The courtyard soon fell quiet, with only the faint sound of sea waves in the distance.
Jiang Tang lay on the hard plank bed, turned over, and probed her consciousness into the Space.
She saw the Spirit still maintaining its daytime posture, eyes closed and legs crossed, suspended in mid-air, with a faint glow lingering around its body. She tried to call out softly with her consciousness: "Spirit, are you asleep?"
"Master, is something the matter?" The Spirit opened its eyes abruptly, those clear pupils shining like two stars in the Space.
"Can you sense the tide receding on the sea surface outside? I'm worried about oversleeping, so I was thinking of having you wake me up when the tide goes out."
"Of course, Master, sleep easy!"
This was closely related to its Energy, and it was happy to take on the task.
The more Seafood the Master gathered, the more Silver Coins she could sell it for, which meant it would have an endless supply of Energy to absorb.
Having received the Spirit's agreement, Jiang Tang felt completely at ease, and as her eyelids grew heavy, she drifted off into a dream.
Having been busy all day—Sea Gathering, selling goods, treating illness, and running across half the town—she was truly exhausted, and her breathing soon became steady and deep.
Song Jiuxi and Su Lianxue beside her were already used to sleeping early, and by now, they were already emitting slight snoring sounds. The three of them huddled on the small bed like three little beasts keeping each other warm.
Around the third watch, Jiang Tang was awakened by the Spirit's voice in her mind: "Master, the tide has begun to recede."
Almost simultaneously, Jiang Yi's hushed shout came from outside the door: "Elder Sister, the tide seems to have receded quite far, hurry up and get up!"
The three people in the room woke up instantly.
Song Jiuxi and Su Lianxue rubbed their sleepy eyes, groped to put on their outer clothing by the moonlight filtering through the door crack, and stepped outside, squinting.
In the courtyard, Jiang Yi had already tidied up the Tools for Sea Gathering.
Two headlamps, two iron tongs, one landing net, and the two small knives used last night.
The four of them carried their baskets and water buckets as they walked toward the seaside; the closer they got to the Coast, the thicker the salty, moist air became.
Just after crossing the sand dune, the scene before them made Song Jiuxi and Su Lianxue gasp.
The tide had receded further than they had imagined, and a large expanse of the Tidal Flats, usually submerged by seawater, was now exposed like a giant black carpet spread across the ground.
The beams of the headlamps swept across, revealing shimmering watery light and scattered shells in the shoals—a sight they had never seen before.
"My goodness..." Song Jiuxi couldn't help but whisper, "Just how much Seafood must there be!"
Jiang Yi, however, had his mind set on the Reef from last night, his eyes shining: "Elder Sister, I'm still going to pry Oysters over there. There were still plenty on that Reef last night that we didn't have time to finish!"
Jiang Tang, however, wanted to gather on the Tidal Flats; she felt that gathering Seafood down there was like opening a blind box, which was very interesting.
Two headlamps were just enough for two pairs. Song Jiuxi yawned, rubbed her eyes, and said, "I'll use one with Jiang Yi. I haven't woken up yet, so I need to bicker with him to wake myself up."
She had never woken up this early in her life, and her head felt dizzy and groggy; only by bickering with Jiang Yi could she feel more alert.
Jiang Tang smiled and didn't stop them.
Su Lianxue also followed her obediently: "I'll go with A'Tang."
Jiang Tang took two pairs of tongs and a landing net and headed toward the Tidal Flats below with Su Lianxue.
Although Jiang Yi didn't want Song Jiuxi to follow him, his mind was filled with nothing but fat Oysters, and he wanted to pry as many as he could.
As for Song Jiuxi trying to pick a fight with him, he would just pretend not to hear her.
But when the two climbed onto the Reef, Song Jiuxi saw the scene on the rock wall by the light of the headlamp.
Instantly, all sleepiness vanished; dense clusters of Oysters and green mussels were tightly attached to the Reef.
Some were palm-sized, and tiny splashes of water occasionally bubbled from the shell gaps, clearly showing they were fresh and lively.
"Wow! Jiang Yi, look! So many Oysters! And they're so big!"
She exclaimed, squatting down, and picked up a small knife to start prying.
Jiang Yi rolled his eyes, complaining, "What's the big deal? Is it worth shouting so loudly?"
