Zhou Yuesheng asked, “What happened?”
“Brother-in-law, Sister knows how to perform magic!” Chen Zhao answered excitedly. He then launched into a vivid description of the exact moment the shell had vanished from Yu Zhile’s hand.
Zhou Yuesheng looked toward Yu Zhile; she gave him a helpless smile.
He picked up a Triton shell, about five centimeters long, from the bamboo basket. Closing his palm around it, he reached behind Chen Zhao’s ear for a few seconds before bringing his fist back down.
“Which hand?” Zhou Yuesheng asked him to choose.
Chen Zhao pointed to the left hand. He didn’t believe Zhou Yuesheng could have had enough time to switch the shell to his right hand in just a few seconds; if there had been any movement, he surely would have noticed.
Zhou Yuesheng opened his palm downward. It was empty.
“The right hand?” Chen Zhao’s eyes widened.
Zhou Yuesheng opened his right palm with the same motion. Again, there was no sign of the shell.
“Brother-in-law, where did you make the shell go?” Chen Zhao asked in astonishment.
Zhou Yuesheng closed his palm into a fist again and held it out in front of Yu Zhile. Yu Zhile, who had seen enough magic reveal videos to see through his trick, cooperated by blowing a puff of air onto his hand.
The delicate Triton shell appeared in the center of Zhou Yuesheng’s left palm.
“Wow! That’s amazing!” Chen Zhao’s jaw dropped.
Zhou Yuesheng turned back to continue beachcombing, leaving the boy on the spot to try and figure out the secret.
The live stream chat was also buzzing about Zhou Yuesheng’s little magic trick.
[Wait? Can Earthlings use spiritual energy to cast spells now?]
[Is the platform’s ‘cheat’ feature at play? Streamer, your expression looks suspicious. Did you help him with your mind?]
[A pro tip for coaxing children. Noted.]
Yu Zhile walked toward another section of the beach, smiling as she answered the chat’s questions. “It’s not a spell, and there’s no cheating. I really am just coaxing a child.”
A small sea bass was stranded on the beach, its tail twitching slightly. Yu Zhile cupped it in her hands and released it back into the ocean. “We won’t take these small fry. We believe in sustainable development.”
She continued along the tide line, picking up a few stray Moon Snails and other shells. Since there weren’t enough for a full dish, she simply moved them into the warehouse.
“Sea bass.” Yu Zhile moved with lightning speed, using her bamboo basket to trap a fish. The fish struggled frantically inside. “The sour water celery is ready to eat. I’ll make sour water celery fish in a bit.”
Looking up, she saw the audience was still hung up on the magic trick. She explained, “It’s all about the angle. The Triton shell was in his hand the whole time.”
The viewers finally understood, and their attention returned to the broadcast.
Yu Zhile entered a new cluster of reefs. These rocks weren’t jagged like the previous ones; they were generally larger and flatter. The surfaces were covered in uneven shells, about the size of a palm, stacked in layers of ten or twenty. They looked grey and dull, incredibly unremarkable.
“These are oysters. They can be eaten raw, grilled with minced garlic, or the meat can be scooped out for an omelet,” Yu Zhile explained. Lacking a tool, she browsed the mall while introducing them. “Their shells are very hard. I’ll need a tool.”
The mall had everything. She spent 20 Cloud Coins on a screwdriver. Inserting the screwdriver into the side of the shell, she gave it a twist and a forceful pry, and the oyster popped off the reef. She harvested many, keeping a third to take home and moving the rest into the warehouse.
She stood on the reef, looking into the distance for a while, and noticed the tide beginning to rise.
“Alright, friends. I’ll see you in half an hour for the cooking broadcast.” She started heading back, preparing to end the stream. Today had been a bountiful harvest, and she could sell a batch of oysters.
The familiar celebratory music rang out. A new viewer had tipped Yu Zhile a hundred Cloud Seas. His comment, glowing in gold, hung at the top of the screen:
[Streamer, I want to buy seawater.]
“Seawater? How much do you need?” Yu Zhile asked.
The user asdf replied: 1000ml. Name your price. It’s for research.
[Can you sell seawater too? I want to buy! Our planet no longer has oceans.]
[Same for our planet. Our seawater is black.]
