Their home was not far from the Beach, a ten-minute walk away. However, upon reaching the Beach, everyone didn't go directly down to the Sand, but continued along the shore towards the outside of the wharf.
There were also Sand Clam to dig on the Sand, but they needed to be searched for. Their Beach was not small, and not every spot had Sand Clam distributed, nor could they be dug up by just shoveling a few times.
Sand Clam is a type of Clam, also known as Flower Clam, but people in their Village habitually called them Sand Clam because they were dug from under the Sand.
Don't think that just because they were dug from under the Sand, most of them didn't contain sand. In very few cases, if they were dug back with sand, they only needed to be kept overnight before they could be eaten.
Using them to make soup, or adding a few Sand Clam when cooking noodles, was incredibly fresh.
People in their Village didn't like to eat the Clam from the Market in later generations; they weren't as fresh as the ones they dug themselves from the seaside, and their meat wasn't as springy as their Sand Clam.
Moreover, the Sand Clam on their Beach were somewhat different from the Flower Clam on the Market. Sand Clam varied in size, with small ones being as tiny as a fingernail, and larger ones being similar to Flower Clam, but even the small ones were very meaty.
There were two high tides and two low tides every day. During normal low tides, children would also go dig for fun, but during the major low tides on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month, there would be more people.
Furthermore, people in their Village habitually went to dig outside the wharf because only on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month would the tide recede very far, revealing the Sand near the wharf. Normally, whether it was high tide or low tide, it was always full.
Whenever it was exposed, there were many Sand Clam to dig under the Sand, and the reefs along the shore would also be exposed. On the reefs, there would also be Sea Snails and oysters to pry, and spicy conch to pick up.
Rely on the mountains to eat from the mountains, rely on the sea to eat from the sea!
Living by the sea, if one was diligent, one would not go hungry.
Upon reaching the wharf, they slowly walked down the steep stone slope. By this time, the tide had already receded, revealing a small patch of Sand, where several women were already squatting, digging in the sand.
Generally, scavenging in the sea was done by the women and children of the family. Since Ye Yaodong got married, he had not played by the Beach, and since he was no longer a child, he had long lost his novelty for this Beach.
However, after being reborn, perhaps due to a sense of nostalgia for the era, his mindset had changed, and he felt a renewed sense of freshness towards this Beach.
He was the first to stroll over and look into the buckets beside the Village women. “Are you digging up anything? Oh, there really is! How long have you been digging?”
Everyone was holding a spatula and diligently digging into the surface of the Sand, and not a single person paid him any attention.
A man idle all day, did she think they were like him? Wouldn't it be better to dig a few more times with this idle talk?
No one paid him any mind, and Ye Yaodong wasn't annoyed. Seeing his son squatting alone on the Sand playing, he walked back to his wife's side. In just a short while, her basin already contained six or seven more Sand Clam.
Hearing two clinks, two more were added. He squatted down, “You dig quite fast.”
A spatula is the most practical tool for digging Sand Clam, bar none!
Some people, whose wooden handles weren't attached, just used a spatula blade to dig there.
Lin Xiuqing also held a spatula blade. Without raising her head, she said, “Practice makes perfect, and this doesn't require any special skills. It’s just digging sand.”
Hmm, he did a lot of this when he was little. Children who grew up by the sea played the most with digging in the sand.
Since he was already here, he couldn't just watch. Without a spatula to dig, he just used his hands directly.
Ye Yaodong reached into a small air bubble hole on the Sand and pulled out a Sand Clam, hitting the mark every time.
Hearing the continuous clinking sounds in the basin, Lin Xiuqing glanced sideways. So fast?
Ye Yaodong noticed her gaze, raised his eyebrows and looked over, “What? Do you think I'm amazing? Do you want me to teach you?”
As he spoke, he used both hands to scoop the surface of the Sand, and another one!
He scooped it into the basin and said, “This thing is very easy to dig. I dug a lot when I was a kid too.”
“How do you manage to get one with every scoop?” She was genuinely curious.
Although her maiden home was in the neighboring town, her area was not by the sea, but near the mountains.
Having been married to the seaside for several years, she always followed her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. She did whatever they did. Every time she went scavenging in the sea, she followed along, and everyone used a spatula to dig small sections. She had never seen anyone scoop like him.
Ye Yaodong pointed to the small holes under the Sand, “See these? Sand Clam also need to breathe; they breathe through these holes. Wherever there’s a hole, there’s bound to be one underneath.”
As he spoke, he demonstrated, pulling out two more.
Scooping holes, he was very skilled at it.
It was only because it was close to the first day of the lunar month and the tide had just receded from this part of the Sand near the wharf that it was so easy to scoop. The middle section of the Beach was not so easy.
Lin Xiuqing also curiously scooped once, and indeed!
“Then what’s the point of using a spatula? Just scoop directly!” Using a spatula required strenuous digging, and after a while, her hands would ache.
“You still need to use a spatula. It’s easier with tools. I’m using my hands because I don’t have a spatula. Some are closer to the surface and can breathe without small holes. After a while, when people step on the Sand, you won’t see the holes anymore. It’s only because the tide has just receded now that you can see the bubble holes.”
Lin Xiuqing kept looking at him as he spoke. For so many years, except for the period right after they got married, they rarely had normal conversations. He was always elusive, only returning for meals and sleep, at most exchanging a couple of daily questions.
He was mostly a slacker, and seeing him speak so earnestly and teach her for once truly made her feel unaccustomed.
“What are you looking at? Dig!”
“Oh!”
In just a short while, more people came to dig Clam. People in this era were very diligent, except for Ye Yaodong.
He had only squatted and dug for a while when he felt his legs getting a little numb, so he stood up to twist his waist and neck, looking at the vast sea in the distance.
Digging for a bit and showing a little effort was enough; he couldn't appear too diligent.
At this moment, the tide was still receding. Many small boats were moored near the wharf. Due to the tide, many boats were stranded on the Sand and could only return to the sea after the next high tide.
The current time is 9:30 am. Today's tide should recede to its lowest point at 10:30 am, then start to rise again, reaching full tide around 4:30 pm in the evening, and receding to its lowest point again around 11:30 pm at night, and reaching full tide around 7:00 am in the morning.
Every day, the high and low tides were delayed by about 50 minutes compared to the previous day. Although Ye Yaodong had just been reborn today, just by looking at the tide, he knew when the tide would rise and fall tomorrow.
No wonder his eldest and second brothers wanted to come out and check the tide for sailing. As the first day of the lunar month approached, the tide would recede even further in the middle of the night. On the night of the first day, the tide would be at its lowest point at 12 pm. They would probably set sail around 1-2 am, and by then, the tide wouldn't have risen much.
If the tide wasn't high enough, the boat couldn't go out.
