Chapter 75: New Discoveries

Looking closely, it was a gray sea duck.

How bold—it actually dared to steal her razor clam king.

Well, it shouldn’t blame her later for taking all the sea duck eggs she could find.

Where there are sea ducks, there are bound to be sea duck eggs.

This was her first time encountering them.

First things first, she needed to tie up the sea duck.

Chu Xuan acted as soon as the thought crossed her mind.

She swiftly tied up the sea duck’s legs and beak, tucked its wings together so it couldn’t fly, and put it into her basket.

Mu Chenze looked delighted. “Looks like today’s another lucky day.”

Even if there wasn’t much in the tide pools later, just having this sea duck, picking up some sea duck eggs, and catching a few more razor clams would still make for a good haul.

Chu Xuan sprinkled some more salt. “I bet there’s more than one sea duck around here. After we finish gathering from the sea, I’ll look around nearby.”

She didn’t expect Mu Chenze to help—after all, his clothes were so expensive. If they got torn, it wouldn’t be worth it.

Mu Chenze gave a brief “Mm” in response.

Half an hour later, the two of them had already caught 80 razor clam kings.

“Chu Xuan, why don’t you go check out the tide pools? Leave the salt jar here, I’ll keep catching razor clams.”

“Alright.”

Chu Xuan handed over the salt jar and carried the wooden bucket toward the tide pools.

When she got there, she smiled optimistically—there wasn’t much to be found.

She checked a dozen tide pools, one after another, but only managed to scoop up two sea snails, a few pounds of green-scaled fish, a handful of small clams, and a few tiny crabs—nothing else.

At least it didn’t take much time.

She released the small clams and crabs.

Chu Xuan returned to the razor clam spot and set down her bucket.

Mu Chenze looked over. “Not much in the tide pools today! But that’s alright, the more razor clams we catch, the more money we’ll make.”

“Yeah.” Just then, another sea duck swooped in to snatch a razor clam. The clam ended up in its belly, but Chu Xuan caught the duck, tied it up, and put it in her basket. “Now we each get a sea duck.”

Mu Chenze accepted it with a grin.

An hour later, the tide was coming in fast. Mu Chenze called out for Chu Xuan to hurry back to shore.

Once on shore, they counted up their razor clams.

208 in total.

A bumper harvest!

If they sold them at the dock, they’d get 208 yuan; if they took them to the city, they could fetch at least 300.

Naturally, Mu Chenze would take them to the city early the next morning.

While Mu Chenze watched over the catch on the shore, Chu Xuan went to look around nearby.

She didn’t find any more sea ducks, but she did find 20 sea duck eggs, which she put in her basket.

She and Mu Chenze split them evenly—10 each.

Half an hour later, they returned to the village, each carrying their own share home.

Back home, Chu Xuan greeted everyone, and when it was time to cook dinner for the night shift, she planned to stew sea duck, fry sea duck eggs, and deep-fry the green-scaled fish.

As for the two sea snails, they weren’t enough to go around, so she’d just keep them for now.

Everyone cheered with excitement.

They all said Chu Xuan had great luck gathering from the sea.

Chu Xuan just smiled calmly and didn’t mention the razor clams.

Two batches of dried fish had already been made, and lunch was ready.

Chu Xuan washed her face and hands, changed into clean clothes, and called everyone to eat.

Chicken stew with potatoes, chicken soup mixed with rice, and everyone got two pieces of crispy pork fat—delicious!

Everyone ate until their mouths were greasy.

After lunch, everyone was even more motivated. Chu Xuan went to her room for a nap.

At 2:30, after her nap, Chu Xuan took over watching the fish-drying oven from Miao Dacui. The others had finished cleaning the fish and gone home to rest.

Miao Dacui obediently went home to rest—only with enough rest could she work better and earn more.

Now, only Chu Xuan and her younger brother were at home.

Chu Feng carried a wooden stool and sat next to his sister, asking quietly, “Sis, how did it go at the sea today? You didn’t just bring back what I saw, right? Did Brother Chenze go with you?”

