Chapter 451

The fellow villagers were so envious that they were practically green with envy when they saw him catch seventy or eighty jin of scallops in just a few hours with a casual cast of his net; no wonder that old Wang wanted to steal them.

Everyone was secretly worried that what they had scraped together and clutched to their chests might all be empty shells, after all, what he caught was solid, living stuff, so wouldn't what was left just be shells?

It was just that there were too many people and too many shells, and there was no way to pick and choose slowly there; by the time you had the effort to pick and choose, the people next to you had already filled a gunny sack.

Ye Yaodong looked at the heavy fishing net in his hands, the scallops inside were crowded and piled in the middle, and he was very happy in his heart.

He had just watched the scallops running into the sea and felt it was a pity, so on a whim, he decided to pull two fishing nets to try it out.

Anyway, it wouldn't be a wasted effort, even if there wasn't much, he could still catch a little bit, but he didn't expect it to exceed his expectations; the fishing net, which was less than 10 meters in diameter when spread out, could actually catch seventy or eighty jin.

Made a profit.

He grinned happily, and with Ye Fu, he pulled the net toward the middle to close it up, his ears filled with the envious discussions of the fellow villagers.

The nets his friends helped him pull in next to him had already been gathered up first; they worked together, each grabbing a corner, and carried them over to his side.

"Should we put the fishing net together with the scallops on the flatbed cart? Do you want to pour them out first?" Ah Guang asked.

"No need to pour them out, just put the fishing net together with the scallops on the flatbed cart, and we'll pour them out and sort them when we push them back."

Ye Yaodong said while stretching his neck to look at the goods in their fishing nets; there were really quite a lot, and they should be about the same as the ones in his net.

He had also gone into the water earlier to scoop up half a gunny sack, and in this morning alone, he had scooped up at least more than one sack.

Don't look at those villagers packing them sack by sack as if there were quite a lot; if you pick through them, the scallops inside might not be as many as his two nets.

It really wasn't a wasted effort; there were still four rows of ground cages on the shore, which could at least catch a little more.

"You're really something, Dongzi. Everyone else is there desperately scraping for shells, but you, on the other hand, put the net into the water first to catch live ones."

"Exactly, what time did you get up? You families living by the beach were the first to discover it, right?"

"You must have packed quite a few shells, right?"

"You must have picked up quite a few fish, right? I heard everyone say that those who came early to the beach picked up a lot of big fish, and you're right at your doorstep."

"Yeah, how many fish did you pick up? What kind are there? I heard that someone just picked up a mouse grouper."

After they put the fishing nets on the flatbed cart, they gathered around and asked one question after another.

The surrounding fellow villagers were also talking there, and I don't know who said that they caught a lot of fish last night while taking advantage of the typhoon and the big waves.

Now the fellow villagers asked one after another.

"Really? I heard people say that when the typhoon hit last night, a lot of fish were blown onto the shore. Did you families by the sea all run out to pick them up?"

"Really? You're so brave, coming out even when a typhoon is blowing?"

"I heard that the waves washed the fish up, and the typhoon was blowing there, so the fish were like dumplings being dropped..."

"That's too exaggerated, right?"

Fatty's mouth was wide open in surprise, and he asked Ye Yaodong again: "Really? Like dumplings being dropped? Is this nonsense?"

Xiao Xiao, however, touched his chin and thought while looking at the scallops in the bowl, "It's possible. Look, the waves rolled up all kinds of shells and pushed them to the beach, piling up a white coastline. What does it matter if the fish in the sea are rolled up?"

After Ye Yaodong and his father finished pulling the fishing net on each side, they lifted it onto the flatbed cart and replied casually, "I started putting the nets out when I came out in the morning. Everyone wasn't late either. People came out to watch the tide as soon as the sky brightened, and then one passed it to ten, ten to a hundred, and there were more people."

Ye Fu also said: "Everyone has packed quite a lot sack by sack, let us through... let us through..."

"So did you really come out to pick up fish when the typhoon hit last night? Did it really rain dumplings?"

"It was more than just raining dumplings; we almost had to sacrifice ourselves to the Dragon King of the Sea."

"Ah?"

"Let us through, I don't have time to explain in detail now, go ask others," he was busy, how could he have time to stand there and chat, "You guys just pile those things there, aren't you afraid of being stolen? Hurry back and guard them, otherwise, you won't have anywhere to look if someone secretly moves them away."

