Chapter 58: Going to the Sea

Hearing that their father was going to take them to the beach, the two children instantly lost all sleepiness.

They had long been envious of Zhang Xianli and Zhang Xianle, the two brothers, who could go to the beach to catch crabs. They heard that if you shone a flashlight on them, the crabs would be so scared that they wouldn’t dare to move.

Now their family also had a flashlight. Lingling lay on the table, laboriously reaching for her father’s new flashlight, holding it in her arms, urging her mother to go out quickly.

Xiao Wanli watched from the side, clearly meaning the same thing.

Lin Yue laughed and told them that it was daytime now and they didn’t need a flashlight.

The two children were clearly unhappy.

Lin Yue found it funny and washed them clean, pushing them to the dining table to eat.

After dinner, Lin Yue found some old clothes for herself and the two children to change into, and also gave them each a straw hat.

The two little ones were well-equipped, not only with their own straw hats, but also with small baskets and small shovels, though the shovels were made of wood.

The three of them were ready and stood neatly in front of Zhang Yuandong.

Zhang Yuandong had also changed into a set of old military uniform at this time. He found a shovel and took a few large sacks, taking his three little soldiers with him and heading towards the beach.

It wasn’t the day of the big tide, and there were only a few children on the beach. They didn’t go far, just looking for small sand crabs under the rocks near the road.

As soon as Lin Yue got out of the car, she didn’t even care about her own children and husband, and rushed excitedly towards the beach.

She first went to see what the other children had collected. The children guarded their baskets behind them, looking as if they were afraid of her stealing them.

Lin Yue laughed awkwardly and consciously walked towards a place further away from them with her own equipment.

In the future, the seaside resorts would be packed with people all year round, but if you wanted to go fishing, you wouldn’t be able to find a place unless you were familiar with the beach.

Lin Yue had never really gone fishing in her previous life, she had only played on the sand beaches by the sea.

Every time she saw news reports of people going fishing and what they had caught, she was envious.

Now it was good, she had such a large beach to roam freely, she felt that her confidence was bursting, the sacks Zhang Yuandong had brought wouldn’t be enough for her to fill.

It was just the time when the tide was receding, and as far as the eye could see, the coastline was still far away. On the beach, there would occasionally fall one or two white birds of unknown name, pecking at something.

Seabirds are also meat, no one goes to catch them, not because they are not delicious, but because they fly too fast and are difficult to catch.

Lin Yue had no experience in fishing, she didn’t know where to start, she saw these seabirds pecking here and there, she thought that where they were chosen must have something, and then excitedly ran over to see, but could not see what was going on.

Zhang Yuandong saw her silly look for the first time, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his face.

The two little ones beside him shouted loudly, “Mother, come over here and see what father has found!” Lin Yue ran over excitedly, but when she saw it, Zhang Wanli’s little hand was holding half a broken clam shell, Zhang Linghan’s hand was holding a small sand crab the size of a fingernail, instantly a face full of disappointment.

Seeing the expression on her face, Zhang Yuandong couldn’t help but laugh.

Seeing Lin Yue looking at him accusingly, he quickly put away the smile on his face, cleared his throat and said, “It’s not time to catch crabs yet, come on, I’ll take you to dig clams.”

Lin Yue looked at him doubtfully, not quite believing him.

She had seen many fishing videos, people on the beach could pick up anything.

She couldn’t help but ask, “Let’s look for some puddles, maybe there are still fish in them.”

Zhang Yuandong shook his head, “You have to go deep inside, we’re with the children, it’s not safe. I’ll take you alone at night next time.”

It is the most people who come to fish at night, there are also many students from the county, carrying kerosene lamps, wearing small rain boots to dig clams, catch crabs.

On the other hand, during the day, unless it is the day of the big tide, there are very few people who come to fish.

This time it was said to take the children to fish, but Zhang Yuandong said it as if she was also a child who needed to be coaxed.

Lin Yue was a little embarrassed, and didn’t speak anymore, following Zhang Yuandong forward.

Zhang Yuandong found the right place, used a shovel to uncover a thin layer of mud, Lin Yue squatted down and pinched it, there were indeed several clams hidden in the mud.

Zhang Linghan was anxious and quickly shouted, “Mother, put it in Lingling’s basket!” Lin Yue put the clams in her hand in her little basket, and picked up a few more to put in Zhang Wanli’s little basket, the two children were finally satisfied.

Zhang Yuandong dug a pit next to it with a shovel, and when he saw the water slowly overflowing, he asked them to put their little baskets in the water and shake them to wash the clams inside.

He then took out a short rake, and searched nearby.

Wherever the rake went, the clams in the mud were turned up, Lin Yue only needed to follow behind him to pick them up, very convenient.

In no time, her basket was full, Zhang Yuandong took out the sacks he had brought from home and asked Lin Yue to put them in the sacks.

It wasn’t easy for them to come here once, it wouldn’t be worth it if they dug too little, they had to dig more to take back.

