Zhao Dahai and Zhong Cuihua entered the courtyard and closed the door, it was not early, and they went into the kitchen to cook.

"The sea."

"I'm here to remind you of this."

Zhong Cuihua lit the hay, stuffed it in the stove, set up a small piece of firewood to burn and then set up a large piece of firewood, and the fire became strong for a while.

Zhao Dahai washed the rice, put water in the pot to cook rice, and then stir-fried. Lei Dayou and Ma Hongyu did come to remind them of the sand worm digging thing, this is a good opportunity to make money, whether they will forget it or not, it is a personal favor to come, grandma Zhong Cuihua This is to let herself remember this matter, and there is a chance to make money in the future to return it. It's not a big deal, but the people in the village are exquisite.

Zhao Dahai finished eating, rested for a while, and began to prepare the things to be used for digging sandworms, the first important thing is the tools for digging sandworms, some will use hoes, but the hoe is not the best to use, to use a shovel, and the general shovel is different, the shovel head of the digging sandworm is long and narrow, sixty centimeters long and fifteen centimeters wide, the spade mouth is not sharp but relatively thick and heavy, and there are two places on both sides of the shovel that can be pedaled. The sandworm runs very fast in the sand, two or three times can not dig out, the sandworm will run very deep, it takes a lot of effort and even can't dig again, this is a bit similar to the blood eel, the heavy shovel and the pedal can be dug deeper at once, which is convenient to dig out quickly.

Zhao Dahai found the shovel used to dig the sand worm at home, checked it, it was useless for a few years, a little rusty, but it was okay, dig a few times in the sand and shiny, the shovel handle is made of solid wood, and it is very easy to hold. The second one can be prepared with a bamboo basket, a few plastic bags and net bags on your back, and you have to get up early tomorrow to hurry, and before dawn, you have to bring a flashlight.

Zhao Dahai packed up his things, checked them, there was no problem, and went to bed early.

Zhao Dahai got up at three o'clock in the morning and walked into the kitchen, breakfast had already been cooked on the stove, and the fried vegetables were heated in the cauldron.

Zhao Dahai finished breakfast, took the lunch box, and packed it for lunch, the dish was fat pork belly, digging sandworms was a physical job, and he couldn't bear it without oil and water for lunch.

Zhao Dahai packed up his things, carried the basket with a shovel, loaded the lunch box and the big kettle, went out, and arrived at the home of Lei Dayou and Ma Hongyu.

Shortly after four o'clock in the morning.

The sky was pitch black.

Only a few stars twinkled.

Zhao Dahai walked to the dock and looked at it, there were already a hundred or dozens of people around, gathered in groups of three or five, each with a shovel and a basket, waiting for the tide to go down and dig sandworms.

"Hey!"

"Why are there so many of them?"

"Looks like it's not easy to dig more sandworms today!"

Ma Hongyu saw that there were more and more people around, and in a blink of an eye, there were dozens of more people, and there were many flashlights in the distance, all of them walking towards the dock.

"I want to dig a little more and make more money, and I'm here all at once!"

Zhao Dahai looked in the direction of the beach and mangrove forest, and a lot of lights could be faintly seen in the distance, not only many people here in Langtou Village, but also many people in the beaches and bays of other villages near the sea, all waiting for the tide to recede.

Zhao Dahai thought about it and said that the tide would recede for a while, and after going to the sea, they would go their own way, and there would be too many people to go together.

Lei Dayou and Ma Hongyu have rich experience, so many people dig sandworms, they must be robbed, whoever has fast hands and feet can dig more, and it is definitely inconvenient for three people to dig together.

The sea is starting to recede.

People who had been waiting on the beach on the pier rushed down.

Qi Da Lei Dayou and Ma Hongyu walked forward with the crowd, and at the beginning everyone stayed together, and soon dispersed.

Zhao Dahai quickened his pace and rushed directly to the front of the crowd, stepping on the low tide waves, there were too many people, and he had to walk in the forefront as much as possible.

At first, the tide was slow, but it was getting faster and faster, and in half an hour, large areas of tidal flats were exposed, and the water disappeared at once.

Zhao Dahai walked forward, looked left and right, and many people stopped and began to dig sandworms.

Zhao Dahai was not in a hurry, and continued to speed up his pace to rush forward, the farther and deeper the beach, the bigger and more valuable the sandworm.

Zhao Dahai's footsteps are very fast, he has been walking at the front of the crowd, and he has been walking for almost an hour in one breath, the tide of digging sandworms is a small tide, which is different from the big low tide, the sea water will not recede very far, seeing a thin layer of sea water not far away, the speed of retreat is getting slower and slower, and stop.

Zhao Dahai looked around, only himself, looked back, the nearest one was a hundred meters away, looked down at the seabed under his feet, eight points of sand and two points of mud, this kind of place has the most sandworms, the largest, immediately start to work, there are so many people that they have to race against time.