Some people saw their family members pushing the flatbed cart over and ran over one after another; some were also afraid that their things would be stolen by someone taking advantage of the chaos, so they went back to guard them. Only the people around were still standing in place.

Taking advantage of the fact that they turned their heads to look at their own goods and some people had already left, Ye Yaodong pushed the flatbed cart directly through the wide gap, walked toward his own home, and greeted his friends.

"Many thanks, I'll push it back first. If you need to use the flatbed cart, come over and push it later."

"I happen to be looking everywhere to borrow one, I'll go with you." Ah Zheng said hurriedly.

"Then who is watching your things?"

"My dad. My mom went to borrow a flatbed cart from my sisters, I don't know when she can borrow one, you're faster here."

"Okay, fine."

Anyway, he still had to sort and pack his things after taking them back before he could push them to sell.

Seeing that he was busy, the others didn't ask any more questions. Only Ah Zheng needed to use the flatbed cart, so he followed him back.

The two chatted as they walked, and Ye Yaodong also told him about the typhoon last night and their adventure of picking up fish, which made Ah Zheng both surprised and envious.

"You really know how to seize the opportunity to get rich. Then what happened to your eldest brother later?"

"He was scared to death, so he went home. He didn't come out later, so we were the ones picking them up there."

"This is danger accompanied by opportunity, the higher the risk, the greater the return. Fortunately, the typhoon and big waves didn't blow your house away."

"Nonsense, they are all stone houses, how could they be blown away? It's possible that the roof was lifted off."

Ye Yaodong pushed the flatbed cart to the door of his house, let his father take away the baffle at the tail, and then lifted the handles on both sides to make the flatbed cart stand up. The scallops and fishing nets on it instantly slid to the ground with a clatter.

"Return it to me immediately after using it, I still have to go sell the goods."

"Got it."

Ye Mu was also surprised to see the scallops all over the ground, "You only put the fishing net for a few hours, and you've already collected so many goods?"

Others also walked over to take a look and were surprised.

"Quite a lot? These scallops can really run..."

Ye Dasao couldn't help but worry, "If the live ones can run so well, then are the ones we scraped and brought back all shells?"

Ye Ersao immediately frowned and slapped her thigh, "Oh my, I was wondering why there was a pile of shells after picking through half a sack? The ones with meat are just a thin layer at the bottom of the bamboo basket."

Ye Mu glanced at the pile of shells on the ground next to her, and the basins and baskets and other containers were also filled with various shellfish and clams picked out by the children.

The scallops were indeed only spread in a thin layer at the bottom of the bamboo basket, and the oyster shells in another basket on the side were more than the scallops.

"Oh my, why do you have so few scallops? My scallops and empty shells are half and half, no wonder I heard you nagging that they were all shells just now."

Ye Yaodong took off his wet pants, wearing only a vest and shorts, stepped forward and glanced at them, "Is the sack you poured out the one you picked up later? Maybe the ones picked up later have less meat. The ones picked up earlier were fast, the scallops didn't run much, and there were a few more."

Hearing such an explanation, everyone felt that it seemed quite reasonable. The ones that could run had all run away, and the empty shells that couldn't run weren't just piled up there?

Ye Ersao didn't know when the sack she was picking through now was scraped, so she could only continue to pick through it in a depressed mood.

Ye Mu also comforted her: "Wait until you finish picking through it and see. Anyway, it's not a wasted effort. You've only scraped for three hours and picked up so many things. You can sell these few sacks for a lot of money after picking through them, which is also a profit."

Ye Dasao couldn't help but say: "Exactly, you also picked up so many fish last night, those few baskets can be sold for a lot of money, we don't have any yet."

She also felt very regretful and uncomfortable. Seeing that everyone picked up so many goods last night, and their family only had one bucket, she felt like a cat was scratching her heart, and she almost ran out to pick them up herself last night.

Hearing this, Ye Ersao instantly felt balanced in her heart, and a smile appeared on her face.

Everything depends on comparison.

People's psychology is like this. When I get less and feel sad, hearing that you get even less makes me feel comfortable, and I am directly comforted.

"Ahua just pushed the fish to the wharf, I don't know when he can come back, and I don't know how much he can sell them for?"

