Chapter 16: Flame Pearl
Yun Xiaowu triumphantly lifted the bucket, “Grandma, look, we dug up the Razor Clam King!”
Granny Yun was old and her eyesight wasn’t good, she had to get closer to see clearly.
Upon seeing it, she was immediately astonished.
“How did you get so many?!”
The other old ladies also crowded over, and then exclaimed.
“It’s really the Razor Clam King, this must be half a bucket.”
“Where did you find them? These are much more valuable than razor clams. I remember Awang’s purchase point was eighty or ninety cents per jin.”
Granny Yun was so happy that the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes piled up.
“Quick, Old Second, take them to the purchase point to sell while they’re fresh.”
Chenxi nodded, “I’ll go now.”
Jiaojiao didn’t go with them, she carried the conch back to the room.
“Huh? Jiaojiao, you’re not selling that conch? Such a big one is worth a few yuan too.”
Jiaojiao said in her tender voice, “Grandma, I’m not selling it.”
“Okay, okay, if Jiaojiao likes it, then we won’t sell it.”
Her indulgent behavior made the other old ladies exasperated, “That’s several yuan, and you’re going to eat it at home? What a waste.”
People were like this back then, accustomed to frugality, and reluctant to keep things that could be sold for a good price to eat themselves.
Granny Yun didn’t care, “Aren’t there still so many Razor Clam Kings? That’s enough.”
“You’re spoiling the child too much.”
Granny Yun said, “Our Jiaojiao is so well-behaved, and she found these herself. If she likes it, she can keep it. You all don’t know how good this child is…”
Granny Yun kept boasting about how filial and good Jiaojiao was, and she never stopped smiling.
Jiaojiao, who was inside the house, heard this and happily swung her little legs.
She knocked a few times on the conch with her little fists and then raised it and shook it.
Then she frowned and muttered, “It won’t come out, I can’t communicate.”
Jiaojiao opened her mouth and bit into it.
Granny Yun, sitting at the doorway, saw this and quickly stood up.
“Don’t eat it raw! The shell will break your little teeth.”
The pretty little girl’s teeth gnawed on the conch shell, her small teeth grinding noisily, and she slowly moved her mouth away upon hearing this.
“Oh, Grandma, when are you going to cook it?”
“Soon, soon, we’ll cook it when your brothers come back.”
Live conchs cling to the shell and it’s difficult to get the meat out, so they have to wait until it’s cooked.
Chenxi and the others sold the Razor Clam King and ran back, handing the money to Granny Yun immediately.
They hadn’t split the family yet, so Granny Yun managed all the money from selling seafood.
“Grandma, a total of twelve jin, plus some other snails and two orchid crabs, sold for eleven yuan.”
Granny Yun put the money away, “Jiaojiao is waiting for you, quickly cook the conch for her, she was already eating it raw.”
Yun Xiaowu ran inside, “I knew it, Sister has said many times, don’t eat raw things casually.”
Jiaojiao looked at him with innocent little eyes, pretending not to hear.
“Brother will boil water and cook it for you.”
Granny Yun saw off her old friends and also brought in dishes, “I need to start cooking too. Xiaowu, let’s burn the fire together.”
Hearing that they were going to burn the fire to cook, Jiaojiao immediately ran into the house and carefully selected several sweet potatoes.
“Brother, roasted sweet potato.”
“And potatoes too.”
She was small now, so she couldn’t carry so many and had to make multiple trips.
Seeing her busily working with joy, everyone in the family found her incredibly cute, looking at her with smiles and adoration in their eyes.
By the time those who had gone out to work returned, the meal was almost ready.
Jiaojiao squatted on the ground watching her second brother pry out the conch meat.
“You found a conch today? Didn’t we teach Jiaojiao to swim?”
Speaking of this, her older brothers became very excited.
“Sister learned to swim right away, she’s a genius!”
Yun Xiaowu said, “Not only can she swim, but she can also dive. We didn’t need to teach her at all. She found this conch while diving, and it was so big, Grandma, you haven’t seen it, right?”
Shen Yunlian nodded, “When I first married into the family, the first time I went tide pooling, I was lucky enough to find a conch, but it wasn’t even half the size of this one.”
Chenxi had already pried out the conch meat.
Jiaojiao immediately reached out. Chenxi thought she wanted the shell, as the conch shell was quite beautiful.
But Jiaojiao shook her head, “I want the meat.”
Chenxi said with a laugh, “Little glutton, you can’t eat it yet. We’ll stir-fry it after cutting it into slices later.”
Jiaojiao shook her head, “I don’t want to eat it.”
This statement lacked credibility; since childhood, Jiaojiao had been curious about everything, wanting to bite into anything she saw.
Even before she could walk, she would pick up ants from the ground on her little blanket and put them in her mouth to taste their saltiness.
However, since she insisted, Chenxi had to hand her the large chunk of conch meat.
It was cooked anyway, so even if she took a few bites, it would be fine.
But Jiaojiao didn’t bite it. Her chubby little hand felt around, then found a spot and dug her finger in, quickly pulling out an orange-red bead.
“Ah!!!”
“Holy crap!!!”
Chenxi, Yun Xiaowu, and the others watched in stunned silence as she dug out such a large pearl from the conch meat.
“A pearl!!!”
Hearing Yun Xiaowu’s words, even Granny Yun, who was busy, came over.
“What? What is it?”
When they saw the pearl in Jiaojiao’s hand, everyone’s eyes widened.
Granny Yun was the first to react and quickly told someone to close the main gate.
It’s not good to show off wealth. Pearls have always been valuable, especially sea pearls.
The pearl in Jiaojiao’s hand was at least as large as a person’s finger, estimated to be over 10mm.
Moreover, its color was a beautiful orange-red, a perfect round shape, with a porcelain-like luster on its surface, and beautiful flame-like patterns all over it.
“This… this is a Flame Pearl!”
Granny Yun had lived by the sea for a long time and had more experience.
At this moment, she was also very excited.
A group of people surrounded Jiaojiao, their eyes fixed on the beautiful Flame Pearl in her hand.
Shen Yunlian slapped her thigh, “This… there are pearls inside this conch? And such a beautiful pearl, then… my conch that I sold earlier.”
Granny Yun said, “What are you thinking about? If every conch had a pearl, everyone would be looking for conchs.”
“Our village used to find conchs, but none of them yielded pearls. There’s also a legend in our village, it’s said our village wasn’t always called Bailong Village.
Legend has it that a long time ago, a fisherman encountered a shipwreck while out at sea. When he thought he was going to die, he saw a white dragon in the sky soaring through the clouds.
Later, his boat capsized, but he was washed ashore by the waves. He survived and found a conch. He told everyone he had seen a white dragon, and that he had opened a beautiful pearl from that conch, which was this Flame Pearl.
This Flame Pearl is also called the Dragon Pearl. Relying on the legend of seeing the dragon, that fisherman sold the Flame Pearl to a noble person and became rich, later becoming a wealthy man.”
“But that’s just a legend from a long time ago. Anyway, I haven’t heard of anyone opening this Flame Pearl from a conch since then. I didn’t expect Jiaojiao to have opened one.”
