Money to Split

"These aren't all mine. I brought sacks, so these two are mine, along with this little pile here. The others didn't bring any sacks, so they piled their catch on the boat. They've all gone home to get bags now."

After explaining, Ye Yaodong handed his mother the bamboo basket and bucket. "This is what I caught. Take it to A-Cai and ask whether he buys sea centipedes. There are also seven mud crabs in this basket..."

Mother Ye was stunned by his haul. "So many mud crabs! There's that much to catch on the island? And sea centipedes too? This bucket's pretty heavy!"

Watching the sea centipedes writhing in the bucket, she felt no disgust at all. Instead, she was delighted, her eyes shining. Sea centipedes were good stuff, and there weren't any on the mudflats outside their village.

"Nobody goes to that island. The rocks are covered with all sorts of things. Look at these blue mussels and sea melon seeds-they're all big. The others caught a few mud crabs too. There's plenty out there. If I hadn't been worried we'd have more shellfish than we could eat, I could've gathered some more."

"That's plenty, that's plenty. It'd be such a waste if we couldn't finish them and they spoiled. I'll take these to sell. Anything else?" Mother Ye happily held the bucket in one hand and the bamboo basket in the other. It was rare for her third son to be so dependable, and she was happier than if she'd earned the money herself.

Ye Yaodong nudged the little pile at his feet. "The rest needs sorting. Some of the sea snails are pretty big and can be sold, and there are goose barnacles too. The blue mussels aren't worth much, so let's leave those, shall we? We can feed them to the workers building the house."

"All right, all right. I'll sell these first, then. We can take the rest of the shellfish home later and sort through them."

By the time the others returned with sacks to pack up their catch, Father Ye's fishing boat had come in too.

When he heard Mother Ye going on about how well their third son had done that day-catching half a bucket of sea centipedes and seven mud crabs, which had sold for over ten yuan, and bringing back two sacks of shellfish-Father Ye's expression softened considerably. Their own catch was smaller than yesterday's, and they had only sold a little over twenty yuan altogether.

For their third son to bring back so much after going out in the morning and returning in the afternoon was already very good.

After the family helped carry the shellfish home, Mother Ye picked out some blue mussels to cook a pot of noodle soup for the workers' afternoon snack. She should have made it earlier, but going out to meet Father Ye and the others had delayed her.

As soon as Ye Yaodong got home, he gulped down more than half a pot of tea before sitting in the main room to rest and wait for dinner.

Bare-chested, Father Ye took a few puffs from his prized water pipe before asking Ye Yaodong, "Did the others get much?"

"Not as much as me."

After a whole day of hard work, he really didn't feel like talking. He just wanted to eat quickly, then have a good rest.

"The tide won't be low enough tomorrow. When it is on the fifteenth, see if you can rent a boat again."

"That old woman jacks up the price whenever she feels like it. Renting from her isn't easy, and it's too expensive. We'll see when the time comes."

If we can't even cover the costs, won't we have worked all day for nothing?

Father Ye nodded. "Then we'll see when the time comes. After dinner, go to A-Cai's with your wife and collect the thousand-odd yuan from yesterday's sale. We'll each take our proper share."

"Mm."

When Mother Ye brought over the afternoon snack, Lin Xiuqing learned that Ye Yaodong was home. She accepted the money from his catch that Mother Ye secretly slipped her, then hurried home without even stopping to eat.

When she arrived home, Ye Yaodong had just finished his meal and put down his bowl and chopsticks. "Have you had your afternoon snack? Mother left some in the pot."

"All right."

After eating their fill, Father Ye and Ye Yaohua went to the homestead, leaving the couple alone at home to talk.

As she ate, Lin Xiuqing asked, "There were too many people around just now, so Mother didn't say much. She just secretly slipped me a wad of small bills and whispered that it was from the catch you'd just sold."

"Mm..." Ye Yaodong told her about the day's haul, then pointed toward the back door, indicating that there was another pile of shellfish out there.

"Once you've finished eating, sort through them and see if there's anything else we can sell. We'll take it to A-Cai's in a bit and settle yesterday's payment while we're there."

Lin Xiuqing nodded, her eyes smiling. Nothing made her happier than her husband being able to earn money.

Seeing the obvious change in his wife's attitude over the past few days, Ye Yaodong felt that being a little tired was worth it.

"Mother seems to have sold the three little white octopuses too. Otherwise, I could've stewed them in wine for you."

"Why eat them? Anything that can fetch money should be sold. With Father trawling lately, there are heaps of little fish and shrimp left over. We're not short of food at home now. Besides, you gathered so much shellfish that we won't even be able to finish it all."

How was that the same?

In his previous life, she had died of bowel cancer. It surely had something to do with her diet, and he had always felt deeply guilty. Now that he had come back, he wanted to feed her as well as he could.

"Mm. We'll talk about it after we split into separate households."

With the whole extended family living together, it wasn't right for them to keep the good food to themselves. Besides, he had previously been a useless layabout who did no productive work. If they started making special meals for themselves, his two sisters-in-law would have something to say about it again.

Lin Xiuqing quickly finished her meal, washed the bowl and chopsticks, and went into the backyard to sort through the catch, picking out everything she thought might be worth a little money.

She put the large sea snails, pen shells, wild abalone, and the like into a separate bucket, leaving only the small ones that wouldn't fetch much for them to eat.

To be honest, he had already chosen the bigger ones while gathering them. After she sorted through the pile, there wasn't much left.

Fortunately, she wasn't interested in the blue mussels or sea melon seeds, so they still had two sacks to keep.

"Should we shuck the oysters and sell them?"

"Let's not, shall we? With such a big sack, you'd definitely need Mother and the others to help. You couldn't finish them by yourself tonight. If everyone's going to help, we should keep them for the family to eat."

"All right, then!" Lin Xiuqing was a little disappointed. Such a big sack of juvenile shellfish could yield several pounds of oyster meat.

Ye Yaodong smiled at her money-loving expression. "Once you're done, bring yesterday's receipt. I'll go get A-Guang and the others, and we'll head to A-Cai's together to settle up."

"All right."

Coming out of A-Cai's house with a hefty sum tucked against his chest, Ye Yaodong looked at the sea not far away. It truly was the entire village's treasure trove.

He had heard that his grandfather hadn't originally been from this village. Famine had driven him to beg his way here from Zhejiang Province, and he had then settled in the village, making his living from the sea.

This sea had sustained so many people.

He turned his gaze away and said cheerfully, "Come on, let's go to A-Guang's and split the loot!"

To people of this era, 1,601 yuan and 88 fen was a huge sum-two years' wages for a worker. Split four ways, after deducting the boat rental and diesel costs, it still came to 397 yuan each.

"My wife worked it out. It's about 397 each. Everyone count out your own money. Once you've counted the whole-yuan amounts, we'll see how much change is left and check that it adds up!"

Ye Yaodong put the pile of small bills on the table and let everyone count their own share.

Lin Xiuqing had already put away the money from their separate sales, so it wasn't mixed in.

Once everyone had happily counted their money and tucked it away, there was 1 yuan and 88 fen left on the table. Ye Yaodong asked with a smile, "There's a little over a yuan left. Do you want to split it, or...?"

"No need to split it, right? A few jiao each wouldn't mean much. Let's buy some liquor with it."

"Exactly, buy some liquor. We've worked hard all day, so let's celebrate properly tonight. We hauled in a few nets during the day, and we've got shellfish too. The food to go with it is all ready."

"Sure, sure."

"Let's invite everyone else too!"

"They're going to be jealous again..."