"It won't be little, my family doesn't even have half a basket."

The more she talked, the more depressed she became. Ye Dasao simply stopped talking and returned to her pile of shells to continue picking.

As a result, she saw the three children taking advantage of her getting up to go to Ye Yaodong's flatbed cart to look at the scallops, laughing and throwing the clams they picked out at each other, hitting you, hitting me, playing happily.

And the clams were thrown all over the ground by them, and one even hit her chest. Suddenly, her anger flared up. She was already in a bad mood, and these three actually ran into the muzzle.

And the three of them found that they had hit their mother, and were suddenly scared, shivering, and stood up immediately.

If there were special effects, you could definitely see the raging fire burning behind Ye Dasao.

Looking at their mother's face that suddenly dropped, the smiles on their faces instantly turned into fright, their skin couldn't help but tighten, and their voices trembled.

"Mom..."

"Mom..."

"Mom... it was Ye Chenghe who threw it... you hit him..." Ye Chenghai decisively betrayed his younger brother, and then attempted to detour and run toward the old lady's direction.

"Ah, big brother, you are not loyal," Ye Chenghe looked at his mother who seemed to have turned into a fire-breathing dragon, shivered in fear, and hurriedly shirked responsibility, "Mom, don't blame me, big brother threw it at me first..."

"You're talking nonsense..."

Ye Dasao was furious and picked up the bundle of bamboo strips that the old lady had thrown into the corner just now.

Whoever ran the fastest, she would catch whoever.

Seeing his mother running toward him, Ye Chenghai was scared to death, "It has nothing to do with me! It was Ye Chenghe who threw it."

"You only know how to make me angry every day. You are not serious even when I ask you to do some work. What's the use of raising you? It would be better to beat you to death. None of you are worry-free..."

"Why am I always the one getting beaten..."

"You are the most disobedient one... you didn't even lead well... if I don't beat you, who do I beat? Get over here..."

"Don't..."

Seeing his mother chasing his big brother to beat him, Ye Chenghe instantly breathed a sigh of relief, while Ye Jingjing shrank her neck and stood silently in the corner, afraid of being implicated.

When Ye Chenghai ran to the old lady's side, he found that the old lady was sitting there, he had nowhere to hide, and the old lady had no intention of protecting him, so he hid toward Ye Fu's side.

Ye Fu didn't care about his daughter-in-law beating his son, he was also beating his son himself.

Ye Chenghai hid twice beside Ye Fu, and seeing that he was about to be caught, he hid behind Ye Yaodong again.

He was still pulling his clothes behind him to dodge, and shouting, "Third Uncle, save me~ save me~"

Ye Yaodong didn't care about the farce on the side. He was pouring out the scallops in the fishing net, but there was a tail behind him pulling his clothes, affecting his work. He was annoyed to death, not worry-free at all.

He turned around, directly grabbed Ye Chenghai and sent him in front of Ye Dasao, and then didn't care.

Ye Chenghai was caught off guard, and after the shock, his howling was earth-shattering, "Ah... Third Uncle... Mom... Oh~ Oh~ I misbelieved you, Third Uncle~"

"So noisy, Dasao, help me beat him twice more."

Ye Chenghai looked at him with teary eyes, "You even asked my mom to beat me, it's too much, you're not loyal, I'll never go to your house to play again."

"That's just right, I'll just have some peace and quiet. If the tide goes out tomorrow, don't look for me either."

"Ah?" Ye Chenghai also thought of his Third Uncle helping him hide his private money last time, so he didn't dare to make a sound again, and silently accepted the baptism of the whip.

On the side, the three from Ye Yaohua's family saw Ye Chenghai being beaten, and they were also very unbrotherly, mocking him with schadenfreude.

But sadness always comes so suddenly, especially Ye Chengjiang, who was laughing the most happily, suddenly received a slap on the back of his head.

"Are you working with your eyes closed? You can't do anything well, throwing things everywhere. You have the nerve to mock others, the next one to cry will be you."

The three Ye Chengjiang siblings also became honest instantly.

Ye Yaodong looked at this nest of children, none of them were worry-free, and then looked at his own two. By comparison, these two didn't seem so deserving of a beating.

After he poured out the scallops from the two nets, he handed them to his father to pack into sacks.

