Sea centipedes

Xiao Xiao slapped his forehead. "Holy shit... are we idiots or what? Why don't we just dump what's in our buckets onto the boat? Then we can keep filling them!"

A-Zheng caught on too. "Oh, right! We can dump everything onto the boat and each keep our haul in a separate corner. Once we get back, we can find sacks to put it in."

"Shit, we've got pig brains... we all sat around for ages, watching Dongzi do all the digging."

"Come on, let's go gather some more. The boat rental and fuel cost a fortune. We can't let this trip go to waste!"

When they went back and told Fatty and Chen Wei, the two finally caught on as well. They hurried to dump their buckets onto the boat so they could keep filling them.

Ye Yaodong watched them, speechless. He just needed to fill his two sacks. As long as he didn't wash the shellfish and kept them somewhere cool, they should last two or three days.

If he hadn't needed to feed the workers, he wouldn't have gathered so much. They had no refrigerator, after all. Anything they couldn't finish would stink if he brought back too much. What he had gathered already was enough.

Once he had filled a sack with juvenile shellfish, it was his turn to sit and rest while he watched them work.

Since no one came to this isolated island, the rocks were still covered in plenty of shellfish. He couldn't possibly pry everything off by himself, so there was still plenty for them to gather when they went back.

After basking in the sun for a while and eating two ears of corn he had brought along, he saw that the tide had receded far enough to expose most of the surrounding rocks. He picked up his large bamboo basket and fire tongs and called to the others busy on the rocks, "Comrades, the tide's gone out! I'm off to hunt for treasure. You keep digging!"

"Can't even keep up with the digging!"

"I'll dig a little longer. If you find anything good, give me a shout and I'll come down."

"Sure. I'll let you know once I've picked up all the big catches." Ye Yaodong grinned, rolled up his trouser legs, and headed into the shallows to search.

"Fuck it, I'm done digging. I'm going down for a look too." A-Zheng jumped straight down with his half-full bucket. He didn't even bother emptying it on the boat, afraid he would fall behind again. The shellfish on the rocks weren't going anywhere, anyway.

He had barely jumped down when he heard Ye Yaodong's delighted cry.

"Holy shit-sea centipedes!"

"What? Where? Where are the sea centipedes?"

"There are sea centipedes?"

Everyone ran over to Ye Yaodong in surprise. The exposed mudflat was crawling with densely packed sea centipedes.

Sea centipedes, known scientifically as ragworms, were creeping creatures that lived on shallow tidal flats along the southeastern coast. Their most frightening feature was their resemblance to centipedes, but they were neither venomous nor aggressive, and their legs were very short. They fed mainly on algae and seagrass, supplemented by small shrimp and fish.

"Holy fuck, that's disgusting! There are so many!"

"I've got goose bumps!"

A whole swath of sea centipedes writhed across the mud. Anyone with trypophobia would have been scared half to death!

Luckily, Ye Yaodong wasn't afraid of them. "These are good stuff. Come on, everyone. Keep your movements gentle when you catch them, or they'll all burrow into the mud."

"Ah, no, no, no. That's disgusting. There's a whole carpet of them. My scalp's tingling just looking at them. I don't want any."

"I don't want any either. I didn't bring gloves."

"My eyes can't take this. I'm going somewhere else to cleanse them."

"They really are pretty disgusting. You found them, so you can go catch them yourself!"

One after another, they shook their heads and hurried off to the side.

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes. "Every one of you is happy to eat them, but not a single one will lift a finger to catch them."

"That's not fair. They look completely different cooked than alive, all right? They're so tightly packed together I could puke just looking at them. You found them, so they're yours. Hurry down there!" With that, A-Guang grabbed his bucket and fled too.

Fine, he would catch them himself. Keeping the whole haul was even better. The bamboo basket in his hand wasn't suitable for sea centipedes, though, so he hurried back to the boat.

He needed to dump the seafood in his bucket onto the deck and free it up for the worms. As he walked, he muttered, "Why have so many sea centipedes crawled out? Aren't they supposed to stay in their burrows under the mud?"

"Who knows? Maybe they come out to mate around the first of the lunar month."

As long as there were some to catch, that was all that mattered.

After emptying the bucket, he gave it a quick rinse with seawater and eagerly ran back to the sea centipedes.

They were a little disgusting, but not more than he could handle. Besides, he still had his gloves on, so he wouldn't be touching them directly.

He grabbed a handful. Watching them struggle and writhe made his stomach turn, and he quickly dropped them into the bucket. The nearby sea centipedes seemed to take fright and began burrowing into the mud.

Ah, how could I let them get away?

Ye Yaodong sped up, grabbing all the sea centipedes that were still on the surface and hadn't reacted yet. The ones he didn't catch burrowed into the mudflat.

Looking at the little holes dotting the mud, he tried reaching into one. Once he felt a worm, he gave it a gentle tug. This took patience and a careful touch.

After easing a section out, he had to pause and let the sea centipede's body contract before pulling upward again. If he moved too quickly, it would easily snap.

After probing just a few holes, he lost patience. It took too much time, and his bucket was already a little under half full. He reckoned he had four or five jin.

He decided to search the shore for other good finds first. If he had time later, he could come back and catch these slowly. They weren't going anywhere, anyway.

After leaving the bucket in the shade, he took his bamboo basket and fire tongs and ran over to A-Guang, who was closest.

"Found anything?"

"What do you think? If I'd found anything good, I'd have shouted already."

"True. Looks like nobody's found any big catches!"

He glanced into A-Guang's bucket: a few stone crabs and some small assorted fish. "You might get more if you go back up onto the rocks and pry off shellfish."

A-Guang nodded solemnly. "That's what I was thinking too."

Ye Yaodong patted his shoulder consolingly. After checking where everyone else was, he decided to head farther along the island's rocky edge.

In the short time he had spent catching sea centipedes, the tide had receded a little farther.

Since the mudflat had given him a good start today, he made a point of heading toward more muddy ground.

Some of the ground exposed around the island at low tide consisted of small sandy beaches, while other patches were mudflats. The mudflats looked rather dirty, and his feet sank in with every step. After just a few paces, his legs were already splattered with mud.

As he wandered around with his fire tongs, he spotted a large mud crab covered in mud, lying motionless on the surface of the flat. Was it sunbathing?

It was well camouflaged, its shell plastered with mud. Without a close look, he would have passed right by it. Ye Yaodong gripped it with his fire tongs, and its large claws immediately began waving fiercely.

"Oh-ho, a female, too. Pretty heavy. She should have some red roe. About a jin and a half, I'd say. Nice, nice. I nearly missed you."

His luck really was good. He'd had a feeling there would be something on the mudflat, and sure enough, he'd found something just by strolling around.