Chapter 171 - 180

Tian Caihua was both angry and upset!

She finally understood why her family had ordered a large ship, and only found out after it arrived!

It turned out the whole family had planned all along that there was no share of the ship for her family?Full novel: After transmigrating into the book, she became wealthy in the 1980s. — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠

And Zhou Chengxin was still so naive, not caring at all?

Was this the time to pretend to be generous?

Could a large ocean-going ship compare to their small, dilapidated boat?

From now on, he, the eldest brother, would be the poorest among the brothers; who would respect him then?

Seeing that she had misunderstood, Zhou Chengxin quickly said, "You're right. Normally, it's impossible to order a ship so quickly. But this ship wasn't ordered normally. Someone else ordered it, and when it was almost time for delivery, they didn't have the money to pay the balance. Ah Lei happened to go to the shipyard to order the ship and got a great deal, so this ship was bought at a relatively low price."

Tian Caihua still didn't believe it: "How could there be such a coincidence? Who are you trying to fool?"

Zhou Chengxin also lost his patience and said irritably, "If you don't believe me, you can go to the shipyard and ask! Don't talk nonsense here! Who's lying to you?"

"Alright! Stop arguing, let's talk things out!" Zhou's father couldn't help but speak up.

He sighed inwardly. His eldest son and his wife had only been getting along for a few days, and now his daughter-in-law was causing trouble again. How could they make money like this?

He looked at Tian Caihua and said, "Ahua, this boat was indeed bought by A-Lei and Xia-Xia themselves, just last month. I was there at the time. A-Lei and Xia-Xia made a few thousand yuan selling pearls, and the couple asked me to order the boat. They originally wanted to order a small one, but unexpectedly… they didn't even have enough money to order the boat. Xia-Xia even took out the money from her dowry and the money A-Lei had given her as a wedding gift."

Mr. Zhou recounted the situation in detail, and

Mrs. Zhou added, "Yes, you know the family's situation before the division of property. Before the division, where would we have gotten so much money to order such a big boat? All the family's money was used to build a house, buy the small boat we have now, and later buy a house in town. You know how much the three brothers paid for food, and you saw how much money they made from fishing at sea."

Tian Caihua pursed her lips, still not believing it!

Even after the family division, the two elders definitely contributed a significant amount to the large boat Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia bought.

Let alone the fact that Zhou's father gives all his daily earnings from sea to Zhou Chenglei.

Before the division, Zhou Chenglei was already a regimental commander and frequently received merit awards, which must have come with bonuses, right? Who knows how much he earned each month? How much did he secretly give to the two elders?

The money given to them was from the family coffers.

Since the money for the large boat came from the elders, all the brothers should have a share!

The two elders are just biased! They help the two younger sons, not them. They look down on them for being uneducated and think they'll never amount to anything.

Buying a house in town for the second son, Zhou Chenglei must have spent a lot of money bribing officials to help him transfer from the production team to town, right? He didn't even blink!

Meanwhile, they have nothing but a house!

Her husband, however, didn't seem to care, though his face had darkened. And since the two elders had already gone to such lengths, what could Tian Caihua say? She could only reply, "Really?! I thought it was a boat ordered before the family division! Whatever you say! Anyway, I'm an outsider. I knew nothing about buying such a big boat. Good things are none of my business! I'll have to do the work!"

With that, Tian Caihua stood up and left, taking the large watermelon soaking in the bucket in the courtyard with her.

In the end, everyone treated her like an outsider. Everyone knew Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia had ordered a large boat, but she only found out after the boat had sailed back!

Tian Caihua now seriously suspected that Jiang Xia's crying,闹事, threatening suicide, jumping into the sea, and banging her head against the wall when she first married into the family were all for the sake of dividing the family property.

And they even made her the one to bring up the division.

Had the couple planned to separate long ago, wanting to live separately? Otherwise, why would they become so loving and wealthy after the separation?

It's estimated that Zhou Chenglei had saved a considerable amount of money before the family split up, and the money he sent home each month was definitely less than half of that.

Could those few pearls really sell for several thousand yuan?

Bah! Two ungrateful wretches, sponging off their elders and elder brother, taking advantage of their honesty!

Zhou Chengxin is also a complete idiot…

Tian Caihua left indignantly.

In the courtyard, Zhou Chenglei looked at Zhou Chengxin: “Brother, you should go back and rest early too! Tomorrow you take the small boat out to sea, bring the net cages, and we'll go out to sea together to lower them. I'll go to the shipyard first to transport the anchor and anchor chain.”

Zhou Chengxin felt that Tian Caihua always liked to cause trouble, and he wanted to go back and explain. He had previously thought that with her inability to keep secrets, could he really tell her about buying the boat? Even if he did, she wouldn't be happy, which was why he hadn't told her.

Zhou Chengxin stood up: “Okay, then we'll go out to sea together tomorrow. I'll go back first.”

He also needed to tell her that his fourth brother had ordered two large boats for a thousand yuan today.

Anyway, she was already unhappy, so let her be even more unhappy!

Zhou Chengxin went out and called his sons, who were playing on the land digging foundations like adults, to come home together.

The atmosphere was a bit strange. Great-Grandma said with a smile, "Xia, it's hot. Bring out the mung bean soup I brought over for everyone to try."

Jiang Xia smiled and agreed, going to get the mung bean soup. She also washed some of the gifts from Factory Director Zhou, a box of green grapes, a box of apples, and two pomelos, and carried them all onto the new boat.

Great-Grandpa then talked to Zhou's father and Zhou Chenglei about how the foundation was dug and that they could start laying the foundation tomorrow.

The atmosphere gradually became lively again.

***

Dinner was prepared early tonight, and it was still early after the event ended, only six o'clock, not even dark yet. Zhou Chenglei wanted to go for a run; he hadn't run in a long time due to being busy, so he dragged Jiang Xia along.

The two ran along the beach, but Jiang Xia couldn't run anymore after about 500 meters.

Zhou Chenglei coaxed her to run another 300 meters. Seeing that she was too tired to run anymore, he carried her for a full five kilometers before returning home.

Jiang Xia thought that after carrying her for so long, he wouldn't have the energy to do anything else, right?

But she was wrong. He still had boundless energy, as if it were inexhaustible! He wanted her for a long time!

The next day, the two got up at five o'clock to go out to sea.

Jiang Xia's legs were sore and weak. When she got out of bed, she practically shuffled off the bed with her bottom. As a result, the bed creaked as she moved!

Zhou Chenglei was carrying Jiang Xia's clothes to give her. Hearing the sound, the two looked at each other and both realized what the problem was!

It seemed like it had creaked last night too, but one was too engrossed in the moment, and the other was lost in passion, so they hadn't noticed.

Zhou Chenglei frowned at the solid wood bed: "This bed isn't good quality."

Jiang Xia looked at the sturdy solid wood bed that looked like it could last for a hundred years.

He was the one who made it, yet he was blaming the bed for being bad!

This sturdy bed creaked after he had slept on it for only a month, which showed how much he wanted it and how frequently.

Jiang Xia couldn't help but pinch his arm, but it was so strong she couldn't get it in!

Jiang Xia gritted her teeth: "How am I supposed to sleep at night with this noise?"

Zhou Chenglei stretched out his arm and pulled her into his embrace, deliberately misunderstanding her meaning: "I can hold you forever."

Jiang Xia glared at him: Did she mean that?

Zhou Chenglei smiled and couldn't help but kiss her: "I'll find some nails to secure it when I get back tonight."

Jiang Xia had no choice but to agree!

Otherwise, what would people think if they changed to a bigger bed so soon after getting married?

Luckily, if this bed was still noisy after the new house was built, they could buy a new one.

It was getting late, and Jiang Xia heard Zhou Yongguo and his father talking. The two quickly changed their clothes and went out.

Today, they were going to set up net cages in the sea area they had contracted to try deep-sea fish farming.

After breakfast, Zhou Chenglei, Zhou Chengxin, Zhou Yongguo, and Zhou's father carried a large iron frame towards the dock.

The frame was huge, 20 meters long, 10 meters wide, and 2 meters high. Once covered with fishing nets, it would become a large net cage.

For ease of transport, the nets weren't used yet.

The frame was large, but it wasn't too heavy for four people; turning was the only challenge.

They arrived at the dock, where many villagers were preparing to go out to sea. Everyone greeted them warmly, and many spoke to Zhou's father with a different tone.

Many others greeted Jiang Xia with smiles, something that had happened before, but not as often.

Zhou Chenglei knew Jiang Xia didn't know how to address the villagers who greeted her, so he addressed each one by name first, in case she didn't remember. He would later introduce each person in detail, helping Jiang Xia understand the villagers and know who she could be close to.

Jiang Xia usually remembers people after greeting them once and knows how to address them next time.

After the four of them carried the iron frame onto the boat and placed it upright, Jiang Xia stayed on the boat while they went back to move the next iron frame.

However, Zhou's father did not leave immediately; he was stopped by the villagers and asked to speak with them.

Seeing the huge iron frame they had put on the boat, the villagers couldn't help but ask Zhou's father curiously, "Yongfu, what's such a big iron frame for?"

They had already rented the sea area and would be operating there every day, so there was no need to hide it anymore. Moreover, A-Lei had mentioned needing to buy some valuable live fish from the villagers to try raising them on the seabed. So Zhou's father chuckled and said, "A-Lei rented two areas of sea to raise fish, so he made some iron frames into net cages to try raising fish on the seabed."

Upon hearing this, the villagers couldn't help but chime in:

"What? Raising fish? There are so many fish in the ocean, why raise them?"

"Yeah, your family has big ships that go out to sea. There are even more fish in the open ocean. People catch ten or even a hundred tons at a time in deep-sea fishing. Why raise fish? Isn't that just a waste of time?"

"Raising fish on the seabed? Are you kidding me? The ocean isn't a fishpond. A storm could sweep these net cages away! Isn't that just reckless?"

"One fish can produce thousands upon thousands of offspring. The fish in the sea are endless. Your boat has a fish finder, I really don't understand, what's the point of raising them? It's just a waste of time and effort!"

"You even rented a sea area? How much does it cost to rent a sea area? It must have cost a lot! How can you let Ah Lei mess around like this! Raising fish in the sea, I guarantee that all the money you put in will be wasted! People from the next village tried to raise fish before, and they couldn't do it at all! One typhoon, and the net cages were blown away, and the fish died inside. You've heard of that!"

...

Faced with everyone's doubts, Zhou's father seemed to agree wholeheartedly, and said with a pained expression, "That's what I said too, but Ah Lei has been disobedient since he was little! I can't control him! He spent more than five thousand to rent two sea areas, and I'm worried that we'll lose everything! I couldn't stop him!"

The villagers were speechless again!

He spent more than five thousand to rent a sea area?

Has Zhou Chenglei lost his mind?

But Zhou Chenglei is so rich!

Damn it, they can hardly save five hundred yuan a day, and they can't even bear to spend five yuan.

He actually spent over five thousand yuan to rent the ocean?!

