Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982

 Chapter 28 Catching the Tiger Grouper

"Yo, this fish is so slippery!"

Just as Ye Yaodong poked it out, it started swimming out. He tried to catch it, but it slipped back in again.

The rock was too big to move, so he had to continue using the tongs to reach in and stir, hoping to make it come out again.

Ah Guang crouched down, holding his bucket and aiming it at the gap under the rock. "Since my bucket is empty anyway, let me help you catch the fish first."

Ye Yaodong looked at his empty bucket with a wry smile. Everyone else had made a catch, but his bucket remained empty, without anything inside.

"Okay, put it there for me first!”

Ah Zheng squinted his eyes with a smile, “Ah Guang must be feeling really frustrated inside, yet he has to put on a brave smile. Poor guy! Such a good friend!”

"Oh~"

"Hahaha~"

Listening to them continue teasing Ah Guang, Ye Yaodong's lips curled up. He used the tongs to stir under the rock for a while but didn't see the tiger grouper coming out. "Why don't you guys go to the other side and see if it ran over there?"

"It's here! It's here! It swam out to this side. Give me the bucket!"

"It's quite a big one."

"It looks like it weighs around one or two jin."

“Yaodong really got lucky!"

Little Xiao took the bucket handed by Ah Guang and scooped the tiger grouper directly into it, "Got it! Caught it!"

Several heads leaned over, looking at the lively fish swimming in the bucket, with expressions of envy on their faces.

Well, everyone could afford to buy it. The whole point of going to the sea was to enjoy the thrill and satisfaction of catching seafood on your own. And this fish is no ordinary fish; it's a tiger grouper. Everyone couldn't help but tease Ye Yaodong for his stroke of luck.

"The amount of seawater in this bucket is too little. Let's add some more, but be careful not to overdo it and harm the fish."

Ah Wei said, "I have two jumping fish. I'll put them into your bucket so you can use them to scoop water."

Little Xiao laughed and said, "Well, in that case, I've gained two fish!"

After filling the bucket halfway with water, Little Xiao handed it over to Ye Yaodong and asked, "Are you planning to keep it to eat, or sell it?"

"Sell it, of course! I can't keep it for myself and risk getting scolded and have my legs broken by my mother. Yesterday, I caught two blue crabs intending to keep them for eating, but she scolded me, so I said they were for the children. Her face only looked slightly better after that, but I still ended up selling them."

This tiger grouper is worth much more than those two blue crabs from yesterday. If he stewed it, not only would his mother scold him, but his wife would also be angry with him for days.

Selling it for a few yuan would be good too, saving her from weaving a net all day and not earning a single yuan.

Although he doesn't know how much money his wife has saved up at the moment, he knows it's definitely not much.

"Yeah, it's better to sell it. The previous generation of people couldn't bear to eat or wear expensive things. This one jin could fetch over one yuan, and with its size, it could probably be sold for three yuan. That's worth 3-4 days of their fishing nets. It would be such a waste to let it go like that."

"Yeah, it's not worth keeping for seafood. It's better to sell this one!"

"While it's still alive, you should take it to the pier for sale. It will also give us a chance to look for any big catches. Otherwise, if all the catches end up in your bucket, I'll be returning empty-handed!"

Everyone agreed with that suggestion, and Ye Yaodong nodded in agreement. "Alright, you guys stay here and have fun. I'll be back shortly."

Ah Zheng chuckled and said, "No problem, take your time. Even if you don't come back, we'll manage fine without you. We've got each other here!"

He laughed and cursed, "Damn it, you're just jealous of my good luck. Without me, you guys definitely won't be able to find any good catch."

"Quickly roll ~ quick roll ~"

He happily walked towards the group of people digging sand clams, carrying the bucket. When he found Lin Xiuqing, he placed the bucket in front of her and said, "I found a grouper, it's a tiger grouper. Take it and sell it."

"Ah? Tiger grouper!" Lin Xiuqing exclaimed in delight, her eyes gleaming as she looked at the bucket. "It's so big!"

"What tiger grouper? Third child, did you catch a tiger grouper?" Mother Ye also walked over, surprised.

"Tiger grouper?"

Upon hearing this, the people around also gathered and started talking excitedly, "It really is a tiger grouper!"

"Where did you catch it? Such good luck!"

"How many stone crabs are there?"

"Oh, there are snow clams too..."

"Where did Yaodong find them? There are so many things. How come we haven't seen any?"

"We usually go down to the beach, but we've only ever found a few jumping fish and stone crabs. Yaodong is lucky!"

Without paying attention to the astonishment of the people around him, Ye Yaodong said to Lin Xiuqing, "Find a bucket to put the fish in, and take this tiger grouper to the acquisition point to sell. This bucket belongs to Ah Guang, and I'll return it to him. In the meantime, I'll go around and see if there's anything else to be found."

"Okay, I'll transfer the sand clams into Mother’s bucket and bring it over. Wait for me," Lin Xiuqing said with a bright smile, and she quickly made room in the bucket.

He estimated that he could only sell the tiger grouper for about three yuan, so he didn't bother going to the acquisition point. After pouring the fish into his wife's bucket, he took his bucket and the empty bucket and continued walking down the beach.

"Wait a moment!"

Mother Ye called out to him. "Don't you have snow clams in your bucket? If you have extras, take them out and let Ah Qing bring them to the acquisition point for sale. Why keep them in the bucket?"

"Oh? Are we going to sell the snow clams too?"

"Of course! Valuable things should be sold," said Mother Ye as she took his bucket and shook it. "These clams you picked up are almost as big as fish balls, weighing over a jin. They can be sold for one or two yuan. Why would we keep them for eating?"

"Alright... let's sell them together then." 

In fact, Lin Xiuqing had wanted to suggest that earlier, but she was afraid that he wouldn't be happy about it. After all, he had already contributed a tiger grouper. Now, with Mother Ye's words, she happily decided to go ahead and dig them out.

"Be careful, the pincers of those stone crabs can pinch hard. Let me do it."

Yaodong stopped his wife from reaching into the bucket and decided to take out the stone crabs himself. He held them down with his foot to prevent them from crawling around and then proceeded to take out the snow clams and threw them into the bucket with the tiger grouper.

"Now it's done, right? Just a few worthless stone crabs, shrimps, jumping fish, and there's only one nine-section shrimp that won't fetch any money."

Mother Ye nodded in satisfaction, "You've been lucky these past few days. Some people spend years on the beach and never come across a tiger grouper. Go and see if there's any other valuable catch, and if you find something good, bring it back for your wife to sell."

"It's not that easy to come across them. It's not like they're cabbage, you know? It's only because of the tides these past few days that there's been something to pick up. It's all a matter of luck to find anything worthwhile. Don't think that the beach is full of treasures just waiting to be picked up casually." Then why would Ah Guang always have an empty bucket? Seeing the women nearby showing interest, he quickly said his thoughts.

Otherwise, they would all go down to catch by the sea instead of digging clams, then he can’t go there anymore.

Recently, luck has indeed been quite good!

"That's exactly what I said. If I didn't remind you like this, you would have wasted it right away!" scolded Mother Ye, glaring at him.

Who doesn't know that he relies on luck? How much can they really find on this beach? Does he think she’s unaware?

"I brought it over, didn't I? There's no need to be upset..."

"Go on, go down and take another look."

Ah, even after giving everything, his mother still nags at him. It's not easy to change how his family sees him, but it doesn't matter. According to his past life, he lived until 65 years old before dying, so he still has several decades ahead of him. He can take it slowly and gradually make them accept him.

(end of this chapter)