Her heart grew increasingly anxious, and suddenly, she shouted, "I want to go out, the seafood..."
It's still waiting for me to collect...
Before she could finish her sentence, a suction force suddenly pushed her outward.
Before she could even open her eyes, noisy sounds were already reaching her ears.
Jiang Tang thought the villagers had gotten up early for Sea Gathering, and she felt puzzled. Could that broken Space actually have a time difference? She had only been inside for a moment, yet it was already bright outside?
But when she opened her eyes to look, she realized she hadn't returned to the seaside, but was standing at the entrance of a pitch-black alley, with a seafood market right across from her.
A shiny sign caught her eyes—Fucai Seafood Market.
Simplified characters, lights as bright as day, high-rise buildings rising from the ground, the parking spaces at the market entrance filled with trucks dripping with water, and a man with short hair moving goods...
Everything was telling her that she was back; she had returned to modern times.
Jiang Tang felt a surge of wild joy and almost jumped up.
She subconsciously wanted to pinch herself to see if this was a dream.
But when she raised her hand, she saw those two crabs still clamped onto her finger. There was no need; this was truly painful!
It almost made her cry out loud.
It took quite a lot of strength to pry the crab claws open, and her finger was already covered in blood.
She took off the ruby ring from the female crab's claw. Considering it was these two crabs that allowed her to return, she decided to keep them and tried using her mind to send them back to that Space from earlier.
The moment the thought of entering flashed through her mind, the two crabs vanished with a "whoosh."
"It turns out it relies on intent!" Jiang Tang realized belatedly.
She had returned, but her identity was a difficult problem. She was no longer a "registered resident" of this world, and without an ID card, it was hard to move a single step.
But then she thought, not having an identity didn't matter; she could bring the seafood from over there to sell here!
Thinking of this, she couldn't wait to go back and collect more.
Life in the Dong Yuan Kingdom, though bitter, had a sense of relaxation and freedom she had never experienced before.
In her past life, she was too busy living. Since middle school, she had started working part-time jobs to save for Tuition Fees, never stopping once.
Washing dishes in restaurants, doing odd jobs at a milk tea shop, cleaning bars, working in factories to tighten screws...
She first returned to the Space and caught a glimpse of the two King crabs still in the corner, still holding each other's claws.
Jiang Tang couldn't be bothered to watch them show off their affection and moved her mind to return to the seaside.
Looking up, Jiang Yi was still working hard with his head down, not even knowing she had disappeared for a while; he didn't even bother to look up.
The seawater seemed to be rising, but it was still quite a distance from the Reef, so she had to hurry and collect.
The Wound on her hand had already stopped bleeding.
Thinking that she would often need to go for Sea Gathering in the future, she needed to buy some Sea Gathering Tools in the modern world.
The Sea Gathering Tools here were limited and impossible to buy, and iron was expensive and restricted.
Jiang Tang flipped over the first stone by the Reef, and an octopus was stuck to it; she collected it.
She also found a pair of crabs in a small Puddle and collected them too.
Snails in the rock crevices, Grouper pushed up by the waves during low tide, small lobsters... In no time, her bucket and basket were almost full.
By the time the two of them filled their buckets and baskets, the seawater had risen to the vicinity of the Reef.
"A Yi, the tide is rising, let's go home!" Jiang Tang waved a torch under the Reef.
"Hey! Coming, Elder Sister."
Jiang Yi was carrying a basket full of Oysters, heavy and weighed down. He tried twice before he could stand up, and he was also carrying a bucket of Green mussels.
Thinking that these could be exchanged for Silver Coins, he didn't feel tired at all and shuffled toward the bottom of the Reef, swaying with every step.
Jiang Tang put her own basket down below and hurried up to help: "Give the basket to me!"
"Elder Sister, I can carry it. Your Wound hasn't healed yet, so don't carry it. You wait here for a while, I'll carry these back, and then come back to help you."
He saw that his Elder Sister also had a full basket and a bucket. The goods were mixed, but he saw crabs, small lobsters, octopuses, and quite a few fish.
"No need, I can carry it."
The original owner was used to this kind of work and had thick skin; these wounds were truly painful, but she could still work.
Jiang Yi wanted to say more, but Jiang Tang ignored him and walked home on her own with her basket.
When the two arrived home, the village chickens had already started crowing.
She went into the room to take a look; Madam Feng was sleeping soundly, her Breath much steadier.
"A Yi, it's still early, you should sleep for a while." Jiang Tang wanted to send him away so she could take the seafood to the modern world to sell.
"Elder Sister, you sleep. I'm not tired, I want to go back to the beach to collect some more." Jiang Yi found a large basin and poured the Oysters from the basket into it, piling them up like a small mountain. "When we came back, I saw a few bumps on the beach that looked like razor clam nests."
"Can you do it alone?" Jiang Tang was somewhat worried.
"Don't worry, Elder Sister, I can do it. I'll be back before dawn, and I definitely won't let the villagers see me."
He knew that if people discovered they had gone to the sea at midnight to collect so many good items, they would never have peace again.
A "rumbling" sound rang out. Jiang Yi embarrassedly avoided Jiang Tang's gaze, went into the Kitchen, and scooped up a ladle of cold water to fill his stomach, his eyes shining.
Jiang Tang watched his thin figure carrying an empty basket and holding a torch as he disappeared into the morning mist, and her heart felt a pang of heartache.
This Child was so sensible it made one's heart ache; when hungry, he could only drink water to satisfy his hunger, yet he never complained once.
Once Jiang Yi was far away, she immediately collected all the seafood into the Space.
When she entered the Space, she vaguely felt that something in that Black mist was staring at her.
But apart from the one-square-meter path in front of her and the pile of seafood, everything around was still foggy, and she couldn't see anything.
She shook her head, trying not to think about it.
With a thought, her figure appeared again at the entrance of the alley opposite the "Fucai Seafood" market.
Compared to when she came earlier, there were a few more lit shops outside the market; they were steaming Breakfast shops.
The savory aroma of chopped green onion pancakes on the griddle was sizzling with oil, the fried dough sticks in the deep fryer were golden and fluffy, the Soup Dumplings in the steamer pushed open the lid, releasing white, steaming heat, and even the soy milk pot next to them was bubbling with a "gurgling" sound.
Various aromas mixed together and surged out, domineeringly wrapping around her snort.
The pungent aroma of green onion oil, the burnt aroma of fried dough sticks, the richness of meat buns, and the sweetness of soy milk made Jiang Tang's stomach growl, and saliva swirled in her mouth.
She had never felt this hungry before, as if she could swallow a cow, but she couldn't pull a single coin from her pocket; she couldn't even afford a fried dough stick.
"Don't think about it, let's work first. I'll eat after I sell these for money." Jiang Tang swallowed her saliva and clenched her fists.
She first crawled into the seafood market to take a look around, figured out the price of various seafood, and only came out once she had a plan in mind.
The Coarse cloth clothing covered in patches on her body was truly eye-catching. Passersby couldn't help but steal a few glances, and the repeat customers were also quite numerous, with two or three Stall Owners gathering together to whisper.
Jiang Tang didn't care; if they went to the Dong Yuan Kingdom, they might not be dressed as well as she was.
The days of struggling in her past life had long since given her a thick skin.
Being noticed was actually a good thing; it would help them remember the seafood at her stall.
Returning to the alley entrance, she first brought out a basket and a Wooden bucket, moving them to the seafood market across the street first.
She found a place to put the items down and made two more trips to move the rest over.
By this time, people were arriving one after another, mostly purchasers from restaurants and hotels, pulling handcarts inside.
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