"Ring ring ring ring ring..."
At five o'clock sharp, the alarm clock on my phone went off precisely on time.
She had gone to bed too late last night, and Chen Zhiyao was still in a daze. She groggily reached out and turned off the alarm clock, then blinked blankly.
Her dark, smooth hair was now messy, with a few fluffy tufts of hair sticking out on top, making her look silly yet cute.
Just as she was about to turn over and go back to sleep, she suddenly remembered that she still had to collect the cage. Chen Zhiyao immediately sat up, and her mind became much clearer.
Thinking about collecting fish traps and going beachcombing today, Chen Zhiyao still wore a casual tracksuit.
I drew back the curtains and saw that it was still gray and gloomy outside; even the sun hadn't woken up yet.
However, the early birds had already started foraging, and several fluffy, round little sparrows flew past the window one after another.
A few clear chirps reached her ears, and looking at the adorable little guy, Chen Zhiyao, who was forced to get up early, felt much better.
Stretching, Chen Zhiyao chuckled and muttered:
"Another beautiful day begins. Let's work hard to make money and become a rich woman as soon as possible."
When Chen Zhiyao came downstairs, she found that everyone in the family was up and had even started eating breakfast.
Fishermen are amazing creatures. When you ask them to go out for breakfast, they can't get up until 8 or 9 a.m., but when you go fishing, they can get out of bed at 5 a.m.
Therefore, Chen Weiqiang has to go to the store very early every morning.
As for the other three, they were used to getting up early to go out to sea to fish and gather seafood, and they got up at the same time every day.
After breakfast, the family of five went out together. Except for Chen Weiqiang, who went to the fishing tackle shop in the county, the other four went to the beach to go beachcombing.
As soon as the group arrived at the beach, Grandpa Li from the next house and Grandma Lanhua from the house behind waved enthusiastically to Grandpa Chen and Grandma Chen.
Grandma Orchid shouted at the elderly couple with a strong voice:
"I heard there are a lot of razor clams and cockles on the beach ahead. Let's go take a look."
Although Grandma Chen and Grandma Lanhua have completely different personalities, they are best friends for life.
Grandma Chen smiled gently, "Sure, I just happened to bring some salt with me when I left."
Then, taking their beachcombing tools, they walked towards the two of them with Grandpa Chen in tow.
The elderly couple went beachcombing with their old friends, while Chen Zhiyao took her mother to collect fish traps.
The two arrived at the rocky beach where they had been beachcombing the night before, but the tide had only receded by a third by this time.
The sun rose above the horizon, turning the once azure sea into a golden hue.
sunrise
Presumably, the two arrived early, as only two elderly men were turning over stones in the shallow water on the vast rocky beach.
The tide hasn't receded yet, and the water level at the spot where the fish traps were placed is too deep to cross.
The mother and daughter had no choice but to go beachcombing first, each carrying a small bucket and starting to turn over stones.
They didn't know if they had caught all the conches and crabs last night, because the two of them turned over several rocks but found nothing.
There were quite a few beautiful starfish along the way, but the recycling station didn't want them, and his family didn't like to eat them either, so they were really useless.
After turning over many more stones, Chen Zhiyao still came up empty-handed, while her mother only had a small octopus.
I spent a lot of time fishing yesterday, and my arms are still sore.
Since she hadn't found anything anyway, Chen Zhiyao stopped turning over the stones and leisurely picked up the small clams and moon shells that hadn't yet had a chance to lie on the sand and put them into the bucket.
Even a mosquito's leg is still meat, and these little shellfish are worth at least three or four yuan a pound. If all else fails, we can keep them for ourselves.
Chen Zhiyao collected about two pounds of small seashells. When she looked up, she saw that the seawater had almost receded to where the fish trap had been placed.
She quickly waved to her mother, and then the mother and son went together to the place where the fish traps were kept.
The first fish trap was empty, and all the small fish and snails that were meant as bait were gone.
The mother and daughter looked puzzled. Chen Zhiyao couldn't help but mutter, "Strange, why is there no fish? But we've also run out of bait?"
She picked up the cage and examined it closely. There was a fist-sized hole in the cage, so she guessed that the creature had escaped after eating and drinking its fill.
Seeing that the ground cage was broken, Yan Shuting put it away, thinking that she could take it back and repair it so that it could still be used.
Next came the second trap, and this time the haul was pretty good, with three blue crabs inside.
Ground cage
Although they are all small crabs weighing around four ounces each, they still weigh about a pound, enough to buy a fish trap if sold.
The third fish trap contained a more varied mix of items, including a bluefin bream weighing about one pound, two whelks, and a small sea bass weighing two pounds.
The fourth cage felt noticeably heavier than the previous three when lifted.
As soon as it surfaced, Chen Zhiyao saw several green creatures inside. Upon closer inspection, she discovered they were actually four bluefin bream, each weighing over a pound.
Bluefish are relatively expensive, usually selling for fifty or sixty yuan.
Chen Zhiyao quickly calculated the catch and realized she had already recouped the money she spent on the fish traps.
Unexpectedly, she broke even on the first day, and Chen Zhiyao was overjoyed, wishing she could put in more.
These fish traps gave the mother and daughter great confidence, and soon the two arrived at the place where they had been fishing the day before.
Chen Zhiyao thought she had arrived early, but she didn't expect that there were already 5 people fishing there.
Moreover, she felt that the two people in the middle looked very familiar, as if she had seen them somewhere before.
After thinking for a while, Chen Zhiyao finally remembered that these were the two people who had been fishing here yesterday morning.
Moreover, the people fishing were chatting and laughing, which clearly indicated that they knew each other.
Chen Zhiyao had originally planned to come to the secret base to fish in the afternoon, but she didn't expect there to be so many people.
It seems this secret base can no longer be kept hidden.
"I hope the traps we set last night will yield a good result," Chen Zhiyao muttered as she led Yan Shuting toward the distant rocks.
The fifth cage was so heavy that Chen Zhiyao almost couldn't lift it.
Although she hadn't seen what was inside yet, she figured it must be a valuable, large item.
The fish trap slowly emerged from the water, and as she expected, there were two large white fish inside.
Although it's not fully light yet, it's clear that they are two sea bass.
Moreover, both fish weighed around 5 kilograms each, which alone cost several hundred yuan. Chen Zhiyao was so happy she almost jumped for joy.
This fish trap is very close to where Grandpa Chen fished yesterday, and Chen Zhiyao guesses that it must be the school of fish they encountered last night.
The sixth and seventh traps yielded only average results: one yielded two rock bream, and the other yielded three yellowtail bream.
The 8th and 9th earthworms were empty, and each had a hole the size of a bowl.
These two fish traps are quite close to where Chen Zhiyao is fishing. It's estimated that some barracuda went in last night, had a good meal, and then broke through the traps and escaped.
The last earthen cage is the furthest, located right at the border between Baisha Village and Lijia Village.
The rocks over there are very large and extremely steep.
Chen Zhiyao told her mother to stay where she was and watch over the catch, then she climbed up herself.
It was tiring, but the gains were excellent.
In the last fish trap, there was a pearl grouper weighing over 5 pounds and a conger eel weighing over 3 pounds.
Upon seeing the two valuable creatures inside the cage, Chen Zhiyao jumped up with joy, her ahoge (cowlick) trembling.
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