Chapter 39: Sea Centipede
The reason Yun Jiao took that abalone was simple: she found that one the most pleasing to her eye.
Just as pleasing as the conch she found back then.
Yun Jiao suspected there might be pearls inside, but she wasn’t sure. She could only wait until they got back and opened it.
After digging for about three hours, they had finished excavating all the larger abalone in this area.
They left the smaller ones to continue growing here.
And they had dug up a whole sack of abalone.
“We’ve struck it rich!”
The two adults were so happy they couldn’t stop smiling.
“Do you want to keep looking around?”
Lin He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Digging for abalone was tiring; they clung tightly to the reef, and some were in rather dangerous spots.
To retrieve the abalone from those places, Lin Hai and Lin He had fallen several times, and they didn’t dare let Yun Jiao go near.
They all had some scratches on their bodies, injuries inflicted by the sharp reefs.
But compared to their harvest, these were nothing.
“Father, your injury.”
“It’s fine, just small cuts. They’ll stop bleeding soon.”
“Let’s put the sack of abalone in this tide pool first, and then we’ll go check out other places on the island.”
If Lin Hai and Lin He had been uninterested in exploring the island before, they were now very keen.
After securing the sack of abalone, they continued walking forward.
Yun Jiao also carried her small bucket, which held the large abalone.
They walked cautiously, their eyes shrewdly scanning their surroundings.
“There’s a ditch over there, let’s go take a look.”
Lin He spoke and was the first to run over.
“Brother, there are fish here!”
That tide pool was quite large, and there was more than one fish inside.
The two of them quickly walked over.
“It’s a Duji Amberjack, and it’s huge!”
The Duji Amberjack trapped in the tide pool was almost a meter long.
Waves were still continuously crashing into the tide pool near the reef, and if the tide rose a bit more, that Duji Amberjack might be able to struggle back into the sea.
But now, this unlucky big fish had run into them.
There was no way the Lin Hai brothers would let that Duji Amberjack escape.
“Jiaojiao, wait here and don’t wander off.”
After saying that, the two of them jumped into the tide pool and grabbed the nearly one-meter-long Duji Amberjack.
The Duji Amberjack wasn’t dead yet and was quite lively. The brothers had to exert a lot of effort to get it onto the shore.
“There are two more fish in there.”
“Are they Coral Trout?”
One of them was red, and its color looked beautiful.
“No.”
Lin He picked up the red fish and tossed it over.
“It’s a Red-spotted Grouper.”
Although Red-spotted Grouper and Coral Trout are both red, their prices are different. Red-spotted Grouper is much cheaper.
But they were already very satisfied with their current haul, so they had no regrets that it wasn’t Coral Trout.
The other one was a common Black Sea Bream.
Both of them were wet now, but they didn’t care. They joyfully carried the big fish back.
“Jiaojiao, follow us. Let’s take this fish back to the boat first.”
We can’t let it die of thirst.
Yun Jiao put the Red-spotted Grouper into her small bucket and then slowly followed them with her little steps.
They walked for quite a while before reaching the place where the boat was docked. The Duji Amberjack was already looking a bit listless.
Lin Hai and Lin He quickly threw it into the boat’s cabin.
“This fish is really heavy.”
“Jiaojiao, put the Red-spotted Grouper in there too.”
They sat on the boat to rest for a moment. “Let’s take the abalone back with us. It’s getting late.”
Mainly because they were hungry.
Lin Hai touched Yun Jiao’s small belly. “Jiaojiao, are you hungry?”
Yun Jiao took out two eggs from the small bag she wore across her chest.
They were boiled eggs.
Grandma had given them to her when they left.
“Father, Uncle, eat.”
“Oh, you have eggs too.”
Lin He didn’t stand on ceremony. “Jiaojiao, do you have any for yourself?”
Yun Jiao nodded and took out one more.
Inside were also three ci ba.
“Father.”
Lin Hai looked at them and beamed. “Our Jiaojiao is so well-prepared! Why don’t we build a fire here and roast some ci ba?”
Lin He nodded. “That works. After we fill our bellies, we can keep searching.”
He actually wasn’t eager to leave either. He felt that there must be many great treasures on this island now.
So the two of them gathered some dry branches on the island and started a fire.
While they were making the fire to roast the ci ba, Yun Jiao wandered a bit further away.
It was already hot summer weather, and it was even more uncomfortable to be gathered around the fire.
But Yun Jiao didn’t go far. She ate an egg while using her small shovel to poke around on the nearby small beach.
She wasn’t looking for anything in particular; she was just bored and passing the time.
Huh? What is that?
Yun Jiao saw a long, soft thing that looked like a bug wriggling and trying to get into the sea.
She walked over and grabbed it.
It was so long.
It looked a bit disgusting.
It had so many legs.
This looks like a sea centipede.
It’s edible.
Having reached this conclusion, Yun Jiao threw the sea centipede into her small bucket and continued searching.
And she did find quite a few.
She had probably stumbled upon the sea centipedes’ nest.
Many sea centipedes were poking their heads out of their holes and crawling in the tide pools, looking for food.
Yun Jiao walked over and, with her fair, soft, chubby little hands, grabbed one.
Then she pulled its head upwards.
“So long.”
Her little face was wrinkled. After grabbing the sea centipede, she took a few steps back before pulling it out. It was longer than she was.
Some of the sea centipedes nearby retreated back into their holes. These things were very timid and would run away at the slightest disturbance.
But there were others.
Yun Jiao thought about calling for her father.
But she saw that only her father was roasting ci ba, and her uncle had gone off somewhere.
Never mind, she’d catch them herself.
She couldn’t call her father over, or he wouldn’t be here to roast the ci ba.
Yun Jiao moved quietly, grabbing the sea centipedes that had already poked their heads out of their holes, catching them with precision.
She was being so quiet. Lin Hai occasionally looked up and saw her standing with her back to him, obediently playing with something, not making a sound or causing trouble. He thought how easy it was to look after his daughter.
If it were his stinky boys, they would have already run off somewhere to frolic.
Lin He went to carry back the abalone they had caught.
“Where’s Jiaojiao?”
“She’s still over there, she hasn’t run off.”
Lin He glanced over. “She’s so well-behaved. But she’s out in this strong sun, why isn’t she wearing a conical hat?”
“She doesn’t like it; she dislikes that it covers her eyes.”
“Are the ci ba ready? I’ll put this abalone on the boat and go find her.”
“They’re ready.”
As they went to find Yun Jiao, they happened to see the little one stand up, seemingly pulling something with her and stepping back a few paces.
When the thing was pulled out, it was long and its color was somewhat flesh-toned.
Lin He’s eyes widened.
“What is Jiaojiao catching?”
Lin Hai rubbed his eyes. “Did I see that correctly?”
