Soon, Ye Cheng found another hole, a little bigger than the last one. He used a few shovels to dig the hole a little deeper, looked at it with his headlamp, and touched the entrance of the hole with his hand. It felt sticky.
"This means there's something there," Ye Cheng thought, reaching into the hole. The hole was quite deep, extending all the way to his upper arm, his face almost touching the muddy ground. Only then did Ye Cheng realize there was something there, and it seemed like there was more than one.
"Little Tiger, come help, there should be a whole nest here." Ye Cheng pulled his hand back, the mud on his face unable to hide his excitement.
"Wait, bro, I think I have one too." Xiao Hu was rather rough; he simply stuck his hand in, shoving his entire arm all the way in, then pushed it in hard and pulled it out suddenly.
With a loud "pop," Xiao Hu emerged holding a crabfish, which looked to be about 5 ounces in size.
"Sure, come on, hurry up and help me dig this mud." Ye Cheng handed over the snakeskin bag and told Xiao Hu to throw it in.
Then the two of them each took a shovel and started digging hard near the hole.
Don't be fooled by how soft the silt is; it's easy to dig, but it's really heavy. The two of them started to get tired after digging about half a meter deep. According to the depth they had just estimated, this depth was probably not enough.
So the two of them expanded the radius and went down into a pit that was nearly 70 centimeters deep.
"Brother, look, there's movement, bubbles are coming out," Xiao Hu said, pointing to the cave entrance.
"Go ahead and do it," Ye Cheng gave Xiao Hu a wink.
"Seriously, bro? You're scared of this too?"
“Let me tell you, ignorance is bliss. You’re not afraid not because you’re brave, but because you’re ignorant. Hurry up, I need to rest.”
Ye Cheng offered some excuses, but for some reason, he always felt a strange fear about reaching into the dark cave to retrieve something.
Xiao Hu knew his trick, so he just joked about it and then squatted down to start rummaging inside.
With just a little bit of his finger in, Xiao Hu pulled out a small crab-goby covered in mud. This one was a bit smaller, weighing only about 4 ounces.
Then, Xiao Hu pulled out eight more from there, of all sizes, the largest weighing eight ounces and the smallest four ounces. It felt like the whole family had been caught in one fell swoop.
"That's all, bro." Xiao Hu rummaged around one last time, and there really was nothing left.
"Let's try another one. It seems like there are quite a few crab gobies here."
As Ye Cheng searched, he checked his luck stat: 70 + 20. If he had a luck stat of 90, he would definitely have a good harvest today.
The two slowly searched along the mudflats. After taking a few steps, Ye Cheng felt something under his feet. He looked down and saw a seashell, which was quite large, but he had already stepped into the mud.
Ye Cheng picked it up casually, and upon closer inspection, found it to be a yellow shell.
Yellow clams, also known as yellow mussels, have yellow or yellowish-brown shells. They have thin shells, tender meat, and a high sweetness. Compared to king clams, they are smaller and cheaper, making them a relatively cost-effective shellfish.
Ye Cheng carefully shone his headlamp around and found quite a few yellow clams. Lin Feng bent down and picked them up one by one. In more than half an hour, he felt that he had picked up about ten pounds.
"Brother, over here, there are tigerfish over here." In the distance, Little Tiger lay on the ground, reached his hand into the mud, and pulled out a dark fish.
"You go first, I'll pick up some more yellow clams, there are still some here," Ye Cheng replied, and then continued picking.
It's mainly about picking things up, which is obviously easier than digging for things.
The two of them went about their own business. Ye Cheng picked up half a sack of yellow clams, finally finishing up this side, before going over to check on Xiao Hu.
Little Tiger caught three more tigerfish, but they were covered in mud from head to toe, looking like mud monkeys.
"Damn it, stay away from me! If you laugh in the middle of the night, I'll think a ghost has come."
Xiao Hu scraped his face with his muddy hands, and now it was even darker.
"Stop messing around, let's go to the beach and wash it with water later, is there still a hole?"
"Yes, brother, I saw several more holes over there."
Ye Cheng followed the direction Xiao Hu pointed and found several holes.
"Let's get to work, this is really tiring," Ye Cheng complained. If the crab goby wasn't worth some money, he wouldn't want to get all dirty.
The soil here is a bit hard, and Ye Cheng could only dig up a little bit with each shovel. It took him almost ten minutes to finally catch two crab goby fish.
Xiao Hu is strong and faster than Ye Cheng by more than twice.
The two continued digging around the mudflats, making sure they dug every hole they could see.
Today's high luck is great! 90% of what Ye Cheng dug up turned out to be fish, and Xiao Hu's was about half and half. Looking at the snakeskin bag that was almost full of crab gobies, Ye Cheng really didn't want to dig anymore.
"Come on, let's go over there and wash it, then we'll dig it up again. We'll become professional lotus root diggers."
He had seen people digging lotus roots, and they were all doing it manually. They said that lotus roots dug by hand taste better, but he didn't understand why.
But digging through that mud pit was truly terrifying. It was nearly a meter deep and they dug right through it. These Chinese people really go to great lengths for food.
The two walked towards the sea and picked up some yellow clams along the way.
The seawater surged up, reaching above Ye Cheng's calves. Ye Cheng quickly scooped up the water and washed his limbs and face. He laughed at Xiao Hu for being so dark-skinned, saying that he wasn't much better off.
The two of them took a good shower. They weren't completely clean, but at least they were recognizable.
"Put your things away, let's walk over there and see." Ye Cheng pointed to the corner in that direction.
After turning the corner, it was still a mudflat.
"Brother, look, isn't there something? It feels like it's throbbing. Could there be something wrong with my eyes?" Xiao Hu asked, pointing to the mudflats as they turned the corner.
Ye Cheng looked closely and saw that there were indeed some things moving on the mudflats, but the movements were not big and they did not look like fish because they were not jumping.
"Let's go take a look."
The two quickened their pace and hurried over, no longer caring about getting muddy; mud flew everywhere.
It wouldn't have mattered if they hadn't gotten closer, but once they did, they were both stunned.
Holy crap!
So many, densely packed.
They were all small octopuses.
This is the tide watcher, also called the short octopus. It is a small octopus that lives in the intertidal zone and can be observed by fishermen, hence the name tide watcher.
The mantis shrimp is relatively small, generally 5-15 centimeters long and weighing less than half a kilogram. Although small, the mantis shrimp has tender meat with a chewy texture, and it is delicious whether boiled, steamed, stir-fried with soy sauce, or grilled.
Of course, there are also some extreme ways to eat it: eating it raw.
Take a live gecko, dip it in soy sauce and wasabi, and bite into it. Its eight little claws can still struggle in your mouth. It is said to taste very good, but Ye Cheng can't accept it.
Moreover, large-scale fishing for clams is quite difficult, so most of them are caught by fishermen who go out to sea or catch them by fishing.
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