The few of them gathered around to examine it, finally concluding it was a real pearl.
Although it certainly wasn’t as beautiful as the Flame Pearl Yun Jiao had found earlier.
But it was a pearl nonetheless.
There were actually pearls in oysters!
This news thrilled Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe, and they began digging for oysters with renewed vigor.
"Let’s dig up a bunch to take back. We’ll open the oysters at home."
Oysters were very cheap in this day and age, only twenty or thirty cents a pound, but the sheer quantity here was staggering.
Oysters of this size were quite heavy; just four or five of them weighed a pound. If they were to sell them, they would definitely fetch a good price.
What’s more, these oysters had pearls inside.
The group dug for oysters with great effort. The burlap sacks couldn’t hold many, but thankfully, they had brought net bags—large ones specifically designed for oysters.
But they only had two of them. The oyster shells were too large, some even quite long, so the bags couldn’t hold very many.
"You two dig here and don’t wander off. Your uncle and I will take these two bags back to the boat, drop them off, and then come back."
Yun Jiao nodded obediently, and Fu Mingyu nodded as well.
Once the two adults were gone, Yun Jiao opened another oyster.
"Are you going to eat another one?"
Yun Jiao shook her head. "I want to see if I can use this for bait."
At the mention of fishing, Fu Mingyu felt extremely glum.
’The fish in the sea really don’t like me at all.’
Yun Jiao comforted him, "It’s okay. I’ll fish and you can watch. You can enjoy the show."
Fu Mingyu was speechless. ’You know, you’d be better off not comforting me at all.’
But he was a mentally resilient kid and wasn’t heartbroken over being unpopular with the fish.
A bit farther on, they were near the shore, but this part of the coastline was steep and rocky.
For Yun Jiao to fish, she had to stand on a high reef rock.
Feeling uneasy, Fu Mingyu followed her.
After opening the oyster, Yun Jiao first felt around in the meat, and then her eyes lit up.
"There’s a pearl."
She pulled the pearl from the oyster meat. This one wasn’t very round and was only the size of a mung bean.
Yun Jiao wasn’t picky. She carefully put it away in her pocket.
Fu Mingyu asked, "Do all the oysters here have pearls?"
Watching Yun Jiao gave him the false impression that oyster pearls were plentiful.
He opened one too, but after searching for a long time, he didn’t find a single pearl.
By now, Yun Jiao had already cast her line into the sea.
Just as Fu Mingyu struggled to open a second oyster, also finding nothing, the fishing rod twitched.
"Fish on!"
Her eyes lit up. Fu Mingyu gave up on opening oysters; he clearly had terrible luck.
After a battle of wits and strength with the big fish, Yun Jiao successfully reeled in a sea bass weighing over twenty pounds.
"A sea bass."
Fu Mingyu said, "It’s huge."
He went over to size it up, feeling it was almost as long as he was tall.
He had taken a picture of Yun Jiao fishing just now. It looked great.
’Yun Jiao is so amazing.’
"Here."
He handed over the oyster he had opened to be used as bait.
"No pearl?"
Fu Mingyu pressed his lips together and stared at her, his silence saying everything.
Yun Jiao said, "It’s fine. You just have bad luck, you’re still a great person."
Fu Mingyu thought, ’Enough! Stop comforting me!’
Yun Jiao never came back empty-handed from fishing. When Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe returned, they discovered that in the short time they were gone, Jiaojiao had already placed several fish in a natural tide pool formed by the reef.
Two sea bass, a large sea eel, a red sea bream, and even an East Star Spot weighing less than a pound...
The father and uncle were speechless...
’We were only gone for a little while, and Jiaojiao managed to catch this many fish?’
It made the two adults feel a bit ashamed. The entire family’s income combined couldn’t compare to what Jiaojiao brought in.
’But, Jiaojiao should just do whatever she enjoys.’
The Yun family would never force or coax Yun Jiao into doing anything just because she had good sea-luck and could breathe underwater or dive to the ocean floor.
Even going out to sea depended entirely on whether Yun Jiao herself wanted to go and what she wanted to do for fun.
"Jiaojiao, be careful. Don’t stand too close to the water’s edge."
Yun Jiao replied, "I know."
Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe went back to digging for oysters with grunts of effort.
Soon, they had filled the net bags again.
"WOW!!!"
Suddenly, the astonished cries of Yun Jiao and Fu Mingyu rang out. Without a second thought, Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe dropped the oysters in their hands and sprinted over.
"What’s wrong? What’s..."
When they saw the situation clearly, the two adults were shocked into silence.
’That... What is that?!’
Her fishing rod was bent to a breaking point, trembling so violently it looked like it would snap at any moment.
Yun Jiao shouted anxiously, "Don’t move! Stop pulling on my rod!"
In the azure ocean below, a colossal fish had surfaced with Yun Jiao’s hook in its mouth. It was dark blue with white spots and had an enormous mouth.
The great fish was even larger than a killer whale.
’Wuuuu...’
The great fish’s voice echoed in Yun Jiao’s mind. It was slow, not forming words, just a series of indistinct calls.
"Don’t you move," she said.
’If this rod breaks, where am I going to get another one?’
Fu Mingyu was snapping photos—CLICK! CLICK!—of the massive fish below, like a relentless photography machine.
Yun Jiao was about to go down into the sea to get the hook out of its mouth.
"Jiaojiao, don’t go! It’s dangerous!"
Yun Jiao replied, "It’s okay, it doesn’t bite."
’And even if it did, I’m not scared. I’d just beat it into submission!’
The Whale Shark actually stayed put obediently. It looked quite beautiful.
"Dad, what kind of fish is that?"
Yun Linhai scratched his head. "I don’t know either."
He’d never seen one before.
There were too many types of fish in the sea; even fishermen who lived by the coast their whole lives couldn’t possibly recognize them all.
"I know what that is. I saw one before when I went out to sea on a boat. It’s called a Whale Shark. Even though its name has ’shark’ in it, it eats small fish and has a gentle temperament. As long as you don’t provoke it, there’s no problem."
The Whale Shark’s temperament was indeed very gentle.
Yun Jiao found a spot to climb down, then jumped into the sea.
Uneasy, Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe followed her in.
Only Fu Mingyu was left behind. He was a landlubber who couldn’t swim because no one had ever taught him.
Fu Mingyu pressed his lips together. ’I have to learn how to swim!’ he resolved.
The three of them approached the massive Whale Shark. Even knowing it didn’t eat people, its sheer size was daunting enough to make one hesitate to get any closer.
Yun Jiao, however, had no such worries and swam directly toward it.
It had looked big enough from the shore, but as they got closer, Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe couldn’t help but gasp in shock.
"That huge mouth... it could swallow Jiaojiao in one..."
Yun Linhai shot back, "What nonsense are you spouting? Of course Jiaojiao will be fine."
’Though he was panicking inside, too.’
"Let’s hurry and catch up."
It was almost comical; the two adults couldn’t outswim a single child.
Yun Jiao was incredibly agile in the water.
The Whale Shark actually started moving toward Yun Jiao as well.
It wasn’t long before they met.
’Mmm?’
’Who are you?’
The Whale Shark’s voice was gentle and slow—and it was female.
"I’m Yun Jiao."
She introduced herself with blunt simplicity.
"You’ve got my fishhook in your mouth. I’ll take it out for you."