Children have a lot of strength in numbers, and before long, they cleaned almost all the barnacles off the sea turtle. After shedding its "barnacle" coat, the sea turtle looked a size smaller.
The numerous barnacles taken off naturally became part of the children's feast.
Everyone went home to fetch a wooden basin, and they divided them up; each person got a basin-full.
Qingyu's maid and student attendant also were counted.
Barnacles are not very valuable in the Great Tang, and fishermen rarely make an effort to pick them off unless they find them on rocks or the bottom of boats to eat.
Among the Great Tang's seafood, the most valuable is always fish, so fishermen freely eat shellfish and shrimp and crabs, while only eating less tasty small miscellaneous fish.
If something could be sold at a better price, people were reluctant to eat it.
At this point, the village was already filled with the curling smoke from cooking fires as people started preparing their evening meals.
