Ye Yaodong had his father haul a cartload of yellowtail scad home first while he stayed at the pier to watch over things and get the catch weighed.
There were so many fish and shrimp that Father Ye needed two trips to haul them all back, with a third trip just for the two sharks.
A-Cai thought it was a shame when he saw them too. He had wanted to buy the Fish Fins, but Ye Yaodong turned him down.
The best parts of a shark were its Fish Fins. Sharks were generally bought and sold whole, then sent to specialized shark-processing factories to be cut up and processed.
These two had been bitten all over by the yellowtail scad and would not fetch much. He wanted to keep the Fish Fins to make shark fin himself. If A-Cai wanted the meat, he could even give it to him for free, but A-Cai had no interest in it either.
Fine, then. He could take it home to fry or make dumplings with. The children loved it too, and A Qing was no longer as stingy as his mother. She was quite generous now and generally gave them whatever they asked for.
When he got home, four or five women were already sitting in the yard, some cleaning fish and others sorting shrimp.
His mother was sorting shrimp too, muttering about what a waste it was.
"Honestly, why couldn't you have found some time to collect them a few days earlier? More than half have gone bad and aren't fresh anymore. What a waste."
"You lot, move away. Stop crowding around here. Keep touching them and you'll stunt their growth. They won't grow big tomorrow, just like that sickly green chick."
As she spoke, she casually tossed a few spoiled shrimp