Chapter 26

Wu An took two steps, which was quite strenuous; not only did he have to exert force to pull his feet out of the mud to walk, he also had to wade through water. If yesterday was easy mode, today is hard mode.

But this turned out to be his advantage.

After all, he makes a living by luck.

A Qing hurried to catch up: "Brother, wait for me."

"Let's go straight to the blue crab nest."

Wu An said: "I'm afraid there might not be any blue crabs left."

"This thing doesn't just stay in one place motionless."

"Besides, there's so much water today; that area is naturally low-lying, so the water level is definitely higher."

A Qing said: "Let's go check it out."

"Our luck is so good."

"Maybe the blue crabs are still waiting for us over there."

Wu An nodded; having a target spot is better than wandering aimlessly across this vast mudflat.

As the two walked, lights occasionally shone on them.

"A An, A Qing, you're here."

"Just wading through water, and not even using a mud sled."

"You two idiots, with the water this high, walking through the mudflat like this will wear you out."

The speaker stood on a "mud sled," a homemade mudflat transport vehicle made by villagers that can freely traverse the mudflat.

If one knows how to operate it, it's very fast.

Around here, it has a long history and is still widely used today, especially among households that farm razor clams and clams in the mudflat; every family has several mud sleds.

He and A Qing don't have one.

They can only rely on their legs.

Walking is indeed strenuous.

Someone also asked: "Where did you guys get so much seafood yesterday? We've been here half an hour and only caught two orchid crabs."

"Damn, you caught two orchid crabs while I just raked up some clams—I can't even fill a plate, let alone sell them."

"A Dong, A Qing, you two are lucky—give us some pointers."

"Foraging here is too exhausting; we'd be better off at Yellow Sand Beach."

"Right here." Wu An casually pointed and said, "Yesterday the water wasn't this big."

For foraging, you need a bit of wow factor; some fishermen know that area has more seafood, but today the water is so high that even at low tide the mudflat is mostly submerged, so it's all down to luck.

Drop the rake, then reach into the water to feel around.

If luck is good, you can feel lots of clams and sea snails; if luck is bad, you'll only grab a handful of mud.

Today isn't a spring tide, so not finding much seafood is normal.

Occasionally someone lets out a laugh, indicating they've found something good.

After walking a bit farther, A Qing complained unhappily: "What are these people thinking, having the nerve to ask us for pointers?"

"They're not as good-looking as me, but their ideas are pretty nice."

"Pah."

After A Qing finished speaking, Wu An remained silent, feeling his way to the vicinity of the blue crab hole; A Qing bent over, staring at the water surface, and Wu An laughed: "A Qing, the water's too murky to see anything—just go in with your hands."

He also imbued his Luck Value onto the tongs.

Luck Value: 43 (5)

Wu An estimated that at most he could work for a little over an hour today.

That's fine too.

The sooner we use up our Luck Value, the sooner we can go back to rest.

A Qing set the bucket aside, squatted down completely, and felt around in the water; after a while he found a hole and immediately dropped the tongs in.

He had caught an unknown number of blue crabs yesterday and was very experienced; even if he couldn't see anything, he could tell by feel whether he'd grabbed something.

He gave a hard pull.

He jerked it up from the water, sending up splashes, and a blue crab was lifted into the air.

Wu An shone his headlamp on it: "Not bad."

The blue crab wasn't huge nor tiny—about a catty—and this one was worth over a hundred bucks.

A Qing grinned foolishly, tossed the blue crab into the bucket, and immediately squatted down again to keep feeling around.

But after searching for several minutes, he found nothing.

Meanwhile, Wu An kept finding things—he'd already snagged two blue crabs, making A Qing anxious; he finally spotted a hole and promptly dropped the tongs in.

When he pulled them out, he saw the blue crab was only half left.

A Qing was dumbfounded: "Brother, what's going on?"

Wu An took the blue crab, examined it, and said: "Looks like something bit it."

He was also surprised.

But big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp, and blue crabs are already on the menu of many sea creatures—who knows what ate this one.

He said: "Be careful from now on."

A Qing nodded.

Continue feeling around.

After about half an hour, the two had caught a total of six blue crabs, two mantis shrimp, and felt several sea snails; because they used tongs, they didn't get many clams, and the clams were small, so they just tossed them aside.

A Qing said: "Brother, today is far worse than yesterday."

Wu An nodded.

He turned his head to look around and said, "I also don't know if anyone else got anything."

"Who cares." Wu An said offhandedly, "Even if the harvest is big, they won't give us half a crab leg."

Speaking.

He felt a hole and lowered the trap.

The tongs definitely clamped onto something, but it felt strange—not like grabbing a crab; the feel was like grabbing some fish.

He didn't dare use too much force, for fear of killing or even breaking the fish, which would make it worthless.

He pulled it out of the water and saw it was indeed a fish.

He shone the headlamp on it.

Wu An couldn't help but widen his eyes, for this was actually a Crab Tiger!

Why is this fish called a Crab Tiger? Because it eats crabs.

The half crab that A Qing had just clamped—the culprit behind this carnage—was probably this fish.

Since there's a crab nest here, it's normal to have Crab Tigers.

The Crab Tiger's scientific name is Chinese mud carp; it's renowned alongside the mudskipper and mud fish of the mudflats, known as the 'Three Treasures of the Mudflat,' and praised as the 'ginseng of the sea.' Here they speak more plainly, calling it 'one fish equals three chickens.'

It has high nutritional value, is very nourishing, and is delicious; no matter how it's cooked, it's extremely fresh and tasty, so anyone who can eat seafood will surely like this fish.

So, whether wholesale or purchase price, it's very high—at least more valuable than crabs.

Wu An held the Crab Tiger, feeling it very slippery.

The tongs could hold it only thanks to the system boosting the Luck Value; otherwise ordinary tongs could never hold a Crab Tiger.

"Brother, what did you catch?" A Qing curiously came over to look; seeing it was a Crab Tiger, he couldn't help exclaim, "Holy shit, it's…"

Before he could finish speaking, he clapped a hand over his mouth, and his voice leaked from between his fingers: 'Crab Tiger… it's a Crab Tiger!'

"Where did you catch it?"

"These fish are schooling; there must be a nest."

Wu An pointed; A Qing didn't even need the tongs, just reached in and really caught two— they weren't big, the largest only about three taels.

One of them was smaller, about one tael; A Qing didn't want it and casually tossed it back into the water.

The two continued feeling around.

"Brother, I felt a hole—it's a Crab Tiger trying to flee, and I grabbed it!" A Qing shouted excitedly, happier than when he'd caught the crab earlier.

This is also normal, after all, catching fish and shrimp by hand—from kids as young as five or six to elders as old as seventy or eighty—no one dislikes it.

Especially men.

Wu An also thought it was great fun, as if he'd found the joy of his childhood.