59 years after its opening, people are still in Nanluoguxiang

The two of them were so busy that they had to wait for the next few days.

‘Why don’t we give them money?’

The idea just came to his mind, but he suppressed it again.

Giving money would be bad, because the money would definitely be taken away by their parents.

I suffered the pain of “Mom keeps it for you” for many years when I was a child, so how could I let these little guys suffer the same?

Moreover, exchanging for soft candy and buying with money are two different things.

Chen Feng looked at the soft candy in the space, and there were still some.

‘Forget it, just give me some candy.’

“Come on, come on, line up.”

Chen Feng came out with a large wooden basin, which was used by the Zhou family to wash fish.

"Let's make it clear first. For small conch, you only get one candy. For this, you get two candies. For large conch, you get three candies."

"Is that okay? If not, you can take it home and cook it yourself."

"I want to exchange."

"I want to exchange, too!"

The little guys all shouted to exchange for candy. Compared with the boiled conch meat they were tired of, they liked the delicious soft candy more.

Chen Feng looked at his grandfather.

"Grandpa, can I exchange it?"

He was worried that someone in the village would report him and sue him for illegal trading.

Grandpa smiled and said, "It's okay. Let's exchange it. We exchange candies for conchs. We are doing a loss-making business. The commune can't blame us."

According to the exchange method of one candy for a small conch (less than 5 cm), two candies for a medium conch, and three candies for a large conch, Chen Feng got two large buckets of conchs.

One soft candy costs less than a penny, but the fishermen are reluctant to spend money on it.

In the big yard, all the little ones had a piece of soft candy in their mouths, smiling happily, enjoying what was probably the second time they had eaten candy since they were born.

Several adults took their children away, and soon Chen Feng heard crying.

As expected, they encountered the sad story of "Mom keeps candy for you".

"I don't want conchs anymore, remember, don't send me conchs anymore."

"What do you want?" asked an older boy.

Chen Feng smiled and shook his head, saying, "No, my candy has been exchanged by you, it's useless to come again, I don't have any candy."

The group of children were immediately disappointed.

"Then can you exchange it next time you come?"

"Let's talk about it next time, go back."

"No, if I go back, my mother will take my candy away."

"Mine too, I exchanged three candies for firewood, I only ate one, and all of them were taken away, I must finish them this time before going back."

Chen Feng almost died of laughter.

My mother is as fierce as a tiger.

These clever little guys will never go home until they finish eating the candy.

Sugar is a good thing in the countryside. Brown sugar has even become a tonic for pregnant women and is popular among farmers.

Therefore, the soft candies that Chen Feng bought were originally intended to be kept in the space and given to Chen Hao, Chen Li, and two little cousins ​​as snacks at any time. Now most of them have become the happy time of the children in Zhoujiagou.

But happiness is always short-lived.

When other parents heard that their sons (daughters) exchanged conchs for soft candies, they all came to find people.

For a while, the children in the yard ran around everywhere.

"Xiao Hei, run, your mother is catching up!"

Zhou Dinghai shouted in the yard, almost shouting "Come on."

"Dinghai, come back to work and wash the conch." Zhou Jing said bluntly.

Rural children have a hard life. They go to the fields to pick up rice ears at the age of three or four, learn to make fire at the age of five or six, cut grass for pigs after school at the age of seven or eight, and even pick up pig manure everywhere.

Unlike Chen Hao, who basically lets himself go after finishing his homework after school.

"Here we go."

Zhou Fubo was washing the yellow croaker, while his parents divided the work to deal with the yellow croaker, one removing the scales and fins, and the other removing the internal organs.

"Wait, uncle, don't touch the conch, I'll do it myself!"

Chen Feng saw Zhou Jing preparing to open the conch and quickly stopped him.

Just kidding, with uncle's luck, there is absolutely no pearl.

It is rumored that only in about 50,000 conchs can people get a usable pearl after removing the meat, which is one in a million.

Only 2,000-3,000 conch pearls can be found in the world every year, and only about 400-900 will become treasure-level conch pearls, which shows its scarcity.

Conch pearls are praised as the Rolls-Royce of pearls, and one conch pearl can buy a house!

In later generations, the price of conch pearls ranged from US$6,000 to US$17,000 per carat.

It has many varieties and many pleasant names: Melo Pearl, Flame Pearl, Conch Pearl, etc.

And a deafening name: King of Pearls!

"Fubo, Dinghai, it's done, bring it into the room."

Chen Feng asked his two cousins ​​to carry the wooden basin into the kitchen.

Grandpa, grandma and others didn't quite understand, but let him do whatever he wanted.

Chen Feng took the largest conch, pointed it at the door and said, "God bless me, let me get pearls, the bigger the better."

Seeing this, the two cousins ​​also picked a large conch and held it in their hands.

Zhou Fubo knelt down respectfully and said, "Dragon King bless me, ancestors bless me, Sun Dasheng bless me, let my cousin get pearls."

Zhou Dinghai followed suit and repeated it.

"Pfft, you guys are really bold!"

Zhou Jing took the ladle to drink water, and seeing the serious look of his two sons, he burst out laughing.

"Don't laugh!"

Grandpa glared at him and said, "Twelve years ago, someone in Tianjin found pearls when eating conchs. A foreigner bought them for 1,000 yuan."

Zhou Jing smiled and said, "Dad, you said it was twelve years ago."

"We eat thousands of conchs a year in our village, if not ten thousand."

"Who has found pearls when eating conchs in all these years?"

Grandpa snorted, "There are not many lucky people in our village, but Xiaofeng is different. He can definitely do it."

Zhou Jing smiled and said, "Dad, how about we make a bet? If Xiaofeng finds pearls, I'll buy you a pack of cigarettes with a cigarette holder. If not, we'll eat conch meat tonight and you take out the bottle of wine."

"Not much, I just want one glass!"

Grandpa glanced at him and said, "Are you going to be filial for once? I'll accept it with pleasure."

There are several ways to open conchs. The more elegant way is to cut the conch shell with a knife, the more brutal way is to smash it directly, and the more extravagant way is to wash it and cook it.

Chen Feng chose a somewhat brutal method, first cleaned it, then smashed it with a small wooden mallet.

As for the conchs he was playing with, he only wanted to keep the biggest one.

"Fat!"

The conch shell was broken.

He turned the conch meat with chopsticks.

The first one, no!

Zhou Fubo immediately took the conch meat and broken shells off the chopping board.

Zhou Dinghai put the second small one on it.

The mallet in Chen Feng's hand fell with moderate force.

"Bang!"

The second one, still no!

The third one, still no!

Chen Feng knocked the conchs slowly like knocking a wooden fish, and the two cousins ​​took one away and delivered one in an orderly manner.

When the ninth conch was broken, Chen Feng was about to knock, but stopped.

"Fubo, Dinghai, you go to the door and guard it, don't let anyone in."

"Oh."

The two cousins ​​went out to be door gods obediently.

After driving out the two little guys who might leak secrets, Chen Feng took action.

There was no other way. According to the regulations, everything that swam in the sea, was fished out of the water, or was buried in the soil, as long as it was a special item and very valuable, it had to be handed in.