Someone couldn't help but say, "Does your family have so much money they don't know what to do with it? Why don't you give me some help?"

Seeing the shocked looks on everyone's faces, Zhou's father finally felt his vanity satisfied. He chuckled and said, "Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. I'm old-fashioned, so I don't care about him anymore! He wanted to join the army before, and I tried to stop him, but he was determined. In the end, he came back as a regimental commander, proving me wrong. Later, he injured his ear and was demobilized. He didn't want to work in a government unit; he wanted to go fishing at sea. I disagreed, but he didn't listen to me and insisted on being a fisherman. Unexpectedly, he bought a big boat in just over three months! He's even more capable than me! So now I don't care about him anymore. I'm old and can't control him anymore."

The villagers' lips twitched. Here he goes again, showing off!

But his son was indeed impressive; they couldn't even boast about it.

Today was a busy day. Although Mr. Zhou loved to show off, he wouldn't neglect his duties. After a few boasts, he said, "If anyone gets any valuable live fish like grouper or red snapper, you can send them to my house. I buy valuable live fish at high prices. Sigh, that brat just loves to mess around. I have to go help him with his nonsense!"

After saying this, Mr. Zhou hurriedly ran home to get the iron box.

What a joke! With Wangcai around, how could he not keep the fish alive?

He didn't believe it!

With Wangcai's little hand pointing, even dead fish could come back to life!

Last night, he even dreamed of his family's sea area, where schools of fish were galloping like a herd of horses!

The villagers also headed towards their boats, and some of them couldn't help but whisper among themselves: "Raising fish in the sea? Spending five thousand yuan to rent a stretch of water, what were they thinking? Aren't they afraid of wasting their money?"

"Mind your own business! They have so much money they

don't know what to do with it!" "Yeah! Why do you care if they can even keep the fish alive? Anyway, they raise fish, and we can still benefit! We can sell the live fish we catch to them. Sometimes we catch a valuable fish, but it's too small to sell for much

, and we can't bear to throw it back into the sea, but cooking it doesn't yield any meat! If Zhou Yongfu buys them later, wouldn't that be perfect?" "That's true! Just like his family buys dried fish, at least we can get a few yuan for all the leftover dried fish instead of giving them away."

"Sigh, speaking of dried fish, my wife copied Jiang Xia and used all the oil in the house to fry fish, saying she wanted to sell it. But all the dried fish were burnt, inedible! Forget selling them, the oil's gone, and the dried fish's gone too! I'm so angry! What a spendthrift!"

"My daughter-in-law fries them quite well, but yesterday she took some to town to sell, and nobody bought them. Frying dried fish is too much oil, too much trouble! It's not worth it!"

"Luckily, we don't fry them. Jiang Xia's family has two big canteens supporting them, of course we can't afford to go through that trouble." "

Zhou Bingqiang's family is also frying small dried fish, they've been frying them for the past two days."

"He's probably just waiting to lose money! He follows Zhou Yongfu's family in doing everything, doesn't he even consider whether his daughter-in-law has as much backing as Zhou Yongfu's daughter-in-law?"

Zhou Bingqiang and Zhou Guohua happened to arrive at the dock at that moment, following behind them back to their boat. Hearing their words, their faces darkened!

Jiang Xia's family did indeed have a strong backing, but his daughter-in-law even had the ability to dream of the future!

Look at all successful people, who didn't seize the opportunity first, be the first to try something new, and then make a fortune?

Zhou Bingqiang whispered to Zhou Guohua, "Did Zhou Chenglei get his permit? Go ask us tomorrow if ours has been processed yet! Go to the production team and borrow a tractor to take there. While you're there, sell the small fish your wife made, then buy some angle iron so we can make some fish cages too."

Zhou Guohua replied, "It shouldn't be that quick. The staff member said it would take two months. Zhou Chenglei probably went to put the fish cages in before it was even approved!"

"Then let's prepare some fish cages and put them in first."

"Oh, how much iron do we need to make them? Angle iron is a bit expensive; burning a big iron frame must cost a lot, right?"

Zhou Bingqiang: "..."

After Zhou Chenglei and his men moved the iron frames to the dock, the large iron frame at the back wasn't fully welded yet.

Zhou Chenglei borrowed power from the purchasing office so his father and the others could continue welding, while he and Jiang Xia went to the city shipyard to transport anchors.

Jiang Xia also went to the shipyard to sign the orders for the two ships ordered yesterday.

By the time Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia returned from the city dock, it was already past eight o'clock. The dock was bustling with activity; many fishing boats that had gone out to sea the night before and returned in the morning were selling fish, and many villagers were buying them.

It took some time for the large ship to dock, and after finally getting it ashore, the four men carried the welded iron frames onto the large ship.

After a whole morning of work, they finally arrived at the Pearl Island waters around ten o'clock.

Pearl Island was the name Jiang Xia gave it, since her family had rented it, and it would belong to them for the next twenty years, so she named it to easily distinguish the two rented sea areas.

One was called Pearl Island, and the other was called Coral Island; the names clearly indicated which sea area the island belonged to.

Hearing Jiang Xia call him that, Zhou's father laughed, "These two names are good; they sound very wealthy. Who knows, maybe we can even grow pearls someday. There's this 'Father of Pearls' from Japan who's really good at pearl farming, isn't he? Let's give it a try. This stuff can be farmed. Who knows, maybe I can even become the 'Grandpa of Pearls' someday!"

Father is nothing, Grandpa is the real deal!

Wangcai's Midas touch can turn any pearl oyster she touches into a pearl; the pearl oysters she farms should be even more obedient, and the pearls they produce will definitely be big, round, and lustrous!

So his chances of becoming the "Grandpa of Pearls" are quite high!

Jiang Xia laughed upon hearing this, "Dad, wouldn't 'Ancestor of Pearls' sound better?"

Zhou's father's eyes lit up, "Yes! Ancestor of Pearls!"

Ancestor is more impressive than Grandpa!

Little Wangcai is so insightful.

He's definitely going to be the Pearl Ancestor!

Jiang Xia was amused by Zhou's father and looked at the distant archipelago.

Pearl Island is surrounded by an archipelago. The seawater temperature here is never lower than 20 degrees Celsius, and the salinity is high, which is conducive to the rapid growth of fish.

Most importantly, this area of ​​water is a natural harbor because of the archipelago.

In general, the sea areas where abalone and pearl oysters can grow are not very large and the current is slow, because abalone and pearl oysters do not like places with large waves; they prefer calm waters.

Small waves make it more suitable to place fish cages on the seabed for fish farming.

Of course, this excludes typhoon days.

Even in sheltered areas during typhoons, there are still waves, but they are much less.

Zhou Chenglei found a spot not too far from the island and moored his boat.

Zhou Chengxin also moored his small boat next to him.

While putting on his diving gear, Zhou Chenglei said to Zhou Chengxin and Zhou Yongguo, "I'll go down and take a look first; you wait for me on the boat."

So Zhou Chenglei put on his diving gear, jumped into the sea, and dived to find a suitable location for the fish cages. He swam a long way until he found the best spot, then swam to the surface and waved to the people on the boat not far away, saying, "Bring the boat here!"

Zhou's father and Zhou Chengxin, who had been watching the sea closely, quickly steered their boat over.

Once the boat arrived, Zhou Chenglei climbed aboard and, together with the others, lowered one of the anchors into the sea.

The anchor, including the chain, was extremely heavy, weighing hundreds of tons.

Therefore, it was crucial to find the correct location beforehand when dropping the anchor; otherwise, it would embed itself firmly in the seabed and be difficult to move.

Jiang Xia couldn't help, so she fished. She noticed how much effort the four of them were putting into the anchor. Fortunately, there was a crane, but it still took them almost half an hour to drop just one anchor,

and the crane was making a screeching noise.

After dropping one anchor, they had to move the boat to another location to drop a second one.

Then they had to attach the fishing net to an iron frame to make a net cage, which they then threw into the sea.

After the net cage was in the water, they had to dive down to the seabed to secure it, driving in stakes to prevent it from being washed away by the waves.

Securing the net cage was an underwater operation, with three young men taking turns wearing diving suits to work on it.

It took a full six hours to basically secure it.

Zhou Chenglei felt it wasn't enough; he'd need to buy more iron pillars to reinforce the structure.

Zhou's father and Jiang Xia fished peacefully on the boat.

Zhou's father had never enjoyed fishing so much in his life!

The two fished for about five hours, catching four large buckets of fish.

Who could understand this joy?

Going out to sea with Wangcai was so much fun, and so much wealth.

Why wasn't this daughter his own? If he'd raised her from a young age, Zhou's father felt he'd be the richest man in the world now.

No, if he couldn't be the richest man in previous periods, he might have been the leader of a country.

Zhou Chenglei saw that Jiang Xia and her father had caught quite a few good fish.

However, not many were worth keeping, because large fish didn't need to be kept.

Zhou Chenglei picked out a grouper weighing over two pounds, a tiger grouper weighing about eight ounces, two red snapper weighing half a pound and eight ounces, a small and a large yellow croaker, and a yellow croaker weighing about three pounds.

Both giant grouper and yellow croaker can grow to several hundred pounds. Zhou Chenglei separated them into two net cages, and also kept tiger grouper and giant grouper together.

Although most groupers prefer to live alone, like quiet environments, and are territorial, there were only so many cages available, so there was no other option.

The remaining fish were kept in the same net cage.

The mesh size of the two net cages is still relatively large, allowing small fish and shrimp to swim in, so there's no need to worry about them starving. He'll add some more small fish and shrimp to feed them tomorrow to help them grow faster. He's

testing the waters for now, and once he's sure the fish will survive, he'll build more net cages and place them on the seabed, then send a large boat to bring back a batch of fish fry.

After putting all the fish in the net cages, it was already six o'clock, and the sun was almost setting, so the two boats hurried back to port.

When Zhou Chenglei and his crew returned to the dock, there were still many people there.

Everyone saw their boats returning and came forward to see what fish they had caught that day.

Even Zhou Bingqiang couldn't resist peeking in.

All he found were a few buckets of fish; he didn't know if they'd been sold at the city dock.

Yesterday, that boatload of fish had sold for four thousand yuan, which deeply affected him. Today, Zhou Bingqiang's return from fishing was an hour later than usual.

Zhou's father smiled and said to the villagers, "We didn't fish today. Didn't we say that Lei wanted to try fish farming? Let's go set up fish cages. Has anyone caught any live fish that's worth a bit more? I'll buy them at a high price!" As soon

as Zhou's father finished speaking, someone immediately responded:

"Yes! I caught a grouper!"

"Want a mackerel?"

...

Villagers who had caught live fish rushed towards Zhou's father with their buckets!

Zhou Bingqiang glanced at everyone scrambling to carry their buckets to Zhou's father to sell their fish, pursed his lips, and left.

Wen Wan's dream could foresee the future; there was still a long way to go, and he might not necessarily lose to Zhou Yongfu!

