The early-morning farce gradually drew to a close amid Ye Eldest Sister-in-Law's scolding.
After breakfast, the children put on their schoolbags and stood at the door watching them sort the crabs and tie their legs, all reluctant to leave for school.
When Ye Eldest Sister-in-Law finished washing the dishes and came out to find them still gathered there talking instead of leaving for school, her temper flared again. She went inside, grabbed the whip, and lashed out at them.
Naturally, Ye Chenghai was the one who suffered again.
He jumped up, looking utterly miserable. "Why are you hitting me again?"
"You're exactly who I'm hitting! It's time to go, but not one of you wants to leave. Didn't breakfast fill you up? Waiting for a helping of the whip?"
"I'm not the only one... hey... don't run off... wait for me..."
He was too slow leaving and got another lash...
Ah, being the eldest really was hard...
Ye Yaodong, Father Ye, and Mother Ye sorted the two baskets of crabs as they tied their legs. The Old Lady slowly helped beside them.
It took the four of them only a little while to finish sorting the crabs and tying their legs.
They kept the skinny ones, those missing their big claws, and the dead ones to eat themselves. There were over forty jin of intact ones. Crabs really were tough creatures.
They kept over ten jin, and he told his mother to distribute them among friends and relatives as she saw fit, since they couldn't eat them all themselves anyway. Then he loaded the sorted baskets onto the cart.
Although there wasn't much in each basket, they still needed baskets to hold the separate lots. He also put the large yellow croaker they had caught last night onto the handcart.