Chapter 18

Mao Wang just left, more people gathered around.

Mainly Wu An and A Qing were pulling a cart over, which was too conspicuous.

Others just carry buckets; even this bucket isn't difficult.

This comparison, the gap is too big.

"You two actually dug up so many razor clams."

"Could it be stolen?"

"I suspect it's stolen from me."

"And mine too."

Some shameless people started shouting, even reaching out to grab the razor clams in the bucket.

A Qing was so angry, waving his sand shovel, shouting: "Ganlin Mu, have some shame; compared to you, I and my brother are considered good people."

"Let me see who dares to reach out."

"My shovel doesn't have eyes."

He lifted the sand shovel and smashed, not holding back at all.

Several guys hurriedly pulled back their hands; even a bit slower would get hit, they were frightened, murmuring quietly, saying A Qing is fierce as hell.

"Look at these two covered in mud; they must have dug in the tidal flats."

"Yeah, over there there are not a few razor clams, but it's not easy to handle; let alone dig, even walking is difficult."

"What luck did these two rascals have."

Everyone started whispering and discussing.

Some also doubted.

"Even if they're lucky, can they muster the strength to dig razor clams in the tidal flats?"

"Exactly, in the whole village, these two are the laziest."

"Can't say that either; when caught stealing chickens and dogs, these two run faster than anyone."

"Hahaha, that's true."

"I guess these razor clams have dubious origins; they probably weren't dug from someone's farmed tidal flats."

"Maybe the victim will show up soon."

Upon hearing these words, A Qing, face red and neck bulging, shouted: 'These are all dug out by me and my brother, shovel by shovel.'

Yesterday at dawn, my brother and I first went to the beach.

Besides, quite a few people saw it.

Those who gossip sneer; A Qing still wants to shout, but Wu An calls out to stop him—you can never wake someone pretending to sleep by shouting, and likewise, those who are prejudiced against you will not listen to what you say.

Facing everyone's pointing and gossiping, the two pulled the cart to Lao Xie's gate.

Yesterday I saw these two... these two people.

I was still shouting for everyone to be careful, thinking they came to steal seafood, never expecting they actually came to gather seafood.

Yesterday I even deliberately avoided them; if I had known, I might as well have followed them to the mudflats.

That's right, I regret it to death.

I heard these two are turning over a new leaf; it seems true.

Could it be that they've repented and also received the blessing of Goddess Mazu? Otherwise, how could their luck be so good—yesterday they caught a box of fish, today they dug up so many razor clams.

Come on, do they deserve the blessing of Goddess Mazu?

It's just temporary; before long they'll reveal their true colors.

……

A Qing put the cart down, still indignant.

Brother, I really want to stuff their mouths with dung.

What right do they have to talk about us?

We haven't stolen or robbed them; on the contrary, they want to take the opportunity to snatch our razor clams.

I think……

Wu An listened quietly to his words, nodding from time to time.

Several vendors nearby were harvesting at the gate, casting curious glances; the nearest Lao Chen almost wished he could stretch his eyeballs onto the cart to look.

Most had goods to collect, but two vendors without harvest came over to watch the excitement.

Lao Xie was eating breakfast inside the shop; seeing the two, he hastily put down his chopsticks, walked out and said, 'You two have come.'

What's with your look? You went gathering seafood last night, huh?

Let me see what you have.

Seeing the cart, he was quite expectant; most villagers who come to sell seafood carry buckets, only those who occasionally go out fishing by boat sometimes bring a cart.

Seeing the two big buckets of razor clams, he couldn't help but widen his eyes: 'So many razor clam kings?'

All are wild.

Not bad, not bad; nowadays these wild razor clam kings are hard to dig up, they haven't been seen at the dock market for a while.

He took a razor clam and looked at it, instantly breaking into a smile; as a purchasing vendor, he naturally could tell the difference between wild and farmed.

Seeing that it was wild, he then dared to purchase it with confidence.

Two big buckets of razor clam kings?

Handsome guy, can I take a look?

Lao Xie, you haven't quoted a price yet; the highest bidder wins.

The two vendors who came over, seeing the razor clam kings, couldn't move their eyes; at this moment they also forgot about professional reserve, all shouting out.

Lao Xie glared at the two of them, thinking, "What trouble to add?" Doing this, later when quoting the price, how could he still quote low? He immediately shouted: "They've already delivered the goods to my shop door—why are you still wasting words?"

"Wu An, I'll give 20 per jin for this Razor Clam King."

"Let these two speak—is the price fair or not?"

Wu An looked at the two vendors.

The two vendors resentfully said nothing, silently cursing Lao Xie for raising the price so high—how could they still quote? If the purchase price is too high, profit is too thin; if any problem arises in transport, they could lose money.

Wu An, seeing this, also knew Lao Xie's price was quite appropriate, and said: "Okay."

"However, not everything in this bucket is razor clams."

"A Qing, pour it out."

Lao Xie found two large basins; A Qing poured the seafood from the bucket into them; Lao Chen had just finished his work, tiptoed over, saw the bucket contained venus clams, blood clams, and sea snails, and immediately laughed: "Turns out the bottom is all these worthless things."

"This is just padding the numbers, isn't it?"

"Look at Lao Xie—he can't even laugh."

"Hahaha."

He couldn't help laughing out loud; the two vendors beside him also showed smiles. Indeed, it conforms to the law of conservation of energy: smiles don't disappear, they just transfer.

Lao Xie coughed twice, squatted down, and said: "Then I'll start sorting."

Wu An glanced at Lao Chen and the others, saying: "Don't rush."

"The goods aren't fully unloaded yet."

As he spoke, he lifted the snake skin bag off the cart.

Lao Xie rose: "Is this also seafood?"

He had been attracted by the Razor Clam King from the start, hadn't paid much attention to the snake skin bag, and thought it only contained beach‑gathering tools—who would have thought this snake skin bag was full of seafood!

Wu An opened the bag.

"I… I… I fuck!"

"Green crab, orchid crab, mantis shrimp…"

His voice rose several degrees: "Is this whole snake skin bag like that?"

Wu An nodded.

Lao Xie shouted excitedly: "Awesome, awesome!"

"You actually caught this much—you couldn't have been gathering seafood all night, could you?"

Wu An smiled and said: "Pour it out and sort it."

Lao Xie then found two large iron basins, poured the crabs from the snake skin bag out; seeing they weren't tied, he felt heartbroken: "Why aren't they tied at all?"

"Look, even the claws have fallen off."

"What a waste of heavenly bounty!"

Crabs are judged by appearance; missing claws or legs definitely means a big discount. Wu An knew there was nothing to be done about this situation, and he hadn't prepared rubber bands in advance to tie them.

He had never really gone sea‑gathering in his two lives, he doesn't understand much either; he needs to study well and gradually accumulate experience.

Nowadays, aside from loafing, he's really no different from an ordinary person.