Chapter 216: Fun at the Seaside

Chapter 216: Fun at the Seaside

Chapter 216: Fun at the Seaside

A group of people arrived at the place where the fishing boat was docked. Li Changle and Chen Yongwei went to the boat to put the fish into the live tank. They opened the lid and saw that the tiger eel was still in the net bag.

This thing is very fierce. If you don't put it in a net bag, you may worry that it will bite the fish inside, or even escape.

The two men put the live fish into the live tank and put the dead ones into rubber buckets and covered them with ice. Looking back, they saw duck eggs and seabird eggs in the bamboo baskets.

Chen Yongwei looked at the sea ducks that had fled to the southwest of the island to hunt with shining eyes, "Brother, look at how big a group there is, at least several hundred of them. Let's go catch a few more after dinner."

"If you want to eat, go to the net!" Li Changle covered the bucket with cotton wool, pressed the lid tightly, and the two turned and walked towards the shore.

When we returned to the shore, we found that Zhou Ruonan and the children had already collected firewood and built a simple earthen stove with stones.

The eldest brother Li and the second brother Li were sitting against a big rock smoking. The two brothers also went over to sit down and watch Zhou Ruonan and her sister-in-law prepare the food.

The steamed rice had been ready in the morning, filling up a full steel pot. It was still warm under the scorching sun, and the children kept saying that it was just right and there was no need to heat it up.

The children were no longer interested in wild duck eggs and instead asked their mother to fry seabird eggs for them.

"Okay, let's fry the seabird eggs." Zhou Ruonan pointed at the bucket and said, "We also need some fresh food, snails, mantis shrimps, prawns, Buddha's hand snails and fish. Which ones do you like to eat?"

Li Xiaoqing quickly raised her hand and said, "I don't want mantis shrimp or shrimp. I've been peeling and eating shrimp these past few days, and now I get annoyed by the sight of shrimp."

"We don't want it either." Li Xiaoyang and others also shook their heads in objection.

Li Xiaohai brought their small bucket over, "Mother, we will eat oysters, small abalone and Buddha's hand snails."

The older ones and the two younger ones all raised their hands in agreement. "Xiao Hai is right. Let's eat this."

Mrs. Li picked up a small abalone and looked at it. "Wow, where did you get it? It's quite big!"

Li Xiaohai pointed to the reef below and said, "It's right there. There are a lot of rocks on the reef. We picked up the big ones and pried them out. My uncle also carried a bucket and put it on the boat."

"Okay, we'll eat these!" Mrs. Li Da and Mrs. Li Er poured the contents of the bucket into a net bag, smeared some more from the bucket on the boat, washed them, brought them to the shore, and prepared to boil water to blanch them.

Zhou Ruonan used a spatula to scoop some lard into the pan. When the oil was hot, she beat a dozen bird eggs into it, fried them until both sides were browned, scooped them into a bowl, fried another pan, and then started to roll them with rice.

Take out a small curtain woven with thin bamboo strips from the bamboo basket, place it on the chopping board, scoop a spoonful of rice on it and press it flat.

Tear a piece of fried egg and put it on top, add a pinch of finely chopped pickles and a pinch of shrimp lice, roll up the bamboo curtain, and wrap it up with a piece of rice.

After Li Ersao put the blanched snails and small abalone on the table, she boiled half a pot of water, turned off the fire, added a little lard, shredded seaweed, and a handful of dried shrimps, and then a big pot of seaweed soup was ready.

"Aping, come here and have dinner." Mrs. Li shouted to the few people who were leaning against the rock smoking and chatting.

"Okay!" The brothers stood up, patted their butts and walked over there.

A few children moved some stones over from nearby, and a dozen people sat around on the sand pile. They took the blanched abalone from the pot, dipped it in vinegar, and put it into their mouths while it was still hot. The soft, smooth, and plump meat was so delicious that it was satisfying.

It’s still a good time these days. The ocean is not polluted. Whether it’s snail meat or clam meat, they are all fat and delicious. They feel as delicious as they can be when you put them in your mouth!
Drinking seaweed soup, eating rice with fresh food, and watching the sea ducks and seabirds hunting on the sea in the distance is a unique experience.

Li Xiaozhou bit off the tender white snail meat and said, "Dad, this is fun. Bring us here next time."

Li Changle smiled and nodded, "I'll bring you here next summer vacation."

Li Xiaomei pouted, "Uncle San, it will be a long time before next year, you won't come for a long time."

Li Xiaozhou nodded, "It's been a long time since we celebrated the Chinese New Year. During the Chinese New Year, we had fried sweet potato chips, and grandma also fried pumpkin seeds for us to eat."

Li Xiaotao took over and said, "This year we are going to eat sugar cakes, winter melon candies, small cake candies, fried peanuts, and fried melon seeds. Xiao Lai's family has them every year."

Mrs. Li nodded readily, "Okay, as long as you listen, I'll buy you whatever you want to eat during the Chinese New Year."

"oh oh!"

After the group had eaten and drunk their fill, the children clamored to go to the beach to fish in the sea. When Brother Li heard Chen Yongwei say that he was going to catch wild sea ducks, he followed him.

The group of people split into three groups. Zhou Ruonan and her sister-in-law stayed behind to clean up the mess, while Li Changle and Big Brother Li took a group of children and walked towards the beach below.

The way down was a bit steep. Li Changle and Brother Li each carried a little kid on their shoulders, and the older ones followed behind, chattering non-stop.

"Don't run towards the deep water, do you hear me?" Brother Li turned around and looked at Li Xiaoyang, "Especially you, remember this."

"I heard it. We say it every time we go to the beach. It's not like we don't have ears!"

"If only you had ears, you wouldn't fail so badly in every exam."

"I'm only a few points away from passing. There are even students in my class who got double yolks."