***

Zhou Chenglei sold the fish that Zhou's father and Jiang Xia had caught for over sixty yuan. After asking Jiang Xia's opinion, he gave half of the money to Zhou Chengxin.

Zhou Chengxin refused, saying, "It's the money from the fish that Xia and Dad caught. Why are you giving it to me?"

Jiang Xia laughed, "Big brother, take it! It's your turn to go out to sea today. This money should be yours. If you hadn't been busy setting up the net cages and hadn't been trawling, you wouldn't have gone without earning a single penny."

Zhou Chenglei stuffed it into Zhou Chengxin's pocket, saying, "Take it! We'll split it in half."

Zhou Chenglei was worried that Tian Caihua would object if Zhou Chengxin didn't bring home a single penny.

He knew firsthand how miserable marital discord could be.

However, back then, Jiang Xia only threatened divorce, not Tian Caihua's situation.

Zhou Chengxin retorted irritably, "Didn't you say we'd raise fish together, and split the profits? You've already spent thousands renting the sea area, building cages, buying anchors and chains, etc. I only contributed some labor today, isn't that what I should do? Otherwise, I wouldn't have to pay anything, and I'd get paid for my work. Why should I get half? I don't want this money; I'll give it to Dad."

Zhou Chenglei ignored him; he couldn't stop his older brother from being filial to their parents.

So, Zhou Chengxin returned to the old house and gave the money to his mother, saying it was the money his father had earned from fishing that day.

His mother, unaware of the situation, accepted it.

Zhou Chengxin then went home.

As soon as Tian Caihua saw Zhou Chengxin return, she asked, "How much money did you make going out to sea today?"

Zhou Chengxin replied indifferently, "No, I didn't make any money today because I didn't do any trawls. A-Lei is planning to raise fish and asked me to partner with him. Today I went to set up the net cages."

Didn't she think her fourth brother and Xia Xia had other ways to make money but didn't partner with them?

Now her fourth brother is partnering with him in fish farming!

She's always judging others by her own petty standards!

Tian Caihua was almost furious!

She had heard about this from the villagers. She originally thought Zhou Chengxin was just helping Zhou Chenglei, but she didn't expect it to be a partnership?

"Partnering in fish farming? There are so many fish in the ocean, you can catch them all. Why raise them? Are fish so easy to raise? By the time the fish are grown, others will have already caught countless fish and made a fortune! Are you sure you're okay with this? Fish farming? I won't allow you to raise fish! Do you hear me?!"

Zhou Chengxin's face darkened. "If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense! We know our limits!"

She was unhappy that Jiang Xia didn't partner with her!

Now that A-Lei has partnered with him, she's unhappy!

She's too difficult to please!

Zhou Chengxin was too lazy to talk to her and went to get his clothes and take a shower. He

was exhausted from working all day on and under the water and didn't want to argue with her!

He didn't care whether she was happy or not; if she was happy, she was happy; if she wasn't, she wasn't. Arguing with her too much would only lead to nothing!

Tian Caihua burst into tears!

Today was their family's turn to go out to sea, but Zhou Chengxin hadn't called her this morning. When she went to the vegetable garden to water the vegetables, she heard that Zhou Chenglei had built several large iron frames to make net cages, planning to raise fish on the seabed.

Instead of going out to sea with a big ship, he was raising fish on the seabed. Everyone said he was out of his mind, that he'd gotten too rich!

He'd invested thousands of yuan to rent sea area and even planned to buy fish fry from the villagers to raise.

Spending so much time, money, and energy raising fish—would it really be more profitable than catching fish in the sea?

Everyone thought Zhou Chenglei was crazy, that he had too much money to spend.

Tian Caihua felt that not only Zhou Chenglei had gone mad, but Zhou Chengxin had too!

This older brother seemed to be under Zhou Chenglei's spell, listening to everything he said.

He didn't even consider why Zhou Chenglei had asked him to partner with him in fish farming.

Zhou Chenglei had large ships that went out to sea for ten days to half a month at a time. If she partnered with Zhou Chengxin, wouldn't that mean Zhou Chengxin would have to take care of those fish?

If Zhou Chengxin had to take care of those fish, how could he go out to sea to fish? If he didn't go out to sea to fish, how would his family make money? Did

he really think that by setting up net cages, putting a few fish in, they could just live off the fish and make a fortune?

A typhoon blew all those net cages away!

It's always the good things Zhou Chenglei does that he doesn't do, but the things that make them work themselves to the bone and earn nothing.

He's taking advantage of their honest and kind nature!

Zhou Chenglei can raise fish, but don't ruin their family's life!

***

At the Zhou family's old house,

Jiang Xia was taking a shower in the shower room, while Zhou Chenglei was banging on things in the room.

After collecting the live fish, Mr. Zhou kept them in the boat's hold and the tanks at the purchasing station before returning home.

Hearing noises from his son's room, he curiously asked Mrs. Zhou, "What's A-Lei doing in his room?"

Mrs. Zhou replied, "He said the chair legs are loose, so he's fixing them."

Jiang Xia happened to come out at that moment and blushed upon hearing their conversation. She quickly helped Mrs. Zhou move the food.

Mr. Zhou didn't think much of it, but after Mrs. Zhou and Jiang Xia had finished moving the food, Zhou Chenglei was still tinkering inside. He shouted, "A-Lei, time to eat! Still not fixed?"

Zhou Chenglei, who was huddled under the bed, replied, "Almost done, you guys eat first."

Mr. Zhou couldn't help but mutter, "Does a chair have that many legs? It's been so long and it's still not fixed?"

Jiang Xia, feeling guilty, said, "It's the desk, the desk legs are loose too!"

After saying that, she shouted into the room, "Zhou Chenglei, come out and eat!"

Mr. Zhou was surprised: "Isn't your desk new? How come the legs are loose so quickly?"

Everything in the room was newly purchased when they got married.

Zhou's mother also said, "Is the quality this bad? We just bought it! Is the bed loose? The bed and desk are a set, right?"

Jiang Xia: "..."

Then Zhou's father noticed that Jiang Xia's usually radiant face was flushed!

Zhou's father suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

Oh, a loving couple brings wealth!

He loudly told the people in the room, "Ah Lei, nail it securely, no rush, I'll save some food for you."

Zhou Chenglei almost nailed his finger to the bed leg.

That evening, Zhou Chenglei wanted to test if the bed was secure enough.

Jiang Xia refused.

She felt embarrassed just thinking about dinner and couldn't help but kick him.

He grabbed her.

He went straight in.

The experiment proved that it was quite secure.

It was worth it for him to nail so many nails to each bed leg.

***

The next day, they went out to sea again to set up net cages, this time to the waters near Coral Island.

Today, the four of them had more experience and returned to the dock earlier, before six o'clock in the evening.

After the group moored the boat and headed home together, Zhou Li from the production team finally saw Jiang Xia return. She caught up with him, smiling, and said, "Xia, you got a call this afternoon! The person on the other end said her name is Zhang Fuyan and asked you to call her back at six o'clock."

Jiang Xia glanced at her watch; it was almost six o'clock. She thanked him and said to Zhou Chenglei, "You and Dad go back first! I'll call Xiaoyan back." She

must have received the dried fish.

Zhou Chenglei told his father and the others to go back first; he would stay with Jiang Xia.

Jiang Xia remembered Zhang Fuyan's number and dialed it directly.

The call was quickly answered, and Zhang Fuyan's cheerful voice came through the receiver: "Xiaxia, I can't find your brother!"

Jiang Xia's mind went blank upon hearing Zhang Fuyan's words, her heart tightening: "What does that mean? How come I can't find him?"

Could he have been kidnapped by Ye Xian?

She quickly recalled the descriptions of Jiang Dong in the book, but unfortunately, she couldn't find any information about any unexpected events involving Jiang Dong during his sophomore year!

However, the book briefly mentioned that Jiang Dong had a minor car accident and was hospitalized. Ye Xian personally took care of him, wiping his body, helping him to the toilet, and providing meticulous care. Jiang Dong then completely fell for her and became devoted to her.

But the car accident in the book seemed to have happened during his junior year!

However, Jiang Xia now realized that sometimes what's written in books is different from reality!

Zhou Chenglei glanced at Jiang Xia, reached out and took her hand, giving her strength and telling her not to panic.

Hearing the tension in Jiang Xia's voice, Zhang Fuyan knew she had misunderstood and quickly said, "I went to his class and his dorm to look for him, but I couldn't find him. His roommate said he received a letter a while ago saying something about it being published! It's going to be published! Then he ran out with the letter. I found out that he went to the research institute with a professor from the department to develop a machine, and he hasn't been to class recently. I don't know when he'll be back in the dorm. His roommate said even his girlfriend can't find him!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia breathed a sigh of relief and felt even more at ease: "If you can't find him, then you don't need to worry about him."

Even Ye Xian couldn't find him, so Jiang Dong was truly safe.

Jiang Xia asked with a smile, "Are those little fish delicious? If you like them, you can take my brother's share too! They're not good to keep for too long, and I don't know when he'll be back at school."

Zhang Fuyan's tone brightened again, "They're so delicious! I only received them at noon today, and then I shared them with my classmates. We ate half of them in one afternoon, and they all ask me to buy more! Xiaxia, when do you have time to send over another hundred catties of those little fish? Two hundred catties is fine too, send more spicy ones, many people prefer spicy food, including me."

Jiang Xia smiled and said, "Okay, but not so soon, making these little fish takes a lot of time..." "I'm out of oil coupons."

Zhang Fuyan replied, "I'll send you some. By the way, please send 500 jin of dried golden pomfret and red snapper every two weeks from now on."

Jiang Xia asked, "The school cafeteria accepts dried fish? Aren't you worried about students getting fish bones stuck in their throats?"

Zhang Fuyan said, "They're all adults, what's there to be afraid of? The cafeteria sometimes has fresh fish too! Besides, golden pomfret and red snapper have very few bones, just the main bone. If even fish with so few bones can cause students to get fish bones stuck in their throats, then we shouldn't eat fish at all."

Jiang Xia felt that she might have some misunderstandings about the times.

She thought that the school cafeteria wouldn't choose fish with bones for students to avoid taking responsibility, but perhaps not many people in this era understood the importance of accountability, so not many people were afraid of taking responsibility.

Jiang Xia said, "Okay, then I'll send a batch of dried fish over on Mid-Autumn Festival. I happen to be going to the city that day."

There were still twelve days until Mid-Autumn Festival. After lunch on Mid-Autumn Festival, she and Zhou Chenglei went home to spend the festival with Jiang's parents.

Zhou Chengsen and Li Xiuxian would be home for the Mid-Autumn Festival, so there was no need to worry about Zhou's parents being alone.

Zhang Fuyan responded with a "okay," and then added, "Xiaxia, my aunt said you'll be a translator at the Guangzhou Trade Fair, right? Our school is also organizing people from the Foreign Languages ​​Department to be translators there, and I'll go too. We can meet then. You can stay with me then!"

Jiang Xia smiled and said, "Okay, see you then."

