"There seem to be a lot of fish here."
Fish are plentiful, but fishing methods and tools are relatively limited these days, and you never know how much you'll catch with one cast of the net. Forget about catching a thousand pounds, and even a few dozen or a hundred pounds is considered a "net burst."
Uncle Jin smiled and said, "Yes, the further out you go, the more fish there are. If you have a big boat, you can catch a lot in three to five days."
"Uncle, did you work on a ship before?"
"Yes, most of us work for wealthy families' fishing boats, but in the past two years, no boats are willing to hire us. Even if they are willing, the pay is low. So we just come back to the village to look after our wives and children."
From time to time, fish jumped out of the water, accompanied by the sound of "splash". They chatted while rowing, which was not boring.
With questions and answers, an hour passed quickly and the fishing village became a black dot behind him.
Uncle Jin finally called a halt, "There aren't many people coming here, let's just stay here for now."
A faint light appeared on the horizon, indicating that the sun was about to rise. In the light, many fish could be seen underwater.
Some fish are golden yellow, others jet black. Some have heads as flat and large as shoe soles, others as small and pointed as needles, some are transparent and soft like silk threads, and still others are swollen and covered with thorns... The life on the seabed is truly diverse.
Uncle Jin checked the fishing net and found it was very strong and not small.
He cast the net as soon as he found the right spot, and it took him a quarter of an hour to pull it up.
Jiang Nian came over to help him, and the two of them collected the net together, which was not so difficult.
"This net is light, so I guess there won't be many fish."
When they pulled it up, they saw that there weren't many, just two or three black snappers, a sea bream, three white snappers, and two jellyfish. The black snappers were indeed fat, weighing about two kilograms, and each white snapper was as big as Jiang Nian's fist.
Jiang Yue brought two small long sticks to use as pliers, carefully picking up the jellyfish and throwing them into the water. If you get stung, you will be poisoned.
Uncle Jin put the fish into the bucket. He knew which fish were non-toxic. He was also a simple person, so he only picked common fish.
They cast several nets in this area, each netting up an average of seven or eight fish and some sundries. Jiang Yue wasn't demanding of the skill level of this small handmade fishing net. This level of skill was enough.
The first ray of sunlight in the early morning shines on the sea, penetrates the mist, dispels the darkness, and gradually reveals the mystery of the sea.
Another half a quarter of an hour later, the sun rose completely from the sea level. The sparkling sea surface was like a ignited flame.
The sunrise over the sea is really beautiful.
Jiang Yue stood up and looked out. In the distance, she saw a small island. It was really small, about four or five acres. When the tide receded, there should be a lot of good things on the shore.
"Uncle, can we go up to that island?"
Uncle Jin wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked in the direction she pointed. "That's an uninhabited island. We can go there."
As the sun rises and the tide recedes, the island becomes visible at noon. Occasionally, they go to the island to pick up things when the tide recedes.
"How about we go over there? Take me to the island, and then you two can fish on the boat."
Three people seems a bit wasteful.
Jiang Nian frowned, worried about the safety. But seeing her excitement, he said nothing. As long as they were not far away, it would be fine.
The fishing boat rowed towards the right and reached the island half an hour later.
The small splashes of water around her kept splashing, washing over the reefs. At a glance, she saw a lot of shelled creatures. She had already seen many large conches and oysters, the occasional abalone, and quite a few shrimps and crabs!
The highest point on the island is two or three meters above sea level, so there is no need to worry for now.
Jiang Yue smiled brightly. It was a good idea to bring the sack today. She climbed off the boat, startled by the shrimps and crabs nearby, and carefully stepped on the reef to get ashore. The rocks on the shore were slippery, and the reefs were hard and sharp. She didn't dare to be careless.
Jiang Nian held her arm and said, "If you have any problems, just call me, okay?"
"Okay, I know, go ahead."
Jiang Yue came ashore, like a mouse entering a rice jar.
After the boat left, she took out a small dustpan and scooped up the shrimps and crabs from the shore. But they ran so fast that she could only scoop them up a few times before most of them ran away and scurried around in the crevices of the reef.
She felt that her hands were not enough, so she caught some shrimps and crabs for a while, then ran to the other side of the rock wall to pry oysters and abalone.
Abalone usually live at the bottom of the water and will soon die under the scorching sun. Jiang Yue didn't find many large ones. There was just a small abalone clinging to the reef, oval in shape, with a thin shell and a small size, far different from the large abalone sold in the market.
After prying a dozen or so, Jiang Yue decided it was too much trouble and moved on to another section. There were also quite a few oysters, firmly attached to the rock wall.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a number of tufted creatures living in the crevices of the reef. Not knowing how to eat them, she didn't bother to pick them out.
She used a hoe to pry open oysters, picked up conchs, and occasionally large oysters. After bending over for two hours, she felt like her waist was about to break.
At noon, the scorching sun nearly set my back on fire. The tide receded completely, exposing a vast expanse of mudflats. Jiang Yue moved to another spot to pick up goods.
After seeing clearly what was on the mudflat, Jiang Yue couldn't help but curse.
The mudflats are covered with densely packed sandworms, which look like centipedes, so they are also called sea centipedes. Although they are not poisonous, their appearance is really disgusting.
Jiang Yue looked at the wriggling mass and felt like she was suffering from claustrophobia. It made her scalp tingle.
The sandworms were supposed to be high in protein, but she wasn't fishing for nutrients. She swiped away the blue crabs basking in the sun on the mudflats and decisively bypassed the area.
Jiang Yue flexed her hips, almost emitting a symphony. She left only a small portion of the goods she had received hidden from view. Then, standing on the reef, she stretched out her arms and waved to the people on the boat, calling them over to rest under the tree on the island.
Jiang Nian and his companions had a good catch, filling two buckets with fish and soaking them in seawater, but it looked like they wouldn't last much longer. Some of the fish were so large that they couldn't fit in the buckets and were left on the deck, already half-dead.
The last net caught a lot of blue crabs, which were thrown onto the boat before they were even picked off.
Uncle Jin's family doesn't really like this hard-shelled fish; it's too messy to eat and has little meat, so they usually throw it away. But the young lady took it out and put it aside. Since the nobleman wants it, that's even better; it looks like there won't be a shortage of fish.
"Let's take a break before continuing." After Uncle Jin got off the boat, Jiang Yue stuffed a multi-grain steamed bun into his hand. He was stunned and stuttered when he spoke.
But Jiang Yue was tired and thirsty, and didn't really want to talk to him. She asked him to go to the shore to rest, and then she and Jiang Nian rested in the cabin for a while.
Uncle Jin carefully stuffed the steamed bun into his arms and saved it for the child to eat when he got home.
The three of them rested for an hour, and after recovering, they began to work again...
By mid-afternoon, several people returned.
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