The GORGEOUS Mermaid Who Lands in the Eighties: Nine Brothers and Endless Pampering! - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Continuing to Collect Big Catches
“Can we eat it?” Yun Jiao asked, her eyes wide and pleading.
Her brothers just stared.
“Not right now. It won’t taste nice raw.”
Yun Jiao sighed a disappointed ‘oh,’ then, quick as a flash and before Yun Xiaowu and the others could stop her, she sneaked a bite of the big lobster’s tail.
“Crunch…”
Yun Xiaowu: “!!!”
“Jiao Jiao, don’t eat that! We have to wait for Granny to cook it when we get home.”
Yun Jiao spat out the tiny piece of tail she’d bitten off. “Oh, I know.” She sounded perfectly innocent.
“Let’s go and see if there are any more. Little sister, chuck that lobster in the bucket and hold your brother’s hand so you don’t fall.” Even in his excitement, Yun Xiaowu was still watching out for Yun Jiao.
“Fifth Brother, look! We’ve got more spiny lobsters here!” Yun Xiaoqi’s laugh was especially bright as he grabbed another one.
“Bro, over here too.”
The Yun brothers instantly went absolutely wild, gleefully snatching up the spiny lobsters and chucking them into the buckets. Yun Jiao helped catch them too. With the three of them, plus the one Yun Jiao had caught earlier, they had a whopping five spiny lobsters.
“Hahahaha… We’re absolutely minted!” Everyone was grinning from ear to ear, showing their gums. Yun Jiao was delighted, her eyes sparkling and curving into beautiful crescents.
“Right then, let’s push on and see what other big catches we can find.”
They kept going, past a few empty rock pools, until they heard a distinct noise up ahead.
“What’s that? What is it? Is it another spiny lobster?” Yun Xiaoqi demanded impatiently.
Yun Jiao’s sweet, childish voice piped up: “No, it’s not. It’s two fish.”
“Jiao Jiao, can you see them?” Yun Jiao nodded: “Mhm, I can see them.”
“Wow… Jiao Jiao, you must really be the little fairy the Dragon King sent us, then!” “Little sister’s brilliant! She led us straight to the jackpot!”
Yun Xiaowu pulled Yun Jiao’s hand: “Stop messing about, let’s go and see what kind of fish they are.”
When they reached the spot, the fish in the rock pool were brightly coloured. They could make out their outlines even in the dark sea cave.
Yun Xiaoqi: “It’s a red fish!”
“Red? Is it a Red Goatfish, a Red Snapper, or a Bigeye Snapper?” After rattling off a few guesses, Yun Xiaowu laughed heartily: “Surely we haven’t got lucky enough for it to be a Coral Trout?!”
He might be young, but he knew his fish.
“Quick, get it!” It was too dark inside the cave to tell for sure, so they’d confirm outside. The fish was still thrashing, so once he grabbed it, he immediately tossed it into the bucket.
Yun Jiao pointed at the rock pool: “There’s another one.”
Inside, there was a large brown fish. It wasn’t as bright or noticeable as the Coral Trout, and it was hiding among the rocks at the bottom of the pool, making it virtually invisible.
“Looks like a Tiger Grouper.” Yun Xiaowu rolled up his sleeves: “My turn.”
“Be careful, big brother.”
As Yun Xiaowu stepped into the pool, the seawater came up past his waist. The Tiger Grouper sensed the danger and began to thrash about wildly.
Yun Jiao suddenly shouted: “To your left.”
Yun Xiaowu instinctively grabbed left and managed to latch onto the Tiger Grouper’s huge mouth.
“Crikey, he’s massive! Hahaha… This Tiger Grouper’s gotta be six or seven pounds easy!”
Yun Xiaowu was strong, but even he nearly lost his footing. The weight wasn’t the main problem; it was that the fish was alive, and when it bucked, it felt twice as heavy.
“Quick, quick, get him out!” The Tiger Grouper was still struggling, and Yun Xiaowu barely held on. He used all his muscle to heave the fish onto the shore, leaving himself completely breathless.
