Back to 90s small fishing village

After a few people left, Li Meiyan gently poked Xu Caimei's arm, leaned over and asked, "Caimei, do you think it's reliable?"

"Ping'an, Pingcai, how much have you collected?" Xu Caimei did not give a direct answer, but asked them.

"About ten. The current situation is indeed as they said. It is difficult to receive them."

"What should we do? Should we let them collect it, or should we continue to collect it ourselves?" Xu Pingcai also asked.

"This destiny is in our own hands," Xu Caimei said. "It's not that I don't believe them, it's just that this work is about the turning point of our destiny. If we sit back and wait, it is equivalent to leaving our destiny in the hands of others. I don’t like it, I want to control my own destiny.”

"It makes sense, just say that if they can't find him, they will feel a little embarrassed at most, but for us, it will be the end." Li Meiyan nodded.

"Okay, let's continue looking." Xu Pingcai said, "But what if they find out?"

"What are you afraid of? It's not that you did bad things. If you don't do it for yourself, you will be punished by heaven and earth. That's what they said when they left." Li Meiyan said, "What's more, they came to help themselves. We just want peace of mind and accept it ourselves. And Don’t delay them for anything.”

"Speaking of which, why do all of them have to be natural? Aren't artificially bred ones similar?" Xu Pingcai asked again, "Anyway, the shapes, colors and sizes he mentioned are not limited. For those that haven't grown into shape, don't worry about natural artificial ones. Almost?"

"I don't know, maybe this has something to do with his design theme?" Xu Caimei guessed.

"Okay, stop nagging. You're just like a mother-in-law asking about this and that. Let's go!" Xu Ping'an dragged Xu Pingcai, who wanted to continue complaining, out the door.

Xu Caimei was worried, thought about it over and over, and knocked on Li Meiyan's door.

"Meiyan, can you sail a boat?"

"I worked in a breeding farm before and learned from it." Li Meiyan asked, "What's wrong? Why do you suddenly ask about this?"

"I'm telling you, you can't stop me - I'm afraid there won't be enough pearls, so I want to pick some while it's still warm." Xu Caimei said.

"How long has it been since you went into the water? That's crazy. Didn't they say they would help you get enough? Just let them go. If it's not enough, let them go into the water by themselves!"

"People are selfish, and that's understandable. I thought, instead of blaming each other until there is no chance of reversing the situation, it's better to leave a way out for yourself and save some face for others."

"You, you, always think about others like this, think about everything for others, it really pisses me off."

"No, Meiyan, I just plan for myself. I don't want this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to end up stillborn because of someone else." Xu Caimei raised her head calmly, "You have also seen that He Yifan went to this exhibition for this opportunity. , I can retreat for three days and three nights to get the design drawings out, Pingli can go to Shenzhen to hire people to find equipment, Pingcai and Ping An are also running around every day, and I can also try to do something."

Li Meiyan didn't say anything anymore, just entered the house, and came out after a while with a diving suit.
  "Okay, don't think you are the only one with a conscience...I'm ready, but you ask me to sail the boat. This is a bit too much." Li Meiyan sighed, "I was worried that I wouldn't be able to pick it up because I have no experience... Okay, ready-made teacher——"

"You guy!" Xu Caimei couldn't help laughing.

"I was going to find an opportunity to take you away, and then I would go out. No, I have already found the boat and the master who will drive it," Li Meiyan said.

The two went out to sea in a boat.

Xu Caimei told Li Meiyan her "unique skills". "Is it that simple? Is this a unique skill? Lively and active clams have a high probability of having pearls, so why don't others know about it?"

"Maybe it's because in the past, people didn't have such good equipment. Like my family, there were few people who could stay underwater for half an hour." Xu Caimei smiled, "Times have changed, and the diving equipment is so good. It can only be considered common sense, right?”

They put on their diving suits, carried oxygen bottles on their backs, and made other preparations before diving into the seabed together.

Compared to Xu Caimei, who is serious about pearl fishing, Li Meiyan is more like a tourist who comes to experience the underwater world. As soon as she gets used to the water pressure, she starts to look around.

Xu Caimei picked up a clam and circled around the coral.

Xu Caimei picked up three of them, and she swam around with the fish.

Xu Caimei picked up five. She finally found a clam lying on the sand and caught it in a bamboo basket.

When the two returned to the boat, Xu Caimei's bamboo basket was almost full, while hers was basically empty.

"Wow Caimei, you picked so much?" Li Meiyan was so happy that she couldn't help but smile.

Although she was a dabbler in fishing for pearls, she was extremely skillful at cutting open clams to retrieve pearls.

"Twenty-six, isn't it easy?" Li Meiyan said, "I really don't understand why they can't get it."

"Each generation is not as good as the last," the man at the helm, who had been silent all the way, suddenly said, "When our generation made money, they just thought about how to buy a better boat and a better pump.

"It's different for those young people now! When they have money, they just think about how to go to town to spend money, how to eat and drink. After so many years, the equipment on the ship is not as professional as an old man like me. I really can't stand it.

"At that time, if there was any business we could take, we would have to work hard to make money. There were also people who got into the water during the twelfth lunar month. If you look at it now, when the weather cools down, one or two people will not be out of confinement. She is like a little daughter-in-law, whining and having no future!
  "In this village, you young people are the only ones who are quite respectable. Look at the rest of them. They are just messing around and bragging. They don't know what they are thinking day by day. It's really annoying. Shit can’t even keep up with the heat!”

Li Meiyan couldn't help but laugh.

Half a month passed quickly, and they really got it right. The two groups combined only found eighty-two.

"At first, I felt a little disappointed. Why are you still collecting them? Now look, you damn sure collected them right. Otherwise, with these thirty dozen of mine, I wouldn't be able to make amends for you even if I died ten times." The black-faced man said, stroking his chest.

"But, there are still about ten pills missing, what should we do?" Xu Pingli asked.

Xu Caimei said nothing, and Li Meiyan sighed and took out twenty pearls from the drawer.

"Where did this come from?" Xu Ping'an looked at Xu Caimei in surprise, "Before you went to the hospital for a physical check-up, the doctor told you that you have dysmenorrhea because you are cold, so don't touch the sea water if you can. Why don't you? Are you listening?"

"Whether it's finished or not, I picked it myself. Caimei is only responsible for guiding..." Li Meiyan said confidently.