Catching these four little green dragons is similar to catching crayfish by the river; they are all taken out of the crayfish's burrow.
Even after being captured, these little green dragons still wouldn't calm down, using their few small, harmless claws to thrash about, while their tails flapped wildly.
It's obvious that the receding tide didn't affect them at all; they're all full of energy.
"Brother Yu, is the baby lobster delicious? I've never had it before."
Looking at the four lobsters in the bucket, Wang Hai asked Bai Yu a question that came from the depths of his soul.
"Are baby lobsters delicious? Uh, you've really stumped me. I've never had them before, so I don't know if they're good or not. But I do know that baby lobsters are very expensive. Just these few big ones can cost over a hundred yuan each. When we eat crayfish, they shouldn't be much different from baby lobsters, right?"
Despite growing up by the sea, Bai Yu has never actually eaten a small green dragon. Although he has caught them a few times, he has sold them all. Eating them is out of the question.
So if you ask Bai Yu if his baby lobster is delicious, he really won't know; he won't say a word.
"Okay then, crayfish is good too."
Wang Hai didn't care that he didn't get the answer he wanted. He wasn't very curious about the unknown; he just loved to eat.
Bai Yu then led Wang Hai to continue strolling on the beach, which wasn't very big.
In addition, many villagers had already come before Bai Yu and his group arrived, so the morning beachcombing did not last very long, only a little over an hour, before Bai Yu and Wang Hai called it a day.
The tide is coming in.
Bai Yu's harvest in the past hour or so was quite good. Although he didn't catch a single fish, he did catch four small blue lobsters, three orchid crabs, and a large number of conch and scallops.
Even Bai Yu picked up quite a few more razor clams later, and now the bucket is full of razor clams.
Adding together the scattered people, Bai Yu had collected about eighteen or nineteen pounds of seafood on this trip, and he had only used fifteen of his ninety-nine points of luck, leaving eighty-four points remaining.
Of these fifteen points, ten were used up by the little green dragon, and the other items only consumed five points of luck. It's unclear what kind of seafood would be needed to use up the remaining luck points.
Around eight o'clock, Bai Yu and Wang Hai each carried a bucket and headed towards the purchasing station; they were going to sell their goods.
The purchasing station was the same as before, but when Bai Yu and his companion arrived, there were quite a few villagers selling seafood there.
Most of these villagers are aunties and older women from the village. After selling their seafood, they don't leave but sit at the door, chatting and watching how others have fared in the morning.
"Hey, isn't this Bai's kid? You're out beachcombing with Xiao Hai again during the holidays?"
"Hello Auntie, Ah Hai and I have been accepted into university, but there's not much to do at school. We might as well go home and go beachcombing to earn some money for our living expenses later."
As soon as Bai Yu and Wang Hai arrived, an aunt who was familiar with both families greeted them.
The village women were both envious and jealous of Bai Yu and Wang Hai. They envied them because although they weren't good at studying, they went to university, and they had participated in many competitions over the years, winning a lot of prize money.
Bai Yu would occasionally take Wang Hai along to go beachcombing. The two of them never asked their families for pocket money, which made them much better than their own children.
Jealousy was the same reason, especially towards Wang Hai, because when Wang Hai was very young, the villagers all thought he was a fool and would be the guardian of the small fishing village in the future.
Now that the fool is about to go to university, and the best university in their province at that, how can such a contrast not make people envious?
"Hey, these days it really is true that fools have good luck. Universities these days are really something, they'll admit anyone. Aren't they afraid that some people will cause trouble for them at school?"
Just as Bai Yu was chatting with several elders, a discordant remark came from another group of women. Everyone present knew who she was referring to.
“Auntie Ahai, we can’t control how schools recruit students, but your son Wang Bo’s college entrance exam this year is probably in trouble. Has he told you how many points he got on the last mock exam? Tsk tsk, that score was pretty bad.”
Upon hearing this, Bai Yu knew without turning around who was speaking: Wang Hai's aunt, whose husband was Wang Hai's uncle, who was also Wang Hai's father's older brother.
Logically speaking, Wang Hai's aunt is an elder, so it's understandable that she would say a few words to him, and he wouldn't argue back.
But this guy actually said Wang Hai was stupid. Yes, Wang Hai is a bit slow-witted and his mind doesn't work that fast, but he's not stupid. Maybe he was stupid before, but after being raised by Bai Yu for so many years, Wang Hai still knows some basic common sense.
Wang Hai remembered some of the rules and instructions very clearly, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to participate in the competition and win a prize.
