Chapter 215: Black Pearl

Yun Jiao got on the boat. Yun Xiaowu and the others crowded around the spanner crab in amazement.

It was huge. It looked like it had a lot of meat on it.

"Only you could find a spanner crab this big."

They wrapped Yun Jiao in a towel, then worked together to haul Gui Yi onto the boat.

"Whoa, Gui Yi is getting heavier and heavier!"

"So many sea urchins! Good job, Gui Yi. We’ll open a few for you as a reward."

It had to be said that the Yun family and Yun Jiao were on the same wavelength at that moment. The first thing they thought of was rewarding Gui Yi.

Even though it was Gui Yi who had brought the sea urchins back in the first place.

"Wait, Dad, let’s not go looking for the killer whales anymore. I thought of a fish that’s much better for taking care of the little Manta Ray."

’That Whale Shark!’

Yun Jiao tapped her little head. ’How could I have forgotten about the Whale Shark?’

The killer whales’ feeding style was very different from the little Manta Ray’s. Killer whales had sharp teeth and were skilled at hunting by tearing and biting brutally. But Whale Sharks and Manta Rays ate similar food.

And they both had big mouths.

Still, she had to get the killer whales to recognize the little fish. She couldn’t have them bringing her the little Manta Ray’s corpse as a gift one day just because they didn’t know it.

’Wouldn’t all this effort be for nothing then?’

So, Yun Jiao resorted to singing to call the killer whales.

As long as the killer whales weren’t hunting, they would surely answer her.

This time, the response was swift.

The pod of killer whales swam over in a massive procession, looking like they were heading for a brawl.

Their reputation as the ocean’s street loafers wasn’t for nothing.

The little Manta Ray was terrified.

Yun Jiao glanced at her dad and brothers, decisively threw off her towel, and jumped back into the sea.

’So refreshing!’

"Yun Jiao!"

The people on the boat rolled their eyes in exasperation. That little girl moved so fast!

Yun Jiao decisively played dumb with the people on the boat, then took the little Manta Ray to go make friends.

The killer whales surrounded her and the little Manta Ray, all of them very chatty.

’Human, why are you bringing food with you?’

’This food is small. We’ll take you to find a bigger one.’

’Human, did you miss us?’

’Come live with us. The sea is great. Don’t live with those humans anymore.’

The killer whales were secretly trying to carry out their plan to abduct the child.

Yun Jiao ignored their words. "This is my new little buddy. Get to know him. If you see him in the future, spare his life."

She led the little Manta Ray on a tour through the pod of killer whales.

As the saying goes, a newborn calf doesn’t fear the tiger. The one-day-old baby Manta Ray had no idea killer whales were its natural enemy. With Yun Jiao there, the little Manta Ray went from being scared at first, to curious, and was now darting all around the killer whale pod.

Because Yun Jiao had brought it and vouched for it, the killer whales’ attitude toward it was actually quite friendly.

Even though it was food, for the ocean’s street loafers, there was plenty of food in the sea. This one didn’t make a difference.

After the introductions were made, Yun Jiao said goodbye to the killer whales and took the little Manta Ray to find the Whale Shark.

It had been a while since she’d seen the Whale Shark, so finding it took them a fair bit of time.

But thankfully, the Whale Shark still recognized Yun Jiao.

Yun Jiao and the little Manta Ray played with it in the sea for a while and caught some food to feed it. Then, she revealed her true intentions.

"Big fish, could you help me babysit this little one?"

The Whale Shark looked at her with one of its eyes.

It couldn’t be helped. Its eyes were on either side of its head, which was too wide. Yun Jiao was too close, so it could only look at her with one eye.

’Little one?’

Yun Jiao pulled the little Manta Ray over. "That’s right. See? It’s so small and easy to raise. It eats the same food as you."

"You two even look alike."

The tiny little girl was just making things up.

Although the process was a bit complicated, Yun Jiao ultimately succeeded in leaving the little Manta Ray with the Whale Shark.

