Chapter 259: Gold Ingots

That was too loud. Shen Yunlian quickly covered her mouth.

But right now, the shock still hadn’t faded from Shen Yunlian and Wang Mei’s faces.

Yun Jiao tilted her chin up slightly.

"I found it in the sea. I’m amazing, right?"

Of course she was amazing!

Overcome with excitement, Wang Mei hugged Yun Jiao and planted several kisses on her fair, delicate, and beautiful little face.

"Jiaojiao, you really are a little treasure!"

’How could something she just picked up be so valuable?’

They had lived by the sea for so long—most of their lives, even their entire lives—and had never found anything valuable.

And their Yun Jiao, who was only four years old, had already found so much.

Good heavens, it was like they were raising a golden goose!

Once their excitement subsided, the two sisters-in-law opened the chest completely and, with eyes gleaming, began to count the gold inside.

It was full of gold ingots, the kind that weighed ten taels each.

There were easily a hundred gold ingots in there.

That many gold ingots had to weigh over a hundred pounds. It was a good thing Yun Jiao was so strong; an ordinary person really wouldn’t have been able to carry it back.

"Let’s wash them with water."

They closed all the doors, fetched some water, and began cleaning the dirt off the gold ingots.

Wang Mei held a gold ingot, beaming from ear to ear. "It’s so beautifully shaped."

"By the way, Jiaojiao, how come you came back alone? Where are your dad and your Little Uncle?"

Yun Jiao was washing the gold ingots alongside them with a small brush.

"We ran into someone on the sea who got bitten by a shark. Daddy and the others took him to the hospital."

"What?!"

"How unlucky! The person didn’t die, did they?"

"Nope. He almost died, but I saved him."

"You saved him?"

Hearing this, both women’s eyes fell on her.

"The shark that bit him was huge. You’re so little, how could you be so brave? You didn’t get hurt, did you?"

Yun Jiao simply spun around in front of them. "See? I’m perfectly fine."

"I had the killer whale with me."

’Oh, well in that case, everything’s fine.’

"Sigh, the sea is a dangerous place. It’s a good thing you can breathe underwater, otherwise we’d never feel at ease letting you go out to sea with them."

"I hope the person is okay."

The ones who go out to sea to fish are usually the young, able-bodied men, the pillars of their families.

If that man really died, and his family had few able-bodied men, their lives would become very difficult.

"Mommy, I want to buy two pretty bracelets."

Yun Jiao was being clever and didn’t tell her mother how much the pretty bracelets cost.

"Buy them!"

Looking at the pile of gold, Shen Yunlian was feeling very generous.

"Our Jiaojiao found this money with her own skills, fished it right out of the sea. She can buy whatever she wants."

Wang Mei added, "We still have a lot of money left from selling the ambergris. Why don’t we put this gold away for now?"

Shen Yunlian thought so too.

Having lived as long as they had, they knew better than a child like Yun Jiao that gold was hard currency in any era.

The family still had plenty of cash, so as long as they weren’t short on money, the gold could be saved.

Of course, Yun Jiao had no objection.

However, where to hide something so valuable was a problem.

Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe returned right after taking the man to the hospital.

When they got home, they wondered, ’Why is the house shut up so tightly in the middle of the day?’

"What’s going on? Is nobody home?"

Yun Linhe knocked on the door. It was quiet inside.

Just as he was about to take out his key, the door opened.

The next second, his wife yanked him inside.

Yun Linhai: ’What’s happening?!’

Wang Mei said, "Big Brother, hurry and get in."

She looked so sneaky, it was as if she were a thief.

Yun Linhe scratched his head. "Honey, what are you doing? This is our own house. Anyone who didn’t know better would think you were breaking into someone else’s place to steal something."

Then he got a good swat from Wang Mei.

"Do you even know how to talk? If you don’t, then shut your mouth!"

"Honestly, with that mouth of yours... You can’t expect a dog to spit out ivory."

Yun Jiao snickered as she watched from the side.

Yun Linhe didn’t dare retaliate against his wife, but ’does that mean I can’t handle this little rascal, Yun Jiao?’

He picked Yun Jiao up and gave her a vigorous noogie.

"Still laughing? Is your Little Uncle’s misfortune so amusing to watch?!"

Yun Jiao huffed and decided to tattle. "Little Aunt, Little Uncle is bullying me."

Unsurprisingly, Yun Linhe was disciplined again.

Covering his ears, Yun Linhe meekly followed them to the bathroom, enduring the laughter of his big brother and Yun Jiao.

And then...

’Did I go into the wrong room?’

The two brothers, Yun Linhai and Yun Linhe, shared the same stunned expression for a moment. They simultaneously took a step back and turned to look at the room’s furnishings.

’Did we walk into someone else’s house?’

"No, this is our own house!"

’Were our eyes playing tricks on us just now?’

The two of them stepped back into the bathroom.

"Holy shit!"

Seeing the stack of gold ingots on the floor, Yun Linhe couldn’t stop an excited curse from escaping his lips.

"Th-th-this..."

The two brothers’ eyes widened. "Is this... ours?"

Seeing their reactions, Wang Mei and Shen Yunlian felt a wave of satisfaction.

"Our Jiaojiao brought it back."

"No, wait. Wasn’t Jiaojiao out at sea with us? When did she..."

At this point, Yun Linhe and Yun Linhai suddenly realized.

"It was that beat-up wooden chest!"

The two said in unison.

"No wonder it was so heavy. It was the weight of money."

"Jiaojiao, where did you find it?"

Yun Jiao put her little hands behind her back, accepting everyone’s gaze.

"I was playing with the killer whale and found a huge shipwreck at the bottom of the sea."

"A shipwreck!"

They were all stunned.

"There must be more than just this one chest in there."

Yun Linhai said, "It couldn’t be the shipwreck your godfather was talking about, could it? He said he wanted to salvage it, and you just went and found it yourself?"

"Uh-huh."

Yun Linhe was filled with regret. "We can’t go that deep in the sea, otherwise we’d go with Jiaojiao to take a look."

To see a shipwreck with their own eyes would be so exciting.

Maybe they could even find some treasure.

Unfortunately, unlike Jiaojiao, they couldn’t breathe in the sea, nor could they withstand the water pressure.

Yun Jiao said, "Find Godfather. He said he’d bring diving gear."

"Right, we have to tell your godfather about the shipwreck."

They had already agreed before: Sun Yaotong would provide the funding and equipment, and they would all look for and salvage the shipwreck together.

Now that the shipwreck was found, Yun Jiao could go exploring for treasure a few more times before Sun Yaotong arrived.

But the shipwreck was huge; it was a bit unrealistic to rely on Yun Jiao alone to find all the treasures inside.

Sun Yaotong had also contacted a shipyard for them, so their large, iron-hulled boat was secured.

The man had helped them so much; they couldn’t possibly hide the discovery of the shipwreck from him now.

Yun Linhe patted Yun Jiao’s head. "Before your godfather gets here, whatever you can get out of that shipwreck is all yours."

Yun Jiao nodded.

After their late afternoon meal, Yun Jiao’s thoughts returned to the two bracelets she wanted to buy.

The moment Yun Linhai thought about the price of those bracelets, a lot of his excitement from finding so much gold vanished.

Seeing his gloomy expression, Shen Yunlian rolled her eyes.

"If Jiaojiao wants to buy bracelets, then let her. It’s not like the family is short on money now. A daughter should be raised with plenty."

Besides, the money was Jiaojiao’s to begin with.

Yun Linhai made a bitter face. "The two bracelets she wants cost one hundred thousand."

"What? One hundred thousand?!!!"