Chapter 6

Mao Cuifang didn’t put away the flower clam; instead, she handed it to Jiang Wan and Yin Ning.

“Take this to play with; you can also dig in the sand following its shape, and if you find a similar one, just pick it up.”

Jiang Wan didn’t reach out to take it, but Yin Ning, not wanting to be impolite, accepted it.

“Thank you…”

The young girl’s voice was soft and pleasant, making Mao Cuifang feel a bit shy. She quickly turned back to teach the three adults how to collect from the sea.

The two little sisters followed behind and didn’t pay much attention. Jiang Wanwanted to drift away from the group to find crabs and shrimp, while Yin Ning’s mind was focused on the clam in her hand.

The round and plump clam was quite small; although its color was dull, its patterns were beautiful. It felt heavy in her hand, and without opening it, she knew there must be a lot of meat inside.

A rumbling sound came from her stomach, and Yin Ning’s face stiffened. She hadn’t eaten anything in the morning and was now feeling hungry.

“Cousin, let’s go to that group of rocks over there; the books say there are lots of crabs there.”

Jiang Wan knew that if she went alone, her uncle wouldn’t agree, but if she took her cousin, it would be easier to persuade him.

At first, Yin Ning hesitated; she wanted to dig for more clams. However, she couldn’t resist her younger cousin’s pleas and agreed after hearing that crabs were worth more than clams.

When Yin Huaixi heard that the two little girls were going to play by the rock formation ahead, he had no objections. His daughter was already an adult, and beachcombing was something she excelled at, so he felt there was nothing to worry about. Yin Huaishan and his wife were even more pleased, as their daughter’s gloomy demeanor had been a source of concern. Now that she was in the mood to go play with her cousin, they certainly wanted her to relax.

All three adults agreed, and Mao Cuifang didn’t say anything more, but she still reminded them seriously.

“If you want to play over by the rock formation, you must be careful. Those rocks are covered with oysters and barnacles all year round, and their shells are very sharp. If you trip and fall, you could get cut.”

Even though the village children were warned every year, some still got hurt; the rock formation was quite dangerous for them.

“And also, sometimes crabs will dart out from the cracks in the rocks, and there might be fish or other things in the puddles, so you should be mentally prepared and not get scared.”

People tend to panic when they get startled, and if that happens in the rock formation, it could lead to accidents.

Hearing how dangerous it was, Yin Huaishan and his wife wanted to tell them not to go, but before they could speak, they saw Jiang Wan and Yin Ning running off.

“Slow down!”

“Be careful; don’t run too far!”

What else could the adults say? They could only remind them a couple of times.

“Got it!”

Jiang Wan’s voice was cheerful as she pulled her cousin along, not looking back. Yin Ning habitually felt that they shouldn’t be running so fast, but seeing her cousin so happy, she didn’t want to dampen her spirits. Besides, for some reason, running into the wind made her inexplicably feel great, and she even thought about letting go of her cousin’s hand and running into the sea by herself.

She had never seen such a vast ocean; the azure waters were breathtaking, making her want to sleep peacefully in its embrace.

“Cousin? Cousin?”

Jiang Wan called out several times before her cousin snapped back to attention. Seeing her indifferent gaze made Jiang Wan’s heart tighten, and she quickly picked up a branch.

“Cousin, take this branch, and we can poke at the crabs!”

The rock formation was right in front of them, and Jiang Wan no longer pulled her cousin to run. Out of habit, she began scanning with her eyes for places where crabs might frequently appear.

Yin Ning watched as her cousin crouched down, looking around, and then suddenly said she had found a crab and needed her help.

“Cousin, I just saw a crab hiding under that big rock. You come help me poke it here. Just poke back and forth like this while I stand over there to catch it.”

Jiang Wan didn’t dare let her cousin catch the crab; at this moment, she just wanted her cousin to participate in the process of catching crabs.

“Quick, poke it!”

“Okay, okay…”

Yin Ning didn’t know where the crab was, but she squatted down and extended the long branch under the stone slab, poking back and forth continuously.

The little creature, already backed into a corner in the dark recesses beneath the slab, couldn’t take it anymore and bolted out from the other side.

Thinking it was jumping to freedom, it didn’t expect a big foot to come crashing down from above.

Jiang Wan had been pinched by a crab when she caught one barehanded before, so she had learned to step on the crab’s back first before reaching down to grab it.

“Hehe~ It’s indeed a big blue crab~ Cousin, we can have delicious grilled crab for lunch!”

The little girl licked her lips; she was so tempted.

“This is a crab??”

Yin Ning curiously examined the creature in her cousin’s hand, which was waving its claws threateningly. Its dark green shell looked incredibly hard, with eight little legs and a pair of big pincers flailing wildly, trying to escape her cousin’s grasp. Its bulging eyes and oddly shaped mouth were rather unappealing.

So ugly…

“Can we really eat it?”

“Of course! Blue crabs are very tasty!”

The certainty in Jiang Wan’s words earned her cousin’s skeptical gaze, and Jiang Wan quickly added, “Anyway, the book says blue crabs are very delicious. We’ll know for sure once we grill it when we get back.”

