Chapter 102: Deserted Island

Chapter 102: Deserted Island

Chapter 102: Deserted Island
Li Changle turned his head and found that the tide had almost risen to the low point without him noticing.

He looked around and found that Chen Yongwei had already walked far away, so he quickly raised the chisel and sped up his movements.

We have to chisel more back before the sea water rises and submerges the conches in the depressions.

Pick out the fattest ones and send them to the restaurant. Even if they only sell them for one dollar per pound, a hundred pounds or so will still bring in a profit of over one hundred dollars.

The sun was scorching, but the sea breeze didn't make me feel hot. I just felt tired and hungry. However, for the money, I had to work harder.

Maybe it was because he was too tired, Li Changle felt that the Buddha's hand snails growing in the cracks of the stone were particularly tightly attached, and it was much more difficult to chisel them than before.

He used all his strength to chisel out a cluster of conches and put them into the bucket. When he looked down, he found that the bucket was already full.

When I carried it over, I found that the second sack was already full. I took out a net bag from my pocket and poured the snails in the bucket into it.

At this time, the sea water had begun to rise. He touched his rumbling stomach and thought of the food basket still on the boat. He sighed, "Damn it, I'm tired and hungry. Life is not easy!"

He opened the kettle and drank a few sips of water, then stood on the rock, twisted his swollen waist a few times, moved his sore wrists a few times, shook his sore arms a few times, and shouted at Chen Yongwei who was standing on a rock.

"Awei, I have about 200 pounds here. Let's carry it back to the boat and fill our stomachs first."

"I've been hungry for a long time. I thought you didn't know how to be hungry!" Chen Yongwei shouted back, "I chiseled more than you did. Two sacks were full, and a net bag was also full."

"Fuck, so fast, you are a robot!"

"You are not good enough, yet you call me a robot."

"Young man, don't criticize others in the future, or you will be beaten."

“Only those who are not capable of doing this overthink.”

"You're getting more and more eloquent!"

"hey-hey!"

Li Changle poured the Buddha's hand snails in the bucket into the sack. "It's almost done. Let's go back and eat first, and then go to the beach at the foot of the mountain in the south to see if we can get some other good stuff."

"I have some big stuff here. I'll come over when I finish chiseling it."

"Okay, I'll carry a sack back first."

Li Changle picked up the sack and walked towards the place where he had just come down the mountain. When he stepped over a reef, he looked down and saw a large turtle slowly shrinking back from the crevice of the reef.

"Fuck, you still want to run!"

He put down the sack and went into the reef cave. He saw a big blue crab lying in the crevice of the rock, watching the movements here vigilantly with its small eyes as big as rice grains.

He tried using pliers first, but they were too short to hook it out, so he went over and took out the iron hook and hit it with its claws. The blue crab waved its claws to fight back and quickly clamped the iron hook, and he took the opportunity to pull it out.

It was estimated to weigh about 70 or 80 grams. It was a female crab. After being tied up with a hemp rope, it was put into the bucket. A familiar sound of water came from the puddle.

When I looked over, I saw a big gray and white fish and a red-eyed fish whose eyes took up half of its head in the puddle.

"Awei, come here quickly, there is a big stone sculpture and a red-eye fish in the puddle."

Li Changle picked up the scoop net and went down to the puddle, scooping it towards the stone carved fish. A wave came, and the surging sea water swept up the fish, and it disappeared in an instant.

Lifting the scoop net, there was only a palm-sized red-eye fish left in the net bag. "Damn, it ran really fast."

"Brother, there, the stone fish is behind you." Chen Yongwei shouted while standing on the reef.

Li Changle looked back and saw that the waves had washed the stone sculpture back again. He hurried forward and quickly scooped it up. "Yes, it's about 7 or 8 kilograms. It's a pity that it's almost dead."

Chen Yongwei pulled him aside and said, "This kind of fish likes to eat Buddha's hand snails. It's probably because it's greedy that it got stranded."

The stone fish has thick meat, fine scales, and small and numerous teeth. It likes to prey on shellfish such as conches, clams, sea urchins, and barnacles.

The most delicious part of the stone fish is not the meat but its skin, which tastes refreshing and not greasy, and is said to prevent cardiovascular aging.

Li Changle climbed up the rock and poured the fish into the bucket. "Let's go, carry the Buddha's hand snails on board first."

"Okay!" Chen Yongwei picked up a sack and a net bag and strode towards the top of the mountain. When he came back from the boat, Li Changle had just come down from the top of the mountain.

"Brother, give me the sack, and you go back and get the bucket. I'll put it away and then I'll go over and carry the remaining bag."

"It's hard work..." Before Li Changle could finish her touching words, she heard him say, "You look so delicate and tender, but you don't have much strength. I'm just like Hei Li Kui. I feel embarrassed to let you do heavy work."

"..." Li Changle kicked him on the butt. "One moment you say I'm incapable, the next moment you say I'm too delicate and weak. You want to be beaten, don't you?"

"Hehe!" Chen Yongwei laughed foolishly twice, easily carried the sack on his shoulder and strode down the mountain.

Li Changle looked at A Wei, who was as strong as an ox, striding down the mountain, and felt that his current labor force was indeed not good enough. He needed to exercise well. He couldn't sail out to sea without strength. When he returned to the place where the sacks were placed, he picked up the bucket and carried the sacks. Then Chen Yongwei came and took the sacks on his shoulders and strode up the mountain.