She also played matchmaker, introducing the Whale Shark to the killer whales so that, in the future, while they might not greet each other like old friends, they at least wouldn’t attack them.

Perched on the Whale Shark’s back, Yun Jiao played with the little Manta Ray.

Her dad’s boat followed behind them.

After taking the Whale Shark to meet the killer whales one more time, it was already very late by the time they headed home.

Yun Chenbei took many photos he was satisfied with.

The first thing they did after getting home was make Yun Jiao down a bowl of ginger soup.

Whether she would catch a cold or not was another matter; the ginger soup was mandatory.

Yun Jiao: Disgusted, disgusted, disgusted!

"Jiaojiao, we sold that Manta Ray."

Yun Linhe handed her the money. "Even though the Manta Ray was big, the price was pretty low. We sold it for sixty cents a pound, and several buyers had to pool together to buy it."

We had to divide it up and sell it like sides of pork; no single buyer could take the whole thing.

The Manta Ray weighed over seventeen hundred pounds and sold for a total of 990 dollars. Out of that, we gave Ah Wang a hundred dollars as a finder’s fee.

That left 890 dollars.

Grandpa Yun then took out another sum of money.

"This money is from the sea worms Jiaojiao dug up today. There were a little over four pounds of them in total. We kept half a pound for ourselves, and Ah Wang bought the rest at three dollars a pound, which came out to exactly 10 dollars."

All together, it was exactly nine hundred.

All this money was given to Yun Jiao.

Yun Jiao took out three dollars. "This is for Yun Sui. He helped dig."

Grandpa Yun smiled. "I was thinking the same thing."

Of the remaining money, Yun Jiao gave her aunt and mother ten dollars each, and her grandma ten dollars. She kept ten dollars in pocket money for herself, planning to give it to her brothers as an allowance later when her mom wasn’t around. The rest she gave to Grandma to hold onto for her.

Wang Mei said, "What are you giving me this money for? It’s always the elders giving the young ones New Year’s money, but now you’re the child giving us elders an allowance."

Yun Jiao waved her little hand magnanimously. "For Dad and Uncle, for selling the fish. It’s for your hard work."

Granny Yun couldn’t help but burst out laughing. "Looks like our family has its own little God of Wealth."

And a little God of Wealth she was; the little one was very generous with her money.

"Little God of Wealth, is there an allowance for your brothers?"

Yun Xiaowu asked with a cheeky grin.

Yun Jiao immediately opened up her small money pouch. "Yes! Jiaojiao will give the brothers their school allowance for tomorrow."

One dollar for each of them.

Yun Xiaowu’s eyes lit up, not expecting to get a dollar in allowance just for asking.

He hugged Yun Jiao and gave her a big smooch.

"Sis, you’re the best!"

Yun Xiao Liu and the others were happy too, and they each hugged Yun Jiao and gave her a kiss.

Yun Jiao, disgusted that they were getting slobber on her face, kicked up her heels and ran away.

But her brothers were still chasing her from behind!

After the roughhousing was over, Yun Jiao held the gift the killer whales had given her and called for her fourth brother.

"Fourth Brother, is my shelf ready yet?"

Yun Chenbei replied, "I’ve painted it, and it’s air-drying now. What’s up?"

Yun Jiao held up the blue gemstone in her small hand. "A present from the killer whales. A pretty gemstone."

The whole family turned to look.

"What? *This* is a gemstone?"

Grandpa Yun had, of course, noticed the stone when he was selling the sea worms.

But he had just thought it was a prettier-than-average rock.

Yun Jiao nodded. "It’s a gemstone."

"My goodness, a gemstone this big! Those killer whales are really something else."

"But the gemstones I know of are all sparkly. How come this one isn’t shiny?"

Yun Jiao said, "It needs to be polished."

She’d had many beautiful gemstones in her past life. Some gems looked dull and dusty, but they became incredibly beautiful after being polished with a Merfolk’s scales and nails.