Chapter 70: Dog Paddling for the Win

Translator: Lan Editor: Efydatia

As someone who had grown up by the sea, Qin Guan was good at the pre-swimming warm-up. He knew how to expand his chest and hold and rotate his arms; his upper body movements were standard.

The tourists on the beach had a physical movement lesson as they feasted on the handsome young man's body.

Qin Guan finished his lower body movements, which included half-squatting and lunging, ran for a few steps, and then jumped into the sea. He dove against the tide for a few metres before emerging from the water.

He shook off the water drops in his hair as he shouted at Cong Nianwei, who was standing in the shallow waters, "Come here! I’ll help you swim!" Cong Nianwei pulled a grimace before taking several steps in the sea and swimming towards Qin Guan.

Unexpectedly, she swam in a perfect butterfly stroke. Her shoulders opened to form a beautiful arc in the blue waters, a glittering, translucent spray spreading around her body. When she reached Qin Guan, she looked at him defiantly before swimming freestyle towards the deep.

Qin Guan was in awe of her. He followed her immediately. Cong Nianwei changed to breaststroke when she saw him approaching. Qin Guan didn't want to lose face in front of his girlfriend, so he followed and asked Cong Nianwei proudly, "Can you do this?"

Then he buried his head in the water, stretched his body, and started rowing with his arms and hitting the water with his legs in a silly way. Dog paddling! The technical term suddenly hit Cong Nianwei. It was really funny.

Yes, Qin Guan was dog paddling proudly before Cong Nianwei. I can’t beat you at a standard swimming style, but I can at least save my dignity this way. As they swam, he told Cong Nianwei, "Watch carefully, this is not ordinary dog paddling. There are two kinds of dog paddling, actually."

Qin Guan began scooping up water with both hands instead of alternating. He looked like a giant dog as he slowed down. Excited, he said, "Look, I changed style!" Cong Nianwei sighed at her silly boyfriend. Unbelievable! She changed to freestyle, and in a short while Qin Guan had fallen behind.

He had no time to joke around. He also switched to freestyle, patting the water with his slender legs in an effort to catch up with Cong Nianwei. They swam to the shark net, racing against each other. Cong Nianwei was a little tired, but Qin Guan was still full of energy. "I can't swim any longer. You push me back," she told him.

Her words made him happy. Qin Guan tried to embrace her slim waist, but Cong Nianwei patted his hand away. "Where did you just touch me? A lady's waist is off limits! Anyway, I can hold onto you myself." Cong Nianwei put her arms on his shoulder.

Qin Guan could do nothing but swim back to the beach with effort, like an ox pulling a cart. What a sad fate!

The sun had risen to its highest point, and it was shining brightly. Cong Nianwei rested her head against Qin Guan's shoulder. The sea was shallow, and the water was so clear that people could see the bottom. Several fish with colourful tails swam across the surface of the water, their silver dorsal fins glittering.

As she was enjoying the beautiful scene at the bottom, Cong Nianwei suddenly patted Qin Guan on the shoulder. She pointed at the bottom and shouted, "Crabs!"

Qin Guan was confused. There were so many small crabs in the shallow waters that one could find a whole group under a stone. It was nothing surprising. When he bent his head down though, he was surprised to find two crabs bigger than his palms at the bottom.

They were in the shallow waters, where the undercurrent turned over the earth where the crabs were hiding. One of the crabs was crawling slowly on its three pairs of legs whille another was digging in the sand hastily, trying to find a hiding place.

Qin Guan perked up at once. He asked Cong Nianwei to float there and wait for a while. Then he took a deep breath and plunged head-first into the water. Soon the water was stirring the sand. Qin Guan resurfaced not far from there.

Cong Nianwei thought the crabs might have escaped in the meantime, but Qin Guan grinned at her and held up his hands, holding a big crab in each one. Their bellies were right between his fingers.

Other swimmers around them shouted in surprise at the scene and started looking down at the bottom one after the other. Cong Nianwei followed Qin Guan to the beach with a smile.

Zhou Jing and Li Jian were shocked. How can they can catch such big crabs while they're on a date? This is bullying! If they're so lucky, why don’t they go fishing in the ocean?

Qin Guan could guess what they were thinking by their expression. He tied the crabs with a nylon rope he took from the counter and told Cong Nianwei, "Take a shower. It's uncomfortable after swimming."

Cong Nianwei nodded, took her bag and handed her ticket to the old woman before entering the ladies' changing room. Qin Guan took an empty plastic box that used to hold soda to scoop up some seawater and throw the crabs in. Then he told his friends, "I’ll take a shower, too. I’ll help you later."

There were no customers at the time. Zhou Jing and Li Jian's mouths watered at the sight of the crabs. Although crabs were relatively small in July, those two were quite large and fresh. They were just imagining how they would eat them when Qin Guan came back. His hair was dripping with water because he hadn't taken a towel with him. Cong Nianwei gave him her towel when she came out of the bathroom. Qin Guan took it and returned to the bathroom to change out of his swimming trunks and put on some casual clothes.

...…

Cong Nianwei decided to play alone. Abandoning Qin Guan, she ran to the beach without mercy. The two crabs had reminded her of beach combing, which she hadn't engaged in in many years.

The best time for beach combing was during the large spring tide, when the water retreated further at a high speed. Then sea life, especially slow shells, were left in the wet sand.

At two o’clock in the afternoon, the water began to retreat. It was not tide peak time yet. Cong Nianwei ran to the rocks in the shallow part of the sea and dag up some oysters and spiral shells with Qin Guan's small iron rake. That kind of natural delicious food could be eaten after being boiled with salt.

As the sea retreated fast, Cong Nianwei squatted down on the beach to observe the air holes. Some small bubbles would occasionally escape from them and crush on the beach. When that happened, it meant that there were fresh clams in the holes.

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