jdhmnovel Chapter 116 is only fit to pick up her leftovers.
Chapter 116 is only fit to pick up her leftovers.
Old Liang and the others had to go back to town tonight, so Lin Chang'er deliberately set off a little earlier today.
But when they arrived, the area near where she had asked the children to dig for clams the day before had already been occupied.
It was none other than Niu Ersao's mother-in-law, Granny Niu, and several other old women who were on good terms with their family. Light was also faintly shining through the grove of trees.
I didn't see Sister Niu Er on the beach; she must be in the bushes.
Lin Chang'er asked Wu Qingfeng and Bai Shaoan to take Lao Liang and the others to wade in the shallow reef first, while she arranged for people to dig for clams and collect duck eggs.
As they passed by Granny Niu and her group, Granny Niu greeted Lin Chang'er as if nothing had happened, "Oh my, Chang'er, you brought so many people today?" Erlang's wife was right, these seafood items were sure to sell well.
Zhou San's wife was upset and couldn't help but say, "They're shameless! They're not only trying to steal business, but they're also trying to steal the clam-picking spot from others."
Lin Chang'er also thought that these people's eating manners were too ugly, but weren't there distinguished guests present?
Let's just pretend they're invisible for now. Besides, the beach is so big, you can grab whatever you want. How much you dig up depends on your own abilities.
Lin Chang'er gently grabbed Zhou San's sister-in-law's arm and shook her head, "It's okay, the beach is so big, we can't dig it all out." Besides, she had already dug in this place yesterday. Clams don't recognize their own nests, so if they come to this place again today, they're just picking up what she left behind.
They're so smug about how much they can have!
Then, with a forced smile, he said to Granny Niu, "It's alright, you can dig all you want."
After saying that, he took Zhou San's wife and a few children and found another place to start digging.
Xiao Hua's sister-in-law went with Gu Erlang, Zhou Li, Gu Silang, Xu Gun'er and others to collect duck eggs in the low woods.
Granny Niu punched a cotton ball. Watching Lin Chang'er's retreating figure, she became even angrier. She said to her old friends in a sarcastic tone, "What's the use of just saying nice things in front of others if you don't do anything? Let's hurry up and dig, so that she won't be able to sell those clams tomorrow."
Then one of the older women chimed in, "Have you heard? That old woman Lin Houde got covered in urine by those rascals at the Gu family's house today."
Granny Niu clicked her tongue. "What bad thoughts could a child possibly have? Isn't it all taught by adults? I used to think she was a pitiful person, but now it seems..."
He shook his head with a "tsk tsk," and said, "It wasn't a good thing to begin with, it deserved to be eaten alive..."
The other elderly women were waiting for Granny Niu to help them earn money, so they naturally agreed.
Then the old women huddled together and started gossiping about Lin Chang'er's private affairs, saying some really nasty things.
Of course, Lin Chang'er couldn't hear what they were saying, nor did she care.
Nothing is more important than making money; she still has so many kids to raise!
After assigning the men to this group, they went to take Lao Liang and the others into the water.
Old Liang and the others weren't being coy. They didn't let the men Lin Chang'er had invited to be lifeguards serve them. Instead, they carried buckets and windproof lanterns and went into the water themselves.
Zhou Hai then arranged for five men to walk around the area, while he led the others to patrol the beach.
The five diners who came to the beach tonight are surnamed Liang, Chen, Zhu, Zheng, and Li.
Old Zhu was the luckiest; he spotted a blue crab as soon as he entered the water. It was his first time at the beach, and he was incredibly excited, exclaiming, "Chang'e, Chang'e, crab... crab... crab..."
Yes, in just the time it takes to have dinner, they have already changed their way of addressing Lin Chang'er to "Chang'er girl".
Lin Chang'er immediately realized, "Where?"
Old Zhu pointed to a crack in the rock, and in his haste, he immediately started working on it.
Fortunately, Lin Chang'er was quick-witted and used fire tongs to subdue the crab, thus saving him from being pinched.
After catching the crab, Old Zhu was as excited as a child, showing it to Old Liang, Old Chen, Old Zheng, and Old Li, saying, "Look, I caught one. You didn't."
Old Chen: "..." I'm not envious at all.
Old Zheng: "..." I don't either...
Old Li: "..." Me too, no, I still have a little bit.
Old Liang: "..." Squid, where's my squid!
To prevent others from acting impulsively like Lao Zhu, Lin Chang'er gave a live demonstration of how to use tongs to grab crabs. "We've brought all the tools, so let's avoid using our hands if possible. It hurts a lot if you get pinched by a crab."
Old Zhu chuckled, and the others nodded in unison.
Following Lao Zheng, they found a fish, and with Lin Chang'er's help, they scooped it into a bucket.
Old Chen found two large conch shells. This required no special skills; he just picked them up and handled them.
Under Lin Chang'er's guidance, Old Li used fire tongs to pick up a sea grouper.
Lin Chang'er herself found a nest of sea urchins, caught a conger eel, two blue crabs, three swimming crabs, and two groupers. Only Lao Liang's wood was empty.
Old Zhu leaned over for a look and teased him, "Old Liang, why don't you fill it with some seawater? It won't be empty!"
Old Liang remained calm and collected, saying, "I'm saving this bucket to hold squid."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Chang'er saw two white things not far away.
"Squid!" she called out, and hurried over, with Lao Liang quickly following.
Lin Chang'er was quick and grabbed the larger one, while Lao Liang picked up the smaller one with a bucket.
Then, carrying a bucket, he shone a lantern on it and asked Lin Chang'er, "Is this a squid? It has so many tentacles."
Lin Chang'er smiled and nodded, "What, you don't want it anymore?"
Old Liang quickly hid the bucket behind his back, saying, "How could I! Isn't this what we came here for?"
The other four also hurriedly dragged over the water, saying, "Let me see, let me see."
"Oh, so this is what it looks like?"
"It doesn't look as appetizing as it tastes!"
"Haha, you can tell that from that."
The old buddies chatted and laughed for a while, and with the squid in their pockets, they enjoyed themselves even more.
Everyone had good luck tonight. By the time they finished work, Lin Chang'er had caught three squid, four sea fish, two eels, a whole nest of sea urchins, six crabs, and even caught a dog shark, which was quite rare. She treated her old buddies to a delicious meal.
Old Liang, Old Li, and the other three also reaped a good harvest. Old Liang came specifically for the squid; everything else was beneath his notice.
Old Zhu caught three crabs and a fish.
Old Chen has a special fondness for sea snails; he collected half a bucket of large snails and a small squid.
Old Zheng and Old Li each caught two fish and one crab.
Old Liang took a liking to the dog shark that Lin Chang'er had caught and immediately placed an order for it for 10 taels of silver.
Lin Chang'er didn't know the market price of this thing, but she knew that these people weren't stingy, so she readily agreed.
Wu Qingfeng and Bai Shaoan were just having fun tonight. They followed Zhou Hai on patrol for a while, took a stroll in the grove of trees, and even helped Zhou San's wife and the others pick clams for a bit.
Only then did they see that Lin Chang'er and the others were coming up from the shallow reef.
Without waiting for them to help, the lifeguards waiting on the shore went into the water to help retrieve the goods.
As soon as Lin Chang'er came ashore, Zhou San's wife and the others had already packed all the clams into four buckets and two baskets, more than in the previous days.
In comparison, the harvest of Granny Niu and the others not far away seemed rather meager; the group of elderly women had worked all night, yet their two buckets weren't even full...