Chapter 196 Exclusively published on Jinjiang Literature City: Beachcombing! (Bug Fix)...
Yunlu Village is actually not far from the sea. It only takes two hours to reach a coastline with both sandy beaches and rocky reefs by taking the suspended bus.
Since the start of the midnight sun, the weather has been excellent. Even before we got close to the sea, the villagers in the car could already see the azure waters in the distance.
"It's the sea!"
"This is the ocean! It's so vast, completely different from rivers!"
The men, women, and children on the bus leaned close to the window, gazing at the distant sea with expressions of curiosity and excitement.
However, when they discovered that Lu Xuan had parked the bus in an open area far from the sea, everyone couldn't help but look puzzled.
"Why did you stop so far away?" Li Tie asked Lu Xuan.
Lu Xuan got out of the RV and gestured for them to look at the vast expanse of mudflats in front of them.
"It's low tide now. In a few hours, this mudflat in front of us will be covered by seawater. If you don't stay far away, the area under the bus will be submerged."
"Huh? Is that so?"
The other villagers, who had just gotten off the bus, looked at the distant sea in surprise.
People who grow up inland can hardly imagine what it means for the tide to recede by hundreds or thousands of meters.
Zhang Chengming said, "Then if we want to go out to sea, we have to walk to the shore and then release the kayaks or fishing boats?"
Lu Xuan shook his head. "Let's not rush to go to sea. We can't waste such a good day."
The crowd was puzzled.
Lu Qing asked, "What auspicious day?"
Lu Xuan: "Low tide, a good day for beachcombing."
It's a coincidence that today is the first day of the third month of the lunar calendar, a day of great low tide.
Normally, the tide recedes twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, with an interval of six hours in between. The suitable time for beachcombing is only about one hour.
The Great Ebb Tide is different.
On the first and fifteenth of each month, as well as the three days before and after, the low tide lasts for a much longer period.
As the tide recedes further, more mudflats suitable for beachcombing are exposed, resulting in a richer harvest than during low tide.
Lu Xuan pointed to the vast mudflats and told the others, "This mudflat may look empty, but it actually hides countless seafoods that couldn't escape with the tide. Shellfish, shrimp, crabs, whelks, kelp, seaweed, octopuses..."
As Lu Xuan described it, the villagers' eyes grew brighter and brighter, and their excitement was instantly aroused.
"This beach sounds like a treasure trove of seafood!"
"The key is that it sounds very interesting, like a treasure hunt, where you find the hidden seafood little by little."
Lu Xuan nodded, "Beachcombing is an activity that can both bring rewards and uplift your spirits."
In a sense, it can also be considered a treasure hunt.
The satisfaction gained is completely different from simply going to the sea and using a fishing net to catch hundreds or thousands of pounds of fish.
On the way here, Li Tuo had been anxiously thinking about the holographic game, but now he had completely forgotten about it and said impatiently, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's start!"
Lu Chen, Xiong Dabao, and other children were also very interested in the activity, their faces full of eagerness, and many of them couldn't help but run onto the beach.
Lu Xuan calmly said, "No rush. Let's get the tools for beachcombing first, and then I'll teach you some tips for finding seafood."
Without some urgent training, someone who has never gone beachcombing before, or been exposed to numerous modern beachcombing videos, might not find much even after wandering around the mudflats.
On the way here, Lu Xuan had already bought a lot of tools in the mall, and now he took them out and distributed them to everyone.
Each person has a bucket containing a small shovel, rake, strainer, large tongs, gloves, a net, and a bamboo tube with a small hole punched in it, among other tools.
Lu Xuan took out a bamboo tube and told the villagers who had gathered around, "Fill this tube with salt yourselves. Go to the beach and find small breathing holes. Use a small shovel to remove the top layer of mud and sand, then sprinkle salt into the holes. The razor clams that are hiding inside will come out."
"Once you find a razor clam, you have to pull it out immediately, otherwise it will quickly shrink back and burrow into the deeper sand. If you are quick, you can dig out more mud and sand and catch up. If you are slow, you will not be able to catch anything."
Everyone was astonished.
"This way of grabbing sounds interesting." It's just that sprinkling salt on it is a bit wasteful.
But thinking about how delicious the seafood Lu Xuan brought back last time was, with just a little salt, each household had stockpiled hundreds or even thousands of kilograms, so using a kilogram or two for beachcombing didn't seem like much.
