The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 162: Chapter 162: Found a Mei Le Pearl, It’s So Beautiful

Han Xiaorui found a bucket and put the coconut snails inside to let them purge themselves of sand.

Pingping and An’an gathered around the bucket to watch the coconut snails.

That evening, Han Xiaorui did the cooking herself, making seafood fried rice and a pot of Russian Soup.

Han Xiaoqing was using flashcards to teach Pingping and An’an how to read.

Meanwhile, Wu Yao and Wu Jiao were busy writing letters, looking up words in a dictionary as they went. Whenever they came across something they didn’t know, they would ask Han Xiaoqing for help.

Han Xiaoqing was very patient and taught them with great care.

”Sister Xiao Rui, is dried seafood expensive?” Wu Jiao asked apprehensively after finishing her letter.

They hadn’t received a letter from home yet, but their photos had been developed. They wanted to mail them home so their mother and younger siblings could see how well they were doing.

Han Xiaorui thought for a moment before answering, ”Not all seafood is expensive. For example, dried shrimp and small dried fish are relatively cheap and very nutritious.”

”There’s also dried kelp and wakame. Once you soak them, you can use them in soups or stir-fries. They have a wonderful savory flavor.”

Wu Jiao’s eyes lit up. ”I love the wakame soup! I could drink three bowls of it. It’s so good.”

Han Xiaorui told them, ”If you want to buy some, you should ask Sister Cai. I guarantee she can help you find high-quality seafood for a good price.”

She didn’t offer to buy it for Wu Jiao and Wu Yao, nor did she suggest any expensive seafood. This was an expression of the sisters’ filial piety toward their mother and their love for their younger siblings. It was up to them to decide how much to spend.

”Alright! When the weather gets better, I’ll ask Sister Cai for help.” Wu Jiao beamed. ”Now that we’re earning money, we can send local specialties home. Mom won’t have to worry about my sister and me anymore.”

”That’s right, you should definitely send them something,” Han Xiaorui said with a smile, then added as a reminder, ”What about the clothes and shoes here? Do you want to buy some? Oh, and you should still go with Sister Cai. She’s great at haggling.”

”We will! We’ll buy new clothes for our younger brother and sister, and for my mom,” Wu Jiao readily agreed, feeling a surge of pride. They could finally give their family a better life; their brother who had passed away would no longer have to worry about them.

The next day, although it wasn’t raining, the wind was still blowing.

More peaches had fallen, so Han Xiaorui, Liang Xiaoyu, and the others went to pick them up off the ground.

Due to the recent strong winds and heavy rain, Han Xiaorui hadn’t let her sister take the children to the hospital. ’It’s better to wait until the weather improves,’ she thought. ’Safety first.’

She had Sixth Uncle Song deliver the best of the peaches to Huating Restaurant.

The rest, the ones with broken skins, were made into canned peaches and arranged neatly in the house, labeled by date.

By evening, after a busy day, Granny Cai had thoroughly cleaned the coconut snails. She took out a special tool to pry out the meat.

As Granny Cai’s hand felt around in the snail meat, she suddenly exclaimed, ”Well, I’ll be! We’re in luck! There really is a pearl in here.”

Han Xiaorui, sitting on a small stool with Liang Xiaoyu on the other side, watched eagerly. ”Where is it?”

With a gentle slice, Granny Cai squeezed a buttery-yellow pearl from the snail meat. It was perfectly round and seemed to have a scattered shimmer within it.

Han Xiaorui gasped and took it in her hand. ”It’s beautiful! And so perfectly round.”

Liang Xiaoyu urged, ”Mom, there are still three more coconut snails! Keep going!”

Granny Cai worked nimbly, not pausing for a moment. She quickly opened the second coconut snail and felt all around inside it, a look of disappointment crossing her face.

”This was the biggest one. I can’t believe it—lots of meat, but it’s empty! No pearl!”

Han Xiaorui asked curiously, ”Sister Cai, what are the odds of finding a pearl in a coconut snail?”

Granny Cai shook her head. ”Not high at all. You’d be lucky to find one in ten thousand!”

