Volume One, Chapter 9: Brother, You've Got Sea Cucumber

The three of them also spotted Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu. Huang Hai waved at Ye Cheng. “Ye Cheng, out hunting clams this early? That’s not like you at all, hahaha.”

Duan Yong and Yuan Jiansheng laughed along.

Ye Cheng had a reputation for being lazy, so seeing him this early was quite unusual.

Ye Cheng smiled faintly. He didn’t have much affection or ill will toward them—they were just fellow villagers.

“Yeah, you have to hunt clams early. We’ll go that way. You guys carry on,” Ye Cheng said as he started walking off into the distance.

“Brother, we found this spot. Why should we give it to them?” Xiao Hu was displeased.

“A Cheng, the elders said you dug up a lot of king clams here yesterday, so we came to try. You don’t mind, right?” Huang Hai and the others stopped digging to look at Ye Cheng.

Their meaning was clear: if he didn’t mind, they’d continue; if he did, there would be a dispute. And in the village, fists were the only real solution.

Ye Cheng was too lazy to fight them. “Go ahead.”

Watching Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu walk away, Huang Hai shook his head. “What a coward. Usually, he just bullies widows, but when he meets guys like us, he chickens out.”

Duan Yong said, “Yeah, last time he even stole two of my clothes when I wasn’t home.”

Yuan Jiansheng added, “At least three of my chickens were stolen by him.”

“Forget it. We can’t say much if we didn’t catch him. Let’s keep digging,” Huang Hai shouted, crouching back down to continue.

“Brother Hai, we’ve been digging for so long and only found one butter clam. Where are these king clams? Is that guy even telling the truth?” Duan Yong complained, rubbing his waist.

“Yeah, I just found a few sand clams. Are you sure they got dozens of king clams yesterday?” Yuan Jiansheng’s bucket was empty except for some sand clams and a few green mussels, all worthless.

Huang Hai frowned. “It shouldn’t be wrong. Aunt Zhao said it’s here. Let’s dig a bit more. If nothing, we’ll move.”

“Brother, they’re too much, bullying us because they have more people,” Wang Xiao Hu said indignantly.

He had just planned to earn some money, only to have his spot taken. How could he feel good about that?

“Let’s go. You didn’t find much yesterday either.” Ye Cheng was indifferent.

They walked a few more minutes, finally out of Huang Hai’s sight, and stopped.

“This will do. I’m too lazy to go any further,” Ye Cheng said casually.

“Okay, brother, you rest first. I’ll go check it out.” Xiao Hu, full of energy, rushed down eagerly.

Damn it, Ye Cheng cursed silently. If you were any good, I’d want to rest too. But since you’re useless, I have to do it myself.

Ye Cheng lit a cigarette to relax before the hard work ahead.

After finishing the cigarette, Ye Cheng followed down to the mudflat. “Xiao Hu, find anything?”

“Brother, just picked up two green mussels,” Xiao Hu held up two green-brown shells.

Green mussels, also called sea mussels, are dried and known as ‘mild shellfish’ used for soup.

They’re usually half the size of a palm. The taste is average, so they’re cheap low-end seafood that doesn’t sell for much.

Ye Cheng squatted to examine the mudflat. There was a long, narrow crack a few centimeters long. He poked it with a shovel and the crack closed immediately.

He dug into the crack and pulled out a large triangular shell.

It was a scallop, also called Jiang Yao. Although quite big—longer than Ye Cheng’s palm—there wasn’t much edible meat, just a small adductor muscle, roughly the same price as green mussels.

Ye Cheng stood and surveyed the mudflat. There were many such long cracks, but this wasn’t what he was looking for.

He wanted expensive seafood. He needed to quickly gather 5,000 yuan to repay a debt.

Then he noticed several inconspicuous tiny trails on the mudflat, about a centimeter wide.

These were traces left by sea creatures crawling.

Ye Cheng followed one trail and eventually found a small hole in the mudflat.

Another small hole. Ye Cheng skillfully took out his shovel and scraped around it. Something inside moved.

He estimated the angle and dug hard down along the hole. After two shovelfuls, he saw a small creature inside, curled up and trying to escape.

Ye Cheng reached in and grabbed it—a worm-like creature. He pulled hard, it was stuck tightly and took effort to extract. Too much force and it might break.

No choice. Ye Cheng dug one more shovel to loosen the soil beside it and finally pulled the creature out.

It was a purplish-red, elongated cylindrical animal—a sea cucumber.

Sea cucumbers are valuable. Why?

Because of the belief in “like nourishes like.” People in China are taught from childhood to eat what they want to heal.

If your foot is injured, eat pig’s feet; if your stomach is weak, eat pig tripe.

Sea cucumbers are long and thick, making them prized tonic delicacies.

They also taste good and sell well in the market, especially loved by men.

Especially when stir-fried with chives—regardless of taste, that combination is irresistible to men. It’s a classic win-win.

This sea cucumber was quite thick, thicker than Ye Cheng’s thumb. It wriggled fiercely in his hand and sprayed a jet of water in an attempt to escape.

“Brother, running away isn’t an option. Just let me turn you into cash,” Ye Cheng said proudly, tossing it into the bucket behind him.

The system’s points increased by 10, reaching 31.

The system recognized this as a good find. Ye Cheng wondered if the system itself was male.

“Brother, you got a sea cucumber?” Xiao Hu’s sharp eyes spotted it from afar, and he excitedly stomped through the mud toward him.

“Yeah, right here. I saw their crawling trails earlier. Come help.”

“Alright, sea cucumbers are valuable.”

Xiao Hu found a hole and dug down with a shovel. He was fierce, digging hard and creating a pit ten centimeters deep.

But...

“Brother, there’s nothing in this hole,” Xiao Hu said frustrated.

“I told you to be patient. It’s not that easy,” Ye Cheng said.

He casually picked a hole, dug lightly, and saw water splash from inside.

Quickly reaching down, he grabbed something and pulled it out.

Another sea cucumber, smaller than the first. It put up less resistance and was pulled out easily.

Xiao Hu was puzzled. “Brother, how come you can dig up sea cucumbers, but I find nothing?”