Shore foraging

Over the past few years, living standards had improved for many families. Not every household was willing to forage along the shore anymore, especially under such a scorching sun. Wasn't it nicer to stay home and earn money weaving fishing nets?

Besides, shore foraging didn't bring in any money. All you got was something to eat.

Ye Yaodong headed home, seeing only a handful of people carrying tools and buckets along the way.

As soon as he reached the bend in the road, he spotted the women from his family with the children, marching along in a great procession.

"Are you going to the pier or the beach by the junction?"

Lin Xiuqing stopped with their younger son in her arms and answered, "Mother said we should go to the pier. A few of your friends came looking for you to go shore foraging. They're waiting at our door."

"Got it. Go on ahead. I'll be there in a bit."

Ye Yaodong jogged home. His friends were sitting in the shade outside his door with their legs propped up. When they saw him running toward them from a distance, they threw out a few teasing remarks.

"Well, look at that! Our Dong's turned hardworking. You even went to help pull weeds in this heat?"

He stood panting beneath a tree, fanning himself with his hand. "It's my own new home. Shouldn't I do my share?"

A-Zheng offered generously, "When are you starting construction? Let us know if you need help. We'll come lend a hand."

"You'd leave your own chores undone to come work for me? Wouldn't your mother beat you with a laundry club?"

"Nah, she'd only praise me for being hardworking! Besides, we're all brothers. If something came up at my house, you'd lend a hand too."

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes, muttering inwardly, Doting mothers raise spoiled sons.

He'd forgotten he was a "spoiled son" himself!

"All right, I'll call you when I need you. You've all brought your tools, right? Wait a second. I'll go get a hook and a bucket, and grab a hat while I'm at it. The sun's brutal."

"Hurry up. If we're late, everyone else will have picked the place clean."

"Just a second!"

He ran inside but couldn't find where the hook had been put, so he grabbed a pair of fire tongs and hurried back out. Grandma called after him, holding a bamboo flask. "Dong, take some tea with you."

He turned back to take the bamboo flask from her. "Thanks, Grandma. Go back inside! Just sit in the house or by the door where it's cool. Don't go into the backyard. If the ground's wet, watch your step."

"All right, all right."

"I'm off, then!"

The five of them each carried a bucket with their tools inside and set off eagerly toward the pier.

Xiao Xiao said with growing excitement, "Seems like it's been two years since we went shore foraging for fun."

"Longer than that, hasn't it?" A-Zheng reminded him. "Ever since you lot started getting married one after another, we haven't gone much."

"Doesn't matter. Let's relive the old days today. Pick up the pace." At that moment, Ye Yaodong was filled with boundless hope for his second chance at life, and there was a new enthusiasm about him.

Seeing how fast he was walking, the others quickened their pace to keep up.

By the time they reached the pier, quite a few people, young and old, were already on the beach below. His family was the biggest group of all!

The adults kept calling out distractedly, telling the children not to venture out into the water and to play only on the sand.

When Ye Yaodong's two sons spotted him, they called loudly, "Dad! Dad! Mom, Dad's here too!"

Lin Xiuqing looked up at the late arrival. As long as he hadn't been fobbing her off during their talk in bed last night, that was good enough. "I know. Stay here beside me and play. Don't run off."

Ye Eldest Sister-in-Law couldn't help saying, "Yaodong really has been hardworking these past couple of days!"

"Who knows how many days it'll last? Maybe he just hasn't been shore foraging in ages and it's a bit of a novelty." Ye Second Sister-in-Law pursed her lips. She didn't believe Ye Yaodong had suddenly turned over a new leaf. Old habits died hard, after all!

"At least he seems more responsible now. He's not always disappearing like he used to."

"If he doesn't start working harder and taking some responsibility, who's going to support him once we split into separate households?"

As Ye Yaodong approached, he heard his two sisters-in-law talking and couldn't help frowning. Women sure talk too much!

"Dad, where are you going? Mom said not to go down into the water."

"I'm going to catch fish and crabs. You stay here and play. Help dig up sand clams, and don't follow me."

The children stopped themselves in their tracks and could only watch longingly as he headed down. They wanted to go down and play too. If the adults hadn't been there, they would have gone swimming. What a shame.

"Let's split up. We can see who catches the most later."

"Sure!"

Relying on luck to find crabs, fish, and shrimp was nowhere near as quick as digging up clams like Mother Ye and the others were doing. That was why few people bothered spending time on it. But these fellows had nothing better to do anyway.

And after getting a taste of success with the two mud crabs he'd caught yesterday, Ye Yaodong headed straight for a rocky patch nearby.

He shifted a large rock with his fire tongs, and the surprise he'd been hoping for appeared beneath it: a large tiger prawn!

"Hey, I found a tiger prawn! First catch goes to me!" He quickly picked up the still-flopping tiger prawn with the tongs and held it up for the others to see.

They all turned toward him. "Nice luck! You've only just come down and you've already caught something. A tiger prawn, too!"

Tiger prawns were large and strikingly attractive, with alternating dark and light bands across their bodies and markings on their tails. Once cooked, they showed nine distinct white bands. Their flesh was clean-tasting and springy, making them very popular. Ye Yaodong loved eating them himself, so he was thoroughly pleased to have started off with such a good catch.

"Now I'm jealous. I've got to catch a few too." Full of enthusiasm, Xiao Xiao casually kicked aside a nearby rock. "Huh? A mudskipper? Who would've thought a random kick would turn up something?"

"Oh, you've both caught something already. We can't fall behind. Come on, come on, let's split up!"

They'd originally come along just to join in the fun, figuring they had nothing better to do. Now their interest had been piqued.

When the tide receded, small fish and shrimp on the seabed could get trapped by rocks of various sizes instead of retreating into the sea with the water. They would linger in the low-lying shallows and mudflats around the rocks, returning to the sea only when the tide rose again.

They were all experienced and knew to search low-lying spots where there were rocks and water.

Ye Yaodong felt that his luck was pretty good. He'd only taken a couple of steps to the side when he spotted two stone crabs hiding beneath a large rock.

"Two more caught. Shame they're not mud crabs, but they're better than nothing."

Stone crabs had brown carapaces mottled with red, while their claws were generally bright red. They resembled stones and had very thick shells. They liked sandy, muddy, or rocky bottoms near the low-tide line, or seabeds thick with seagrass, and most often lurked beneath rocks.

He used his fire tongs to pick up the two stone crabs hiding beneath the large rock and drop them straight into his bucket, then moved farther along.

Here in the eighties, this stretch of beach by their village had yet to be developed and remained in its natural state. The surrounding waters were rich in marine life. Anyone who wandered along the beach after the tide went out was almost certain to find something.

As for how much they found, that depended on the tide and their luck.