Chapter 8: Beach Digging for Clams

Their home was not far from the beach; it took just about ten minutes to walk there. However, upon arriving, everyone didn’t rush directly onto the sand but continued to walk along the shore toward the pier.

Although there were clams to dig up on the beach, they required some searching. The beach was not small, and clams weren’t evenly distributed across every spot; they couldn’t just shovel a few times and expect to find any.

The clams they were after were a type known as sand clams, also called flower clams, but the villagers habitually referred to them as sand clams since they were dug up from the beach.

Despite coming from the sand, most of these clams didn’t contain sand. In rare cases, a clam might come back with some sand in it, but that could easily be solved by soaking it overnight before cooking. They were delicious when added to soups or noodles.

In later years, the market clams didn’t appeal to the villagers as much, lacking the freshness of the ones they dug up themselves. The flesh of their sand clams was also firmer and springier.

The size of the sand clams varied; some were as small as a fingernail while others were as big as flower clams, yet even the smaller ones were meaty.

There were two high tides and two low tides each day. During low tide, children often went out to play and dig, but on the days of the full moon and the new moon, there would be a lot more people.

Villagers preferred to dig outside the pier since only during the full and new moons did the tide recede significantly enough to expose the beach there. On ordinary days, regardless of high or low tide, the area would still be full of water.

When the beach was exposed, there were plenty of sand clams to be found, along with exposed rocks where sea cucumbers, oysters, and other shellfish could be collected.

Living by the mountains means relying on the mountains, and living by the sea means relying on the sea!

As long as they worked diligently near the ocean, they wouldn’t go hungry.

When they reached the pier, they slowly descended the rocky slope. At this point, the tide had receded, revealing a small patch of beach where several women were already squatting down and digging in the sand.

Typically, digging at the beach was an activity mostly done by the women and children of the family. Since marrying, Ye Yaodong hadn’t come to the beach to play; he wasn’t a child anymore, so the novelty of the beach had long worn off.

However, after being reborn, perhaps due to the sense of nostalgia, his perspective had changed, and he felt a renewed sense of curiosity about the beach.

He wandered over to look at the buckets beside the village women. “Is there anything to dig up? Wow, there really are some! How long have you been at it?”

Everyone was focused on their digging, wielding their spatulas in the sand, ignoring him.

Why would they bother with a man who was known for being idle? Instead of gossiping, they could be digging for more clams!

Seeing that no one was responding didn’t bother Ye Yaodong. He turned back to his wife and noticed she had already collected six or seven sand clams in her basin in just a short time.

Hearing the sound of clams clinking, he crouched down. “You’re digging pretty quickly.”

A spatula was the most practical tool for digging up clams—there was no substitute!

Some women were using spatulas with wooden handles that hadn’t been fixed properly, merely using the metal part to dig.

Lin Xiuqing held her spatula and replied without looking up, “Practice makes perfect. Besides, it doesn’t require any special skills; you just dig in the sand.”

Yes, he had done plenty of this as a child. Growing up by the sea, digging in the sand was one of the most enjoyable activities.

Since he was there, he couldn’t just watch, so without a spatula, he decided to dig with his hands.

The beach was dotted with tiny air bubbles, and with a casual scoop, Ye Yaodong uncovered a sand clam, perfectly every time.

Hearing the continuous clinking sound in the basin, Lin Xiuqing turned her head to the side, surprised at how quickly he was digging.

Ye Yaodong noticed her gaze and raised an eyebrow. “What’s up? Do you think I’m impressive? Want me to teach you?”

As he spoke, he scooped his hands into the sand, pulling out another clam!

Shoveling it into the basin, he said, “This is easy to dig. I did a lot of this when I was a kid.”

“How do you manage to get one every time?” she asked, genuinely curious.

Although her family lived in the neighboring town, it wasn’t near the sea; they were close to the mountains.

After marrying into a seaside village, she’d followed her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law, doing things as they did. Each time they went digging, they all used spatulas to scrape the sand little by little, unlike him, who dug with such precision.

Ye Yaodong pointed at the tiny holes in the sand. “Do you see these? Sand clams need to breathe, and these little holes are where they get air. Where there’s a hole, there’s bound to be a clam underneath.”

As he spoke, he demonstrated by digging out two more clams.

He was skilled at this.

It was only because it was close to the new moon that the tide had just receded, making it easier to dig here; the central part of the beach wasn’t so easy to dig.

Lin Xiuqing, feeling curious, tried digging with her hands too, and sure enough, she found one!

“Why bother with a spatula? You can just dig directly!” Using a spatula took more effort, and after a while, her hands would start to ache.

“You still need a spatula; it’s easier with tools. I’m just using my hands because I don’t have a spatula. Some clams are closer to the surface and don’t need a small hole to breathe. Once more people step on the beach, the holes will disappear. That’s why we can see the air bubble holes right now; the tide just receded.”

Lin Xiuqing had been listening to him talk. Over the years, except for the brief period after they married, they rarely had normal conversations. He usually came home sporadically, only appearing at mealtimes and bedtime, and they exchanged only a few casual remarks.

Most of the time, he acted nonchalant, so hearing him speak so seriously and even teaching her felt a bit unusual.

“What are you staring at? Dig!”

“Oh!” she replied, snapping back to attention.

Before long, more people arrived to dig for clams. People were generally industrious in those days, except for Ye Yaodong.

After squatting for a while, he felt his legs getting numb, so he stood up, stretching his waist and neck while glancing at the sea in the distance.

He decided to take it easy after a bit of digging; he didn’t want to seem too diligent.

At this point, the tide was still receding, and many small boats were anchored near the pier. Due to the low tide, many boats had run aground on the sand and could only wait for the next high tide to return to the sea.

It was 9:30 AM; today’s tide would likely reach its lowest point at around 10:30, then start rising again. The tide would peak again around 4:30 PM and recede to its lowest point around 11:30 PM, with a full tide again by 7 AM.

Each day’s tides shifted by about an hour later than the previous day. Although Ye Yaodong had just been reborn, one glance at the water told him when the tides would rise and fall the next day.

No wonder his brothers had come out to check the tides and boats. With the new moon approaching, the tide would recede even further in the middle of the night, and they probably planned to head out to sea around 1 or 2 AM, when the water would be at its lowest.

Without sufficient water, they couldn’t set sail.