Phone calls are expensive, so Zhang Fuyan replied with a "okay" and hung up.

After hanging up, Jiang Xia thanked Zhou Li and left the production team with Zhou Chenglei.

Zhou Chenglei asked, "What's wrong with Jiang Dong?"

He had hearing problems; although he was listening intently, he could only hear part of the sound coming from the receiver.

"Nothing, he went out with the professor to do research."

Jiang Dong was probably researching the vacuum packaging machine; he didn't know when he would finish it.

To prevent him from having time for romance after finishing the research, Jiang Xia decided to write to him again tonight to ask him to develop a production line for producing plastic packaging bags with sealing strips.

These days, plastic packaging production lines exist, so making sealing strips shouldn't be too difficult. They should be able to develop them, right?

Oh, and I should remind Jiang Dong to apply for a patent after he develops the vacuum compression packaging machine.

That way, he can reap huge profits from the patent.

Many people these days don't have a strong sense of patents; after all, the patent office hasn't been established for very long. I must remind Jiang Dong.

Zhou Chenglei asked again, "Is Comrade Zhang coming?"

He heard Jiang Xia say "see you then.

" Jiang Xia smiled and said, "No, it's that students from the foreign language department of her school will also be going to the Guangzhou Trade Fair. She's going too, and she wants me to share a room with her."

Zhou Chenglei felt that it would be safer for her to share a room with Zhang Fuyan, and he would feel more at ease, but...

he said, "Why don't you book another room yourself? You can leave it unused."

Jiang Xia looked at him: "You want to go too?"

Zhou Chenglei: "I will definitely come to see you, but I'm not sure when."

"Then you can book it then! Isn't it a waste of money to book a room and leave it unused?"

Recently, people in the village have been saying that they have so much money they don't know what to do with it, so they're raising fish.

Jiang Xia now also thinks that Zhou Chenglei really does have so much money he doesn't know what to do with it!

The Guangzhou Trade Fair lasts for half a month, and he himself doesn't even know when he'll be going. If he just lets her book a room and leave it unused, is he really going to waste ten or half a month's room fees?

Zhou Chenglei: "It won't be that easy to book a room during the Guangzhou Trade Fair."

"That's true, then don't go."

Zhou Chenglei: "..."

No, he wants to go!

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Fuyan went to Jiang Dong's dorm to see if he was back.

If he wasn't, she would sell his portion of dried fish to her roommates and classmates to prevent it from going to waste.

Zhang Fuyan headed towards the boys' dormitory.

Jiang Dong's dorm was on the second floor. Just as Zhang Fuyan climbed the last step, a white figure rushed out from around the corner.

Startled, Zhang Fuyan instinctively dodged backward, forgetting that there was a staircase behind her. She missed a step, twisted her ankle, and fell backward.

Just as she was about to tumble down the stairs, she instinctively reached out to grab the wall, but someone grabbed her and pulled her forcefully, her waist also being pulled into a strong chest.

But the person released her the moment they pulled her up. As

soon as Zhang Fuyan regained her balance, a piercing pain shot through her ankle, making it impossible for her to stand. She instinctively grabbed the person's arm.

The person quickly supported her to prevent another accident.

"Sorry! Are you alright? Can you stand still?"

The other person's voice was very pleasant, clear and melodious, like a babbling brook flowing through the forest.

Zhang Fuyan couldn't help but look up at him.

The young man's eyes were filled with worry, his face was handsome, his hair was short, and he looked sunny and dashing.

Zhang Fuyan's heart skipped a beat.

Who is this?

He's so good-looking!

Just then, someone else came out from around the corner of the stairs: "Jiang Dong, what are you doing?"

Jiang Dong turned around and glanced at the person: "I accidentally bumped into someone."

He was still helping Zhang Fuyan up, and asked, "Excuse me, can you stand up? Do you need me to take you to the school clinic?"

Zhang Fuyan's eyes widened: "You're Jiang Dong, Jiang as in Jiangshui, and Dong as in Dongzhi?"

Jiang Dong nodded: "Yes!"

At this moment, the person behind them recognized Zhang Fuyan and said: "Jiang Dong, this is the friend of your sister that I just told you about, the one who came to see you."

Jiang Dong had guessed it too; he had just read the letter his sister had given him.

His sister's friend was his sister!

Jiang Dong immediately said kindly: "Sister Xiaoyan, did you twist your ankle? Shall I take you to the hospital?"

Zhang Fuyan's face darkened. Sister? Was she that old?

"I'm in the same year as you, in the Foreign Languages ​​Department, born on the winter solstice, so I should be younger than you."

Jiang Dong: "..."

What a coincidence! He was also born on the winter solstice, so his name was Jiang Dong. His sister was born on the summer solstice, so her name was Jiang Xia.

Jiang Dong knew that women didn't like being called "old," so he tactfully didn't call her "sister" again: "Comrade Xiao Yan, did you twist your ankle?"

She was still holding his arm, and he supported her. Men and women shouldn't be too close, but he was worried about her ankle injury.

Zhang Fuyan moved her ankle, and it hurt terribly with every movement: "It probably is."

"I'll take you to the hospital to get it checked out."

"No need, I'll just go home and apply some medicated wine. The little fish your sister gave you is at my house, do you have time to go get it now?"

Jiang Dong had just finished reading his sister's letter and was about to go find Zhang Fuyan, so he nodded: "Yes."

He had to, he had to. He had caused his sister's friend to get injured, and if he didn't take her to the hospital, wouldn't his sister be angry?

If he told his father, his father would break his legs if he knew how irresponsible he was!

So Jiang Dong helped Zhang Fuyan downstairs, took her to the hospital on his bicycle, and got her some medicine.

When they arrived at the hospital, Zhang Fuyan's foot was swollen like a steamed bun!

Jiang Dong secretly rejoiced that he had brought her to the hospital. Afterwards, he took her out for a meal, then drove her home, and took the half-sack of small fish before heading straight back to the research institute.

He had only gone back to school today to help his professor borrow a book from the library and to get a change of clothes from his dorm.

After Jiang Dong left, Zhang Fuyan wanted to call Jiang Xia, but realized it was already eight o'clock and she didn't know if anyone was on duty at the production team, so she wrote a letter to Jiang Xia instead.

The first sentence at the beginning of the letter was, "Xiaxia, your brother is so handsome! All the children in your family are good-looking!"...

Ye Xian learned from her classmates that Jiang Dong had returned to school and rushed to his dorm to find him, only to find that he had left again. She gritted her teeth in anger: "We haven't seen each other for so many days, and he's finally back at school, doesn't he want to see her?

I'm so angry!" In the early August night

in the small fishing village

, a crescent moon hung high in the night sky, casting a faint, clear glow.

The curtains by the window swayed slightly in the breeze. Jiang Xia stood by the bed folding clothes under the dim light. The fishing

cages had already been lowered into the sea, and tomorrow morning, after all of Zhou Chenglei's comrades had arrived, they would set sail on a large ship to the open ocean.

Deep-sea fishing trips usually lasted ten days to two weeks, and Zhou Chenglei said he would be back before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

That meant at least ten days. After showering, Jiang Xia began packing Zhou Chenglei's clothes.

Although he was diligent and washed his clothes every day after showering, Jiang Xia still packed six sets for him, just in case he got wet and had nothing to change into.

She folded each piece of clothing

carefully and categorized them into red, white, and blue plastic bags. After packing the clothes, Jiang Xia packed his daily necessities: towels, toothbrush, razor, clothes hangers, bucket, washbasin, and so on.

When Zhou Chenglei came in after showering, he saw Jiang Xia packing his luggage. Under the light, her profile was beautiful, her soft hair shimmering with a gentle glow, her expression earnest yet tender.

Over the years, he had traveled all over the country and even abroad on missions, always packing his own luggage and traveling light.

Who could be so well-prepared? Sometimes he didn't even have time to pack before setting off.

Only she had packed so thoroughly for him.

Jiang Xia saw him come in and said, "It's almost all packed. See if you need anything else. I forgot to buy some medicine for you to take to sea. With so many days at sea, it's best to prepare some common medicines—cold medicine, fever reducers, and medicine for stomach upset. I'll get up early tomorrow morning and ride my bicycle to the town clinic to buy them."

"No need." Zhou Chenglei's heart softened. He pulled Jiang Xia into his arms and kissed her lips forcefully and urgently.

His arms, clenched around her waist, were tense, veins bulging. He kissed her, then lifted her up with one hand and carefully placed her on the bed, unbuttoning his shirt with the other, turning his head to one side, and then lowering his body.

The light in the room stayed on all night.

Jiang Xia felt like she hadn't slept at all.

Just before dawn, she fell asleep, but it seemed she had just drifted off when he woke her up again.

When Jiang Xia woke up again, it was already broad daylight. She heard several people talking outside, and in a panic, she quickly changed her clothes and went out.

In the courtyard, several muscular, dark-skinned, and energetic men were lined up, talking to Zhou Chenglei.

Zhou Chenglei seemed to sense something and turned around, his cold expression softening. He beckoned to Jiang Xia, his voice low and gentle: "Come here."

The men in line then witnessed for the first time how quickly their commander could change his expression!

Just moments before, his expression had been stern, imposing, and indifferent! Now, it was like a gentle breeze, refined and handsome, with a tender and gentle demeanor!

Jiang Xia walked forward gracefully.

Everyone immediately raised their hands in salute: "Hello, sister-in-law!"

Jiang Xia had never seen anything like this before and didn't know how to respond, so she smiled and returned the salute: "Hello, everyone!"

Fortunately, she had learned to salute during military training.

The group was instantly dazzled by Jiang Xia's smile: The regimental commander's wife is so beautiful! So gentle!

No wonder the regimental commander has become so gentle.

A tough guy with a tender heart!

Zhou Chenglei introduced her to Jiang Xia: "This is Jiang Yang, you've met her before."

Jiang Yang smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, long time no see!"

Indeed, rumors are unreliable; the regimental commander and his wife look so loving!

Jiang Xia smiled and said, "Long time no see, Sister Mei, how have you been lately?"

Jiang Yang smiled and said, "That's great. She picked some fruit and also prepared some flowers for me to bring to you to plant."

Jiang Yang pointed to the eaves, where there were two baskets of fruit and many flower and fruit seedlings.

There were also many things piled up in the yard, probably brought by them.

Jiang Xia glanced at them, smiled, thanked her, and said she would visit her next time.

Growing fruit didn't earn much money; it depended on the weather. If the fruit couldn't be sold, it would rot, and they could easily lose everything. Her parents helped manage the orchard at home, so when Jiang Yang heard the commander needed people to go to sea, he immediately agreed!

Zhou Chenglei then introduced the comrades behind Jiang Xia: "This is Yang Bin, Feng Jianjun, Kang Guoping, Zhang Jiayang, and Chen Guodong. They are all comrades who have fought alongside me through thick and thin."

Each of the people named greeted Jiang Xia.

Jiang Xia smiled and returned the greeting.

After the introductions, Zhou Chenglei told them to load everything onto the boat.