Lu Xuan continued, "The breathing holes aren't necessarily from razor clams; they could also be from moon clams. Moon clams have smaller breathing holes, which can be dug out with a small shovel."
"There are probably a lot of clams around the beach where you find moon clams. If you dig around a bit, you might find a whole bunch at once if you're lucky."
"In other places, there are countless tiny breathing holes. You can use a strainer to dig out the entire layer of sand and then sift it with seawater to remove the sand. There will be a lot of sea snails inside."
"A bump on the beach could be a snail or a crab. Check any unusual bumps you find on the mudflats. Remember, never touch it with your bare hands if you're unsure what it is; always wear gloves."
"Once you've confirmed it's a crab, use big pincers to pinch it. Crab claws are very powerful; you might accidentally break your fingers if you're not careful."
The villagers, who had been listening with great interest, tensed up and immediately nodded seriously: "We will definitely be careful!"
If you accidentally break your finger while catching a crab, it's both painful and embarrassing.
Afterwards, Lu Xuan shared other precautions with everyone based on his own experience and videos of beachcombing he had seen before.
Once the villagers had a basic understanding and theoretical knowledge of beachcombing, Lu Xuan said, "Alright, everyone can take your tools and try to see how much seafood you can find."
The villagers immediately cheered and scattered in all directions with their tools, full of fighting spirit.
More than a hundred people were scattered across the vast mudflats like fish in the sea, without appearing crowded at all.
Most people were very interested in the breathing hole that Lu Xuan mentioned, and thought it was the easiest to find. They immediately filled the bamboo tube with salt and bent down to search for it on the mudflats.
Before long, someone exclaimed, "I found the breathing hole!"
Then, with great enthusiasm, I took a shovel, dug out a layer, and sprinkled salt onto the breathing holes.
People nearby quickly gathered around to watch, and as soon as they got close, they saw a pale yellow razor clam head pop out of its breathing hole.
The villagers who were spreading salt quickly and accurately grabbed the razor clams and pulled them up, laughing happily: "Hahaha, I caught one! This is really fun!"
The others, seeing the example, gleamed even brighter and said defiantly, "Only one? What's there to be so smug about? I'm sure I can find many more."
As they spoke, they dispersed again, their eyes wide as they searched elsewhere.
One after another, people in different places shouted that they had found a breathing hole, then sprinkled salt and caught razor clams.
Those who are quick can catch them accurately, while those who are slow to react will let the razor clams escape if they are not careful, and they cannot be caught even if you dig with a shovel.
If this happens, you're bound to be ridiculed by the other villagers.
Some found breathing holes, just like Lu Xuan taught, but instead of razor clams, they dug up moon shells or clams.
Some people found that the razor clams weren't very big and not satisfying enough to eat. After playing with them for a while, they quickly moved on to looking for mounds on the mudflats.
"Hahahaha! What a huge conch! Is this the cat's-eye conch that Lu Xuan mentioned? The meat is so plump!" Zhang Chengming held a large cat's-eye conch in his hand, his smile radiant.
Ye Ping, who was standing nearby, quickly handed over the bucket.
"Let's look around some more. There must be more nearby. Let's find a few more to cook a dish, so the whole family can have a good meal."
Zhang Chengming immediately nodded, "That's right, keep searching!"
Seven out of ten bulges on the mudflats are cat's-eye snails, and there are quite a lot of them. Zhang Chengming and his wife's bucket was soon more than half full.
However, the number is still less than that of Wuyang.
As a visually enhanced superhuman, Wu Yang's abilities were brought to their fullest potential at this moment.
Despite the villagers' seemingly substantial harvests despite their lack of experience in beachcombing, they actually missed out on even more.
Not only do people often confuse pebbles with clams, but they also tend to overlook crabs buried in the sand if they are well hidden.
Wuyang, however, is different.
He wouldn't miss a single thing, not even a breathing hole, a bulge, or even just a tiny bit of a crab leg peeking out on the beach; he could spot them all perfectly every time.
In just a quarter of an hour, not only did the snails burst in the bucket, but the crabs and clams also filled about half the bucket.
Li Yue, who was standing next to him, was all smiles, her eyes filled with the joy of a bountiful harvest, which made the other women in the vicinity extremely envious.
