Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Sea Centipede
As for why Yun Jiao picked that specific abalone, the reason was simple: it just looked right to her, the same way the coconut whelk she had found before had.
Yun Jiao suspected there was a pearl inside it too, but she wasn’t sure. She would have to wait until they got back and opened it to find out.
They dug for about three hours before they had harvested all the larger abalones in the area.
They left the smaller ones to keep growing.
And they had managed to fill an entire gunnysack with abalone.
"We’re rich!"
The two adults were grinning from ear to ear.
"Should we explore some more?"
Yun Linhe wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Harvesting abalone was exhausting. They clung tightly to the reefs, and some were in treacherous spots.
Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe had both fallen several times trying to get the abalones in those places, so they didn’t dare let Yun Jiao get close.
They were both covered in scrapes and cuts from the sharp reef.
But compared to their haul, the injuries were nothing.
"Dad, you’re hurt."
"It’s fine, they’re just small cuts. They’ll stop bleeding in a bit."
"Let’s leave the sack of abalone in this tide pool for now. We can go check out the rest of the island."
If Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe hadn’t been interested in exploring the island before, they certainly were now.
After stashing the bag of abalone, they continued on.
Yun Jiao tagged along, carrying her little bucket with the big abalone inside.
They walked carefully, their eyes sharply scanning their surroundings.
"There’s a channel over there. Let’s go check it out."
Yun Linhe said, then took off running.
"Bro, there’s fish in here!"
The tide pool was rather large, and there was more than one fish inside.
The two men hurried over.
"It’s a Du’s Buri, and it’s huge!"
The Du’s Buri trapped in the tide pool looked to be almost a meter long.
Waves were still crashing into the reef-side tide pool. If the tide rose any higher, the Du’s Buri might be able to struggle free and leap back into the ocean.
But now, this unlucky fish had run into them.
There was no way the Yun brothers would let that Du’s Buri escape.
"Jiaojiao, wait here and don’t run off."
With that, the two of them jumped into the tide pool and wrestled with the nearly meter-long Du’s Buri.
The Du’s Buri was still very much alive and full of energy. It took a great deal of effort for the two brothers to haul it onto the shore.
"There are two more fish in there."
"Is it an East Star Spot?"
One of them was a beautiful shade of red.
"No."
Yun Linhe grabbed the red fish and tossed it onto the rocks.
"It’s a Red Grouper."
While both Red Groupers and East Star Spots are red, their prices are completely different. The Red Grouper is much cheaper.
But they were already very satisfied with their haul, so they weren’t disappointed it wasn’t an East Star Spot.
The other one was a common black sea bream.
The two of them were soaked to the bone, but they didn’t care. Beaming, they carried the big fish and headed back.
"Jiaojiao, keep up. We’re taking this fish back to the boat."
They couldn’t let it die out of the water.
Yun Jiao tossed the Red Grouper into her little bucket and trotted slowly behind them, taking small steps.
By the time they walked back to the boat, the Du’s Buri was already looking a bit limp.
The Yun brothers quickly tossed it into the boat’s livewell.
"This fish is seriously heavy."
"Jiaojiao, put the Red Grouper in, too."
They sat on the boat to rest for a moment. "Let’s grab the abalone and head back. Look at the time."
Besides, they were getting hungry.
Yun Linhai rubbed Yun Jiao’s little belly. "Jiaojiao, are you hungry?"
Yun Jiao took two eggs out of the small satchel slung over her shoulder.
They were hard-boiled eggs.
Grandma had packed them for her before they left.
"Dad, Uncle, eat."
"Well, look at that! You’ve got eggs."
Yun Linhe didn’t stand on ceremony. "Do you have one for yourself, Jiaojiao?"
Yun Jiao nodded and took out another one.
There were also three glutinous rice cakes.
"Dad."
Yun Linhai’s face lit up. "Our Jiaojiao came so prepared! Why don’t we build a fire right here and roast these rice cakes?"
Yun Linhe nodded. "Sounds good. Once we’ve filled our bellies, we can keep looking."
He didn’t really want to leave anyway. He was now convinced the island was full of hidden treasures.
So the two of them gathered some dry branches on the island and started a fire.
While they were roasting the rice cakes, Yun Jiao wandered off a short distance.
It was already a hot day, and sitting by the fire was even more unbearable.
But Yun Jiao didn’t go far. Munching on her egg, she started poking around in the sand on a small nearby beach with her little shovel.
She wasn’t trying to dig anything up; she was just bored and killing time.
’Huh? What’s that?’
Yun Jiao saw something long, soft, and worm-like wriggling its way toward the sea.
She walked over and snatched it up.
’So long.’
’It looks kind of gross.’
’So many legs.’
’This looks like a sea centipede.’
’You can eat these.’
Having reached this conclusion, Yun Jiao tossed the sea centipede into her little bucket and started looking for more.
And sure enough, Yun Jiao found a lot more.
She must have stumbled upon a sea centipede nest.
Several sea centipedes had poked their heads out of their holes and were crawling around a tide pool, looking for food.
Yun Jiao walked over, and one of her soft, chubby little hands shot out and grabbed one.
Then she grabbed the sea centipede’s head and yanked it upward.
"So long."
Her little face scrunched up in concentration. She had to back up a few steps as she pulled, finally yanking the whole creature out. It was longer than she was tall.
Some of the nearby sea centipedes scurried back into their holes. The creatures were incredibly timid and fled at the slightest disturbance.
But there were others.
Yun Jiao thought about calling for her dad.
But she saw that only her dad was over there roasting the rice cakes. Her uncle had gone off somewhere.
’Forget it. I’ll just catch them myself.’
’I can’t call Dad over. If he comes, no one will be watching the rice cakes.’
Yun Jiao moved more quietly, grabbing the sea centipedes that had poked their heads out of their holes. She caught one every time.
She was being perfectly quiet. Yun Linhai glanced over occasionally and saw her with her back to him, playing contentedly. She wasn’t making a fuss or causing any trouble, and he couldn’t help but think how much easier daughters were to raise.
’If this were one of his rowdy boys, he would have run off to who-knows-where by now.’
Yun Linhe returned, hauling the sack of abalone.
"Where’s Jiaojiao?"
"She’s still over there, she hasn’t run off."
Yun Linhe glanced over. "She’s so well-behaved. But the sun is beating down on her. Why isn’t she wearing her conical hat?"
"She doesn’t like it. Complains that it covers her eyes."
"Are the rice cakes ready? I’ll toss this sack of abalone in the boat and go get her."
"They’re ready."
Just as they went to get Yun Jiao, they saw the little girl stand up, tugging on something as she backed away.
When she finally pulled the thing free, it was long and somewhat flesh-colored.
Yun Linhe’s eyes went wide.
"What did Jiaojiao catch?"
Yun Linhai rubbed his eyes. "I’m not seeing things, am I?"
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