Chapter 94: There is no end to the collection.

Chapter 94: There is no end to the collection.

Chapter 94: There is no end to the collection.

When the two men arrived at the grove, Wang Laobian had already started setting traps. Li Changle and Chen Yongwei put the bait in place, put down a few old traps, and went to the reef to look for traps and crab holes.

Wang Laobian set up the trap, stood on the shore and watched the two men for a while, then left with the bucket.

The reefs on this side of the grove are all small piles of rocks. Some are washed up by the waves, and some are naturally grown. In summer, there are often snakes and insects hiding in the rock piles to cool off.

Li Changle looked around the reef but couldn't find any traps. The few crab holes he saw were only the size of eggs. Even if there were blue crabs living in them, they would only be small crabs. If they were dug out, they could only be sold as crab seedlings.

He ignored it and walked forward. He saw a blue crab in front of him struggling to move its eight legs and running quickly towards the crab hole under the stone.

He took a big step forward, pressed it down with one foot, grabbed the crab shell and picked it up. Looking at the blue crab waving its claws, he took out a hemp rope to tie it up and put it in the backpack, saying proudly:

"Run! Even if you have eight short legs, you still can't outrun my two long legs."

Li Changle took out a hemp rope, tied up the disabled crab and put it in the backpack, then took out a cigarette, lit it, and continued walking towards the pile of rocks in front with the cigarette in his mouth.

"Brother, come here quickly, there are many blue crab holes here." Chen Yongwei shouted happily from the other side, "I also caught two stranded breams."

"Here they come!" Li Changle hurried over there. His headlights flashed across a puddle and he saw the water marks left by the crabs as they escaped. He walked forward to take a closer look and clearly saw the claw marks left by the blue crabs on the edge of the puddle.

"Look where you are running?"

He put down the bamboo pole, walked forward and moved the stone away, and the blue crab hiding underneath revealed its true appearance. It was quite big, but unfortunately it was a disabled crab.

Thinking of the two elderly people at home, I felt that the disabled crab was not bad and would take it back to give to my father for nourishment.

There's no way around it. The older generation is just like that. They are reluctant to eat any fish they catch that is worth a little money, let alone a large blue crab that costs more than one yuan per pound.

They have been frugal all their lives, and even if their lives get better in the future, the idea of ​​frugality has been ingrained in their bones.

I think it’s a waste to eat good things yourself, you should sell them for money.

Li Changle and Chen Yongwei walked around the shallow water area but didn't find any traps. They caught a few stranded herrings and sea bass, as well as a dozen blue crabs and stone crabs.

The two men came out of the grove, carrying backpacks and buckets and walked towards the mudflats. When they reached the mudflats beside the trench under the sluice gate, they suddenly saw two guys walking sideways along the edge of the trench.

"Awei, hurry up." Li Changle ran over excitedly, stepped on one crab, and reached out to pick up the other one. He saw that the claws were covered with fuzz and the back shell was raised high. This was a female crab with only roe.

I took out the hemp rope and quickly tied it up and put it in the backpack. When I lowered my head to grab the crab at my feet, I saw another one in front of me. "Fuck, could it be that I encountered a migrating blue crab?"

"Brother, look ahead, good luck has come, we have encountered a group of migrating blue crabs for spawning." Chen Yongwei excitedly grabbed the crabs and put them into the bucket while running, without even having time to tie them up with a hemp rope.

Li Changle looked over and saw that there were indeed a lot of crabs crawling in front of him. They looked quite large. "What should I do? There are so many of them. It's impossible to catch them with just two hands!"

"Yes, there are too many. Even with two more pairs of hands, we can't catch them all. Let's catch them first and put them in a bag. We'll tie them up slowly later."

Chen Yongwei said excitedly. He felt that the bucket was too small, so he simply took off the backpack, used his hands like tentacles, grabbed a crab and threw it in, not caring whether the crab legs and claws would break. He just grabbed what he could first.

Li Changle grabbed the crabs and put them into the net bag. After a while, he saw him carrying a backpack. "Awei, don't put too many crabs in the backpack. The ones below will be crushed to death."

"Oh oh!" Chen Yongwei hurriedly took out the net bag, pulled it open to catch a crab, caught it and threw it in.

"This is the first time I've seen the legendary migrating blue crabs in my life. Brother, you must have been Lord Hailong's biological son in your previous life!"

"Oh my god, I wasn't the only one who saw it!"

The two had heard from old people before that before a severe drought or some disaster struck, crabs would sometimes migrate in large groups. When there were many of them, the mudflats would be densely packed with them, stretching for miles, and countless crabs would be trampled to death.

"Brother, will there be a drought or some disaster?"

Li Changle remembered that there had never been a severe drought except for one strong typhoon. "No, even if there was, we still have the People's Liberation Army to support us. What are you afraid of?"

"Yes, the PLA always helps during floods, and there will definitely be help during droughts."

"Then do it quickly. Picking up money is important." Li Changle held the net bag and kept catching fish. No matter whether they were fat or thin, male or female, he would put everything he caught into the net bag.

"Brother, you are right. I now feel that picking up sea urchins last time was not really picking up money. Today's event was the real money."

Li Changle was too busy to respond to him. He quickly filled one net bag and took out the second one to continue. He missed his cell phone so much at this moment. One phone call could call everyone in the house who could work.

