I Had a Home In 1982

   Chapter 14 14. The Man Who Catches the Sea

  Wang Dongfang came back barefoot, with his trouser legs rolled up, a pipe in his mouth, and his face was tired.

   He carried the fishing gear on his shoulders, and Wang Yi went up to help unload it.

  Xiufang started to make dumplings and asked, "How is it today? How much is it?"

  Wang Dongfang said in a muffled voice, "Not strong."

   Xiufang sighed: "It's really evil, the sea cucumbers have been driven away by diesel?"

  Wang Dongfang sat down and slapped his pipe, twisted the cut tobacco from the cigarette bag and poured it into a pot: "Oh, actually there is. Today, there are boats on Shuihua Island and Jubao Island. I see that they have pricked a lot."

   Hearing this, Xiufang couldn't care less about the dumplings, she wiped her hand on the apron and asked, "How can it be possible? How many of us in seven villages and eight towns can make sea cucumbers as good as you?"

"They have some good guys." Wang Dongfang said dully, "Several families on Shuihua Island pooled money to buy a diesel engine boat to plunge into the sea. The boat is very powerful. There is a machine on it that can make oxygen, and people go into the water with a pipe in their mouth. In one breath, you can stick it underwater for an hour without taking it up.”

   said he sighed: "How does this compare?"

   Xiufang couldn't believe it: "How can they have the money to buy boats and machines? I know that on Splash Island, they are all very poor."

   "For loans, loan officers have been running around since last year, alas." Wang Dongfang sighed again.

   Wang Yi asked: "Then why don't we take out loans on the island? We also take out loans to buy boats."

  Wang Dongfang and Xiufang agreed on this question: "We are not poor and can't open the pot, so what do we do with the loan?"

   "I can't owe a debt, I can't sleep when I'm in debt, I can't sleep well, and my meal isn't fragrant. Come on, let's get ready to eat dumplings."

   Xiufang put the dumplings into the pot in two, one with peanut oil, and the other with little oil and water.

   The dumplings were out of the pot, and Wang Dongfang first scooped a few in the bowl, holding the bowls and chopsticks, and went to the south, east, and west to worship three times.

   This is a fisherman's tradition. Let the Bodhisattva of the South China Sea, the Old Dragon King of the East China Sea and the ancestors eat it first, and then the family can eat it.

   After offering sacrifices, Wang Dongfang brought a bowl of dumplings to Shouxing Ye.

   This is also a tradition on the island. Whoever has something delicious will share a portion for the birthday star first.

   Lord Shouxing is credited to Tianya Island, because his three sons sacrificed for the cause of people's liberation. Later, when the country was a little more prosperous, he compensated the martyrs' families.

   The city and the county have all given Shou Xingye pensions and pensions, but Shou Xingye has given them all to the collective.

   Among them, the pension food was given for 58 years. In the second year, the land of Shenzhou entered a three-year difficult period. Lord Shou Xing donated all the untouched pension food to the village collective.

  Xiufang told Wang Yi that it was a total of 300 catties of millet, and with these 300 catties of millet, all the children in Tianya Island were able to survive—the children could share a bowl of kelp rice soup a day.

   As she spoke, she handed Wang Yi a sea bowl full of dumplings.

  Wang Yi took a cold bite.

   The taste is alright, very spring-like.

   Shepherd's purse is strong, but lacks aroma.

   Wild vegetable dumplings must be supported by big oil and big meat.

   But he was hungry after fighting wits and bravery with the cubs in the morning, so he wouldn't be able to pick and choose and gobble his food.

  The first wave of oil dumplings under Xiufang is divided into four bowls, reserved for Shou Xingye, Wang Yi, Wang Dongfang and Wang Xianghong.

   The second batch of dumplings is not oily, she eats it herself.

  Wang Yi walked over with the bowl and said, "Sister-in-law, give me another half bowl."

   Xiufang was quite surprised: "You eat so fast? You made a big bowl?"

  Wang Yi laughed: "It's not because you still have half a pot of dumplings and you can't finish them all by yourself."

