Before long, Xiao Guowen and Xiao Guowu's snakeskin bags were almost full. They tied them up and threw them aside, then shook out another bag and continued.
At this time, Feng Ye and his two companions had filled their buckets, baskets, and burlap sacks to the brim, totaling twenty baskets, five buckets, and ten sacks.
"It's all full, what should we do?"
Ah-chan wiped the sweat from his forehead, unsure of what to do.
Feng Xuan was also somewhat troubled.
Are we going to row to the Rising Sun again to get it?
"I can spare some snakeskin bags for you."
Xiao Guowen took out two empty snakeskin bags and handed them over.
Feng Ye shook his head: "No need, you should keep it for yourself. We have something to store it in."
Upon hearing this, the group looked at Feng Ye with curiosity, wondering what he could conjure up to impress them.
Feng Ye took a few steps outside, bent down and picked up a few starfish from the sea, throwing them into a small wooden boat beside him: "Is this boat just for show?"
They all suddenly realized, exclaiming, "How come I didn't think of that?"
Ah-Can slapped his thigh and exclaimed excitedly, "That's right! How could we forget about the small wooden boat? Can't this boat carry that too?"
Feng Xuan laughed too: "Haha, we were all so focused on the appearance that we were thinking about using baskets, buckets, and burlap sacks to pack it all up, and we forgot about the boat, which can hold the most."
"Hurry up and pick them up, the tide is coming in."
Feng Ye looked around and saw that the tide had indeed started to rise. What had just barely covered his insteps was now almost up to his calves.
Once the tide starts to rise, it means that people don't have much time left to stay.
The time available for beachcombing is limited, generally about two hours before and after the lowest tide.
We're all from the coast, so we all know that as soon as we realize the tide is coming in, everyone's hands and feet start moving faster in an unconscious way, hoping to pick up as much as possible.
Everywhere you look, you see people bending over and sticking their butts out, picking up starfish.
Many of them rolled up their trouser legs to their thighs, rolled up their sleeves to their shoulders, and waded barefoot in the seawater, touching things in the water.
That "ribbon" is long gone, and there are hardly any starfish left in the shallow waters.
With many people, there is great strength. The villagers, like locusts passing through, wiped out every starfish they could see.
Even in deeper areas, the starfish are decreasing at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Despite the danger, the men continued to slowly move outwards against the rising tide, and some even managed to find sea snails, octopuses, crabs, and the like.
Almost everyone who touched something would excitedly shout about it, rarely hiding it or drawing attention from others.
Of course, conflicts sometimes break out.
Sure enough, not far from Feng Ye and his group, two people got into a fight.
Two grown men were arguing heatedly over a giant octopus, spitting at each other and almost coming to blows.
Feng Ye and the others watched with great interest for a while, and found that the two of them were eventually exchanging greetings to each other's female relatives.
However, there was absolutely no sign of a fight breaking out, which immediately made it boring and I lost interest in watching any further.
It's more worthwhile to collect a few more starfish than to waste time on this.
"Ah Ye, the tide is coming in. What are we going to do with the starfish you collected? Are we going to move them ashore or take them to the dock by boat?"
Behind them, Ye Qingling's voice rang out.
Feng Ye turned around and saw Ye Qingling standing beside their goods, holding Feng Xinan in her arms, the seawater already up to her ankles.
"Is the tide rising this fast?"
The others heard it too, turned around and looked back, all somewhat surprised by the speed at which the tide was rising.
"Let's take it to the dock by boat; it'll save us some effort. I'm coming right now."
Feng Ye shouted at Ye Qingling.
It's quite a distance from here to the shore. The sand is soft, and the cart will get stuck. It can only be carried by people, which is time-consuming and laborious. It's better to use a small wooden boat to transport it to the dock.
Feng Ye and the other two pushed the small wooden boat slowly toward Ye Qingling.
Xiao Guowen and Xiao Guowu exchanged a glance, threw the snakeskin bags they were carrying onto the boat, and also helped push the boat.
"Aren't you going to pick them up?" Feng Ye asked, turning his head in confusion.
"Forget it, I won't pick it up. The water's too deep; it's not easy to retrieve it." Xiao Guowen shook his head.
"Put your goods on the ship later, so you don't have to carry them all that way."
"Hehe, that's exactly what I was planning to do."
Upon arrival, the group carried baskets, buckets, and burlap sacks filled with starfish onto the boat.
The Xiao brothers each put three snakeskin bags of starfish on the boat.
Because Ye Qingling had to keep an eye on Feng Xinan from time to time, she only managed to collect less than two snakeskin bags at the beginning.
Later, she had to go into the water to collect the goods, so she stopped collecting them and stayed where she was to help watch over the goods, so that they wouldn't be stolen by pickpockets.
Feng Ye threw her two snakeskin bags onto the boat, then pushed the boat to find Feng Jiaqing, Xiao Chunxiu, Du Guilan, and Feng Jialing and his wife, and put the starfish they had found onto the boat as well.
They even helped transport the starfish that Xiao Guowen's family had picked up.
Feng Ye rowed his small wooden boat from the sea to the dock, while the others stopped picking up the goods and walked ashore one by one to pick up their cargo.
As they left the beach and came ashore, some villagers gradually stopped and carried their catch back to shore.
After the small wooden boat swayed slowly for a few minutes, it docked at the Dongtou Village pier. A crowd of people rushed aboard and quickly unloaded the cargo.
The starfish that were later thrown onto the ship were also packed into snakeskin bags that were put together and unloaded at the dock.
Feng Ye then rowed a small wooden boat to the Rising Sun to retrieve his clothes.
When he returned to the dock, all the goods had already been pushed to Uncle Fa's purchasing point on carts and were queuing up to be weighed.
Xiao Chunxiu, Ye Qingling, and Du Guilan had already gone home to prepare breakfast.
It's almost 7 o'clock. I need to prepare breakfast for the construction workers so they can eat and get to work.
There weren't many people left on the beach and rocky areas; only a few were reluctant to leave, bending over and groping in the seawater.
This morning, almost the entire village came out, except for the very old and the very young. The area around the dock is now packed with people.
The dock was bustling with activity, and everyone's face was beaming with joy.
Who wouldn't be happy if they made money?
Long lines formed outside several collection points, with everyone beaming as they guessed how many kilograms they had collected and discussed how much they could sell them for.
They didn't even consider whether the beach's ecosystem was being damaged. I hope this kind of thing happens more often in the future.
The long queue contained not only people but also goods. Each person had a burlap sack next to them, and they moved slowly forward with the queue.
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