Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Continuing to Find Big Catches
"Can I eat it?"
Yun Jiao asked, her eyes wide with anticipation.
Her brothers were speechless...
"Not now. It’s not good raw."
Yun Jiao let out a disappointed "oh." Then, while Yun Xiaowu and the others weren’t looking, she quickly took a bite out of the big lobster’s tail.
"CRUNCH..."
Yun Xiaowu: "!!!"
"Jiaojiao, you can’t eat that! Wait until we get home and let Grandma cook it."
Yun Jiao spat out the little piece of tail. "Oh, I know."
She sounded perfectly well-behaved.
"Let’s go see if there are any more. Sister, put that lobster in the bucket first, and hold my hand so you don’t fall."
Even in his excitement, Yun Xiaowu didn’t forget to worry about Yun Jiao’s safety.
"Fifth Brother, there’s more! There’s another Little Green Dragon over here!"
Yun Xiaoqi’s laughter was especially bright as he snatched up a Little Green Dragon.
"Bro, there’s one here too."
In an instant, the Yun family brothers went wild with joy, gleefully grabbing the Little Green Dragons and tossing them into their buckets.
Yun Jiao was catching them too.
Between the three of them, plus the one Yun Jiao had caught earlier, they had a total of five Little Green Dragons.
"Hahahaha... We’re rich!"
Everyone was grinning so wide their gums were showing.
Yun Jiao, caught up in the excitement, had eyes that curved into sparkling crescents, looking absolutely beautiful.
"Let’s go, let’s go! Let’s keep going and see if there’s any other seafood."
They continued forward. The next few tide pools were empty, but then they heard a noise from further ahead.
"What is it? What is it? Is it a Little Green Dragon?"
Yun Xiaoqi asked impatiently.
Yun Jiao’s high, sweet voice piped up, "Nope, it’s two fish."
"Jiaojiao, you can see them?"
Yun Jiao nodded. "Mhm, I can see them."
"Whoa... Jiaojiao, don’t tell me you’re really a little fairy sent to our family by the Dragon King."
"Our sister is amazing! She led us to a big haul!"
Yun Xiaowu held Yun Jiao’s hand. "Enough talk. Let’s go see what kind of fish they are."
When they walked over, they saw that the fish in the tide pool were brilliantly colored. Even in the darkness of the cliff-side cave, they could make out their general shape.
Yun Xiaoqi exclaimed, "It’s a red fish!"
"Red? A crimson snapper, a threadfin bream, or a bigeye?"
After guessing several types of fish, Yun Xiaowu laughed. "We couldn’t be lucky enough for it to be an East Star Spot, could we?!"
Don’t be fooled by his young age; he knew quite a lot about fish.
"Quick, grab it!"
The light in the cave was too dim to see clearly, so they decided to figure it out once they were outside.
The fish was still alive. He grabbed it and tossed it directly into a bucket.
Yun Jiao pointed into the tide pool. "There’s more."
Inside was another large, brown fish. It wasn’t as brilliantly colored or eye-catching as the East Star Spot, and if you weren’t paying attention, you’d never see it hidden among the rocks at the bottom of the pool.
"Looks like a tiger grouper."
Yun Xiaowu rolled up his sleeves. "I’ll get it."
"Be careful, bro."
The moment Yun Xiaowu stepped into the tide pool, the seawater came up past his waist.
The tiger grouper in the pool sensed the danger and began to flee frantically.
Yun Jiao suddenly called out, "To your left."
Yun Xiaowu instinctively lunged to the left and managed to grab the tiger grouper by its big mouth.
"Holy crap, it’s huge! Hahaha... This tiger grouper must weigh at least seven or eight pounds!"
Yun Xiaowu was strong, but he still nearly lost his grip and dropped the fish.
The weight itself wasn’t the main issue; the problem was that the fish was alive, and its thrashing made it feel even heavier.
"Quick, quick, throw it up here."
The tiger grouper was still struggling, and Yun Xiaowu almost lost his balance.
He heaved the fish onto the shore, leaving him completely out of breath.
It was a good thing it was in a tide pool. If he had hooked a fish this big from the sea with a fishing rod, his small frame would have never been able to pull it in.
