She touched it, but she couldn’t pull it off—the abalone was clinging too tightly.
It was time to surface for air. She shot up out of the water, thinking of a strategy.
Earlier, she had been somewhat afraid of water, but after the recent attempts, her fear had lessened considerably.
Right! She had brought a small shovel today, so she could just use it to scrape the abalones off.
She hurried to the wooden bucket, grabbed the shovel, and returned to where the abalones were. Diving down again, she felt braver than before and no longer afraid.
However, she kept her eyes closed, which was affecting her operation.
Slowly, she tried to open her eyes. She had expected the seawater to sting, but there was no pain. Instead, her eyes felt perfectly comfortable, as if they were made for the sea.
One hand held the rock, the other used the shovel to pry the abalone.
One strike, two strikes, three…
Haha! Success! She had scraped off an abalone as large as a bowl.
By now, she had reached her breath-holding limit. She couldn’t pick up the abalone yet and surfaced to breathe.
Once her breathing was steady again, she dove back and retrieved the abalone, placing it on the rock, then went back under to continue.
This cycle repeated until she had scraped off all three large abalones.
After emerging from the water, she activated her spiritual vision to scan the area again.
Seeing nothing else worthwhile, she gave up and walked onto the beach to collect the clams she hadn’t finished yesterday.
Thinking about last night’s clams, she still felt a lingering desire—they would make a nice bowl tonight.
Gradually, the tide rose, submerging her area, and from a distance came Li Nian Nian’s calling.
“Sister, the tide’s coming in! Let’s go home!”
“Ah, here he comes!”
Li Suisui placed the last clams she had collected into the wooden bucket and carried it toward them.
“Sister! Sister! What treasures did you find today?”
She glanced at the group of beachcombers approaching and casually replied, “Just some clams.”
“We found clams too, and some clamshells. I love clam soup! Mom promised to make some for me when we get home.”
“Eat, eat, eat… always thinking about food and never about your injured father!”
What was wrong with Lin Guiying? Why was she always targeting their family? Was she in a bad mood this morning?
Li Suisui was annoyed and ignored her. “Mom, let’s go home!”
Wang Xiulian didn’t want to clash with Lin Guiying either. “Alright, let’s go home.”
It was then she noticed that Li Suisui’s clothes were soaked through.
“Suisui, what happened? Why are your clothes all wet?”
With so many people around, she couldn’t admit she’d been diving for abalones. “I accidentally fell into the sea just now.”
This prompted Lin Guiying’s scolding again: “You’re grown up! You don’t help at home and even do these careless things…”
Li Suisui’s anger surged. This little old woman had truly gone out fueled by fire this morning. She couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Grandmother, since you say that, let me explain properly. How have I not supported this household? When Father was injured, I went out before dawn every day to gather seafood so our family wouldn’t starve.
And as for being careless… do you think I wanted to fall into the water? I only did so while trying to collect seafood.
Our family is already having a hard time—why do you always feel the need to criticize us?”
As she spoke, large tears rolled down her cheeks.
This time, she was truly heartbroken.
She collapsed to the ground and cried without restraint.
It wasn’t easy for her—coming from the happy 21st century, working herself to exhaustion in this place, and now even being bullied.
Seeing her cry, Wang Xiulian and Li Nian Nian began to cry as well.
Their commotion drew the attention of many nearby beachcombers. Hearing that Lin Guiying had made the girl cry, they looked at her strangely.
Some even criticized Lin Guiying for not treating Li Erzhu’s family properly.
Lin Guiying seethed, but there was no outlet for her anger, so she left with a cold face.
Zhang Chun’e stepped forward to help Wang Xiulian and then Li Suisui and Li Nian Nian up. “Xiulian, Suisui, Nian Nian, stop crying. Don’t blame your mother—she didn’t mean it.”
Earlier, Lin Guiying had intended to bring Li Lanzi out to collect seafood. The night before, everything seemed fine, but Li Lanzi refused to go this morning.
Angry, Lin Guiying vented her frustration on Wang Xiulian and her children instead.
If Li Suisui had known the reason, she would have argued with Lin Guiying. Why should their mother and children be used as a vent for someone else’s bad mood?
Since abalones are easy to store, Li Suisui decided not to waste six copper coins going to town. She would sell them tomorrow after collecting more good seafood.
It was still early, so she planned to take Li Nian Nian into the mountains to see if they could find anything else valuable.
“Sister, do you think we can find wild pears today?”
“You little brat, don’t we already have plenty of wild pears at home?”
“Hehe, plenty, but more wouldn’t hurt either.”
Today, they took a different route into the mountains. Li Suisui activated her spiritual vision to scan the surroundings.
Nothing. Still nothing.
Ah! She spotted a patch of bright red fruits—looks like hawthorn.
“Nian Nian, let’s go this way.”
“Sister, why suddenly this way?”
“I sense something good here. Stop wasting time—follow me.”
Soon, they reached the hawthorn trees.
Li Nian Nian looked displeased. “Sister, you don’t mean to pick these sour-as-teeth hawthorns, do you?”
“You don’t like them?”
“Of course not! They’re much worse than wild pears.”
What? In her previous life, hawthorn was delicious—but that was sugar-coated.
Given their current situation, they certainly couldn’t sugar-coat these hawthorns.
She picked a bright red hawthorn and popped it into her mouth. “Ugh! Ptooey!”
Indeed, it was far more sour and bitter than wild pears. Even if coated with sugar for candied hawthorn, it wouldn’t be very tasty.
“Sister, let’s go somewhere else to look.”
“No, we have to pick these first.”
“But they’re so sour. Why bother picking them?”
“Hawthorn can be used as medicine. Maybe the pharmacy will buy them.”
Clinging to this possibility, Li Suisui and Li Nian Nian spent over half an hour harvesting all the hawthorns in front of them.