"Mom, really? You have sea cucumbers there?"
Fu Wan stood up instantly and casually threw all the razor clams in her hand into the bucket next to her.
Ye Xiaocui nodded, "Would I lie to you? Your aunt and I have already dug up two bags. Besides selling some, we'll also try some ourselves."
If we're talking about the seafood that Mr. Fu likes to eat, sea cucumbers are definitely on the list.
But you can't catch these things at sea; you have to dig them out by beachcombing.
Actually, sea cucumbers are different from the sandworms they often dug up before. Sea cucumbers belong to the worm family, while sandworms belong to the sipuncula family.
Of course, sea cucumbers are also invertebrates, with an overall elongated cylindrical shape and a purplish-red body. These somewhat ugly-looking sea cucumbers generally like to bury themselves in mud and sand, and you'll often see pencil-thick droppings at the entrance of their burrows. Fishermen can usually tell that sea cucumbers live in the nearby mud and sand by seeing this.
Sea cucumbers, also known as "naked sea cucumbers" on the coast, are far superior to sandworms in both price and taste. While sandworms are good for nothing, sea cucumbers, once cleaned, are perfect for dumplings or stir-fries with chives; they are not only sweet and crunchy but also incredibly chewy.
Upon hearing that Ye Xiaocui and her group had dug up a lot of sea cucumbers, Fu Ming and Fu Liang were also very excited. If they hadn't been catching crabs everywhere and hadn't heard Ye Xiaocui say that they had almost finished digging up the sea cucumbers, the two brothers would have wanted to go and join in the fun.
After picking up all the razor clams in this area, Fu Wan took an empty net and continued walking towards the other side of the mudflat.
There are many reefs scattered haphazardly on the mudflats, which is the favorite place for sea snails to live.
Fu Wan walked over and randomly picked a rock. She reached under the rock and touched it. Sure enough, the next second, she felt the outline of several seashells.
When she squeezed it and took it out, she was surprised to find that it was the yellow-mouthed giant spicy snail that she hadn't seen in a long time.
She immediately perked up and used all her strength to lift the rock with one hand, revealing a number of snails underneath.
Moreover, each one was quite large, and Fu Wan didn't stop, quickly plucking all the spicy snails off the ground.
But her strength was limited after all. Only after she had cleaned up the snails did she relieve herself and put the rocks back down to their original state.
Just as Fu Wan was sitting on the rocks catching her breath and resting, Fu Ming and Fu Liang came over with another bucket.
"We've caught all the big crabs over there, not just mud crabs, but also several swimming crabs!"
Fu Ming muttered to himself, and then, imitating Fu Wan's earlier actions, began searching for treasure under the rocks.
Sure enough, he found a few seashells not long afterward.
"Ah Wan, look, my conch shell seems different from yours!"
Fu Wan leaned over to take a look and, sure enough, it was different from hers.
"Brother, this is a windmill shell! It's valuable. Quickly check if you have any more!"
Fu Wan immediately sped up her search for sea snails. Although the yellow-mouthed giant snails she had just found tasted good, the sea snails in Fu Ming's hands tasted even better.
The conch in Fu Ming's hand is actually called a Kamin conch. The most distinctive feature of this conch is its thin shell, so in the local area, many people also call it a thin-skinned conch.
Because its shape somewhat resembles a windmill used for treading water, some people also call it a windmill snail. This type of snail has a sweeter and fresher taste than other snails, and unlike other snails where the tail needs to be removed, the tail of the Kamin snail is also edible.
Most importantly, this type of conch is generally twice as expensive as other types of conch, such as the yellow-mouthed giant whelk.
Upon hearing that it was a valuable windmill shell, Fu Ming and Fu Liang immediately emptied all the nearby reefs.
Since men are much stronger than women, Fu Wan simply had them flip over the rocks while she took care of pulling the conch shells down.
With such cooperation, the three siblings became more and more in sync, and before long they had searched through all the rocks on the mudflats and harvested two whole bags of sea snails.
The more expensive windmill snails were packed in a separate bag, while the other snails, such as spicy snails and red snails, were packed together.
Before we knew it, the sun was setting on the sea, its orange-red rays tinting the water. Many seabirds would fly up and land on the mudflats from time to time, searching for the shrimp, crabs and shellfish that occasionally peeked out.
"That's enough, we should head back!"
As the seawater crashed against the rocks again and again, Fu Wan quickly noticed that the waves were getting closer and closer.
The tide is coming in.
Since they had gathered enough for the day, Fu Wan hurriedly told everyone to prepare to go back.
Ye Xiaocui and Jiang Chunlan really enjoyed beachcombing today. If this place weren't so remote, with hardly any other houses nearby, and even the nearest village, Fujia Village, required a bike ride to get here, there wouldn't be so much seafood here.
It was purely by chance that Fu Wan and the others were able to find this place. When kids are playing wildly, even adults don't know where they can go.
This is the place where Fu Ming and Fu Wan and a few others explored when they were children. Even now, they dare not mention it to Ye Xiaocui and the others.
If they knew that Fu Ming was only a teenager and dared to bring his sister and brother to this deserted place, Boss Fu would probably break his legs.
Just as the group had moved all their catch to the roadside, the spot where Ye Xiaocui had been squatting to dig for sea cucumbers was already submerged by seawater.
"Luckily we left quickly, otherwise it would have been quite dangerous if the tide had come in."
Ye Xiaocui patted her chest in relief, then looked at the buckets and bags of all sizes on the road and began to worry.
"How are we going to get all this seafood back?"
Well, this place is nice, but the road is too narrow for cars to drive through.
Besides motorcycles and bicycles, even two-wheeled carts would probably struggle.
"How about this, we'll carry the crabs by hand, and put the conch and other things in a snakeskin bag. Big brother, you can ride back first."
If you ride fast, come back and pick us up.
Fu Wan quickly made a suggestion, and Fu Ming and the others thought about it and agreed.
Without further ado, the group quickly loaded the snakeskin bag containing conch shells and razor clams onto the car and headed home.
As for Fu Liang and Fu Wan, they waited until Ye Xiaocui and Jiang Chunlan were settled before riding their bikes steadily towards the village.
While riding her bike, Fu Wan could still smell a strong fishy smell. Looking down, she realized that Ye Xiaocui had somehow put a bag of sea cucumbers in her bike basket.
Unfortunately, Fu Ming simply couldn't accommodate it all.
When they arrived at the village entrance one after the other, they saw the rear of a car.
Just as Fu Wan was feeling puzzled, she heard Fu Ling and Qin Mingzhu shouting from inside the car.
"Mother!"
"She's my godmother!"
"This is Anning's car!"
"Oh no, I forgot to pick up the kids!"
Fu Wan cursed inwardly, never expecting that after Fu Ling and Fu Wan started school, she would be the one who had the hardest time adapting.
I was so engrossed in beachcombing today that I completely forgot I was supposed to pick up the kids!
Thankfully, Qin Anning brought them back!
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