"Our luck today is just insane."
"Let’s not go any further. We should head back. We’ll be in big trouble if the rising tide floods this place."
Their haul today was so big the boys could barely carry it all.
Yun Jiao wanted to help, but her three brothers didn’t want to tire her out.
"Jiaojiao, this stuff is a bit heavy. You just follow us."
Yun Jiao toddled behind her brothers on her short little legs, her sweet voice full of earnestness.
"I’m strong."
"Let me carry something, Brother."
Yun Xiaowu was struggling to carry the tiger grouper all by himself.
The buckets were already filled with the Little Green Dragons and the red fish.
With their long legs flailing about, they couldn’t fit more than a couple of Little Green Dragons in one bucket. They took up two full buckets.
They had only brought three buckets with them. With another one holding the red fish, Yun Xiaowu had no choice but to carry the tiger grouper out with his bare hands.
At Yun Jiao’s insistence, they handed the smallest Little Green Dragon—the one she had taken a bite out of—to the little girl.
"Be careful, little sister."
Yun Jiao nodded, holding the Little Green Dragon.
The big fellow was perfectly behaved in her arms and didn’t struggle at all.
At a little over two pounds, the Little Green Dragon wasn’t too heavy for her to carry.
Not long after they left the cave, the tide began to rise.
Seeing the red fish in the bucket made them even happier.
"Hahaha... It’s an East Star Spot! We’re rich, we’re rich! We’ve made way more on this trip than Dad and the others!"
The East Star Spot wasn’t small either; they estimated it had to weigh at least three pounds.
Yun Jiao glanced at it, disappointed that she wouldn’t get to eat it since they were going to sell it. ’This fish is pretty tasty,’ she thought.
’When will I be able to go into the sea and catch my own seafood to eat?’
The East Star Spot was a relatively precious type of fish. Even deep-sea fishing boats couldn’t always catch them, and the purchase price for them at the local collection points was always quite high.
Carrying their massive haul, the children were grinning from ear to ear. They walked with a powerful swagger, their short little legs taking on the strides of a great general.
Although their family had repeatedly told them not to flaunt their wealth.
But Yun Xiaowu and his brothers were just kids. It was impossible for them not to show off after suddenly finding such a huge treasure.
So all the kids, Yun Jiao included, paraded along the beach holding their Little Green Dragons.
Besides, it wasn’t like they could hide it.
The people who had come to forage on the beach and hadn’t left yet saw them, their eyes widening in disbelief.
"Oh my god!"
"Oh, sweet mother of mine... that... that’s a huge tiger grouper!"
"And a Little Green Dragon! The Yun family’s little girl is holding such a big Little Green Dragon!"
The people on the beach stopped foraging and all crowded around the children.
"Holy crap! There are several more Little Green Dragons in this bucket!"
"Xiao Wu, where’d you guys find these?"
The crowd’s eyes turned red with envy. They couldn’t help but wonder how much money all this would sell for.
Yun Xiaowu puffed out his chest, exceptionally proud. "We found them over there. When we got there, the fish were all trapped in tide pools. We found the Little Green Dragons there, too."
Of course, he wasn’t foolish enough to mention the cliff-side cave.
"Is... is that an East Star Spot? What a huge East Star Spot!!!"
The East Star Spot is a very beautiful fish, its entire body a festive red, dotted with small, light-blue spots.
This fish was also one of the more expensive types, not just because of its good looks, but more importantly, because its meat was tender and fresh, and it was also rich in nutrients.
The East Star Spot is a deep-sea fish, so it was incredibly lucky to run into one while foraging on the beach.
"You guys are way too lucky."
"Where’d you catch all this? How come I never have such good luck?"
"You were only out for a short while and you found all these rare prizes. This one trip earned you more than a fishing boat makes going out to sea."
There wasn’t a huge quantity, but you couldn’t ignore that every single item was rare, valuable, and looked pretty heavy.
The children’s luck had already made the surrounding adults’ eyes red with envy and jealousy.
But no matter how envious they were, they would never stoop to robbing children.
And so, Yun Xiaowu and the others, chests puffed out with pride, headed home with their day’s haul.
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