"Oh, it's that place. I went there a few days ago, and there wasn't much seafood there!"
"Tch, that's you, you loser! Ah Wan's shipping business is doing great, how can yours compare to hers!"
Everyone started joking around, and by then the setting sun had already bathed the entire mudflat in its light, making the rising tide shine even brighter.
Fu Wan and her group weren't the only ones who had a good harvest at the beach; several other women also carried baskets and gathered a lot of seaweed.
Fu Wan glanced at it and immediately burst into laughter.
"Auntie, where did you get this camel hair?"
“Oh dear, it’s right in front of the place your mother and the others dug. I cut quite a lot here. Awan, take some and eat it.”
After saying that, Aunt Huang grabbed a large handful of camel hair and tried to stuff it into Fu Wan and the others' baskets.
Camel hair seaweed, scientifically known as Hemerocallis fulva, is a common local seaweed, named for its resemblance to camel hair in color and shape. (Image of camel hair seaweed, please delete if infringing copyright). This seaweed typically grows on rocks, appearing in patches at low tide, making it easy to harvest. However, due to its delicate texture, some sand inevitably gets mixed in during harvesting.
So before cooking, you have to wash it at least five or six times, otherwise your teeth will break after cooking.
In the depths of winter, camel hair is fresh. In Fujia Village, only the tender parts can be called camel hair now. If we wait until spring, when the camel hair grows thick and strong, then it will be called sea hemp thread.
Compared to the somewhat tough texture of seaweed thread, Fu Wan prefers the tender texture of camel hair. This stuff is so delicious that it makes steamed buns, soups, or even cold dishes.
Fu Wan didn't expect that her casual remark would result in Aunt Huang stuffing a large handful of camel hair into her hands. She wasn't a fussy person, and since someone had already taken it, she certainly couldn't put it back.
Since ancient times, people have valued reciprocity, so she also brought the crabs from her bucket to Aunt Huang.
"Auntie, these crabs are freshly caught. Why don't you catch a few to take home for the children to eat!"
"Oh, I'm so sorry!"
Aunt Huang has two mischievous grandsons. These two children are even younger than Fu Ling. When it's hot, they still run around the village wearing open-crotch pants.
Although Aunt Huang looked embarrassed, her eyes were glued to the crab.
Crabs and fish are rare treats this season. If she remembered correctly, her grandson was clamoring for crabs last night.
Camel hair is only worth a few coins, and Fu Wan and her friends caught so many crabs, they must be going to sell them for money.
If she takes someone else's crabs, wouldn't Fu Wan earn less money?
Aunt Huang was conflicted. Seeing her hesitation, Fu Wan simply reached out and grabbed it.
One, two, three...
"Oh, Wan, that's enough."
Fu Wan scooped up four palm-sized crabs and put them in Aunt Huang's basket. When Aunt Huang saw that she was going to catch more, she quickly took her own basket back.
Goodness, these four crabs must weigh over a pound each, we can't take any more.
Fu Wan grabbed two more and put them in her basket. "Six of them, six for good luck!"
"Oh, you silly child!"
Who doesn't like to hear nice words? As soon as Fu Wan said "May everything go smoothly," Aunt Huang's pulling strength lessened.
This made several older women nearby envious. They immediately thought to themselves, "The daughter of the Fu family is really generous. She can exchange six crabs for more than a pound of pork!"
A nosy old lady nudged Ye Xiaocui, who was waiting for her daughter, with her elbow and said, "Xiaocui, your daughter Awan's hand gaps are too big, aren't you going to do anything about it?"
"What do we care? This is seafood that the child caught himself. Besides, didn't they give us camel hair too?"
"Camel hair isn't worth much. If you still want to eat it, I'll get you some other stuff!"
Ye Xiaocui shook her head upon hearing this. She knew her daughter well; she was only interested in something new. If there were too many of them, she would definitely stop eating them after a few meals.
Moreover, she also gathered a basket of seaweed herself. The seaweed she gathered was mostly wakame seaweed. After washing and drying it, she could soak it in water whenever she wanted to eat it.
Seeing Ye Xiaocui refuse, the old woman curled her lip and snorted. She had more camel hair than that man surnamed Huang. If she had known that Fu Wan would exchange crabs for it, she would have been the first to offer camel hair.
Damn it, that little wench stepped in dog poop and I got lucky!
However, she forgot that when Aunt Huang gave Fu Wan camel hair, she was secretly laughing at the woman for being foolish!
Everyone chatted and laughed along the way, and when they reached the entrance of each alley, they parted ways to go home. By the time they arrived at Fu Wan's courtyard, only her group remained.
Jiang Chunlan was about to take her harvest and call Fu Liang home when Fu Wan stopped her.
"Auntie, wait a minute!"
After saying that, she instructed Fu Ming, "Big brother, quickly kill that fish and give half to Brother Liang."
"Oh, I don't want it, Awan, why don't we sell it?"
Fu Liang habitually refused, saying that such a big cod could sell for several dollars!
Fu Wan shook her head, "I won't sell it anymore. The Lunar New Year is in a couple of days. I'll cut it in half for you, and you can take some to your boyfriend's house."
Upon hearing this, Fu Liang's face immediately turned bright red, and he began to stammer.
"Then... let's cut it in half!"
Jiang Chunlan and Ye Xiaocui were completely confused when they heard this, but their eyes widened instantly when Fu Ming scooped the cod out of the bucket.
"My goodness, where did you catch such a big cod?"
"Hehe, we caught it together in the trench!"
Seeing that there were many people on the beach, and worried that they would be seen asking the cod all sorts of questions, Fu Ming had a sudden inspiration and threw all the tools and other things into the bucket to cover them up.
Then Fu Wan was in charge of leading the children along the main road to attract everyone's attention, while Fu Ming and Fu Liang took a shortcut back first.
Ye Xiaocui and Jiang Chunlan were unaware of this operation. They had just seen the two children disappear quickly at the crossroads and assumed they were running so fast because they needed to pee.
Upon seeing such a large cod, he immediately became happy.
Ye Xiaocui overheard Boss Fu muttering a couple of days ago that cod sells for 1.5 yuan per jin (500g), and this cod looks like it weighs four or five jin, which means it costs six or seven yuan!
But her daughter had just said she would eat at home by herself... Ye Xiaocui wanted to say something more, but then she noticed that her daughter had lost a lot of weight, and her heart ached for her again.
Well, if it's just for our own consumption, then so be it. Even if we sell it and get money, we'll just buy meat anyway, since it's all in our mouths, so there's no difference!
Thinking this through, Ye Xiaocui put down the seaweed in her hand and urged Fu Ming:
"Ah Ming, hurry up! Before it gets dark, Ah Liang can still deliver the fish and go home early!"
"Okay, right away!"
Jiang Chunlan had assumed her old friends would persuade the children to sell the fish, but she was caught off guard by Ye Xiaocui's urging.
She stared in shock at her old friend, and just as she was about to stop them herself, Fu Ming slapped the cod unconscious with a single blow.
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