Chapter 620: Killing the Great White Shark

The next morning, Ye Yaodong was woken by Ye Ye Xiaoxi's drool.

Still half-asleep, he felt his face all wet, as if a puppy had licked it.

He groggily opened his eyes and saw Ye Ye Xiaoxi lying right by his pillow, staring back at him with wide eyes, a glistening string of drool hanging from the corner of her mouth.

Seeing him open his eyes, she grinned, flashing her toothless gums, and another big blob of drool dripped down…

"Oh my sweetie, are you awake? How obedient! You knew to give your daddy a kiss to wake him up first thing in the morning? Are you cold? You didn't even pull the blanket over."

Ye Yaodong's heart melted at the sight of his daughter first thing in the morning. He smiled, pulled her into his arms, drew the blanket up to wrap her up, leaving only a little head poking out—however you looked at her, she was just too cute.

He seemed to have forgotten how, when Ye Ye Chengyang was little and lay on him the same way, drooling all over his face, he had been so disgusted.

Father and daughter cuddled under the blanket, playing and being affectionate for a while, until he accidentally touched her soggy diaper. Ye Yaodong could only sigh helplessly, sit up, and play the role of dad—changing her diaper, dressing her, putting pants on her, and only then getting dressed himself.

Once both father and daughter were properly dressed, he carried the child out of the room and was greeted by the smell of meat filling the whole house.

Pork lard was rendering in the pot, sizzling away, the aroma drifting through the whole house. Two children stood by the stove, scratching their ears and craning their necks on tiptoe.

"You two stand farther back. If the oil splashes on your face, you'll be scarred for life."

"Mom said she'd give us pork cracklings…"

Lin Lin Xiuqing reached out and pushed the two of them farther away. "Stand back."

She used a spatula to drain the oil from the pork cracklings, put them in a bowl, and handed it to the two children. "Take it and eat, but be careful, it's hot. Let it cool down first, or you'll blister your mouth and won't be able to eat any of the good stuff today. I bought a lot of meat too."

"Got it, Mom. I'm going to find Brother Brother Ahai and the others." Ye Chenghu excitedly carried his little bowl of pork cracklings and ran outside.

Ye Ye Chengyang could only toddle after him on his short little legs, calling out.

Lin Lin Xiuqing shouted after him to be careful. "If you break that bowl, you're getting a beating from me."

"Got it."

Ye Yaodong glanced over with the child in his arms. "A whole pot full of oil rendered—quite a lot, that'll last a while. Perfect timing, I'll go kill the shark, coat it in sweet potato starch later, and drop it in to fry."

Lin Lin Xiuqing glared at him. "That big pot of oil still won't be enough to fry your shark."

"You spendthrift woman, you want to fry the whole shark? That's wasteful!"

"In your dreams!"

"See, frying one basinful is enough, why fry so much? Eating a little less is fine."

Lin Lin Xiuqing almost laughed at his thick-skinned nerve.

The old lady also laughed from the side. "Stop twisting her words around and misinterpreting what Ah Qing meant. Thinking so highly of yourself, aren't you?"

Ye Yaodong put the squirming child into the standing playpen and said with a smile, "No, I wasn't thinking that highly of myself. With so many adults and kids at home, we have to send a couple of bowls to the neighbors too. One basinful isn't that much."

Lin Lin Xiuqing shot him a sideways glance and said irritably, "Then why aren't you going to kill the fish? Such a big fish, I can't kill it. If you want to eat it, do it yourself."

"Fine, do it yourself, dress well and feed yourself."

Seeing him grab a knife and head out, the old lady quickly stopped him. "Hold on, eat breakfast first before you go kill the fish."

"Oh right, I haven't washed my face or brushed my teeth yet."

He set down the cleaver, walked to the table first, glanced at what dishes were on offer, and only then went to brush his teeth and wash his face.

There was also a bowl of pig's blood that Mother Ye had cooked, already cooled—it must have been brought over a while ago.

The various fins of the shark are the most valuable parts of its body. Countries like rb, after catching a shark, will specifically cut off the fins and then throw the fish back into the sea to fend for itself, because the meat has no value to them.

But for fish in the ocean, fins are extremely important. Without the support of their fins, they cannot swim freely in the sea.

Shark fins cannot regenerate. Without their fins, it's equivalent to a human without arms and legs—the outcome is easy to imagine.

Those sharks that have their fins cut off and are thrown back into the sea, because of the wounds at the fin sites, attract other sharks to come and eat them. So either they get eaten by their own kind, or they starve to death.

Ye Yaodong sharpened the knife a couple of times, flipped this baby great white shark over to examine it, then cut off its dorsal fin, pectoral fins, and tail fin, and put them into a basin of fresh water he had prepared earlier to soak.

It needs to soak for about a day.

This baby great white shark was too small, so the fins he cut off were only about the size of his palm.