There was no need to pick through the sizes. Anyway, when they were pulled to the outside of the wharf, they would naturally be picked through once before weighing to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the chaos and mixing in empty shells.

And he sorted out the fishing nets and took them back to the owner first.

Lin Xiuqing said at this time: "When you return the fishing nets, take two watermelons with you by the way. You borrowed someone's fishing nets after all, so say something when you take them over."

"I know."

At this time, Ye Mu muttered, "You saved them last night, but I didn't see them come to thank you..."

"What's the rush? Maybe they can't spare their hands? Didn't you also push the door out early in the morning and rush to the beach, not even having time to eat breakfast, and didn't you just push the goods back until now?"

Ye Fu also echoed: "Exactly, one thing is one thing, saving people is saving people, you have to thank them for using other people's things."

"You guys got it wrong, right? The fishing nets don't belong to the four who fell into the water, where does that come from? Sensible people will naturally come to thank you when they can spare their hands."

"I just said that, and you guys replied to me ten sentences, I didn't say it shouldn't be."

Seeing that they were about to quarrel in a few sentences, the old lady hurriedly changed the subject, "Dongzi and your father haven't eaten yet, go back to eat first, come back to work after eating, your mother and the others also went back to eat just now, you are a big guy, how can you stand it with an empty stomach..."

Her eyes looked at Ye Yaodong from beginning to end, it was obvious that Ye Fu was just incidental.

"Got it, finish the work here first."

"How can it be finished in a while, you go eat first..."

"Got it, I'll return the nets first, you stop working too, Xiao Jiu is still sleeping in the room, you go in and help look at her, she can turn over now, don't let her roll under the bed."

"Hey, okay, okay..." The old lady hurriedly put down the work in her hand and went into the room.

Old people are not afraid of working, they are afraid that their family members won't let them work, making them feel like they are useless people with no place to use their skills.

The cart was borrowed and hadn't been returned yet, so Ye Yaodong put the sorted nets back into the bamboo basket, and then went home to hold two watermelons and put them into another basket, carrying them with a shoulder pole toward Lan Da and Zhou Laoer's house.

Several families were all sitting at their respective doors, everyone was gathered there to sort shellfish. After seeing him come to return the fishing nets, the few who fell into the water expressed their gratitude one after another, only saying that their own family was busy and couldn't spare time to come to thank him.

After Ye Yaodong was polite, he chatted with them for a few sentences, satisfied their curiosity, and told them about how many jin of scallops were caught in the fishing nets, before returning to his own home.

As for whether they would regret it? Whether they would have any thoughts? Or say something behind his back? He wouldn't guess, anyway, on the surface, everyone could just be good neighbors.

When he returned to the door of his house after returning the fishing nets, the flatbed cart had already been returned, and he didn't stop and went into the house with Ye Fu to lift the fish.

Everyone sorted through them last night, leaving two baskets of fish that weren't worth much, and picking out five baskets that could be sold for money, especially the big white pomfret in the big half basket and the golden-eyed sea bream lying on top, which looked particularly eye-catching, the taste of white and red, money was particularly strong.

"Mom, there are still two baskets of fish, shrimp, and crabs at home that aren't worth much, you see if you want to send some to your relatives later. There was a bit of red light earlier, and now there is no sun, I don't know when the sun will come out, and I'm afraid it will be sun-dried and smelly without weather, you can handle it yourself, while it's fresh."

"Got it, I'll pick a few and send them to your aunts and uncles later. It's been a few days since we went to sea, and I don't know when the waves will recede, so it's just right to send them two bowls of dishes."

Just when Ye Yaodong finished lifting the fish, shrimp, and crabs and was about to lift the scallops again, the old lady came out with porridge, on top of which, in addition to pickles, there were two specially fried poached eggs, which looked particularly appetizing.

"I told you to go eat early, you didn't go to eat for a long time, hurry up and eat while it's hot, otherwise you don't know when you'll be busy again."

"Why did you bring it out..." Ye Yaodong saw the old lady's hands holding the porridge shaking there, and hurriedly took it over, "I'll eat it now... I'll eat it now..."

Ye Mu pursed her lips and muttered, "You're already in your 20s, and you're still being chased to be fed..."

Ye Yaodong shoveled quickly, eating in big mouthfuls, and saw the bottom in two or three times.