In contrast, Xiong Mao, who serves as a negative example, has a strong physique but is completely useless.
Like a half-blind man, he searched for a long time and found less seafood than Su Ying. Su Ying was so angry that she couldn't help but hit him hard. In the end, her own hand was red from hitting, but Xiong Maoding was completely unharmed.
Xiong Mao took his wife's hand in a flattering manner and blew on it twice, "Honey, don't be angry, I'll look again, there's still plenty of time."
Su Ying retorted angrily, "What's the use of having an early start? Can you find more in half an hour than someone else who spends half an hour searching?"
That's so embarrassing for her! She'll be sleeping on the sofa when she gets home tonight!
Xiong Dabao was originally with them, but halfway through he realized that his father hadn't gotten much, so he pouted, picked up a set of tools, and went to play with the other kids.
Lu Xuan also had excellent eyesight; nothing he went by could escape his notice.
Razor clams, cat's eye snails, crabs, moon clams, large hairy clams, flower clams, mantis shrimp, octopuses—all caught in one net.
Cat's eye snails, bursting the barrel;
Clams, overflowing!
Starfish, bursting barrel;
Clams, razor clams, bursting in the bucket;
Swimming crabs, flower crabs, large red-shelled crabs, flower crabs, all kinds of crabs, in a bucket!
In short, it was just one barrel bursting, another bursting, and yet another bursting.
Live stream viewers: !!!
[This streamer is having so much fun!]
So much seafood!!!
[I've seen others find only one or two buckets at most, but the streamer has filled so many buckets, five, six, seven, or eight!]
[This makes me want to find an ocean planet and go beachcombing!]
[The streamer has such sharp eyes! I didn't see anything, but the streamer found a whole bunch in no time.]
Beachcombing sounds simple, but without a keen eye, you might not reap much of a reward.
[Xiong Mao: Click on me?]
[Hahaha, I saw Su Ying was almost bursting with anger.]
Look how happy Lu Chen is!
Lu Chen followed closely behind Lu Xuan, responsible for carrying buckets and putting them away once they were full. He was in charge of all of Lu Xuan's catches.
He hadn't walked more than a few meters before his bucket was full. The abundant harvest made Lu Chen grin from ear to ear. Even though he was panting heavily, he didn't want his older sister and brother-in-law to help him.
Seeing that he was enjoying himself, Lu Qing and Lei Yan stopped bothering him and went off to find their own harvest.
Lu Qing was focused on catching razor clams, while Lei Yan was quite interested in the sea snails that could be sifted out in large quantities with a single sieve, and soon filled more than half a bucket.
While helping Lu Xuan collect the bucket, Lu Chen looked around and examined it closely, and soon discovered a very pretty pinkish-white hollow conch shell.
Lu Xuan, who had just caught a large, red-armored seagull, turned around and casually remarked, "Put the conch shell to your ear, there's a surprise."
Lu Chen, with a hint of curiosity, did as instructed. He pressed his ear to the conch shell and immediately heard sounds coming from inside. His eyes widened instantly, and he exclaimed excitedly, "There's the sound of ocean waves inside!!"
He rushed over to Lu Qing and Lei Yan, holding the conch shell to their ears, "Listen!"
Lu Qing exclaimed in surprise, "There really is the sound of waves! What's going on? There's no seawater inside."
Lu Xuan explained, "It's the sound from outside that gets inside the conch shell. Because of its special structure, it creates a resonance phenomenon. It's not real ocean waves. But it's quite fun to listen to it when you're back in the village."
Lu Qing's expression was filled with love and longing as she looked at the conch shell in Lu Chen's hand, imagining that she could hear the sound of the waves at any time at home.
Seeing that she liked it, Lei Yan was planning to find a nice conch shell to give to her.
Lu Chen listened to his pink and white conch shell for a while, then, as if remembering something, sent a message to his friends who had disappeared somewhere.
Soon, Zhang Dafu, Xiaofu, Xiong Dabao, Mei Cheng, Mei Xue, Li Kangbao and other children ran over and exclaimed in amazement as they surrounded Lu Chen and his conch shell.
A group of children lost interest in going beachcombing for seafood and instead started looking for pretty conch shells.
Anyone who finds one will let out an excited scream.