“It’s a good thing we found it in a rock pool. If I’d tried to reel a fish this big in from the sea, my little body wouldn’t have managed it.” “We’re on fire today!”
“Let’s not go any further inside. We need to go home, fast. If the tide comes in and floods this place, we’ll be in deep trouble.”
They had such a huge haul today they could barely carry it all. Yun Jiao wanted to help, but her three brothers didn’t want her to wear herself out.
“Jiao Jiao, this is too heavy. You just stick with us.” Yun Jiao’s little legs pumped along behind her brothers, her tiny voice utterly serious.
“I’m strong, though.” “Brother, let me carry something.”
Yun Xiaowu struggled to carry the Tiger Grouper by himself. The buckets were crammed with spiny lobsters and the red fish. The massive, clawing lobsters meant a single bucket only held a couple, taking up two whole buckets. Since they only had three buckets, with the third holding the red fish, Yun Xiaowu had to carry the Tiger Grouper by hand.
At Yun Jiao’s insistence, they handed the smallest spiny lobster—the one she’d taken a bite out of—to the little girl.
“Be careful, little sister.” Yun Jiao nodded, clutching the spiny lobster. The large creature was strangely docile in her arms and didn’t fight back at all. Weighing just over two pounds, it wasn’t too much for her to carry.
Not long after they left the cave, the tide started to rise. They took a look at the red fish in the bucket and were even more ecstatic.
“Hahaha… It’s a Coral Trout! We’re rich, we’re rich! We’ve made way more on this trip than Dad and the others!”
The Coral Trout was a decent size; they estimated it was at least three pounds.
Yun Jiao glanced at it, disappointed that they couldn’t eat it since they had to sell the fish; the meat was quite tasty. When would she be able to go out and catch seafood to eat all by herself?
The Coral Trout is a highly valuable fish. Even the deep-sea fishing trawlers don’t always catch it, and its price at the local market is always steep.
With their bounty in tow, the children were all grinning, practically marching with excitement. Their little legs moved with the proud, confident stride of a winning army.
Although their family had repeatedly told them to keep their wealth hidden, Yun Xiaowu and the others were only kids. It was impossible for them not to show off after suddenly finding such a big haul.
So, the children, including Yun Jiao, were swaggering along the beach, clutching their spiny lobsters. It wasn’t easy to hide, anyway.
The people still out foraging for seafood stared with wide eyes when they saw them.
“Oh, my word!”
“Good heavens, look at that… such a massive Tiger Grouper!”
“And spiny lobsters! That Yun family class is hugging a huge one!”
The people on the beach stopped collecting and rushed to surround the children.
“Goodness me! There are several more spiny lobsters in the bucket!” “Xiaowu, where did you lads find these?” The group was green with envy; all this would fetch a fortune.
Yun Xiaowu puffed out his chest, incredibly proud: “We found them over there. When we got there, the fish were trapped in a rock pool, and the spiny lobsters were there too.” Of course, he wasn’t stupid enough to reveal the cave.
“This… this is a Coral Trout, isn’t it? A huge Coral Trout!!!”
The Coral Trout is a beautiful fish, entirely a festive red colour, covered in small, light blue spots. This fish is also one of the more expensive varieties, not only because of its looks but, more importantly, because its flesh is tender and rich. Coral Trout are deep-sea fish, so finding one while foraging on the shore is ridiculously lucky.
“Your luck is just beyond belief, isn’t it?”
“Where did you catch these? Why don’t I ever have luck like that?”
“You’ve only been out for a short while and you’ve found all these rare creatures. This one trip has probably earned more than those big fishing trawlers!”
Though the quantity wasn’t huge, every single one was a rare, valuable item, and they looked quite heavy. The children’s incredible luck had left the adults around them completely green-eyed with envy. However, no matter how much they wanted it, they weren’t going to steal from the children. And so, Yun Xiaowu and the others walked home with their heads held high, carrying the day’s incredible catch.
The prices for seafood in the 1980s were incredibly difficult to research, so some of the prices I mentioned were guesses. I’ll correct them if I find any inaccuracies later on.
(End of Chapter)