He had only meant to see whether he could catch a few small green lobsters, never expecting an extra windfall.
Wild sea cucumbers were "sea ginseng," the king of nourishing foods. Ancient books listed sea cucumbers alongside wild cordyceps, mountain lingzhi, and forest deer fetuses as the "Natural Four Immortals."
Ye Yaodong tossed the sea cucumber in his hand into the bucket of seawater, then caught the small green lobsters that were trying to escape and put them in too. These lobsters were all plump, their tails curled up, and each looked to weigh four or five liang.
There were also several other catches on the deck: three fairly large tiger prawns, sea bass, turbot, sole fish, and a small ray. There were also a few little reef fish with colorful stripes. Seeing that they were still alive, their mouths moving constantly, he released them straight back into the sea.
"I'll sort these out. Keep hauling up the fishing pots." Father Ye urged him on happily, sorting the fish on the deck into separate baskets.
Ye Yaodong clapped his hands clean and straightened up. "All right."
He grabbed one end of the rope and continued hauling in the fishing pots. The second came up smoothly, and through the netting, they could both see small green lobsters crawling around inside.
"Several more small green lobsters!"
The wrinkles at the corners of Father Ye's eyes deepened into furrows as he smiled. "Good, good, good. These fish are nice too. Untie it first..."
As soon as the fish-collecting bag was loosened, its contents scattered over the deck again, but this time there was only one sea cucumber.
"I wonder how many years these sea cucumbers have been growing. They're all pretty big, and their spines are thick too."
Wild sea cucumbers grew in