Chapter 16: Work until you drop, as long as you don't die from exhaustion

A Qing was half-believing, half-doubting.

It looked simple enough, but he feared he couldn't do it.

He tried finding a hole, doing as Wu An said, stretched the tongs down, clipped and pulled, and a palm‑long shrimp came out of the hole.

The shrimp flopped, splattering mud all over his face.

A Qing didn't care about that, happily shouting, "Brother, I got one out!"

"It's actually that simple."

"There's another hole; I'll try again."

He lowered the tongs.

He pulled.

Another shrimp.

After catching two shrimp, A Qing was already covered in mud spots.

But at that moment, who had time to worry about that?

Wu An smiled, bent over, lowered his head to look for holes; on this mudflat there were many similar holes, and once he found one and dropped the tongs in, he basically caught something every time.

But not every time was it a shrimp.

Besides shrimp, some smaller holes would yield clams and blood clams, also good seafood that could be sold for money.

Occasionally they'd encounter jumping fish, a local delicacy especially popular with middle‑aged men.

Wu An found it annoying.

Those fish are hard to catch, they keep jumping, and sometimes mud splatters his face.

Not far away, A Qing would occasionally spit "pei pei pei" when mud got into his mouth.

He shouted, "A Qing, don't go too far downstream."

"Walk sideways."

"Occasionally look up at me, don't stray too far."

A Qing answered and immediately walked back.

The tide rises silently; many get trapped because they're too obsessed with foraging, and it's quite addictive.

Seeing A Qing obey, Wu An relaxed.

He found a big hole.

He lowered the tongs.

"Click."

Before he could close the tongs, he heard a crisp sound—something in the hole had clamped onto the tongs.

The situation had reversed.

Who dared so boldly?

He pulled the tongs out and saw—what a catch! It was a blue crab, bigger than a fist, about half a catty.

That's a good thing.

A Qing happened to look up and exclaimed happily, "Brother, you caught a blue crab, and it's pretty big!"

Wu An nodded.

He found another similar hole, lowered the tongs—this time it was also a crab, but not a blue crab; it was an orchid crab. He shook off the mud, and in the light it still looked pretty.

High‑end ingredients don't need complicated cooking.

Basically, just rinse the seafood, toss it in a pot to steam, and it's ready to eat when done.

The fresher, the sweeter.

So, if they go sell the crabs they've just caught to Lao Xie right away, they'll definitely get a very good price.

A Qing watched enviously and also began to look for holes.

Soon.

"Brother, I also caught a blue crab."

"Another one."

"Wow, there are lots here; this whole area seems to be blue‑crab holes."

"Brother, come quick."

Hearing that, Wu An hurried over; the spot was a bit low‑lying, with various‑sized puddles, and the hole openings were scattered all around them.

He brushed away the surface mud with his hand, and the hole openings immediately appeared.

"What are we waiting for? Let's dig."

"This place is a bit lower."

"When the tide comes in, it will surely flood."

Wu An said while lowering the tongs, and sure enough he quickly pulled out a blue crab, not small—bigger than the first one by a notch.

A Qing also lowered the tongs and said, "Brother, we're going to get rich again."

"These blue crabs are quite valuable."

"I feel I could catch them even with my eyes closed."

The two bent over and kept catching blue crabs.

No one knew how long had passed; they had no phone or watch, and couldn't tell time from the moon. A Qing asked, "Brother, are you tired?"

"Tired, are you tired? If you are, rest."

"Tired, but we won't rest."

"Fine, then let's keep working; we'll rest when the tide comes in."

Good, brother, the bucket is full.

Wu An pulled the snake skin bag over and said, "Pour it inside."

He had already poured a bucket into the snake skin bag; A Qing also poured inside, the bag immediately bulged, A Qing wiped the sweat from his face, ended up smearing mud all over it, grinning he said, "Brother, you're still the foresighted one."

Next time we need to bring a few more.

Wu An chuckled: "Who said bringing a snake skin bag was pointless before coming?"

A Qing scratched his head embarrassedly; his whole self turned into a mud doll.

The two worked while chatting idly.

Without chatting, it would be too boring.

At first it seemed quite fun, but after a long time it became numb.

Moreover.

The mud here is too hard to walk; taking two steps is very exhausting.

Adding to that, constantly bending over, exhausted to the point of unbearable, he straightened his body, his whole body making crackling sounds; after a brief relief he had to bend over again to continue working.

Back and forth, even though both are young, their waists are sore to the point of unbearable.

The tide's coming in, let's go.

Wu An noticed the tide rising, immediately stopped and shouted.

A Qing was somewhat reluctant to leave: "Just started rising, we can dig a bit more and still make it."

Wu An shouted: "Hurry up and go."

A Qing gave an "oh", then lifted his foot to follow upward; after two steps he turned back to glance at that patch of water, Wu An said: "I think few people come here, otherwise it wouldn't be our turn."

Let's come again when the tide goes out next time.

Today's a minor tide rise; the two came to a place the tide couldn't reach and stopped; this is also a tidal flat, but the mud and sand are slightly harder.

Standing is impossible; both are already filthy all over, so they sat directly in the mud.

A Qing said: "Brother, our buckets aren't full yet."

Why not dig a bit more here?

My mom said there are razor clams to dig here.

"But the snake skin bag is already full." Wu An shook his head: "Digging razor clams is more tiring than hunting for holes to catch crabs in the mud."

After working this long, do you still have energy?

You're panting heavily, drink some water quickly.

As he spoke, he took out a water flask.

A Qing let him drink first.

Wu An also didn't stand on ceremony, gulped several big mouthfuls; A Qing took it, drank half the water in one go, instinctively wiped his mouth with his hand, only making it dirtier, went "ptui ptui ptui" a few times, then said: "Brother, I still have energy."

You rest first.

I'll go dig and see.

Our luck is so good now, we can't waste it.

Wu An looked at the system.

Luck Value: 33 (3).

What can we do?

This is my half-brother after all; I have to dote on him to death.

Blessing.

Target: Sand Shovel (+2).

Introduction: This is a sand shovel used for clamming; after blessing with luck, each dig hits the mark.

He patted A Qing: "Go on."

A Qing quickly found a hole, waved the sand shovel and started digging, soon shouting: "Brother, I dug it up!"

This razor clam is huge!

It's as thick as my thumb and as long as my palm.

Wu An had intended to keep resting, but hearing him shout like that, his heart itched unbearably; he stood up, walked over, took the razor clam, looked at it, and said: "This counts as a razor clam king."

A Qing asked: "Is it worth a lot?"

Wu An nodded.

A Qing gave a "yeah", lowered his head and went on digging.

Razor clams on the market are mostly farmed, actually not expensive, belonging to common folk seafood, but A Qing dug wild razor clams.

And it's a razor clam king.

Rarely seen in the market, its price is surely very beautiful.

Wu An also found a sand shovel, adding the last bit of luck value onto it.

The razor clam king successfully motivated his enthusiasm.

Clamming is actually a laborious task; compared to fishing, it lacks much fun, but the joy of the harvest is incomparable to fishing.

To show off in front of people, one must suffer behind the scenes.

Let's get to work.

As long as we don't die from exhaustion, we'll work ourselves to death.