Dafu and Xiaofu are loving older brothers who dote on their younger sister. Even though they like seashells themselves, they don't forget to find a pretty one for Zhang Xiuxiu first.
Wei Yunyun, and Mei Xue, who is a little older and usually acts maturely, are completely powerless against the beautiful conch shells and search for them much more diligently than when they dig for clams and razor clams.
Just as everyone was busy looking for collectibles, Xiong Dabao suddenly burst into tears.
"Wow—there's a ghost!"
The children jolted, the older ones instinctively pulling the younger ones behind them, exclaiming warily, "Where's the ghost?!"
How could there be ghosts in broad daylight?
Lu Chen ran up to Xiong Dabao, frowned, and asked, "Where's the ghost?"
Xiong Dabao pointed to the sand on the ground and said, "There are eyes on the ground!"
"Eyes!?" Lu Chen was startled and quickly looked over. He was also startled when he met a pair of eyes, but he soon realized that these 'eyes' were on a crab.
"This... looks like a crab, not a ghost."
"This is a tiger crab." Lu Xuan, who came over upon hearing the voice, used tongs to pick up the rather large tiger crab.
The other children cautiously approached and, upon discovering that the crab really did have eyes on its back, exclaimed, "It really has eyes! It looks a little scary!"
Lu Xuan said, "The tiger crab looks a bit scary, but it tastes delicious." He then looked at Xiong Dabao and said, "It scared you, so you can eat it later to vent your anger."
"Huh?" Xiong Dabao, who was still sniffling, widened his eyes. You can do that?
Lu Xuan raised an eyebrow. Why not?
Xiong Dabao looked a little hesitant.
Lu Xuan: "Not eating?"
Lu Chen immediately said, "If you don't dare, I'll eat it for you."
If my brother says it's delicious, then it must be really delicious.
Lu Chen couldn't help but slurp as he looked at the tiger crab.
Upon hearing the slurping sound, Xiong Dabao immediately became alert and shouted, "I'll eat it! I found it, it's mine! You can't take it from me! Brother Lu Xuan, quickly put the crab in my bucket."
Seeing how possessive he was of his food, Lu Chen pursed his lips, thinking that his brother had found several buckets of crabs, and there might be tiger crabs among them.
He looked up at Lu Xuan expectantly, and the latter understood his gaze and nodded.
Yes, there are some, quite a few, at least seven or eight.
Lu Chen's eyes lit up, and he smiled with satisfaction.
...
As the villagers found more and more seafood, Lu Xuan reminded them to put the conch shells they brought back into containers filled with seawater to remove the sand.
The group wandered around the mudflats for almost an hour, and before they knew it, it was noon.
The first batch of seafood, soaked in seawater, had mostly expelled the sand and was ready to be eaten.
The villagers set up small pots on the mudflats to boil water, add suitable ingredients to make a delicious and savory soup, and then simply process the seafood that has been purged of sand and throw it into the pot.
After blanching for about 20 or 30 breaths, you can take it out and dip it in the specially prepared sauce.
The seafood that was lively and fresh not long ago tastes incredibly fresh and sweet, especially the octopus. When you put it into the pot before the water boils and it's just bubbling, you can quickly take it out and rinse it in cold water. It's crisp, chewy, and so delicious that you can't stop eating it.
Lu Chen, Mei Cheng, and the other little ones stomped their feet as they ate, exclaiming, "It's so delicious!"
"It tastes even better than the seafood my brother brought back before!"
The viewers in the live stream were also eating with great gusto.
It smells so good!
[The octopus is so delicious, it's so fragrant and satisfying to eat it one bite at a time!]
[And there are mantis shrimp too, the meat inside is so plump, slurp it up!]
The villagers ate with gusto, too busy to even speak.
If you're worried about not getting enough to eat if you only eat seafood, you can also add some noodles to the pot.
The soup, filled with the aroma of various seafoods, is infused with the flavor of seafood. Add some cleaned seaweed and noodles, and it's so delicious you'll want to swallow your tongue.
The seafood hot pot mainly consists of clams, octopus, crabs, and mantis shrimp.
Only a small portion of the flower clams, razor clams, and cat's eye snails were used, while the large head was stir-fried in a separate pot with minced garlic and chili peppers.
They would take a large iron wok, the kind used for cooking rice, and stir-fry the food so the whole village could eat together. The food was delicious, the atmosphere was lively, and the mudflats were filled with laughter and joy.
