They cheerfully carried all the catch onto the boat. Ye Yaodong piled what his parents-in-law had dug up and gathered separately in a corner.
"You gathered these yourselves, so take them home, or sell them or do whatever you like. It's up to you."
"We'll take the shellfish home. Just sell the squid along with yours. We're all family..." Father Lin said with a smile.
"No need. We've already caught so many baskets. Keep yours for yourselves. That sack and a bit should weigh a hundred jin or so. It'll fetch thirty-odd yuan. That's quite a lot."
Lin Mother smiled so broadly she couldn't close her mouth. "That much? We only came out to work for one day, and we earned all that."
"It's not like we can go out to sea every day. Since the start of the year, we could count the number of trips we've made on our fingers. Besides, it depends on luck."
As Ye Yaodong spoke, he started the boat, but felt that the water was a little shallow. He braced a long bamboo pole against the rocks on shore and pushed them off a little, then steered toward the other side of the island, intending to call A-Zheng and Xiao Xiao back so they could all head home together.
He wondered how many squid they had caught that afternoon. They still hadn't come looking for them and were still working.
Just as he pulled away from shore, they came over in their boat.
"Finally willing to come over? I thought I'd have to go and call you before you'd be willing to head back."
Once the two boats drew close, Xiao Xiao craned his neck to look at their catch and asked, "We lost some time this afternoon, didn't we? We wanted to cast