Chapter 9: Brother, you got a sea squirt?

The three also spotted Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu; Huang Hai waved at Ye Cheng, "Ye Cheng, you came out clamming this early? Not like your style, hahaha."

Duan Yong and Yuan Jiansheng also laughed along.

Ye Cheng used to be famously lazy, so seeing him this early is indeed uncommon.

Ye Cheng smiled faintly; he felt neither fondness nor dislike for these few, just fellow villagers.

Yeah, you gotta clam early; we're heading over there, you keep going." Ye Cheng said, then walked off into the distance.

Brother, we found this; why should we let them have it?" Xiao Hu objected.

A Cheng, the elders said you dug up a lot of flower clam kings here yesterday, so we came to dig a bit—you don't mind, right?" Huang Hai and the two others stopped digging and looked at Ye Cheng.

Their meaning was actually clear: if you don't mind, they'll keep going; if you do, then we'll have to talk—since villagers have no other recourse, fists are the ultimate argument.

Ye Cheng couldn't be bothered to fight them head-on, "Just keep going."

Watching Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu walk away, Huang Hai shook his head, "Just a coward; he usually knows how to bully widows, but when he meets us like this, he chickens out."

Duan Yong: "Exactly, last time he even stole two pieces of my clothing while I wasn't home."

Yuan Jiansheng: "At least three of my chickens were stolen by him."

"Forget it, can't say much if we didn't catch him; let's keep digging our own." Huang Hai shouted, then continued squatting and digging.

"Sea Brother, we've been digging this long and only see a mudskipper—where's any flower clam king? Is this guy lying?" Duan Yong supported his waist and complained a couple sentences.

"Yeah, I only found a few sand clams—how could they have dug up dozens of catties of flower clam kings yesterday?" Yuan Jiansheng's bucket was also empty, aside from sand clams and a few mussels, all worthless goods.

Huang Hai furrowed his brows, "Shouldn't be wrong; Aunt Zhao said it's right here—let's dig a bit more, otherwise we'll change spots."

"Brother, they're going too far, relying on their numbers to bully us because we're few." Wang Xiaohu still felt indignant.

He had just wanted to make a decent profit, but his spot got snatched—of course he couldn't feel good about it.

"Let's go; you dug there yesterday for ages and turned up nothing." Ye Cheng said with an indifferent expression.

The two walked forward another few minutes, completely leaving Huang Hai trio's line of sight, then stopped.

"This'll do, can't be bothered to walk further." Ye Cheng said casually.

"Sure, brother, you rest first; I'll go check." Xiao Hu, full of energy, rushed straight down.

Damn it, Ye Cheng muttered inwardly, "If your going down actually helped, I'd of course want to rest too."

This is useless, isn't it? I have to go down myself to get anything done.

Ye Cheng lit a cigarette first, enjoy a quick smoke before work—soon there'll be another fierce battle.

After finishing the cigarette, Ye Cheng followed him down to the tidal flat, "Xiao Hu, any haul?"

"Brother, just picked up two mussels." Xiao Hu held two greenish-brown shells.

Mussels, aka mussel shells, also called sea rainbows; when dried they're called greens, used for soup.

Usually about half a palm size, taste is average, so price is cheap—low-end seafood, not worth much.

Ye Cheng crouched on the tidal flat to observe; there was a strip-like crack a few centimeters long on the flat; he poked it with a shovel and it snapped shut.

He lifted the shovel and dug down, pulling out a large triangular shell from inside.

This is a scallop, also called River Jade; though it looks big—longer than Ye Cheng's palm—there's little edible, just a bit of dried scallop, about the same price as mussels.

Ye Cheng stood up and looked; the tidal flat still had many such strip-like cracks, but this isn't what he's after.

He wants valuable seafood; he needs to scrape together 5,000 bucks quickly to pay off his debt.

This, Ye Cheng noticed several inconspicuous little paths on the tidal flat—well, tiny paths, one centimeter wide.

These are traces left after sea creatures crawl past.

Ye Cheng instantly followed the path forward and eventually found a small hole on the tidal flat.

Another small hole; Ye Cheng skillfully took out his shovel and scraped a layer down the hole—something at the entrance twitched.

Ye Cheng estimated the angle, then dug down hard along the hole; after two shovel strokes, the little creature could be seen, curled inside still trying to escape.

Ye Cheng reached in and grabbed it—it was a worm-like thing; he pulled hard, and it was surprisingly tough, lodged tight; he felt that pulling harder would snap it.

No choice; Ye Cheng had to shovel again, loosening the surrounding sand, then managed to pull the thing out.

Alright, a purplish-red elongated cylindrical animal—this is a sea squirt.

Sea squirt, this thing's valuable—valuable in what way?

Valuable because of shape-signifies-nourishment; people are taught from childhood to eat what resembles what you want to bolster.

Injured foot? Eat pig's trotter; bad stomach? Eat pig's tripe.

The sea squirt is long and thick; in shape, it's exactly a top-notch tonic.

Moreover, the texture is decent, so it's always sold well in the market—a favorite among many men.

Especially when stir-fried with chives—never mind the texture, just this BUFF makes any man unable to resist; it's the classic 'his gain, my gain.'

This sea squirt is a bit thick—thicker than Ye Cheng's thumb; held in his hand, it kept wriggling, then shot a jet of water, trying to flee.

"Brother, escape is impossible—how about you give me some cash instead?" Ye Cheng gloated, tossing it into the bucket behind him.

System points jumped straight up by ten, becoming thirty-one.

The system also deemed it a good thing; Ye Cheng wondered whether the system was male.

"Brother, you got a sea squirt?" Xiao Hu, sharp-eyed, spotted it from afar and came splashing over in excitement.

"Yeah, just this patch—I saw their crawl traces earlier; you come over too."

"Sure, sea squirt's great—this thing's pricey."

Xiao Hu found a hole, gave it a shovel dig—this guy's brutal, just digging down hard; one plunge and a ten-centimeter-deep pit appeared.

But...

"Brother, there's nothing in this hole." Xiao Hu wore a rueful expression.

"Be patient, be patient—how could it be this easy?"

Ye Cheng said, casually picking a hole and lightly digging—then saw a spray of water jet from the small hole.

Sharp-eyed and quick-handed, he reached down, grabbed the thing inside, and yanked it out.

Another sea squirt, a bit smaller and weaker, was pulled out by Ye Cheng in one grasp.

Xiao Hu looked puzzled, "Brother, how can you dig out sea squirts while I get nothing?"