   Swiftly added half a bowl to him, and said, "The big confused will smell it. If he can eat it, he must leave a bowl for him."

   Sure enough, when Wang Dongfang came back, he was confused and caught up.

  Dazedly entered the door and said, "I smelled dumplings earlier."

   Instead of eating directly, he found a piece of bamboo, carved a small fork with a kitchen knife, and ate it with the fork inserted.

  Wang Yi was stunned: "Sharpening your knives doesn't cut wood by mistake! Who said you were confused? This is not nonsense!"

   Big confusion, hehe laughing, sitting at the door with a bowl and eating hasai.

  Wang Yi handed her bowl to Xiufang: "Sister-in-law, I can't eat half of this bowl."

   Xiufang said casually: "I just said how can you eat so much? You are full of mouth and eyes are not full."

   Wang Yi's leftover dumplings were already cold, so she brought them over and ate them.

   The fishermen of these years do not pay attention to food hygiene.

  Xiufang was taken aback for a while, then went to the second batch of dumplings to eat, and then said, "Mr. Wang is a bright brother."

  Wang Dongfang asked, "What's wrong?"

   Xiufang said: "Shepherd's purse dumplings are more fragrant with more oil..."

   "The more oil the dumplings are, the more fragrant they are." Dazhu added.

   Xiufang said: "Yes, yes, yes, you are not confused when it comes to eating."

She turned her head and said to Wang Dongfang, "I added more vegetable oil to you, but I didn't eat too much vegetable oil with Dazhuo, so Mr. Wang kept half of his bowl for me, and ate another half bowl without any vegetable oil. of."

  Dazedly listening to her words, he raised his head suddenly: "Mr. Wang gave me that half bowl, he knows I can't get enough to eat."

   said that his eyes were a little red: "Mr. Wang is so kind to me, even better than my father."

  Wang Dongfang sighed lightly: "Mr. Wang is indeed a literate college student, and also has quality!"

   He then sighed again: "No wonder he hurriedly left after eating, because we were afraid that if we found out his little thoughts, we would push him away."

  Wang Yi ran away after eating, not because Xiufang was afraid that Xiufang would find out about his careful thinking and push him back.

   But hurry back and get some food.

   Shepherd's purse dumplings without much peanut oil are not tasty, they are just the dough wrapped with green grass, he secretly got confused when he ate both of them.

   So he was in a hurry to fill his stomach, and he had to eat and drink enough to keep his spirits up, because in the afternoon the cubs were going to be reorganized again...

  Wang Yi watched the child for a day.

   Then I don’t want children in the future.

  Wang Dongfeng came again that night and said, "Go to bed early tonight, there will be a live tide tomorrow, and the tide will ebb in the morning. Let's go to Plum Blossom Beach together."

   Catching the sea is the daily activity of fishermen.

  In the era of big collectives, all the fish caught in the sea were owned by the public, and they had to be turned over to the state treasury to support urban construction, and fishermen could not bring their catches home at will.

   But catching the sea is an exception, so every time catching the sea is like going to the market, the crowd is bustling, women and children hope to catch some seafood to improve their lives.

  The coastline of Tianya Island is very long. The island is surrounded by sea, but most of them are steep reefs. Only the northwest area has tidal flats.

  The tidal flats are suitable for catching the sea when the tide is low. The small tidal flats in the northwest of Tianya Island cannot support the Wang family, so they go out to sea to find islands with large tidal flats to catch the sea.

   On the islands with tidal flats, there are villages, and the fishermen are very territorial. In this case, outsiders are not allowed to come to the sea.

  There is an amazing sea area more than ten miles south of Tianya Island. Its water level is very low and the bottom is muddy and sandy. It is usually covered by sea water.

  This is a holy place to catch the sea. Not only the Wang family on Tianya Island, but also the Liu family on Shuihua Island, the Zhao family on Jubao Island and other surrounding residents will go there.

  The fishermen’s rush to the sea is all about territory, and they have to go to occupy the territory early.

  How early is it?

   Four o'clock in the morning!

