"Grandpa."
As expected, they saw Mr. Fu already waiting for them at home.
"Grandpa Fu."
The old man sat upright in his chair and nodded at them.
"Are we leaving now? Wait for me a second."
Mr. Fu said, "No need. I had Xiao Zhang bring the dog over."
Since Fu Mingyu wanted to raise a dog, he naturally had to tell Mr. Fu in advance to get his permission.
Hearing this, Fu Mingyu said no more.
"Go say goodbye to them. We’re getting ready to leave."
Yun Jiao went with Fu Mingyu.
Granny Yun and the others were still busy in the kitchen.
"What? You’re leaving already? Dinner’s almost ready. What’s the rush? Stay and eat with us before you go."
Granny Yun forcefully insisted they stay, and she said the same thing to Mr. Fu when she went outside.
Mr. Fu, much like Fu Mingyu, was not a man of many words. Naturally, he was no match for Granny Yun, who could unleash a verbal torrent at a moment’s notice. In the end, he relented and decided to stay for dinner before leaving.
Yun Linhai, Yun Linhe, and Yun Jiao’s older brothers worked together to carry the oysters from the boat back to the house.
When Granny Yun saw them, she immediately steamed a few and deftly mixed a dipping sauce.
Grandpa Yun felt a headache coming on as he looked at the small mountain of oysters piled in the yard.
"Why’d you bring so many oysters back? Are we going to eat oysters every day now? This stuff might not be expensive, but you could still get some money for it..."
Yun Linhai cut off his rambling with a single sentence.
"Jiaojiao wanted to keep them."
Grandpa Yun was rendered speechless.
Members of the Yun family who had been out returned one by one, and the small yard gradually grew lively.
It was stuffy inside, so they simply moved the tables out into the yard. One table wasn’t enough for everyone, so they split into two: one for the kids and one for the adults.
The two guards were called over as well.
The dinner table immediately became bustling with noise, especially the children’s table.
Yun Jiao was telling her brothers about how she had caught a Whale Shark that day.
Hearing that the fish was even bigger than a killer whale, Yun Xiaowu and the others who had seen the pod of killer whales gasped, their mouths wide open.
They were dying to see what a Whale Shark bigger than a killer whale looked like.
"Fu Mingyu took a picture. He’s going to mail us a copy once he gets the photo developed."
Yun Xiaowu immediately said to Fu Mingyu, "Then you’d better remember our address here. Don’t get it wrong, okay?"
The rule of ’not speaking while eating’ was nonexistent in the Yun family. Of course, a dinner table only got lively when everyone talked and chatted together.
This atmosphere allowed even Mr. Fu to relax a great deal.
He glanced at his grandson.
Although the little guy’s face was expressionless and he looked cold and aloof, Mr. Fu could sense that he was happy. His eyes were brighter than they had ever been before.
’Thinking about that home of his, it’s no wonder the boy wants to run off here all the time.’
’It’s our Fu Family that has wronged this child and his mother.’
Fu Mingyu’s puppy had also been brought over and was now yelping under the table.
Yun Jiao went inside and fetched a chipped earthenware bowl. She put in some chunks of pumpkin, a bit of coarse grain, some seafood broth, two pieces of cured meat, and some fish, mashing it all together into a paste before placing it under the table.
The little pup immediately ran over and started gobbling it down with gusto. Its whole head practically disappeared into the bowl, and its little tail wagged with absolute delight. It wasn’t a picky eater at all, making it very easy to raise.
Fu Mingyu would also secretly toss a little food into the small, shabby bowl under the table from time to time.
The little pup ate until its belly was round and full. It stopped yelping and lay obediently by Yun Jiao’s feet.
Because Yun Jiao had often gone to see the litter, the puppy was most familiar with her.
When Fu Mingyu was full and about to put down his rice bowl, he suddenly remembered what Yun Jiao and the others had said about eating more to get stronger. He stubbornly forced himself to eat another half-bowl.
And successfully stuffed himself to the brim.
He had never been so full in his life.
After dinner, it was really time for Fu Mingyu to leave.
Yun Jiao handed him two pearls—the smaller ones. She couldn’t bear to part with the big ones yet; those had to be sold for money.
"Here, for you. To make up for your bad luck."
’He won’t let me pay for developing the photos, so I’ll just give him two small pearls.’
"Lucky beads."
Fu Mingyu’s hand, which had been about to refuse, froze in place.
His dark eyes gazed intently at Yun Jiao. ’How am I supposed to refuse when you put it like that?’
"Alright. Thank you."
Yun Jiao gave him a brilliant smile.
With the lucky beads in hand, their car was also stuffed with local products from the enthusiastic Granny Yun and Grandpa Yun: some oysters, still fresh and alive; some dried fish and shrimp; and even two strips of cured wild boar meat.
The puppy in Fu Mingyu’s arms seemed to sense it was leaving the place where it was born. It whimpered pitifully as he held it.
But no matter how pitiful, it had to leave.
They watched the car drive away from the village, waving goodbye.
They didn’t know when they would see each other again.
Fu Mingyu’s departure didn’t have much of an impact on the Yun family. At most, they would occasionally sigh over how pitiful that boy Fu Mingyu was whenever they thought of him.
Especially after Yun Jiao and Yun Linhe told them about Fu Mingyu’s ridiculously, unbelievably bad luck while fishing.
The rest of the Yun family found it incredible. Seriously, could anyone really have such terrible luck?
Yun Linhe said, "Why would I lie to you? Forget fishing, just look at the oysters. Between the few of us, we were bound to find some pearls while shucking them, but that little guy Fu Mingyu didn’t find a single one."
"What? What pearls?!"
As soon as he said that, the rest of the Yun family froze, their eyes widening in shock.
Yun Linhe scratched his head. "Jiaojiao, you didn’t tell the family?"
Yun Jiao blinked. "No, I didn’t. Dad, didn’t you say anything?"
Yun Linhai was left speechless. ’How did it get passed back to me?’
"No."
The others asked anxiously, "Stop passing the buck! What pearls? There are pearls inside these oysters?!"
Yun Jiao took out all of her pearls and put them on the table for everyone to see.
"These. They came from the oysters."
Yun Linhe said, "Hehe, I have some too."
Yun Linhai took his out as well.
At this, the whole family crowded around the pearls, examining them carefully.
Yun Chen Nan couldn’t see them clearly. He was nearsighted, so he had to get closer to look at things and always had a habit of squinting.
Yun Jiao said, "Third Brother, you should really go get a pair of glasses."
Yun Linhai glanced at him and nodded. "Jiaojiao’s right. You can’t just keep on like this."
Yun Chen Nan said stubbornly, "I can still see clearly."
’How much would a pair of glasses cost? At least a hundred yuan.’
Granny Yun patted him. "Get them. We couldn’t afford them before because we had no money, but the family has some now. You need to get a good pair of glasses. That way, you’ll be able to see the teacher more clearly during class, right?"
Yun Chen Nan opened his mouth, but found he couldn’t quite refuse.
It was true that he couldn’t see the blackboard clearly anymore.
But Yun Chen Nan was smart; even if he couldn’t see, he could keep up with his studies just by listening.
"I can’t believe there are pearls in oysters. Are you going to sell these pearls?"
Yun Jiao nodded. "Yes!"
Oyster pearls didn’t have very good luster and weren’t very large. Yun Jiao preferred big pearls with good color.
So she didn’t plan on keeping these ones.
"If Mom, Auntie, and Grandma like them, we can keep a few."