"Hurry, hurry! That clam's about to roll back into the sea."
Lin Xiuqing beamed as she waded through the waves to pick it up, her whole face radiant. Ye Yaodong couldn't help stealing a few extra looks at her. He hadn't seen her smile with such carefree joy in years.
Only after retrieving the clam from the sea did she walk happily toward him, raising her hand. "This is the biggest one I've picked up. It's as big as my fist."
"Mm, put it in. Let's head toward Giant Rock Reef and look as we go. By the time we get there, the tide should have receded to the rocks."
She smiled and nodded.
Ye Yaodong had only taken a few steps before he couldn't resist stopping. He crouched down and dug with his fingers where a bubble hole showed in the sand, pulling out a sand clam.
"You've got a good eye!"
With that, she spotted a hole herself and dug into it, finding one too.
Sand clams were unevenly distributed across the beach, and finding them normally took time. They were easier to find just after the tide went out, when their bubble holes were exposed.
"Want to dig here for a while, or keep going?" Seeing how happily she kept digging, Ye Yaodong quickly asked.
She stood up reluctantly. "Forget it, let's stop digging. Shall we head over to the rocks and see if there's anything good to pick up?"
"Mm."
When they reached a small gravel pile amid a patch of tidal flat, they had another pleasant surprise.
"There's a fish over there."
"It's a sea bream."
It was already dead, stranded on the sand. Ye Yaodong pulled open its gills and took a look. They had already turned dark red. It might have died out