Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982

    Chapter 62 Yellowtail

Under the scorching midday sun, it felt as if the typhoon from two nights ago was nothing but a dream. As Ye Yaodong walked from his house to the beach, he was already drenched in sweat.

Thinking about it, the typhoon day was actually quite cool. It would have been even better if there were no leaks in the house.

The glaring sunlight forced him to squint his eyes. "Oh~ there are quite a few people on the beach."

"After the typhoon, the tide has receded, and everyone knows it's time to try their luck. Plus, the news spread throughout the village that you caught a big sea bass during the typhoon. Isn't it natural that there are many people here today?" Father Ye said with furrowed brows.

"Should we go down too?"

"Since we're already here, let's go down and take a look."

On the beach, there were mostly groups of women and children carrying buckets, as well as idle young people. When they encountered someone they knew, everyone greeted each other.

"Have you eaten?" 

"You guys are here too?"

"What did you pick up?"

Hmm... these are the usual conversations...

Without stopping, Ye Yaodong pulled Lin Xiuqing away from the crowd and headed straight for the rocky area, the same area where they had found a large catch two days ago. Let others pick up the small fish, shrimp, and clams on the beach.

"Mom, Dad, don't run, wait for us..."

Ye Yaodong: This idiot!

Without even turning his head, he continued forward. Why would he wait for them?

The tide was just beginning to recede, not yet reaching below the rocks. After running halfway, they could only follow the tide and walk slowly.

Ye Yaodong saw a large sea bass rolling with the waves ahead. He quickly let go of Lin Xiuqing's hand, took off his rain boots, grabbed a bucket, and rushed straight into the sea.

Lin Xiuqing didn't see it and wondered why he suddenly rushed into the sea. She quickly shouted, "What are you doing? The waves will come back in a moment."

"You wait there; don't move." 

Ye Yaodong stopped when the water reached waist-deep and looked for the large sea bass he had spotted earlier. The waves kept rolling there, almost causing him to be swept away.

Just as a wave curled up, it revealed the sea bass again. It was about one meter to his right. Ye Yaodong quickly moved forward and aimed at it, using the bucket to scoop it up. Unfortunately, the fish was too big, and there was too much water. Just as he scooped it up, it jumped out again.

Holding the bucket, he immediately chased after it. Just as the seawater surged downward, the fish swam right into it on its own…

Yaodong held the water-filled bucket high above his shoulder and quickly made his way back to the shore. Wave after wave crashed towards him, drenching his entire body from head to toe. He felt quite comfortable and refreshed.

Lin Xiuqing approached him and exclaimed, "Why did you go chasing after it in the sea? It's so dangerous..."

"It's fine; I can swim, no need to worry. Besides, I didn't go too far. The water only reached my chest; I wouldn't get submerged," he reassured her. Then he handed her the bucket to have a look and said, "Look, it's a big sea bass, weighing around four to five jin. It's worth a few yuan."

"Um, just be careful."

"Oh! There's a big snail~"

The ebb and flow of the tide happened to bring a snail to their feet. Lin Xiuqing joyfully picked it up and said, "I didn't expect to have a snail delivered to us without even searching. It has meat inside, it's not empty. Is this a trumpet snail?”

"Um!"

"Do you want to break it open and take a look?"

Ye Yaodong laughed heartily. "So you think there's another treasure inside, huh?”

Lin Xiuqing gave him a reproachful glare, "It's so big!"

"This snail doesn't have one, so let's sell it for money!"

"If there isn't, then there isn't." She wasn't disappointed either. It was already a stroke of luck to have the Meile bead. It was a good find to pick up a large seashell for free.

The couple walked along with the tide, but they didn't find much other seafood. However, they managed to gather a bucketful of clams.

Ye Yaodong shook the sack in his pocket as usual and said, "Pour them in!"

Lin Xiuqing couldn't help but laugh and say, "Why do you always carry a sack with you?"

