Lin Xiuqing was less tight-fisted with money now. When Ye Yaodong said he wanted to fry some small fish to reward that afternoon's child laborers, she went ahead and did it.
After all, that brimming bucket really did hold quite a haul once they tipped it out. Fish, shrimp, crabs, shellfish, sea snails-they had everything, a whole jumble of them. The children certainly weren't picky, bringing back whatever they found, big or small.
"You don't need to do much cooking. Just steam the whole lot in one pot. As for those few sea urchins, scoop out the insides and steam them with eggs."
"I know. Tonight I'll stir-fry a bowl of the bamboo shoots we dug up this morning and make a sea lettuce soup. That'll do."
Ye Yaodong nodded, very pleased with the dishes for dinner. They were all delicacies from the mountains-bamboo shoots-and the sea-seafood-earned through their own labor that day!
Ye Chenghu and Ye Chengyang ate with great relish too. Each had a bowl of sea urchin steamed eggs, along with the seafood they had gathered themselves. How could they not enjoy the fruits of their own labor?
That night, Ye Yaodong got up before it was time to head out to sea. Now that the rain had cleared, A-Zheng was going to the city again to buy fish for drying, and would escort another truckload of dried fish to the city for him along the way.
Fortunately, when it had rained over the past few days, A-Zheng's first batch hadn't been very large. He had brought it all under the veranda and hung some in empty rooms at home with the windows open for ventilation. He had just about managed to save it from going bad, and hurried to put it back out to dry that