After emptying the goose barnacles onto the boat, Feng Ye carried an empty bucket back to the reef to continue his work.
This time, he picked up whatever was valuable, no longer fixated on any one thing.
Stepping onto a rock where he had just stepped on goose barnacles, Feng Ye's eyes suddenly lit up. He had spotted something he particularly liked to eat.
Limping shell.
It gets its name from the hat-shaped appearance of its shell when viewed from the side, and some people also call it wild abalone.
Limpy shells are actually not related to abalone at all; they are two completely different species.
They are not as big as abalone; they are all small, about the size of a coin, with a flat, cone-shaped shell that is very thin but very hard.
Because the rocks where the limpets inhabit have been rubbed smooth by its file-like tongue, it lives there.
Its powerful feet, like suction cups, cling tightly to the rocks.
Therefore, even tools don't work very well for it.
Feng Ye went to great lengths to dig up just enough for one dish, and even though there was still plenty left, he didn't want to dig anymore.
This little thing is so hard to dig up.
After letting go of the remaining limpets, Feng Ye continued his search by moving on to a different location. He picked up any large snails he saw, even if they were worthless.
After all, it's just a matter of bending over.
The most common type of snail on the rocks is the whelk, which grows in clusters, followed by oyster snails, horseshoe snails, and sesame snails...
Everyone was in high spirits. Once the buckets were full, they went back to the boat, emptied the contents into baskets, and then continued digging with the empty buckets.
Feng Xuan, not wanting to waste time going back and forth, simply brought the basket with him.
After Feng Ye had looted most of the valuables, he started digging for mussels, oysters, and sea cucumbers.
Once the baskets were full and there was nothing left to hold, they were simply dumped onto the boat, and the digging began first.
It's not worth much money, but I can eat it myself.
If you can't finish it all at once, you can dry it and eat it slowly.
...
He stopped when the tide had receded enough to expose the mudflats, picked up the empty bucket and net, and prepared to go to the mudflats to see if there was any cargo.
"Stop digging, the tide has gone out and the mudflats are being exposed."
Seeing that they were still digging intently on the rocks, Feng Ye loudly reminded them.
"Damn, they retreated so quickly. There's still so much to dig up ahead."
"I'm not digging anymore. I'll go down and take a look around first. If there's nothing there, I'll come back and dig."
"I'll go take a look around too."
One by one, they returned to the boat from the reef, emptied their buckets, picked up their tools, and each found a stretch of mudflat to begin their treasure hunt.
The mudflats here are not the kind of muddy ground where you sink in and can't move when you step on them, but rather a thin layer of mud on the surface that doesn't even cover your feet.
Feng Ye was wandering around the mudflats with a net and tongs when he suddenly saw the water ripple under the rocks.
Upon closer inspection, it was a large blue crab, lying motionless in a small puddle under a rock, with only its eyes showing.
The large blue crab was completely submerged in water, and if it weren't for the sound of its breathing, it would have been completely fooled.
Feng Ye reached out with the clamp in his hand, but before he could even touch it, its pair of large pincers began to swing wildly.
"It's so big, it must weigh almost two pounds."
Feng Ye couldn't stop smiling.
When it was lying in the mud, you couldn't tell how big it was, but now it's bigger than his two hands put together.
"You're quite alert. Here you go."
Feng Ye wasn't going to be polite; he quickly extended the clamp and clamped it down hard.
"It really weighs two pounds. And it's a female crab, very good."
I happily tied it up with a rope and put it in the bucket.
"Keep going, keep going."
With a large blue crab as a starting point, Feng Ye continued his search with full confidence.
In no time, he found another large blue crab that was disguised quite well.
"They're quite good at dodging."
Without any hesitation, I picked it up, only to find that its belly was full of seeds.
This is a blue crab laying eggs.
"Hey, let's go, let's go. Remember to bring your children next year."
Feng Ye had no choice but to release it.
After taking a few steps, I came to a rock and casually moved it aside. I didn't see the blue crab, but I did see a stone crab.
Stone crabs are small, have little meat, almost no roe, and taste mediocre, so they are not worth much.
However, Feng Ye didn't mind and quickly put it into the bucket with a tong.
Even a mosquito's leg is still meat, and gaining something is always better than gaining nothing.
They then searched carefully on the mudflats.
Hard work pays off, and the bucket has accumulated many more spoils, not just mud crabs and stone crabs, but also mudskippers, swimming crabs, scallops, oyster shells...
There were a lot of miscellaneous items, but not many of each kind.
"Huh, why are there so many holes?"
Gradually, Feng Ye walked to a mudflat that was not covered by silt and saw that there were many small holes on the surface of the mudflat.
These small holes are made up of two small holes next to each other, just like the figure "8".
“The hole is shaped like an ‘8’. It’s a clam burrow. The hole is so small, so it must be a bamboo clam.”
Razor clams are bivalve mollusks, and their formal name is bamboo razor clam.
Its body is elongated, and when the two shells are folded together, it resembles a bamboo tube, hence the name bamboo clam. It inhabits shallow seas and intertidal sand.
There are many kinds of razor clams, but there are only two kinds near their village: one is a small one called bamboo clam, and the other is a large one called king clam.
"It seems like my brother brought some salt."
Feng Ye quickly returned to the other side of the boat and searched for a while before finding a small bag of salt.
Back on the mudflats, they used sand shovels to remove the top layer of sand and mud mixture.
Suddenly, countless razor clam holes were clearly revealed, even more than before, though many were covered up and not clearly visible.
Next, sprinkle a little salt on each hole and wait a while.
One by one, the razor clams would eagerly jump out on their own.
Feng Ye was quick-witted and nimble; as soon as each razor clam appeared, he swiftly pulled it out and threw it into the bucket.
Scrape the mud and sand, sprinkle salt, and pull out the razor clams.
He kept repeating this with great enthusiasm.
Even after the small bag of salt was used up, he was still not satisfied.
"It's a pity there's no salt left."
Looking at the many small holes still visible on the mudflats, Feng Ye sighed.
It's not that you absolutely need salt to dig for razor clams, but using salt saves time and effort.
You could actually just dig it up, but almost no one does that because it's time-consuming and laborious.
It's important to know that razor clams burrow to a depth of 20 to 40 centimeters, and they will quickly retreat into their burrows when startled.
Feng Ye had no choice but to let them go for the time being and wait for another opportunity.
Perhaps I had been squatting for too long, because I felt dizzy and lightheaded as soon as I stood up.
It took Feng Ye quite a while to feel like he had returned to normal.
Looking around, I realized that everyone was scattered, not gathered together. They were all in different places, quite dispersed.
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