Chapter 41: The Joy of Collecting Snails

From far away, Qin Yun saw a large black dog burst out of the field and sprint straight toward him.

Anyone else seeing this would be terrified, legs trembling.

After all, this black dog was enormous—up to waist height, baring its teeth—who wouldn't be spooked, especially as night was falling.

But Qin Yun didn't flinch; he smiled, opened his arms wide, and the big black dog leapt forward, launching itself at his body.

Qin Yun embraced it fully; the impact would normally have required careful dodging to avoid straining his waist, but now this much force from Dahei had zero effect.

"Sliiiip sliiiip…" The dog licked furiously along Qin Yun's neck and face, making him constantly push its head away.

"Watch yourself—I find that disgusting."

Dahei barked twice, as if saying, "Disgusting? You're still my master."

That's right—this dog was raised by Qin Yun, but two years ago he sent it to Zhoushan, entrusting it to his grandparents. Back then, Dahei was still small; now it had grown into a full-grown dog, no longer cute at all.

"Wang Wang…" Dahei was ecstatic, running circles around Qin Yun nonstop.

Even in the field, it didn't settle down—darting to one end of the ridge, then sprinting to the other, endless energy.

"Grandpa!"

The old man hoeing in the field looked up, then smiled.

"Xiao Yun's here—did you come with your mom?"

"Yeah, Grandpa."

Qin Yun's grandfather set down his hoe and called him home.

"Come on, let's go home—we've raised chickens and ducks this year, and we're slaughtering one. I told you, I wanted to eat it, but your grandma wouldn't let me—said we had to wait until you kids came."

Qin Yun laughed heartily—this was exactly the kind of thing his grandma would do.

Back home, Qin Yun tried to help, but everyone clearly didn't want him lifting a finger—just told him to watch. He sighed, but seeing how delighted his grandparents were, he let them have their way.

They slaughtered the chicken, drained its blood, scalded the skin, plucked the feathers—his grandfather moved with practiced speed, and in moments, the hen that had been hopping moments ago now sat beside potatoes, steaming richly, making mouths water.

Four people sat around the table, with Dahei lying beside them.

Dahei also had a large bowl in front of him—dogs in the countryside weren't pampered like those in the city. Usually, owners gave dogs leftovers; slightly better off, they shared their own meals.

Dahei's massive size wasn't without reason.

His bowl was filled with exactly the five dishes on Qin Yun's table—but thankfully, they were all before seasoning; otherwise, after eating those, Dahei would be dog meat tomorrow.

Dogs can't consume too much salt—their kidneys metabolize it extremely poorly. If they ate like humans, they'd die soon enough.

At the table, Qin Yun gnawed on a chicken wing while listening to his grandparents vent about his mother, smiling, occasionally chiming in to satisfy their need to complain.

"Thank goodness we didn't have kids—otherwise, they'd have held Xiao Yun back," his grandma said.

Whose child, whose love—Qin Yun thought perhaps Song Ya's version of the story differed from his only in the name.

"Enough of that," his grandfather tossed a chicken bone to Dahei. "Didn't know you two were coming today—tomorrow at low tide, we'll go collect snails."

"Great!" Qin Yun had loved collecting snails as a child—especially sesame snails.

Most outsiders probably never ate sesame snails. These snails grow in the sea, far cleaner than field snails or silk snails—no worries about parasites.

Most importantly, just boil them in plain water with a pinch of salt, and you get a dish bursting with freshness.

Qin Yun had always loved eating them—and collecting them.

These snails aren't farmed—every sesame snail you see on the market was picked by hand from the shore. Many people in Zhoushan earn money collecting them; this season, sixty yuan per jin is common.

After dinner, his mother took care of chores; he sat with his grandparents in the courtyard, enjoying the cool.

It was nearing October—temperatures were pleasant, though still reaching thirty degrees during the day; Zhoushan wouldn't feel autumn until November. So until late October, sesame snails could still be collected at low tide.

"Xiao Yun—are you planning to settle down in Zhoushan?" His grandparents had little education, but their concern for their grandchildren was genuine.

"No," Qin Yun shook his head. "I'm planning to work for myself."

"Start a business?" his grandma exclaimed. "That's great—be your own boss, no need to kowtow to anyone."

His grandfather disagreed: "If being a boss were that easy, everyone would be one."

"That's other people."

Qin Yun smiled: "Not exactly a boss—I'll just travel around, shoot ads for people, that sort of thing."

Clearly, his grandparents didn't understand—but whatever their grandson said was unquestionably right, more right than political correctness.

Chatting with them, reminiscing, sharing stories of his adventures, they didn't notice when it was time for them to sleep.

This was his grandparents' ancestral home—huge in size. Considering his mother had four siblings, all could live here comfortably; you could guess how many rooms there were.

Before bed, Qin Yun ordered traditional rock-climbing gear, shipping it all to Zhoushan Fishery Dormitory.

…

"Second brother, this is Xiao Yun—oh my, you don't even recognize him anymore…"

"Your grandson came to visit—you're so happy you can't stop grinning…"

Along the way, neighbors who saw Qin Yun all smiled warmly—some teased, some joked—until they spotted a middle-aged man crouching by the field, dressed sloppily.

"Ah Feng, eaten yet?" his grandfather greeted him.

The man's hair was a messy nest, his clothes were autumn wear, over which he wore a suit. His eyes held a timid, confused, melancholy, and utterly lost expression.

