Chapter 49: Money to be shared

"These aren't mine. I brought sacks; these two bags are mine, and there's a small pile here. The others didn't bring sacks, so they piled them on the boat. They've all run back to get bags now."

After explaining, Ye Yaodong handed the bamboo basket and bucket to his mother. "This is what I caught. Take it to Acai's and ask if he's buying sea centipedes. There are also seven mud crabs in this basket..."

Ye Mu was stunned by his harvest. "So many mud crabs! Is there really that much to catch on that isolated island? And sea centipedes too? This bucket isn't light!"

Looking at the sea centipedes constantly wriggling in the bucket, she didn't feel disgusted at all; instead, she was very happy, her eyes shining. These sea centipedes were good stuff; they didn't have any on the mudflats in front of their house.

"No one goes to the isolated island; the reefs are packed with everything. Look at these mussels and sea snails—each one is huge. The others caught a few mud crabs too; there really is a lot of stuff there. If I wasn't worried about having too many shellfish to finish eating, I could have dug up even more."

"That's enough, that's enough. It would be a waste if they went bad because we couldn't finish them. I'll take these to sell for you. Is there anything else?" Ye Mu happily held the bucket in one hand and the bamboo basket in the other. It was rare for her third son to be so reliable; she was even happier than if she had earned the money herself.

Ye Yaodong kicked the small pile by his feet. "There's still some that need sorting. Some of the snails are quite large and can be sold, and there are also gooseneck barnacles. The mussels and such aren't worth much, so forget it? Leave them for the workers building the house to eat."

"Alright, alright. Then I'll take these to sell first. We'll take those shellfish back later to sort through."

By the time the others brought sacks over to load the goods, Ye Fu's fishing boat had also come in.

Hearing Ye Mu chattering about how the third son had a great harvest today, catching half a bucket of sea centipedes and seven mud crabs, selling them for over ten yuan, and even picking up two sacks of shellfish, Ye Fu's expression softened significantly. The catch from their nets today wasn't as good as yesterday's; they had only sold about 20 yuan worth in total.

For the third son to go out in the morning and return in the afternoon with such a harvest was already quite good.

After the whole family helped transport the shellfish home, Ye Mu first picked out some mussels, just enough to cook a pot of noodle soup to send to the workers as a snack. She should have cooked it long ago, but she had been delayed going out to meet Ye Fu and the others.

As soon as Ye Yaodong got home, he gulped down half a pot of tea before sitting in the main room to rest, waiting for dinner.

Ye Fu, shirtless, took a few puffs from his precious water pipe before asking Ye Yaodong, "Did the others have a big harvest?"

"Not as much as me."

Having been tired all day, he didn't really want to talk; he just wanted to eat quickly and then have a good rest.

"There's no tide tomorrow. When the tide comes on the 15th, we'll see if we can rent another boat to go."

"That old woman is raising the price on the spot; it's not easy to rent, and it's too expensive. We'll talk about it then."

What if they couldn't even make back the capital? Wouldn't that be a day's work for nothing?

Ye Fu nodded. "Then we'll see when the time comes. After dinner, go with your wife to Acai's house to collect the 1000-plus yuan from yesterday's sales. We should divide whatever money is due."

"Mm."

After Ye Mu sent over the snacks, Lin Xiuqing knew Ye Yaodong was back. She took the money from the sales that Ye Mu had secretly stuffed into her hand and hurried home without even stopping to eat the snacks.

By the time she ran home, Ye Yaodong had just finished eating and put down his bowl and chopsticks. "Have you eaten the snacks? Mother left some in the pot."

"Okay."

After Ye Fu and Ye Yaohua finished eating, they headed to the construction site, leaving only the couple at home to talk.

Lin Xiuqing asked while eating, "There were too many people around earlier, so Mother didn't say much, just secretly stuffed a pile of small bills into my hand and whispered that it was from the goods you sold earlier."

"Mm..." Ye Yaodong told her about today's harvest and pointed to the back door, indicating there was still a pile of shellfish there.

"After you finish eating, sort through them to see if there's anything else that can be sold. Send it to Acai's later and settle yesterday's account while you're at it."

Lin Xiuqing nodded with a smile; nothing made her happier than her husband being able to earn money.

Seeing the obvious change in his wife's attitude over the past few days, Ye Yaodong felt that being a little tired was worth it.

"Mother seems to have sold the three small white octopuses too, otherwise we could have stewed them with wine for you to eat."

"Eat what? Anything that can be sold for money is definitely taken to be sold. Father has been trawling lately, and there's a pile of small fish and shrimp left over. We aren't short of food at home right now, and you dug up so many shellfish; we won't even be able to finish them."

How could that be the same?

In her past life, she had died of colon cancer, which must have been related to her diet. He had always felt guilty about it. Now that he was back, he wanted to try his best to let her eat better.

"Mm, let's talk about it after the family splits up."

With the whole big family living together, it wasn't easy for them to eat alone, and he had been a good-for-nothing who didn't produce anything before; if he started cooking special meals, the two sisters-in-law would have something to say again.

Lin Xiuqing quickly finished her meal, washed the dishes, and went to the backyard to sort through the shellfish, picking out everything she thought was worth some money.

Large snails, pen shells, wild abalone, and the like were all picked out and put into a separate bucket, leaving only the small ones that couldn't fetch a good price for them to eat themselves.

To be honest, he had picked the large ones when he was digging, so after she picked through them, there wasn't much left.

Fortunately, she didn't look down on the mussels and sea snails, so they could keep two bags.

"Should we shuck the oysters to sell?"

"Forget it. Such a big bag, we'd definitely need Mother and the others to help shuck them. You definitely won't finish it alone tonight. If everyone does it together, let's just keep them at home to eat."

"Alright then!" Lin Xiuqing felt a little regretful; that big bag of young oysters could have yielded several jin of oyster meat.

Ye Yaodong looked at her money-grubbing appearance and smiled slightly. "When you're done, bring yesterday's receipt. I'll go call A Guang and the others, and we'll go to Acai's together to settle the money."

"Okay."

Walking out of Acai's house with a large sum of money in his pocket, Ye Yaodong looked at the sea not far away; this was the treasure trove for the whole village.

He had heard that his grandfather wasn't originally from this village but had come begging all the way from Zhejiang Province during a famine, then settled in the village, living off the sea.

This vast sea had raised so many people.

Withdrawing his gaze, he said happily, "Let's go, let's go to A Guang's house to divide the loot!"

1601 yuan and 88 cents was a huge sum of money for people nowadays, equivalent to two years of a worker's salary. Divided among four people, after deducting the boat rental and diesel costs, each person still got 397.

"My wife has already calculated it; it's about 397 per person. Everyone count your own money, count the whole amount, and then see how much change is left. Check if it's correct!"

Ye Yaodong put the pile of small bills on the table and let everyone count for themselves.

Lin Xiuqing had already collected the money from their other sales separately; it wasn't mixed in.

Everyone happily counted the money and put it into their pockets. There was still 1 yuan and 88 cents left on the table. Ye Yaodong asked with a smile, "There's still over a yuan left, do you want to split it or..."

"No need to split it, right? Splitting a few cents per person is meaningless. Use it to buy wine."

"That's right, use it to buy wine. We've been tired all day; let's celebrate properly tonight. We just happened to trawl a few nets during the day, and there are shellfish too; the side dishes for the wine are all ready-made."

"Sure, sure."

"Call the others too!"

"They're going to be envious again..." ===== CHAPTER 50 =====