"Brother, if I had known earlier, I would have brought Xiaoyang with me. If he were here, he could help us get home and report the news to sister-in-law." Chen Yongwei couldn't contain his excitement and kept chattering.

"Money can't buy you what you should have known earlier! If that was the case, we should have called my sister-in-law, my mother, and Ah Fa before we came."

After filling two net bags, Li Changle stretched his body, his joints cracking. He felt backache, fingers cramping, and looked at the blue crabs that came out of nowhere with red eyes. He picked up the basket and rushed forward again.

There is no way to pick them all up. There is no way to pick them all up.

Only after the backpacks and net bags we brought were filled did the number of crabs on the mudflats decrease.

Li Changle's hands were shaking from catching crabs, and his legs felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead. He found a stone to sit on, and felt a sore waist and back.

"Awei, tie up the crabs first. The ones in the basket are about to be crushed to death."

"There's more ahead! You sit there and tie yourself up for a while, I'll catch up and grab some more." Chen Yongwei threw the hemp rope in his pocket in front of him, and like an indefatigable King Kong, he chased towards the salt water area ahead.

"How can I tie all the crabs with such a small amount of hemp rope?" Li Changle found a rock to sit on and tied up the blue crabs in the bucket first, then put the broken crab legs and claws in the backpack.

The crab legs and claws that are intact are sold for money, while the damaged ones are kept for consumption, cooked into sweet crab porridge, or made into pickled crabs or crab sauce.

The headlights attracted swarms of mosquitoes and flies, which buzzed in front of my eyes. In a short while, my exposed instep was bitten by long-legged mosquitoes.

It didn't take him long to use up the two bundles of hemp ropes he brought, and he hadn't even finished tying up half of the crabs in the bucket.

"Awei, the hemp rope is gone. I'll take some home and get some more hemp rope to tie it up again." Li Changle shouted towards the trench in front.

"You go back, I still have a lot here." Chen Yongwei replied in a hoarse voice and buried his head in work.

Li Changle carried the backpack and the bucket and walked back. Thinking of today's harvest, his heavy steps became lighter.

It was almost twelve o'clock, and the village was pitch black. There was not even a single house with a light on. Walking in the alleys, the only sounds I could hear were my own heavy footsteps and my own wheezing breathing.

When they got home, the light in the outer room was still on. As soon as Li Changle walked to the door, the door opened. "Why aren't you asleep yet?"

"I took a nap and just woke up." Zhou Ruonan reached out to take the bucket. When he saw the crabs inside, his heart skipped a beat. "A Le, you didn't go to the crab farm in Shaji Village..."

Only crab farms can catch so many blue crabs. She didn't dare to say the rest and just looked at him with panic in her eyes.

"What are you thinking about?" Li Changle reached out and patted her shoulder. "Don't you know what kind of man you are?"

"Where do these blue crabs come from?"

"We picked it up..." Li Changle explained the situation to her, "Awei is still catching crabs in the grove. Go wake up A Niang and the eldest and second sisters-in-law, and we'll go over there and take a look.

Bring them along, if they can catch some it would be the best, if not, we will pay them to help us tie up blue crabs."

"Oh my god!" Zhou Ruonan looked at him in surprise, "Such a good thing has happened to you!"

"Yes! Go get the hemp rope from Auntie and ask her to help tie up the crabs in the backpack and bucket. Let's go over there quickly."

"Oh!" Zhou Ruonan hurriedly walked outside. Two steps away was the door of the second room. She raised her hand and knocked, "Second sister-in-law, get up quickly. I have something to talk to you about."

After knocking, he went to the main room, then to Li's father and mother, and then the second and first wives of Li were talking...

Li Changle put down the backpack, picked up the boiled water on the table and took a few sips. Thinking about what happened just now on the mudflat, Awei said that his throat was smoking from thirst, so he went to get the kettle to fill it with water and get the sack.

Zhou Ruonan came in carrying a bamboo basket. Li's mother, Li's second sister-in-law, and Li's eldest sister-in-law also came. The three of them looked at the blue crabs in the bucket and the basket, and were so surprised that they couldn't even speak.

I've only seen so many blue crabs in farms.

Even Mrs. Li, who was always the calmest, had her eyes wide open. If Anan hadn't just said that Awei was still catching crabs in the grove, she would have definitely thought that Li Changle had gone to the crab farm in Shaji Village to steal blue crabs.

Li's mother and sister-in-law thought the same thing. Where else could there be so many blue crabs except in a breeding farm?
After a while, Li's mother found her voice again, and a smile spread across her face. "Mom, you guys go quickly. Your dad has gotten up too, and he will come over to help tie it up later."

Mrs. Li picked up one and said distressedly, "Oh my, what a pity! Such a fat crab has its claws broken. It's worthless now."

Ah Le's luck was too good! Even she thought that they had gone to the temple to burn incense!

Li Changle looked at them proudly, "There are four net bags on the beach, all filled to the brim. Hurry up and go over there, you can still catch a few."

"Okay, okay, let's go now." Li Ersao reacted the fastest and walked outside with a bucket of water.

"Anan, let's go!" Li Changle grabbed a few hemp ropes, picked up the bamboo basket and kettle and walked out.

"Hey, hey!" Zhou Ruonan and Mrs. Li also followed.

(End of this chapter)