Chapter 547: Today's Happiness
Chapter 547: Today's Happiness
Looking out the window, one could see the massive waves crashing against the shore.
"The waves are pretty big. This typhoon seems quite severe", Jiang Xia said, a bit worried about the fish in the fish pens.
Zhao Cheng Lei glanced out. "It's not that big. I've seen the biggest storm waves, which could reach the doorstep of our old house."
Reach the doorstep? "What category was that typhoon?"
Zhao Cheng Lei shook his head. "I don't know, it was when I was a kid."
At that moment, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky.
Zhao Cheng Lei quickly grabbed the hands of the three children. "Thunder is coming."
The three children looked at their father.
A loud boom echoed through the sky!
Jiang Xia also returned to the children's side.
At that moment, Zhou Ying and Zhou Zhou came down from the second floor. Seeing Jiang Xia awake, they walked in.
Jiang Xia asked, "Did the noise wake you up?"
"No, it was the commotion", the two girls said as they ran to the crib, leaning over the railing and reaching out to hold their siblings' hands. "Did the little brother and sister wake up too?"
"Yes!"
Zhou Chengsen walked in, greeted the couple, and said, "Play with your younger brother and sister for a while. I'll go downstairs."
When the wind was strong earlier, he had come upstairs to close the windows and stayed with the children until now.
The two girls said they couldn't sleep and wanted to get up, so he let them come downstairs.
"Okay", they responded.
Zhou Zhou asked, "Auntie, did the typhoon and thunder wake them up?"
"Yes, they were scared. Were you scared?"
"No. We're grown up, we're not as timid as the little ones."
"Then teach them to be as brave as you."
"Sure!"
So the two older sisters immediately took the triplets' little hands and started lecturing them.
Zhou Zhou: "Typhoons are very powerful! They can knock down trees, blow away houses, and even capsize boats and churn the sea! So on typhoon days, you can't go out to sea or leave the house. Just stay at home, close the windows and doors, and you'll be safe."
Zhou Ying: "That's right! Typhoons are very scary. They can lift people off the ground! If little kids like you go outside, you'll definitely be blown away! Zhou Zhou and I aren't afraid because we've grown up! Typhoons only blow away small children who haven't grown up yet. So besides staying at home, you should also eat more to grow taller and stronger, and then you won't be afraid anymore!"
Zhou Zhou: "Lightning is also very powerful! It can turn people into charcoal. So during thunderstorms, you mustn't hide under trees, power poles, or houses. You should stay inside. If there's lightning during school hours, you don't need to go to school. Just stay at home until the rain stops."
Zhou Ying: "When you grow up, you won't be afraid of typhoons. You'll even like them because you can have a day off from school. After a typhoon, there will be lots of fish and shrimp to collect on the beach! So typhoons have their benefits. Don't be afraid, just stay at home."
Zhou Zhou hadn't thought of that and found it very reasonable. "Right, typhoons often come during summer break. Why don't they come during school days? Summer break is already a holiday!"
"Exactly! I hope the typhoon comes after school starts. Not now, let's save it for later!"
Jiang Xia: "..."
What a well-reasoned lesson!
Jiang Xia looked out the window at the sea again.
Then she widened her eyes. "Zhao Cheng Lei, once the typhoon is over, we can go collect seafood!"
Zhao Chenglei looked out, but all he could see were white waves.
After the waves subsided, he noticed a patch of brownish-green.
The green was likely seaweed or seagrass.
Seagrass was more likely.
But who knew?
*
The wind had weakened by noon and had mostly died down by evening.
The waves were still big, but that didn’t stop them from heading to the beach to “scavenge.”
The spot where the goods had landed was now safe.
This time, the typhoon had brought a lot, a vast expanse of white and green.
Zhou Fu had already brought out all the burlap bags from home and prepared the cart.
He said to Jiang Xia and Zhao Chenglei, “You two go to the beach and see what you can find. I’ll stay home and watch the children with your mother.”
Zhou Fu had been keeping an eye on the beach and had already noticed a pile of white stuff, probably conchs.
Conchs weren’t usually valuable, but maybe this time it would be different.
Zhou Fu admitted he wasn’t as lucky as Wangcai, so he let the couple go out together to see if they could find something good!
So the couple, along with Zhou Chengsen, hurriedly took their tools and pushed the cart out, inviting the great-grandma’s family along.
Zhou Mu ran to notify the eldest son’s family.
When Zhou Bingqiang’s family saw Zhao Chenglei and the others heading out so quickly, they also rushed to follow.
Even with half the yard wall collapsed, they didn’t bother to clear it.
Almost everyone living by the sea was out at this time.
They all headed straight for the beach, where a large patch of shellfish lay.
No one went to the green patch.
Everyone knew that seafood was much more valuable than seaweed.
The beach was covered with oysters and scallops. The early arrivals were already using shovels to scoop them into sacks.
If they were fast, they could easily get a couple of hundred pounds.
Zhao Chenglei and Zhou Chengsen also used shovels to scoop up conchs and load them into baskets.
Jiang Xia said to them, “I’ll go check out the green patch.”
If it was kelp, they’d be in luck!
“Sure, be careful.”
Jiang Xia nodded and quickly walked over to the green patch on the beach.
She found kelp, sea moss, wakame, and other types of seaweed, along with a lot of seagrass.
Jiang Xia decided to buy the fresh, cleaned kelp and sea moss at one yuan per pound.
As for the conchs, she would collaborate with Old Man Jin again. He would collect them, and she would buy the scallop meat, whelk meat, and conch meat from him, but not the oyster meat.
With a plan in mind, Jiang Xia started searching the seaweed pile for anything valuable, avoiding the shellfish area where everyone was already busy.
Zhao Chenglei and Zhou Chengsen could handle the shellfish.
They divided the work, hoping to maximize their haul.
Jiang Xia took a burlap bag and, seeing a bulge in the seaweed, started digging to see what was underneath.
She found a large whelk.
And it wasn’t just one; several places nearby were also bulging.
Jiang Xia bent down and picked them up quickly.
Whelk meat was delicious, with a texture similar to abalone.
She also found a blue-green fish called a green fish. It was already dead but still fresh, so she threw it into the bucket.
Moving forward, she discovered a large blue crab struggling under the seagrass.
Caught it!
This pile of seaweed was hiding a lot of good stuff. Jiang Xia found a pearl oyster, though she didn’t know if it had any pearls.
Caught it!
Continuing on, she saw a shrimp and picked it up.
Then she found another whelk.
This was her sixth one, and it was large.
Today’s happiness was brought by the whelks.
Onward!
At that moment, Tian Caifua also came running over with a bucket.
She glanced at the pile of conchs and then at Jiang Xia, who was alone in the seagrass, and ran over without hesitation!
“Xia, I’m here!”
(End of Chapter)
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