A stunning beauty arrived on the island; she invented everything from childcare to babysitting.

"my God!"

As soon as they arrived, Zhao Xuemei exclaimed in surprise again.

"What's wrong?" An Ning asked, puzzled.

She was a novice and didn't know what to look for when beachcombing. Even when Zhao Xuemei called out, she couldn't find anything that would make the other person exclaim in surprise.

There are clusters of rocks here, covered with a shallow layer of water, so you can't see what's underwater unless you look closely.

"Shh!" Zhao Xuemei couldn't help but lower her voice and pointed with the fire tongs in her hand, "Look over there."

An Ning looked in the direction Zhao Xuemei pointed. There was a large rock with writing on it. Zhao Xuemei was pointing to the crevice at the bottom of the rock. She could vaguely see something brownish-red with a hint of green, and a long tentacle.

"This is……"

"A giant lobster!" Zhao Xuemei exclaimed excitedly. "Girl, you're such a lucky star! I've been with the army for so long, and I've only ever heard of people finding lobsters while beachcombing, but I've never seen one in person. I never expected to find one so soon! If we sold it, it could fetch several yuan! You wait here, this thing is strong, I'll catch it!"

As Zhao Xuemei spoke, she dipped her hand into the water, slowly moved it above the lobster's head, and quickly grabbed it, pulling the large lobster out of the sea in the blink of an eye.

The lobster was about 20 to 30 centimeters long. Zhao Xuemei held it in her hand, its tail twitching violently. Each twitch made Zhao Xuemei's hand shudder before she tossed it into Anning's bucket.

An Ning hurriedly said, "Sister-in-law, you caught these shrimp, why did you put them in my bucket? Take them back right away."

"Aren't you being too polite with me?" Zhao Xuemei said nonchalantly. "I've come to the beach to collect seafood so many times, and I've never come across such a good find before. If I hadn't been with you today, I might not have even seen this big guy! Now that I've given it to you, don't nag me. I think there'll be even better stuff coming up later!"

“Then let’s cook it when we get back and eat it together,” An Ning said.

She initially thought Zhao Xuemei was just being polite, but Zhao Xuemei's words turned out to be prophetic.

Perhaps because she had a beginner's aura, the two of them subsequently found three large blue crabs, seven swimming crabs, and an eel.

Even as they were preparing to go ashore to rest, they discovered a small piece of abalone attached to a nearby reef, which the two of them picked off without missing a single one.

As for the large quantities of oysters, they showed absolutely no interest.

After getting ashore, An Ning realized that the other covered basket Zhao Xuemei was carrying contained their lunch.

Zhao Xuemei prepared a pot of water, two steamed buns, a small bottle of pickled vegetables, and two slices of meat for him.

While eating Zhao Xuemei's food, he exclaimed, "I thought we wouldn't be able to go back until the tide came in, but thanks to you, it hasn't been long at all, and the bucket is almost full!"

An Ning smiled helplessly. Zhao Xuemei had said this many times along the way.

"What did your sister-in-law do with the seafood she caught while beachcombing?"

“I’ll just eat it myself! When I came here by myself before, I wasn’t very lucky; I only found some crabs and shellfish. But today, I can eat these things myself, or I can sell them for a good price. The lobsters, the big blue crabs, and these abalone are all rare items and sell well.”

Anning wasn't short of money; she only asked to see if Zhao Xuemei had any plans.

However, Zhao Xuemei didn't react much. Judging from her daily food, clothing, and daily necessities, she wasn't the kind of person who was petty or calculating.

"This is my first time on the island, and Ni'er and I haven't eaten much of this yet! I won't sell it; I'll keep it for ourselves."

"You can eat it yourself, I'll teach you how to make it later."

After lunch, the two went to the beach for a while, filling the bucket to the brim. When they felt it was too heavy to carry, they finally left, satisfied.

As they passed the beach, a military wife greeted them, saying, "Zhao Xuemei, Anning, are you going back already? The tide is still far off!"

