Chapter 197, exclusively published on Jinjiang Literature City: A Man's Gas Station
The next morning.
After enjoying a delicious seafood porridge together with the viewers in the live stream, the Lu family and the audience began another day of activities.
At Chenshi (7-9 AM), the tide receded again, leaving behind a large amount of fresh seafood on the mudflats that had been plundered the day before.
Yesterday was not enough for the villagers who were going to the beach for the first time to have a good time. Everyone's spirits were still very high. In fact, because of yesterday's experience, the villagers were even more skilled and adept at their work today.
Lu Xuan was still interested in beachcombing, but Zhang Chengming, Xiong Mao and others came over to ask him if there were any more unusual and interesting ways to beachcomb today.
Lu Xuan thought for a moment and then led them to a rocky beach that was further away from where they were currently on the mudflats.
Looking at the massive reef ahead, Zhang Chengming wondered, "There are rocks everywhere here, will we find a lot of treasure?"
Li Tuo was quick-witted and immediately thought of the key point: "I know! There are reefs everywhere here, and there must be a lot of crabs under the crevices of the rocks, right?"
The others' eyes lit up.
"more than."
Lu Xuan walked to the nearest rocky outcrop and pointed to the protrusions that were almost integrated with the rock, saying, "These are oysters, which are more plump and delicious than scallops."
At this point, he glanced at Wu Yang, Chen Rong, and the others, and said meaningfully, "It's very nourishing for men to eat."
The young men perked up and instantly understood what Lu Xuan meant.
The women, including Wu Yinyin, Su Ying, and Li Yue, had subtle expressions.
But then again, leeks, mutton, yams, and goji berries all have aphrodisiac effects, and they still eat them without hesitation.
As long as it tastes good, everything else can be ignored.
Lu Xuan continued, "Besides oysters, there should be quite a few barnacles on the reef walls. If we're lucky, we might even find whelks and conches. In short, the harvest will be plentiful."
Lu Xuan then taught them how to skillfully pry open oysters, and talked about how delicious barnacle soup is, and how stir-fried spicy snails can be served as a snack with alcohol, instantly raising everyone's enthusiasm to the highest level.
The group quickly split into pairs and dispersed on the rocky beach to search for their target.
Only Lu Xuan was enjoying the peace and quiet.
This rocky beach is quite rich in resources; you can easily find plenty of oysters and whelks, each one large and plump.
The color is too similar to the rocks, so even someone as blind as Xiong Mao has to look for a long time before he can find one.
In Wuyang, however, one can find five, six, seven or eight large conches in one place. They swarm through the area like locusts, leaving not a single conch behind.
Su Ying watched as Li Yue's bucket quickly filled with conch shells, and then, with a look of disgust, she forcefully punched Xiong Mao, "Look at you!"
Not wanting to be part of the control group, Xiong Mao immediately gave up looking for conch shells and pulled Su Ying to another spot. "Wife, let's not look for conch shells anymore, let's look for oysters and whelks instead!"
Both of these are long strips, requiring minimal eyesight; anyone who isn't truly blind can find them.
Xiong Mao may lack other qualities, but he certainly has plenty of strength.
Large snails can be broken off by hand, while smaller ones can be rubbed off with the palm of a gloved hand, and a bunch can be rubbed off in one go.
If it grows too stubbornly, use a shovel to dig it up hard.
After a lot of rubbing and shoveling, Xiong Mao quickly obtained several large buckets of spicy snails of different sizes.
Su Ying looked at the bucket full of spicy snails and finally gave Xiong Mao a smile.
Xiong Mao said happily, "There's so much, enough to cook several meals when we get back."
Su Ying smiled and said, "It's not bad."
She also enjoys drinking fruit wine on weekdays, and is happy when there are delicious snacks to go with it. Seeing that no one was around, she cupped Xiong Mao's face and kissed him.
Upon receiving the reward, Xiong Maomei was instantly energized and worked even harder.
"Honey, let's go shuck oysters and bring back a lot to continue our baby-making journey, to give our eldest a little brother or sister!"
Su Ying wasn't embarrassed at all and nodded, saying, "Then make more, and I'll cook it for you when we get back."
Xiong Mao's expression was a little unsettled. What to do? Make oysters or... hehe.
The couple quickly found a large patch of oysters.
Xiong Mao used all his strength to pry it open, muttering to himself, "One child, two children, three children..."
Su Ying, listening nearby, twitched her pink lips slightly. "Do you think I'm a sow, giving birth to so many?"
After harvesting several buckets of oysters, Xiong Mao discovered a patch of barnacles.
When Su Ying saw the barnacles that grew densely and were full of holes, her pretty face changed in fright, and she instantly got goosebumps all over her body and quickly backed away.
She rubbed her arms, her voice sharp, "I will absolutely not touch this disgusting thing. Do it yourself if you want!"
Seeing that his wife's face had turned pale with fright, Xiong Mao quickly said, "Then why don't we continue to shuck oysters and whelks?"
Su Ying hesitated for a moment, then remembered that Lu Xuan had said barnacle soup was delicious, and said firmly, "No, it's not good if everyone else has it and we don't suffer any loss. You do it, I'll wait for you here."