She also said that Wang Hai was a troublemaker. Honestly, ever since Bai Yu started playing with Wang Hai, they have never caused any trouble in the village. On the other hand, that Wang Bo has been a troublemaker since he was a child, and fighting is a common occurrence for him.
Bai Yu wouldn't tolerate such baseless accusations; she would strike directly at Wang Bo's sore spot: his academic performance.
That guy's studies aren't even as good as Bai Yu's. They're both regulars in the bottom fifteen of the class, but Bai Yu has a special talent, while Wang Bo doesn't.
After he finishes his college entrance exam this year, there are only two possible outcomes for him: either he goes out to work or he finds a vocational school to continue his studies.
After arguing with his aunt, Bai Yu led Wang Hai into the purchasing station. During this time, Wang Hai didn't say a word to his aunt, not even calling her "aunt."
Instead, he greeted whoever Bai Yu greeted and shouted whatever Bai Yu shouted, completely ignoring his aunt.
This infuriated his aunt; it was even worse than when Bai Yu said her son wasn't doing well in school.
Ignoring the people who were in their way, Bai Yu and Wang Hai each carried a bucket and walked into the purchasing station, where they went to find their third uncle.
"Third Uncle, Third Uncle, come here for a moment, I want to show you something good."
Bai Yu quietly approached her third uncle and pulled him aside.
"What good stuff does Xiaoyu have? Why are you being so secretive? If it's not good enough, don't blame me for saying something to you."
"Third Uncle, it must be good stuff. Look at these little green dragons, aren't they good enough? Wang Hai and I just caught them from the beach. Aren't they big enough?"
When Bai Yu pulled her third uncle aside, she showed him the four little green dragons in the bucket.
"Hey, these lobsters are pretty good. You two little guys are lucky. I've been collecting seafood all morning and haven't seen anyone else catch a single lobster, but you two caught four in one go. Not bad, not bad."
Uncle San was very happy to see the four little green dragons in the bucket. After all, he was a middleman, and the better the seafood that Bai Yu brought, the more he would earn.
Moreover, if Uncle San can consistently provide good products, he will have more options when shipping to his supplier.
"Third Uncle, name your price. If it's reasonable, these four lobsters are yours."
"Don't worry, your third uncle definitely won't cheat you. Today, the market price for small green dragons is 198 yuan per catty. I'm just a purchasing station, so it's reasonable for you to let your third uncle make a little profit, right? I'll offer 160 yuan per catty. What do you think?"
Is 198 yuan per jin (500g) of small green dragon expensive?
To be honest, this is really expensive, considering where Bai Yu and the others are right now.
This is Hainan Province, which can be considered one of the production areas of small green lobsters. If the price is so high here, it's hard to imagine how high the price would be if this small green lobster were in the inland areas.
However, this had nothing to do with Bai Yu. What he cared about was that his third uncle had given him a price of 160 yuan per catty, which was a very fair price.
His four little green dragons weighed a little over three pounds, which was worth about five hundred yuan. He had no complaints about that, so he sold the four little green dragons to his third uncle right then and there.
As for what his third uncle said—that he was just a middleman and didn't earn much—Bai Yu didn't believe it at all.
Given the current soaring prices of seafood, which are currently priced at 198 yuan, he could raise them for a few more days and they might rise to over 200 yuan. Alternatively, he could sell these baby lobsters to high-end restaurants.
Judging from the appearance and vitality of these little green dragons that Bai Yu caught, they could easily be kept alive for a few more days.
After weighing, the largest of the four small green dragons weighed 424 grams, and the smallest weighed 278 grams. The four dragons together weighed 1678 grams, which is a little over three jin and three liang.
Uncle San rounded it up for him, settling the bill for Bai Yu based on three jin and four liang, so Xiao Qinglong sold for a total of 544 yuan.
Besides the four small green dragons, other scallops, conches, and razor clams also sold for a considerable amount of money. The most expensive were the conches and cat's-eye snails, followed by the razor clams. Scallops, hairy clams, and mussels were the cheapest.
The prices of these seafood items have also increased due to the fishing ban. Among them, sea snails and cat's eye snails are the most expensive, and they are divided into three grades according to size, ranging from twenty or thirty to seventy or eighty yuan.
Razor clams are also in good price; my third uncle gave me over thirty yuan. It's just that scallops and hairy clams aren't worth much; even after the price increase, they're only around ten yuan.
The various conch and scallops, weighing over ten kilograms, sold for more than four hundred yuan. In addition, the three uncles gave them a total of one thousand yuan, including four small green dragons.
Bai Yu happily took the money and left with Wang Hai.
............
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