They could also be dried.

Lin Yue found it too tedious to pick them up one by one, so she simply asked Zhang Yuandong to dig a big pit for her too. When the water overflowed, she put the mud mixed with clams into the basket and rinsed it in the water.

The basket was woven by Lin Yue herself, the gaps were relatively large, just right for rinsing, after the sand was washed away, the basket was left with only clams and stones, Lin Yue only needed to pick out the stones.

The two little ones loved doing this, they all scrambled to pick up the stones, Lin Yue simply poured the clams in the basket on the ground and picked them up with them.

The two little ones played for a while and then got tired of it, and went back to playing their own small puddles.

Probably all children like to play with sand and mud, this place is simply a treasure for children, enough for them to play all day.

Lin Yue didn’t want to pick up clams anymore, she threw the sack to Zhang Yuandong, and took out a bag of salt and sprinkled it into a small hole.

She had seen people catch razor clams like this in fishing videos before.

After sprinkling the salt, she quietly waited beside it, but unfortunately, she waited for a long time and the small hole did not change, the salt was also very expensive, she was reluctant to continue wasting it, so she had to give up.

Zhang Yuandong didn’t notice her little action, he only thought she was tired and resting there.

As noon approached, the sun became more and more scorching, the two of them only dug half a sack of clams and decided to go home.

The two little ones hadn’t had enough fun yet, and they were reluctant to leave.

Zhang Yuandong promised them that he would dig some mud to take home, and they reluctantly agreed to go back.

Lin Yue led the two children, Zhang Yuandong carried the sack, and they walked back together.

Before they reached the roadside, they saw the other children playing in the car from afar. When they saw the three of them coming back, they ran away without a trace.

Zhang Yuandong didn’t chase after them, he went back to the car and checked that it wasn’t damaged, then ignored it.

He asked Lin Yue and the children to wait there for a while, he went to get some seawater with a bucket.

The land by the roadside was very hard, with many small holes of different sizes, Lin Yue picked up a thin stick and poked into each hole with the children.

When Zhang Yuandong came back, he saw this scene and couldn’t help but laugh, “These are crab holes, they are very clever, poking like this is useless.”

Lin Yue stood up with a smile and said, “We’re just playing…” When she turned her head, she saw his bare upper body and instantly choked.

Zhang Yuandong took off his shirt and held it in his hand, revealing his strong and muscular body, his muscle lines were smooth and not exaggerated, and he could vaguely see the mermaid line going down, his wheat-colored skin was slightly sweaty, and in the sunlight, it seemed to glow.

Lin Yue quickly wiped her mouth, her face involuntarily turned red.

Zhang Yuandong had sweated a lot, and when he was exposed to the sun, white marks appeared on his clothes. He often went shirtless when he was in the army, and he didn’t know if he had forgotten about being embarrassed in front of Lin Yue, he naturally walked to Lin Yue’s side, shook the clothes in his hand, and a few mud crabs instantly fell out.

Zhang Wanli and Zhang Linghan ran over and shouted, “Big crab, big crab! The big crab that Brother Xianli’s family eats!” The two little ones wanted to reach out and grab it, but they saw the few crabs baring their teeth and claws at them.

Zhang Yuandong had already broken off the crab claws, he touched the heads of the two children and said with a smile, “What are you hiding for, they can’t pinch you, don’t worry.”

Lin Yue swallowed, “Where did you catch such big crabs?”

Zhang Yuandong pointed to where he had just gotten water, “There’s a puddle over there, I moved the big stones in it, and I saw these crabs. There are also a few octopuses, look.” He said, and brought the bucket to Lin Yue.

There were indeed two octopuses in the bucket, as big as a palm.

He had just seen Lin Yue wanting to catch crabs, so he casually turned over the stones underneath, and it was also his good luck, he actually found them.

Lin Yue felt that her mouth was about to drool, she quickly urged, “Go, go, go, go home, don’t delay lunch!”

As soon as the family of four got into the car, a loud noise of exclamation came from afar.

Lin Yue looked in the direction of the sound, and saw that the other children had somehow run to the reef, where the water was deep and the waves were big, and a few years ago, someone had been swept away by the waves there.

Unless it was experienced fishermen, few people would go fishing there.

The group of children didn’t know what was going on, but they actually ran over there.

Lin Yue was a little worried that they would be in danger, and shouted loudly for them to come back, but they seemed to be frightened and just panicked and shouted.

The distance was too far, Lin Yue and Zhang Yuandong couldn’t hear what they were shouting.

Afraid that a child had fallen into the water, Zhang Yuandong told Lin Yue to take good care of Wanli and Lingling here, and he quickly ran over.

The two little ones were still too young, although they could be infected by their parents’ emotions, but they didn’t know what had happened, seeing their father run away so quickly, they kept asking their mother, “Why did father run away, aren’t we going home?” Lin Yue hugged one child with each hand and comforted them, “The big brothers over there have encountered a little trouble, your father went to see if he could help.”