Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Picking Up Shrimp
Yun Jiao turned and skillfully tossed the sea centipede into her small bucket.
Then she saw her dad and uncle standing behind her.
She tilted her head slightly. "Dad, are the roasted sticky rice cakes ready?"
Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe stared at her bucket, which was already nearly full of sea centipedes: ...
’Why is she so calm?!’
"S-Sea centipedes?"
"It really is!"
The two of them stared at Yun Jiao in shock.
"You caught this many in such a short time?"
Sea centipedes might look a bit gross, disgusting, and ugly, but they were nutritious and delicious. The crucial thing was that they were hard to find, and they fetched a good price at the purchasing station.
And Jiaojiao had found so many just while playing around.
Yun Linhe felt like throwing his head back and laughing.
’Our Jiaojiao is really one to make big moves on the quiet!’
"Dad, there are more over here."
Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe forgot all about eating and hurried over to help catch them.
Yun Jiao, however, stopped catching them. She took the roasted sticky rice cake her dad handed her, found a rock to sit on, and started eating it in small bites.
She watched the two adults catch sea centipedes as she ate.
SPLASH...
A sea turtle emerged from the water, holding something dark in its mouth.
It crawled over to Yun Jiao and dropped the item for her.
It was a sea urchin.
It was a huge sea urchin.
"Are there more?"
The sea turtle nodded, indicating there were plenty more down below.
Yun Jiao stared at the ocean, wanting to go in.
But her dad and uncle would never allow it.
Her eyes darted around. ’I wonder if I can ride the sea turtle back later.’
"Go get me a few more."
But the thought of the sea turtle running back and forth, only able to carry one at a time, was too troublesome.
So, after a moment of thought, she climbed onto the boat and found a net bag.
"Here, take this with you. Catch a lot and bring them back, okay?"
She even taught the sea turtle how to use it.
"Did you get it?"
The sea turtle stared at her with its beady eyes, looking a bit dopey.
Yun Jiao said, "Silly, you can’t even learn something this simple."
Then she instructed it two more times.
"Try picking up that rock and putting it in."
Yun Jiao pointed her little finger at a small rock not far from it.
The sea turtle was very obedient, picking up the rock and dropping it into the net bag.
"That’s right!"
Yun Jiao clapped her hands. "Just like that. Go on, hurry."
Only then did the sea turtle take the net bag in its mouth and dive back into the sea.
After sending the sea turtle off, Yun Jiao went to find the sea urchin she had tossed aside and hadn’t retrieved yet.
Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe walked back over. It was ridiculous, but the two of them together had caught fewer sea centipedes than Yun Jiao had by herself.
"Where did this sea urchin come from? Jiaojiao, don’t move. Don’t touch it."
Yun Jiao was squatting by the sea urchin, about to reach for it, when Yun Linhe and Yun Linhai’s frantic voices stopped her.
She lifted her exquisitely delicate face, which looked as if it had a natural beauty filter, and gazed at them innocently with her blue-black eyes.
"Getting pricked by this thing hurts like hell."
Yun Linhai used a pair of tongs to pick up the sea urchin.
Yun Jiao followed them, chanting, "Wanna eat, I’m hungry, wanna eat..."
She expressed her desire very enthusiastically, muttering nonstop about how hungry she was.
She looked so pitiful.
"You didn’t get full from the sticky rice cake?"
Yun Jiao shook her head, staring at the sea urchin.
’Actually, I am full. I just really want to eat the sea urchin.’
"Alright, Dad will find some scissors and open it for you."
It was a very fresh sea urchin. Once the sharp spines were cut off, it was safe. When opened, it was full of fresh, yellow roe.
"Here, eat up."
Yun Jiao ate it eagerly. It was delicious, just as she’d expected~
She was so happy her big eyes narrowed into slits.
After she finished, the two brothers, Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe, wanted to continue exploring the island.
Naturally, Yun Jiao continued to follow them.
The two adults wouldn’t feel safe leaving her there by herself.
They carried Yun Jiao through the difficult parts, and in the easier spots, she walked on her own, slowly keeping pace.
From time to time, they would also find some mantis shrimp and crabs.
"This mud crab is huge! It must be over a pound."
Yun Linhai got lucky and caught a large mud crab. It thrashed its claws about and looked almost as big as Yun Jiao’s little face.
"Dad, there are a lot of shrimp down there."
Yun Jiao suddenly pointed to a submerged beach area below a reef.
"And lots of seaweed."
The two men walked toward her. Following the direction Yun Jiao was pointing, they saw the seaweed. A huge pile of it was heaped on the shore.
But they didn’t see any shrimp.
’Is Jiaojiao’s eyesight that good?’
"Let’s go down and take a look."
Even if there were no shrimp, they could still take the seaweed back.
"What a huge patch of seaweed!"
When they got down to the beach, they finally saw the shrimp Yun Jiao had mentioned.
"It’s shrimp!"
And it was a whole school of them, trapped on the beach.
As soon as they approached, the shrimp in the shallow water, probably startled, began to jump around.
You could catch them just by bending over. What was the difference between this and picking them up for free?
"Let’s get the shrimp first."
Yun Linhai glanced at the sea. "We have to hurry. Once the tide comes in, these shrimp will be gone."
As for the seaweed, there was no need to worry. Even if the tide came in, the seaweed wouldn’t sprout legs and run away.
The three of them immediately squatted down, grabbing the shrimp one by one and tossing them into their buckets.
Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe were grinning from ear to ear.
’We must have stumbled into a stroke of amazing luck today. Bless Mazu, bless the Dragon King. We have to go to the temple to burn some incense and make a donation when we get back!’
The tide was rising quickly, so Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe frantically gathered the shrimp.
So they didn’t notice that not far away, with her back to them, little Yun Jiao was catching a few for the bucket, then catching one for her mouth.
She would brutally twist the head off a still-living shrimp, peel off its shell with practiced ease, and then pop it into her mouth.
Her little mouth moved quickly, munching and chewing before swallowing it down.
When the tide finally rose, Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe watched regretfully as some of the shrimp escaped back into the sea. Picking up their full buckets, they turned and prepared to carry Yun Jiao up to higher ground.
"The tide’s in. We have to get out of here."
Yun Linhe said, "Bro, give me the buckets. You carry Jiaojiao."
"Alright!"
When Yun Linhai picked Yun Jiao up, the little girl still had half a shrimp stuffed in her mouth.
Yun Linhai: Σ(ﾟДﾟ)
Yun Linhe had almost the exact same expression.
Both of them stared at her in shock.
Yun Jiao just chewed faster, her big eyes looking exceptionally innocent in her pretty little face as she gazed at them.
After finishing the shrimp, she even let out a small, satisfied burp.
Yun Linhai pointed at her. "You..."
"Bro, not now! The water’s surging in. We have to go."
Yun Linhai hoisted Yun Jiao up and ran.
"Jiaojiao, how many did you eat?!"
Yun Linhai was worried sick. His daughter was perfect in every way, except for this bad habit of always stuffing things into her mouth.
’She has to take a bite out of everything!’
Yun Jiao let out another burp, her little belly looking slightly more pronounced. "Not many," she argued stubbornly.
She held out her small bucket. "I caught a lot of shrimp, too."
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