Watching the sea turtle slowly crawl towards the sea and gradually disappear before their eyes, Fu Wan and the others marveled at the wonder of life.
"Ah Wan, Ah Ming! What are you doing? It's getting dark, we need to set off to trawle the nets!"
Suddenly, a beam of light appeared in the distance; it was Boss Fu, who had come out with a flashlight to look for them.
"Okay, coming!"
Fu Wan responded and immediately turned around and walked towards Boss Fu.
Fu Ming, however, didn't forget to pick up the coconuts on the ground even while he was anxious.
"Ah Wan, these coconuts look pretty good, but it's too dark for us to get more."
The island is pitch black right now. If it weren't for the flashlights, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, and walking would be a problem.
Not to mention climbing trees to pick coconuts.
"Coconuts? Bro, you actually managed to get your hands on coconuts?"
Upon hearing this, Fu Wan suddenly realized that she had been thinking about trying coconut crab again, and now the opportunity had come.
With coconuts around, and it being late at night on an island, it would be really unreasonable not to set up a few coconut traps.
Fu Ming hadn't considered this at all; he was simply thirsty.
He looked up and saw a few coconuts hanging on the tree. If he let them go, that would not be Ming-ge's style at all.
"Hey, where did these coconuts come from!"
Ye Xiaocui and Jiang Chunlan had just returned with their bounty when they saw Fu Ming and Ye Lin carrying two coconuts, and they were somewhat surprised.
"Brother, hurry up and open this coconut. We'll leave the coconut meat on this island."
Ye Lin, puzzled, asked curiously, "What are you doing staying on the island?"
"Are you stupid? Of course we'd stay on the island and fish for coconut crabs!"
As expected of someone born of the same mother as Fu Wan, Fu Ming instantly understood what Fu Wan meant.
So he quickly picked out a knife from the tools next to him that could open a coconut, and then opened the coconut as fast as he could.
There was quite a bit of juice inside the two coconuts, and everyone shared some. And I must say, drinking coconut juice while enjoying the sea breeze on this deserted island was indeed a wonderful experience.
After finishing the coconut juice, Fu Liang and Fu Ming cut the coconut into several pieces. Then Fu Wan found some hemp rope, tied one end to the coconut meat, and tied the other end to a rock or tree root near the coconut crab hole.
If they're not tied up, the coconut meat might be dragged into the coconut crab's burrow once they leave. A coconut crab, currently eating a coconut, asks, "Ah Wan, can you really catch any coconut crabs like this?"
Ye Lin learned something new today. As a mountain dweller, he had never seen a coconut crab before.
Seeing how busy Fu Wan and her siblings were, he also became very curious about the coconut crabs he had never seen before.
"Brother Lin, it's true. You'll see when we come back after hauling in two nets."
After Fu Wan finished speaking, Fu Ming added, "Brother Dalin, coconut crabs taste amazing, and they're huge; one is enough to cook a whole pot."
Thinking back to the last time he ate coconut crab, the bouncy texture and the tender, juicy crab meat made Fu Ming's mouth water.
Seeing Fu Ming's expression, Ye Lin became even more curious, wishing the coconut crab could be caught right now.
However, this is obviously impossible, because wild animals are generally very alert, especially since they make a lot of noise when there are many of them, so coconut crabs would definitely not risk their lives to come out of their burrows at this time.
"Let's go, let's go trawling first!"
Seeing that the coconut crab trap had been set, Fu Wan urged her brothers to get on the boat quickly.
Ye Xiaocui, Jiang Chunlan, and Fu Laoda, the three elders, had already boarded the boat and were waiting. As for the coconut crab trap, Fu Wan and her siblings could handle it themselves; they were too lazy to get involved.
Moreover, Ye Xiaocui and the others had just collected a lot of sea snails and mantis shrimps, which now needed to be washed clean with seawater and kept in the fish tanks on the boat.
Otherwise, once the mantis shrimp dies, its meat will dissolve and fall apart very quickly, making it impossible to sell and even for personal consumption.
It can only be fed to chickens.
After boarding the boat, Ye Xiaocui and the others made arrangements for their recent catch.
Seeing that there were still quite a few sea grapes in Fu Wan's bucket, Ye Xiaocui was very happy. She took out a bunch, washed it, and tasted it.
It was so sweet that her eyes squinted.
In an era of material scarcity, being able to eat one's fill was a blessing, let alone having fruit to eat.
Therefore, the fruits native to the seaside are the ones they eat the most, and sea grapes are certainly one of them.
"Amin, Liang, and Lin, you three remember to set the trawl nets later. I'm going to start the boat!"
After giving his instructions, Boss Fu turned around, started the diesel engine, and then steered the boat northward.
At this moment, the sea stretches as far as the eye can see, an endless expanse of black, with only a few lights occasionally visible on the distant surface.
Those are other fishing boats that are operating.
As the boat drifted further and further away from Swallow's Nest Island, Fu Ming called to his two brothers to pick up the trawl net and throw it into the sea.
The trawl net is so large that several people have to lower it into the water from the stern of the boat. The trawl net is then lowered by the rollers of the haul-in machine, and as the boat moves, the entire trawl net slowly unfolds in the sea, thus beginning the fishing operation.
Seeing that they had no problem setting up the trawl net, Fu Wan took out the bucket containing the bait.
"Mom, Auntie, let's put the longline fishing line in first, and then we'll make dinner."
And sure enough, as soon as it got dark, my stomach started growling with hunger.
Longline fishing takes time to catch fish, so let's put the longline down first. After we finish eating and cleaning up, we can retrieve the hook.
Ye Xiaocui and the other woman had no objection to this arrangement, but they didn't work for long because Ye Lin and the others came to help after the trawl net was lowered.
"Then you guys do it, I'll go heat up the rice."
Seeing that there were too many people busy fishing on the deck, Ye Xiaocui simply got up and went to heat up her food.
One person baits the hook, and another person sets the line. Even if you split up to set up an extended fishing line on both sides, a maximum of four people are enough.
The timing was perfect; Ye Xiaocui and Jiang Chunlan had just finished preparing dinner, and the longline fishing was almost done.
"Dinner's ready! Dinner's ready!"
At Jiang Chunlan's call, Fu Wan and the others quickly washed their hands and went over.
Dinner on the ship is becoming more and more lavish. Ye Xiaocui and Jiang Chunlan are now willing to spend money, with hot rice and previously made pancakes as the main dishes, and plenty of side dishes as well.
Besides the braised pork ribs I made at home, I also had mantis shrimp and snails that I had just picked up.
The stroke of genius was the canned fish that Fu Ming brought on board. The steamed mantis shrimp, after being peeled, were dipped in the sauce from the canned fish—the taste was simply divine.
Fu Wan discovered this way of eating, and after seeing her eat like this, Fu Ming and the others followed suit, and soon everyone was full.
Of course, they didn't forget about Boss Fu, who was in charge of the ship. Before the meal, Fu Ming packed his food and took it to the cockpit.
"Dad, let's eat!"
Fu Laoda turned his head and glanced at the fragrant rice in Fu Ming's hand, and immediately felt his stomach start to rumble.
"Okay, put it on the stool. I'll eat it when I'm not steering."
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