Queen Mary suddenly looked as if she had seen the most magical spell, her eyes widening in amazement: "This is incredible! How did you do it?"

The boy shyly raised the yellow powder in his hand: "Just with this, noble madam."

"Is that something created with alchemy?" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Uh, this is just some salt..."

"Salt? Isn’t it supposed to be white?"

"You mean table salt, madam. You can’t use that to catch razor clams. This is foul salt."

"Foul salt?"

Joseph chimed in: "It’s made by evaporating sea water, right?"

"Yes, noble sir. Drying out sea water gives you this bitter and stinky salt."

Saying this, the boy carefully extracted a bamboo clam from the hole, about the length of a spoon.

He habitually wanted to toss the clam into his own frame, but the girl next to him quickly tugged at his sleeve.

The boy immediately realized it and held the large bamboo clam with both hands, presenting it to Queen Mary: "Noble madam, I give this to you."

Queen Mary happily accepted it, like a child receiving her favorite toy, repeatedly playing with it.

"Um, noble madam, I wish to ask..."

The boy was ready to ask for passage through the beach for himself and his sister, but Queen Mary suddenly remembered something, apologetically saying:

"Please forgive me, I was too happy and forgot my manners."

She casually took a pearl ornament from her hair and pressed it into the boy’s hand: "This is my gift in return. You see, I’m out here by the sea, and only have this at hand."

The boy was startled, wanting to return the ornament but not daring to touch Queen Mary, anxiously waving his hands: "This, this can’t do, noble madam, this is too valuable, a thousand bamboo clams couldn’t exchange for it..."

Joseph smiled and said: "Please don’t refuse, just consider it payment for teaching us how to catch crabs."

Queen Mary nodded: "And for catching bamboo clams. I’d like to try it too, may I borrow some of your salt? Oh, by the way, I’m Mary, and this is my son Joseph, how should we address you two?"

"Ruan Morewan. This is my sister Karen. Noble Lady Mary." The boy looked at the pearl ornament in his hand, summoned his courage to put it in his pocket, and then pointed south to a large area of rocks, "If you wish to catch sea creatures, I can take you to a better place.

"My sister and I have a ’secret treasure house.’

"There, you will find countless razor clams, sea snails, barnacles, and even blue lobsters and eels."

"That sounds wonderful!" Queen Mary was almost ready to jump with excitement, "Holy Mother Mary must have sent you both to rescue me."

Twenty minutes later, Joseph’s group followed the Ruan siblings to the middle of the rocky area.

The terrain here was lower, and at low tide, there was a layer of seawater just above the calves and numerous sea creatures.

Karen skillfully jumped off the rocks and casually reached into the water, lifting up an octopus the size of an adult palm: "Look how fat this one is!"

Queen Mary, holding her skirt, followed along: "How did you catch it?"

"See that crevice," the girl pointed to the base of the rocks, "madam, do you see the tentacle there?"

Queen Mary eagerly reached her hand to grab, only to collect a handful of black ink.

Ruan took out a wooden fork from his rattan basket, and Kesode immediately moved to his side.

The boy carefully handed the wooden fork to Queen Mary: "Please try this."

"You truly are a thoughtful teacher."

With the "divine artifact" in her hands, Queen Mary gained confidence, tiptoeing to the junction of three rocks ahead, thrusting forcefully into the seam towards a gray-black object.

"Look, I’ve caught an octopus too!"

Joseph followed the voice to see his mother’s wooden fork holding a spotted gray monster fish half a meter long, clearly not an octopus.

"That’s a catshark, madam," Karen whispered, "it’s very agile, we rarely catch one."

Queen Mary excitedly nodded: "Thank Jesus, I’ve finally had a big harvest today!"

Before meeting the Ruan siblings, her and the Crown Prince’s biggest haul was only a few walnut-sized scallops.

Over there, Joseph caught a light gray lobster, larger than his palm.

This shallow area truly was a "treasure house," with fish and shellfish everywhere, easily obtainable.

Queen Mary quickly found a new hobby, continuously tossing various colored starfish into the wooden basin held by the maid — these things didn’t run at all, catching them was zero difficulty. She gathered more than ten in no time.

"Look, there’s a moray eel here!"

Ruan’s voice came, and several people immediately gathered to witness the "master" hunting one of the hardest fish to catch in shallow waters...

As the sky darkened, Joseph instructed Eman to light a bonfire on the beach, placing today’s catch on the iron rack to start grilling.

Queen Mary glanced at the remaining half of the sunset, asking the Ruan siblings: "Dear ones, if you don’t go home soon, your parents will worry."

"It’s alright, madam," Karen, now familiar, laughed and waved her hand, "my brother and I often come here, even if it’s completely dark, mother would at most send Uncle Pierre to find us."

"Uncle Pierre?" Queen Mary’s keenly noticed the issue in her words, "What about your father? I mean, typically it’s the father who comes to find you."

"He’s gone to sea with the townsfolk," Ruan replied, "the district stadtholder said that now the British fleet has gone to the Bay of Cadiz, so as long as we’re cautious, merchant ships can smoothly reach Santo Domingo."

The boy spoke excitedly about going to sea: "You know, the town originally had a schooner that hadn’t been used for years because of those damned British battleships patrolling offshore.

"But this time the Royal Insurance something..."

Karen gently reminded: "It’s the Royal Insurance Company."

"Oh, right, the Royal Insurance Company. They said they could charge only half the fees to provide insurance for the voyage. If anything went wrong, all the crew’s families could receive 1600 francs."

Karen immediately corrected: "No, Dad will definitely return safely!"

"You’re right. I was just introducing the insurance company to the madam."

Ruan said, his eyes beginning to shine: "Dad said when he returns from Santo Domingo this time, he’ll be able to renovate the house and buy new beds for my sister and me.

"They are the most popular kind in Anjou, said to be made with a magical technique, nails won’t loosen for decades, and won’t be eaten by pests! But the price is quite high..."

The boy stuck out his chest, his expression full of aspiration: "In a few years, I also want to go to the Caribbean Sea with them, just like Captain Jacques!"