Li Changle followed him like a little wife, carrying a bucket in one hand and climbing up the mountain slowly.

The sun made the rocks look dazzling white, which hurt his eyes. "Oh my god, I can't even open my eyes. I need to go home and get a good sleep for a few hours before I deliver the goods to the restaurant."

Chen Yongwei turned around and smiled, "I'm also very sleepy. When you called me just now, I almost fell asleep with the chisel in my hand."

Li Changle glanced at him and said, "You dare to take a nap while standing on a rock? Are you trying to save your life?"

"Almost. Luckily you called me. I won't be so tired next time!"

"Yeah, I can't do this again next time. I don't want to be sick when I'm old."

"Brother, you are right. It is pitiful to be sick when old. I don't want to be like Uncle Tang in the future, whose bones are more accurate than the weather forecast."

"My father's rheumatism is also very serious. When he recovers, he will go to a Chinese doctor for a thorough checkup."

Li Changle quickened his pace and followed him breathlessly up and down the mountain. After getting on the boat, he put the conch into the cabin, turned around and sat down on the deck which was a little hot from the sun, and lay down with his head in his arms.

"On a day like this, it's most comfortable to sleep on the boat, just like lying in a cradle."

Chen Yongwei walked over to him with a lunch basket and sat down next to him. "Didn't you say you were very hungry?"

"I'm too hungry!" Li Changle said as he stood up and opened the lid of the rice basket. Under the melon and small cakes and candies was a lunch box. When he took it out and opened it, there were two large rice balls inside.

"It's made with cold rice from the morning. Next time you go out to sea, tell your sister-in-law earlier and ask her to prepare something delicious."

"The rice balls are pretty good too." Chen Yongwei picked up a piece and took a big bite. "It's delicious. My sister-in-law wrapped it with dried shrimps and pickles. It tastes pretty refreshing."

After thinking about it, he said, "I saw quite a few oysters just now. If I had known, I would have chiseled two and taken them with me."

"Eat less. That thing is too cold when eaten raw. Eating too much will make your stomach uncomfortable." Li Changle took a bite of the rice ball and felt that everything tasted good when he was hungry.

After eating the rice balls and a few small cakes and candies, they felt their stomachs were only half full. They picked up the melons, opened one and ate it each, only then did they feel full.

Li Changle collapsed on the deck and didn't want to move. He just wanted to sleep like this until the end of the world.

"Brother," Chen Yongwei patted him, "Didn't you say you wanted to pick up seabird eggs? Let's go to the beach at the foot of the mountain. There are a lot of seahorses in the water plants over there. Did you bring a fishing net?"

"I've brought it and put it in the bucket." Li Changle narrowed his eyes and didn't even want to move a finger.

"Let's go and catch the seahorses first, and then see if there are any seabird eggs." Chen Yongwei pulled him, stood up and brought over the bucket.

"Get up, it's not worth it if you don't earn a little more after going out!"

"Okay!" Li Changle felt like he had really found a small whip for himself. He stood up slowly, took the bucket he handed over, followed him off the boat, and walked towards the beach on the south side of the island.

When we got there, we saw that the area connected to Mantou Island was still submerged by sea water. We discovered that there was kelp mixed in the seaweed. Seahorses were like chameleons in the seaweed, changing their body protective color to the same color as the seaweed.

Li Changle handed the small net to Chen Yongwei. The two of them went into the water and stared at the water plants intently. In one breath, they caught more than ten seahorses.

The seahorses that were suddenly attacked fled in all directions, and the two men took the opportunity to catch more than a dozen of them. The escaped seahorses swam to farther seaweed and hid in them, making them difficult to catch.

The two of them stared at it for a while and felt unbearable pain and swelling. In the end, they couldn't tell which one was the water grass and which one was the seahorse.

Chen Yongwei rubbed his eyes, put down the bucket and said, "Brother, my eyes are tired, I won't fish anymore, I'll go see if there are any seabird eggs?"

Li Changle saw that there were already thirty or forty seahorses in the bucket, and thought that it would be the same next time. "My eyes are tired, too. You go find seabird eggs first, and I'll go cut some kelp and take it home to dry and eat slowly."

Chen Yongwei shook his head in disgust. "I don't like it. I ate a lot of kelp before, and every time I finished eating it, my mouth would water."

"In the past, people would cook it in plain water, add ginger, minced garlic, and a little soy sauce and vinegar to it. There was no oil or water in it, so of course people would drool after eating it. But if you buy some bones and stew them, that won't happen anymore."

"I've never eaten kelp stewed with bones before. Then you can cut a few more and we can go to Tuxia Bridge to buy some bones tomorrow to try."

I didn’t have money to buy meat before, but now I have earned as much as I did in a year, so I should buy some meat or something to feed grandma.

Speaking of Tuxia Bridge, Li Changle remembered that he had already lent the money from today's sale to Uncle Wang, and told Chen Yongwei what had happened again.

"Brother, I don't need money now, it's the same if I give it to my uncle."

Chen Yongwei said angrily, “I forgot to tell you that the news of our crab migration has spread to the neighboring Shaji Village.

When I returned home, my aunt came to my house to borrow money from my grandmother, saying that she would pay 2% interest.

Grandma didn't agree, saying she wanted to save the money to buy me a watch so that I could meet guests when I went on blind dates in the future. In the end, the two of them had a falling out. "

(End of this chapter)