The GORGEOUS Mermaid Who Lands in the Eighties: Nine Brothers and Endless Pampering! - Chapter 14

Yun Jiao smiled, clutching a Coconut Conch bigger than her own face. Her refusal to sell it wasn’t down to greed, but a distinct feeling that there was something inside the shell.
It was likely a pearl, but the sensation was so faint she couldn’t say for sure until it was opened.
“Jiaojiao, how on earth did you learn to swim? Give Fifth Brother a show.”
Yun Jiao handed the precious conch to him, her instructions deadly serious: “Hold this tight, big brother, don’t lose it. It’s my treasure.”
Yun Xiaowu nodded: “Right, right, right. I know it’s your treasure, and I’ll look after it properly.”
Satisfied, Yun Jiao immediately gave them an impromptu display of her newfound swimming skills.
Yun Chenxi and Yun Xiaowu watched in disbelief as she slipped into the water like a tiny fish, moving with effortless grace once she was submerged.
Yun Chenxi was flabbergasted: “I didn’t teach her to dive, did I?”
Yun Xiaowu’s eyes were wide: “I thought I was quick at learning to swim and dive, but next to Jiaojiao, I’m an absolute dunce!”
“Goodness me, why isn’t she coming up yet!”
A full minute had passed. If he hadn’t been able to see Yun Jiao still moving, Yun Chenxi would have genuinely panicked. He plunged into the sea and hauled her out.
“How do you feel? You don’t feel uncomfortable holding your breath? Aren’t you supposed to take a breath?”
Yun Jiao’s face was flushed and she was beaming with energy, giggling in his arms. When questioned, she tilted her little head, looking confused: “Am I supposed to take a breath?”
Oh, right, humans couldn’t breathe under the sea, could they?
Yun Chenxi: “…………”
Is she actually serious?
“Second Brother, I’m not uncomfortable at all.”
Yun Chenxi sighed: “Honestly, I’m jealous.”
Yun Jiao fluttered her white, chubby little legs: “I want to play more, Second Brother, let go of me.”
“Off you go then, but if you feel yourself struggling, remember to surface for air.”
Yun Jiao obediently chirped, “Okay.”
Even though he let her play alone, Yun Chenxi didn’t dare take his eyes off her, worried the little thing would get carried away and swim out too deep.
Yun Jiao, meanwhile, felt utterly relaxed. Her vision was perfectly clear underwater.
It meant she could see the clams poking out of the seabed sand with absolute clarity.
Her small, chubby hand reached out and grasped a plump clam. There’s one here, and another over there…
These creatures were usually buried in the sand along the shore. Sand clams weren’t worth much, and most people only dug them up for their own dinners. But out here in the shallow sea, many were just sitting exposed.
The water was shallow, and the bottom was a little cloudy. Without looking closely, they’d be invisible.
The clams were small, even the biggest ones weren’t larger than her hand.
Soon, Yun Jiao had carefully selected a pile of plump clams and swam up to the surface with them tucked in her arms.
“Big brothers, big brothers, look!”
Second Brother Yun and Yun Xiaowu stared, both unsure how to react.
Hold on, was she here for a swimming lesson or to clear out the local seafood market? How were these clams so easy to find? And so fat!
“Where did you find them?”
Yun Xiaowu looked keen to jump in himself.
“Over there,” she pointed with her small, chubby hand.
“Come on, take your brother with you.”
Yun Chenxi warned: “Don’t wander off now.”
Yun Xiaowu reassured him: “Don’t worry, I’ll look after my sister.”
Yun Chenxi shot him a glare: “You’re the one I’m worried about. Stick close.”
He had to keep an eye on Yun Xiaojiu and the other younger brothers scattered across the beach; he simply couldn’t cover everyone.
Yun Jiao and Yun Xiaowu dove together and quickly located another clam patch.
However, Yun Xiaowu still couldn’t see clearly in the seawater.
The water here was shallow, and any movement of the sand would instantly cloud the water, forcing him to keep his eyes shut. What no one noticed was that Yun Jiao’s eyes were now protected by a thin, transparent film, which kept the water out and gave her a crystal-clear view of the ocean floor.
Yun Xiaowu searched for a while, only finding a handful of clams. The water, meanwhile, got increasingly murky with his thrashing, forcing him to quickly surface.
A moment later, Yun Jiao poked her head out of the water too.
“Fifth Brother, look!”
Good grief, she was holding another haul, at least a dozen clams this time. And him? He’d only managed four or five after all that commotion.
The difference was staggering.
“You can’t see anything down there! How did you find them?”
I knew it, he thought. If it were truly that easy, surely other people would have thought of it.
“I just looked for them like this.”
“Let’s chuck these in the bucket first.”
They swam back to the beach and tossed the clams in the bucket, the clinking sound immensely satisfying.
“Let’s get a few more to take home for dinner.”
Yun Xiaowu grabbed Yun Jiao’s hand: “No more sea, let’s just look on the beach.”
She’d been soaking in the water for ages; he didn’t want her to catch a chill.
Yun Chenxi called out: “Come and get changed.”
Yun Jiao was still only three, so changing her clothes in public wasn’t an issue. He changed her into a slightly larger white cotton vest; they decided against trousers to save having to change them again if they got wet. The vest came down just a little above her knees, almost like a little dress.
“Here you are, little sister. Let’s dig for razor clams together.”
Yun Xiaoliu handed her a small spade.
The other Yun boys were already randomly digging in the sand, half hunting, half playing. Yun Chenxi grabbed a screwdriver and a small pail to head towards the rocks: “I’m going to go prize off some oyster meat. Xiaowu, watch the others and the sister, and stay away from the water.”
“Will do.”
Yun Jiao: “Second Brother, I want to come too.”
“No, the rocks are too slippery, and they’re covered in sharp shells. You’ll cut yourself easily. Be a good girl, Jiaojiao, and play in the sand with your brothers.”
Yun Jiao: I’m not playing! I’m seriously trying to help find things!
If she couldn’t go, she wouldn’t go. She could still dig up plenty of things in the sand anyway.
Holding her small spade, Yun Jiao eagerly set to work. She picked a patch of sand, digging wherever she saw a small hole on the ground.
“This razor clam looks loads bigger than the ones we usually eat.”
Looks so plump and tasty.
Never mind, keep digging…
“Hehe… another huge razor clam.”
Yun Jiao doubled her efforts.
Yun Xiaowu dug for a few sand clams, kept an eye on his younger brothers running riot, then glanced over at his sister, who was diligently digging in the sand with her back to him, hardly moving from her spot.
Right then, my sister really is the best-behaved!
He walked over: “Jiaojiao, you… Good heavens!”
Yun Xiaowu stared at the razor clams in Yun Jiao’s small bucket, absolutely stunned.
“You, you… where did you dig these up?”
They had all dug here before, and other villagers came here, too, but no one had ever managed to dig up this many King Razor Clams all at once!
That’s right, what Yun Jiao had dug up were King Razor Clams (蟶王). The razor clams they usually found were mostly Chinese razor clams (long bamboo clams), which were thin, barely thicker than a chopstick, and notoriously difficult to dig up. But a King Razor Clam was much larger and thicker; these were as wide as two fingers.
His little sister’s luck was truly unbelievable!
(End of Chapter)