Chapter 3: Baiyun Village Hit the Hot Search List for the First Time Foraging

Let's go over there, ignore them.

Arguing with these women is just wasting time; Ye Cheng came to forage to make money, not to pick fights.

I heard Ye Family's Lao Er secretly watched Zhang Guafu bathing.

You can't tell, he hasn't even grown hair yet and already has this idea.

Behind him came gossip about Ye Cheng; hearing it made him stagger. Damn, what does 'not even grown hair' mean?

Besides, how did Zhang Guafu's matter spread so quickly? What is this?

In 2002, I ended up on Baiyun Village's hot search, huh?

Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu hurried to another beach; the beach is huge, wherever you go you're foraging.

Let's do this, start from here.

This beach ahead is nothing like modern sandy beaches—no yellow sand, no silver sand, just dark mudflat.

It was his first time foraging; Ye Cheng was still a bit excited. He had never foraged before, but had watched foraging livestreams—it seemed as easy as picking things up, fun and happy.

But once he actually started, he realized foraging wasn't simple; at least it was manual labor.

The sun blazed overhead; the first step onto the mudflat felt fresh, but after a few steps his shoes were covered in mud, making walking tough—he nearly fell several times.

"Brother, take it easy, why are you acting like it's your first time?" Xiao Hu mocked from behind.

"Nonsense, this is my first time coming."

Over there was a rock; according to the foraging blogger, where there are rocks there might be harvest, so Ye Cheng walked over.

Just as he arrived, a startled crab darted out from under the rock, claws waving, threatening him, then scuttled sideways away.

Seeing seafood for the first time, Ye Cheng was a bit surprised and froze.

Xiao Hu quickly grabbed it and put it in the bucket.

"Brother, stone crab—not bad; catch a few more and we can add a dish."

Ye Cheng knew stone crab—it's the most common crab in foraging, also called sand crab.

Stone crabs generally come in two types: one with a gray-green or blue-gray carapace and limbs, white belly, commonly called flower cover; the other dark reddish, especially the dorsal carapace and limbs, commonly called red shell.

The one Xiao Hu caught was dark red, i. e., red shell, about half a palm wide.

This crab's shell is too hard and meat too scant, so it's usually just eaten personally; trying to sell it won't work.

Does this count as opening for business?

It seems like we've opened for business, yet also like we haven't.

"Brother, there's also a small patch of spicy snails over here; let's gather some to take home and eat."

Xiao Hu said the spicy snail's scientific name is Wujia Lizhi snail; it's called spicy snail because its meat is a bit spicy and bitter, which is why many people dislike it, making it highly polarizing and not worth much money.

However, Ye Cheng, it being his first time foraging, even the spicy snails felt fresh.

On a large bluish-black reef, the pitted surface was covered with shell fragments—dead shells—with a dozen or so spicy snails clinging to it.

The spicy snails are grayish-green, stained by seawater to match the reef, with bumps and nodules on the shell, looking far from high-end.

Ye Cheng picked up a spicy snail and twisted it open; the yellowish-white flesh retracted nervously into the shell, then he closed the lid—that's all a snail can do.

He had just tossed the spicy snail into the bucket when he saw the system's number jump—points went from 0 to 1.

This was the system's first change; those points likely relate to his harvest.

Why did that stone crab just now give no points?

Could it be because he didn't catch it himself?

"Xiao Hu, throw your stone crab on the ground."

"Huh? Brother, what's up? You want to release it?"

"Just throw it when I say so."

Xiao Hu was bewildered, but he obeyed and tossed the stone crab onto the mudflat.

The stone crab wobbled left and right, still confused about how it ended up back on the ground, when Ye Cheng grabbed it again and tossed it into his own bucket.

"Eh? Brother, is this necessary? You could just give me yours; why catch it again? You're just playing." Xiao Hu looked speechless.

Ye Cheng ignored him; the points didn't change, suggesting the system considered it Xiao Hu's catch first, so no points.

Originally Ye Cheng thought, if points counted like that, later when he had money he could buy a bunch of seafood at the market, toss it on the beach, pick it up, and farm points directly.

But it seems the system guarded against that—only his own foraging counts.

"Alright, here you go." Ye Cheng tossed the stone crab back into Xiao Hu's bucket.

"No, brother, just take it if you want—it's not worth anything."

"I find it heavy; hurry up and work."

Ye Cheng gave a perfunctory reply, then continued his spicy snail foray—it takes no skill, just pinch the shell and twist; anyone with hands can do it.

The two circled the big rock and gathered about thirty.

"Brother, not bad; back home we'll add some scallion, ginger, garlic and fry a plate to go with drinks." Xiao Hu was still pleased with the haul.

But Ye Cheng wasn't happy; they'd spent nearly an hour, his back ached, the sun baked him to a sweat, and all they got was this worthless trifle—how could he ever achieve his goal of dominating the village?

Moreover he noticed that besides the first spicy snail raising points, after gathering many more they only gained a little; his Luck Value remained 60, points now 2.

He felt this foraging system wasn't impressive at all—it was kinda useless.

"Xiao Hu, take a smoke break; I'm tired."

"Brother, just this much and you're tired? Foraging is this hard, doesn't make money, I don't know what you're thinking, still wanting to profit from foraging."

Xiao Hu chatted while sitting beside Ye Cheng, who handed him a Bai Sha cigarette, five yuan a pack—a relatively cheap smoke for the era.

As they smoked, his restless heart finally calmed.

Impossible; the system couldn't be this useless—there must be some problem.

Ye Cheng examined the system closely and laughed at himself.

As stated above, one must use the system's exchange tool to obtain the Luck Value bonus.

Because we're dealing with Spicy Snail, the sea-gathering shovel is completely useless, so naturally we can't enjoy the Luck bonus.

He took two hard puffs, pressed the cigarette out on the stone, then picked up his own sea-gathering shovel.

"Brother, you're done resting?" Xiao Hu looked at Ye Cheng in surprise.

Ye Cheng waved his hand, indicating he didn't need to get up, "You continue, I'll go over there to have a look."