After soaking, the next day they still need to be sun-dried. After drying, the fins need to be opened up, and there are several more steps after that—quite a hassle. But it's fine, there's only this one shark, only a few fins, and he's free anyway, so he can do it.

After cutting off the fins, he immediately gutted the shark, first pulling out the innards.

The shark's liver is large, feels quite greasy, has a strong fishy smell, and accounts for about 10-15% of the shark's body weight. It contains a large amount of vitamin A, and just one or two ounces can cause poisoning in the average person.

It could be used for refining, but stir-frying it directly to eat—he'd rather pass. It's not good eating either.

The fish maw inside, though, is a good thing, good for stir-frying. Ye Yaodong took the fish maw out separately, weighed it in his hand. "About 2 jin, enough for a stir-fried dish."

"Add some rice wine to remove the fishy smell, throw in some chili and stir-fry, it'll taste good." The old lady, with nothing to do, sat nearby watching him kill the fish.

"Mm, while it's fresh, I'll stir-fry it for lunch."

After gutting it, the old lady scooped up a ladle of water and helped him rinse it off. After washing away some of the blood, Ye Yaodong began cutting again.

On the other side of the wall, there was a chorus of laughter and chatter.

"It's not like only your house has pork cracklings, we have them too!"

"We got to eat ours first!"

"Hehe, smells so good, so yummy~"

"Brother, give me one~"

"Eat slower, if you keep eating like that it'll be gone in no time. You have to eat slowly."

"Don't keep reaching…"

"Mom said to share…"

"Smells so good, can you share one with me? It looks so delicious…"

"No, you have to go home and ask your mom for some. This is ours."

"Mm~ smells so good, tastes so good, so much oil~"

Ye Yaodong, while working, occasionally looked up at the wall in the middle. Those brats are getting cocky?

The neighbor's kids were probably crying because they were greedy for the food.

The children also felt that celebrating the New Year was truly too blissful; they ate pork lard cracklings in the morning and fried shark slices at noon, so crispy and fragrant they nearly swallowed their own tongues, licking every single finger clean.

Moreover, there was braised pork with plenty of oil and gravy at night; eating from morning till night, their bellies were swollen and distended, and even while sleeping, smiles hung on their faces, wishing the New Year would never end.

After dinner that evening, they had to worship the Kitchen God, set off firecrackers, and burn heavenly gold ingots; the twenty-fourth was their Little New Year's Eve.

The children were even more delighted; whenever someone finished setting off firecrackers, they would rush over collectively to search the ground, their pockets filled with small firecrackers; once the adults were done, it was their turn.

Ye Yaodong stood aside with his hands in his cotton-padded jacket pockets, watching Lin Lin Xiuqing squat there burning heavenly gold ingots, and watching the several children play with firecrackers.

The few of them held a stick of incense in their hands, passing it back and forth, shouting there, "Give it to me, give it to me..."

"Be careful, don't let them explode on your hands."

No one listened to him!

Everyone played happily on their own, then felt there weren't enough varieties, wanting to run to the seaside to explode the seawater.

And Ye Ye Xiaoxi stood in the standing cage, watching the children run far away, constantly making "ah ah ah ah" sounds, as if calling for them to wait.

Ye Yaodong smiled, extended his index finger, and scratched her little nose, "You little one, can't walk yet, can't speak yet, and you want to follow along?"

"She must be seeing those children making a fuss and wants to join in the excitement." Lin Lin Xiuqing straightened her body after finishing burning, saying with a smile.

"It's fine; she'll be able to run next year. Seeing how lively she is, by then she'll probably be so hard to find there won't be anywhere to look for her."

"Mm, by then she'll probably slowly get thinner. Ah right, how many days has it been since that photographer took the pictures? The photos haven't been delivered yet; he said before that once they were developed he'd take time to bring them to us so the whole village wouldn't have to make a trip."

Speaking of getting thinner, he remembered the photos taken a few days ago hadn't been delivered yet; at first he had spoken so nicely, but now he was probably visiting various villages to take pictures and had no time.

"Ten days; before he said two or three days, at most three or four days to develop them; this must be because he's busy and forgot."

"Who knows? I'll go check tomorrow; I'll just ride my bike to pick them up myself. I'm not counting on him to deliver them; it's been ten days, they should be developed by now."

"Mm, tomorrow then; anyway, they won't disappear. Let's go back inside; the wind is a bit strong tonight. Remember to call the children back early to sleep later; I'll take Little Nine inside first."

After Ye Ye Xiaoxi was carried out of the standing cage, her body kept twisting forward, as if wanting to catch up with the main group ahead; even while being carried toward the house, she stretched her neck, unwillingly twisting her head to look back at the seaside.

"Ah~ ah~"

"Stop 'ah'-ing; it has nothing to do with you."