Chapter 213 I Want to Follow in My Father's Footsteps
Chapter 213 I Want to Follow in My Father's Footsteps
They set out at around seven o'clock and arrived at the waters near Chuiyuan Island at nearly nine o'clock. Fortunately, their traps and jars were set up nearby, and there were no other ships operating in this area.
Brother Li patted the snoring Li Changle and said, "Ah Le, wake up. You and A Wei take An Nan and your sister-in-law to the island first. We will collect the traps and jars and cast longlines."
Li Changle woke up from his dream, sat up and was stunned for a moment before he came to his senses. He looked at the time and found that the tide would recede in more than an hour.
"Whenever you two are done, let Awei go with you. I'll take them with me."
"Okay!" Brother Li gestured to Chen Yongwei, and the fishing boat drove to the place where it docked yesterday, slowly approached the shore and dropped anchor.
The sea ducks hunting on the shore discovered that another two-legged beast was coming, and they flapped their wings and flew towards the sea with strange cries.
Li Xiaoyang and others stood up excitedly, "Look, there are so many wild sea ducks!"
Zhou Ruonan and her two sisters-in-law also stood up in surprise.
Mrs. Li exclaimed: "I haven't seen so many wild sea ducks in a long time."
Brother Li nodded and said, "There used to be a lot of them in the grove, but they were all caught and eaten over the years."
Brother Li laughed and said, "I remember there was an island where my father and I caught two gannets, weighing more than 20 kilograms. That night, our family had a big meal."
Li Changle also remembers that time, "I hadn't eaten oily meat for a long time. I ate a lot that night and the whole family had diarrhea the next day. Grandma was so distressed, saying that we had finally had some oily meat, but our stomachs were still not doing well."
"I eat crabs, fish, shrimps, and sweet potato porridge every day. My mouth waters after eating them. I look forward to the winter solstice festival so that I can have a big meal to celebrate the festival."
Zhou Ruonan laughed and said, "No wonder you are either Mantou Island or Chuiyuan Island."
"No way, I think the shape of this island is like a round ball that was not properly formed, that's why it's called Blowing Round Island." Li Changle looked at Zhou Ruonan and the others proudly, "Do you think it looks like a round ball?"
"We don't look like it!" Both adults and children shook their heads.
Li Changle: "..."
Li Xiaotao pointed at the wild sea ducks on the island and said, "Uncle San, I think it shouldn't be called Chuiyuan Island. It should be called Duck Island."
Duck Island and Chicken Island!
Brother Li smiled and tapped him, "Just like your uncle, you only know how to eat."
"Dad!" Li Xiaotao looked at him with dissatisfaction, "There are so many ducks living here, and I didn't say anything nonsense, why did you hit me?"
"Yes, you are right!" Li Changle smiled and stroked him, "In life, food and clothing are the two things, and food comes before clothing. We have to eat well to have the strength to work, earn money to buy clothes, and build a house to live in."
"Wrong idea!" Brother Li set up the springboard and walked towards the shore carrying the backpack.
It was high tide at this point. The place where I went ashore yesterday had been submerged in water, and some snails could still be seen on the rocks.
The adults brought food and fishing gear to the island. Li Xiaoyang and Xiang Xiaoyu also went ashore and helped bring their younger brothers and sisters ashore.
Brother Li gave Li Xiaoyang some instructions, then followed Brother Li and Chen Yongwei onto the boat.
"Mom, look, there are so many duck eggs there!" Li Xiaoqing shouted, pointing at the sand slope in front.
Li Changle turned his head and looked over, and saw that there were indeed duck eggs on the sand pile.
"We finished picking up all the eggs in this area yesterday. It looks like these duck eggs were laid last night. We are still picking up eggs here today. We can keep them for a few days when we take them home."
"Oh oh!" Several children excitedly walked towards the duck eggs with small buckets converted from plastic cans.
Li Changle saw Xiang Xiaoyu and his brother carrying buckets of water, so he didn't give them the net bag. "Be careful, the worms will eat the duck eggs."
"I know!" Li Xiaoyang ran the fastest and reached the sand pile in no time. Several children followed him.
"Pick up some more small fish and bring them back to make preserved eggs for you and salted duck eggs for you to eat slowly."
"Okay, Teacher Zhou."
"Sister, we want to pick up duck eggs too." Li Xiaomei and Li Xiaozhou shouted anxiously to the older ones.
"You two are so annoying!" Li Xiaoqing and Li Xiaohui complained, then came back and took the two of them towards the sand slope.
Children often go to the beach to play with the kids. There are adults accompanying them, so there is no need to worry as long as they don’t go to the water.
Sisters-in-law Li Changle and Zhou Ruonan followed with backpacks and water bottles on their backs. They found a flat place to put their things down, and then the sisters-in-law carried buckets to pick up duck eggs.
Mrs. Li picked up a duck egg and put it in the bucket. "My grandma said that ducks that don't return to the nest to lay eggs are lazy ducks. They lay eggs wherever they go."
Mrs. Li smiled and said, "If you were lucky, you could pick up duck eggs if you walked by the ducks in the brigade's duck shed."
Zhou Ruonan picked one up and held it up to the light. "It's fresh. Can they hatch ducklings if they come down here?"
Li Changle smiled and said, "Why not? The sand will get warm after a while."
Li Xiaohai came over with a small bucket, "Dad, look, our buckets are full."
Li Changle saw that the small bucket was full and said, "My eldest son is very capable. He filled it for my mother and sent it to my grandmother after it was pickled."
