Tang Qiyue really couldn't swim. In neither of her two lives had she grown up by the sea. Although she knew a great deal about seafood, most of that knowledge came from post-apocalyptic technology rather than real experience.
So going into the sea was impossible for now.
After breakfast, Tang Qiyue saw several people arriving at her door. Besides Zhan Zeyi's soldiers, there were two young women with them.
"These two are island residents," Zhan Zeyi explained. "Their families have lived here for generations. They know the sea very well. You can go to the reefs with them."
He didn't have time to take Tang Qiyue himself. There was still a lot of work to finish around the house. The lack of a proper toilet alone made things inconvenient enough.
Tang Qiyue greeted the two island women warmly. Their dialect was similar to the one used along the nearby coast, and she could barely understand most of it.
From them she learned that today's tide would be small. There wouldn't be many things on the beach—mostly sea snails and small fish or shrimp.
Even so, Tang Qiyue was delighted.
She called out to Xu Qiuju, asking if she wanted to join them. Xu Qiuju had been looking forward to beachcombing all night and immediately agreed. She told her three children to stay and play with Hu Peng in Tang Qiyue's yard, since she definitely couldn't take them to the rocks.
Their excitement soon attracted Li Erhong, who joined the group as well.
Although the five women weren't familiar with each other yet, Xu Qiuju and Li Erhong were talkative and friendly. The two island women were also married. One was nicknamed Fisherwoman, and the other was called Coral.
Both were warm and outgoing.
Having grown up on the island, Fisherwoman and Coral had been trained since childhood to gather seafood and were extremely familiar with the sea.
When they reached the rocky shoreline, the two women quickly assessed the situation and began guiding them to harvest oysters.
"Don't underestimate these things growing on the rocks," Fisherwoman said with a smile. "They're delicious. You don't even need to do much—just steam them and they're ready to eat!"
Because the tide wasn't very low today, there wasn't much else visible along the shore. The rocks were mostly covered with shells.
Knowing Tang Qiyue and the others were beginners, Fisherwoman and Coral started with the easiest item to recognize—oysters.
The three women nodded eagerly.
Coral handed each of them a pointed hammer-like tool and demonstrated how to crack open the oyster shells. Then she used a scraper to scoop out the meat.
Because she had been doing this since childhood, Coral moved incredibly fast.
Tang Qiyue and the others, however, either smashed the shells into pieces or dropped the oysters while trying to scrape them out.
Fortunately, the technique wasn't complicated. After a few attempts, they gradually got the hang of it.
Among the rocks, sea urchins were hidden here and there.
When Fisherwoman spotted a palm-sized sea urchin, she quickly pried it open, cleaned it, and handed one to each of them.
Li Erhong stared at the bright orange sea urchin roe wriggling inside and immediately shook her head in fear.
Tang Qiyue, however, knew how delicious sea urchins were.
She scraped out a small piece and popped it into her mouth.
The taste was unbelievably fresh.
Now she understood why so many people loved it.
Li Erhong looked at her in astonishment. She had thought a delicate young lady like Tang Qiyue would never dare eat something like this.
Yet Tang Qiyue ate it without hesitation—and seemed to enjoy it.
"Is it really that good?" Li Erhong asked.
Xu Qiuju had never seen sea urchins before either, but she trusted Fisherwoman's recommendation. And since Tang Qiyue had already eaten one, she figured it must be safe.
"Very delicious," Tang Qiyue said. "Extremely fresh."
After finishing one, she didn't eat more.
She knew that although seafood could be eaten raw, it was safer to cook it. Medical treatment for parasites in this era was limited.
Trying one was enough.
Xu Qiuju had grown up in the countryside and had even eaten insects before, so she didn't hesitate. She popped one into her mouth, and her eyes widened immediately.
Li Erhong finally tried a bite as well.
Soon she scraped out the rest of the sea urchin and ate it all.
When she reached for another one, Fisherwoman quickly stopped them.
"Just taste one for freshness," she said. "If you like it, take some home and steam them. Otherwise you might upset your stomach."
Islanders were used to eating things raw, but Tang Qiyue and the others came from inland areas. If they got sick, medicine would be hard to find.
Li Erhong licked her lips, already remembering how delicious sea urchin tasted. She decided she would come back to the reef often to gather more for her family.
The group chatted as they worked, making the repetitive task of opening oysters much less boring.
Soon the tide began to rise.
Coral and Fisherwoman told them it was time to head back. There were plenty of oysters on the beach anyway, and gathering too many would only waste them.
Tang Qiyue and Li Erhong thanked them repeatedly and arranged to go beachcombing together again another day.
Then the group walked back carrying their wooden buckets.
They had just reached the temporary dock when they saw a boat arriving.
Curious, they stopped to watch.
Many people began disembarking. Among them were several female soldiers in military uniforms, walking proudly like little peacocks.
Xu Qiuju looked surprised.
"Wasn't the island supposed to be mostly soldiers and their families? Why are there female soldiers?"
She had asked Hu Peng about it yesterday but hadn't heard anything about women soldiers coming.
Li Erhong nudged her elbow.
"Lower your voice," she whispered. "I heard from Dazhuang yesterday that it's not just family members moving here. More people will be arriving little by little. See that short-haired woman with the child at the back? That's Political Commissar Wu's wife."
Li Erhong had visited the military base before and recognized some of the people.
"They say that anyone at company commander level or above can bring their family to the island this time. Some technical personnel and their families are coming too."
That meant many more people would soon live on the island.
Tang Qiyue didn't recognize anyone and wasn't interested in watching the commotion. She was still thinking about how to prepare the oysters.
So she told Xu Qiuju and Li Erhong that she was heading back first.
But although they didn't want to watch the newcomers, the newcomers were watching them.
Tang Qiyue and the others had only stopped briefly, but her beauty was impossible to ignore.
Among the crowd of sun-tanned faces, Tang Qiyue's fair, almost glowing complexion stood out immediately.
Especially to one female soldier carrying a medical kit.
The moment she stepped off the boat, she noticed Tang Qiyue.
She immediately grabbed the arm of the woman beside her.
"Sister, do you know whose relative that woman is?"
The woman she grabbed was Zheng Hongjuan, who kept staring in Tang Qiyue's direction.
Political Commissar Wu's wife, who was busy holding back her youngest son from running off, finally looked up.
She too was stunned by Tang Qiyue's beauty.
"I've never seen her before," she said.
"I just arrived on the island myself. How would I know who she is?"
At that moment, one of the soldiers assigned to pick them up overheard their conversation and helpfully explained:
"That's Battalion Commander Zhan's wife."
Zheng Hongjuan's eyes widened instantly.
"That fox who stole Tang Chunlan's place and married Brother Zhan?"