Chapter 38: Abalone On The Secluded Island
Shen Yunlian poked her forehead irritably: “You, I knew your father and the others would fall for that trick.”
Yun Jiao’s lips curved upwards, her voice soft and sweet like a spoiled child: “Mom and Dad, you’re the best.”
She didn’t want to cry, but wasn’t this the fastest and most effective way to get her father and the others to take her along?
In this way, Yun Jiao, by acting spoiled, successfully secured her qualification to go out to sea with her father and uncle.
However, there was no shelter on the boat, and the sun was strong. Everyone worried she would get sunburned.
When they went home to prepare things, she struggled with her little fists, dragging a roll of sacks as she ran out, with Shen Yunlian chasing after her holding a conical hat.
“Jiaojiao, what are you taking so many sacks for?”
Yun Jiao: “To pack things, we’ll definitely find lots and lots of good things to bring back.”
She was very confident in herself.
Shen Yunlian held her down: “You don’t need so many. Hurry and put on this conical hat and don’t take it off. There’s little shade at sea and the sun is very strong. Don’t get sunburned.”
The young girls in their family had skin so well-cared for, plump and soft, as tender and smooth as a peeled egg. If she got sunburned, the whole family would ache with worry and wouldn’t be able to sleep.
Yun Jiao obediently stood still while her mother put the conical hat on her.
The conical hat was a bit big, making her look even smaller.
From above, the adults looked like the conical hat had grown little short legs and was walking, like a cute and chubby little mushroom.
Lin He, smiling, took the sacks that Yun Jiao was struggling to drag.
“Little Uncle will carry them.”
Yun Jiao adjusted the conical hat on her head: “Okay.”
Then her little legs continued busily, trotting behind the adults.
Once everything was prepared, Yun Jiao sat on the wooden boat and waved her little hand goodbye to everyone.
Now with two people rowing, it was much easier than with just one, they could take turns.
There were few fish schools in the nearshore waters. Today, Lin Hai had borrowed a hand-throw net, just in case. What if they got lucky and encountered a fish school, and didn’t have a net prepared? That would be enough to make them fume.
Not long after they set sail, the sea turtle on the boat couldn’t wait and dove into the sea. It swam a circle around the fishing boat and finally floated near where Yun Jiao was sitting, as if greeting her.
“Go find your own food.”
Yun Jiao lay on the fishing boat and talked to it.
The sea turtle quickly dove into the sea and disappeared.
Lin He: “I wonder if it’ll come back.”
That sea turtle looked very intelligent.
“Dad, there’s a small island over there.”
There were many small islands nearby, but almost no one went to them.
Those with boats went fishing. After all, tide pooling on the islands wasn’t very cost-effective. Even if there were things on the islands, they were mostly juvenile shells or snails. Those oysters, shells, and snails weren’t worth much money, and the meat was scarce while the shells were incredibly heavy. It wasn’t as profitable as fishing.
Those without boats couldn’t go.
For instance, at this time, Lin Hai actually preferred to go further out to cast his net for fish.
But seeing his daughter’s bright, expectant eyes, he still steered the boat towards the island.
“Alright, then let’s go take a look. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find some good things.”
The small island wasn’t far, and they arrived soon.
Lin Hai found a place to anchor the boat by the shore.
The two adults got off the boat first, and then they carried Yun Jiao down as well.
Yun Jiao wore her little rubber boots. The island had many sharp reefs, and walking on them with ordinary shoes or bare feet was out of the question; one wrong step could result in several cuts on her feet.
“Jiaojiao, walk slowly, Dad will hold your hand.”
Yun Jiao carried her little bucket and shook her head: “Dad, I can walk by myself.”
The two adults could only follow behind her and watch.
Although Yun Jiao’s legs were short and she walked slowly, she walked steadily.
She had put in a lot of effort to practice walking before.
“Dad!”
When she reached the reefy mountain, Yun Jiao’s very good eyes immediately spotted things crawling densely on the reefs not far away.
“Abalone.”
That’s right, it was a whole school of abalone.
Lin Hai and Lin He looked at each other and were immediately astonished.
“It really is abalone!”
They immediately went over, carrying Yun Jiao, and walked a bit faster this time.
Yun Jiao didn’t struggle either.
Upon arriving, the two adults became even more excited.
“Such a large patch of abalone, and their size isn’t small either.”
“Quick, dig! Jiaojiao, you go over there, that area is flatter.”
Yun Jiao softly said “okay” and trotted over with her little legs.
Then, with her hands, she struggled to pry the abalone attached to the reef off.
The abalone here varied in size. The slightly larger ones were about the size of her little fist, while the smaller ones were about the size of a wild chicken egg.
Of course, there were even smaller ones, but there was no need to pry those off; they should be left to see if they could grow bigger here.
“This one is so big.”
Yun Jiao discovered an especially large one, likely half a jin.
Lin Hai and Lin He, not far away, hadn’t stopped smiling, they were so excited.
“It’s good we came to this island. I didn’t expect so many abalone here.”
“Many of them are quite large.”
They happily dug for abalone, and of course, they didn’t forget to glance at Yun Jiao from time to time.
“Dad, it’s full.”
Yun Jiao’s bucket was very small. After digging for a while, it was already full of abalone.
“I’ll go get the sacks.”
At this moment, he was very grateful for his daughter’s foresight in bringing so many sacks onto the boat.
Jiaojiao was truly their little lucky star.
While Lin Hai went to get the sacks, Yun Jiao continued to find and dig for abalone.
She found a total of two abalone that were about half a jin each, and a few more that, while not as large, were still three or four liang.
There was a large pile of smaller abalone.
Wearing the conical hat was inconvenient and slightly obstructed her vision.
Yun Jiao simply took off the conical hat.
The sun was very strong. Lin He had worked up a sweat, and Yun Jiao had also sweated a bit, her little face turning rosy.
“Jiaojiao, why did you take off the conical hat?”
Lin Hai arrived with the sacks and saw Yun Jiao’s rosy little face, worried she would get sunburned.
Yun Jiao shook her head: “I don’t want to wear it, it’s uncomfortable.”
“This sun.”
“I’m not afraid.”
She was adamant about not wearing it, so Lin Hai had to compromise.
“If you feel uncomfortable, you must put the conical hat back on.”
“Okay.”
“You found two abalone this big?!”
“This must be a double-headed abalone.”
Lin Hai often worked at the dock and knew some of the slang for abalone.
The bigger the abalone, the more valuable it was. The head count was calculated by how many fit into one jin.
Two per jin meant a double-headed abalone, and three per jin meant a triple-headed abalone.
Most of the abalone they found here were ten-head abalone, meaning about one liang each.
Yun Jiao took out one of the double-headed abalone.
“Dad, I want this one.”
Lin Hai: …
His daughter really knew how to pick them; that one alone was worth over ten yuan.
“Alright, it’s yours.”
Lin Hai was generous. If it weren’t for his daughter, they wouldn’t have come to this island. It was just one abalone, after all.
After putting the other abalone into the sacks, Lin Hai quickly joined the abalone-digging army.
The scorching sun couldn’t dampen their enthusiasm at all.