As she added firewood to the oven, Chu Xuan replied, “He went. We did pretty well today—we caught 208 razor clam kings together. He’ll take them to the city to sell early tomorrow morning. Should fetch over 300 yuan.”

Chu Feng looked at her with admiration. “You two are amazing!”

“You’re amazing too! You made lunch for everyone, washed my clothes while I napped. You didn’t fall behind on your studies, did you?”

“No.” Chu Feng glanced at Chu Xuan’s watch. “Sis, could you buy me a watch too?”

Chu Xuan rubbed her forehead. Her little brother had made a lot of progress in this life, but his habit of asking for things had also improved.

“When you move up to fourth grade, I’ll buy you a watch.”

“Awesome! Sis, you’re the best! I’ve already finished the first semester’s Chinese and math for second grade. Today I’m starting the second semester, and in August I’ll start on third grade. By mid-August…”

Chu Xuan praised him, “That’s a great study plan. Go put it into action!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Chu Feng ran back to his room to study.

Meanwhile, Qin Mahua and Fu Qing had returned home and saw the sea duck, sea duck eggs, and razor clams.

Before they could ask, Mu Chenze explained, “All the razor clams were caught by Chu Xuan. She asked me to sell them in the city tomorrow. The sea duck and eggs are a gift from her to our family, as a thank you.”

Qin Mahua grabbed Mu Chenze’s ear. “You’re getting bold! Helping Xiao Xuan sell some seafood and you want her to thank you? I’ll bring these back to her when I go to work this afternoon.”

Mu Chenze grimaced in pain. He was an adult and still getting his ear pulled by his mom. “Mom, let go first, let me finish.”

Qin Mahua finally let go. “Go on, let’s hear what you have to say!”

Mu Chenze rubbed his ear. “She said if we don’t accept them, she’ll give me half the profits from the razor clams. That’s over a hundred yuan—I’d feel bad taking it. So I accepted the eggs and duck instead. Mom, if you feel uncomfortable about it, why not make her a set of clothes? I remember you have two pieces of different colored floral fabric…”

“That’s a good idea!” Qin Mahua looked at Fu Qing kindly. “I’ll make a set for you too, with a different color from Xiao Xuan’s.”

Fu Qing beamed. “Thank you, Mom! When should we start? I can help you cut the fabric.”

“Let’s do it now! I’m not tired anyway.”

“Alright!”

Mu Chenze didn’t say anything more. His wish had come true—he’d just wait for his mom to give Chu Xuan the clothes.

Inside, Qin Mahua chatted with her daughter-in-law as she sorted the fabric.

“Xiao Xuan’s mother isn’t around. I actually wanted to take her as my goddaughter, but the fortune teller said I’m not fated to have a daughter—whoever I take as a goddaughter will have bad luck. So when Xiao Xuan privately asked to call me godmother, I had to gently refuse. Such a pity!”

“Mom, even if you can’t officially be her godmother, you can still treat her like a daughter. Just make her more clothes in the future.”

There was something Fu Qing didn’t say—she’d benefit too.

Wasn’t she already benefiting today?

Qin Mahua thought her daughter-in-law made sense. “Let’s do that! Oh, and I’ll make a set for Xiao Feng too. Help me pick out some fabric.”

“Okay.”

By a little after four in the afternoon, Qin Mahua had finished two sets of little floral dresses—Chu Xuan’s was pink, Fu Qing’s was light blue.

As for Chu Feng’s, it wasn’t done yet.

Qin Mahua was a bit tired and lay down on the kang. “Daughter-in-law, I’ll go to work a bit later. Let Xiao Xuan know for me!”

She needed to rest first.

“Alright. I’ll go now. Should I take the dress to Xiao Xuan?”

“Please do.”

Fu Qing was young and didn’t feel tired. She took the dress and headed out.

Mu Chenze, hearing his mom say she was tired, hurried over to massage her back and shoulders.

With such a thoughtful son, most of Qin Mahua’s fatigue melted away.

“Mom, can I talk to you about something? Brace yourself first, don’t be scared.”

Qin Mahua looked wary. “What is it?”"