Chapter 12 My Wife's First Time Going Beachcombing

Pei Jiuyan was sweating all over and had to take a cold shower.

Qin Suisui's skin was tender, which attracted mosquitoes. They would bite her every now and then, and several red bumps would appear on her fair arm instantly.

She was exhausted and slept soundly, but the bites were making her irritable. Half-asleep, she kept scratching her arm. When Pei Jiuyan came back from his second cold shower, he noticed that Qin Suisui had been bitten several times, and one of her bites was on her face, bright red and very noticeable.

Pei Jiuyan gritted his teeth inwardly. Chi Donglin and Song Yunlai, those two good-for-nothings, actually forgot about such important things as mosquito coils and mosquito nets!

If Chi Donglin and Song Yunlai knew he said that, they would definitely complain bitterly. They are tough men, when have they ever used mosquito coils? Who would have thought that?

Pei Jiuyan had no time to think about anything else. It was only May, and he was worried that the electric fan would make them feel cold. So he ran downstairs to the living room, grabbed a large palm-leaf fan, and started fanning Qin Suisui while catching mosquitoes. When he caught the thirty-second one, the sky outside began to lighten. Aunt Tang knocked on the door and called them to get up.

Pei Jiuyan tiptoed out of bed, went to the front door to say a few words to Aunt Tang, and then quietly woke Qin Suisui. Qin Suisui was scratching the mosquito bites on her body, rubbing her sleepy eyes, and mumbling something unintelligible.

Pei Jiuyan handed her a small, square box: "Here, this is a purple gromwell ointment made by Sister Tang herself. It's very effective against mosquito bites. There are a lot of mosquitoes on Qiongtan Island, and they're quite venomous. I'll go buy mosquito coils and mosquito nets during the day. I'm sorry, I didn't think it through last night."

As Qin Suisui applied the comfrey ointment to the mosquito bites, she replied, "It's nothing. I didn't even think of that myself. I'll thank Sister Tang properly later."

After waking Zan Zan, the three of them quickly washed up. Tang's wife was already waiting outside the door with a bucket. The group headed towards the sea together.

The sky outside was not yet fully bright; the tide line had receded to the far distance, merging with the dark blue sky. The slightly damp, cool air thoroughly cleared Qin Suisui's mind.

Seeing the sea for the first time in the early morning, she was very excited. Ignoring the pain in her legs, she kicked off her shoes and stepped onto the sand, wandering aimlessly. Zan Zan was infected by her excitement and also happily kicked off his shoes, running after her.

Pei Jiuyan picked up the shoes of the two people from behind, then grabbed Qin Suisui and pinned her down, trying to soften his voice: "If you make the wound burst and bleed again, do you still want to dig for crabs and clams later?"

Sister-in-law Tang also came over with a smile: "Yes, hurry up and stop running, come with me, or all the good stuff will be picked up by others!"

Qin Suisui then remembered the purpose of their trip, and hurriedly picked up the water bucket and followed Sister Tang.

There were already quite a few people on the beach, mostly villagers from several nearby villages, as well as many sisters-in-law and children from the family compounds. The adults had their trouser legs slightly rolled up, some were carrying buckets like Sister Tang, and some were tying bamboo baskets around their waists. When they walked, the dull sound of clams colliding could be heard, and it was obvious that everyone had already caught a good catch!

Qin Suisui quickly picked up the small bucket and took out the small iron shovel that Pei Jiuyan had prepared in advance. She followed behind Aunt Tang with great pride and swagger. Aunt Tang led her to a mudflat she often visited and pointed to the small holes in the sand, saying to Qin Suisui, "Look! Those are razor clam holes. Just sprinkle some salt and they'll all come out. They're very easy to catch!"

After saying that, she handed a handful of coarse salt that she carried with her to Qin Suisui. This salt was coarse salt that she had dried herself from seawater, and she didn't feel bad about using it.

Qin Suisui followed her example and sprinkled salt on the small holes. Sure enough, after a while, bubbles began to gurgle from the holes. Then, thin white tubes suddenly stretched out and quickly retracted. Mrs. Tang grabbed it with her quick eyes and hands, and with a light lift, a fat clam was pulled out, twisting in the bucket and squirting out a mouthful of water.

Qin Suisui learned quickly, and soon after following behind Aunt Tang, she pulled out more than ten plump razor clams, shouting excitedly.

After catching razor clams, Qin Suisui followed Sister Tang to the shallow pools to catch clams. Perhaps Qin Suisui was just too lucky, but she caught them one by one in the muddy water. The sound of clams, hard clams, and oil clams hitting the bucket was loud and clear. Even though it was her first time going to the beach, she was as skilled as a pro.

Mrs. Tang was stunned watching from the side, but Qin Suisui became more and more skilled, and she found more and more kinds of fish. In addition to clams, she began to throw blue crabs, sand crabs, and mantis shrimps into the bucket one after another. She even found two octopuses and five sea urchins in a puddle in a rocky area.

Qin Suisui didn't know why she was so lucky. She guessed it might be related to the space, but there were too many people around to verify it right now. She would try to verify it when there was no one around.

Fearing being seen by others and causing unnecessary trouble, Qin Suisui specially tore off a piece of seaweed to cover the bucket, and together with Sister Tang, they moved to a less crowded place to continue touching it.