Yin Ning swallowed hard, unable to imagine what it would be like to eat this thing.

“Let’s go, Cousin; let’s go look over there.”

Jiang Wan picked up two pieces of dry grass to tie the crab and held it in her hand, eagerly wanting to catch a second one. Yin Ning was too scared to touch it, but she was fine helping by poking with the stick.

The two quickly spotted another blue crab in a crevice between the rocks, and just as they were about to poke it with the stick, they suddenly heard a splash…

There was a sound as something fell down.  

“Hey? Cousin, it seems like you poked something that looks like a conch!”  

The light was dimmer in the crevices of the reef, and with the many oyster shells and barnacles already on the rocks, Jiang Wan hadn’t noticed the conch hidden inside. After the two sisters managed to scare out the green crab, she began to poke around the crevice with a stick. Yin Ning didn’t know what kind of conch her cousin was talking about, but soon enough, she saw her pulling out a large stone from the gap.  

“Hey! Cousin, we’ll have a feast for lunch!”  

Jiang Wan smiled, revealing her small white teeth while holding the heavy oyster conch.  

The oyster conch was relatively large among conchs; the one in her hand was at least 700 to 800 grams, taking up more than half of her palm, and there was a lot of meat once the shell was removed.  

“Cousin, your eyesight has always been great; can you help me find if there are any more of these conchs nearby, or even smaller ones?”  

Yin Ning took the oyster conch and looked closely; no matter how she examined it, it still looked like a stone. But since her cousin wanted it, she decided to help her search, so Jiang Wan wouldn’t be left to think about it unnecessarily.  

The two sisters crouched as they moved through the rocky area, observing the crabs scuttling around and the conchs being unearthed. Before they knew it, they had only traversed halfway through the reef, and their arms were already full.  

With no choice, since the three wooden buckets at home were with the adults, they could only take the green crabs and conchs back for now. Just as they were about to leave with their treasures, their attention was suddenly drawn to something splashing and jumping in a shallow puddle nearby.  

“Cousin, that seems to be a fish!”  

Yin Ning finally spotted something familiar and immediately jogged over to take a look. Just as she thought, what was flipping in the puddle was indeed a fish, and it was a very nutritious bass.  

Since childhood, Jiang Wan had heard her grandmother and mother say that bass was good for children, and she had eaten so much of it over the years that just hearing the name made her want to throw up. But now, seeing this bass, all she could think about was how to eat it.  

Steamed? Grilled? Made into soup?  

She swallowed hard, barely able to contain herself.  

“Cousin, let’s go back!”  

Looking at their bulging bags, she knew it would surely surprise her family.  

“Cousin, about this fish…”  

Of course, she wanted to take the lively bass back, but she was afraid to grab it. Plus, after collecting so many things, taking this wriggling fish would definitely be troublesome.  

Before Yin Ning could finish her sentence, she saw her frail little cousin grab the fish by the tail and slam it hard against the rocks. With two loud thuds, the bass quickly settled down.  

Yin Ning, startled, thought, “…”  

“Cousin, look, it’s behaving now. Let’s hurry back.”  

Jiang Wan lifted her skirt to make a pouch, placing the crabs, conch, and fish together, then gathered the fabric so that from the outside, it looked like she had quite a few things but no one could tell what was inside.  

“Cousin, that’s not good; quickly lower your skirt…”  

Yin Ning had been taught traditional decorum for young ladies, and lifting her skirt in public was far too improper, so she immediately tried to stop her. The original owner wouldn’t have done this, but now that it was Jiang Wan, she wouldn’t listen.  

“Cousin~ there are pants under my skirt, so it’s fine. Besides, look at those nearby kids; they’re dressed even more revealing than I am. It’s just how things are in this fishing village; we should go with the flow.”  

Yin Ning instinctively looked at the nearby children. Those kids who came to catch clams were well-prepared with buckets or baskets, happily using small shovels and rakes to dig in the sand. The boys wore short jackets with pants that revealed their calves, while the girls had sleeves on their tops but their wrists were exposed, and their pants were similar.  

Such attire would definitely be criticized as indecent in the capital, but in this fishing village, it seemed like everyone dressed this way.  

Yin Ning was somewhat shocked; by comparison, her cousin lifting her skirt didn’t seem so out of place after all.  

Jiang Wan didn’t give her cousin time to dwell on such thoughts; she held up her skirt with one hand and tugged on her cousin’s arm with the other, and the two sisters ran to catch up with the adults at home.  

At that moment, Mao Cuifang was talking with the others about the local tide times, and when she saw the heap of things the sisters brought back, her eyes widened.  

“Goodness, you two really are impressive!”  

Four green crabs, nine large conchs, and a bass weighing about two to three kilograms! These two had only been gone for a little over half an hour, and to gather all these things in such a short time was truly remarkable.  

“Have you two caught crabs before? The way you tied them up is quite impressive.”  

Mao Cuifang’s casual comment made Jiang Wan break into a cold sweat. She had been careless; she had instinctively grabbed things to tie up the crabs but had forgotten that a young lady would never know how to tie crabs properly.  

Yin Huaixi smiled lightly, helping her daughter out.  

