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They had struck it lucky today. In a little over two hours, they had dug up five Mud Crabs, three of them hefty specimens weighing over a jin each. At the current buying price of sixty yuan per jin for large wild male Mud Crabs and eighty yuan per jin for large wild females, he could sell them for over five hundred yuan in a single morning. Even after taxes, he would still have more than three hundred left.

The income was truly considerable, enough that Lin Gongshang could barely conceal his smugness.

Seeing that Lu Ao had not replied from across the river, he plopped his straw hat onto his head and happily waded over with his bucket to check Lu Ao's haul.

When he reached Lu Ao, he craned his neck to peer into Lu Ao's bucket and consoled him, "It's your first time digging for them. It's normal if you didn't catch many, so don't get discouraged."

Lu Ao had just dug out a Mud Crab and was tying it up. He glanced at him upon hearing that.

Lu Ao had not wanted to discourage him, but he truly could not stand Lin Gongshang's smug manner. He simply lifted the bucket lid and tossed the Mud Crab in his hand inside.

Lin Gongshang saw a bucket packed full of grass. The Mud Crab that had just been put in lay on top, with half its shell sticking above the rim.

He froze. "Holy shit, why is there so much grass in your bucket? Did you come here to catch Mud Crabs or pull weeds? Wait, no, I think there are Mud Crabs underneath. Your bucket is full of Mud Crabs?!"

Lu Ao said, "Why not dump them out and see?"

Lin Gongshang had already sensed that something was amiss from those words. He felt that he should not look.

But people were always curious. Unable to suppress the little spark of curiosity in his mind, he fell silent for two seconds before saying, "I'll dump them out and take a look."

Lu Ao stood beside him with his iron tongs and nodded for him to proceed.

Lin Gongshang wiped his hands on his mud-caked clothes, then silently stepped forward and poured out Lu Ao's bucket of Mud Crabs.

"One, two, three, four... nine?" Lin Gongshang turned to Lu Ao, his brows shooting up, his voice trembling slightly at the end. "You dug up nine Mud Crabs in one morning?"

Lu Ao did not answer such an obvious question.

Lin Gongshang let out an "Ah," utterly drained. "Fuck! How are you lucky at everything you do? Even digging for Mud Crabs, you catch twice as many as everyone else."

Lu Ao glanced at him. "I'm strong. I dig faster."

Lin Gongshang said, "..."

His heart was tired. He had absolutely no desire to compete with this freak.

As the two spoke, Lin Qiyan heard them. Wiping sweat with the filthy shirt he was wearing, he hurried over carrying a bucket, an equipment bag still slung across his back.

The moment Lin Gongshang saw him, he decided to restore some balance to his self-esteem. "Lin Qiyan, how many Mud Crabs did you catch?"

Lin Qiyan looked somewhat dejected. "Only one. My luck was bad. I checked several holes, and they were all empty. Even this one took everything I had to pull out."

Lin Gongshang grinned. "I got five, and they're all big ones. Three weigh over a jin."

"That's really good." Lin Qiyan looked envious. "Mine's a little one, barely four liang. Rounding it off, it's like I caught nothing all morning."

Lin Qiyan then looked at Lu Ao, who was putting the Mud Crabs back into his bucket, and asked curiously, "What about Lu Ao? How many did he catch?"

"Nine."

"Ah, nine?" Lin Qiyan could not believe it. He hurried over to Lu Ao and crouched down to look. "You dug up nine in such a short time?!"

Lu Ao nodded.

Lin Qiyan lowered his head to inspect them. "Let me see. One, two, three... Wait! Lu Ao, there's something wrong with this Mud Crab."

"What's wrong with it?" Lin Gongshang also leaned in again. "I gave them a quick look just now. They're all fine—big, lively Mud Crabs."

Lin Qiyan gently tapped the shell of the Mud Crab in front of him with his iron tongs and hesitated. "This... isn't this a Butter Crab?"

Lin Gongshang squatted down, picked up the Mud Crab still covered in mud, and examined it carefully. "Fuck! It really is!"

Butter Crabs were transformed from female Mud Crabs. When mature female Mud Crabs were laying eggs, intense sunlight caused the crab roe inside them to turn into golden oil that seeped into every part of their bodies. Their shells turned yellow, and they became known as Butter Crabs.

Butter Crabs cost more than ten times as much as ordinary Mud Crabs.

Lu Ao had never seen one before, so he had not recognized it at first.

After the two of them started shouting about it, Lu Ao took the crab from Lin Qiyan.

The crab was quite large and heavy in his hand, weighing at least one jin and two or three liang.

Lu Ao took it to the riverbank and washed it clean. He quickly realized something was off.

This Mud Crab was clearly different from the others. Its back carried a faint orange-yellow tint, and when he turned it over, its belly and claws were a rich, plump yellow. Round and full, it looked immensely appetizing.

Lin Gongshang was eager to try. "Come on, let's see what kind of quality this Butter Crab is."

"How do you tell?"

"I'll do it!"

Lin Gongshang took the Butter Crab again and gently pressed its apron. It felt soft beneath his fingers; the crab roe had already melted into oil.

Then he looked at its legs. Every single leg was a full, brilliant yellow that almost dazzled his eyes.

He lifted the crab with its back facing the sunlight, shading its shell slightly with his hand. He could clearly see that both sides of the shell were semi-transparent, showing that the roe inside had almost completely melted away and turned into butter.

Lin Gongshang sighed. "Top-Hand. The crab oil has seeped into the joints, and its back is full too. Kid, your luck is incredible."

Lin Qiyan could not help revealing an envious look as well.

Butter Crabs came in several grades. The finest ones were called Top-Hand Butter Crabs, and a Top-Hand Butter Crab of this size wholesaled for eighteen hundred yuan per jin around here.

And that had been last year's price.

Now that the Dragon Boat Festival was approaching, and this was the first batch of Butter Crabs, the price would definitely be even higher.

Lin Gongshang looked at the Butter Crab in his hand, then at the several large Mud Crabs in his own bucket, and instantly found them utterly uninteresting.

He gently placed the Butter Crab back into Lu Ao's bucket and reminded him, "Keep this Butter Crab safe. Don't break any of its legs, or the butter will leak out and it won't be worth much anymore."

Lin Qiyan hurriedly brought over his own bucket. "Lu Ao, why don't you keep the Butter Crab separately in my bucket? I can just carry this little Mud Crab myself."