Xiong Mao knew that his wife was quite competitive in some ways and didn't like to be at a disadvantage, so he could only nod and say, "Then don't look this way, I'll be done soon." As he spoke, he picked up the shovel and scooped up the barnacles with unprecedented speed.
...
At the same time, Zhang Chengming and Ye Ping mainly caught crabs under the rocks, and picked up some oysters and snails whenever they saw them while looking for crabs.
While prying oysters, Li Jing and Wu Yinyin unexpectedly discovered a group of abalone. After asking Lu Xuan, they learned that these were the abalone found in the belly of abalone, sea cucumber, and shark fin. They immediately put aside everything else and focused on prying the abalone.
I'll take it back to my parents so they can try it and experience what it's like to be a rich man and his wife.
Lu Xuan didn't have a particular preference for any particular type of harvest. At first, on a whim, he deliberately showed the audience a long stretch of barnacles covering the rocky beach, which disgusted the audience so much that the barrage of comments urged him to quickly change his target.
Then, at the strong request of the audience who wanted him to draw oysters for a raffle, he reluctantly became the oyster-picking tool.
Others might also be interested in crabs, whelks, and snails, but after looking around, everyone was most interested in oysters.
Soon, almost everyone on the rocky beach was busy prying oysters, prying oysters, prying oysters.
The only exception was Li Tuo.
Besides Lu Xuan, he was the only bachelor among those who came along.
Why would a single man eat oysters? Doesn't he fear suffocating himself?
So while everyone was focused on shucking oysters, Li Tuo wandered around aimlessly, getting further and further away, until...
"Lu Xuan, Big Brother, come quick, look what this is! There are so many!!!"
The group, engrossed in shucking oysters, looked up in bewilderment. "What? So many?"
Lu Xuan clapped his hands first, stood up, and walked over to Li Tuo, who was excitedly waving at them from a distance.
Before he even got close, his exceptional eyesight allowed him to see what was around Li Tuo, and a look of surprise appeared in his eyes.
Wu Yang, who was following closely behind, took a few more steps forward and also saw those things. He asked in surprise, "What are those?" It was a huge, dark mass.
At this moment, Li Tuo, who couldn't wait any longer, had already broken off a large piece and ran towards them.
He held up something almost the size of his palm and asked Lu Xuan expectantly, "This should also be a seashell, right? It looks very similar to one, and I can vaguely see yellow flesh inside. Is it edible?"
Lu Xuan nodded and said, "It's edible. This is a mussel, also called a sea mussel."
Mussels from the northern seas have black shells, while those from the southern seas have bluish-green edges, hence the name "green mussel."
Lu Xuan said, "The taste is alright."
Mussels don't have the same chewy texture as other shellfish, but they're still great for soups, stir-fries, or dipping sauces.
As they spoke, the group arrived at the area where Li Tuo had discovered the mussels.
Zhang Chengming looked at the mussels that grew more densely than barnacles on the rocks stretching for dozens of meters, and took a breath. "Are they really edible? There are so many, can we eat them all?"
The other people also looked somewhat dazed.
There must be at least tens of thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of them, right? If they could all be eaten, what a huge harvest that would be!
[Well done, Li Tuo! You actually discovered such a large area of mussels!]
[Ahhh!! The entire rocky outcrop is covered in mussels! How can there be so many? This is amazing!]
Good heavens! I thought beachcombing would only yield a dozen or so buckets at most, but I never expected it to be this much! It must fill hundreds of buckets!
[Isn't this number a bit outrageous? Is it reasonable?]
Lu Xuan said, "How is it unreasonable? Mussels naturally grow in patches. Once you find one, you can find a whole group. This is just a tiny bit more than a group."
Mussels are considered inexpensive seafood in China, but the value of anything increases when the quantity exceeds the norm.
Lu Xuan didn't remember what season the mussels were harvested, but judging from their size, they must have been growing for several years. He casually plucked one off and broke it open; the meat inside was quite plump.
Lu Xuan looked at the size of the mussels.
There are too many samples; relying on just a dozen or so people to collect them would be very inefficient.
He sent a message to the village chief and called dozens of villagers to help. It took the group almost two hours to collect all the mussels.
In the end, a total of more than ten tons were harvested.
Li Tie and the other villagers almost grinned from ear to ear when they heard the number.
While collecting mussels, they also found a patch of basil on a rocky outcrop next to the rocky outcrop.
Goose barnacles, also known as gooseneck barnacles, are that supposedly delicious food, but with a rather gruesome appearance.
Lu Xuan didn't feel anything about it, but it was still a high-end ingredient, so he should still collect it.
When the other able-bodied men who came to help learned that they had come here to harvest a lot of aphrodisiac oysters, they also quietly harvested a lot of oysters themselves, and then returned to the mudflats where they had set up camp with a large harvest.
...
At noon, in addition to the seafood hot pot that was the same as yesterday, we also had steamed mussels and spicy stir-fried snails.
The snails aren't very big, and you have to pick out the meat from each one with a thin skewer, which is definitely a bit of a hassle.
