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This clam weighs at least three pounds. Its shell is round and bulging, with only a small white spot at the very top; the rest is black.

Ming Chunxi: "How come it's so big?"

Qing Mengzhu was also amazed, turning the clam over and over to examine it. "So big! So plump!"

When the river mussels were first caught, they had a crack, and you could see the orange-yellow flesh inside. Now the crack has closed tightly, and only a small stream of water is spurting out.

Ming Chunxi took it and looked at it. "Should we continue to raise it?"

Qing Mengzhu quickly stopped him from putting the clam back. "No, no, no! Quickly scoop it out. I previously put tea seed cake in the pond to kill aquatic life, but I don't know why it didn't work on the clam. It's best to clean it again."

Ming Chunxi understood. "Will it harm the shrimp and lotus in the pond?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Pretty much. In short, too many clams in the pond is not a good thing. They may be fish that were originally hiding in the pond but escaped the net, or they may have slipped in later. If they are not caught, they will quickly multiply."

Ming Chunxi: "Should we fish it out now?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Go! You go over there, I'll go over here."

Ming Chunxi had no objection. "Be careful."

Qing Mengzhu placed the flower buds and river mussels on the bank, and then scooped them up from the center of the pond.

He quickly found the net bag containing the Spirit Pearl Dregs in the familiar spot. He quietly scooped it up and glanced at it through the water. The Spirit Pearl Dregs were still shining brightly, just like before, without any change.

He breathed a sigh of relief, pressed the Spirit Pearl Dregs into the mud to hide it, and continued to collect river clams.

The water in the pond was too deep, so they had to test it with their feet, and only after stepping on something hard could they bend down to touch the clams.

Walking in the mud is easy to lose your balance, so they waded through the mud while looking for river clams, and occasionally picked the good flower buds, making it very difficult.

Just as they were busy, two little heads popped out from the weeds on the bank. "Eek?"

Qing Mengzhu turned her head and saw the otter and the red fox. "You two haven't gone back yet?"

The otter stared at him with its big eyes, its little nose twitching. "Eek."

Qing Mengzhu casually tossed the medium-sized clam in her hand to them, saying, "Didn't your hunt go well last night? Here, have this clam."

The otter grabbed a clam with its paw, sniffed it, then suddenly put it aside and jumped into the water with a "plop," diving straight in.

When it reappeared, it was holding a large clam in its claws, which it presented to Qing Mengzhu: "Eek?"

Qing Mengzhu was surprised by how nimbly it caught the river clams. "Yes, yes, we're going to catch river clams, thank you."

After handing the clam to Qing Mengzhu, the otter burrowed back down and quickly surfaced a few meters away, clutching a new clam in its paws. "Eek!"

The otters are incredibly fast; one, two, three—they catch them almost every time.

Qing Mengzhu was too lazy to catch the clams herself, so she followed behind the otter and took the clams it caught, while praising them enthusiastically.

The otter's eyes lit up at the praise, and it became even more energetic, catching the fish extremely quickly.

Before long, two dogs, having heard the commotion, came over to watch the fun, barking from the shore. It was unclear whether they were just being overly enthusiastic or simply cheering on the otters.

As soon as the two dogs barked, the geese that had just been chased out also started quacking.

Startled, the red fox quickly disappeared into the grass.

After stopping the dog and the goose, Qing Mengzhu also had time to praise the otter, maximizing her emotional impact and keeping herself very busy.

He was so busy that he couldn't maintain his balance when he lifted his foot to walk, and he stumbled and almost fell over in the water.

The Dharma Protector immediately jumped into the water, knocking the lotus leaves and flowers over and over, and swam towards him barking.

The Guard hesitated for a moment, then jumped into the water as well.

However, they clearly couldn't catch Qing Mengzhu in time, Qing Mengzhu had already fallen into the water.

At this critical moment, Ming Chunxi, who had somehow appeared behind him, reached out and firmly supported his arm, preventing him from slipping into the water.

