Caught a tiger grouper

"Whoa, this fish is slippery!"

Ye Yaodong had just prodded it out and reached to grab it, only for it to slip away and dart back underneath.

The rock was too big to move, so he could only poke his fire tongs underneath again, stirring around to drive it back out.

A-Guang squatted down with his bucket and aimed it at the gap beneath the rock. "My bucket's empty anyway. You can borrow it to catch the fish first."

Looking at his empty bucket, Ye Yaodong didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Everyone else had caught something, but A-Guang's bucket was still completely empty.

"Sure, let me use it for now!"

A-Zheng's eyes narrowed to slits as he grinned. "A-Guang must be dying inside, but he still has to put on a brave smile. Poor guy! Now that's a true friend!"

"Ahh..."

"Hahaha!"

As they continued teasing A-Guang, Ye Yaodong smiled and stirred beneath the rock with his fire tongs for a good while. Yet the tiger grouper still hadn't come out. "Go check the other side. Did it swim over there?"

"Over here! Over here! It came out this way. Give me the bucket!"

"It's pretty big, too."

"Looks like it weighs a jin or two."

"Dong sure lucked out!"

Xiao Xiao took the bucket A-Guang handed him, aimed it at the tiger grouper, and scooped the fish straight inside. "Got it! We caught it!"

Several heads leaned over, their faces full of envy as they watched the fish thrashing in the bucket.

It wasn't as though any of them couldn't afford to buy one. But the whole point of gathering seafood along the shore was the fun and satisfaction of catching it themselves. Besides, this wasn't just any fish-it was a tiger grouper. They all couldn't help thinking how ridiculously lucky Ye Yaodong was.

"There's too little seawater in this bucket. Get some more. Don't let it die."

A-Wei said, "I only have two mudskippers. I'll tip them into your bucket, then we can use mine to scoop up water."

Xiao Xiao chuckled. "So I get two free fish out of this!"

Once they had filled the bucket halfway with water, Xiao Xiao handed it to Ye Yaodong. "Are you keeping it to eat or selling it?"

"Selling it! Of course I'm selling it. If I took it home to eat, my mother would give me hell and break my legs. Yesterday, I caught two little mud crabs and was going to keep them for dinner, but she chewed me out. She only looked a little happier when I said they were for the kids, but she still took them to sell."

This tiger grouper was worth far more than yesterday's two little mud crabs. If he stewed it, his mother wouldn't be the only one scolding him-his wife would stay mad at him for days.

Selling it and giving her a few yuan would be good, too. She couldn't even earn a yuan from a whole day of weaving nets.

Although he didn't know how much his wife had saved so far, he knew it couldn't be much.

"You should sell it. The older generation can't bear to spend money on food or clothes. This goes for over a yuan a jin, and one this big should fetch three yuan, right? That's three or four days of net-making for them. Eating it just like that would be such a waste."

"Exactly. Eat whatever seafood isn't worth much, but sell this one!"

"Take it to the buying station at the dock while it's still alive. That'll give us a chance to look for something big, too. Otherwise, everything will end up in your bucket, and I'll be going home with an empty one!"

Since everyone said so, Ye Yaodong nodded. "All right. Stay here and have fun. I'll be back in a bit."

A-Zheng laughed. "No problem. Take your time. You don't even have to come back. We've got things covered here-we don't need you!"

"Shit, you're just jealous of my luck," he said with a laughing curse. "You won't find anything good without me."

"Get lost! Go on, get lost!"

Grinning, he carried the bucket over to the group digging for sand clams. After finding Lin Xiuqing, he set it down in front of her. "I found a grouper-a tiger grouper. Take it to the buying station and sell it."

"Huh? A tiger grouper!" Lin Xiuqing looked into the bucket, her eyes lighting up with delight. "It's so big!"

"What tiger grouper? You caught a tiger grouper, Third?" Mother Ye came over in surprise, too.

"A tiger grouper?"

The people nearby gathered around when they heard, all talking at once. "It really is a tiger grouper!"

"Where did you catch it? How'd you get so lucky?"

"There are a few stone crabs in there, too?"

"Oh, there are blood clams as well..."

"Where did you find all this, Dong? How come we've never seen any?"

"Whenever we go down to the beach, we only find a few mudskippers and stone crabs. Dong's got pretty good luck!"

Ignoring everyone's surprise, Ye Yaodong spoke only to Lin Xiuqing. "Empty out a bucket for the fish, then take this tiger grouper to the buying station and sell it. This bucket belongs to A-Guang, so I need to return it. I'll have another look around while I'm at it and see if there's anything else to pick up."

"All right. I'll tip the sand clams into Mother's bucket. Wait a moment." Beaming, Lin Xiuqing eagerly set about emptying her bucket.

He figured the tiger grouper would only sell for about three yuan, so he couldn't be bothered to go to the buying station with her. After tipping the fish into his wife's bucket, he took the empty bucket and his own and headed back down the beach.

"Wait!"

Mother Ye stopped him. "Aren't there blood clams in your bucket, too? How many? If there are enough, take them out and let Xiuqing sell them at the buying station as well. What are you keeping them in there for?"

"Huh? We're selling the blood clams, too?"

"Of course. Anything worth money should be sold." Mother Ye took his bucket and hefted it. "The ones you picked up are nearly as big as fish balls. Looks like there's over a jin of them, too. They could fetch another yuan or two. If you don't sell them with the fish, what are you going to do-eat them?"

"All right... sell them together, then."

Lin Xiuqing had actually wanted to say the same thing earlier, but she'd been afraid he would be unhappy. After all, he had already handed over a tiger grouper. Now that Mother Ye had spoken, she happily reached in to take them out.

"Careful. Those stone crabs have big pincers, and they'll pinch you. Let me do it."

Ye Yaodong stopped his wife from reaching in and took the stone crabs out himself first, pinning them beneath his foot so they couldn't scuttle away. Only then did he take out the blood clams and drop them into the bucket with the tiger grouper.

"Happy now? All that's left is a few worthless stone crabs, some sword shrimp, and mudskippers. There's only one tiger prawn, so that won't sell for anything either."

Mother Ye nodded in satisfaction. "You've had good luck these past two days. People can comb the beach for years without finding a single tiger grouper. Go have another look around. If you find anything good, bring it over for your wife to sell."

"They're not that easy to find. You think they grow like cabbages? There's only anything to pick up because of the tides these past two days. What you find comes down to luck. You really think the whole beach is covered in seafood, just waiting to be picked up?" Otherwise, would A-Guang's bucket still be empty? Seeing how tempted the women nearby looked, he hurried to make his point.

Otherwise, they would all stop digging for sand clams and head down to gather seafood. Then there would be no point in him going back.

His luck really had been pretty good lately!

"I was only saying. If I didn't remind you, you'd turn around and waste it all!" Mother Ye glared at him as she snapped.

Of course everyone knew it came down to luck. How much seafood could there be on their stretch of beach? As if she didn't know.

"Didn't I bring it over? How have I wasted anything...?"

"Go on, go on. Get back down there and have another look."

Ah, he had handed everything over, and his mother still had to nag. Changing his family's opinion of him really wasn't easy. But that was all right. He had lived to sixty-five in his previous life, so he still had decades ahead of him. He could take it slowly and let them come around little by little.