Chapter 153: A Lavish Feast (Bonus for 690 Monthly Votes)

The sunrise-watching expedition ultimately turned into a clam-digging and beach-scavenging adventure. Everyone's hands were full of catches, and with nowhere left to store them, Hong Tao simply took off his jeans. He used the red ribbon that Jin Yue used for her braids to tie up the pant legs, turning them into a large makeshift sack where anything could be tossed. Of course, carrying this heavy sack wasn't Hong Tao's job; that task fell squarely on Teacher Liu's shoulders.

Although they missed the sunrise, everyone still had a great time. Da Jiang, sticking out his large, plump backside, used a wooden stick to poke small crabs out of the crevices in the reef. Jin Yue stood nearby holding a small bucket, dropping them in one by one as they were hooked out. They had already filled half a bucket, yet they were still not satisfied. Han Xue and the other girls were almost soaked through, yet they were still chasing stubborn little fish in the shallows. In the end, even Hong Tao's shirt was confiscated by them to use as a makeshift fishing net.

"Hehehe... That girl's legs are quite well-shaped... Who would have thought her waist was so slender... Sigh! Jin Yue, you're still lacking a bit! Just a bean sprout!" Hong Tao was left wearing only a pair of swim trunks. He stopped foraging and leaned against a reef, basking in the light of the newly risen sun while carefully observing the figures of the girls. Their clothes were plastered against their bodies, and with the backlighting, it was practically like having X-ray vision.

When they returned to the sanatorium, it was just a little past eight o'clock in the morning. Most people went back to their rooms to catch up on sleep, but Hong Tao dragged Teacher Liu along, refusing to let him sleep, insisting they go out for a walk. At this time, the downtown area of Beidaihe was still filled with those single-story flat-roofed houses. Private guesthouses weren't entirely unheard of, but they were quite rare. There wasn't much being sold on the main streets, save for a popsicle and soda stall right at the entrance of the sanatorium, alongside two stalls selling seashells.

"Where on earth are you dragging me?" Teacher Liu had gotten up in the middle of the night to watch the sunrise and was now exhausted and sleepy, desperately wanting to go back to bed.

"I'm treating you to a seafood feast at noon, but we need to find a good cook first!" Hong Tao didn't let go, continuing to pull Teacher Liu along the seaside street while occasionally glancing around.

"With just those few crabs of yours, you call that a seafood feast? One each isn't even enough!" Teacher Liu laughed, assuming Hong Tao intended to find a local family to process the crabs.

It was said that sea crabs couldn't survive overnight once dead, otherwise they became toxic. It was best to process them while they were still alive—such as steaming them directly—and many local families here would help tourists process the crabs they bought so they could safely take them home.

"Tsk! Who's eating those things? Besides, even if we wanted to, we can't; that small bucket has already been monopolized by Jin Yue and Da Jiang, who plan to change the water and keep them as pets. So we still need to find a fisherman to buy some proper ones to eat. Oh! Look, this place looks like a fisherman's home, there's a fishing net hanging right by the door. Let's go in and take a look!" Hong Tao pulled Teacher Liu toward a house whose courtyard wasn't right on the beachfront, but had a fishing net propped up at the entrance.

"Auntie! Do you have any crabs for sale?" Hong Tao wasn't shy at all; he pushed open the courtyard gate and walked right in. In the corner of the yard, a middle-aged woman was squatting and mending a large pile of fishing nets.

"Oh my... The boats haven't come back yet. If you want to buy crabs, you'll have to wait another hour!" The aunt was short in stature, with skin dark and glowing—the unmistakable mark of someone weathered by the sea breeze year-round.

"Auntie, I wanted to ask if it's possible for us to eat here at your place?" Hong Tao squatted down beside her, watching her deftly maneuver a small bamboo shuttle through the meshes of the net. Her technique was similar to how he wove dragonfly nets, only much faster.

"One yuan and ten cents a pound, with a five-cent processing fee. Take them back and heat them up and you can eat..." The aunt didn't even raise her head as she rattled off the prices.

"Oh, I don't mean just processing. I want to ask if we can actually eat right here in your home. There are about seven or eight of us. Not just crabs, we want other seafood too. You just cook them up for us however you normally would at home. I'll add twenty cents per pound to your processing fee, what do you think?" Hong Tao explained his intention again.

"We just boil everything in plain water; we don't have all those fancy urban tastes you city folks have. Can you actually eat that?" At this, the aunt finally stopped her shuttle, raised her head, and asked with a puzzled look.

"There's no such seafood in the city at all, none whatsoever, so there's no way to be picky. Just cook it your family's usual way. Tell me the price per pound, and I'll add twenty cents per pound for processing. But I do have one request: they must be washed thoroughly. How about it?" Hong Tao had to repeat himself.

"Right here in my house?" The aunt still found it hard to believe.