   When Wang Yi was woken up, it was still dark. He brought two compressed biscuits for breakfast, and followed him into the boat in a daze, and the boats galloped southward.

  There are women and children on the boat, as well as fishermen. Wang Yi got on the boat of the men and listened to the enthusiastic chats of the people around him:

   "The economy is booming now. I heard on the radio last night that several cities and counties are selling commercial housing. When will we go to the city to get a set?"

   "You've been a scumbag all your life. Going to the capital to get a set won't change your life. We have a rural household registration, and the city is not our land, so don't think about it."

   "You already have a hukou when you buy a house. Now you can get a hukou when you buy a house. I don't have anything to do with it. Isn't this a city hukou for the child? It's easy to talk to a daughter-in-law in the future."

   "What's the use of arguing about this? Pay attention to international affairs. NATO and the Warsaw Pact have said these days that they are going to disarm, and nuclear weapons will also be cut."

"You say this is more useless, what does it have to do with our ordinary people's life? He won't let the nuclear weapons open as fireworks to open our eyes. We have to care about life. I heard that Wengzhou opened a free market for grain and oil? I have some food, I want to go and see..."

   "Mr. Wang, why don't you speak? What are you thinking?"

  Wang recalled the divine way: "Oh, I was thinking that it's dark today, how do we go to catch the sea?"

  Wang Dongfeng laughed: "Let's go to the sea instead of going straight to the sea. We will occupy the land first. If we go after dawn, there will be no land."

   "Yes, in the past it was too late for everyone to set off before dawn, but in some villages in the back, they went to occupy a good place before dawn, so we couldn't, so we had to go earlier." said Wang Dongyang next to him.

  Wang Yi was speechless: Mother, do you have to turn inward when rushing to the sea?

  The sea area of ​​Meihuatan is quite wide. It is an intermittent tidal flat belt, with a large tidal flat in the middle and small tidal flats dotted around it, like a plum blossom, hence the name Meihuatan.

   At this time, the tide has begun to ebb, and the tidal flats are exposed.

   It is mainly made of sand, very solid, and people can step on it directly.

   Ships ran aground directly on the tidal flat, the flashlight was turned on, like a lightsaber was lit, and the night was suddenly split.

  Some flashlights are constantly shaking towards the sky. This is like a child playing with a flashlight. They really use the flashlight as a lightsaber.

   Wang Ugly Cat also came to chase the sea, and he found Wang Yi and said, "Mr. Wang, I will give you everything I found later."

  Wang Yi said happily: "Okay, then the teacher invites you to eat seafood porridge."

   Wang Ugly Cat drooled on the spot.

  The sun appeared in the east, and a large cloud hung in the sky.

  The rays of the morning sun shot straight into the sky, the white clouds were immediately dyed golden yellow, and the glow was scattered from the white clouds, and the entire east was golden for a while!

  Then the light shines on the sea, on the beach, on the boat and on people, which is very beautiful.

  Wang Yi sighed: "It's so beautiful!"

  Wang Dongyang heard the sound and became emotional: "Mr. Wang, whose girl is so beautiful?"

  Wang Yi pointed to the east: "I said the sunrise is too beautiful."

  Wang Dongyang suddenly became bored and said, "Mr. Wang, hurry up, you can just guard this beach, there are quite a lot of seafood here."

   They separated, and Wang Dongfeng sneaked up to Wang Dongyang: "Just now, Teacher Wang said that Japan is more beautiful?"

   "Who is the sun? Sunrise!" Wang Dongyang scolded him, "What do you hear in your ears all day long, it's your thinking!"

  Wang Dongfeng shrank his neck and walked quickly away.

  As the light illuminates the plum blossom beach, people who come to catch the sea are busy.

   Everyone cares about everyone.

   Wang Yi was stunned: "The old driver took me, it's my first time to catch the sea."

   Wang Ugly Cat said: "Mr. Wang, I will drive the sea, I will lead you, go, let's find the tide pool first, there are fish in the tide pool, let's pick up the fish first."

   (end of this chapter)