Qing Mengzhu was startled and turned to Ming Chunxi, saying, "Thank you."

Before Qing Mengzhu could even react to the rare moment of intimacy between them, she shouted to the Dharma Protector and Guard, "You're not allowed to come down! Get back up!"

The Guard hesitated for a moment, then turned and continued to swim ashore in a dog-paddling motion.

The Dharma Protector pretended not to understand, grinned, stuck out its tongue, and happily rushed towards Qing Mengzhu, knocking over many lotus leaves and flowers in the process.

Looking at the Dharma Protector pretending to be stupid, Qing Mengzhu wanted to punch the dog. "Damn braised pork!"

The Dharma Protector reluctantly barked once and turned to swim back to shore.

On the other side, the otter was still scooping up river clams. Ming Chunxi reached out to take one, and the otter hesitated for a moment before gently placing the clam in Ming Chunxi's hand.

Amidst the sounds of otters swimming, dogs jumping, and geese honking, they caught more than thirty river clams, most of which were quite large.

After Qing Mengzhu got ashore, she took stock of the items and realized that she couldn't carry them all back. So she went to the vegetable garden and asked Di Caiyong, who hadn't left yet, for a few bags.

Di Caiyong and his group, who had just watched the commotion from the sidelines, burst into laughter, praising the dogs as adorable and handing the bag back to him.

Qing Mengzhu didn't have time to chat much before she and Ming Chunxi went back to the pond, put the river clams in a bag, and planned to take them back first.

After packing the clams, the Dharma Protector bent down and first picked up a bag.

Not to be outdone, the Guard also grabbed a bag.

The otter whimpered, indicating it wanted to carry the food too, so Qing Mengzhu had no choice but to give it two river clams to carry as well.

On the way back, the Dharma Protector, carrying a bag full of clams in his mouth, walked home with his head held high and chest puffed out, looking incredibly smug.

The Guard followed behind the Dharma Protector, and the otters followed behind the Guard. The three little ones ran openly down the road in a line, not afraid of people at all. Only the red fox, carrying a large clam, kept sneaking around in the roadside weeds, more furtive than a real dog.

The little ones couldn't move so many clams, Qing Mengzhu and Ming Chunxi took some as well.

Besides the river clams, they also carried two large bags of vegetables.

They looked like a family of five, and every passerby on the street would chuckle at them.

Some people even took out their phones to take pictures, finding the scene incredibly fun.

Qing Mengzhu adjusted her hat and shouted to the photographer, "Don't take pictures of our faces!"

The photographer smiled and agreed, "Don't worry, I won't make you famous."

Just as Qing Mengzhu was about to say something, a car stopped behind them and someone called out, "Mengzhu?"

Qing Mengzhu turned around and realized it was Zhou Yan's car. "Brother Zhou?"

Zhou Yan: "You guys went to pick vegetables so early in the morning?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Yes, what about you? Are you going to the old courtyard to cook?"

Zhou Yan and his family have already hosted a banquet for guests at their old courtyard. Qing Mengzhu heard from Tan Wenlei that there were a lot of luxury cars coming from the village on the day of the banquet, and many people went to watch the excitement.

Qing Mengzhu wasn't interested in this. He only glanced at Zhou Yan's WeChat Moments and learned that Zhou Yan and his team had had a particularly successful time. As a result, his catering group planned to officially launch the farm, and Zhou Yan was temporarily transferred here to prepare for its opening.

If the opening goes smoothly, Zhou Yan might get another promotion.

Zhou Yan himself seems quite satisfied with the plan and has been working with great enthusiasm lately.

Zhou Yan said, "I'm planning to go see what you're carrying."

Qing Mengzhu showed him. "Clams and vegetables."

To prevent the lotus flowers from being crushed, they were all packed in baskets on their backs; they only carried river clams and vegetables in their hands.

Zhou Yan walked over to take a look and exclaimed, "Such plump river clams?! What great ingredients!"

Qing Mengzhu: "You could tell that too?"