·
The beachcombing continued in the afternoon.
To ensure a good harvest, the villagers searched in a different area.
In addition to the types of seafood we found this morning, we have made some new discoveries.
Such as jellyfish, sea cucumbers, and some people even caught eels and pufferfish.
The pufferfish, which puffs up into a ball when it gets angry, is both cute and interesting, not to mention it has been a famous delicacy throughout history.
Lu Xuan doesn't know how to handle it, but Lu Miaomiao does.
The ones that were too small were just toyed with and then thrown away, while the larger ones were saved for Lu Miaomiao to make that evening.
In addition, Lu Qing also discovered a number of pearl oysters.
After hearing Lu Xuan say that pearls could be found inside these shells, Lu Qing immediately asked Lei Yan to help pry open the shells and feel inside the shell meat. Sure enough, she actually found a few pearls.
These pearls come in various sizes and colors, including white, pink, and even light purple.
Lu Qing held up a purple pearl to the sunlight, her eyes wide with amazement: "So beautiful!"
Although the pearls found were of different shapes, in Lu Qing's eyes, each pearl had a unique beauty.
The women in the village were quickly drawn over, each one eager to see through the pearl in Lu Qing's hand.
Wu Yinyin exclaimed in surprise, "I thought seashells were only for eating, I never imagined they could grow pearls."
Ye Ping, Zhu Qiao'er, and others wholeheartedly agreed.
In their minds, pearl jewelry was something only wealthy and noblewomen could afford; they never imagined it could be so easily extracted from a seashell.
Su Ying snorted lightly, "Pearls naturally grow inside shells, don't be so surprised."
As she said this, Ying's gaze was uncontrollably drawn to the pink and purple pearls in Lu Qing's palm, her eyes sparkling with envy and longing.
She wasn't one to hold back, so she immediately urged Xiong Mao to find pearl oysters for her.
She wants pearls too!
With Su Ying taking the lead, the other women who were equally interested couldn't resist any longer and urged their husbands to help them find someone.
Zhang Chengming, Li Jing, and the others dared not disobey, so they had no choice but to temporarily abandon their search for seafood and instead search for pearl oysters all over the ground.
Wu Yang and Chen Rong were both newlyweds, and they took the initiative to win their wives' favor without being urged.
Wu Yang had seen Li Yue wearing pearl earrings once when she returned to her parents' home after marrying Zhou Chenghai. The pearls weren't big, but Li Yue had shown great affection for them at the time.
Chen Rong also noticed the look of nostalgia in Ji Xiuling's eyes after seeing the pearls, guessing that she might have owned pearl jewelry before her marriage.
As for why she didn't guess that it was given by her ex-husband after she got married, that man was sickly and probably exhausted just trying to live a few more days. He wouldn't have had the mind to think about buying pearl jewelry for his wife.
Ji Xiuling is his woman now, so naturally he can't let her live a worse life than before!
First, find her some pearls to make jewelry. After the disaster is over, buy her any gold or silver jewelry she likes!
...
As evening fell, the tide began to rise, and soon it submerged the large mudflats where they had been beachcombing during the day.
The villagers were prepared to stay at the beach for a few more days, and they started setting up their tents in the afternoon.
Watching the seawater continuously engulf the mudflats, I couldn't help but feel secretly fortunate that we had set up our boat far enough from the coastline, otherwise we would definitely have been submerged by now.
In the afternoon, because many people were focused on finding pearl oysters, the harvest was not as plentiful as in the morning.
Fortunately, the variety was quite good. In addition to various shellfish, clams, and crabs, dinner also included grilled eel, braised pufferfish, and kelp and clam soup.
As everyone ate, they opened pearl oysters. Whoever opened a beautiful pearl immediately attracted envious glances from those around them.
The group of people stayed lively until almost midnight before yawning and crawling into the tent made of blackout fabric.
It was still bright outside, but inside the tent, as long as the zipper was closed, it was completely dark, which did not affect sleep at all.
Falling asleep to the sound of the waves, the villagers, having eaten and drunk their fill, quickly drifted off to sleep.
Many people dream of finding countless large pearls or discovering enormous crabs while beachcombing, and their smiles unconsciously turn up.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Special thanks to Changyushan for throwing a landmine today [kissing emoji]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com