Even though she was thick-skinned, she was too embarrassed to go up to them now that they had all left, so she could only go back dejectedly. She had even taken the day off, so she had to hurry back and tell the team leader that she wasn't going to take the day off anymore; she wanted to earn work points.
Jiang Ruyu looked at Jiang Hui and teased, "Your luck with women is pretty good, isn't it? They're coming to your door first thing in the morning to offer their warmth."
Jiang Hui looked helplessly at his sister: "Sister."
Hearing her brother's frustrated tone, Jiang Ruyu laughed heartily: "Haha, I won't say anything more, lest you get angry and embarrassed."
Jiang Hui decided to ignore his sister. He carried the fishing rod, Zheng Yang carried the bucket behind him, and Jiang Ruyu carried the small tools for beachcombing. They followed Jiang Hui and encountered many elderly people who were going to catch the early tide along the way.
"Ah Hui, have you eaten?" The Mandarin was spoken with a heavy accent, and Jiang Ruyu and Zheng Yang couldn't understand a single word.
"Grandpa, have you eaten? You've gone out early, haven't you? Oh, you've got a good harvest!" Jiang Hui chatted with them like one of his own.
"Hey, hey, have some, have some." The old man was about to give Jiang Hui the seafood they had caught while beachcombing.
Jiang Hui tried to refuse them, and it took him a long time to finally do so, which also showed Jiang Ruyu that her younger brother was indeed very popular here.
After saying goodbye to the enthusiastic grandpas and grandmas, Jiang Hui led his sister and Yang Ge to a deserted beach: "Sister, if you want to go beachcombing, go to this area. I'll take Yang Ge up there first; it's a good place for fishing."
"Okay, you guys go ahead, don't worry about me, I'm already an experienced beachcomber."
Jiang Hui took Zheng Yang to find a fishing spot, while Jiang Ruyu resumed her beachcombing life.
She didn't go to the rocky area; she just stayed on the beach with a rake. Most of the elderly people there had caught clams and mantis shrimp. She didn't know how to dig for mantis shrimp, but she could manage to dig for clams.
Before long, the bucket they brought contained a dozen or so large clams. Jiang Hui found a good spot for Yang Ge to fish, then went down and dug up a few sandworms for him as bait before preparing to go down.
"Brother Yang, you're fishing now. I'll go teach my sister how to catch mantis shrimp, and then I'll come back and fish with you later."
Zheng Yang smiled and said, "Go ahead, don't worry about me."
When Jiang Hui came down, he saw that his sister had already dug up half a bucket of clams: "Sis, you're amazing! If you lived by the sea, you'd be a pro at beachcombing too."
"Hehe, right? I think beachcombing is so much fun, and you can eat the things you like."
"Let me teach you how to catch mantis shrimp. Those mantis shrimp are delicious, and there are plenty of them here."
"Sure."
Jiang Hui then taught his sister how to recognize mantis shrimp burrows: "Sister, look, this kind of burrow is a mantis shrimp burrow. It has two openings. You just need to step on this opening, and the mantis shrimp will sense the danger and crawl out to the other opening."
Jiang Hui demonstrated for his sister, and soon two mantis shrimp crawled out of the hole that gushed water when Jiang Hui stepped on it.
"There are two in this hole, probably a pair, and they're quite big. Sister, be careful when you grab them, their shells have hard thorns on both sides, you might prick your hand if you're not careful."
“Okay, I’ll give it a try.” Jiang Ruyu found it quite interesting, so she tried to find the holes herself. After a few attempts, she was able to find the mantis shrimp holes very accurately and catch the mantis shrimp quickly and accurately.
"Wow, sis, you're amazing! You caught it all by yourself. I'm going fishing with Yang Ge now. I'll try to catch a big fish for you at noon so we can cook something delicious."
"Okay, you go ahead, I'll take my time."
Jiang Ruyu was in high spirits. She didn't know if the mantis shrimp tasted good, but catching them was quite fun.
All morning, Jiang Ruyu was either catching shrimp or raking clams, and she also went to the reef to collect a lot of snails and mussels. When the sun was high in the sky, Jiang Hui and Zheng Yang came down carrying fishing rods and buckets.
"Sis, let's go back. Yang and I have both caught some fish. Let's go back and cook."
"Alright, here it comes." Jiang Ruyu's bucket was almost full.
"Aren't you tired from making so much?" Zheng Yang quickly took the bucket from his partner, looking at her with a hint of concern.
Jiang Ruyu waved her hand dismissively: "It's okay, I'm not tired, I think it's a lot of fun."
Jiang Hui twitched his lips and silently walked forward. Seeing them like this, he felt a little heartbroken.
"What kind of fish did you catch?" Jiang Ruyu ran over to look at the bucket Jiang Hui was carrying.
"There are several kinds. This black and white one is a black sea bream, which is very tender. This one with yellow on its fins is called a yellow bream. And that one with spots on its body is a sea bass. There is also a small yellow croaker. They are not very big, only about two pounds, but they are all very tender. They are delicious whether you steam them or stew them."
They carried buckets full of their harvest home, and just as they reached their doorstep, they ran into Han Zhiqing, who was getting out of school and heading home. Jiang Ruyu's eyes lit up and she smiled, saying, "Han Zhiqing, school's out?"
Han Ling smiled politely and said, "Yes, Comrade Jiang went to the beach?"
"Yes, we had a great day. Jiang Hui even caught some fish. I see you'll be cooking again when you get back, so let's eat here. Consider it a thank you for covering for Jiang Hui; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to keep us company."
Han Ling wanted to refuse, but Jiang Ruyu pulled her arm and led her to Jiang Hui's house: "Don't be shy. Anyway, we have class early in the afternoon. We caught a lot of food from the beach and can't finish it all. Just consider it a good deed and help us not waste food."
Jiang Ruyu was so hospitable that Han Ling didn't even realize it when she sat down at the table with her chopsticks, her bowl filled with food that Jiang Ruyu's older sister had put on her plate.
"Eat up, Jiang Hui's cooking is pretty good." Jiang Ruyu secretly winked at Jiang Hui.
Jiang Hui felt a mix of helplessness and secret delight. He pretended to be nonchalant and said, "Han, try my cooking. We're both educated youth, so you don't need to be so reserved."
Han Ling felt their goodwill and smiled, "Then I'll shamelessly ask for a free meal."
Not all of the fish were cooked. Only the black sea bream and yellow croaker were steamed, and the yellow catfish was boiled into a thick white fish soup. The mantis shrimp was stir-fried with scallions and ginger by Jiang Hui, with some chili added. It was especially flavorful, and Han Ling kept gasping for breath as she ate.
Clams were boiled in soup, and mussels were boiled in water; the result was truly fresh, sweet, and delicious.
"The food in my hometown is quite light, but this dish tastes even better with a little spice." Han Ling is decisive and doesn't like to be coy. After the meal, she got to know them much better.
After finishing their meal, Han Ling was about to leave when Jiang Ruyu handed her the larger sea bass: "Look. There are still several more. Take this one back and cook it for dinner. We can't finish all of them. We're leaving tomorrow."
Han Ling was a little reluctant to see them leave: "You're leaving tomorrow? Aren't you going to stay a couple more days?"
Jiang Ruyu smiled and said, "No, I came mainly because I was worried about Jiang Hui. This place is too far from our home. But now we're relieved."
Han Ling glanced at Jiang Hui and, noticing he was looking at her, quickly looked away: "Jiang, Jiang Zhiqing is a very capable and thoughtful person, he really doesn't give us any cause for concern."
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