This voyage was planned to last ten days, so drinking water, rice, and vegetables needed to be prepared.

Early in the morning, Zhou's father had taken three large sacks of rice to husk, while Zhou's mother had picked several baskets of melons, vegetables, and corn to take on the boat.

Now the ground was piled high with basket after basket, bag after bag of food.

Jiang Yang and the others immediately loaded the prepared items onto a cart and pushed it to the dock.

One cart clearly couldn't hold all the goods, so they simply carried the rest on shoulder poles.

Jiang Xia watched as the poles bent and bounced with their movements, yet the group walked with remarkable ease, as if they weren't carrying anything over a hundred pounds.

Jiang Xia was incredibly impressed!

Zhou Chenglei told Jiang Xia to wash her face and brush her teeth before having breakfast, while he went to help everyone load the goods onto the boat.

Jiang Xia was worried he would go straight to sea and asked, "Are you coming home later? I haven't even bought any spare medicine yet."

"No need," he replied, "I had Yang Bin bring some. He lives in town. I'll come back later to get my clothes. Go wash your face and have breakfast."

Hearing this, Jiang Xia quickly washed up and ate a bowl of porridge.

She noticed two baskets of fruit left in the yard, picked up a few to eat at home, and planned to have Zhou Chenglei take the rest on the boat.

Jiang Xia then went back to the room to check if Zhou Chenglei's luggage was missing.

Just then, Zhou Chenglei returned, pushed open the door, and closed it behind him.

Jiang Xia said, "I've checked everything, nothing's missing."

"Mm."

He stepped forward and pulled Jiang Xia into his arms, hugging her tightly. "I'm going out to sea."

Jiang Xia reached out and hugged him back, resting her head on his strong chest, listening to his powerful heartbeat, and nodded. "Okay, have a safe and smooth journey."

Zhou Chenglei hugged her tightly for a while before letting go, cupping her face and kissing her forehead. "Wait for me to come back, before the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Jiang Xia tiptoed and kissed him again. "Okay!"

Zhou Chenglei tightened his grip on her waist, but then let go.

If they didn't leave now, he didn't know when they would be able to go out to sea today.

Zhou Chenglei picked up the red, white, and blue plastic bags and buckets from the ground and went outside.

Jiang Xia gestured for Zhou Chenglei to take the load of fruit with him.

He was about to refuse, as it was for her, but when he met Jiang Xia's gaze, he agreed.

He took a carrying pole and picked up the fruit along with the luggage.

The two walked towards the dock together.

Zhou Chenglei repeatedly reminded Jiang Xia to be careful if she went fishing at sea with her father.

He told her not to dive while he was away, not to translate until too late, to drink a bowl of milk before bed every night, and to ask her mother for help if she couldn't lift a cold shower. He also told her to leave her clothes to his mother to wash when she was tired. He advised her

not to ride her bicycle to the city or take a bus alone. If she needed to sell dried fish in the city, he suggested her father borrow a tractor to take her. He told her she

didn't need to get up early in the morning; she could sleep in as long as she naturally woke up, and his mother wouldn't mind.

He had already told his parents all this, but he was still worried and repeated it to Jiang Xia.

He was worried about leaving her at home, but with a large ship at sea for many days and a whole crew of men, it wasn't suitable for Jiang Xia to go.

Zhou Chenglei was also reluctant to let her go; fishing in the open sea was a long, arduous journey, and spending more than ten days at sea like that would be too hard and dangerous.

Not to mention the rough seas, there was also the possibility of encountering pirates.

After listening to him say all that, Jiang Xia realized that Zhou Chenglei could be quite long-winded.

She hadn't realized he could talk so much!

As he rambled on, they arrived at the dock.

Zhou Chenglei handed the things onto the boat, then followed suit.

Standing on the boat, he looked down at Jiang Xia.

Jiang Xia smiled and waved, "Smooth sailing, smooth waters, and good fortune!"

Zhou's parents also smiled and said to their son, "Smooth sailing! Smooth sailing, smooth waters, and good fortune!"

Zhou Chenglei nodded and went to set sail.

Anchors were raised, and the large ship gradually sailed away.

After the large ship set sail, Jiang Xia returned home and planted the flower and fruit tree seedlings.

The grapes she had planted earlier had already begun to climb, occupying a corner of the trellis, lush and green, showing a rapid growth trend.

The other fruit trees had also sprouted new buds, looking verdant and vibrant. Some of the flowers planted in the corner had also bloomed; the purple periwinkles and sunflowers were small and lovely in the sunlight.

After planting the flower and fruit seedlings, Jiang Xia went to make lunch.

Zhou Chenglei's comrades had brought a lot of things, including fruit, sausages, cured meat, and ham. She made a clay pot rice dish with cured meats, a dish of steamed golden pomfret with ginger, a stir-fried water spinach, and a seaweed, egg drop, and winter melon soup.

Water spinach grows best in hot weather; it grows wildly when there is enough water, while other leafy green vegetables are difficult to grow. However, since the beginning of autumn had passed, the weather was getting cooler, and there would be many leafy green vegetables to eat.

Seeing that Zhou Zhou seemed a little distracted while eating, Jiang Xia washed a bunch of grapes for her after she finished her meal. "Zhou Zhou, are you unhappy today?"

Jiang Xia shook her head. "No, not at all."

Then she nodded. "I miss Uncle. When is he coming back?"

Jiang Xia assumed she was worried because Zhou Chenglei was at sea, so she comforted her. "Uncle will be back before the Mid-Autumn Festival. After you finish eating the grapes, go take a nap before going to school. That way you'll be more alert in class. I'll wake you up then, okay?"

Zhou Chenglei's third brother, Zhou Chengyan, had died on a large ship at sea, which might explain Zhou Zhou's distraction.

Zhou Zhou nodded obediently. "Okay."

Jiang Xia went back inside to translate. She was always focused and dedicated to her work until she heard Zhou's mother's voice outside. "Why hasn't Zhou Zhou gone to school yet? Her brothers have all gone." Zhou

Zhou replied softly, "I'm going now."

Jiang Xia glanced at the time; it was only 1:10. School didn't start until 2:00, but the school gates opened at 1:30.

Zhou Zhou usually goes to school around 1 PM.

Not only her, but many children in the village like to go back to school early to play. A group of children play on the way back to school.

Some students have spare change and want to go to the school store early to buy snacks.

Jiang Xia remembered that she gave Zhou Zhou one yuan as pocket money on the first day of school, so that if the teacher asked her to buy stationery, she wouldn't be too embarrassed to ask the adults for it.

When Zhou Zhou was in preschool, all her stationery was hand-me-downs from her older brothers; she couldn't do that anymore.

Having not given Zhou Zhou pocket money for several days, Jiang Xia put down her pen, took one yuan from her drawer, and went outside.

Jiang Xia had never raised children, but she had been a child herself. When she was little, she had a period of time when she was envious of her classmates who had money to buy snacks.

She saw the Guangzong and Yaozu brothers often asking Tian Caihua and Zhou's parents for pocket money to buy snacks.

But Zhou Zhou was too sensible; she was afraid of troubling the adults and never asked them for pocket money.

Jiang Xia went out and asked Zhou Zhou, "Zhou Zhou, do you want your aunt to take you to school on her bicycle? Your aunt is free today."

Zhou Zhou shook her head, "No need, I'll go with my classmates."

Jiang Xia let her have her way.

In those days, children would usually walk to school with classmates from the same village.

Some children in mountainous areas walked very far; saying they climbed mountains and waded through rivers might be an exaggeration, but it was close enough—they all went to school by themselves.

However, the Zhou family's home wasn't far from the school; it was next to a low hill in the next village, only a ten-minute walk away.

They could hear the school's announcements from home.

Jiang Xia put a yuan into her schoolbag and instructed, "This is your allowance for this week. Zhou Zhou, buy whatever you want to eat or need. If the teacher asks you to buy school supplies but you don't have enough money, come back and tell your aunt, and your aunt will give you more money, okay?" Zhou

Zhou's lips moved as if she wanted to refuse, but in the end, she didn't. She nodded and said, "I'm going to school now, Grandma, goodbye Aunt!" Jiang Xia rubbed

her head and smiled, "Be careful on the road, remember to wear a hat."

Zhou Zhou nodded obediently and went out.

However, after leaving the village, she walked slower and slower until there were no more students on the road going to school. Estimating that it was almost time for class, she sped up and ran towards the school.

The school bell rang at this time, and Zhou Zhou ran into the classroom panting, sat down, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After two classes in the afternoon, the third period was free activity time.

Zhou Zhou didn't go to the playground to play; she did her homework in the classroom.

Suddenly, several older boys entered the classroom and approached Zhou Zhou.

Zhou Zhou's face turned pale, and his body trembled.

"Hey, classmate, where's the money?"

Zhou Zhou gripped his schoolbag in his drawer and shook his head: "No."

One of the boys saw this, snatched Zhou Zhou's schoolbag, opened it, and rummaged through it, finding a one-yuan coin inside. He then threw the schoolbag onto the table.

"Bring the money back tomorrow, and don't tell any adults, or I'll beat you!"

After getting the money, the boys hurriedly ran away.

After running out of the classroom, they came to a large tree outside the playground.

The boy holding the one-yuan coin asked, "Brother Qiang, she really won't tell her family?"

Under the tree, a boy of about eleven or twelve years old from an older grade was waiting: "Don't worry, she's too timid to tell anyone. Besides, she doesn't have parents, no one cares about her. Where's the money?"

"No one cares about her, so how does she have money?" He gave him the one-yuan coin.

“She can secretly take money from home! Her uncle’s family is very rich; he’s the only one in our village with a big boat. Today, he even sailed out to sea on his big boat. People who go out to sea don’t come home for ten days or half a month! What’s there to be afraid of? Let’s go! Let’s buy some plush toys and paper dolls.”

The boy who spoke took the money and pursed his lips.

Zhou Zhou’s aunt caused his grandmother to be arrested, and his father was afraid of being arrested too, so he didn’t dare to go home.

They’ve caused him to have no pocket money now!

So isn’t it fair that he takes the little bastard’s money?

…

Jiang Xia spent the afternoon translating at home, while Zhou’s father was building an iron frame in the yard.

Seeing that the light in the room was getting dim, Jiang Xia went out to make dinner.

Zhou Zhou was still using a chair as a desk, writing pinyin letters in the yard, very seriously. Jiang Xia didn’t disturb her.

It’s said that when a child is focused on doing something, you shouldn’t disturb them, otherwise their attention will be constantly interrupted, and they will develop a habit of not concentrating.

Just then, Zhou's mother entered the yard carrying a bucket of fish and said with a smile, "Your eldest brother gave us a bucket of fish and some shrimp. These fish have a lot of bones, but the meat is very fresh and sweet."

The Zhou family actually loves fish with many bones; there's a saying that "the more bones a fish has, the fresher it is."

Jiang Xia took the bucket and smiled, "I'll cook it."

