The GORGEOUS Mermaid Who Lands in the Eighties: Nine Brothers and Endless Pampering! - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Little Lucky Star
“Our Jiaojiao is such a good baby; she hardly ever cries or fusses. Rice broth, goat’s milk, fish soup—she takes whatever you offer, no fussing at all. And bless her heart, she even gives us a little grunt when her nappy needs changing.”
The Yun family boys were equally proud, showing her off: “Our little sister is so well-behaved when she eats, and she’s always smiling at us, she loves us a lot.”
“Honestly, our sister is the prettiest and most obedient child in the whole village.”
That statement… it was genuinely hard to argue with.
Just look at little Yun Jiaojiao’s face. She’s only a babe, but she’s genuinely stunning. Those big eyes, and eyelashes—you’ll never see another child with lashes as thick and curly as hers. She has a proper head of hair, too, and her arms and legs are wonderfully plump.
The praised Jiaojiao, always obliging, flashed them a soft, sweet smile.
Apart from being a tiny bit demanding when food was around, Jiaojiao was good as gold. When she smiled, she simply melted everyone’s hearts.
Shen Yunlian and the Yun boys stopped everyone they met on the road just to show her off.
Later, when the women gathered to forage for seafood on the beach, the talk naturally turned to Jiaojiao.
“I’ve been around for a while, and I truly haven’t seen a baby so beautiful. It’s no wonder Yun Linhai and his family decided to take her in.”
One woman rolled her eyes: “No matter how pretty she is, she’s not their own flesh and bl00d, and she’s just a girl. When she marries out, they won’t get anything back.”
Someone else disagreed: “I think it’s lovely. The Yun Linhai family has too many boys already. However much you like sons, when you have that many, it’s not special anymore. A pretty little girl, though, is a real treasure.”
Still, those who favoured sons remained unconvinced.
“Ah! Ah!”
Shen Yunlian, with Jiaojiao strapped to her back, was squatting and digging in the sand like the other women. The razor clams and snails they were after would be dinner.
Suddenly, the usually quiet Jiaojiao on her back started making a racket. Shen Yunlian quickly brought her into her arms.
“What is it, Jiaojiao? Are you hungry, my pet?”
“Ah!”
Jiaojiao tried hard, using her small, chunky finger—which still wasn’t very coordinated—to point in a direction ahead of them, making more urgent noises.
Something was there.
But her eyes were drawn back to the razor clams in Shen Yunlian’s hand. She hadn’t tried a shell that small yet, and she was curious if they tasted good.
Shen Yunlian laughed and playfully poked her little nose: “Oh, you can’t have this one.”
“Ah!”
Hmph! She decided that as soon as she could walk, she would dig out some for herself. She pointed emphatically again in the same direction.
Though Shen Yunlian didn’t understand what she meant, she felt a strange urge to follow the little one’s pointed finger.
Under a rock, she saw something snake-like wriggling, trying to disappear into the gap.
Holding Jiaojiao with one arm, she quickly grabbed the creature’s tail with the other.
It was terribly slippery. It took her several frantic tries before she managed to pull the wriggling thing out and toss it onto the sand.
Staring at her catch, Shen Yunlian’s heart began to pound with excitement.
“It’s a huge sea eel! That must be at least five or six jin
$$approx. 5.5 to 6.6 lbs$$
!”
It was too big to handle easily. Shen Yunlian immediately threw the eel back onto the sand, then, holding the baby with one arm, she rushed over and used her foot to pin the massive sea eel down.
She knew better than to grab it by hand; those things bite viciously.
She brought her bucket over, tipped it sideways on the ground, and used her foot to kick the struggling eel inside.
Shen Yunlian was absolutely beaming, a smile splitting her face. She couldn’t resist turning and giving little Yun Jiaojiao a big kiss on her soft cheek.
“Jiaojiao, you really are your mum’s little lucky star! This eel will fetch a few quid!”
Yun Jiaojiao smiled, her eyes crinkling, showing her delightful, toothless gums.
Yun Xiaowu called out, “Mum, what’s going on over there? My sister’s too small, you can’t let her near the sea water. If she gets wet, she’ll catch a cold.”
The little boy, only seven, was worrying like an old hen.
Since Shen Yunlian was ecstatic, she wasn’t bothered by her son’s fussing.
“Just look here! Our Jiaojiao is truly a lucky star. If it wasn’t for her, we never would have spotted this eel.”
“Wow!!!”
The Yun brothers were instantly thrilled when they saw the eel.
