After finishing her meal and washing the lunch boxes, she and Xu Nian went back home together and took a nap at their respective homes.

At two o'clock, she showed up at the gate of Xu Nian's house with a bucket in her hand, and shouted at the top of her voice: "Sister Anian!"

Xu Nian folded the quilt and carried a small bucket out of the kitchen.

Gu Qingqing waved at her and said, "I just saw many sisters-in-law carrying buckets out. They said that the tide is low and it's the best time to pick up seafood. Do you want to bring a pair of pliers?" It was not convenient for her to bend over.

Xu Nian was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "Wait for me a moment." She turned back.

Gu Qingqing simply carried her bucket with her, and when she came out, the two of them talked as they walked: "It's good to live in the army. You don't have to lock the door wherever you go."

Xu Nian held a pair of pliers in his hand and said softly, "Yes, the environment here is quite good, but it's a little desolate. When the children grow up, the facilities on the island should be almost complete."

While they were talking, children kept running past them, the oldest were eight or nine years old and the youngest were only two or three years old, staggering behind their older brothers and sisters.

Some were brave enough to ask directly: "Auntie, are you going to the beach to pick shrimps?"

Gu Qingqing and Xu Nian looked at each other and smiled at the same time.

Looking at the brother and sister in front of her, she thought of when she and Goudan were kids, and she took out two White Rabbit candies from her pocket and gave them to them: "Yeah, do you know where to buy seafood?"

The kid who got the candy pointed to the east and said, "There's a beach over there! We went to see it early this morning. There was a big crab there, but it was a bit fierce."

The girl behind him peeled off the candy wrapper of White Rabbit candy, stuffed it into her mouth, and imitated her brother's words, mumbling: "... a little fierce!"

Gu Qingqing and Xu Nian were both happy, and Xu Nian thought the lady was still adorable.

"Thank you. You can come to my house when you are free." It was the first time that Gu Qingqing heard this title and she was still a little uncomfortable. However, after she rolled the word "aunt" around on her tongue, she didn't think it was a big deal.

She and Chu Dai are old enough to be uncles and aunts. As her mother said, it is common for children of this age to have several children.

"Okay! Thank you for the candy, auntie." The little boy was good at talking: "Next time we catch crabs and shrimps, we will send some to the two aunties. I will remember what you look like."

Gu Qingqing rubbed his head and said, "Okay, my last name is Gu and her last name is Xu. Don't worry, we might meet again in the cafeteria tonight."

"good!"

The two little kids quickly ran away again.

Gu Qingqing picked up the bucket again, looked at the backs of the brother and sister, and couldn't help but smile.

Seeing her like this, Xu Nian urged, "Have a child with Captain Chu. I think you are quite adaptable to island life. You didn't get seasick yesterday, and you went to hoe the land as soon as you got up this morning. Now you are busy picking up seafood. You have endless energy."

Gu Qingqing thought of the cute brother and sister just now, and felt a little moved, but after thinking about it, she shook her head: "Let's do it later. I still want to grow some vegetables, pick some seafood, and go to the back mountain to pick some wild fruits. If I'm pregnant, it will be inconvenient to do anything."

"That's right," Xu Nian laughed. "Eat more of your favorite crabs and shrimps now. If you really miss Captain Chu, he will be stricter with you than Zhao Ze."

Gu Qingqing walked briskly, looking at the blue sky, white clouds and the beach in the distance, feeling cheerful: "So, I'm not in a hurry! Sister Anian, was it summer when you gave birth to your baby?"

"About the right time," Xu Nian calculated in his mind and said, "The time is just right, the weather is comfortable."

Gu Qingqing kicked the sand and walked forward. "Where are we going to give birth then? Off the island or on the island?"

This problem is also the reason why she and Chu Dai are not considering having children for the time being. All the facilities on the island are not perfect, not to mention medical equipment. There is only one military doctor, Zhao Ze, from the Corps, and it is not clear whether other war zones have brought military doctors.

Anyway, there are definitely no female military doctors at the moment.

"Let's see if we can apply to the organization to go back with the supply ship a month in advance. If not, ask your brother Zhao to deliver the baby for me." Xu Nian still trusted her man very much and would not say anything he was not sure about.

Gu Qingqing was silent for a moment, and the last thought of having a baby was instantly dispelled.

It’s better to wait a little longer. Chu Dai is not in a hurry, and his family members are not pushing for it.

When we arrived at the beach, the sand was white and looked particularly clean.

Gu Qingqing finally understood why it was called Baisha Island.

She originally wanted to take off her shoes and walk along the beach, but then she remembered that her period had not yet ended, so she decided to endure it and come back to play in the water later.

There was a patch of muddy beach nearby. Gu Qingqing took a look at it and said to Xu Nian behind her, "This mud looks quite deep. Let's borrow two pairs of boots from the Quartermaster Department next time before we come back."

Xu Nian nodded and suddenly said, "Qingqing, there seems to be a crab under the small stone in front."

"Where?" Gu Qingqing leaned forward slightly and didn't see it.

Xu Nian pointed with the pliers, "Here," and handed the pliers to her: "Try to see if you can reach it. Let's go to the beach and see if there is anything washed up by the sea. The mud is too rotten, and there is no water to take a bath if it gets dirty."

