A vast region of reefs appeared in front of the children. When Xiaolian and s.h.i.+tou cheerfully ran over, a trail of waves followed them. Yu Hang was slightly more calm. However, when he saw the large amount of seafood on the reefs, he couldn't resist bending down to gather the food more quickly.
Yu Xiaocao quietly stood on top of the reef, while letting the cool sea breeze blow on her face. A vision of blue greeted her eyes as both the sky and sea were saturated with a pure azure color. It was such a transparent color. Even blue jade, of the best quality, couldn't compare to the clarity and brilliance of the sea and sky.
This was the sea! The sea without the slightest trace of pollution! Yu Xiaocao fell into a trance that she couldn't break away from, while being mesmerized by the scenery in front of her.
"Cao'er, come here! Put on these sharkskin boots. Your feet are different from your siblings. They're already used to running around the shoals on the beach. If you run around the reef like them, then the bottoms of your feet will be ripped to shreds." She didn't expect the stalwart Yu Hai to be so attentive. He had actually thought of the fact that his younger daughter's tender feet had no defense against the rough surface.
Yu Xiaocao, who was dazzled by the beautiful scene in front of her, woke up from her trance and put on the boots happily. Though the boots were slightly big, they could still be worn. She learned from the others and bent down to thoroughly search around the reefs.
Sure enough, this was an area that hadn't been discovered by others! Soon, Yu Xiaocao found a type of black sh.e.l.lfish. She carefully picked it up and presented it to Yu Hai, as if it was treasure. She said excitedly, "Father, I found a sh.e.l.lfish. Do you think it's edible?"
Yu Hai took a look and replied with a smile, "This is a mussel. The meat is delicious and also very nouris.h.i.+ng. It's also known as 'eggs of the sea'. Pick up as much as you can. If we can get a lot of them, then we can dry them and sell them at a good price in town during the winter!"
'Eggs of the sea'? Doesn't that mean it's very nutritious? Our family does need to eat more nutritious meals! Alright, she should pick up a lot. We're not going to sell them. We'll just eat them ourselves! She could just imagine the delicious spicy stir-fried clams that she ate in her previous life! Xiaocao almost drooled as she thought about it.
I'm going to pick it up. I'm going to pick them up. I'm going to pick all of them up!
"Huh? Eldest Brother, why are you knocking on that? Is that also edible?" Xiaocao had suddenly arrived beside Yu Hang. When she went over for a closer look, she saw him striking something that was as hard as gray limestone with a shovel. Thus, she got curious and asked.
It was his youngest sister's first time coming to gather food at the sea, so Yu Hang was very patient as he explained to her, "This is called barnacle. Come look. Doesn't its shape look like the tooth of a horse? The barnacle doesn't look like anything special, but it's very tasty when the meat is stewed with just clear water."