But the taste is indeed good, and it's a different kind of enjoyment from stir-fried conch slices cut into thick pieces.
However, the most eye-catching dish at noon is seafood barbecue, with grilled oysters being the most popular.
Lu Xuan specially brought out several large grills, which were filled with oysters that had already expelled the sand and been cleaned by removing their internal organs.
Place the oysters on the grill, shell and all, top with pre-made garlic sauce, drizzle with a little vinegar, and grill for a while. The rich aroma of grilled oysters with a slightly sour and fragrant scent will then waft out.
It smelled delicious, but when the villagers and viewers in the live stream actually tasted it, their expressions changed drastically.
How can it taste so good!
These are purely wild-caught oysters, free from any pollution. They are plump, sweet, and juicy. The garlic sauce perfectly removes the slight fishy smell of seafood and adds extra flavor, making the already delicious oysters even more fragrant and spicy.
It was so delicious it made my scalp tingle.
[Wow, it smells so good! Compared to oysters, all those razor clams and sea snails are trash!]
Oyster meat is much thicker and bigger than scallop meat; one bite and it bursts with juice in your mouth—so satisfying!
[I strongly urge the streamer to hold more oyster giveaways! I don't even want the evolution potion anymore, I just want oysters!]
The villagers also raved about the taste of the grilled oysters.
Li Tie exclaimed, "The seafood that Ah Xuan brought back before tasted pretty good, but the grilled oysters taste even sweeter and fresher than those seafood."
Grandpa Zhang nodded in agreement, "The fish and shrimp in the river are nowhere near as good as it."
It's not that river seafood isn't delicious, but oysters definitely take the flavor to the next level.
Because they were thinking about the aphrodisiac properties Lu Xuan had mentioned, the older or unmarried men were fine, but the married men practically fought over eating the oysters.
The viewers in the live stream, however, had no concerns whatsoever.
People of all ages just eat whatever they want, since the aphrodisiac effects don't actually reach them QAQ!
Don't assume that the women in the village don't eat it.
Oysters are known as a "gas station for men" and also as a "beauty salon for women".
Women who consume this product can nourish their blood and improve their complexion, delay aging, and it also has excellent nourishing effects.
When Lu Xuan mentioned these things while Lu Qing was still hesitant, Lu Qing didn't react much. Su Ying, who was not far away and had her ears perked up, immediately snatched the oyster that Xiong Mao was about to put in his mouth and ate it herself.
Xiong Mao: "..."
The other women followed suit and quickly looted their husbands' oysters.
People like Wu Yang and Chen Rong, without waiting for their wives to ask, had already voluntarily given up their share.
They do want to improve their health and become stronger, but they would be even happier if their wives were healthier.
It's not just young people who are enthusiastic about it; Miao Jinfeng, Aunt Liu, and Aunt Chen are even more eager to delay aging.
Regardless of whether his sons had just been 'robbed' by his wife, he snatched the oysters they had just grilled.
He added, "You bunch of young men are all naturally hot-tempered, why are you taking supplements? Be careful not to overdo it and get a nosebleed!"
The young and strong: "..."
The only one who wasn't robbed was Lu Xuan.
He had already gotten a lot of oysters, and apart from sharing a small portion with Lu Qing and Lei Yan, he enjoyed the rest himself.
Viewers in the live stream, watching Lu Xuan eat one dish after another without stopping, couldn't help but comment: "The streamer doesn't have a partner, isn't he afraid of eating too much and having trouble sleeping at night?"
Lu Xuan said nonchalantly, "The physical condition of people with superpowers is different from that of ordinary people. The nourishing effects of oysters won't have much effect on me."
Since a certain island nation discharged nuclear wastewater before the apocalypse, he has hardly eaten seafood anymore. Pure, natural, wild oysters are already rare, and with the arrival of the apocalypse and all the fish in the sea mutating, the chance is completely gone.
Since it's a rare opportunity to eat to one's heart's content, one should naturally enjoy the meal first before worrying about anything else.
Live stream viewer: But you ate too much, so there are fewer prizes for us to win!
This seafood barbecue wasn't just about oysters.
Shrimp, scallops, squid found by other villagers while beachcombing, and various mutated vegetables.
Grilled mushrooms, grilled peppers, grilled dried tofu rolls with scallions, even grilled bread slices—in short, everything can be grilled, and each one tastes great. It can also neutralize the cold nature of seafood, preventing diarrhea from eating too much.
Because the barbecue was so delicious, the villagers hardly went beachcombing in the afternoon.
On the last day, with the experience of the previous two days, everyone went straight to their favorite types with a clear goal.
For example, oysters, for example, oysters, for example... oysters.
Lu Xuan: "..."
Three days later, the great low tide ended.
The villagers, however, were not in a hurry to return to their village.
Since we've come all this way to the beach, we should at least go swimming, surf, and go out to sea.
This trip to the seaside was just an appetizer – beachcombing was the main course!
Lu Xuan and Li Tie took out boat number one and number two, which had been sitting for several months, and put them out to sea. Other villagers also took out their own kayaks and put on life jackets.
Preparations complete, let's set sail!
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Author's Note: Special thanks to: Changyushan for throwing a landmine.
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