Beachcombing in the 1970s for Giant Finds, Spoiled Rotten by Three Brothers

[Period drama + beachcombing + adored by everyone + adorable child + family life]

After a high fever, four-and-a-half-year-old He Xiaoman gained the memories of a lifetime spent beachcombing. Her father had gone missing at sea, her mother was sick and coughing up blood, the family's grain jar was almost empty, and her three older brothers were so hungry they had gone pale, yet still had to protect her from their second aunt.

He Xiaoman didn't cry or fuss. She took her brothers by the hand and headed for the beach. Other people spent half a day turning over the sand and found only a few clams, but she casually dug up crabs as big as her face, sea cucumbers as thick as an arm, and a giant grouper weighing more than fifty jin.

Her eldest brother carried the fish, her second brother held the abalone, and her third brother dragged the giant lobster. The four siblings made trip after trip to the shore, filling their baskets with conches, razor clams, sea urchins, and pearl oysters. The He family went from having no food to eat to having meat at every meal.

Liu Jinzhi was jealous. She deliberately blocked off the beach for private use, certain that He Xiaoman would never find any more treasures. But the little girl turned around and found a nest of pearls, each one round and full, thoroughly humiliating her second aunt.

But a storm was coming, the tides were behaving strangely, her father was still stranded at sea, and the villagers' fishing boats dared not leave the harbor. Ordinary beachcombing could fill their stomachs, but it couldn't save her family, much less the whole seaside village.

He Xiaoman clenched her little fists and gazed at the churning black sea.

"Brothers, follow Xiaoman! This time, we'll not only bring Dad home, we'll save the whole village too!"