Chapter 184: The Strange Stone

"Cat Boss!"

She didn’t even have to go over. A single shout was enough to summon the hardworking hero, Cat Boss.

The tabby cat grumbled as he ran toward the big white geese over there.

Having finished molting, the pure-white geese were starting to feel their oats. They practically oozed a defiant, edgy attitude, refusing to submit to anyone.

They didn’t even show Cat Boss any respect anymore.

They stretched out their long necks and pecked at Cat Boss.

With an agile sidestep, Cat Boss dodged, then leaped up and swatted one of the geese with his paw.

In just a few short seconds, he threw out more than a dozen strikes, his paws moving so fast you could only see their afterimages.

The Shadowless Cat Fist truly lived up to its name.

Sometimes he’d even grab a goose’s neck and kick furiously with his hind legs, nearly scratching a bald patch into its feathers.

The five geese combined were no match for Cat Boss.

In the end, the geese received a harsh lesson from reality and dejectedly left the field.

After dealing with the geese, Cat Boss fixed his gleaming green eyes on Yun Jiao.

’It’s one thing for a cat like me to catch mice at home, but now I have to herd geese too? None of the dogs in the village have to do this job, so why me? Is this fair?!’

Yun Jiao giggled, beckoning Cat Boss over to gently squeeze his paws and scratch his chin.

"When we get back, Cat Boss, I’ll have Grandma make you something delicious. I’ll even brush your fur."

After a few more of Yun Jiao’s promises, Cat Boss twitched his whiskers, his resentment finally fading.

With so many people working, they quickly finished planting the potatoes in the field.

As dusk fell, Yun Jiao carried Turtle Xiao Er, who had been crawling all over the dirt, and led her long train of animals home, humming a nursery rhyme and bobbing her head.

"Grandpa, we’re home~"

The familiar aroma of dinner wafted out to greet her. Yun Jiao clutched her stomach, eagerly washed her hands and face, and sat down at the table. Her eyes sparkled as she stared at the fragrant dishes, chopsticks in hand, obediently waiting for the rest of her family.

While she ate, she was so happy that her little legs dangled and swayed.

"Dad, are you going out to sea tomorrow?"

Yun Jiao looked at her dad with hopeful eyes. She wanted to go play on the ocean.

But to her surprise, Yun Linhai shook his head. "The weather has been pretty bad lately. To be safe, we won’t be going out."

"Oh."

’Well, that’s a little disappointing.’

It was true that the weather had been poor. That very night, a typhoon blew in.

Her older brothers came to her room again, carrying their bedding.

The large temperature difference between the world outside and the warmth under the covers was incredibly hypnotic. She slept soundly and dreamlessly all night.

"Holy crap, Jiaojiao, come look! It was raining fish yesterday!"

Early in the morning, they found several fish lying by their front door.

They were dead, but the meat was still fresh enough to eat.

Grandpa Yun swiftly gathered up the fish.

"The wind was pretty strong yesterday. These fish must have been blown ashore."

Yun Jiao rubbed her eyes, now wide awake.

"Does that mean there’ll be lots of good stuff if we go beachcombing today?"

Evidently, the rest of the family was thinking the same thing.

"Quick, quick, let’s go beachcombing!"

A small typhoon wouldn’t disrupt the lives of the coastal residents, but it would bring a lot of treasures from the sea.

Even Yun Chenbei grabbed his beachcombing gear and ran toward the shore.

Yun Jiao tucked Turtle Xiao Er away, gathered her two dogs and one cat, and trotted happily behind the adults, carrying a burlap sack and a bucket.

Their new house was in a great location, not too far from the sea, and they reached the beach in no time.

"Whoa!"

"So many crabs have washed ashore! Hahaha... There are so many of them!"

"What are you laughing for? Hurry up and catch them before they all run away!"

Along the shoreline, countless sand crabs were visibly scuttling back toward the sea.

Yun Jiao and her family rushed to catch the sand crabs.

Sand crabs weren’t very big and didn’t fetch a high price, but there was an overwhelming number of them.

Besides, these little crabs were delicious deep-fried or stir-fried.

They could even be used to make sand crab sauce.

In addition to the countless sand crabs, there were also some deep-sea fish.

"Mom, look! I found a huge hairtail fish!"

"A tiger grouper! A huge tiger grouper, and it’s still alive!"

Yun Jiao also kept her eyes peeled and her ears open, and she soon spotted something unusual.

It looked like a rock, but Yun Jiao had collected many rocks from the beach and had never seen one like this.

It was a white, lumpy rock about the size of a basketball, with an irregular shape. At a glance, you might mistake it for a piece of white wood.

She tapped it with her finger.

"What is this thing?"

It gave off a faint, strange smell—a fishy odor mixed with an elusive, sweet fragrance.

’I like collecting strange and curious things. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve never seen one before, so I’m curious. I’ll pick it up and ask Dad or my brothers later.’

Having made up her mind, Yun Jiao heaved the rock into the burlap sack she had brought.

Just as she put it in, shouts and the sound of many footsteps came from not far away.

Clearly, the rest of the villagers had come running to go beachcombing.

Yun Jiao went back to her search and found a tide pool full of prawns, immediately calling her brothers over to help collect them.

From time to time, Yun Jiao and her family heard excited shouts from other people.

They didn’t need to guess; someone had obviously found something good.

"Holy crap, Yun Dafu found a Su Mei Fish!"

A Su Mei Fish! That kind of fish was incredibly valuable.

Instantly, everyone who heard the news ran toward Yun Dafu.

Yun Jiao followed the crowd to see the commotion. She had never caught a Su Mei Fish before.

"Ah! I was just about to head over there! Why didn’t I go sooner?"

Looking at the spot where Yun Dafu found the Su Mei Fish, many people slapped their thighs in regret until they were red.

Their eyes were red with envy as they all thought, ’If only I had gotten there earlier, that Su Mei Fish would have been mine.’

Even Yun Linhe looked vexed. "I almost walked right past it."

Yun Dafu was happy too, but perhaps having learned his lesson from getting robbed after being too high-profile before, he only preened for a moment. He didn’t go so far as to parade the Su Mei Fish around and humblebrag in front of everyone.

Worried the Su Mei Fish would be hard to sell if it died completely, Yun Dafu picked it up and ran off to find a buyer.

Yun Jiao and her family went back to collecting sand crabs.

This wave of sand crabs was a rare opportunity. They might be gone after today, so they had to gather as many as they could.

With so many sand crabs, the first ones on the beach quickly ran back to call their friends and family. Soon, the beach was teeming with more and more people.

When it was about time, the beachcombers, their backs aching from all the bending over, prepared to head home.

At first, everyone was thrilled to see so many sand crabs, but after a long time of gathering them, all that remained was numbness and sore backs.

Before such a large crowd, the huge swarm of sand crabs began to dwindle.

"Let’s go. Time to head home."

Aside from what they sold, the family kept a bucket for themselves to eat.

The sand crabs sold for thirty cents a jin. They had filled two burlap sacks, along with some other seafood.

Their income from beachcombing today was 139.8 yuan.

It wasn’t a huge amount, but everyone was satisfied.

Earning that much from beachcombing was pretty good.

"I also found a melo melo snail."

Yun Xiaojiu said cheerfully, holding the melo melo snail, which was bigger than his own face.

After the incident where they found a Flame Pearl inside a melo melo snail, they had basically stopped selling any they found.

"Let’s take it back and see how our Little Nine’s luck is."

Yun Xiaojiu shook his head. "Let my little sister open it. She has good luck."

Yun Jiao blinked, staring at the melo melo snail. It seemed like... there really was something inside.