Meanwhile, Fu Wan helped Ye Xiaocui carry Fu Ling and Qin Mingzhu off the boat. Just as she was about to turn around to help Ye Xiaocui, she was surprised to find that the old lady didn't need Fu Wan's help at all. She quickly and nimbly climbed down the rocks on her own.
"Wow, I can see a conch shell! Goodness, it's a huge one!"
Ye Xiaocui's eyes lit up, and she picked up the bucket and ran towards the pile of rocks.
Fu Wan sighed helplessly and gave a few words of advice.
"Mom, watch your step. There are only us on the island, no one will take it from you."
"Oh, I know! Look at this snail, isn't it big!"
Ye Xiaocui was no longer listening to Fu Wan's words. In no time, she pulled a fist-sized conch shell from under a rock the size of a bench.
Ye Xiaocui raised the conch shell to the crowd, and it was no exaggeration to say that the conch shell looked two or three times larger than Ye Xiaocui's face.
"Wow, what a huge conch! Mom, remember to check if you have any spicy conch!"
Fu Minggang had just disembarked with his fishing rod when he saw the conch shell in Ye Xiaocui's hand.
He immediately perked up; that conch was so big, it must weigh at least two pounds.
The meat from the snails can be picked out and stir-fried into a large bowl.
Ye Xiaocui's smile froze upon hearing this, and she then rolled her eyes at Fu Ming.
"You brat, you want a spicy snail when you have such a big conch? You're like a wild boar that can't eat domestic pig food. I can't even collect all the conch I've collected. If you want a spicy snail, come down and collect it yourself!"
After saying that, without waiting for Fu Ming to speak, Ye Xiaocui carefully put the conch in her hand into the bucket, and then impatiently continued to search for the conch under the rocks.
Fu Wan found it amusing, and seeing this, Su Ran also boldly moved closer to Ye Xiaocui and joined her in searching for the conch shell.
Conch shells typically hide in the crevices of rocks, and these places not only house conch shells but also many other types of snails.
Cat's eye snails, bull's eye snails, spicy snails, red snails—Ye Xiaocui had previously said that Fu Ming should pick up the spicy snails himself, but in reality, she didn't let any of them go unpicked, as long as they were edible.
Of course, you can't keep the ones that are too small; let them grow, and you can come back for them later.
Su Ran was seeing so many strangely shaped conch shells for the first time and was immediately filled with curiosity.
"Auntie, what are these snails called? Are they all edible?"
Seeing that she was interested, Ye Xiaocui simply picked up the fish and explained it to her at the same time. The commotion attracted Wen Yue, who was originally holding a fishing rod and preparing to go fishing by the reef.
Within five minutes of Ye Xiaocui and Su Ran arriving on the island, the sea snails they had collected filled the bottom of the large bucket, much to Wen Yue's amazement.
She hesitated for a moment, glancing at the fishing rod in her hand, then at Su Ran, who was enthusiastically following Ye Xiaocui in searching for seashells. After a couple of seconds of hesitation, Wen Yue put down the fishing rod and joined the seashell-collecting team.
Never mind, let's go to the beach first, and we can fish later!
Fu Wan didn't go over to join the fun. She strolled around for a few steps and then found two palm-sized coconut snails under the rocks.
It's not very big, and I don't know if it contains Melaleuca.
"Mom, come quick! There are two mantis shrimp holes here. Come help us dig for mantis shrimp!"
"Hey, here it comes!"
Upon hearing Fu Ling's call, Fu Wan responded and then picked up her tools and walked towards her daughter.
"You guys are so amazing, you even know how to find shrimp holes?"
Fu Ling was immediately displeased upon hearing this.
She pouted and said defiantly, "Mom, you're underestimating us. Mingzhu and I can do all of these things. We can not only find mantis shrimp holes, but also clams and razor clams."
There are several more clam burrows over there!
"Yes, the entrance is huge. Lingling and I were just about to go back to get the salt when we saw these mantis shrimp holes. Godmother, are these mantis shrimp holes?"
Qin Mingzhu asked with shining eyes, while Fu Wan smiled and shook her head, then stepped on the holes.
There was still a lot of water in the cave, and after stepping in it a few times, a pile of dark mud gushed out from the cave entrance not far away.
Fu Ling ran over quickly and used fire tongs to pick up a plump mantis shrimp from the mud.
"Haha, there really are mantis shrimp!"
"Mom, again! Again!"
Seeing her daughter laughing happily, Fu Wan immediately stepped into another hole.
To be honest, it really is hard work. Adults can manage to stomp around for a bit, but kids like Fu Ling and Qin Mingzhu probably wouldn't be able to stomp around for ages and still not get the mantis shrimp out.
However, seeing the children's smiling faces, Fu Wan didn't feel tired.
In less than ten minutes, the group of one adult and two children had caught more than ten mantis shrimps and two or three handfuls of razor clams.
Fu Ling and Qin Mingzhu still preferred catching razor clams. They would simply sprinkle salt at the entrance of the burrow, and the razor clams would pop up on their own, without needing to exert as much effort as they would with mantis shrimp.
With their tiny arms and legs, they couldn't possibly stomp out the mantis shrimp; in fact, they'd likely end up covered in mud.
Although Fu Wan changed them into everyday, dirt-resistant clothes before they disembarked, the two girls, being girls, didn't like going home all dirty.
"Ah Wan, do you have the shovel? There are lots of moon shells here!"
From afar, Fu Wan heard Ye Xiaocui's shouts again.
"You guys stay here and play, I'm going to visit my grandma."
"good."
Fu Ling and Qin Mingzhu obediently responded, and Fu Wan then picked up the tools and walked towards Ye Xiaocui.
Fu Wan was stunned when she saw this.
"Mom, why are there so many moon shells?"
Ye Xiaocui grinned from ear to ear, "Oh, how would I know? Su Ran, Wen Yue, and I picked them all over, almost a whole bucketful."
I had no other hope, but then I felt down there and found some more, so I called you over.
They were originally collecting seashells when Su Ran accidentally pulled a moon shell out of the mud. Seeing this, Ye Xiaocui also rummaged through the mud and unexpectedly pulled out several moon shells.
After searching around, Ye Xiaocui realized there was still mud under the mud. She felt that groping in the mud with her hands was too slow, so she decided to try using a shovel.
Fu Wan picked up the shovel and shoveled a few times, turning over the black mud and sand. Five or six bright clams appeared before everyone's eyes. Without Fu Wan saying anything, Su Ran and Wen Yue had already happily picked them up.
In less than twenty minutes, the group had harvested a large bucket of moon shells.
Fu Wan was sweating from exhaustion. She looked up to wipe it off when she suddenly caught a glimpse of a dark shadow moving on the distant sea!
"Hey, what's that?"
Fu Wan murmured in confusion. Hearing this, Ye Xiaocui and the others stood up and looked towards the sea.
However, when they looked over, the vast sea was completely silent, with nothing but seabirds flying around from time to time.
"There's nothing there, Wan. Did you dig for scallops for too long and make your eyes blurry?"
Su Ran rubbed her sore arm and joked. Fu Wan shook her head. She couldn't rub her eyes because she was wearing gloves, so she could only blink and look at the sea again.
But this time, she saw nothing.
Strange, there really wasn't, but she was absolutely certain that she hadn't been seeing things.
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