Gu Qingqing agreed with this. The little boy must have caught crabs here and then washed them directly with sea water, otherwise he would have been picked up and beaten by the adults when he got home.

She took the pliers handed to her by Xu Nian, squatted down, and dug a few times along the gap between the stones. When the opportunity arose, she clamped the crab with the pliers, dragged it back, and threw it into the bucket.

"Let's go to the front and take a look. Sister Anian, please keep an eye out for me and I'll pick it up."

"good."

The two of them walked side by side towards the coastline in front, the waves rolled up white foam and hit their feet, and the sea breeze was gentle and refreshing.

Gu Qingqing couldn't help but close her eyes and said comfortably, "I originally thought that life on the island would be boring and hard without anything, but I didn't expect it to be more comfortable than at home."

Xu Nian nodded and said softly, "It's hard for the men." They came with the men's allowances for food, and it was only the first day on the island, but they had no time to come back for meals. This was enough to foresee how heavy the mission given to them was.

Thinking of Chu Dai, Gu Qingqing was silent for a while and said, "This is their own choice. We just need to accompany them. There is nothing else we can do to help them."

"Taking care of yourself is the greatest help to them." Xu Nian glanced at the women coming in twos and threes from a distance, "Qingqing, shall we go to the other side?"

Gu Qingqing originally wanted to go up and say hello, but Xu Nian was rather introverted and didn't much talk to strangers, so she just responded and turned to the other side with Xu Nian.

The sisters-in-law who were walking over there were stunned for a moment. Looking at their backs as they left with buckets, one of them said unhappily, "What do you mean? Are you looking down on us? The one with the braided hair seems to be the wife of the young officer on the ship."

Someone nearby picked up a clam, washed it in the puddle, and threw it into the bucket: "Maybe he thought we had picked all the clams here, so he wanted to go over there and have a look."

"Yes," someone said nonchalantly, "She doesn't know us, so why should she look down on us? Her husband is a military officer. Do you guys go to the cafeteria to eat tonight or cook for yourself? Or how about we pool all the seafood we picked up and go out together?"

The first person who spoke looked at his own bucket, which was mostly full of seafood, then looked at the empty buckets of others, and pouted: "I'm not coming anymore. You guys can come together. I have many children at home, so I don't want to join in the fun."

The people around her understood her thoughts and did not force her.

Their men were all from the Luzhong Corps, and they knew exactly who Captain Zhang's wife was.

She is talkative and likes to take advantage of others, but she won't allow others to take advantage of her.

Gu Qingqing and the others were unaware of what was happening here. She bent over and Xu Nian took the pliers, picking things up with great pleasure.

Even though they didn't recognize or know the names of these hard-shelled shellfish, it did not hinder their enthusiasm for going to the sea. Gu Qingqing picked up whatever she saw and put it into the bucket. She also pulled a handful of kelp that floated from the seashore and stuffed it into the bucket.

It was full in an instant.

Her heart was also satisfied.

Xu Nian looked at the bucket filled with cat-eye snails and shrimps and said worriedly, "I can't eat any of these. I won't cook tonight. Qingqing, you can take them back."

Gu Qingqing was stunned. "I don't know how to cook these. There are many things I don't recognize. I don't know if they are edible."

"Captain Chu grew up by the sea, so he must know what these are. You can go back and ask him. Uncle Yu once said that seafood is the easiest to cook. Just add some water and two slices of ginger and steam it."

Such a simple method made Gu Qingqing interested.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, the man, covered in mud, pushed open the gate.

Gu Qingqing heard the noise and ran out. Seeing the man’s face, chin, clothes and pants were covered with mud and sand, she was stunned: “Brother, are you guys going to the sea too?”

Chu Dai took the towel she handed over, wiped his face, and said with a smile: "No, I'm drilling a hole. Did you go to the sea?"

Seeing that he hadn't wiped it clean for a long time, she grabbed the towel directly, held his chin with her left hand, and stood on tiptoe with the towel in her right hand to wipe the mud on the side of his face. "Yes, I had nothing to do in the afternoon, so I went to pick some seafood. Many sisters-in-law went there. But except for crabs, shrimps and cat's eye snails, I have eaten these, and I don't recognize the others. Wait and see what they are."

"Okay." Chu Dai lowered his head slightly to make it easier for her to wipe it. "You don't have a stomachache anymore, do you?"

"It doesn't hurt that much." Gu Qingqing wiped the mud off his face, and then used a towel to pull his clothes and pants to knock off the sand.

"Go change into some clean clothes. We'll have dinner at home tonight."

Chu Dai was enjoying the rare tenderness from his wife and felt particularly calm. He didn't expect her to suddenly say such a thing.

The man remained calm, "You must be tired from sailing. Go to the canteen to eat tonight. The supply ship sent mutton here today. There should be mutton stewed with noodles tonight."

Gu Qingqing hesitated for a moment, but her hands didn't stop moving: "Then the seafood won't be fresh tomorrow? I think the shrimps seem to have flipped over."

"...Okay, I'll listen to you and eat at home." Chu Dai knew he couldn't escape, so he gave up struggling.

He sighed inwardly, opened his arms, and let her circle around him.