Fishermen who make their living from the sea generally don't catch sea turtles. Even if they accidentally catch one, they will carefully return it to its owner.
After all, turtles have long lifespans; sea turtles can live for hundreds or even thousands of years without any problem.
Fu Wan used all her strength to flip the sea turtle over. After a while, the sea turtle poked its head out and stared at Fu Wan with its big, beady eyes. After a long while, it began to crawl towards the sea.
Looking at the sea turtle's difficult steps, Fu Wan felt pity and thought that all things have a spirit, so she decided to send it on its way.
"Mother, come here quickly!"
Hearing her daughter's voice, Ye Xiaocui rushed over. "What's wrong? Is there a big shipment?"
Upon closer inspection, they chuckled, "Hey, isn't that Master Roshi? Wan, come lend a hand, let's take him back."
The mother and daughter used all their strength to move the sea turtle. They then walked towards the sea with a count of one, two, one. When they finally reached it, they threw it into the waves, and the turtle disappeared as the waves receded.
Fu Wan clapped her hands and then washed the sand off her hands in the water.
She picked up the kerosene lamp from the ground and then walked back towards the trench where she had caught the grouper.
Ye Xiaocui followed along, knowing that fish could be caught in the trench, and with such big waves, there might be fish in the trench too.
Fu Wan walked over and found that the trench was too full of seawater, and the murky water made it impossible to see the bottom of the trench.
"Oh dear, I should have brought a net!"
Fu Wan smiled mysteriously and took out the net bag tied around her waist.
"It's the same even with a net."
Then she took the net, and the two of them each took one side, widening the opening of the net as much as possible. They then walked from one end of the ditch to the other by the net.
Sure enough, when they reached the end of the ditch and picked up the net, they found two sea bass weighing one pound each and a lobster inside.
Although it's not anything valuable, it's enough for the family to have two meals.
Fu Wan tied a knot in the net and casually draped it over a nearby rock. However, when she touched the rock, she realized something was wrong. Upon closer inspection, she discovered that the rock was covered with abalone.
Good heavens, that's a lot of money!
By this time, several people had already arrived at the beach. Fu Wan didn't look closely to see who they were, and quickly grabbed Ye Xiaocui, who was about to go to the other side.
"Mom, don't go, hurry up and pry open the abalone."
Ye Xiaocui shone her flashlight in the direction Fu Wan pointed, and only then could she see the abalone clearly.
"Oh God..." she murmured, and then the mother and daughter immediately got to work.
After confirming that her daughter could see just as clearly at night as during the day, Ye Xiaocui quickly changed the flashlight and held the kerosene lamp in front of her.
The mother and daughter, one holding a knife and the other a sharp stone, began to pry open the bucket.
Ye Xiaocui pried them open one by one, but Fu Wan's method was much wilder. She directly took the knife and scraped along the abalone meat, and a piece of abalone fell into the bucket with each scrape.
In no time, the mother and daughter had filled their buckets, but at least half of the abalone on the rocks were still missing.
"Mother, you take these two buckets and go back first. I'll continue packing in the snakeskin bag here."
After saying that, she picked up two piles of seaweed from the side and piled them directly into the bucket. In the dark, no one would have guessed that these were two buckets of large abalone.
Ye Xiaocui knew that the abalone was too conspicuous, so she quickly grabbed a carrying pole, picked up the bucket, and took a shortcut home.
"Xiao Cui, what good stuff did you get your hands on? Two huge buckets of it!"
"Hey, I picked up two buckets of seaweed, I'll dry it and add some dishes to the family meal!"
Fu Wanyuan overheard her mother's evasive words and couldn't help but laugh.
There's no way around it; if a family lives too well, being a widow and her orphan makes them a target for others.
Thinking this, she didn't stop shaving and started scraping again.
"Awan, what are you doing?"
Suddenly a voice rang out, startling Fu Wan. She then noticed a man holding a kerosene lamp, staring at her curiously.
He was her cousin from her second grandfather's family. She ran into Aunt Jiang's son, Fu Liang, a few days ago when she went home.
Fu Wan breathed a sigh of relief. Fu Liang had taken good care of her family, and Fu Liang's mother, Aunt Jiang, had a very good relationship with Ye Xiaocui.
"Brother Liang, there's abalone here, come quick!"
Fu Liang's eyes lit up, but he waved his hand and said, "No, I'll go take a look over there."
Fu Wan's family was already in a bad situation, and now Fu Ming needs medical treatment and medication, which will probably cost a lot of money.
Fu Wan quickly called out to him, "These abalones aren't worth much money. Come over here, I need to take a break."
Seeing that Fu Wan wasn't just being polite, Fu Liang didn't insist. Abalone is a good thing; you can just boil it in plain water or add a little to porridge, and it tastes delicious.
Fu Wan gave up her spot to Fu Liang, then tied up the snakeskin bag she was carrying and tossed it next to him. "Brother Liang, I'll leave it here for now and come back for it later."
Fu Liang was engrossed in prying open the abalone and responded without even looking up.
Fu Wan then took the fire tongs and walked to another place. There were still many stones next to the reef with the abalone, and she went over and searched them carefully.
While the other rocks were all smooth, she did manage to find two palm-sized blue crabs underneath them.
We can add more dishes now.
Fu Wan took a few more steps carrying the small net bag, and then Ye Xiaocui came over carrying the bucket.
When Ye Xiaocui reached the spot, she saw a man standing there, which startled her, fearing that Fu Wan had been bullied. She then heard the man call out "Auntie," and realized it was Fu Liang.
Ye Xiaocui breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the bucket, and turned to find Fu Wan.
Fu Wan touched the rocks and called out "Mother," and the next second she noticed a huge snail in the shallow ditch at her feet.
She pulled hard, picked it up, and saw that it was a coconut snail the size of an adult's head.
The coconut snail, also known as the papaya snail, is shaped somewhat like a papaya, with a smooth surface and black markings. However, the coconut snail that Fu Wan was holding was really too big.
"This...isn't this a papaya snail?"
Ye Xiaocui examined the snail carefully. "This one is even bigger than the one your great-grandfather found before. We couldn't finish it, so we dried it and cooked it into porridge. It tasted pretty good."
Fu Wan nodded and put the snails into Ye Xiaocui's bucket. Seeing that there were more and more people on the beach, she figured there wouldn't be much of a catch.
"Mother, that's enough, let's go back!"
Ye Xiaocui nodded. In the past, she definitely wouldn't have gone back, but today her family had prepared so many abalone, and there were so many people on the shore, what would they have left to eat?
When Fu Wan reached the abalone reef, Fu Liang was almost done. After saying goodbye, Fu Wan picked up the snakeskin bag in her hand and headed back.
Just then, a wave suddenly crashed over them. Fortunately, they were far enough away, but some people in the crowd not far away were crying out.
"Help! Help! My daughter has been swept away by the waves!"
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