Zhao Xuemei proudly waved the bucket in her hand at them: "I was lucky today, I filled it up in no time, there's no point in staying here any longer!"

A sarcastic voice appeared: "You've already collected them all? You didn't just pick and choose whatever you saw, did you? Don't even pick up oysters to make up the numbers, I wouldn't eat those even if they were given to me for free."

Anning looked back and saw Sun Weiguo's mother; she had also come to the beach to go clamming today.

Zhao Xuemei was furious the moment she saw the other person. She grabbed a wilted lobster from the bucket and showed it to everyone: "Do you even recognize what this is? Don't assume that just because you're not discerning, others won't recognize good stuff either. You probably wouldn't find a single one even if you came here to go beachcombing every day."

She gave Sun Weiguo's mother a disdainful look before putting the lobster back into the Anning bucket.

Sun Weiguo's mother was still unconvinced: "You didn't catch it, so what's there to be so smug about?"

An Ning added with a timely laugh: "My sister-in-law and I found it together, but her bucket was full, so she put it here with me."

Sun Weiguo's mother: "..."

When the others heard that someone had caught a lobster, they gathered around enviously.

"This is a lobster! If you took it to the supply and marketing cooperative, it would fetch several yuan!"

"I'm so lucky! My harvest over several hours wouldn't even amount to a fraction of the value of this lobster!"

Zhao Xuemei stepped forward, shielding An Ning behind her: "We won't sell! We won't sell! This is the first time we've caught such a rare thing, we have to get our hands on it and try it ourselves first. Alright, we have to go back now, you guys keep going, maybe you'll find something good too? If you don't go now, the tide will be coming in soon!"

After listening to Zhao Xuemei's words, everyone left, while she and An Ning headed back.

On the way, Zhao Xuemei said, "Sister, don't follow my example. I showed that woman the lobsters today because you said you'd get them for yourself when you got back, and we could just throw the shells away in front of everyone and that would be fine. But you still have to remember not to flaunt your wealth; after all, you can't be too careful."

An Ning looked at the other person in surprise, not expecting Zhao Xuemei to say such a thing to her.

Then, Zhao Xuemei added, "These days are the spring tide, so everyone can come and go beachcombing. If you want to eat, you'll have enough to eat your fill these next few days!"

Anning suddenly had a brilliant idea: "Sister-in-law, how about we bring Ni'er and Pengfei along tomorrow? We don't need to go to the reef, we can just pick up some seashells on the beach and eat them right there. It'll be a life experience."

"No way!" Zhao Xuemei quickly waved her hand. "I can bring Ni'er, but my son is like a mad dog as soon as he gets to the beach. I can't control him at all!"

An Ning suppressed a laugh: "Don't worry, sister-in-law, Xu Pengfei has been listening to me a lot lately. If he dares to disobey, he won't be allowed to play with the toys I made."

"good idea!"

Zhao Xuemei, as a mother, was not angry at An Ning, an outsider, for meddling in her affairs; on the contrary, she applauded her.

"When I get back, I'll tell that kid that if he doesn't behave, he can forget about playing with your Shen Changle or your toys. Let's see if he dares to disobey again!"

The two chatted all the way, and Zhao Xuemei finally relented: "Okay, then let him ask the school for a day off tomorrow. If he wants to eat here, he'll have to bring his own pots, pans, chopsticks, and firewood... It's only because you spoil them. If it were me, I wouldn't bother with all that!"

"No need for that. Sister-in-law, just bring some water and chopsticks. I'll take care of the rest," An Ning said with a mysterious smile.

She remembered a magical tool—an entrenching tool.

An entrenching tool has the functions of a shovel, pick, crowbar (spear), saw, and knife. In the field, it can even be used as a pot.

The materials used for shovels nowadays aren't as good as those in later generations, but she made them for her own use. As long as they were sufficient for daily use, there was no need to pursue a full range of functions. A few modifications and additions would suffice.

Secondly, there's the standard seafood accompaniment: garlic sauce.

No matter what kind of seafood it is, once it's cleaned and cooked with garlic sauce, it will be incredibly fragrant!