"With all these pretty stones and shells, I haven't had any time to catch crabs!"
He was the one who had kept picking up shells, yet now he had started complaining.
Yan Zhiyi's hands were covered in sand. Otherwise, he would definitely have ruffled the kid's hair.
Xia Shule pattered off to one side, determined to stop his hands from picking up any more shells. He had to catch something alive to take back!
The two of them ran around the beach like that. Every so often, Xia Shule would forget he was supposed to be catching something alive, only to remember after collecting a whole lot of shells.
It was almost noon, and the sun beat straight down.
Xia Shule finally came across his first living creature-a hermit crab!
"Yan Zhiyi, over here! There's! A! Her! Mit! Crab!" he called out, enunciating every syllable. The hermit crab was so tiny that he didn't dare use any force.
He gently pinched the hermit crab's shell between two fingers and placed it in his little bucket.
"I'm satisfied. Shall we head back?" Xia Shule treated the hermit crab like a treasure.
Yan Zhiyi brushed the sand off Xia Shule's hands, and they strolled slowly back.
On the way, Xia Shule asked, "What do you think we should name him? This is the first life we've welcomed together. I've seen lots of people keep hermit crabs as pets!"
"Should we combine our names?"
Xia Shule considered how their names could be combined, then said, "How about Leyi, like 'willing'? Are you willing to have that name, Leyi? ...He nodded. He's willing!"
Yan Zhiyi couldn't resist planting a kiss on Xia Shule's forehead. "How are you so cute?"
Once they got back, Xia Shule casually found a vase with a fairly fresh, simple