Hearing this, Han Xiaorui and Liang Xiaoyu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ”The odds are that low? To find a pearl in our very first one... we really hit the jackpot!”

Granny Cai burst out laughing. ”You’re right about that. The longer I’m around Xiao Rui, the luckier I feel. A moment ago, I was actually hoping we’d find a pearl in every single one.”

Granny Cai continued working as she spoke, but then her expression suddenly froze, her eyes widening in surprise. ”Good heavens! This one has one, too!”

No sooner had the words left her mouth than Granny Cai deftly made a cut. With a gentle squeeze, she pushed out a pearl of a paler yellow color.

It had a sheen like a cat’s eye, displaying a ring of light from every angle.

”Well, I’ll be! This one isn’t as yellow as the first, but this luster is gorgeous.”

Han Xiaorui took it, placing it in her palm and holding it up to the light, her heart pounding with excitement. ”Opening these for pearls feels just like when we sort through the nets after fishing. You never know what you’re going to find. It’s so thrilling!”

The fourth coconut snail was opened, but it only contained meat—no Mei Le Pearl.

Han Xiaorui was more than satisfied with finding two Mei Le Pearls out of four. After washing them, she cradled them in her palm, admiring them. ”They’re beautiful, just so beautiful!”

Liang Xiaoyu watched with envy. ”I’m going to go beachcombing right now! Maybe I’ll find one too.”

It had started raining again outside. Granny Cai grabbed Liang Xiaoyu’s arm and chided, ”You can’t go looking for things like this; they’re a matter of luck. Don’t get carried away! If you like jewelry that much, I’ll give you something from my private stash later.”

”What?” Liang Xiaoyu was stunned, unable to believe her ears. ”Mom, you have a private stash? Of jewelry? But... aren’t we poor farmers?”

Granny Cai chuckled secretly. ”My side of the family has been poor for eight generations, but your father-in-law’s wasn’t! Does the Cai family courtyard look like it belongs to a minor household? Before my mother-in-law passed away, she called me to her bedside. She told me about the things our ancestors had hidden and begged me to raise her son, no matter what it took.”

Liang Xiaoyu was incredulous. ”It sounds like there’s a lot. Does Father-in-law not know?”

”Heh, he doesn’t know,” Granny Cai confirmed with a nod. ”A mother knows her son best. Your husband’s grandmother knew exactly what kind of man her son was. He wouldn’t be able to hold onto it, and he might even attract trouble, so she never told him a thing.”

Liang Xiaoyu suddenly understood. ”No wonder! If Father-in-law knew, he’d have been showing it off all over town by now.”

Granny Cai nodded in agreement. ”Exactly. That’s why he can’t ever know. I’m getting old; jewelry doesn’t look right on me anymore. From now on, I’ll give them to you, piece by piece. Just tell everyone you bought them.”

”Thank you, Mom,” Liang Xiaoyu said, beaming. The thought of beachcombing for coconut snails completely vanished from her mind.

They spoke of all this without trying to hide it from Han Xiaorui, treating her as one of their own.

Han Xiaorui carefully put the two Mei Le Pearls away. Since they were so rare, she decided she wouldn’t sell them.

’I’ll ask around later and have them made into jewelry.’

Sister Cai used the coconut snails to make Han Xiaorui a dish of stir-fried coconut snail.

The snail meat was sliced into thin strips and flash-fried in hot oil with ginger, scallions, spices, and fragrant celery. Just like that, an aromatic dish of stir-fried coconut snail was ready.

Han Xiaorui only used two of the coconut snails, giving the other two to Granny Cai and Liang Xiaoyu to take home.

They had other seafood at home, so she also made a steamed red snapper that weighed a good three pounds.

But one couldn’t live on seafood alone, so Han Xiaorui also prepared crispy spare ribs, stir-fried tomato and egg, stir-fried mung bean sprouts, stir-fried greens, and a smashed cucumber salad.

The stir-fried tomato and egg and the crispy spare ribs were two of Pingping and An’an’s favorite dishes, which they loved even more than seafood.

Just as Han Xiaorui and her family were sitting down to eat, the sound of sobbing drifted over from next door.