uncle-in-law~"

"Dad~ we've all finished picking!"

"Done? That fast?" Ye Yaodong pried open the gill of a stunned fish and took a look — still fresh — then casually tossed it into the basket and headed back.

Seeing four full sacks on the ground, plus one only half full, and another sack with forty or fifty jin of sandworms, he was thoroughly satisfied — not bad efficiency.

Sure enough, having lots of kids is still a bit useful. No wonder people in the old days kept having them — this is the meaning of having children...

"Good work, we can arrange to fry a bit more!"

"Fry a whole basinful, Third Uncle, fry more, or there won't be enough to eat!"

"Then you all go look again, catch more — more work, more gain! Catch more, then you can eat more." When Ye Skinflint put the child laborers to work, he showed no mercy.

"Okay~"

"Be careful, don't go down toward the tide."

"Got it~"

A group of kids excitedly grabbed their baskets and went running off again in all directions — for the sake of a bite to eat, they were giving it their all!

After sending them off to keep working, Ye Yaodong headed back. He had to go push a cart over, otherwise carrying everything on his back would kill him.

The moment Ye Mu saw him come back, she started nagging. "Where did you run off to? Haven't seen you all morning. Your father-in-law and mother-in-law are here, and you didn't even think to keep them company and chat."

"I took the little ones to the beach..."

"All you know is playing. You don't even think to look after people — pat your butt and you're gone..."

Ye Yaodong had a headache — couldn't she let him explain? The moment she saw him, she just rattled on and on.

"Can't you let me finish? I went to clean the bottom of the boat, scraped off some shellfish to bring back, was thinking of giving them some to take home later."

"Otherwise, I haven't gone out to sea for so many days. The catch from the morning's cages, aside from what I kept for A-Qing to help with her milk, I sold everything. There's nothing at home for them to take back either — sending people off empty-handed wouldn't look good."

Only then did Ye Mu have nothing to say. "Then you should've said something — I thought you'd gone off to do what?"

"I'm home every day, what could I possibly go do? I pried off several sacks of shellfish, in a bit I'll get Ye Ye Dasao and Ye Ye Ersao to help shuck the oysters together, and I also caught forty or fifty jin of sandworms — everyone can have a share."

"That many sandworms today?"

"Mm, just happened to run into them. The kids are still catching them over there. I came back first to push a cart, so I can bring those shellfish back first."

"Then hurry up and go. The rice is just ready, in a bit we can add two more dishes to entertain the in-laws."

Ye Yaodong pushed the cart and hurried back to the beach. After hauling the sacks onto the cart, he called all the child laborers back.

"Stop looking, we're going home."

"Ah? Going home already? Let's play a bit longer, okay?" Lin Lin Guangyuan glanced up, then looked reluctantly at the beach around him, and excitedly ran off toward the distance again, picking up an oyster snail.

The others were also in the middle of having fun and didn't want to go back, not moving a step, continuing right where they were.

"Do you still want fried sandworms or not? Go home and eat first, then come back after."

"Then we'll eat and come back!"

"Let's go, let's go, let's go home and fry sandworms~"

"Oh oh oh~ eating fried sandworms~"

The moment food was mentioned, they were willing to move their legs.