For dinner, Jiang Xia made a mullet stew, a stir-fried cured pork with chili peppers, a steamed egg with shrimp, and a stir-fried loofah with garlic. Steamed egg with shrimp was Zhou Zhou's favorite dish; she hadn't eaten much at lunch, so Jiang Xia made one of her favorites.

For dinner, Zhou Zhou ate rice mixed with shrimp and egg, and indeed, she ate with great relish. Seeing her enjoying it, Jiang Xia smiled and asked, "Is it good?" Zhou Zhou

smiled, "It's delicious!"

Jiang Xia smiled back.

Zhou's father asked Jiang Xia, "Xia, are we going out to sea tomorrow?"

Jiang Xia looked at Zhou's father and smiled, "Okay."

Now that Zhou Chenglei wasn't around, both families would be going out to sea together. Zhou Chengxin and Zhou's father would be the ones going, and the money earned from fishing and fish farming would be split equally.

As for other gains, such as anything valuable that someone found, that would belong to that person, which was fair.

Jiang Xia wanted to go to the seabed tomorrow to see if there were any pearl oysters. She wanted to try artificially cultivating pearls.

This would greatly increase the probability of pearl formation.

Of course, she had never tried it before, but she had seen pearl farms in her past life and had also seen how it was done in videos online, so she wanted to give it a try.

That evening, after Jiang Xia finished dinner and showered, she continued translating at her desk. Zhou's mother came in with a bowl of milk and smiled, "Drink your milk and go to sleep early. Aren't you going out to sea tomorrow?"

Jiang Xia smiled, "Okay, thank you, Mom. I'll go to sleep in a bit."

Zhou's mother added, "A-Lei asked me to prepare a chamber pot in the shower room. If you're afraid to go to the toilet outside tonight, you can use the shower room, or call me and I'll go with you."

Jiang Xia smiled and agreed, "I know, Mom, you go to sleep early."

"Okay, you go to sleep early too. Don't stay up too late; it's not good for your health," Zhou's mother reminded her before going back to sleep.

She was used to going to bed early and waking up early.

Jiang Xia continued translating until 10:30 before going to bed.

However, being alone tonight, she, who usually falls asleep instantly, found it difficult to sleep for a while, wondering where Zhou Chenglei was on his ship and what he was doing.

But being someone who falls asleep instantly, she fell asleep in less than a minute after thinking about it for a while.

Zhou Chenglei had just sold the fish he caught during the day to a fish transport ship, earning over three thousand yuan.

Fish transport ships are specialized vessels used for transporting fish caught at sea.

Many fishing boats spend a long time at sea on a single long voyage, as fuel costs alone are considerable. However, sometimes they are lucky and their catch fills the ship quickly. If they don't want to return to port too soon, they can sell their fish to a fish transport ship and continue fishing.

The existence of fish transport ships greatly improves the operational efficiency of deep-sea fishing vessels.

Zhou Chenglei encountered two schools of fish during the day and sold his catch immediately upon encountering a fish transport ship at night.

After all, he didn't know when he would encounter another fish transport ship.

Having just sold his fish, he sat on the deck, looking at the silvery hooks in the sky, and for the first time, hoped they would quickly become full.

He wondered if Jiang Xia was asleep.

He was a little worried that she might be too afraid to sleep, given her fear of snakes.

He had talked a lot during the day, but he hadn't dared to mention how she would go to the toilet at night, worried that she would think of snakes and be too scared to sleep.

He told his mother to stay with her when he heard her get up to use the restroom.

Zhou Yongguo came to Zhou Chenglei's side and laughed, "Still not asleep? Missing home?"

Zhou Chenglei neither admitted nor denied it: "Why aren't you asleep?"

"The ship is rocking too much, I can't sleep." It was Zhou Yongguo's first time on the open sea, and his first time sleeping on a ship, so he wasn't used to it.

Zhou Chenglei: "You'll get used to it in a night or two. Go to sleep early, I don't know if we'll encounter a school of fish in the middle of the night."

The ship had a fish finder, but it wasn't omnipotent; it could only detect fish within a certain distance.

Whether they encountered a school of fish depended on luck.

After saying that, Zhou Chenglei went back to sleep, but he couldn't fall asleep for a long time. It was his first time experiencing insomnia, his first time tasting the bitterness of longing.

His mind was filled with thoughts of Jiangxia...

The next day,

Jiangxia got up at 4:30 to go out to sea. Zhou's mother also came along. Now that her great-grandmother was helping to look after the house, she was thinking of going to an island to harvest some oysters to dry.

Moreover, her family had spent so much money renting a piece of sea area; the sea was now practically their own farmland. She hadn't seen it yet and wanted to.

The four walked towards the pier, unexpectedly encountering Zhou Bingqiang and his sons.

Zhou Bingqiang walked up to his father with a smile: "Yongfu, has your family's sea area been approved?"

Zhou's father: "Of course! How can we put fish cages in it if it's not approved?"

Zhou Bingqiang: "My family's application for sea area hasn't been approved yet. We all applied on the same day, but yours was approved, and I don't know why ours wasn't!"

After saying that, he glanced at Jiang Xia!

He suspected Jiang Xia was behind the failed application for his family's sea area!

Zhou Guohua had said that the staff knew Jiang Xia.

He looked at Jiang Xia directly and said, "Xia, did you ask your dad for help, which is why it was approved so quickly? Why don't you ask your dad to help Uncle Qiang too? Ask them to approve our family's sea area application as soon as possible. We're all neighbors and from the same ancestor, you wouldn't refuse to help, would you?"

Yesterday, Zhou Guohua went to the relevant department to ask if their sea area application had been approved, but they were told that the sea area they applied for was not suitable for fish farming, and the application was rejected, telling them to change to another sea area.

Zhou Bingqiang suspected that Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei had tampered with the application, preventing it from being approved!

Otherwise, the sea area they applied for was near the sea area contracted by Zhou Chenglei.

Zhou Chenglei's application was approved, so why couldn't his?

Saying it was unsuitable for fish farming was just an excuse!

Moreover, the person they knew had been suspended from his duties and was under investigation!

He's giving Jiang Xia a chance to resolve this herself, or he'll write a letter accusing her father of favoritism!

Her family rents their own sea area to raise fish, and his family rents his own sea area to raise fish; they could clearly leave each other alone.

Why are they suppressing their family and making things difficult for them?

Upon hearing this, Zhou's father couldn't help but curse inwardly: Shameless!

Jiang Xia also thought he was incredibly shameless, but with the internet so developed these days, she'd seen many things that defied all moral standards, so she wasn't too surprised.

She smiled and refused, saying, "Uncle Qiang, I'm really sorry, but staff have procedures for handling things, and I can't help you. If your submitted materials are complete and qualified, I think it will be approved quickly. We're fast because our materials are complete. Or you could try again when you're ready?"

Zhou's father chimed in, "That's right! Do you need to find someone for such a small matter? We always follow the rules! We don't do things that break the rules or take shortcuts! Besides, the current national policy supports some people getting rich, so as long as you have the materials ready, you'll definitely get approved. Try again when you're ready!"

Zhou Bingqiang's face darkened: "Is that so? Then I'll try again!"

He left with those words.

Zhou's mother couldn't help but roll her eyes: "That weirdo! It's obvious that his ass and face are in the wrong place! He's got his ass on his face! His face is bigger than his ass, and all he does is fart!"

Jiang Xia chuckled, what a novel description!

Zhou's mother really knows how to curse!

Zhou's father: "Don't worry about him, let's go!"

So the Jiang family didn't say anything more to him, found their own boat, boarded, and set sail.

As soon as the boat set sail, Zhou's father called Jiang Xia to go fishing, to catch as many fish

as possible to raise in the net cages. The fish had been in the cages for three days, and Zhou Chengxin had gone down to check on them yesterday, feeding them some small fish and shrimp. At least so far, the fish were still alive and well.

Only one or two had died, probably injured when they were caught.

Jiang Xia didn't fish; she assisted Zhou's father.

Zhou Chenglei had told Jiang Xia to avoid fishing as much as possible, worried that in his absence, it wouldn't be her fishing, but the fish fishing for her.

After all, Jiang Xia had good luck, always catching big fish.

Jiang Xia thought there was some truth to that, so she stopped fishing.

As expected of a lucky charm, she was quite adept at it.

Jiang Xia's hand touched Zhou's father's fishing rod, and soon after, he caught a fish!

Yesterday, he averaged only one fish every twenty minutes, feeling like life had lost all its joy.

Now, he caught a fish all at once!

Jiang Xia saw that it was a sea bass, weighing about a pound, one of the most commonly farmed fish in the future.

Zhou's father took the fish off the boat and was about to continue when Jiang Xia pointed in the direction of the rising sun: "There are fish jumping up there! And several seabirds are circling around, is there a school of fish?"

Seeing this, Zhou Chengxin immediately steered the boat over.

Zhou's father looked and saw that some seabirds had been bitten by the leaping fish and pulled into the sea. He quickly said, "Stop! Don't go that way!"

Based on his experience, Zhou's father judged that the fish in the distance were a school of wolffish.

These fish are ferocious, with sharp teeth!

And they are naturally wary, rarely caught.

Because their boat approached, they probably swam away quickly.

"Stop! It's probably being attacked by other fish. Let's see if they swim over."

Jiang Xia had seen a video about wolffish, and heard that they can grow up to 1.8 meters long. Adult wolffish are solitary creatures, living alone.

Only when they are small do they swim in groups, following larger wolffish.

Moreover, wolffish are very united fish; once attacked, they quickly gather, forming a school that can change shape in various ways, scaring away sharks that try to prey on them.

The boat stopped, and the whole family looked at the distant sea.

Fish kept jumping up.

Slowly, Jiang Xia saw a black mass moving on the bottom of the water.

Zhou's father excitedly picked up the hand-thrown net: "Xin, cast the net quickly!"

With that, Zhou's father casually tossed the net into the water!

Zhou Chengxin quickly cast his net.

Jiang Xia also swiftly grabbed a hand net and scooped up a large netful!

Zhou's father and Zhou Chengxin also hauled up a large bag of fish.

Startled, the fish scattered and fled.

The two quickened their pace and cast two more nets, each scoop yielding fewer fish than the last, until the fish were completely gone.

On the deck lay a pile of lively barracuda.

​​Jiang Xia laughed, "These fish are delicious, so fresh!"

As the saying goes, "You might lose your cart and your ox, but you won't lose a barracuda's head. "

Barracuda, also known as mullet, are incredibly delicious!

Zhou's father chuckled, "Take a few more home tonight!"

It was time to start trawling. "Xia, come and feel the net, let's start trawling."

Jiang Xia carefully avoided the fish jumping around under his feet; their teeth looked formidable!

Jiang Xia went over and touched the net.

Zhou's father waited for Jiang Xia to finish before lowering the net.

Zhou Chengxin went to start the boat.

Jiang Xia, Zhou's father, and Zhou's mother began dividing the fish.

Two hours later, it was time to haul in the nets.

A large bag of fish was pulled up.

More barracuda!

