Chen Zhiyao and Chen Weiqiang both had full buckets, while Grandpa Chen also had a good catch, with a total of four sea bass weighing four or five pounds each.
Seeing that there was no room left to put the fish, the three generations of the family happily prepared to go back.
After loading the fish from the ground into the car, Chen Weiqiang, beaming with pride, suggested:
“It’s getting late, and these fish aren’t very lively anymore. I think we should just take them to the village’s purchasing station to sell.”
“Sure, the purchasing station in town is too far away. If all the fish die if we send them there, the loss will be even greater.”
When the three generations of the family arrived, the buckets and fishing gear were stacked together, but now all three large buckets are full of fish.
The fish and fishing gear alone took up half the truck.
Grandpa Chen and Chen Zhiyao squeezed into the back of the car, carrying the remaining four cages by hand.
A few minutes later, the three of them arrived at the rocky beach where Chen Zhiyao was going to set the trap.
It was already past 9 o'clock, and the beachcombers had long since gone home. The receding seawater had risen halfway back up.
Chen Zhiyao and Chen Weiqiang each carried two sea baskets, carefully stepping onto the wet, seaweed-covered, and oyster-covered rocks as they walked into the sea.
The father and daughter chose four decent-looking spots, threw the traps into them one by one, and then tied the ropes to the huge rocks to secure them.
Then they tied small strips of cloth to the rope as markers.
Conch and crabs love to come out at night, and on their way back, their eyes unconsciously darted between the rocks and into the puddles.
The father and daughter each had a headlamp on their heads, illuminating the rocks in front of them.
Suddenly, Chen Zhiyao saw something thin and long wriggling in front of her to her right.
"Dad, there looks like a moray eel up ahead."
A cheerful and lively voice rang in Chen Weiqiang's ears, followed by a few forceful slaps on his arm.
Before he could even look up and take a closer look, Chen Zhiyao excitedly pulled him forward.
Upon closer inspection, it was indeed a conger eel, but it wasn't very big, weighing at most about two pounds.
moray eel
This little guy is very alert. As soon as he senses someone coming, he tries his best to squeeze into the cracks in the rocks.
However, the crevice was too small, and the eel was too big, so it could only barely hide half of its body.
The father and daughter didn't need to search for it; they could spot its hiding place at a glance.
The two had come to set up fish traps but forgot to bring their beachcombing tools. Fortunately, they were wearing gloves, so Chen Weiqiang just grabbed the fish with his bare hands.
Chen Weiqiang acted quickly and accurately, grabbing the eel by the neck and pulling it out of the crevice with a forceful pull.
Chen Zhiyao felt a chill run down her spine and took a step back as she looked at the wildly writhing creature that resembled a sea serpent.
Just then, Chen Zhiyao caught a glimpse of a blue figure in the puddle out of the corner of her eye.
Orchid Crab
"That bright color is probably the conspicuous part inside the crab."
Chen Zhiyao smiled happily, revealing two cute little tiger teeth.
Then we quickly moved forward and caught the little guy before it hid in the crevice.
Wearing the gloves provided by the system, she simply picked up the conspicuous, menacing bag with her bare hands.
"Hey, this orchid crab is pretty big, looks like it weighs half a pound." Chen Weiqiang's smiling voice came from behind.
"That's right, don't you even know who caught me?" Chen Zhiyao held her head high, her voice filled with undisguised smugness.
The father and daughter, one carrying a conger eel and the other holding a blue crab, walked back with smiles on their faces.
On their way back, the father and daughter saw many whelks and snails slowly wriggling on the rocks.
Moreover, bubbles were rising from some of the crevices and small pits, probably hiding crabs.
This rocky beach holds many treasures, and the two couldn't help but quicken their pace.
Although the large buckets were full of fish, there were also two small buckets for bait and several nets.
Chen Weiqiang asked Grandpa Chen to first transport the fish on the truck to the village's purchasing station to sell them.
Then, carrying their beachcombing tools, they went beachcombing together with Chen Zhiyao.
The father and daughter split up, but they didn't go too far apart, only a few meters apart.
Chen Zhiyao's eyes swept over the bottom of a huge rock and she quickly spotted two pincers sticking out from a crevice in the rock.
Two large pliers
"Little baby, come out quickly." Chen Zhiyao smiled, but her voice sounded somewhat like that of a wicked old wolf.
However, the little guy inside didn't understand human speech and remained safely hidden inside.
Chen Zhiyao reached out with the pliers in her hand and quickly pulled the little guy out of the hole.
It was a large, bright green blue crab, a bit bigger than the blue crab from before, weighing about six or seven ounces.
Chen Zhiyao recalled the path she had just walked and soon found a small snail nest in a crevice in the rocks.
Almost every one of them was bigger than her fingertip, and a dozen or so snails already made a heavy handful.
Turning her head, she spotted several whelks faintly visible on a reef covered in seaweed.
Since she had come across them, she couldn't let them go, so Chen Zhiyao happily found each of the little guys one by one.
There were a total of 6 large whelks, weighing almost a pound in total.
At night, the rocky beach is teeming with more crabs and sea snails than during the day, and they are also larger.
After taking only two steps, Chen Zhiyao saw a familiar figure in the small puddle in front of her.
The little guy was hiding in the sand, his whole body blending in with the surrounding sand. If he hadn't been lying in the sand so shallowly, you really wouldn't have been able to find him.
Crabs lying on the sand
The crab thought it was camouflaged very well and was completely unaware of the approaching danger.
In an instant, Chen Zhiyao's clips firmly gripped the little guy.
After gently swaying on the water's surface a few times, the crab's camouflage was washed away, revealing its green body.
It's another big blue crab, but a little smaller than the previous one, weighing only about half a pound.
This is the time when sea snails come out to forage, and there are one or two small snails or flower snails on almost every reef.
If you turn the stone over, you can see octopuses and various crabs hiding in the crevices.
Octopus +2
Spicy snails +6
Flower snail +3
Blue Crab +1
Spicy snails +2
Orchid Crab +2
...
Chen Zhiyao seemed tireless, flipping over countless rocks along the way, and her net bag was already full of various small seafood.
After walking for a while, Chen Zhiyao came to a muddy patch where sand and soil were mixed together.
After taking a few steps, I saw two things that looked like earthworms wriggling in the mud.
She quickly stepped forward and used the sand shovel in her hand to pick up the two sandworms.
Then they continued digging in the ground through the small hole next to them.
These little guys are very agile and alert. At the slightest disturbance, they immediately burrow into the mud, and they move very quickly.
Without her X-ray glasses, digging for sandworms was incredibly difficult for her. She dug for several minutes but only managed to find a few tiny creatures.
After digging for a while, the sandworm she had her eye on escaped again, which made Chen Zhiyao furious.
"Forget it, I'm not playing anymore. I'd rather find blue crabs and sea snails."
Chen Zhiyao continued walking forward, and after taking only a few steps, the light above her head shone on a familiar figure again.
Blue crab
"This big guy, it's definitely a blue crab. I hope we didn't disturb a blue crab's nest today." Chen Zhiyao was very excited, and her ponytail was shaking wildly.
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