Three days later, Bartlett and the others came to the southern part of Lake Village 'Angsashire' again.
Due to the ebbing tide, a muddy beach was exposed, where women and children from the village would gather stranded clams, freshwater clams, big river clams, small lake shrimp, and various nameless fish from the mudflats and shallow puddles.
These diverse lake delicacies were not a rarity for the villagers of Angsashire; instead, they mostly treated it as one of their few sources of enjoyment.
Early summer had come, and under the sunlight, the mud exuded a faint, fishy smell. The children carried small baskets woven from reeds, stepping barefoot into the mud, their eyes wide open looking for the "treasures" buried in the mud.
The calluses under their feet could prevent the risk of being cut by the clamshell's edges, and the soft mud squeezed through the gaps of their little toes, making a "gurgle" sound.