Zhou Chengxin laughed, "This net has four or five hundred catties."

Jiang Xia also smiled and said, "Today is definitely a bumper day for barracuda."

Zhou's father was overjoyed; he had known all along that today would be a great harvest.

Zhou's father glanced at the time, "One more net, then we'll head to the island."

This net brought up a large bag of miscellaneous fish, probably two hundred catties, mostly mackerel, shrimp, and crabs, but there was even a live grouper!

Zhou's father quickly grabbed it, deflated it, and kept it in the live tank, planning to put it in the underwater cages later.

It was getting late, so Zhou Chengxin steered the boat towards Pearl Island.

The family ate the boxed lunches they had brought from home on the boat.

After lunch, Jiang Xia and Zhou Chengxin put on their diving gear and went into the sea.

One went down to put the fish they had collected from the villagers the night before into the cages.

The other went to look for pearl oysters.

However, Jiang Xia still took a look at the fish in the cages.

Every day, some fish are put in, and now each of the two net cages contains dozens of fish, mostly various kinds of grouper.

After putting the live fish into the cages, Zhou Chengxin throws in the small fish and shrimp he just sorted out to feed them.

Zhou Chengxin loves watching the fish catch fish; he first throws them in one at a time, watching the fish scramble to catch them.

Jiang Xia glances at it and then swims away to collect pearl oysters.

Jiang Xia's swimming skills are quite good. She takes a net and an iron hook, dives down to the spot where she previously collected pearl oysters, and searches around.

It's quite deep here; without equipment, a normal person, unless exceptionally gifted, wouldn't be able to swim down.

Of course, there are definitely some exceptionally skilled divers in the world; otherwise, how did ancient pearls ever reach the shore?

Perhaps they dived so deep that the light was insufficient, but Jiang Xia, with her sharp eyes, still spotted pearl oysters, and quite a few at that. She picked them up one by one

, focusing on the larger ones first. Once she had filled a large net, it became too heavy! Only then did she swim back up.

Zhou Chengxin had already swum to the top.

Seeing that Jiang Xia hadn't yet surfaced, he was preparing to go back in to search.

Zhou's father was also putting on his diving suit.

The two of them breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Jiang Xia swim up.

Jiang Xia handed them the net.

Zhou Chengxin quickly reached out to take it.

Zhou's father's eyes widened: "Pearl oysters? There really are pearl oysters?"

Why hadn't he and his eldest son found any yesterday after searching everywhere?

Jiang Xia couldn't speak, but she nodded, then pointed to the seabed and beckoned them to come down; she would lead them to collect them.

The two quickly gathered their gear and went into the water, following Jiang Xia.

Did Jiang Xia not want to keep all the pearl oysters down there for herself?

Honestly, no! Jiang Xia wanted to too!

She desperately wanted to secretly collect them all!

But Jiang Xia knew she couldn't.

Firstly, Zhou Chengxin was Zhou Chenglei's older brother, and a good one at that. Most importantly, since she and her husband planned to partner with Zhou Chengxin in fish and pearl farming, they couldn't keep all the benefits for themselves.

Otherwise, even if it was a close brother, no matter how good his character, she would eventually feel resentful.

One can't be too selfish, especially towards someone who is both family and a business partner; otherwise, they'd end up with nothing.

Only through mutually beneficial cooperation can they complement each other.

Jiang Xia had just seen that Zhou Chengxin genuinely loved fish farming, and in the book, Zhou Chengxin was incredibly skilled at it, possessing extraordinary talent, even surpassing Zhou Chenglei!

He had cultivated many valuable fish fry and successfully expanded pearl oyster farming.

Zhou Chenglei was ambitious and visionary, so he liked adventure and trying new things. He couldn't stand just tending the fishpond and raising fish.

He would only hand it over to someone else after achieving success, and then move on to other challenges.

Zhou Chengxin, being the eldest son, was steady and reliable. He was very responsible and content with the status quo, preferring steady, conservative work.

The two brothers in the book complemented and supported each other.

The three of them spent several nets collecting pearl oysters in the sea. They

started with the larger ones, hoping to find pearls, while the smaller ones were unlikely to contain any. They collected the pearl nuclei for experiments.

An hour later, they returned to the boat.

Zhou's mother had also pried open several bags of oysters on the island.

After Zhou's father and Zhou Chengxin helped her load them onto the boat, the family decided to do one more haul before heading home.

This haul, again, yielded only small catches, about 200 pounds, including many squid, shrimp, and crabs.

Jiang Xia and Zhou's parents quickly divided the fish.

When they returned to the dock, Tian Caihua was waiting there, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the boat full of fish!

She quickly boarded the boat to help divide the fish, smiling as she said, "I've already prepared dinner. Since the old house is close to the sea, I cooked it there, so we can eat when we get back."

All three agreed.

They sold a total of 568.9 yuan today, with over 100 jin of squid. Jiang Xia kept it all, planning to make squid strips.

This stuff has a lot of moisture, so there wouldn't be much even after making squid strips.

Since Jiang Xia paid for it, Tian Caihua didn't say anything, smiling all evening.

During dinner, Jiang Xia noticed Zhou Zhou seemed a little restless again. She peeled a shrimp for her and put it in her bowl, accidentally bumping into her, startling her.

This wasn't normal!

Jiang Xia decided to ask Zhou Zhou later, but she didn't know if she would tell. If she didn't, she'd secretly go to school with her tomorrow to check.

After dinner, Zhou's father closed the courtyard gate, rubbed his hands together, and excitedly whispered, "Xia, come, come, come! We've opened the pearls!"

Because it was a meal shared by two families,

apart from the four brothers who had vanished without a trace after finishing their meals and disappearing to play somewhere, Zhou Chengxin and Tian Caihua were still there.

Tian Caihua had just finished washing the dishes when she heard Zhou's father's words and exclaimed in surprise, "What? Opening pearls?"

They found pearl oysters again?

Zhou Chengxin glared at her: "Do you want to go to the radio station and tell them?"

Tian Caihua quickly covered her mouth.

Zhou's mother said, "Xia found pearl oysters on the seabed again today. We collected some, and Axin also collected a bag. Don't tell anyone."

Tian Caihua quickly nodded; she wasn't stupid!

She had just been too excited and hadn't controlled her voice.

Pearls! Her family had also found pearls; could they buy a big ship?

Zhou's father didn't say anything and went to find tools.

Jiang Xia didn't even glance at Tian Caihua, and said to Zhou's father, "Dad, find some wood. I'll whittle a few small pieces first."

Zhou's father was puzzled: "Why whittle wood?"

Jiang Xia explained, "This time, when we open the pearl oysters, we won't pry them open completely. Let's try to extract the pearls without killing the oysters. Then we'll try putting these oysters back into the sea to raise them and see if they can survive."

Pearl oysters can live up to thirty years, during which time they can continuously form pearls.

Tian Caihua almost rolled her eyes at this. If it weren't for Zhou Chengxin's cold gaze, she would have!

Removing the pearls would damage the oyster's flesh. If the flesh is cut off, how can the oyster survive?

And how can you know if there are pearls inside without prying them open? How do you extract the pearls?

Zhou Chengxin asked, "How do we do it?"

Jiang Xia replied, "First, whittle a few small pieces of wood, then I'll teach you."

Zhou's father ran to the kitchen and grabbed a cleaver, a wood-chopping knife, some wood, and a cutting board. He came back out asking, "How do we whittle them?"

Jiang Xia took a cleaver and a piece of wood. She split the wood into a small rectangular block, then sharpened one

end at an angle—not too sharp, though. This piece of wood would be used to wed the pearl oyster, and the sharpening made it easier to insert. This way, the pearl oyster would develop a small opening, from which

the pearl could be carefully removed. If the wound wasn't too large, the pearl oyster could still survive.

After all, it's a living organism and has self-healing abilities.

Jiang Xia whittled one piece of wood, and Zhou's father and Zhou Chengxin almost immediately followed suit.

They were used to woodworking.

Then, Jiang Xia took the small knife and carefully pried open a small opening in the pearl oyster, inserting the whittled piece of wood into the oyster to secure it.

"Mom, do we have any new chopsticks and bamboo skewers?"

"Yes! I'll go get them." After the family division, Zhou's mother would go to the market in town whenever she had time and buy some new bowls and chopsticks.

Zhou's mother found some new bamboo chopsticks and bamboo skewers. Jiang Xia washed them clean, scalded them with boiling water to disinfect them, and then used the round end of the chopsticks to gently press the pearl meat inside. She quickly pressed down on a round, hard object.

Without tweezers or other tools, Jiang Xia could only carefully pry open the pearl oyster's flesh with the bamboo skewers to remove the pearl. The whole process required her to keep the wound on the pearl as small and neat as possible, avoiding making the wound bruised.

The whole process took more than ten minutes and was still not finished. Tian Caihua was getting impatient watching!

However, when Jiang Xia picked out a golden pearl, she couldn't help but admire it: "This pearl is so beautiful! Like a golden pearl!"

Jiang Xia glanced at it and it was indeed very good. It was 8mm in diameter, with a good color, and the flaws did not detract from its beauty.

Jiang Xia placed the pearl in the bowl in front of her and said to Zhou's father, mother, and Zhou Chengxin, "This is roughly how you open it. Try to make the wound small and neat so it can heal easily."

Tian Caihua immediately picked up a pearl oyster from her bag of pearls: "I'll try too!"

Zhou Chengxin reminded her, "Be careful, don't kill the pearl."

"I know!" Tian Caihua said irritably.

Although she thought it was impossible to keep it alive, what if she could?

Wouldn't she regret it to death?

When it came to money, Tian Caihua would be careful.

Zhou's father said, "Xia, give me and your mother two pearl oysters."

Jiang Xia gave them two.

Zhou's father began to open the pearl with great anticipation, his movements very careful, silently chanting, "Big, round, and perfect! Big, round, and perfect..."

Tian Caihua also carefully pried open a pearl oyster, then tried to find the pearl like Jiang Xia!

She carefully poked at it with chopsticks for a long time but couldn't feel any pearl.

She couldn't help but offer it to Zhou Chengxin: "You try it."

Zhou Chengxin took it and carefully looked around to confirm: "There are no pearls."

Tian Caihua: "..."

How could she be so unlucky?

Mr. Zhou had already found a pearl. He glanced at their pearl oyster and asked, "So old and still no pearls?"

Zhou Chengxin shook his head. "No."

Tian Caihua refused to believe it. "I'll try another one."

Mr. Zhou was speechless.

Didn't she have any self-awareness, being such a spendthrift and unlucky person?

She still dared to open one?

As it turned out, Tian Caihua was indeed unlucky. This time, she didn't find a pearl either!

But Mr. and Mrs. Zhou found pearls!

They were quite large, around 5mm and 6mm, with good color and few flaws.

Jiang Xia even found a large white pearl, 9mm.

8mm saltwater pearls are rare, and 9mm and above are even rarer.

