Chapter 55: Chapter 55: Giant Mud Crab
As the eldest son, Yun Chendong was much calmer and more responsible than his younger brothers. He had helped raise almost all of them.
Taking care of Yun Jiao was naturally a breeze.
He was also incredibly meticulous and thoughtful. While Yun Jiao was eating, he untangled her hair, which had gotten messy again, and styled it into two jet-black braids coiled at the back of her head.
The little dumpling looked even more adorable.
He was a better mother hen than her actual father, Yun Linhai.
With a house full of boys, Yun Linhai, as their father, had never learned how to braid a little girl’s hair.
Yun Chendong, with great foresight, started learning how to braid hair ever since Jiaojiao arrived.
He would sometimes watch Shen Yunlian and the other women braid their hair. During the corn tasseling season, he even practiced on the corn silks while working in the fields.
Now that Yun Jiao’s hair had grown long, his skill was finally put to use.
"You eat too, Big Brother."
Jiaojiao held up the steamed bun in her hand.
Yun Chendong shook his head. "It’s okay, I’ve already eaten."
"We’re here!"
Yun Linhe’s excited voice came from ahead.
Yun Chendong looked over. ’Who would’ve thought that this seemingly ordinary little island would be hiding something as good as abalone, and so much of it, too.’
After the boat was secured, Yun Chendong first nudged a sea turtle, which was struggling to climb out, back into the water. Only then did he carry Yun Jiao onto the island.
The sea turtle happily dove into the sea to forage.
They followed their previous route to the reef that had been crawling with abalone.
"Hey, there are a few more big ones. They must have crawled up during high tide."
There weren’t many, though. They didn’t bother with the ones that looked too small, but they estimated they could gather about two or three pounds of the slightly larger ones.
Yun Chendong glanced over but didn’t join in the excitement with his dad and uncle. Instead, he took Yun Jiao and started climbing toward another section of the reef.
"Jiaojiao, you stay here and don’t wander off. I see a patch of gooseneck barnacles over there, so I’m going to pry some off."
Spotting a patch of gooseneck barnacles growing on a higher part of the reef, Yun Chendong set Yun Jiao down.
Gooseneck barnacles, also known as "Buddha’s hand snails," usually grow on steep reefs.
Yun Chendong was agile. He grabbed onto the rock and scrambled up in just a few moves.
After watching from below for a moment, Jiaojiao got a little bored and started searching for things on her own.
She crouched on a rock, her eyes wide as she peered into the crevices.
And just like that, she actually caught something.
She snatched a large mud crab that was scuttling out from a crevice.
A mud crab bigger than her face!
Jiaojiao’s eyes lit up. In all her time as a human, she had never seen a mud crab this big.
After being pulled out, the mud crab was still brandishing its claws, its huge pincers trying to snap at her.
Jiaojiao gave it a smack.
"Behave!"
Mud Crab: ...
This big mud crab’s shell was so dark it was almost black.
Jiaojiao tossed it into her little bucket. Good grief, it nearly took up the entire bottom.
Catching such a huge mud crab boosted Jiaojiao’s confidence, and she continued her search, little bucket in hand.
Up above, Yun Chendong, who was prying off gooseneck barnacles, glanced down. Seeing that Jiaojiao was busy searching and not wandering off, he felt relieved and went back to his work.
Meanwhile, Jiaojiao’s lucky streak didn’t quite hold after catching the big mud crab.
After that, she only caught two small Lan Hua crabs, a few mantis shrimp, and some prawns.
She did, however, find a small patch of spicy snails.
The spicy snails here were much larger than the ones back near the village.
She wasn’t greedy. She focused on prying off the spicy snails, picking out the large ones and dropping them into her little bucket.
"Jiaojiao!"
It was the sound of her dad and uncle’s voices.
Jiaojiao stood up and called back, "Dad! Eldest Brother and I are over here!"
The sound of the waves crashing against the rocks and the whistling wind was too loud, so Yun Linhai and the others didn’t hear her at first and kept calling.
Jiaojiao, ever so patient, kept calling back.
After she’d called out three times, Yun Chendong, from up on the reef, shouted, "We’re over here!"
Yun Linhai and his brother finally made their way over and spotted them.
"Where’s Jiaojiao? What’s up there?"
Yun Chendong replied, "Jiaojiao’s down below. There are a lot of gooseneck barnacles up here."
"Dad, Uncle~"
Yun Chendong had already pried off a good number of gooseneck barnacles. Seeing the tide creeping higher and higher up the rocks, he quickly climbed down.
"That many?"
Yun Linhai and his brother glanced at the gooseneck barnacles in his bucket. "These are so plump!"
Not only were they plump, but the flesh was long, too—as long as their fingers.
"They seem different from the gooseneck barnacles we’ve gathered before, don’t they?"
"They are different. Eating these is going to be amazing."
"Wow, Jiaojiao, you caught so many spicy snails! And some crabs and shrimp, too. You’re amazing!"
Jiaojiao’s eyes curved into crescents as she broke into a brilliant smile.
"Dad, a really big crab."
She pointed inside her little bucket.
The huge crab was at the very bottom, hidden beneath everything else.
Yun Linhai and his brother didn’t see it clearly at first. Prompted by Jiaojiao, they used a pair of tongs to poke around in the bucket, revealing the enormous mud crab.
"Holy shit!"
Yun Linhe’s eyes went wide when he saw the massive mud crab, and a curse escaped his lips.
The expressions on the other two men’s faces weren’t much better.
"A... a mud crab this big?"
Yun Linhe said, "Quick, take it out so we can get a look."
The huge mud crab was lifted out, still flailing its claws energetically.
Those massive pincers.
The sight made Yun Linhe burst out laughing.
"Seriously, I’ve never seen a mud crab this big in my entire life! This thing must weigh at least three pounds!"
Yun Linhai was just as excited, rubbing his hands together. "It’s huge, just huge... How in the world did it get so big?"
Yun Chendong asked, "How did you catch it? Did it pinch you?"
’A pinch from those claws would be no joke.’
Jiaojiao put her little hands on her hips. "It wouldn’t dare!"
She was surprisingly fierce.
But to Yun Chendong and the others, it was just adorable.
"No way, we have to put this crab in something by itself. We can’t let it get crushed."
Dead crabs aren’t worth much, and they’d be heartbroken if one this big got crushed.
It deserved a bucket all to itself.
So, Jiaojiao’s little bucket was commandeered.
"Come on, let’s head to that patch of kelp we saw earlier."
Before heading to the kelp, they stopped by the spot where they had found the whiteleg shrimp.
There were still some whiteleg shrimp, though not as many as their first time here.
But that didn’t stop them from happily gathering them up.
There were some mantis shrimp as well.
Once they’d gathered all they could, they headed for the kelp patch.
A huge mass of kelp was washed up on the rocky beach.
It was the large, wide kind of kelp, with fronds over a meter long.
Yun Linhai and his brother were grinning from ear to ear when they got closer.
"Such a huge patch of kelp! Let’s take some back with us."
Kelp wasn’t worth much, and it was very heavy.
To sell it, you’d have to dry it first.
That was too much of a hassle.
Yun Linhai and his brother weren’t planning to sell it for money. They just wanted to take some home to eat and add another dish to their table.
Freshly grown kelp is black with wavy edges.
A single frond could be rolled into a large bundle.
The three men got busy, cutting the kelp.
Jiaojiao, meanwhile, took her little shovel and tongs to search for things a short distance away.
She flipped over a piece of kelp, revealing what was hidden beneath.
A huge cluster of blue mussels!
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