"I anticipated this, so I brought the sack. Otherwise, how would you carry the harvest later?"

In fact, he had learned a lesson from the trip to the isolated island a few days ago. Regardless of whether it would be needed or not, as long as he went out, he always carried a sack in his pocket.

"There are so many people on the beach; two buckets should be enough for us."

"It's not enough. I have this bucket filled with sea bass, and you have that bucket filled with clams. If we come across other seafood, what will you use to carry them?"

"Yes, you're the expert when it comes to the seaside. You're right!"

The two of them followed the tide and kept picking up whatever they could find without discrimination. It wasn't until the tide was about to retreat to the area with the rocks that Ye Yaodong noticed his second brother and sister-in-law had also followed them.

"What have you all picked up? Why are you carrying a sack?" Second Sister-in-law Ye curiously stretched her neck to peek at their buckets and sack. "Oh, such a big bass!"

The clams in the bag weren't anything special; the beach was filled with them. They had collected almost a bucketful, and other people had also picked up quite a few.

Lin Xiuqing smiled and said, "Just now, when the tide hadn't receded so far, Yaodong saw a sea bass and rushed into the sea to catch it."

"Hehe, Yaodong has been quite diligent lately. Looks like the prodigal son has turned around.”

Yaodong ignored her and walked towards the rocky area on the side, minding his own business. There were also people coming in this direction not far away, so he needed to take a quick look around first.

Lin Xiuqing let out an awkward laugh and quickly caught up with him.

When they saw Ye Yaodong bend down and grab two blue crabs, their eyes lit up, and they hurried over.

"Ye Yaodong caught two more blue crabs in an instant. Ah Hua, let's quickly search as well," said Second Sister-in-law Ye in envy. She was amazed by the big sea bass and the large blue crabs he had caught. While they hadn't found anything valuable yet.

Ye Yaohua chuckled and started searching around as well. Before long, he also caught a blue crab. Although it wasn't as big as the two crabs caught by Ye Yaodong earlier, Second Sister-in-law Ye had a big smile on her face. It was a good catch, and that's what mattered.

"Ah Dong, Ah Dong, come quickly..." Lin Xiuqing suddenly shouted excitedly, "What kind of fish is this? It's so big, and it's still moving!"

Upon hearing her excitement and her remark about its size, Ye Yaodong hurried over, disregarding the stone crab he had just discovered.

"This? Isn’t this yellowtail?"

He looked a bit uncertain as well. After all, the ocean is vast, and he doesn't know every single fish species. Some fish also look quite similar to each other. He thought it resembled the yellowtail that he had seen before.

"I wouldn't know either. Who should I ask if you ask me?" 

Its body is blue-gray to olive in color on the back and silver-white to light brown on the belly, with a yellow stripe on the side. It should be the Yellowtail!

There are more of these fish in the straits around the bay, but this one is quite big.

"This should be the yellowtail! Ah Hua, come over and take a look!"

Ye Yaohua and the others also heard Lin Xiuqing's voice and became curious. He walked over and took a look, somewhat uncertain, and said, "This fish seems to be a yellowtail. I think I saw it before when I was unloading goods at the Yujing port."

"This... This fish must be over one meter long, right? It looks like it weighs over a hundred jin," said Second Sister-in-law Ye with envy and jealousy. How come all the good luck is happening to them?

“This fish can sell for a lot of money, right?"

Second Sister-in-law Ye asked what was in her heart.

"We'll have to catch it first before we can determine its price. I heard there are many of these fish in the waters near the bay, and they are also popular in Japan, where they use them for making sashimi!"

In Japan, this fish is renowned and is on par with salmon.

Author’s Note:

Thank you all for your votes and support!

During the National Day holiday, it's been quite busy, and it feels a bit challenging to have two updates. But even if my eyes get tired of writing until midnight, I will try my best to maintain a stable schedule of two updates.

(end of this chapter)

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