The sun rises.

The yard heats up.

Zhong Cuihua held her knees with both hands, and deep wrinkles were layered.

Zhao Shi's brows tightened, he lit the hookah, and smoked one after another.

Zhao Dahai sat and didn't speak, wanting to repair the boat and want to go out to sea to fish, but this was not a matter that he decided alone.

"Zhao Shi."

"Repair the ship on the sea one day, do me a favor, you are a good hand."

Zhong Cuihua patted her knee.

"Huh?"

"Old sister-in-law!"

"What about going out to fish in the sea?"

Zhao Shi's eyes widened, and he couldn't even care about smoking the hookah.

"The sea is right."

"You have to make money to fill your stomach, you have to marry a daughter-in-law and have a few babies to raise or something, you don't need money, you have to go out of the sea."

"This is the life of the people in our fishing village."

"No way!"

Zhong Cuihua waved her hand.

Zhao Shi's mouth moved a few times, wanting to say something, but he closed it tightly, isn't that the truth? Every village by the sea has gone out to fish dead people, dead people dare not go out to sea, the village has long dispersed, sat for a while, sighed, stood up with both hands on his knees, said a word to come to the ship when the ship is repaired, turned around and slowly walked out of the yard.

"Grandma."

"Let's walk around the sea in front of the village. Don't run far. ”

Zhao Dahai took Zhong Cuihua's hand.

"Hmm."

"Don't run far."

"Catch some fish. Make some money. ”

"Just marry a daughter-in-law and raise a baby."

Zhong Cuihua patted Zhao Dahai's hand, stood up and walked into the hall, pulled a low stool and sat down to continue weaving fishing nets.

Zhao Dahai shook his head. Dad and mother have an accident, this is an old man is a thing of the sky falling, don't look at the loosening of the mouth and let yourself repair the boat to go fishing, but this is a last resort, the heart must be very worried, in fact, no matter whether there is a father and mother, as long as the sea is out, the people who stay at home will worry day and night, and there is no more comfort to say anything, and the people in the fishing village must face the reality, which can only be borne silently.

Zhao Dahai cooked a pot of white porridge, this is breakfast, no vegetables, poured some soy sauce and stirred a few times, brought a bowl to Zhong Cuihua, who was weaving fishing nets, filled a bowl himself, and said that he would go into the mangrove trees to see if he could make money, and then he would talk about it, it would not be a problem to get some small fish and shrimp, and there would be a little meat in the pot on the table.

Zhong Cuihua thought for a moment and nodded.

Zhao Dahai divided five by two, drank two bowls of porridge, packed up a few net bags, took a flat pole, and carried a small iron hoe, today is three o'clock in the afternoon before the tide can enter the mangrove forest, and the tide will rise at nine o'clock in the evening, the flashlight is brought, filled with cool boiled water, changed into liberation shoes, and said that he will go home later tonight, and stride out.

Zhong Cuihua slowly walked to the courtyard gate, watched Zhao Dahai disappear around the corner before turning around and returning to the hall, holding the net shuttle for more than ten minutes, wiping the corners of her eyes, and then starting to weave fishing nets one after another.

Zhao Dahai strode to the pier in front of the village, turned to the west against the sun, and went east across the beach is a reef belt for crab and goby, and the mangrove forest is at the west end of the village.

Zhao Dahai walked for almost an hour, and a mangrove forest with no end in sight appeared. This is a shrub and small tree that can grow in seawater, and generally speaking, it is a tidal flat shallow that occurs at the junction of land and sea by the sea, and can prevent wind and fix sand. Decades ago, when the typhoon season came, the fishing boats in the village came here to take shelter, but in recent years, there has been a special fishing port to shelter from the wind, and the fishing boats have gradually stopped coming.

Zhao Dahai looked at it, the tide had just begun to recede, and he rested for half an hour, until the sand and mud were exposed on the edge of the mangrove forest.

Zhao Dahai took a look and found that it was a jumping fish. In some places it is called mudskipper and jumping fish, with a large head and eyes protruding from a wide mouth, grayish-brown, with a sucker on the abdomen, which can attach to the reef or the head of the mangrove tree, and the bouncing power is very strong, and it is often seen on the beach after the tide recedes, and once alarmed, the group jumps forward.

Zhao Dahai shook his head, don't look at the jumping fish, it can't grow too big, but the meat is tender and delicious, I didn't come here today for this thing, continue to walk inside, some mangroves can grow four or five meters high, but relatively few, generally only more than one meter high, plus the root system is very developed, criss-crossing and growing into a piece, it is very difficult to walk. There are few people coming in the mangrove forest, one is walking hard, and what is caught in half a day is some worthless small fish and shrimp, which is not cost-effective, and the other is like a maze in such a place, and ordinary people may not be able to walk out when they come in.

Zhao Dahai bent over and shallow one foot, the sun hanging in the sky was shining, the same as a steamer, but he walked for five or six minutes, his forehead was full of beads of sweat the size of soybeans, his eyes widened and he looked left and right, there was no fishing boat, he couldn't go to sea, he couldn't be picky, the mangrove forest was a good place for himself, he didn't go into the mangrove forest to catch fish and touch snails since he was a child, this place was very familiar, he walked for half an hour, and he arrived at a small open space, straightened up, and his clothes were all soaked. When I was a child, I used to come here with sea melon seeds and large mud snails.

Zhao Dahai took a look, the sea water receded, the mud snail was half exposed, his hand was picked, his fist was big, I don't know how many years no one has come here, it is dense, take out the net bag he brought, fill it in half an hour, carry it no less than twenty catties, and take out another net bag, the sea melon seeds are big fingernails, dig a piece, and also almost fill twenty catties, the hoe dug a pit, and the sea water seeping out of the half pit will seep out for a while, and the mud snails and sea melon seeds in the two net bags are washed, and when you go back, you don't need to clean too hard, not mixed with mud, Pick it up later and take it easy.

Zhao Dahai rested for a while, drank some water, mud snails and sea paws didn't bring anything, few people came in the mangrove forest, even if someone came, at a glance, he knew that there was an owner's thing, not worth a few dollars, no one would take it, took a net bag and carried a small hoe into the mangrove forest, continued to walk forward, another hour passed, when the mangrove forest was drilled again, a small ditch appeared in front of him.

Zhao Dahai wiped the sweat on his forehead, he hadn't been here for several years, and it was not easy to distinguish the direction in the mangrove forest, plus many places had changed, and he almost couldn't find it.

There are small ditches in the open space of the mangrove forest, there are not many open spaces, there are many small ditches, the tide of the sea rises and falls, and there are small ditches in the places where the soil is loose, most of them are not deep, one or two meters away, the ditches are lower than the surrounding places, and there is water when the tide is low, and the sea water flows like a small river.

Zhao Dahai went down the small ditch, wading through the sea and walking forward, there were a lot of small fish and shrimp, this is not today's goal, staring at the earth dam with grass and vines exposed on both sides of the small ditch with wide eyes. Some people feel that there is no grass or vines growing in the seawater, but in fact they not only grow but also grow very well.

Zhao Dahai walked and watched, half an hour passed, and finally saw a fist-sized slightly flattened hole in the earthen dam twenty centimeters from the water surface of the small ditch, walked over quickly, observed it carefully for a while, and a smile appeared on his face.