Just as she pulled out a grouper as long as Zan Zan's arm from the shallow water with her bare hands, a cry of surprise suddenly erupted from not far away. Zhou Zecheng's familiar voice came from the crowd. He ran over, waving and shouting, "Comrade Qin, it's you! I saw you when you picked up the giant octopus just now. I said it was you, but Su Zhiqing said it wasn't you!"

"You're amazing! You've collected such a big bucketful! Can you teach us how? We, the educated youth, haven't collected anything yet!"

Qin Suisui: ...

Is this person crazy? Is she afraid she's not getting enough attention?

Although there is no explicit ban on people going to the beach to catch seafood, there are always exceptions. If others don't pick up anything, but she picks up a lot, people might get jealous and do something. Her identity is sensitive, and she doesn't want to cause trouble for Pei Jiuyan.

She forced a smile at Zhou Zecheng and said, "Zhou Zhiqing, you're mistaken. I didn't find a giant octopus. This bucket contains seaweed. Seaweed is everywhere; you can pick up as much as you want."

Zhou Zecheng was about to say something more when Su Yunyi ran up behind him, panting, and tugged at his sleeve, her eyes full of reproach: "Keep your voice down, you'll cause trouble for Sui Sui!"

Zhou Zecheng was stunned, and then he realized that there were already quite a few people surrounding them, all staring at the bucket in Qin Suisui's hand with shining eyes.

Pei Jiuyan was shucking oysters with Zanzan on the rocks when he heard the noise. Thinking something had happened to Qin Suisui, he grabbed Zanzan by the back of her collar and rushed over.

Seeing this scene, he glared at Zhou Zecheng unkindly, then calmly spoke to the people around him, "Excuse me, everyone. This is my wife's first time going to the beach. To cheer her up, I caught some crabs and clams ahead of time and left them in the shallow water for her to catch. I'm really sorry for disturbing everyone."

Sister-in-law Tang chimed in, "Yes, we were just joking around! As you can see, there's nothing there, mostly just seaweed. Everyone, let's go!"

Upon hearing what had happened, the onlookers spontaneously smoothed things over and dispersed, saying, "Oh well, it's just the young couple's fun; we were the ones who were being inconsiderate..."

"Is that man a sent-down youth? Why is he making such a fuss? He didn't even see anything clearly before spouting nonsense, making me wait in vain..."

"Where did this educated youth come from? He doesn't look like someone who can do any work..."

Zhou Zecheng then realized he had caused trouble and scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly: "Sorry, Comrade Qin, I was just too excited. I didn't expect it might cause you any trouble."

Su Yunyi, speaking from the side, said in a tone that was both angry and reproachful, "I told you not to shout it out, not to shout it out, but you just wouldn't listen..."

Qin Suisui's pupils dilated in shock. Looking at Su Yunyi, her demeanor was completely different from how she treated Zhou Zecheng yesterday. It seemed like things had progressed? What was going on? Had the male and female leads already gotten into the main plot after just one night? What had happened while she wasn't looking?

She pulled Su Yunyi aside and whispered, "Sister Su, what's going on between you and Zhou Zhiqing? Did something happen again yesterday?"

Su Yunyi knew what Qin Suisui meant. Her face flushed slightly. Seeing Qin Suisui's concerned look, she whispered, "Yesterday, when a few of us educated youth were returning from the city, we encountered a mentally disabled child who was being bullied by other children. They pushed him into a manure pit and nearly drowned. Zhou Zhiqing, who didn't mind the dirt at all, not only chased the children away but also personally went down into the pit, carried the child out, and brought him home."

She held Qin Suisui's hand, her eyes shining: "Suisui, we've all misunderstood Zhou Zhiqing. He's actually a very good and kind person, just a bit too outspoken."

Qin Suisui's mind exploded with a "boom"—a disabled child with intellectual disabilities? She remembered!

In the original book, after Zhou Zecheng inherited tens of millions of assets from his family, he met a "noble man" when he went to the countryside. This noble man had a very high status, and because Zhou Zecheng saved the noble man's only offspring, the noble man protected Zhou Zecheng all the way.

When Pei Jiuyan later learned that Zhou Zecheng had inherited the Qin family fortune, he began to suspect Qin Suisui's death. While secretly investigating, he was discovered by Zhou Zecheng. By then, Zhou Zecheng had already gained considerable power and was already dissatisfied with Pei Jiuyan, who came from a higher social class and had several loyal brothers. So, with the help of influential people, he dug up an old incident from 1970 to suppress Pei Jiuyan and his gang, leading to their complete annihilation...

In the original book, the heroine Su Yunyi's feelings for him also stem from this incident. Su Yunyi grew up in a wealthy family and was raised by her parents to be kind-hearted. The male protagonist, who also behaved "kindly", took a liking to her and gradually fell deeply in love with her. Later, she even believed Zhou Zecheng's words and broke up with her parents, "cleverly seizing" most of the family's property to help him...

Qin Suisui clutched her pounding heart. So, even if the "inheritance" part of the Qin family fortune didn't happen, would the hero still have a smooth journey through the rest of the story? The original book's plot was still progressing, so was she destined to die, and were Pei Jiuyan and the others destined for a tragic end? Was Su Yunyi destined to be deserted by everyone?

No! 1970, isn't that this year? What exactly happened? And who is this benefactor? Is there some hidden story behind the rescue? She must find out as soon as possible!