He forced me to sever ties with my family and sleep on a dilapidated boat, then turned around and be

At this moment, her little face also became a bit serious, and she spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Look at this hole, it's quite different from other crab holes. It's oily and feels much smoother to the touch."

As she spoke, she stretched out another finger and gently wiped the muddy surface at the entrance of the hole.

There are very tiny bamboo leaf-shaped marks there, which are traces of blue crabs crawling.

After applying the ointment, He Zhenzhen raised her finger to examine it carefully.

Then she said, "Bayi, look, this is a bit yellow, not the yellow of soil, but the yellow of a yellow crab, and it's even shiny with oil, which means there's a yellow crab hiding in this hole."

"Its oil secretion is very vigorous, and it seeps out from the crab claws, which is why there is this yellow color in the mud."

Niu Ba nodded, then asked happily, "Great, anything else?"

He Zhenzhen thought for a moment, then carefully placed her hands on the muddy surface, bent down slightly, and smelled the cave entrance.

She sniffed it twice, then suddenly looked up, even more surprised.

"Bayi, I smell a crab oil aroma, the same oily and milky aroma I smelled before. I can confirm that there is a yellow butter crab hidden here, weighing about four or five ounces."

"How do we catch it?"

Niu Bayi said, "This yellow butter crab is indeed as you said, weighing only four or five ounces, which is relatively small. However, the oil secretion at the entrance of its burrow is quite vigorous, indicating that its body is full of yellow butter."

"This will make it difficult for it to move, and it won't have much strength, so it probably won't be able to climb very deep. I'll do it."

He raised one hand and reached it into the crab hole.

In an instant, even his elbow was submerged.

He Zhenzhen was somewhat terrified.

"Bayi, be careful. Even though it's a yellow butter crab, it's still a blue crab. Be careful its claws don't pinch you."

Before he could finish speaking, Niu Bayi suddenly cried out in pain.

This startled He Zhenzhen, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Bayi, you...you didn't really get pinched by that crab, did you? Quickly...quickly pull it out so I can see. Luckily I brought some hemostatic ointment, let me put some on it for you, quick, quick, quick!"

She couldn't wait to pull Niu Bayi's arm out of the crab hole.

With this pull, it actually came out.

But upon closer inspection, He Zhenzhen burst into laughter in anger.

"My God, Niu Bayi, are you kidding me?!"

In Niu Bayi's hand, there was indeed a shiny, oily blue crab, as if it had been roasted.

Although this butter crab was intact and had two legs, it didn't try to grab Niu Bayi.

Niu Bayi grabbed its hind shell and pulled it out.

The yellow butter crab drooped its two legs pitifully, too weak to even grab anything.

Niu Bayi blinked at He Zhenzhen.

"Don't worry, this yellow crab isn't very strong. Even if you get pinched, it won't hurt. You'll see."

He held the yellow crab in his left hand and extended a finger with his right hand to pry open the claws.

The yellow butter crab actually opened its claws to try and pinch, but it was willing but unable to do so.

After a few tries, not even a single hair was broken.

The butter crab gave up dejectedly, its claws drooping.

He Zhenzhen giggled.

"Bayi, this butter crab is so much fun! It's supposed to be very rare and delicious, but you still haven't told me how much it's worth."

Niu Bayi thought about it and realized it was a difficult question to answer.

After all, in mainland China, yellow butter crabs are generally considered to be bad or diseased crabs.

Forget about selling it for any price, I wouldn't even give it away as a gift.

But it's different on Hong Kong Island.

He said, "Let's compare it to the prices in Hong Kong Island. Over there, an ordinary blue crab costs thirty or forty Hong Kong dollars per catty."

He Zhenzhen gasped in shock!

"My goodness, are mud crabs in Hong Kong really that expensive? Thirty or forty Hong Kong dollars a catty, while they're only one dollar a catty here. Are Hong Kong dollars the same as our currency?"

Niu Bayi shook his head.

"One Hong Kong dollar is roughly equivalent to three cents in RMB. In other words, a catty of mud crab costs forty Hong Kong dollars, but here it's only 12 RMB per catty."

He Zhenzhen said, "This is also very expensive, twelve times ours."

Niu Ba nodded and added, "These yellow oil crabs are expensive, costing about HK$1200 per catty, which is about 360 yuan per catty in our currency!"

He Zhenzhen's mouth dropped open.

"My goodness! A pound of yellow oil crab can sell for HK$360 in Hong Kong? That's...that's an astronomical price! How is that possible!"

Niu Bayi shrugged.

"That's the truth. The upper class in Hong Kong Island highly regards butter crabs, and they are very rare. As I just told you, out of a thousand blue crabs, there are probably only four or five butter crabs."

"Just think about how rare this is."

He Zhenzhen stared wide-eyed, her face showing a dreamlike expression.

"My goodness! If we could sell the yellow croakers we caught to Hong Kong Island, we'd make a fortune!"

Niu Bayi felt helpless.

"I also want to sell them to Hong Kong Island, but that's not possible unless we find a buyer for yellow butter crabs here, acquire them, and sell them to Hong Kong Island through legal channels."

"If there were a seafood vendor like that, we could make a lot of money selling to him."

"If you don't have any, just eat them yourself. Anyway, these yellow butter crabs are not only delicious, but also very nutritious."

He Zhenzhen sighed, "Although the butter crab is delicious, I still want to sell it for money. I'll keep one or two to try at most. Making money is the most important thing."

"After all, we need to build a house, buy all kinds of home appliances and furniture, and we also need to buy a better fishing boat in the future."

Looking at his future wife who was so good at managing a household, Niu Bayi was overjoyed.

"No rush, let's keep catching yellow crabs. I should be able to find someone to buy them."

The person he was thinking of was Yang Qianjin.

As a returned overseas Chinese from Southeast Asia, he had many ways to get ahead.

He must have a deeper understanding of butter crabs.

Maybe we can sell them to Hong Kong Island through him.

The two continued searching for butter crabs in the mangroves.

They actually found quite a few.

Most importantly, some of the burrows of the yellow croaker have been discovered, but because the burrows are relatively small, anyone with a discerning eye can tell that the blue crabs hidden inside weigh at most a few ounces, so no one bothers to bother.

They will only dig if they find a hole that contains a large blue crab weighing at least one pound.

So, after more than an hour, as the sun was about to set, Niu Bayi and He Zhenzhen had found a total of fifteen yellow butter crabs.

The smallest weighs three ounces, and the largest weighs nearly a pound.

Once you find the entrance to the butter crab's burrow, you don't need any bait, including seawater, to lure it out.

Just like Niu Bayi said, this yellow oil crab was weak and listless, and it couldn't dig very deep. You could just stick your hand in and scoop it out.

Of course, the larger butter crabs are also hidden quite well.

For example, if it weighs seven or eight ounces or more, you can't get it out by hand.

Niu Bayi could only release some spatial seawater without anyone noticing to lure it out.

Then He Zhenzhen made a successful move and caught it in one go.

The two of them caught yellow crabs, which was a bit tiring, but they had a lot of fun.

Just then, a loud voice came from outside the mangrove forest.

"Hey everyone, crab catchers, come sell your crabs here! Crabs catching crabs, come sell your crabs here! Crabs under one pound are 80 cents a pound, and crabs over one pound are one dollar a pound!"

"Crabs weighing two pounds or more, including those with roe! All at 1.2 yuan per pound, guaranteed to be a great deal!"

It turned out that a crab dealer had come to buy mud crabs.