Jiang Xia's pearls kept getting bigger and bigger, and Tian Caihua was incredibly envious. Was her luck really not as good as Jiang Xia's?

She refused to believe it and continued to open more!

Still nothing!

She was about to cry!

Zhou Chengxin was also afraid of her and said directly, "You'd better not touch it!"

After opening so many and not finding a single one, it really was just bad luck!

Father Zhou: "Yes, Ah Hua, don't open them! Your luck is terrible, you have no fortune! Don't waste these pearl oysters!"

Tian Caihua was unhappy to hear this. She refused to admit that she had bad luck and couldn't help but say, "If it has pearls, it has pearls; if it doesn't, it doesn't. What does my luck have to do with it?"

She couldn't help but say to Zhou Chengxin, "Why do you keep picking the ones without pearls?"

Zhou Chengxin was too lazy to pay attention to her. He picked one up and opened it himself, and then he found a pearl!

Tian Caihua shut up!

However, it was only about 4mm in size, the smallest so far, and with the most flaws.

But Tian Caihua was happy. At least she had found one. She quickly picked another one and handed it to Zhou Chengxin: "Keep going! Keep going! You still have good luck!"

Zhou Chengxin couldn't help but say, "Can you not touch them?"

Tian Caihua: "..."

"I'm just handing it to you, I haven't opened it! Can't I even touch it?"

"Anything you touch is never good!"

Tian Caihua was really wronged now: "You're making me sound like a plague god!"

Zhou Chengxin didn't say anything, tacitly agreeing!

Tian Caihua was exasperated: "Then you open it and see if you find one! Maybe I've tried before, and this time I can get a big one!"

But there was nothing!

Tian Caihua: "!!!"

Zhou Chengxin took a pearl oyster and opened it himself, and found another one, white, with a good luster, a few flaws, about 6mm, bigger than the previous one.

Zhou's father glanced at it and asked, "How is it?"

Zhou Chengxin smiled and said, "Not bad! No flaws. These pearl oysters produce high-quality pearls."

Tian Caihua was also happy, the pearls were getting bigger and bigger!

In her excitement, she picked up another pearl oyster and handed it to Zhou Chengxin.

Zhou Chengxin: "...Open it yourself!"

No need to open it, he knew there were none!

He was too lazy to do it and took another one himself.

Tian Caihua: "..."

She'll open it then!

She didn't believe she was so unlucky that she couldn't find a single pearl!

But there was nothing again!!!

How could she really be so unlucky?

But why was Jiang Xia so lucky?

She couldn't help but look at Jiang Xia, and then her eyes widened!

Tian Caihua's expression was like that of a soldier on the battlefield, pierced by a thousand arrows, dying with his eyes wide open.

She truly felt like she had suffered a thousand cuts to her heart!

What kind of luck did Jiang Xia have?

Jiang Xia unearthed a golden pearl this time—large, round, and lustrous! Flawless!

The pearl lay in Jiang Xia's palm, shimmering with golden light as she handled it.

Zhou's mother leaned over, beaming with delight, "Is this the King of Pearls?"

Jiang Xia smiled, "It should be."

It was definitely a top-quality golden pearl!

A collectible gem!

Not all pearls can be called jewelry.

And not all jewelry is worth collecting.

Jiang Xia thought this one should be worth over a thousand, enough to be auctioned, and happily stuffed it into her pocket.

Tian Caihua: "..."

She wanted to ask Jiang Xia to let her see it.

Tian Caihua, stimulated again, couldn't resist picking up another pearl oyster and opening it herself.

This time, she finally got one!

Her heart pounded as she carefully picked it out.

The result was a deformed pearl, lacking luster, with more flaws than the freckles on her face! But it was very large!

Tian Caihua: "..."

Zhou Chengxin couldn't help but yell at her, "Can you please stop touching my pearl oysters?!"

Tian Caihua didn't dare touch them anymore.

She stepped back and quietly watched them open the pearls.

Without Tian Caihua hindering them, Zhou Chengxin opened several pearls in succession, some good, some average, and one over 8mm in size, almost perfect.

Zhou Chengxin breathed a sigh of relief!

Finally, a big one!

Tian Caihua also breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhou Chengxin finished opening the whole bag of pearls, and there were three pearls over 8mm, several 5mm or 6mm, and the rest were all under 4mm.

Tian Caihua couldn't help but look at Jiang Xia's.

Actually, Jiang Xia didn't get pearls from every pearl oyster. She had tried opening two or three without pearls, but most of the pearls she opened were large pearls over 7mm or 8mm, with few flaws and good luster.

Most importantly, Jiang Xia opened more than one king pearl; she stuffed at least three into her pocket that she wasn't allowed to see!

Of the fifty-odd pearl oysters, Jiang Xia only yielded five or six flawed, small pearls, and six pearlless ones.

Her luck was incredible; anyone who didn't know better would think she was raising those oysters!

Zhou's parents' pearl yield and quality were similar to Jiang Xia's, but their pearls were generally not as large. With

the three bowls of pearls laid out, it was obvious who had the better luck!

Tian Caihua was envious again!

Her bowl was so small! So meager!

She deeply doubted her existence, wondering if her pearl oysters were the ones they had rejected!

Mr. Zhou chuckled as he looked at everyone's pearls: "Not bad, they should sell for a few hundred yuan with Ah Xin. Xia, are you going out to sea tomorrow? If not, should we take the pearls to the city to sell?"

Mrs. Zhou nodded: "Yes, it's better to sell them as soon as possible, otherwise it's not safe to keep them at home. There are many people coming and going since we're building a house."

Jiang Xia: "I'm not going out to sea tomorrow. I'll go to the city to sell them this afternoon, and I'll also deliver a batch of small fish to the train station."

Zhou Chengxin: "Xia, help me sell the pearls too!"

Tian Caihua immediately said: "I'll go with Xia! It'll be safer that way."

Jiang Xia: "

Okay." She didn't want to help them sell them anyway, to avoid doing something thankless.

Besides, if she went with Tian Caihua, Tian Caihua could help her pick out the small fish; she's strong.

She couldn't let her just take advantage of everyone!

After opening the pearls, Tian Caihua took them home, while Zhou Chengxin and Mr. Zhou transported the pearl oysters back to the ship's hold to keep them, to be put into the net cages at sea the next day.

Jiang Xia then taught Zhou's mother how to weave a special net for pearl cultivation, which would be hung in the sea.

The net was actually quite simple: a net woven within a rectangular frame, with numerous small pockets woven into it.

Once the pearl oysters with successfully implanted nuclei were placed into these mesh pockets, they would be suspended in the seawater.

However, pearl cultivation is a very long, complex, and troublesome process, involving many steps.

Pearl oysters produce pearls because a foreign object, such as sand, enters their bodies. Stimulated by the foreign object, the oyster produces a defensive reaction, secreting a smooth crystalline substance to coat the object.

The oyster continuously covers the object with this secretion, layer upon layer, until thousands of layers form a pearl.

Therefore, the high yield of cultured pearls is due to the implantation of a nucleus.

This nucleus also needs to be prepared. Jiang Xia planned to grind some small, round nuclei from seashells, which was also a troublesome process.

There wasn't enough time today; they would check which pearls hadn't survived and use their shells to grind nuclei.

Zhou Zhou had been watching them open the pearls the whole time. She had just finished showering and returned to her room when Jiang Xia had a chance to go find her.

Zhou Zhou was about to go to sleep when Jiang Xia came in. She sat up and said, "Auntie."

Jiang Xia smiled and asked, "Zhou Zhou, are you settling in well at school?"

Zhou Zhou nodded and replied, "Yes."

"Are the teachers at school strict? Do they ever yell at anyone?"

Zhou Zhou shook her head: "No."

"Are the classmates at school friendly? Have you encountered any bad classmates?" Zhou Zhou

glanced at Jiang Xia and shook her head: "No."

Jiang Xia understood and patted her head: "Go to sleep early!"

***

The next day, Jiang Xia got up at six o'clock, planning to secretly go to school with Zhou Zhou.

At breakfast, Zhou Zhou ate very slowly, and her mother urged her twice: "Zhou Zhou, eat faster, it's seven o'clock! Today is Friday, do you have a labor class? What do you need to bring?"

"A winnowing basket."

"Then remember to bring it."

"Okay." Zhou Zhou finished the last mouthful of porridge before going back to her room to get her schoolbag.

It took her ten minutes to get her schoolbag, and she didn't leave until 7:10 when she grabbed a winnowing basket from the yard. For

the first two days of school, Zhou Zhou was afraid of being late, so she left before seven o'clock every day.

The Guangzong and Yaozu brothers left even earlier; they didn't eat breakfast at home, so Tian Caihua gave them money to buy food at school.

School doesn't start morning reading until 7:45, but most students arrive before 7:30.

Jiang Xia waited two or three minutes after Zhou Zhou left before telling Zhou's mother she was going to check on Zhou Zhou at school, and then followed her out.

There were many students carrying backpacks on the road, and Jiang Xia quickly spotted Zhou Zhou because she was walking very slowly.

Jiang Xia followed her from a distance.

The school was in the next village, so they walked along a village road. There were many houses on both sides, and the people from the nearby villages all belonged to the same production team and knew each other, so the road to school was actually quite safe.

When there were no more students on the road, Jiang Xia glanced at her watch; it was 7:43.

Only then did she see Zhou Zhou hurriedly running towards the school.

She started running after her.

Zhou Zhou ran into the school as the bell rang.

Jiang Xia reached the school gate, panting, and watched Zhou Zhou run into the classroom.

Jiang Xia estimated she had run about 800 meters; it was exhausting!

Jiang Xia followed them into the school, panting. School management wasn't as strict in those days, especially in village schools; you could come and go as you pleased.

The classrooms were all mud-brick buildings, with grass growing in the corners.

The playground was dirt, also overgrown with weeds.

That's why there was a weekly labor class; students had to bring brooms, hoes, dustpans, and other tools from home to regularly clear the grass.

Jiang Xia didn't notice anything unusual and decided to stay at school that morning.

She went to the gatehouse, told the gatekeeper, and stayed there, talking to him while keeping an eye on the classrooms.

The school wasn't big, just one row of L-shaped teaching buildings, with only one class per grade, a total of eight classrooms, one of which was an office, and the other the principal's office.

Even during the last labor class, Jiang Xia didn't notice anything unusual, but Zhou Zhou remained seated in the classroom, not even going to the toilet.

During labor class, all the students went out to clear weeds.

Each class was responsible for one area.

Zhou Zhou brought a dustpan; the students collected the cleared grass into her dustpan for her to empty.

Zhou Zhou carried a basket of grass towards a garbage dump in a corner behind the teaching building.

Jiang Xia, sitting in the guardhouse, couldn't see that corner, so she went out from there.

Zhou Zhou had just turned the corner when she saw the group of male students.

She instinctively stepped back.

"Where's the money I asked you to bring?"

"I have no money, really none!"

"Isn't your family very rich? Your uncle owns a big ship! Ask him for it, or take it secretly, no one will know."

Zhou Zhou shook her head.