Chapter 281 - 213: Fire Like Daytime

Chapter 281: Chapter 213: Fire Like Daytime

The door slammed shut. Lin Zhiyin still thought Zhao Wendong’s behavior was too strange. Gritting her teeth, she started getting dressed too. At the same time, in the next room, Jin Xiuying’s ears twitched, and she quickly tapped Zhao Wenwu.

"Hold on, you big idiot. I heard the door next door."

"Huh?"

Zhao Wenwu was a little unhappy, but he obediently waited. Of course, Zhao Wendong knew nothing about this. He was already sprinting toward the beach. Nearly half the moon was gone, and the waves still crashed against the shore.

By the moonlight, Zhao Wendong could vaguely see dark shapes circling in the sky. Occasionally, one would dive down sharply before soaring back up. There were actually seagulls hunting, a very rare sight. It only happened when a great tide came in at night, or when huge waves were generated by things like earthquakes or tsunamis.

At the thought of a great tide, an idea struck Zhao Wendong, and his pace quickened. He rushed to the shore in the moonlight, turned on his flashlight, and shined it on the layer of ice along the bank, searching it carefully.

Suddenly, he thought he saw something. The beam of his flashlight, which had already swept past, snapped back. The light paused, and under its orange-yellow glow was a frozen black fish. He rushed over and picked it up, then noticed a small lump next to it. Shining his flashlight on it, he saw it was a wild sea cucumber, dark and covered in small spines.

"Holy shit!"

Zhao Wendong couldn’t help but exclaim. He picked up the sea cucumber and placed it in his pocket as if it were a treasure. He swept his flashlight around and saw more and more things from the sea appearing on the shore as the tide receded. Zhao Wendong knew he had run into a great tide. He had encountered one once in his previous life, over a decade later, when an undersea volcanic eruption caused a great tide that pushed countless sea creatures onto the shore. He just never expected that such a tide had also occurred on this very day in history.

He quickly figured out the reason. In his previous life, it must have been the dead of winter, so no one was at the beach. Besides, Lin Zhiyin had gotten rid of all the other educated youths in one fell swoop, and it was pitch black, so no one noticed. By the next day, the tide had come back in, and the sea had reclaimed all the gifts on the shore. In this life, however, he was the one living by the sea, and he happened to be able to use his cheat ability, which was how he discovered this massive opportunity. Watching the fish that kept leaping onto the shore before freezing to death, along with all sorts of shells and conches, Zhao Wendong pulled out his pocket watch to check the time. It was 7:30 PM. He began to rapidly calculate the tide schedule in his head.

There were still four hours until high tide, more than enough time. He had just gotten up to run back and get help when he saw a flashlight beam cut through the darkness in the distance. Three figures were running toward him. It was Zhao Wenwu and the other two; they had seen the beam from his flashlight on the beach and came looking for him.

"Wendong, are you okay?"

Lin Zhiyin’s concerned voice called out, with a hint of a sob in it. When Zhao Wendong had rushed out earlier, she had been terrified. All sorts of ghost stories and myths she’d heard, along with folk tales from the Northeast, had flooded her mind. So, she hadn’t hesitated to get dressed and follow him. Zhao Wenwu and Jin Xiuying happened to be coming out to check on the noise as well, so they accompanied her to find Zhao Wendong.

"Third Bro, did you lose the fight with that shrew of yours? I can never win either, but you can’t just run off, can you? Did you cry?"

Zhao Wenwu sounded concerned, but his words were more of an insult than anything. However, Zhao Wendong had no time to deal with him right now. He shouted urgently at the three of them.

"Quick! Go back and get basins and baskets! Come pick up food."

"What? Food?"

The three of them froze. Zhao Wendong held out his hand. When Lin Zhiyin and Jin Xiuying saw the sea cucumber in his palm, they cried out in surprise.

"Oh my god, where did you get that?"

"There was a huge storm out at sea, and it washed everything from the seabed onto the shore! Hurry, you guys go back and get things to carry everything in. I’m going to get more people."

As Zhao Wendong spoke, he swept his flashlight toward the shore. The other three followed the beam with their eyes and saw that the beach was densely covered with all sorts of things that would never normally be there in the winter.

Zhao Wenwu immediately took off, sprinting back at top speed. Not to be outdone, Lin Zhiyin and Jin Xiuying also ran back to find containers. Zhao Wendong, however, ran past the educated youth quarters and headed toward the village.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK~

An urgent knocking sounded at Zhao Dashan’s house. In the outer room, chickens squawked and dogs barked. The White Fox and Xiaobai the White Weasel shot their heads up. Lin Huaimin and Wang Lulu’s eyes flew open at the same time. They exchanged a look in the darkness, saw the fear in each other’s eyes, and instinctively clasped hands for support. In the main room, Chen Yanmei sat up on the kang and demanded in a low, uncertain voice,

"Who is it?"

"Mom, it’s me! Get up, quick!"

Hearing Zhao Wendong’s voice, Chen Yanmei quickly turned on a flashlight, threw on some clothes, and got down from the kang. By now, everyone in the house was awake. They were all wondering why Zhao Wendong wasn’t busy making a baby and had instead rushed back in the middle of the night. Only Little Tuanzi was sound asleep, snoring softly. The door opened, and Zhao Wendong entered in a gust of cold air, speaking urgently.

"There’s a huge storm at the beach! Stuff from the sea has been washed ashore! Grab all the baskets and sacks and go to the beach to gather food! Quick, I’m going to get my big brother and the others."

Zhao Wendong didn’t even come into the main room. He said his piece from the outer room and immediately turned to run back outside. Chen Yanmei hurried after him, calling out a question.

"Youngest son, is there a lot?"

"A lot! More than we can gather!"

Zhao Wendong’s voice faded as he ran straight for Zhao Wenjun’s house next door. Back in the house, as Zhao Wendong’s words registered, Zhao Dashan had already sat up in excitement. A great sea tide! It was the kind of thing you might not see once in several decades. He vaguely recalled it happening just once when he was a child. And things were different now. It was winter, and a year of famine. Every single household was short on food!