Chapter 187: Another Flame Pearl

When Yun Jiao got home, she was in a bit of a bad mood because of what happened with Yun Laide.

But seeing her brothers at the door made her happy again.

It didn’t matter what others did; she had a family who loved her.

"Fifth Brother, Sixth Brother, Brother Qi, Brother Ba, Brother Nine."

She called out to them one by one. Her brothers scooped her up, ruffled her hair, and pinched her little cheeks. They even popped snacks into her mouth—treats they hadn’t even been willing to eat themselves.

After watching them play marbles and slap cards for a bit, Yun Jiao rested her chin on her hands and zoned out, staring at two rabbits that were fighting.

’It feels like our rabbits have been getting grumpier and grumpier lately.’

They kept fighting and pulling out clumps of each other’s fur, sending it flying everywhere.

Yun Jiao reached out and tugged on a rabbit’s tail. The little tail, which looked like a round puffball, stretched out surprisingly long.

The tail was retractable.

Seeing the two rabbits still at it, Yun Jiao puffed out her cheeks. ’Maybe I should find a doctor to check them out,’ she wondered.

"Jiaojiao, let’s hang this sea snail up."

Yun Xiaojiu had tired himself out playing. When he went to get a drink of water, he spotted the coconut snail sitting in a bucket.

He immediately scooped up the coconut snail—which was bigger than his own face—and ran to find his sister.

"Alright!"

Yun Jiao let go of the rabbits’ ears, stood up, and dusted off her hands. Then, she and Brother Nine went to hang the coconut snail.

With sea snails like this, if you hang them with the opening facing down, it doesn’t take long for the meat to squirm out of the shell and drop.

After they hung up the coconut snail, Yun Jiao and her brothers squatted off to the side. Of course, she was the only one zoning out; her brothers could find a way to entertain themselves with anything.

"Jiaojiao, look."

Yun Xiao Ba came over, holding out a notebook to her.

He opened the notebook to a drawing inside.

Though the drawing was a bit amateurish, Yun Jiao could still tell it was a picture of her.

Specifically, of her riding a giant fish.

The drawing, it had to be said, captured some of her features—or rather, it exaggerated them.

For instance, Yun Jiao had a small, faintly reddish beauty mark under the corner of her eye.

In the drawing, the mark was enlarged, making it much more prominent.

The same went for her bangs and her big eyes.

The big fish was shaped like a Whale Shark.

Yun Xiao Ba had also used broad strokes of blue to render the ocean, with the blue bleeding into a white expanse, suggesting a boundless sea meeting the sky.

Yun Jiao blinked. "You drew this, Brother?"

Yun Xiao Ba nodded, his face practically begging for praise.

Yun Jiao was happy to oblige. "You’re amazing, Brother! It looks just like me!"

Just as she expected, Yun Xiao Ba was absolutely thrilled.

Yun Jiao wasn’t lying, though. Yun Xiao Ba was self-taught; no one had ever shown him how to draw. Yet he had a knack for matching colors perfectly, creating a harmonious picture. He also had a great memory—he’d even colored in the exact clothes Yun Jiao had been wearing that day.

Pleased with the praise, Yun Xiao Ba offered the drawing to Yun Jiao.

"It’s for you, Jiaojiao."

Yun Jiao accepted it with a joyful smile.

"Thank you, Brother Bao. You’re so nice."

The little girl’s soft, sweet words invigorated Yun Xiao Ba. He grabbed his pencil and watercolor pens, flopped down on a stool, and started drawing again.

Now that he had the watercolor pens he’d been dreaming of, Yun Xiao Ba seemed to have boundless energy. He wanted to draw absolutely everything.

The house, the puppy, the sea turtles, the rabbits, the trees, people...

While his technique wasn’t perfect, his color combinations were exceptionally pleasing to the eye, giving his art a lively, therapeutic beauty.

Yun Jiao really liked the drawing Brother Ba had given her. She ran back into her room and carefully placed it inside a cabinet.

"It fell out! It fell out!"

Not long after she came out of her room, the meat from the coconut snail had already dropped into the basin waiting below.

Several little heads huddled together as they began searching for a treasure.

A minute later...

"There’s one!"

As usual, Yun Jiao was the lucky one; she’s the one who found it.

An oval-shaped, beautiful, orange-red pearl.

The children’s eyes went wide.

"Wow!"

Yun Xiaowu shot a wary glance around. Only after confirming the front door was closed did he clench his fist in excitement.

"We really found one! Hahaha... Our family’s luck is insane!"

To think that both coconut snails they found this year had a Flame Pearl inside.

They had found a few coconut snails before, some large and some small, but none had ever produced a pearl.

Yun Linhai and the others hadn’t really held out much hope for this particular coconut snail.

Flame Pearls are rare; finding even one meant they had already hit the jackpot.

They never imagined this one would have one too!

"It’s not as big as the last one."

"And it’s not as round."

But that didn’t matter. This pearl would definitely sell for a lot of money!

The children were so happy they danced for joy. Yun Xiaojiu even hugged the empty coconut snail shell and planted a big kiss on it.

Hehehe...

’Brother Nine seems to have gone silly with happiness,’ Yun Jiao thought.

With the adults away, holding the Flame Pearl felt like holding a thousand-yuan bill. The children abandoned any thought of playing outside. Instead, they gathered around the table, their eyes glued to the orange-red pearl. It sat on a porcelain plate decorated with a large peony print.

It was the prettiest plate they could find in the cupboard.

When the adults returned from work, they found the house unusually quiet.

’Uh oh... They haven’t wrecked the house, have they?’

Without even wiping the mud from their feet, Yun Linhai and the others started calling out.

"In here, in here! We’re in the room!"

Their voices had a conspiratorial, sneaky tone.

Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe frowned. ’What are they up to?’

As they walked into the room, the children turned in unison to look at them with sparkling eyes, all of them pointing insistently at the porcelain plate in the center of the table.

It was so obvious that the adults couldn’t help but follow their fingers. When they saw what was on the plate, their eyes widened too.

*Gasp...*

"Holy..." Someone bit back a curse, barely stopping themselves.

"Is that real?"

They wondered if their eyes were playing tricks on them.

They closed their eyes and opened them again. Good. The object in the middle of the table hadn’t disappeared.

"Oh my god, oh my god!"

An excited Wang Mei started smacking Yun Linhe, who was standing beside her.

Yun Linhe gritted his teeth, the look of joyous surprise on his face contorting slightly.

It was clear just how much force Wang Mei was using.

But she didn’t notice. All of her attention was fixed on the pearl in the porcelain dish. That splash of orange-red was just so incredibly beautiful.

A few minutes later...

Once they had calmed down, the adults also sat down around the table, all of them staring at the pearl with foolish grins on their faces.

’Hehehe... We’re rich,’ they thought.

Mr. Yun rubbed his hands together.

"The New Year is just around the corner, and I can’t believe our family has stumbled into such incredible luck."

It was already November, though the temperatures in the southern coastal region weren’t that cold.

Still, everyone had started wearing thicker clothes.

The New Year was just a month or two away.

And right at this moment, their family had found another Flame Pearl.

It felt like a sign that the coming year would only get better and better.

For a moment, every face was wreathed in smiles.

"In a little while, take this pearl and sell it. We’re going to have a great New Year."

Yun Xiaowu asked hopefully, "Are we going to buy a pig? I want to see the New Year pig butchering at home."

His family didn’t raise pigs, but others in the village did, and the New Year pig butchering was always a lively event.