Working together, the four of them filled five sacks in all: two with juvenile shellfish, one large sack with blue mussels, and two with a mix of sea melon seeds, goose barnacles, sea snails, and ox-eye limpets. Bamboo razor clams and small abalones filled a bucket to the brim, while sea chicken feet and sea turtle eggs filled another. They tipped the crabs and fish into the bamboo basket, or they would not have had enough containers.
As for the mud crab king, they tied up its legs and tossed it straight onto the boat. They really had nothing left to put it in.
The entire boat was loaded with their catch, with sacks piled everywhere. Luckily, the tide had risen past the outermost Reef Wall. They deliberately waited until it had come all the way in before getting ready to leave; otherwise, they would not have been able to push the boat.
"Dongzi, don't you think this is too much trouble? Taking so much home, then giving it away everywhere because you can't finish it-isn't that just making work for yourself?"
After helping lift the last sack of shellfish aboard, A-Guang wiped away his sweat. That sack was far from light; anything still in its shell was heavy to begin with.
Xiao Xiao agreed. "Yeah, even I think my two sacks are a lot. Luckily, I reckon a sack of juvenile shellfish will only yield a little over ten jin of oyster meat. There are plenty of people in my family. If we eat it at every meal, we'll finish it in two or three days."
"Who said I'd be giving it away everywhere? My mother told me to dig up more to bring home. She wants to take the meat out and dry it, then store it to