Fu Wan reached into the mud pit and groped around for two minutes before pulling out a long-legged octopus with a head the size of a duck egg.
"Hey, this octopus is pretty fresh!"
She snatched the octopus from her hand and immediately threw it into the bucket.
The next second, the octopus sprayed ink, turning all the clams black.
Qin Anning was startled when she saw this. Luckily, she was far away, otherwise she would have been sprayed with ink.
"Awan, Anning! Look what this is!"
Fu Ming raised his hand and waved in their direction. Fu Wan looked closely and saw that it was a Crimson Armor Red that was even bigger than the palm of her hand.
"Great! Brother, make some more, we'll make spicy crab tonight!"
"Alright!"
Fu Ming responded excitedly. Actually, this red-armored crab was not nearly as big as it was in autumn, but in the dead of winter, catching such a big crab was already considered very lucky.
With the red-armored beast they had just encountered, Fu Ming and Fu Liang were even more excited.
In just a few minutes, Fu Wan dug out a few more octopus holes and pulled out four or five octopuses, just enough for one stir-fry.
Qin Anning, who was standing next to her, did not lag behind and dug out a lot of clams. Even Fu Ling and Qin Mingzhu picked up a lot of razor clams.
These razor clams were huge and plump, piled up on the beach like a small mountain. Fu Ling and Qin Mingzhu felt a great sense of accomplishment, and their silvery laughter carried far and wide.
"Ah Wan, Ah Wan!"
Suddenly someone called out from not far away. Fu Wan looked over and saw Boss Fu standing under a coconut tree waving at her.
She put down her tools and hurried forward, puzzled.
"Dad, what's wrong?"
"Oh, I just remembered that I threw a few fish traps into the waters over there by the rocks yesterday. You and your brother go take a look and see if you find anything."
Your village chief needs to see me, but I don't have time to go.
"Okay, I'll go right away."
Fu Wan readily agreed, then turned and beckoned Fu Ming and the others to come over together.
Fu Ming was wondering what Boss Fu was doing here, but when he heard that he was going to collect the ground cages, he slapped his forehead in disbelief.
His memory is terrible; how could he forget that he saw his dad taking the cage out yesterday?
There was nothing left to pick up on either side, so Fu Wan simply led Qin Anning and the two children toward the pile of rocks.
Ye Xiaocui watched them from afar. Seeing that Fu Ling and Qin Anning were not running around, she instantly felt relieved and then lowered her head to continue raking the seaweed.
Fu Laoda usually only sets his traps in a few places. After walking a short distance towards the rock pile, Fu Wan found the blue-green trap extension rope.
"Hey, big brother, how many fish traps did Dad set off?"
Oh dear, she just forgot to ask Boss Fu.
Fu Ming scratched his head. "I saw him take the traps out yesterday, but I didn't notice how many there were."
"Forget about him, let's take the traps back first!"
Fu Wan scooped up an extension rope tied to a small reef and quickly pulled it back.
Hehe, it's time to open the blind boxes!
Qin Anning and Fu Ling stopped searching for seafood and stood aside to wait and see what they could find in the fish trap.
Is there anything there?
"Yes, there are a few crabs."
Fu Wan pulled the cage closer and poured the contents of the net into the empty bucket next to her.
There are five or six crabs here, of different species, mostly flower crabs, and one smaller red-shelled crab.
Fu Liang glanced at the bucket and immediately chuckled, "These crabs don't look well-behaved at all; several of their claws are broken."
"It's a pity, Uncle San probably won't want it."
Fu Ming kicked the bucket, and the crabs inside instantly raised their remaining pincers at him.
"It's alright. These won't fetch much money at Uncle San's place. We'll divide them up when we get back and cook them for dinner tonight."
A bucket of crabs can't even be exchanged for two yuan, and Fu Ming doesn't care about those two yuan anymore.
It's only when you eat the fruits of your own labor that you truly savor the flavor.
"Alright, there are still a few traps left, let's hurry up!"
Fu Wan urged them on, and Fu Liang and Fu Ming hurriedly pulled over the extension rope. Qin Anning, seeing this, was eager to try as well and also picked up an extension rope from the ground.
She observed for a few minutes how Fu Wan and the others pulled the cage back, and soon she followed suit and pulled the cage to her side as well.
There were six fish traps in this pile of rocks. Fu Wan pulled up two, Fu Liang pulled up two, and Fu Ming and Qin Anning each took one of the remaining two.
The traps were mostly filled with crabs; six traps filled the bucket completely.
Of course, it wasn't all crabs; the last fish trap Fu Wan pulled up also contained two yellow croakers weighing about a pound each.
Yellow croaker, also known locally as Magu fish, is scientifically called Hexagrammos scutellarioides. It is one of the most common fish in the waters of Fujia Village. They vary in size, with the largest growing to about 30 centimeters.
This type of fish generally lives in shallow waters where seaweed grows along the coast, so it's a common sight when sea fishing or beachcombing. (Image of yellow croaker, please delete if infringing copyright) Yellow croaker isn't expensive; locally, it's something most families can afford to eat. Smaller fish are actually better for deep-frying, but most families can't afford to fry them. They usually stew them with other vegetables and serve with cornbread—enough for several people.
The two yellow croakers were still lively and jumping around. Fu Wan poured the clams and crabs together, emptied a bucket, filled it with some seawater, and then put the two fish in to keep them alive.
Sea fish must be eaten fresh; dead fish are even fishier than river fish.
Besides the yellow croaker, there were also three blackhead fish in Qin Anning's fish trap.
Like the yellow croaker, this fish is also a common sight at the dock. Unfortunately, the largest of the three blackhead fish died, so Fu Wan could only put the live ones in the bucket and leave the dead ones aside, to pick them up later to see if Wangcai would eat them.
After collecting all six fish traps, Fu Wan stood on the reef and looked around, but found nothing more.
The seawater kept crashing against the rocks, and there were several small trenches behind the pile of rocks.
Fu Wan glanced into the ditch a few times. The water in the ditch wasn't very murky, and her sharp eyes immediately spotted her target.
And crabs!
"Anning, give me the fire tongs!"
"Oh, here you go!"
Qin Anning found the fire tongs in the pile of tools nearby and hurriedly handed them over.
Fu Wan took it and slowly reached into the trench. In just two seconds, she picked up a palm-sized red prawn.
Qin Anning and Fu Ling were dumbfounded. No, they didn't even blink!
How could such a huge crab be hiding in that trench!
Seeing Fu Wan pick up the crab, Qin Anning was the first to react. She quickly handed over the bucket next to her.
"Ah Wan, put it inside!"
This red-armored crab is even bigger than the one Fu Ming just found, and Fu Wan just took a closer look and found that there are several crabs hiding in the mud and sand in the trench!
Seeing this, Qin Anning was also itching to go down into the trench. She was always a woman of action and was about to go down when Fu Ming stopped her.
"Anning, don't go over there! These crabs are hiding really well. If you accidentally step on one, your rubber boots will be crushed!" (Image of a red-armored crab, please delete if infringing. Don't forget what it looks like!)
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