Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe saw it too, their faces immediately lighting up with joy.
"Quick, pull it up and see what kind of fish it is."
"It’s a rabbitfish, and not a small one. Watch out for the spines on its back."
Yun Linhai was wearing work gloves. "I’ll get it."
Rabbitfish weren’t worth much, only about seventy or eighty cents a catty, but this one was a good size. It was a good start.
Yun Linhe rubbed his hands together. "Let me try."
This feeling of opening a blind box was pretty exciting.
"Holy shit, it’s a toadfish. It’s so ugly."
"This hook is empty."
"Hahaha... This one’s a cuttlefish."
"AAAH! A sea snake! A sea snake! Jiaojiao, be careful!"
Yun Linhai said, "Catch it alive! I’ll do it!"
Live sea snakes were actually quite expensive.
Yun Linhai grabbed the sea snake just behind its head, found a bag, and tied it up securely inside.
The fun of longline fishing lay in the unknown. Yun Jiao and Yun Linhai were pulling up one sea creature after another. Although some hooks came up empty, they were hauling in more than they missed.
Yun Linhe rubbed his hands together again. "Let me try, too."
This fishing method had a pretty good yield.
When he took his turn, he also pulled up a few catches. Although they were mostly toadfish and squid, it wasn’t bad.
"Xiao Fu, you want to try too?"
Fu Mingyu was tempted. Just watching from the side looked fun, but after getting completely skunked last time, he was a little hesitant.
"Go on, try it."
Yun Jiao gave him a little push.
Fu Mingyu nodded. "Okay."
And then... the next three hooks were all empty.
"Hiss..."
The other three on the boat were scratching their heads in frustration. Fu Mingyu’s luck at sea was absurdly bad.
He was still a beginner, too. He didn’t even get any beginner’s luck.
By the fourth hook, no one had any hope left, but that was the one that actually had something on it.
But before anyone’s eyes could light up, they pulled it up and four pairs of eyes stared blankly at the tiny fish.
"Damn, a greenstripe."
"Greenstripe" was their local name for it. The fish was also known by a more famous name: herring.
It was long and thin, not even as long as a person’s palm.
Yun Jiao shoved Fu Mingyu aside. "You should probably never fish again. It’s not for you."
Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe nodded in deep agreement.
Although the expression on Fu Mingyu’s face barely changed, he pursed his lips and frowned slightly, and the unhappy aura around him was practically visible.
He felt like the ocean was targeting him personally.
Yun Linhe cleared his throat. "Didn’t we spot an island last time but couldn’t go because the tide was high? Why don’t we go check it out this time?"
Coincidentally, the day they discovered that island was the very day Yun Jiao had saved Fu Mingyu.
"Okay."
’If there’s stuff on the island, Fu Mingyu can’t possibly come back empty-handed, right?’
They pulled in the longline and quickly rowed the boat toward the island. Otherwise, it felt like Fu Mingyu was going to completely fall apart.
Fu Mingyu was indeed very frustrated, but he wasn’t that fragile.
He gazed at Yun Jiao’s smile, and his mood quickly improved.
Yun Jiao had an infectious smile, sunny and brilliant, that couldn’t help but lift one’s spirits.
This time, the tide wasn’t high when they reached the island.
It was an unfamiliar island they had never been to before. They found a spot to moor the boat.
"Looks like no one else has been to this island."
Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe came to this conclusion after a quick look around, because the various snails on the reefs were fat and large.
’It’s great that no one’s been here. It means there’ll be a bigger haul on the island.’
"Bags! Get the bags! The snails here are so big and there are so many of them!"
On the reefs were sea snails, whelks, and moon snails...
Just looking at them crawling all over the reefs was enough to make one grin from ear to ear.
Yun Linhai handed Fu Mingyu a bag.
"You won’t go home empty-handed this time."
Indeed. If even the snails on the reefs managed to run away from Fu Mingyu, that would be truly outrageous.
They had just arrived on the island and already found such a huge patch of snails. Everyone was overjoyed as they started gathering them.
"Xiao Fu, be careful. These reefs are slippery. Don’t climb too high."
Yun Linhai was more worried about the two "kids," so after reminding Fu Mingyu, he told Yun Jiao to be careful as well.
"I know!"
They avoided the dangerous parts of the reef, simply going around them.
As they did, Yun Jiao and Fu Mingyu discovered a vast bed of oysters on a reef flat behind them.
Not only were there a lot, but they were also huge!
"Dad! Uncle!"
Yun Jiao quickly shouted.
"Hey, what’s up?"
"Dad, so many oysters."
Yun Jiao pointed at the oyster bed.
Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe looked over and sucked in a sharp breath.
Good heavens, there were so many!
Yun Jiao hurried over and pried off an oyster. It was much bigger than her palm.
She squatted down and used brute force to open one.
The oyster’s shell was thick and large; you really couldn’t pry it open without some strength.
The meat inside was plump, and since it was alive, it was still twitching and curling slightly.
"It’s so plump."
Three voices said this at the same time.
Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe had also come over.
"Good lord, how long would it take to shuck this whole bed of oysters?"
Except for the shell, the entire oyster was edible.
A simple steam or boil would make them delicious.
Plus, they were very nourishing.
Unable to resist the temptation of this plump meat, Yun Jiao took a bite right then and there.
Yun Linhai & Yun Linhe: ...
"You could at least cook it first."
When she bit into the fattest part of the oyster, there was some green stuff inside.
Those who don’t know might mistake it for the oyster’s poop, but it’s actually the algae the oyster ate, which is also edible.
Fu Mingyu asked, "Is it good?"
Yun Jiao said indistinctly, "Want me to open one for you to try?"
His nose twitched slightly, and then he shook his head, refusing.
He couldn’t quite bring himself to eat it raw like that.
Yun Jiao said, "It’s delicious."
After saying that, she took another bite.
But as she took this bite, CRUNCH. She bit down on something hard.
Yun Jiao stopped chewing and spit something out.
"What’s this? A rock?"
Fu Mingyu leaned in for a look.
Yun Jiao said, "I think it’s a pearl."
Spitting the thing out didn’t stop her from finishing what was in her mouth.
Yun Jiao found some water to wash it and then observed it carefully.
"It really is a pearl."
In the palm of her hand lay a white, soybean-sized pearl. Its shape was quite good.
It was just that the pearl’s luster wasn’t great; it looked like a white stone that had been polished into the shape of a round pearl.
"Oysters have pearls in them?"
Fu Mingyu felt he had learned something new.
"Huh? What pearl?"
Yun Linhe, who had been shucking oysters, heard talk of a pearl and came over. He then stared blankly at the pearl in Yun Jiao’s palm.
"What’s this?"
Yun Jiao answered honestly, "I bit on it while eating the oyster and spat it out."
It took Yun Linhe a few seconds to react. "A pearl?!!!"
His suddenly loud voice attracted Yun Linhai’s attention as well.
And then...
"What? This is a pearl? Oysters have pearls in them too?!"
Yun Jiao blinked. ’How should I know? I never saw an oyster in my past life, and the ones I’ve eaten in this life never had pearls in them.’