"Yes, right here in your house. I think this courtyard is quite nice. Would you mind setting up a large table, and have some soy sauce, vinegar, minced ginger, minced garlic, and chili oil ready? It would be even better if you could prepare a bottle of white liquor, a crate of soda, and some pancakes or thick dough drop soup. I'll give you thirty yuan as a deposit right now, and when your boats return, I can pick out the exact ones we want to eat, alright?" Hong Tao didn't want to say it a fourth time, so he pulled out his trump card: three crisp ten-yuan bills!

"This... Is this your child?" The aunt reached out halfway, then pulled her hand back, looking up at Teacher Liu standing behind him.

"Ah... You could say that..." Teacher Liu already knew what Hong Tao was up to. He didn't object, though he was quite surprised by how casually Hong Tao had pulled a thick stack of ten-yuan bills out of his pocket.

"Alright then, don't worry. As soon as my family's boat returns, I'll pick out the very best ones for you. If there aren't enough, you can go pick from the other boats too; they all come back together!" Only then was the aunt reassured. She accepted the thirty-yuan deposit, a happy smile blooming on her face—making money is a joy for anyone.

With lunch arranged, Hong Tao and Teacher Liu returned to the sanatorium to rest. Teacher Liu even ran over to the school's team leader to inform him that they wouldn't be eating lunch at the sanatorium, so the cafeteria could prepare accordingly and avoid waste. People in those days still cared deeply about food; having only been well-fed for a couple of years, almost everyone was reluctant to waste grain.

At half-past ten, Hong Tao started stirring things up again. He went from room to room waking up the girls, and then forcibly dragged Teacher Liu along to return to that small courtyard. By this time, three men had been added to the yard. The older one was clearly the father, around fifty years old, with deep wrinkles etched across a face even darker and shinier than the aunt's. The other two must have been his sons—one tall and formidable, the other thin and slight. It was a mystery how their genes were arranged to produce such a vast difference between brothers born of the same father and mother.

Suddenly seeing such a large group of young girls rush into their courtyard, the two young men were stunned, standing frozen in the corner with wide eyes. It took the aunt walking over and swatting them each on the head with her apron to snap them into action. They briskly ran outside and soon each carried back an eight-immortals table, placing them in the middle of the yard before running out again to borrow stools.

Hong Tao didn't pay attention to how the dining tables were being set up. Accompanied by Teacher Liu, he followed the head of the household to the very back of the yard, where three large wooden barrels covered with lids were kept. The father was remarkably straightforward and simply opened all three lids. First to be revealed was a thick layer of sparkling white crushed ice chips.

"All of ours are right here. You pick first, and if it's not enough, I'll take you to the village to pick more. Five boats came back this morning, definitely enough!" The man didn't say much more, using his hands to push the ice chips aside to reveal the seafood chilled beneath.

"Han Xue! Don't just stand there in a daze, bring that big basin over! We're each having a big crab first!" Hong Tao's mouth was practically watering. The bucket on the left was entirely filled with swimming crabs, their shells and claws a greenish hue, each weighing over two pounds. In later generations, swimming crabs of this size were rarely seen domestically; many sea crabs were farmed and harvested after only a year of growth, leaving them completely hollow with no meat inside.

"This is the mantis shrimp; this is the sea urchin, which tastes the best; this is the sea snail—the kind they use to blow horns in the movies. Hey, don't blow it yet, there's still meat inside, blow it after you finish eating! This is the razor clam, and this is the yellow croaker, wild-caught! I'll take it!" By now everyone had gathered around, staring at the seafood in the barrels. Hong Tao was the only one who could name every single variety. As he pulled things out of the barrels, he introduced them to everyone.

"Auntie! This sea snail doesn't need to be boiled; just pull the meat out and slice it raw! Oh... and prawns, give us two more prawns... Fresh hairtail fish! Steam it, steam it! Fresh squid, eat it raw!" Hong Tao was in a state of high excitement. With every item he pulled out, he instructed the aunt on how to cook it, while a whole courtyard of people just watched him put on a show.

In the end, Hong Tao didn't go to the other households to pick more seafood. The contents of these three wooden barrels were more than enough to eat, and the variety was quite rich. Besides marine animals, there was also a marine plant called deer-horn vegetable, which tasted crisp and refreshing when tossed in a cold salad.

People's eyes are always bigger than their stomachs, a problem many fall into, especially when encountering foods they love. They always overestimate their appetite, resulting in piles of leftovers.

When the simply processed seafood was brought out and stacked plate by plate and pile by pile onto the tables, Hong Tao acutely realized that he might have ordered too much—and not just by a little bit. He estimated they wouldn't even finish half of it. Seafood wasn't like other food; once left over, it couldn't be eaten. Since Hong Tao didn't plan to take it back with him, he simply dragged the family members to the table as well, insisting everyone eat together!

"Teacher Liu, the sanatorium's clinic should have Loperamide, right? Berberine is fine too, you'd better prepare some just in case." Hong Tao scooped out the last crab claw, then stared helplessly at the large prawn, truly defeated. Everyone else was staring at each other with wide eyes; having seen much and eaten little, they were all stuffed to their throats.