I became a vicious stepmother and I went to the sea to feed my three children.

But who can blame the abundance of oysters here?

She seized the moment, put down her backpack, picked up the small hammer she had brought with her, walked to a reef, and started hammering.

The oysters here are big, so it is much easier to pry them down than those small oysters.

Bai Qingyao became more and more excited as she pried things here and there. Soon, the small backpack she brought was full.

She withdrew her hand with satisfaction.

Looking at the receding tide not far away, Bai Qingyao's hands paused slightly. Since the tide had receded, a lot of things should have been washed up on the beach.

Since we are going to the sea, we can’t just pry oysters. It is just the right way to improve the diet for the three little ones.

After walking a distance, the beach here is still submerged by the sea.

Seeing this, Bai Qingyao simply went down with her shoes on.

The beach is covered with broken shells. If you get your feet stuck in one, it would be more trouble than it's worth.

Suddenly, a white light flashed before her eyes, and she saw a shadow swimming past in front of her. She hurriedly chased after it.

'Wow—'

When she came down, she temporarily poured out the oysters in the basket, and now she put the basket directly in the sea water and drove the fish into the basket.

As soon as the fish entered the basket, it was still struggling. When Bai Qingyao picked up the basket, it struggled for a while before stopping.

Bai Qingyao's eyes fell on the basket, and her eyes lit up. It turned out to be a flounder.

Although it is not big, it weighs about one kilogram and is a good snack for three children.

I didn’t expect to be so lucky today.

Her feet moved freely in the sea, creating layers of waves. Wherever she passed, the sand was rolled up, making the water turbid.

After walking a few steps, she stopped, bent down, and lifted up a stone in front of her that was about five or six times bigger than her foot.

According to her experience, there must be something under such a stone.

Sure enough, she lifted the stone, revealing the sand underneath, and a swimming crab was nestled underneath. She raised her foot and gently stepped on the crab, but with just enough force to prevent it from moving. Then, she quickly grabbed its claws and threw it into the basket.

Fortunately, the basket was big enough and she had separated it with a small layer. Otherwise, with the crab's fighting power, the flounder would have been in trouble.

Continuing to walk forward, there were quite a few small fish and shrimps in the sea, but they were all automatically blocked by Bai Qingyao.

Those little things are best fried in oil, but we are extremely short of oil at home now, and we can’t cook them well even if we catch them. It’s better to focus on the big ones from the beginning.

When we have oil at home... well, we can catch those little crabs and fry them. They are so delicious.

Bai Qingyao shook her head violently.

Don’t think about it anymore. If you think about it anymore, your stomach will growl.

Collecting her thoughts, Bai Qingyao bent down and continued walking forward, occasionally paying attention to whether there were any seafood around.

After picking for a long time, Bai Qingyao found a few octopuses and a few small fish weighing about half a pound. These fish together should weigh about three pounds. She can cook a pot of fish soup in the morning to warm the three little ones.

Although it is summer, we live by the sea after all, so it is a bit humid. It is good to drink some fish soup to warm up the body.

After putting these things away, Bai Qingyao looked at the sky. She had been out for more than half an hour. Not far away, the tide was gradually rising. She walked out of the shallow sea water and returned to the beach.

Just as he was about to go to a nearby place to load up the oysters to take home, he paused.

Did she just think she saw a flash of silver light in the cracks of the rocks nearby? She walked over curiously and looked down, but there was nothing there.

She frowned. Could it be that she had seen it wrong just now?

With doubts, just as he was about to turn around and leave, something flashed again on the reef beside him.

This time, she really saw the light, and it was indeed coming from the reef.

She walked over, her vigilance never relaxing.

There are many creatures in this sea, including bioluminescent jellyfish, and naturally there are other bioluminescent creatures. However, the more magical the creature is, the more toxic it is.

Having lived by the sea for many years, she dared not let her guard down at all.

As she got closer, the light flickered more and more frequently, until Bai Qingyao suddenly stopped, only about ten centimeters away from the light.

Bai Qingyao saw clearly the glowing thing. It seemed... to be a conch-like creature. In the dim light, it was vaguely visible that it was a white conch with long tentacles of varying lengths.

Some of those whiskers even fell to the ground, and the very ends looked like water droplets.

She had never seen such a creature before.

Moreover, the more beautiful something is, the more 'toxic' it is.

But I don't know if it is still alive.

Seeing the unknown creature and the unknown danger, she didn't dare to go forward easily. She took out the hammer that she had just used to pry the oysters from the basket, turned it over, and poked the conch not far away with the wooden handle.

The 'conch' didn't move at all. It seemed like a dead object.

Bai Qingyao put away the hammer, bent down, and picked up the conch.

The conch looked quite large at first, but after picking it up, it turned out to be so small in her hand, probably only as big as her four bony fingers.

'hiss--'

Only then did she notice that the skin on her right hand, which had been holding the hammer, was actually rubbed raw. After soaking in the sea water for a while, she didn't feel it when she picked up things just now, but now she felt the pain.

As for the little conch, she collected it and would give it to the three little ones to play with when she returned.

Unfortunately, there is only one, so let the three of them take turns playing with it. If they meet it again in the future, they can bring it back to them.

But she didn't notice that when the little conch was placed on her chest, it flickered slightly and soon disappeared from the spot.

After picking up the oysters on the ground, Bai Qingyao returned home with a full load.

However, just as she reached the front door of her house, Bai Qingyao heard crying coming from inside. She frowned, quickened her pace, and quickly pushed open the door and walked in.

Putting the basket on the ground, she walked into the room and saw Gu Zehuai sitting on the bed crying.

Hearing the noise, Gu Zexuan and Gu Zejing turned around and saw Bai Qingyao.

"What happened to Ah Huai?"

Seeing her come back, Gu Zejing snorted coldly, "Where have you been again? Are you planning to leave us and sneak away?"

Gu Zejing raised his head and glared at her angrily.

"How could I abandon you?"

"I went to the beach to catch some seafood. I'm going to find something to eat before you wake up. Otherwise, you'll be hungry in the morning."

Bai Qingyao glanced at Gu Zejing. This little guy was only five and a half years old and felt insecure. She raised her hand and touched Gu Zejing's head.

Gu Zejing felt the warmth on his head, and his face turned red.

"Mom, hiccup~ You really won't leave?"

Gu Zehuai cried and then burped. He raised his head and looked at Bai Qingyao with red eyes.