“I can sell it.” Yu Zhile dipped her hand into the ocean, using her mind to collect ten liters of seawater. Afterward, she turned off the stream to regroup with Zhou Yuesheng and Chen Zhao.
Zhou Yuesheng had a great harvest. His basket was half-full of crabs of all sizes, their crawling legs making a rustling sound against the bamboo. Chen Zhao, on the other hand, had only picked up some pretty shells and snails, still preoccupied with the secret of the “vanishing” shell. On the way home, he was still gesturing with a shell in each hand.
Back at the small courtyard, Yu Zhile put the seafood in water to keep it fresh and sat on her swing to upload the information for the oysters and seawater.
Oysters (3 per portion): 29 Cloud Coins.
Seawater (50ml per portion): 19 Cloud Coins.
Seawater (1L for ‘asdf’): 300 Cloud Coins.
For the miscellaneous snails, she simply created a general link and sold them at the system’s suggested price. By the time she looked away from the screen, Chen Zhao was vividly telling Yu Yue about the magic trick.
“Perform it once for our little Yu Yue and Xiao Bao,” Yu Zhile said with a smile, handing Zhou Yuesheng a small snail.
Chen Zhao’s eyes lit up. He tugged on Yu Yue’s sleeve, saying excitedly, “Watch! Brother-in-law is truly incredible.”
Zhou Yuesheng repeated the steps he had taken at the beach. Chen Zhao gasped in wonder, Yu Yue looked thoughtful, and Yu Chi stared at his hands without blinking.
“Brother-in-law, do it again!” Chen Zhao was a very enthusiastic audience member.
Yu Yue rolled his wheelchair to Zhou Yuesheng’s side, while Yu Chi stood on the other side holding Crawly. From these different angles, nothing could be hidden. Only Chen Zhao remained happily oblivious.
“Brother-in-law, do you know any other tricks?” Chen Zhao looked at him expectantly.
Zhou Yuesheng looked at Yu Zhile. She laughed, shoved a bristle brush into his hand, and said to Chen Zhao, “Give him back to me. You go play.”
With that, she started the broadcast.
For tonight’s Sour Water Celery Fish, Yu Zhile first started the rice, adding an extra handful of grains than usual. She picked out a few crabs with roe to steam plain; the rest would be made into crab paste.
While Yu Zhile prepped the sea bass, Zhou Yuesheng was responsible for scrubbing the crabs clean. The sea bass was stunned, its fins removed, scaled, gutted, and washed.
“Fillet two pieces along the bone and skin them,” Yu Zhile’s movements were precise and fluid. “Then, slice them into thin pieces.” The fish slices were uniform in thickness—thin, but intact.
[The way the streamer cooks is like creating a work of art.]
[With those knife skills, she could take out a giant bug on the battlefield in one strike.]
At the same time, Zhou Yuesheng was watching her. Yu Zhile seemed to sense his gaze; she looked up and gave him a brilliant smile, winked, and then looked back down to season the fish slices.
Zhou Yuesheng pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth, the flickering secret code symbols appearing in his mind.
In the kitchen, Yu Zhile pulled out the jar of pickled water celery from the storage shelf. Her live stream had a high viewer retention rate; many who had watched the first mountain-gathering broadcast were still there.
[I watched her pickle this! We finally get to eat it!]
[I miss the smell of the wild mountains after the rain. I’m going to rewatch that broadcast later!]
[I’m looking forward to this.]
She opened the lid, and the strong, pungent aroma of natural fermentation quickly spread. Using bamboo chopsticks that hadn’t touched oil, she pulled out a handful and placed them on a plate. She picked up a strand and took a bite; her face crumpled into a ball. The water celery had turned a dark yellow; it was crisp, tender, and intensely sour.
[That smell makes it look like I could finish ten bottles of nutritional fluid with it.]
[I’m salivating.]
[That crunch… it must be delicious.]
Just then, Zhou Yuesheng brought the swimming crabs he had tied with straw into the kitchen. Half a stalk of sour water celery was shoved into his mouth.
“How is it? Is it sour?” Yu Zhile tilted her head to look at him, a mischievous, successful grin on her face.
The intense sourness exploded on Zhou Yuesheng’s tongue. He remained expressionless. “It’s not sour.”
“Do robots have no sense of taste?” Yu Zhile mused as she looked at him.