Chapter 78: Stealing Fish
Today’s harvest was unexpectedly abundant.
While selling the goods, Yun Jiao asked with longing if they could keep some of the marinated raw food she wanted to eat.
She looked so pitiful.
Shen Yunlian and the others immediately set aside some of the smaller ones.
Along with those elephant trunk snails, today’s total harvest exceeded one hundred.
On the way back, they passed by the new house and saw that it was already half built. They would be able to live in the new house soon.
“Jiaojiao fed them so well, they’re all full.”
Granny Yun was very familiar with raising chickens; she could tell they were full just by touching their crops.
Yun Jiao was holding clean, fresh grass leaves to feed the two little rabbits.
“Grandma, they even helped me find several clams.”
“Oh my, then our Jiaojiao is quite amazing! None of the small animals raised in our village can help with tide pooling.”
Yun Jiao felt proud to be praised.
Of course.
“Yun Jiao, is Yun Jiao’s grandma home?”
“Yes!”
Yun Jiao responded towards the door, then put the two little rabbits back in their cage and ran out.
“Grandma Liu, did Da Bai have her puppies?”
Grandma Liu smiled and said, “You guessed it! Da Bai had three puppies.”
“I want to go see.”
She immediately prepared to follow Grandma Liu to her house.
“Alright, wait for me while I borrow some sour soup from your grandma to pickle radishes.”
“Okay.”
Yun Jiao waited obediently. After Grandma Liu borrowed a ladle of sour soup, she happily trotted behind her.
Granny Yun said, “Come back soon.”
“Understood.”
Upon arriving at Grandma Liu’s house, she pointed to the shed where firewood was piled: “You can go see for yourself.”
Da Bai lived in that shed. Her nest was a somewhat worn-out basket filled with dry straw and old clothes.
Before Yun Jiao got close, she heard the faint whimpering of newborn puppies.
“Da Bai, I’ve come to see you and your puppies.”
When Da Bai saw her, she wasn’t wary at all. Instead, she wagged her tail, stood up, and rubbed against her.
Yun Jiao squatted down to look at the three puppies.
One was white, one was black, and one was a light black, like ink diluted with water. All four of their paws were white.
They hadn’t opened their eyes yet, their little ears were soft and limp, their fur was soft and clung to their bodies, and their mouths were slightly rounded and light pink, plump like large tangyuan balls.
So cute!
She reached out a finger to touch them, and Da Bai watched from the side.
“When your puppies open their eyes and can eat, I’m going to take one home.”
All three puppies were super cute; it was so hard to choose.
She squatted there watching Da Bai nurse for a while, then she had to leave.
She was reluctant to leave.
“Da Bai, take good care of them. I’ll bring you some food tomorrow.”
Grandma Liu couldn’t help but laugh: “You’re already so concerned before even bringing one home.”
Yun Jiao reasoned: “Da Bai works very hard to raise her babies, she needs to eat delicious food to have milk to feed the puppies.”
“Hahaha… Little Yun Jiao, you really know a lot.”
Yun Jiao nodded, of course. She was very intelligent, not a child who truly forgot things.
Yun Jiao excitedly told her older brothers about the puppies when she got back.
Yun Xiaowu and the others said they wanted to see the puppies too, but Granny Yun stopped them.
“Animals are very protective of their newborns. If you go, Da Bai will feel uneasy.”
“Then why can little sister go?”
“Da Bai and Jiaojiao have a good relationship.”
Fine, they wouldn’t go. After all, they were going to bring one home later.
It rained again tonight, and there was a strong wind.
They wouldn’t be able to go to sea tomorrow.
Yun Jiao yawned, feeling a bit regretful.
However, no one could control the weather.
Living by the sea was like this; for about half a month each month, the weather was not good enough to go out to sea.
If there was a major typhoon, they had to anchor their boats in the harbor, otherwise, the fishing boats could be blown away.
Going out to sea was more profitable than other work, but the time available for it was limited each month, so they couldn’t make a fortune.
Unless sea transport was good, and they could catch particularly valuable seafood.
They could only continue tide pooling the next day.
And they had to wake up very early.
There would be a lot of goods after a small typhoon.
Yun Jiao yawned as her mom helped her put on her clothes.
“Let’s go, let’s go! If we’re late, others will have picked up all the good things.”
Shen Yunlian stroked Yun Jiao’s plump little face.
“You’re so sleepy, yet you insist on coming along.”
Yun Jiao mumbled softly, “I want to go. I want to raise a puppy.”
She was the only merfolk who raised furry land animals, what a source of pride for a merfolk!
It was still dark.
They had to bring flashlights when they went out.
The family only had two flashlights; they would have to huddle together to find seafood.
Yun Jiao didn’t need one.
Her eyes scanned the tidal flats left by the receding tide.
Gradually, she separated from the main group.
It was Yun Xiaowu who noticed she was missing in time and quickly called out.
“Here, Fifth Brother, I’m here.”
Yun Xiaowu followed the sound and found her, seeing her cupping her little buttocks as she caught something in a crevice of a reef.
“What is it?”
“A big squid!”
Yun Xiaowu immediately rolled up his sleeves: “Let me!”
Soon, the squid that had been hiding in the rock crevice was pulled out.
It felt soft, but it was spraying ink.
Yun Xiaowu’s hands were stained black by the ink.
“So big!”
This squid weighed almost a jin.
Ordinary squids weighed four or five liang.
Yun Jiao said, “Brother, there’s more over there.”
Yun Jiao pointed to a puddle not far away.
It was still dark, so without a careful look, it would be impossible to spot.
These were squids of normal size.
Yun Xiaowu followed the direction she pointed to catch them.
“There are some here, and shrimp too.”
They caught several squids today alone.
Yun Xiaowu grinned: “The wind yesterday blew in a lot of squids!”
Yun Jiao squatted in a small puddle picking up shrimp.
She also found a conch.
However, this conch wasn’t as big as the previous one, so it likely wouldn’t contain a flame pearl.
In the blink of an eye, she spotted a large fish.
It was a fish with blue-green coloring and white spots on its body.
Starfish Grouper!
This fish was also very valuable. Before Yun Jiao could run over, something zipped past her like the wind.
It was a person, no… more than one person.
“Mine, that’s mine!”
In just a moment, Yun Jiao saw two people simultaneously lunge for the starfish grouper and start fighting over it.
Yun Jiao recognized one of them; it was Cai Jinhua.
She also knew the other person; it was a widow in the village who raised a son and had a fierce temper.
“Widow Song, let go! I saw it first.”
“Pah! I say I saw it first, and I was the one who grabbed this starfish grouper first when I came over!”
“You’re talking nonsense, I caught it first.”
The two women held onto the fish and pulled at each other’s hair with their free hands.
They even resorted to kicking each other, all while arguing incessantly.
Good heavens, the commotion they caused directly attracted the attention of others on the tidal flats.
Upon seeing it was a starfish grouper, they all rushed over.
Cai Jinhua shouted, “Get lost! This starfish grouper is mine, and anyone who tries to take it will face my wrath!”
Widow Song slapped Cai Jinhua across the face: “You shameless woman, I clearly caught this starfish grouper first.”