"Double yolk?" Brother Li was stunned for a moment before he realized what it meant. He said unhappily, "If you dare to test me with double yolks and betray your Third Aunt, I will send you to the mountains to break rocks."

"Got it!" Li Xiaoyang pushed him aside and walked away. After he walked away, he began to mutter, "If you send me to help on the boat, I will pass the exam with double yolks when school starts."

A group of people arrived at the beach. There was clear blue water and white waves. They stepped on the soft beach and could feel the fine sand rolling under their feet.

There were many shellfish on the beach exposed after the tide receded, including flower clams, white clams, blood clams, and cockles. "Wow, so many!" Li Xiaozhou shook off Li Changle's hand and ran towards the shellfish.

Li Xiaoqing and her sister took off their plastic sandals and walked along the waves in the sea water. Waves of sea water hit their calves, making them cool and refreshing. They happily threw the shellfish and conchs they had picked up into the bucket.

"Dad, the water here is blue, and the beach is better than the tidal flats in Shatou Village. It's so comfortable to walk on."

"Put on your shoes, be careful of getting pricked by shells." Brother Li said dryly, bending down to pick up a big red snail rolling in the waves, "Ah Qing, you can play with it."

"It looks great!" Li Xiaoqing took it happily and went to show it off to her cousin.

Li Changle picked up a plump clam and waved to the children, "Hurry up, pick up the fat ones."

As Xiang Xiaoyu and his brother nodded, they had already picked up a few plump blood clams and cockles. From time to time, the sound of shellfish being thrown into the bucket could be heard.

"Hurry up, Xiaoyang, there's a fish in the waves... right in front of you... hurry up, it's about to run away..."

"See... I caught it, another stinky black sea bream, hahahaha..."

Only when Brother Li saw that he was safe did he lower his head to pick up the clams.

"Wow~Haha! A big blue one!" Li Xiaohai's cheers were heard again over there.

Li Changle smiled and said, "Pick out more and I'll make some steamed green beans for you to eat when I get back."

Seeing this, Li Xiaobo threw the clams in his hand into the bucket, ran over to a small hole in the shape of a pig's nose, reached out and dug it out. After a moment, he held up a green one and said, "Look, I'll pick one up too!"

"Everyone can dig a hole!" Li Xiaotao held up a green seed and shook it at him, then threw it into the bucket with a "click" and continued looking for a hole in the green seed.

There are many small fish and shrimps stranded on the beach due to being stuck by rocks. We pick up the big shrimps and throw the live small fish back into the sea. As for the dead fish, sea ducks will come to eat them after they are gone.

"Dad, hurry up, there's a big crab over there!" Li Xiaozhou ran over hurriedly, pulled Li Changle, pointed at the big blue crab running sideways towards the sea in front and shouted.

"Look at my father!" Li Changle hurriedly chased after him, stepped on the crab shell, and reached out to grab the big blue crab. "I'll steam the big blue crab for you to eat tonight!"

Li Xiaozhou shook his head in disdain, "It's not tasty, I want to eat spareribs."

"Haha! You little fool!" Li Changle rubbed him, "Okay, I'll ask my mother to buy you some pork ribs tomorrow."

"Oh, brother, there are spare ribs to eat!" Li Xiaozhou cheered and ran towards Li Xiaohai.

"Uncle A Le, I picked up a big conch!" Xiang Xiaoxing showed off to him while holding a big loquat conch.

"Find a few more. These can be sold for one dollar each."

"Oh oh!" Xiang Xiaoxing ran towards Xiang Xiaoyu excitedly, "Brother, did you hear that? One dollar each!"

Xiang Xiaoyu nodded happily. Today, he followed Teacher Zhou and his family to the island. He pried open a lot of Buddha's hand snails and picked up a lot of sea duck eggs and seabird eggs.

After selling them, you will have money to buy food, and with the remaining money you can buy some cotton and make your cotton-padded jackets and trousers longer.

Li Changle looked at the children who were having fun and secretly regretted that there were no mobile phones in those days and he could not record this happy scene.

Li Xiaoyang came over with a handful of clams and threw them into the bucket, looking at him with a smile, "Uncle San, did I do well today?"

"Not bad, keep it up!" Li Changle picked up a green seed and threw it into the bucket with a snap. In just a short while, he had picked up half of the bucket.

"Uncle San," Li Xiaoyang looked at him flatteringly, "Can you give me a share of the money from the sale of that big black sea bream?"

"You guys saved up money to buy snacks, why did you spend it all so quickly?"

"Xiaoqing took the pocket money. My mother confiscated the money I saved."

"How's that for young man? How much money have you saved?"

"Two dollars and sixty cents. I saved up for half a year, and my mother confiscated it all."

"What bad thing have you done?"

"Lao Da and his friends were playing cards in the store, and I followed them and bet on two hands. Grandpa Dong saw it and told my mother."

"You deserve it!" Li Changle looked at him sternly and said, "Remember this, if you cheat with them again, I will break your leg bones."

He vaguely remembered that when the eldest son of the Lai family was only sixteen or seventeen years old, he gambled with others playing billiards in the town. The eldest son of the Lai family sold his fishing boat to pay off his gambling debts.

Later, he went to work on a ship. As long as he got his wages, he would gamble at the dock. He would not go home until he had lost all the money in his pocket.

Learn to be good by following good people. If you play with such people, all you will learn is gambling!
It was the first time that Li Xiaoyang saw his uncle so serious, and he nodded quickly and said, "I'll remember that!"

Li Changle said softly, "Third Uncle knows that you don't like studying, but like going out to sea to fish.

But you have to graduate from junior high school anyway, because in the future, there will be more and more advanced equipment on fishing boats, and you need to learn more so that you can control a big boat. "

(End of this chapter)