He had completely forgotten that he had been the same way last night.
Unexpectedly, Song Jiuxi didn't retort for once, only burying her head in prying Oysters. With a "click," her small knife pried one open, and the plump oyster meat shimmered with watery light under the lamp, making her eyes shine even brighter.
Seeing her prying so earnestly, Jiang Yi didn't want to be outdone and squatted down to pry as well.
Song Jiuxi caught a glimpse of him being faster than her and gritted her teeth, increasing her pace.
Jiang Yi also sped up a bit.
Back and forth, the two began to compete, their headlamp beams moving rapidly across the Reef, with only the sound of "click, click" as shells were pried open echoing one after another.
Before long, the small bucket at their feet was half-full of Oysters.
On the other side, Jiang Tang and Su Lianxue were walking along the soft Tidal Flats, the slightly cool seawater washing over their ankles.
The fine sand rubbed gently against the soles of their feet. As their fingertips probed into the moist sand pit and touched the slippery shell, a slight effort pulled the plump razor clam up by the root, its meat full and plump, the juice moist and lustrous.
Many of those hidden in the sandy ground were king razor clams, a size larger than the usual ones, with thick and fleshy meat columns.
Su Lianxue was sharp-eyed; her peripheral vision caught a pool of clear water surrounded by Reefs not far away, the bottom of the pool shimmering with fragmented silver light.
She reached out and tugged at Jiang Tang's arm, her voice filled with a touch of surprised delight: "A'Tang, look in that water puddle!"
Jiang Tang looked in the direction she pointed and saw that in the half-meter-square water puddle, colorful shrimp bodies were swimming flexibly, their hard shells gleaming with an oily and shiny luster—they were actually Black Tiger Prawns, and they were quite large.
Su Lianxue gripped the landing net, stood on tiptoe, and leaned over. As the net edge touched the stone edge of the puddle, she sank it gently and then suddenly pulled it up. The moment the net bag left the water, it splashed up tiny droplets, and the mesh was full to the brim with countless Black Tiger Prawns, their bodies arched and very fresh and lively.
"A'Tang, this net bag is truly useful. I caught quite a lot in this one go; it's quite heavy."
"Good heavens, just how many are in this nest!" Jiang Tang smiled and reached out to help support the net bag.
The two took turns scooping; every time the net bag went down and was pulled up, it was never empty, though occasionally a few agile Black Tiger Prawns would jump out from the net opening.
After scooping back and forth seven or eight times, until not a single shrimp shadow could be seen in the puddle and the water surface returned to a calm state, the two finally stopped, having filled two buckets.
"Lianxue, I'll give you the basket; I'll take these two buckets of shrimp back first." Jiang Tang handed the half-full bamboo basket to Su Lianxue and conveniently took off her headlamp, pushing it into her hand, "The light is dim here; you take it to illuminate the way, and watch out for the Reef underfoot."
"Can you manage alone?" Su Lianxue took the basket and the headlamp, her eyes full of worry, "These two buckets of shrimp look very heavy. Should I go back with you? You still have injuries on your body."
"Don't worry, I'm fine." Jiang Tang bent down and picked up the two water buckets, "You wait here, I'll be back soon."
Walking back by the moonlight, such bright moonlight made traveling no problem, and she could see the road underfoot clearly.
In reality, once she reached the old house in the village, she put the two buckets of Black Tiger Prawns into the Space.
The two buckets at home were already filled with Black Tiger Prawns, and the Wooden Basin in the Space was also filled with the Seafood Jiang Yi had gathered last night and that Large Grouper; there were no more buckets to hold this kind of Seafood that needed water to stay alive.
Just as she was about to turn back, a small figure darted out from the Space and hovered in front of her.
Jiang Tang was startled: "In the middle of the night, what are you doing coming out to scare people?"
She was surprised; she hadn't even made any money yet, so why had this guy popped out?
"Master, of course I'm here to share your burdens!" The Spirit smiled obsequiously, its eyes flashing with shrewd light.
Jiang Tang raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms to look at it: "Speak, what 'project' do you want to recommend again?"
She had figured out this Spirit's temperament; every time it came out, it was definitely looking to "fish for money" from her.
✦✦✦