"Third Uncle, that sack of yours is inconvenient. Every time we catch one, we have to run back and forth to throw it in."
"Then empty your baskets. Put what you catch in those first, and tip them into the sack later."
"Okay."
The children pooled the little bits of seafood they had just gathered into one basket, then used their own baskets to hold their catches.
"Wow, these are so fat!" Ye Chenghai picked up a wriggling sandworm. "Third Uncle, how much could we sell all these sandworms for if we caught them?"
"Not much. We'll just dry them and give everyone a share to eat."
"They aren't worth much?"
Ye Yaodong raised his eyebrows. "If you want to make money, go haul cargo at the pier!"
"Huh? No, no, no... eating them ourselves sounds great..."
How hilarious!
The others all teased him. "Brother A-Hai, weren't you the one most excited about making money?"
"He made a whole yuan last time..."
"Why don't you go again?"
Ye Chenghai rolled his eyes. "Try hauling cargo for a day yourselves, then you'll know."
"Hehe, I'd rather take the sheep out. There's loads of good stuff to eat in the hills. I saw that the loquats on that hillside were already really big."
"Do you want to herd sheep, or steal fruit?"
"Hehe!"
Listening to their banter, Ye Yaodong could not help urging them on. "Hurry up and catch them. Stop chattering, or they'll burrow back down and be hard to dig out."
April through September was sandworm breeding season. The sandworms, feeling the call of spring, crawled out onto the sand to mate and improve their fertilization rate.
Since they had stumbled upon them, they would naturally catch the whole lot. With so many mouths at home, there would not be