"U-uncle… Ah… this is Xiao Fen…"

Hu Fen smiled and greeted him, introducing Qin Yun: "This is my son, Qin Yun—you saw him as a child, but he's grown now, so you probably don't remember."

He looked at Qin Yun with cautious eyes, his smile flickering on and off.

"When… when I was a kid… didn't expect Xiao Fen's son… to be so… big…"

Hu Fen whispered: "Hu Feng—villager… uh… you've probably seen him."

Qin Yun nodded—he knew. The man was the village's lifelong bachelor: raised on handouts from neighbors, mentally a bit off, but kind-hearted—whenever there was a wedding or funeral, he showed up first, without being asked.

In today's internet terms, he was the village guardian.

He called out loudly to the other party: "Uncle Feng, long time no see."

Hu Feng was startled for a moment, then immediately broke into a smile and waved his hand: "Long... long time no see."

Soon, the three of them walked past, and the other party's gaze lingered without looking away. Until they could no longer be seen at all, only then did he squat back down by the roadside.

"Be careful, Grandpa." Qin Yun climbed down first, then watched out for his grandfather's footing slipping, and smoothly helped his mother down as well.

After the tide receded, the pebbles on this stretch of beach were fully revealed in their true appearance.

Sesame snails love to hide in the shaded crevices on the back side of the reef rocks, or cling to rock surfaces polished smooth by the waves. They are only the size of a fingernail, with brownish-gray shells dotted with little white markings — though not all of them have these.

Normally, the sea breeze would have carried a chill, but now Qin Yun, enjoying the wind brushing his face, felt only comfortable and refreshed — completely standing out compared to the father and daughter wrapped tightly around him.

Along the rocky shore, it wasn't only their family; quite a few other people were also gathering snails.

This was probably the simple pleasure of folk who lived their lives by the sea.

Qin Yun felt his way along the reef, and one by one the sesame snails brazenly clung to the rock face, awaiting the next tide — but this time, what came for them was a drooling creature, plucking them off one after another and dropping them into the bag at his side.

In less than half an hour, Qin Yun felt the sesame snails in his bag already amounted to half a basinful.

He looked up and saw that his mother and grandfather had also split up, one heading east, the other west. His mother, heading east, was now chatting with a mother-and-daughter pair. Qin Yun looked at the younger one and felt a vague sense of familiarity — seemed like an elementary school classmate, but for the moment he couldn't recall her name.

Carrying his bag, he simply walked over.

"Auntie."

Qin Yun called out a greeting.

The middle-aged woman looked at him and laughed: "Little Yun's getting more and more handsome — when did you get back?"

"Just got back a couple of days ago."

Qin Yun answered, then looked at the woman beside her.

"Qin Yun, long time no see." The other party smiled at him, then tilted her smooth chin toward the side as a hint, and the two of them walked off to one side.

Qin Yun remembered, and said: "Lili, where are you working now? Zhoushan?"

Her name was Wang Lili — that was her old name; now she went by Wang Yicheng. But since they'd all been used to calling her that since childhood, they kept addressing her as "Lili."

"No, I'm in Hangzhou. I took annual leave these past couple of days."

Qin Yun nodded: "Hangzhou's pretty nice, but I heard housing prices there have dropped a lot these past two years."

"Mm, yeah, but I didn't buy — can't afford it." Wang Lili was wearing jeans, petite in build, but quite pretty. "What about you? What brings you back? Did you come back with your wife?"

Qin Yun gave a wry smile: "I'm divorced."

A look of surprise crossed Wang Lili's face, and she immediately said: "Sorry, I didn't know."

"It's nothing." Qin Yun didn't mind. "It's not that big a deal."

For a while, accompanied by the waves and the wind, the two of them walked in silence for a stretch.

Qin Yun glanced at the end of the path ahead, turned, and said: "What about you? Seeing anyone?"

"Haven't really thought about it for now." Wang Lili shook her head. "Can't seem to meet anyone suitable."

"You're so pretty — I remember back in elementary school a lot of classmates liked you, and would deliberately misbehave just to get a rise out of you, hahahaha."

Wang Lili laughed: "Those boys were so naughty back then, bullying the girls at every turn. But I remember you were really quiet then, hardly ever mixed in with them."

"Couldn't be helped — I saw a few boys get beaten by you until they were crying their eyes out. How could I dare?"

"Hahahahaha…"

Chatting about the funny little incidents from elementary school, the two of them had almost looped back to where they started without realizing it.

"Let's add each other on WeChat." Wang Lili took out her phone and said.

Qin Yun nodded, scanned her QR code, and added a note.

"Next time you come to Hangzhou, let me know — I'll treat you to a meal."

"You got it."

Soon, mother and son headed one way, mother and daughter the other.

"Lili's just too short, but she's really pretty when she grows up. So? Feel anything? If you do, Mom can play matchmaker — that girl's grown up right under our eyes, we know her inside out."

Qin Yun looked at his mother's teasing-yet-somewhat-serious expression and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Mom, I'm really not in the mood for dating right now — I just got divorced."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Hu Fen pouted. "When you meet someone you like, you've got to move fast — miss the chance and it's gone."

Qin Yun couldn't be bothered to engage with the topic and said: "Oh right, I told Lili about my divorce."

"No worries, I told her mom too. Your mom here doesn't give a damn about that stuff — if anyone dares to gossip in front of me, clucking their tongues, just watch this old lady curse them into the ground."

"Mom's badass!"