The GORGEOUS Mermaid Who Lands in the Eighties: Nine Brothers and Endless Pampering! - Chapter 16

Yun Xiaowu marched in, bucket in hand, looking incredibly chuffed. “Granny, look what we dug up! King razor clams!”
Granny Yun was getting on in years and her eyesight was poor, so she had to peer in closely. When she finally got a good look, she was absolutely gobsmacked.
“Goodness me! How did you get so many?!”
The other old women crowded around too, all exclaiming and making a fuss.
“They really are king razor clams! That’s got to be half a bucket!”
“Where on earth did you find those? They’re worth a lot more than regular clams. Doesn’t Ah Wang pay eighty or ninety pence a catty for them?”
Granny Yun was so delighted, the corners of her eyes crinkled up with happiness.
“Quick, Second Lad, take them to the dealer and sell them right away while they’re fresh.”
Yun Chenxi nodded. “I’m on it.”
Yun Jiao didn’t tag along. Instead, she hugged the big melo shell she’d found and trotted back inside.
“Oh, wait! Jiaojiao, aren’t you going to sell that melo shell? One that size is worth a few quid!”
Yun Jiao replied in her soft, little voice, “Granny, no selling.”
“Alright, alright, fine. If Jiaojiao likes it, we won’t sell it.”
Her neighbors, watching her spoil the child, looked utterly exasperated. “But that’s several pounds! You’re just keeping it to eat at home? What a waste!”
People back then were like that—so used to being frugal that they hated keeping anything valuable just for themselves.
Granny Yun didn’t care. “We’ve got plenty of those king razor clams, haven’t we? That’s enough.”
“Honestly, you spoil that girl rotten.”
Granny Yun sniffed. “Our Jiaojiao is such a good girl, and she found that herself. If she wants to keep it, she can. You wouldn’t believe how sweet she is…”
Granny Yun went on and on, boasting about how kind and wonderful Yun Jiao was, her smile never fading.
Inside the house, Yun Jiao heard it all and happily swung her little legs. She thumped the melo shell a couple of times with her little fists, even shaking it in the air.
Then she frowned, mumbling, “Won’t come out. Can’t chat.”
Yun Jiao opened her mouth and took a big chomp.
Granny Yun, still watching from the doorway, shot up in a panic.
“No, don’t eat that! We don’t eat raw food! That shell will break your little tooth!”
The pretty girl’s teeth were grinding audibly on the shell. Hearing her Granny, she slowly backed her mouth away.
“Oh. Granny, when are you going to cook it?”
“Soon, soon! We’ll cook it as soon as your brothers are back.”
The meat of a live melo shell is glued to the inside of the casing, so you have to wait until it’s cooked to get it out.
Yun Chenxi and the others rushed back after selling the clams and handed the money straight to Granny Yun. Since the family hadn’t been divided yet, Granny Yun was in charge of all the earnings from the seafood.
“Granny, it was twelve catties, plus a few other bits and bobs and two flower crabs. It made eleven yuan in total.”
Granny Yun tucked the money away. “Jiaojiao’s waiting for you. Go quickly and boil that melo shell, she was trying to chew on it raw just now.”
Yun Xiaowu hurried in. “I knew it! How many times have I told you not to eat raw stuff, little sister!”
Yun Jiao looked at him with an innocent little face, pretending she hadn’t heard a thing.
“Big Brother will get the water boiling for you.”
Granny Yun saw off the old ladies and brought the vegetables in. “Time for me to start dinner. Xiaowu, since you’re lighting the fire, just keep it going for the cooking.”
Hearing that dinner was being made, Yun Jiao instantly ran inside and carefully picked out several sweet potatoes.
“Brother, roast sweet potatoes.”
“And potatoes.”
She was small and couldn’t carry much, so she made a few extra trips. Watching her happily running about, everyone in the family found her absolutely adorable, their eyes full of smiles and affection. By the time the family members working outside returned, dinner was nearly done.
Yun Jiao was squatting on the floor, watching her Second Elder Brother pry out the melo shell meat.
“You found a melo shell today? Weren’t you teaching Jiaojiao to swim?”
When this was brought up, the brothers got excited.
“She learned to swim straight away! Our sister is a genius!”
Yun Xiaowu boasted: “Not only can she swim, she can dive now! We barely had to teach her anything. She found this melo shell while diving; Mum, you wouldn’t believe how huge it is!”
Shen Yunlian nodded. “I was lucky enough to find a melo shell the first time I went to forage after I married in, but it wasn’t even half the size of this one.”
Yun Chenxi had already gotten the snail meat out. Yun Jiao immediately reached out. Yun Chenxi thought she wanted the shell, as the melo shell casing is quite a pretty thing.
But Yun Jiao shook her head. “Want the meat.”
Yun Chenxi chuckled, exasperated. “You little hungry mouse! You can’t eat it yet. We’ll slice it up and stir-fry it, then you can eat it.”
Yun Jiao shook her head. “I won’t eat it.”
That wasn’t very believable. Ever since she was small, Yun Jiao was curious about everything and wanted to put everything she saw in her mouth. When she couldn’t even walk, she’d sit on her little blanket and pick up ants to taste the saltiness.
However, since she insisted, Yun Chenxi had no choice but to hand the large piece of melo shell meat over. Since it was cooked anyway, it was fine if she just nibbled on it.
But Yun Jiao didn’t nibble. Her little chubby hands felt around, then zeroed in on a certain spot, dug her finger in, and quickly popped out an orange-red bead.
“Ah!!!”
“Blimey!!!”
Yun Chenxi, Yun Xiaowu, and the others watched, utterly astonished, as she dug out such a large pearl from the snail meat.
“A pearl!!!”
Hearing Yun Xiaowu, even Granny Yun, who was busy cooking, rushed over.
“What? What is it?”
When they saw the pearl in Yun Jiao’s hand, everyone’s eyes bugged out.
Granny Yun was the first to snap back to reality and quickly told someone to bolt the main door. You don’t flash your wealth. Pearls have always been valuable, especially sea pearls.
The pearl in Yun Jiao’s hand was at least the size of a person’s thumb, probably over 10mm. Furthermore, it was a stunning orange-red color, perfectly round, with a porcelain-like sheen on its surface, covered in beautiful, flame-like markings.
“This… this is a Flame Pearl!”
Granny Yun, having lived by the sea for so long, knew a bit more. She was incredibly excited.
The whole group crowded around Yun Jiao, their eyes fixed on the gorgeous Flame Pearl in her hand.
Shen Yunlian smacked her own thigh. “Do… do these melo shells have pearls inside them? And such a beautiful one? Oh no… what about the melo shell I sold that time…”
Granny Yun said, “Don’t be silly. If every melo shell had a pearl, wouldn’t everyone be out hunting for them?”
“People in our village have found melo shells before, but none of them ever had a pearl. Though, there is a legend in our village. It’s said our village wasn’t originally called White Dragon Village.”
“The rumor goes that ages ago, a fisherman was shipwrecked at sea. He thought he was done for, but then he saw a white dragon soaring through the clouds. His boat sank, but he was washed up on the sand alive, and he found a melo shell. He told everyone he’d seen the white dragon, and that he’d found a beautiful pearl—this Flame Pearl—inside that melo shell.”
“This Flame Pearl is even called the Dragon Pearl. That fisherman, using the account of seeing the dragon, sold the Flame Pearl to a rich official, made a fortune, and became a big landowner.”
“But that was a lifetime ago. I haven’t heard of anyone finding a Flame Pearl in a melo shell since then. I can’t believe Jiaojiao actually found one.”
(End of Chapter)