“Come on, Mum, let’s go! We need to take this eel to sell quickly before it dies.”
The whole group hurried toward the seafood collection point.
The collection point in their village was a private operation run by a local, who happened to be related to the Yun family—the youngest son of Old Master Yun’s cousin.
“Sister-in-law, what good haul have you brought in today?”
Seeing Shen Yunlian arrive with the cluster of boys, the middle-aged man, who was weighing someone else’s catch, stood up and greeted her cheerfully.
Shen Yunlian showed him the contents of her bucket.
“Ah Wang, how much will you give me for this eel?”
“Ooh, you must have been foraging. Sister-in-law, you’ve had a stroke of luck today.”
Shen Yunlian, still with Jiaojiao on her back, smiled: “We certainly did! And it was our Jiaojiao who found this big sea eel.”
Yun Wang’s eyes settled on the little girl on her back.
Yun Jiaojiao was nestled contentedly against Shen Yunlian’s back, her big eyes rolling around curiously, taking everything in. She was a soft, white little bundle, looking exactly like a sticky rice dumpling.
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Yun Wang was quite charmed, sounding a little envious.
“She’s beautiful. No wonder you decided to keep her.”
Most people wouldn’t have the heart to abandon such a lovely child they’d found.
The large sea eel weighed a total of six jin and five liang
$$approx. 6.1 lbs$$
. Because it’s delicious and hard to come by, the price was higher than common seafood, at 1.2 yuan and 2 mao per jin
$$1.21 yuan/lb$$
. It sold for a total of 7.8 yuan.
Besides the eel, the Yun family also collected three swimming crabs that day, weighing two jin and three liang
$$approx. 2.5 lbs$$
in total. These were 1 yuan per jin, so they added up to 3 yuan.
The rest were inexpensive razor clams and oysters, which they were taking home to eat themselves.
“That makes ten yuan and eight mao altogether.”
That’s the nature of foraging; if you’re unlucky, you barely get enough to add a side dish and save a bit on grocery money. But if you’re lucky, like today, the earnings are more than an adult’s daily wages working on a fishing boat.
Shen Yunlian held the ten yuan and eight mao, her face alight. What incredible luck! Over ten yuan! She’d never earned so much money foraging before.
She bid Yun Wang farewell and headed back home, carrying Yun Jiaojiao and calling her sons.
When she returned, Shen Yunlian told the rest of the family what happened, and everyone doted on Jiaojiao even more.
“Our Jiaojiao is truly worthy of being sent by the Dragon King. She’s so blessed.”
Their village was named White Dragon Village because they worshipped the Dragon King. Legend has it that a long time ago, a white dragon soaring through the clouds was seen over the sea nearby, which is how the village got its name.
Yun Jiaojiao opened her large, innocent eyes, a bit confused by the talk.
“Ah! Ah!”
She wanted to eat.
“Jiaojiao must be hungry. The goat’s milk is all warmed up.”
Yun Jiaojiao sat on Grandma Yun’s lap, contentedly drinking her goat’s milk.
Lately, her gums had been itchy, and she always wanted to gnaw on something to soothe them.
She ended up clamping onto the wooden spoon and wouldn’t let go.
The spoon was made of wood and was polished very smoothly, so there was no fear of hurting her mouth.
Grandma Yun gently pinched the plump skin on either side of her face to look inside her mouth. A tiny white speck, like a grain of rice, was showing on her front gum where a tooth was coming in. It looked adorable.
“Jiaojiao is cutting a tooth! Oldest son, make her a teething stick out of bamboo one of these days.”
A teething stick was a small, smooth, exclamation mark-shaped stick, about the size of a child’s finger, tied with a string to the baby’s wrist. It was perfect for little ones who like to put things in their mouths while teething.
After that successful outing with Shen Yunlian, every few days, Yun Jiaojiao would start crying out, demanding to go back to the beach to forage.
Over time, the family noticed a pattern: the income from foraging was consistently higher whenever Yun Jiaojiao came along.
“Jiaojiao really is our family’s little lucky star!”
Yun Jiaojiao stared longingly at the fragrant food on the dinner table and cried out, but she was still only allowed milk.
Her little face puffed up in frustration, and she turned her head, giving everyone her back—a frustrated, round ball of baby fury.
Hahaha…
Everyone just laughed at her antics.
Since the contract hasn’t been signed yet, I’ll temporarily update one chapter. I will update two chapters after the contract is signed, or start updating two chapters on the 1st of next month if it’s not signed by then.
(End of Chapter)