Chapter 202: The Beginning of Zhenzhu Cultivation

Gu Fei and Lian’er climbed into the mule cart. Gu Sanlang, who had been waiting so long he’d nearly fallen asleep, quickly urged the cart toward the South City Gate.

A little over a quarter of an hour later, Gu Fei was home.

As she passed through the inner gate, she happened to see Mrs. Chen coming out. "You’re finally back!" Mrs. Chen said. "You have to go see. Your father brought a whole bunch of pearl clams home and says he’s going to do some kind of ’implantation’."

"Then he complained we’re all thumbs and won’t let us help."

"Where’s Dad?"

Mrs. Chen jutted her chin. "Over there, in the west wing."

Gu Fei hurried over.

The door was open, and inside, a square basket sat on the floor, neatly packed with dozens of pearl clams, all of them already cleaned.

When she looked at Gu Zhang, she saw he hadn’t started yet; he was still holding that book, reading it intently.

Gu Fei breathed a sigh of relief.

She had read the book once and copied it once, so she had a decent handle on the process.

’Implanting a pearl nucleus or mantle tissue into the pearl clam requires sterile conditions to avoid infection,’ she thought. ’Plus, the movements have to be swift to minimize harm to the clam.’

Gu Zhang looked up and saw her. "Daughter, you’re back! If you hadn’t returned soon, I was going to start on my own."

Gu Fei asked, "Dad, did you get all the tools?"

Gu Zhang nodded. "I ordered them before the new year and picked them up the day before yesterday."

A wooden box sat on the table. Gu Fei opened it to find a pair of scissors, tweezers, a small knife, and a long needle inside.

There was another, smaller box. She opened it, revealing tiny shell beads and a wooden wedge.

By this era, artificially cultivated pearls already existed, and these small shell beads were specifically used for implantation.

Only by implanting these round little shell beads could the pearls grow into a perfectly round shape.

However, implanting the shell beads alone resulted in a low survival rate for the clams. That’s why modern techniques were necessary—wrapping the bead in a piece of the clam’s own mantle tissue before implantation.

Seeing that everything was ready, Gu Fei poked her head out and called, "Lian’er, bring a clean basin."

Lian’er hurried to the front kitchen, found a basin, washed it thoroughly, and brought it over.

Gu Fei closed the door, took out a bottle of seventy-five percent alcohol from her space, and placed the scissors, tweezers, small knife, long needle, shell beads, and wooden wedge inside to disinfect.

Seeing she was ready, Gu Zhang said, "Alright, I’m going to start then."

Gu Fei said, "Dad, you should disinfect your hands, too."

Gu Zhang recalled the book mentioning "disinfection." Though he didn’t fully grasp the concept, he did as his daughter told him.

Gu Fei poured some alcohol onto Gu Zhang’s hands, and he rubbed them together.

Gu Zhang picked up a clam, placed it on the table, and started prying at its edge with a knife.

It took him a long while, but he finally pried it open. Gu Zhang looked at it. "We’ll use this one to harvest the membrane."

He forced the pearl clam open and removed a layer of fleshy membrane from its edge. Gu Fei quickly wiped the table with alcohol, and Gu Zhang placed the membrane down on the clean surface.

Gu Fei picked up the small knife, first cutting the membrane into strips, then into tiny squares.

Meanwhile, Gu Zhang opened another pearl clam. "This one is big," he said. "It should be a good one for implantation."

He wedged the wooden block in the clam’s opening. Gu Fei swiftly took a small piece of membrane, wrapped it around a nucleus bead, and then, using the long needle, carefully implanted the bundle into the pearl clam’s body.

With the first one done, they removed the wedge. Both Gu Zhang and Gu Fei let out a sigh of relief. Gu Zhang chuckled. "It wasn’t as hard as I thought."

The father-daughter duo worked in perfect sync. It took them four hours, but they managed to implant a nucleus in every single pearl clam.

Looking at the pearl clams, they were both filled with a sense of accomplishment.

Gu Zhang smiled. "In a year or two, we’ll be able to see the harvest."