“Girls like to play; she used to have a maid from the mountains who always said crabs were fun and delicious, so this girl would pester me to buy crabs for her. But we didn’t have crabs this big where we lived, only small ones from the ditches. Later, I bought a few for her to play with.”  

Mao Cuifang felt a moment of envy. Although this family had fallen on hard times now, they had once been prominent ladies and gentlemen, living a life that she couldn’t even dream of.  

What a pity…  

“That maid might have been fooling you; crabs are fine for play but shouldn’t be eaten, and the conchs are also inedible.”  

The mother and daughter felt a jolt in their hearts and instinctively asked, “Why?”  

“Because they can make you sick. People in the village have eaten these sea conchs when they were starving, but often, after eating them, people would get nauseous and vomit, and some would suffer severe stomach pains and even die from it. As for crabs, men can eat them, but women can’t. This is passed down from the elders in the village.”  

“Some say that crabs are very harmful to women’s bodies. A couple of years ago, a gluttonous wife in our village couldn’t resist and ate a plate of crabs, and that night she ended up having a miscarriage. Anyway, we have plenty of clams on our beach, and we can occasionally find fish and shrimp, so there’s no need to eat those.”

Mao Cuifang briefly mentioned which sea creatures shouldn’t be collected while foraging by the sea. In the locals’ understanding, conchs, crabs, and sea urchins are all not edible, which made the mother and daughter’s eyes light up.  

If no one around here eats crabs or conchs, doesn’t that mean there’s a bounty for them!

Jiang Wan wasn’t at all afraid of the dangers Mao Cuifang mentioned. It was only when some conchs weren’t cooked thoroughly or cleaned properly that they would cause symptoms like nausea and vomiting. As for crabs, they are indeed cold in nature, making them unsuitable for women to consume in large quantities—note the emphasis on “large quantities.” The issue is clear: as long as they are cleaned properly and not consumed in excess, they are perfectly fine to eat.

She recalled a time when she devoured four crabs and two pounds of conchs in one meal and felt perfectly healthy afterward. But right now, there was no need to argue with Aunt Cuihua; after all, she meant well for her family.  

The whole family nodded, indicating they understood. Since it was still early, Mao Cuifang took off her basket and gave it to the sisters, suggesting they wander around to see if they could catch a fish. Jiang Wan happily tied the basket around her waist.  

“Cousin, do I look the part?”

Yin Ning’s wandering thoughts were pulled back when she saw her little cousin, as if she had spotted a group of children from before. She couldn’t help but marvel at how well her little cousin adapted. If she hadn’t known that Jiang Wan had been raised in the back courtyard just like her, at first glance, she would have thought she was a village girl.  

“Cousin, let’s go a bit further this time and look by the water.”  

“Okay, I’ll follow your lead.”  

Yin Ning wasn’t sure what she should do; she just decided to listen to her cousin.  

The two little sisters ran against the sea breeze, weaving around the rock formations until they reached the receded shoreline. The beach was filled with villagers, and from time to time, they could hear children exclaiming in excitement. Jiang Wan had sharp eyes and quickly spotted two kids holding small objects, squeezing water from them.  

Those were cat’s eye conchs!!  

Cat’s eye conchs like to lie in the sand but aren’t very clever about it; a small mound in the sand clearly indicated that something was there, making them easier to find. These conchs aren’t as big as oysters, but they have plenty of meat; when dug out, the extended conch flesh could sometimes be larger than a person’s palm, though it shrinks back once the water is squeezed out.  

Jiang Wan loved cat’s eye conchs, and every time she caught one, she would squeeze out the water, which was very stress-relieving.  

“Cousin, the book about squirting water says that’s a cat’s eye conch; let’s go look for some too. You can dig wherever you see a little mound in the sand.”  

Yin Ning nodded obediently and immediately lowered her head to search the beach. On the long shoreline, the sisters moved forward slowly like little ants. Almost simultaneously, they spotted small mounds in the sand, and each effortlessly dug out a cat’s eye conch from underneath.  

“Wow, this one’s huge!”  

Yin Ning’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the large piece of conch meat; this was real meat!  

“Cousin!”  

She turned to show her cousin, only to see Jiang Wan wiping all the sand off the conch meat, enclosing it in her hand, and suddenly squeezing it hard.  

!!!  

Countless tiny water jets erupted from the conch meat, and the plump conch meat visibly shrank down into a tiny ball.  

Yin Ning stared without blinking, suddenly feeling that what her cousin did was so much fun. So she imitated Jiang Wan, wiping the sand away and then squeezing hard.  

Ah!  

How to describe this feeling? The moment the water sprayed out, she felt her heavy heart lighten a bit, as if some kind of shackles had been released.  

She wanted to squeeze another one!  

“Cousin, isn’t it fun~”  

Jiang Wan smiled brightly as she tossed the squeezed cat’s eye conch into the basket.  

“I see there are still plenty more on this beach; let’s collect a few more before the tide comes in.”  

“Mm-hmm!”  

Yin Ning felt a surge of excitement, finally shedding that disconnected feeling. The two sisters carefully began to search the beach together.