"Send a few to Abao, too. He has never eaten sea duck eggs."
"Okay!" Li Changle rubbed his head and helped pick up the eggs and put them in the bucket.
"Teacher Zhou, look, we have picked up half a bucket." Xiang Xiaoyu said happily to Zhou Ruonan while holding the bucket.
"Put it in the backpack, so it won't be too heavy to carry." Zhou Ruonan helped him pick them out and put them in. "There are some in the rocks too. Look carefully and pick up more to take home." "Okay!" Xiang Xiaoyu ran away happily with the empty bucket.
They quickly walked through the entire Shapo area and picked up a lot of duck eggs. Li Changle felt that there were at least several hundred wild sea ducks on the island.
He looked at the sea in the distance. The family's fishing boats were still operating. The tide below had begun to recede, and the high water levels had been exposed. It would take more than an hour for the water to recede to the lowest point.
Li Changle found the backpack with the water pipe and shouted to Zhou Ruonan who was looking for duck eggs on the rocks: "Anan, sister-in-law, you stay here with the children. I'll go see if there is any puddle exposed below."
"Okay, be careful." Zhou Ruonan's sister-in-law took the child and walked towards the woods in front excitedly, wanting to see if there were any seabird eggs.
"Uncle San, I'll go with you." Li Xiaoyang handed the bucket to Li Xiaoqing and ran towards him.
"Keep up, don't fall."
"Don't worry, I won't fall if it's steeper than this."
Li Changle waited for him to come closer, handed him the bucket, and led him downstairs.
The further down they went, the harder the road became, and in some places they had to climb up and down. Seeing that he could really keep up, Li Changle no longer paid attention to him and walked towards the reefs in the south.
There were a lot of snails and clams clinging to the low rocks. Seeing that Li Changle didn't even stop, Li Xiaoyang hurriedly followed.
"Uncle San, we can take those mussels back and dry them in the sun."
"Wait for your third aunt and the others to come pick it up."
After searching several places, all of which were small, shallow puddles, the two men caught a few crabs, some shrimps, and a few black sea bream in a bucket, carrying them as they continued on their way.
Li Xiaoyang was so tired that he was out of breath. "Uncle San, how long will it take to find you?"
"Are you calling me now? If you're tired, go back first." Li Changle looked back at him, took the bucket he was carrying, and walked forward.
"I am not tired!"
Before Li Xiaoyang finished speaking, there was a "click" sound coming from the puddle below. People on the beach knew it was the sound made by a fish struggling in the shallow water after being stranded.
"Uncle San, come quickly, there's a big black sea bream in the puddle!" Li Xiaoyang pointed at the puddle and shouted, his voice trembling with surprise.
"Here it comes!" Li Changle quickly turned around and looked in the direction he pointed.
I saw a big black sea bream in the puddle in the depression of the reef below, with its tail still swaying above the puddle. It seemed that it was swept up by the waves and sent to the puddle.
The drop from here is about three or four meters. No wonder this guy doesn't dare to go down.
Seeing that he was watching without moving, Li Xiaoyang urged anxiously, "Uncle San, hurry up! It's so big, it can be sold for more than ten yuan. It will jump back into the water later."
"Don't worry, it can only jump into the pot today." Li Changle took the scoop net out of the backpack and handed it to Li Xiaoyang, "Give it to me later."
"Oh oh!" Li Xiaoyang hurriedly took the scoop net in his hand.
Li Changle climbed onto a reef, stepped on the slippery stones, and slid down carefully. Li Xiaoyang saw this and was worried that he would fall, so he reminded him from time to time.
Li Changle ignored him, slowly went down to the puddle, reached out to him, took the net bag he handed over, put the big black sea bream in, and handed it back to him.
Li Xiaoyang lifted the fish up and looked at the big fish in the net bag. He laughed excitedly, "Hahaha, I finally caught a big fish in my fishing career."
"Young man, it can only be discovered by you, not caught by you."
"Uncle San, I am your nephew. It doesn't matter if you arrest me or me."
"Fuck! You are even more shameless than me."
"Hey hey!" Li Xiaoyang poured the fish into the bucket and handed him the handle, "Uncle, my dear uncle, I'll pull you up."
"Get out of the way. I'm afraid you won't be able to hold me back. You'll throw me half-crippled and my life will be over."
"Don't worry, if that's the case, I will support you for the rest of your life."
"Get out!" Li Changle picked up a piece of spicy snail and threw it at the creature, then slowly climbed up on the rocks.
"Uncle, look how big it is, right?" Li Xiaoyang pointed at the fish in the bucket and looked at him proudly.
"Not bad! About 15 to 18 pounds."
"It's better to go to sea. I don't even want to study anymore."
“If you don’t study, you will be a fisherman for the rest of your life.”
"What's wrong with being a fisherman? I want to follow in my father's footsteps!"
"Little bastard!" Li Changle slapped him, picked up the backpack, put it on his back, and continued walking forward with the bucket.
"The heroic figure of The Legend of the Condor Heroes..." Li Xiaoyang followed him with great energy, and howled at the sea from time to time.
Li Changle glanced at him from time to time, and when he saw that he could keep up, he ignored him and walked forward for another ten minutes. He saw a large rock standing in front of him, so he climbed up the rock and looked down.
I saw a large oval puddle formed by the long-term erosion of waves below, which was about five or six square meters in size. The sea water had just receded there, and it would probably take half an hour for it to recede completely.
(End of this chapter)