When digging sandworms, they have to find sandworm eyes, and when the tide recedes, the sandworms burrow into the sand, leaving a small round hole on the surface of the sand.

Zhao Dahai saw a sandworm eye at a glance, walked over lightly, held the shovel with both hands, and poked into the sand suddenly, a few catties of shovel iron plus the force in his hand, in less than a second, the sixty-centimeter-long shovel iron directly poked into the sand, and picked it up hard, a whole piece of sand was picked up and thrown aside, and a sandworm was sandwiched in the middle.

Zhao Dahai bent down and picked it up, shook the sand, it was almost nearly twenty centimeters long, round and fat.

Bigger!

It's all big!

The sandworms were long patches, digging into a large one, and all of them were large in places at least the size of a football field around them.

There will be more and more people, and you have to seize the time to dig more in front of others.

Zhao Dahai took a deep breath, threw the sandworm in his hand into the bamboo basket, took two steps forward, and saw another sandworm eye, and the shovel poked and picked it up, and it was another one.

One piece!

Two of them!

Three of a kind!

……

Zhao Dahai didn't stay in place, chasing the tide and digging forward, and the size of the sandworm became bigger and bigger.

The sun rises.

The sand, especially the seawater on the surface of the sand, is reflective, very harsh and very hot.

Zhao Dahai was sweating profusely, and the clothes on his body were dry and wet, wet and dry, and there was a layer of white salt frost.

"Yo!"

"Which village boy is this?"

……

"People are tall and horses are big!"

"This body is so powerful!"

……

"The hands and feet of the sandworm are so fast!"

……

"Tut-tut!"

"This waist is incredible!"

……

More and more people are digging sandworms. The eldest girl, especially the little daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law who gave birth to a baby, stared at Zhao Dahai a few times while digging, and spoke boldly and fishy.

Zhao Dahai worked hard, ignoring the surrounding discussions, the little daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law who gave birth to a baby are both powerful people, three or five people dare to say anything together, they can't resist, it's better to dig a few more sandworms.

One o'clock at noon.

Cloudless.

The seabed exposed by the receding sea was boiling hot.

Zhao Dahai dug a pit, the sea water seeped out, stepped into it with both feet, cool silk, the bamboo basket containing the sandworm was put into the water, the weather was too hot, from time to time I had to soak in the cold seawater, mixed with some sand, or I would die of heat if I didn't cover it.

Zhao Dahai opened the lunch box, kept digging sandworms in one breath in the morning, tired like an old cow, hungry with his chest against his back, eating in a big gulp, three fingers wide and half a palm-long pork belly, stuffed in his mouth and ate it in one bite, chewed hard, and the corners of his mouth were full of oil.

"Yo!"

"The sea!"

"Digging so much?!"

Lei Dayou took the lunch box, walked to Zhao Dahai, looked down at the bamboo basket soaked in the pit, there was no need to weigh it, there had to be fifteen or sixteen catties, and the fresh sandworm was fifty or sixty yuan per catty, which was eight hundred.

"In the morning, I have enough strength to dig a little faster, dig a little more, and I can choke in the afternoon."

Zhao Dahai looked around, there must be a thousand or hundreds of people on the entire beach, some are still digging sandworms, and most of them are eating.

"Can this body not dig a lot?"

Ma Hongyu put down the bamboo basket she was carrying and squatted down to rest and eat.

The work in the sea is the same as the work in the ground, and it is much better to be in good health.

Zhao Dahai is more than one meter and eight meters tall, tall and strong, like a bull, seven or eight pounds of shovels and matchsticks in his hand, poking down and picking up a sandworm, he and Lei Dayou include other people around him, there is no such body and no such ability, three or five times to be able to dig one, sometimes not fast enough, the sandworm runs away, there is no comparison. The sandworms dug by three or five people together were not as much as Zhao Dahai digging alone.

Lei Dayou looked at the lunch box in Zhao Dahai's hand, one was the size of his own three, and he could only work if he could eat.

Zhao Dahai finished eating, drank a few sips of water and rested for ten minutes, picked up the bamboo basket, held a shovel, and continued to dig sandworms.

Lei Dayou had to be convinced, few people who went to sea were lazy, but they were not diligent and could do their work, they dug all morning, they were tired, they were not lazy, they couldn't dig if they wanted to, they had to rest for an hour before they could continue, fortunately not only themselves, but also other people who dug sandworms around were similar to themselves, or they had to find a reef and kill their heads.

"Ma Hongyu."

"Why are you here?!"

Ma Hongyu looked back, and Jiang Shiyan called herself.

"Yo!"

"Why can't I be here? Could it be that you are the only one who can come here to dig sandworms, and I can't come? ”

"This beach is not your home!"

Ma Hongyu blurted out a few words. Jiang Shiyan is a native of Dashi Village, and she often encounters people digging clams or picking up snails on islands and reefs, and she has known each other for a long time.