As a result, the old lady reached out and touched his stomach, nagging, "You didn't eat all morning, just a bowl of porridge, can you be full? Your stomach is still flat after eating this, I'll go in and fill you some more, eat more..."

"No need, no need, just pad your stomach, you'll have lunch soon, if you eat now, you won't be able to eat lunch."

"How old are you, and you can still be hungry? Don't worry about it, don't get in the way, I'm busy, do you think he's still a three-year-old child?" Ye Fu couldn't stand the old lady's attentive and caring appearance and said two sentences.

Ye Yaodong stuffed the bowl into the old lady's arms, sent her into the house, and pushed the flatbed cart toward the outside of the wharf.

Along the way, quite a few fish, shrimp, and crabs were scattered along the way. It looked like quite a lot of seafood had been rolled up outside the wharf last night. It was just that everyone went to the beach direction to move shellfish early in the morning, and I don't know who was cheapened by the goods outside, and who picked them all up?

At this time, only some goods that were not worth much and were not eye-catching were left, which was cheap for the ducks pecking for food on the side. Today, they were lucky and could have a hearty meal.

The father and son pushed the flatbed cart to the outside of the wharf, and couldn't pick up a single fish that could be eye-catching, they were all swept away by the wind and clouds.

Quite a few seabirds were also flying around the shore, and from time to time, seabirds would dive down to pick up small fish on the ground. Ye Yaodong couldn't help but suspect that the fish goods washed up by the waves on the beach would all end up in the mouths of these seabirds?

That would be a waste of natural resources.

"Dad, Dongzi, you guys are out too." Ye Yaopeng and Ye Yaohua had already sold the goods they picked up last night at this time, and pushed the flatbed cart toward them.

Seeing Ye Yaohua's face full of spring breeze, smiling from ear to ear, presumably the price sold was very considerable, Ye Yaopeng didn't have such a big smile.

"Yes, how much did you sell them for? Did you just sell the goods picked up yesterday? How much is a jin of scallops, did you ask?"

Ye Yaohua smiled happily, "That pile of shells hasn't been sorted out, we don't have scallops to sell, we just sold the fish, shrimp, and crabs picked up last night. It's been a typhoon for the past few days, there is less seafood on the market, and the price is quite good. As for scallops, they said it's 3 mao 7 per jin, and 3 mao for small ones."

Ye Yaopeng added: "But I heard Ah Cai say that this is the price before the typhoon a few days ago. The typhoon hit last night, and scallops were suddenly washed up so much by the waves. With such a large quantity, the price might drop a lot. He said he would collect them first and take them to the market to see before he could set the price."

"He said that with such a large quantity of scallops, no matter which family collects the goods, the price will definitely be the same, so let everyone rest assured to give him the goods."

Ye Fu nodded, "Normal, with such a large quantity suddenly, it's normal for the price to drop."

"Push them over first, you still have to pick through them. Take advantage of the fact that there is no one at the wharf now, everyone is still picking through them at home, no need to queue, hurry up and sell them and go back to continue working."

Ye Yaodong could already imagine how noisy the wharf would be in the afternoon.

Seeing them send over more than a gunny sack of scallops early, Ah Cai was also surprised, "I heard that you put the nets on the beach early in the morning, are these collected from the fishing nets?"

"Yes."

"Young people's brains are really easy to use, this is directly one step ahead of others! Others are still picking shells at home for half a day, and you have already sent them over first."

Ye Yaodong suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "I sent them over early, can you arrange to send them away early? Send them to sell early, take advantage of the fact that there are still few on the market, can the price be a little higher?"

Wait until everyone sends them all over in the afternoon, with such a large quantity, the price will definitely drop then.

Ah Cai smiled lewdly, pointed at him twice with his index finger, "Your brain turns quite fast."

"Is that so?"

"Well, others just sent a lot of fish goods over, they all live on your beach, you really risked the typhoon to go out to pick up fish yesterday, you are also brave, you deserve to get rich. It just so happens that there are enough goods, you can send them away by tractor, take advantage of the typhoon day when there is less seafood, you can sell them for a good price."

After getting the affirmative answer, Ye Yaodong was also happy.

Putting nets in the sea to catch live scallops was indeed wise, one step ahead of others, and these more than 100 jin of goods could also be sold for a good price.