*Knock, knock… knock-knock-knock…*
Someone knocked on the door, and Cheng Yuanshu’s voice came from outside.
“Third Brother, Third Sister-in-law, the tide has gone out. Mom and I are heading out to gather seafood. You two stay home and rest. We’ll come back later and cook dinner.”
The moment she heard *gathering seafood at low tide*, Qiu Yinong immediately got to her feet and opened the door.
“Yuanshu, I want to come too.”
“Huh? Third Sister-in-law, you want to come with us?”
Cheng Yuanshu had already changed into rubber boots. Wearing a bamboo hat and carrying a bucket, she looked every bit the experienced fisherwoman.
Qiu Yinong was very interested in the activity.
“Yuanshu, I’ve never done this before. Yesterday was the first time in my life I’d even seen the ocean. Take me with you so I can learn something new.”
“Don’t you want to stay home and rest?” Cheng Yuanshu asked with a smile.
“I haven’t done any work today. I’m not tired at all.”
Seeing that she insisted, neither Cheng Yuanshu nor her brother stopped her.
“Alright, I’ll take you. Let me find you a pair of rubber boots first.”
Mother Cheng was delighted that her daughter-in-law wanted to join them. The more she looked at her, the more she liked her. Turning to her son, who had followed them out, she said:
“Yuanche, go back and take a nap. Later you’ll need to keep Commander Tan and the others company. We’ll be back before the tide comes in.”
Cheng Yuanche nodded and reminded his wife:
“Yinong, stay away from places where the mud is deep. Don’t climb onto the reefs either—they’re slippery. Just collect seashells and snails along the tidal flats.”
“Okay. I’ll just follow along and learn about seafood. I won’t go anywhere dangerous.”
Qiu Yinong happened to wear the same shoe size as her sister-in-law. After changing into Cheng Yuanshu’s boots, she grabbed a small bucket, a pair of tongs, and some gloves, then happily followed her mother-in-law out.
The tide had already receded.
Nearly the entire village had come out to forage along the shore. Everyone was dressed similarly. Women, children, and even elderly people swarmed across the reefs, mudflats, and tidal pools.
Qiu Yinong and the others had arrived a bit late.
As she looked into the distance, her eyes suddenly widened.
Everywhere she looked was covered in white dots.
“Mom, Yuanshu, what are those white dots?”
“Huh? What white dots?”
The mother and daughter looked confused. Following the direction she pointed, they both shook their heads.
“We don’t see any white dots.”
“You don’t?”
Qiu Yinong closed her eyes briefly and opened them again.
The countless white dots were still there, densely scattered across the mudflats and even over the sea.
“Yinong, are your eyes bothering you? Maybe the sunlight is making things blurry?” Mother Cheng asked.
Qiu Yinong was certain her eyesight wasn’t failing.
This felt like something entirely different.
Instinctively, she sensed she shouldn’t say any more.
“Maybe the sunlight is a bit harsh. I’m not used to the environment here yet, so perhaps my eyes are playing tricks on me.”
“Get some rest tonight. You’ll probably adjust after a couple of days,” Mother Cheng said without thinking much of it.
Qiu Yinong nodded and continued walking with them.
Then she noticed a white dot ahead.
She immediately quickened her pace.
“Mom, Yuanshu, there’s an octopus!”
Cheng Yuanshu had even sharper eyes. She rushed over before Qiu Yinong could reach it, skillfully grabbing the creature and proudly showing it to her.
“Third Sister-in-law, look! This is an octopus. We ate some at the wedding banquet this afternoon.”
“The octopus at lunch was really fresh. So this is what it looks like.”
Qiu Yinong watched curiously as the creature wrapped its tentacles around Cheng Yuanshu’s fingers.
“Does it bite?”
“No. It just likes wrapping around things when it feels threatened.”
Cheng Yuanshu handed it to her.
“This one’s pretty big too—about two or three liang. Right now they sell for around twenty cents a jin.”
Qiu Yinong played with it briefly before tossing it into the bucket.
Then she noticed something.
Wherever her mother-in-law quickly bent down and picked up a sea snail, there was always a white dot.
A thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
*Could it be…*
Her heart tightened.
Without hesitation, she hurried toward a white dot near a cluster of rocks.
She immediately lifted the stone covering it.
Underneath was a blue-legged crab the size of her palm.
Excitement flooded through her.
“Mom! Yuanshu! There’s a blue crab here!”
“That’s a flower crab!”
Cheng Yuanshu instantly abandoned collecting snails and sprinted over.
“Third Sister-in-law, your luck is amazing! Your very first catch while foraging is a flower crab, and it’s a pretty big one too!”
Mother Cheng also came over.
“Flower crabs sell for a good price. This morning when we were buying seafood at the docks, Jianzhong said the purchasing price was already thirty-two cents per jin.”
Cheng Yuanshu was highly skilled at catching crabs.
After securing it, she taught Qiu Yinong how to hold a crab properly without getting pinched, then patiently demonstrated how to tie it up using rice straw.
“Crabs are worth decent money, but you have to tie them up right away. They like fighting each other. If they lose legs, nobody wants to buy them and they become much less valuable. Then you can only keep them for yourself.”
Qiu Yinong was smart and had an excellent memory.
After seeing it once, she already knew how.
“Yuanshu, was the crab we ate at lunch also a flower crab?”
“No. We ate swimming crabs at lunch. They’re a little cheaper—about twenty-six or twenty-seven cents per jin. They’re the most common kind around here. Flower crabs taste better, but there aren’t nearly as many of them.”
“There are several other species too. Mud crabs are the most expensive…”
Cheng Yuanshu patiently explained the different varieties one by one.
Then she added:
“Third Sister-in-law, we go out at low tide twice every day. There’s another low tide around three or four in the morning. We usually finish when it gets light and then sell the seafood to the purchasing station at the docks. Tomorrow I’ll take you there so you can see all the seafood around here.”
“Okay! Okay!”
Qiu Yinong was genuinely interested.
“Yuanshu, Yinong! There are lots of spotted babylon snails and cat’s-eye snails over here. Come quickly!”
Mother Cheng worked with astonishing speed and efficiency.
While the two younger women had been chatting, she had already collected one or two jin of sea snails.
Now she was calling them over to a reef.
Qiu Yinong immediately carried her bucket over.
This particular area where her mother-in-law stood was filled with white dots.
She looked around.
Every white dot corresponded to a sea snail.
Her heart bloomed with delight.
She hurried over and started collecting them.
*A new soul merged into my body and even brought me a magical bonus. Heaven is really looking after me.*
Of course, she didn’t dare say such words aloud.
She merely repeated them silently in her heart.
Mother Cheng glanced back at her and saw that she was gathering snails at incredible speed, not a bit slower than either of them.
Laughing, she called out:
“Yinong, slow down! Don’t strain your back.”
“Mom, I’ll be fine. I grew up in the mountains. I used to wander deep into the forests all the time. Sometimes I followed my elders for twenty or thirty li through mountain trails. We chased pheasants, rabbits, and wild boars, climbed trees and vines to pick wild fruit. My body was trained long ago.”
The Cheng mother and daughter stared at her.
“…You’re that tough?”
“Hehe.”
Qiu Yinong grinned.
“Kids who grow up in the mountains usually have pretty good stamina. We’re all agile little monkeys.”
Even while talking, her hands never stopped moving.
One sea snail after another flew into her bucket.
She didn’t even know what species they were.
Some were round, some pointed, some spiraled in strange shapes.
It didn’t matter.
She would collect them first and ask about them later.
If any turned out to be inedible, she could always throw them back into the sea.