[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-return-to-the-little-fishing-village-of-1982":3,"chapter-return-to-the-little-fishing-village-of-1982-reborn-in-the-1982-fishing-village-chapter-8":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Reborn in the 1982 Fishing Village",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2222242,4070,"Chapter 8: Gleaning the Sea and Digging for Sand Clams","reborn-in-the-1982-fishing-village-chapter-8",8,"\u003Cp>Their home was not far from the beach, only a ten-minute walk away, yet upon arriving, everyone did not head straight for the sand but instead continued along the shoreline toward the outer pier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clams could also be dug beneath the beach, but one had to search for them; their beach was vast, with clams not distributed everywhere, nor could they be found by casually scraping a few times.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sand clams were a type of clam, also known as flower clams, but the villagers habitually called them sand clams since they were dug from beneath the sandy beach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despite being excavated from under the sand, most contained no grit; only in extremely rare cases did they retain sand, which could be purged simply by keeping them overnight before eating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether used to make soup or added to noodles while cooking, a few sand clams imparted an unparalleled freshness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The clams sold in markets in later generations held no appeal for the villagers, lacking the freshness of those they dug themselves by the sea, nor did their flesh possess the same springy texture as their sand clams.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, the sand clams on their beach differed somewhat from the flower clams in the market; they varied greatly in size, with the smallest no bigger than a fingernail and the largest matching typical flower clams, yet even the tiny ones were remarkably meaty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were two high tides and two low tides daily; during ordinary low tides, children would sometimes dig for fun, but during the major low tides on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, crowds would gather.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Furthermore, the villagers habitually dug beyond the pier, for only on the first and fifteenth days did the tide recede far enough to expose the beach there; at all other times, whether rising or falling, the water remained high.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whenever exposed, the beach beneath yielded abundant sand clams to dig, while the offshore reefs also emerged, offering razor clams and oysters to pry loose, along with spicy snails to collect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rely on the mountains for sustenance if you live near them; rely on the sea if you live beside it!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those living by the sea who worked diligently would never go hungry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon reaching the pier, they slowly descended the steep stone slope; by then, the tide had already receded, revealing a small patch of beach where several women were already squatting and digging in the sand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Generally, tide-gleaning was work for the women and children of the household; ever since Ye Yaodong married, he had not visited the seaside for leisure, and being no longer a child, he had long lost any sense of novelty toward this beach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet after being reborn, perhaps due to a newfound sense of the era, his mindset had changed, and he felt a renewed freshness toward this stretch of beach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He strolled over first to inspect the buckets beside the village women. \"Found anything to dig? Ah, you really have! How long have you been digging?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone was bent over the beach surface, digging diligently with spatulas, and no one paid him any heed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A man who idled all day; did they think he was like them? Would it not be better to dig two more scoops with the time spent on idle chatter?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since no one acknowledged him, Ye Yaodong felt no annoyance; seeing his son squatting alone on the beach playing with sand, he returned to his wife's side, where in just that short while, her basin had already accumulated six or seven sand clams.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing two more soft clinks, he squatted down. \"You dig quite fast.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The spatula was the most practical tool for digging sand clams, bar none!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some people, lacking a wooden handle, simply used the bare metal blade of the spatula to scrape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xiuqing also held a spatula blade and, without lifting her head, said, \"Practice makes perfect, and this requires no special skill; just scrape the sand.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, he had done this often as a child; for children raised by the sea, digging in the sand was their favorite pastime.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since he had come, he could not merely stand and watch; lacking a spatula to scrape with, he used his bare hands instead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Spotting tiny bubble holes dotting the beach, Ye Yaodong casually reached in and pulled out a sand clam, hitting his mark every single time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing the continuous clinking sounds in the basin, Lin Xiuqing glanced sideways in surprise; so fast?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ye Yaodong noticed her gaze, raised his eyebrows, and looked at her. \"What? Do you think I'm impressive? Shall I teach you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke, he cupped both hands over the beach surface and scooped again; another one!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tossing it into the basin, he added, \"These things are easy to dig; I dug plenty of them when I was young.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How do you manage to hit one every time you reach in?\" She was genuinely curious now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although her maiden home was in the neighboring town, that area bordered mountains, not the sea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having married into a seaside family for several years, she had always followed behind her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law, mimicking whatever they did; every time they went tide-gleaning, she accompanied them, and everyone used spatulas to scrape section by section, never scooping as he did.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ye Yaodong pointed to the tiny holes beneath the beach surface. \"See these? Sand clams need to breathe too; they rely on these holes for respiration, so wherever there is a hole, a clam is sure to be underneath.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While speaking, he demonstrated again, pulling out two more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Scooping from holes was a skill he mastered thoroughly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was only because the first day of the lunar month was approaching and the tide had just receded from this section near the pier that digging was so easy; the central part of the beach was not nearly as yielding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xiuqing, intrigued, tried scooping herself, and sure enough!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then why use a spatula at all? Just reach in with your hands!\" Using a spatula required strenuous scraping that would eventually make one's arms ache.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You still need the spatula; having a tool is more convenient. I only used my hands because I lacked one. Some clams lie closer to the surface and can breathe without needing small holes; later, once people trample the beach, you won't see the holes anymore. It is only now, just after the tide receded, that these bubble holes are visible.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Xiuqing kept watching him as he spoke; over so many years, aside from the brief period just after their marriage, they had rarely engaged in normal conversation. He was always elusive, appearing only at mealtimes and bedtime, with at most a couple of routine exchanges during the day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He usually behaved in a frivolous manner, so seeing him speak so seriously and earnestly now, even teaching her, made her feel somewhat unsettled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What are you looking at? Keep digging!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within a short while, more people arrived to dig for clams; people in this era were incredibly diligent, Ye Yaodong being the sole exception.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After squatting and digging for only a while, he felt his legs going numb, so he stood up to stretch his waist and neck, gazing out at the distant sea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Digging for a while and showing a little effort was enough; he must not appear too diligent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The tide was still receding at this moment; many small boats were moored near the pier, and due to the low water, numerous vessels had run aground on the beach, unable to return to the open sea until the next high tide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The current time was 9:30; today's tide would reach its lowest point at 10:30 before beginning to rise again, reaching full high tide around 4:30 in the evening, dropping to its lowest once more near 11:30 at night, and rising to full again by approximately 7:00 the next morning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each day, the tides shifted later by about fifty minutes; although Ye Yaodong had only been reborn today, a single glance at the tide told him exactly when the next high and low tides would occur tomorrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No wonder his elder and second brothers had come out to check the tide before setting sail; with the first day of the lunar month approaching, the midnight tide would recede even further. On the night of the first day, the tide would hit its lowest point at 12:00, meaning they would likely need to put to sea between 1:00 and 2:00 AM, when the water level would not have risen much yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without sufficient tide, the boats could not depart.\u003C\u002Fp>",1439,"2026-06-17T19:10:37.428Z",1,"Qwen3.5 397B","ea76650739523b7fcd8d75b013ebf446f7f5954481ab06568c44d348ee07e1cf","reborn-in-the-1982-fishing-village-chapter-9","reborn-in-the-1982-fishing-village-chapter-7",9,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Freborn-in-the-1982-fishing-village-cover.jpg"]