Chapter 496: Opening Coconut Snails

Wu An pried open the White Butterfly Clam, took out three pearls, rinsed them in water, and under the lamp light the pearls sparkled brilliantly, extremely beautiful.

Not to mention women liking them; even as a man, seeing such beautiful pearls, it's only natural to like them.

No wonder they can sell for so much.

The pearls were tossed into the basin, making a clear, crisp sound.

One after another.

Compared to last time, everyone's technique had become much more skilled, and no one made a mistake that hurt their hand.

Time passed minute by minute.

Wu An saw that only one White Butterfly Clam remained before him, endured the sore, numb pain in his arm, reached out to take it, pried it open with force, then reached in to feel.

He found only one.

But the feel in his hand was somewhat off.

He took the pearl in his hand and looked at it, unable to help but be stunned for a moment.

The pearl in his hand was very large.

He took a pearl from the basin for comparison; the pried-out pearl was obviously much larger than ordinary pearls, about the size of a pigeon's egg.

Moreover, it was not round but teardrop-shaped; although not perfectly round, it looked far more beautiful than ordinary pearls.

He walked over to the lamp light to examine it.

The color was also very beautiful, not the usual white or silver-white, but white with a hint of pink.

A Qing curiously lifted his head to look and asked, "Brother, what's up?"

"Wow, your pearl is huge."

"This is too big."

Upon seeing it, he shouted and came over to look.

Others were also drawn over.

Wu An showed it off, then instead of putting this white-pink pearl back in the basin, he kept it for himself, to be settled later from the share.

He planned to give it to Gu Anran.

After opening all the White Butterfly Clams, only a few coconut snails remained.

But coconut snails are not White Butterfly Clams; Wu An fiddled with them for half a day but still couldn't get the meat out.

He asked Gao Qiangqi, but Gao Qiangqi didn't know either.

He only sells this stuff, hasn't eaten it, and naturally hasn't opened one.

Although he knew they could produce beautiful pearls, opening one to get a beautiful pearl is like winning the lottery; despite handling many beautiful pearls, he'd never heard anyone say they bought one and opened it to find a beautiful pearl inside.

He opened his phone to check.

There were fire-baking methods and boiling methods.

He had intended to try, but then suddenly realized pearls shouldn't be treated that way; beautiful pearls are a kind of pearl, and if the coconut snail contained a beautiful pearl, it would likely be damaged.

Left with no choice, he was about to violently smash the snail open when A Qing stopped him: "Brother, what if you smash the beautiful pearl to pieces?"

Wu An put down the hammer: "Then what do you suggest?"

A Qing: "Find Old Fu."

Wu An quickly called Old Fu Tou.

Old Fu Tou thought Wu An was asking him to open White Butterfly Clams, saying, "A An, the fishing boat is already ready; I won't go over, I can sleep a bit longer."

Wu An understood Old Fu Tou's meaning—that he wasn't worried they were cheating—smiled and said, "You really need to come over; we don't know how to open coconut snails."

Upon hearing he was asked to open coconut snails, Old Fu Tou lost even more interest and casually said, "Boil or bake it; if worse comes to worst, just smash it."

Wu An asked, "I know those methods you mentioned, but they're likely to damage the beautiful pearl."

"Isn't there a more reliable method?"

Old Fu Tou chuckled, thinking Wu An's idea was rather nice, but there's no easy way to get a beautiful pearl, and said, "Get a hook, snag the snail's meat, and hang it up like laundry."

Wu An asked, "You really won't come?"

Old Fu Tou yawned: "No."

He didn't think Wu An could produce a beautiful pearl; with all that effort, he might as well just relax and smoke a cigarette.

……

He hung up the phone.

Wu An quickly hung up all six coconut snails, seeing that Gao Qiangqi and the others were still busy, but basically nearing the end.

He walked into the kitchen, which was clean and empty, with hardly any vegetables.

He turned around and found a box of instant noodles.

He wasn't hungry, just wanted something to eat.

He set a pot to boil water.

He added the instant noodles.

There were eggs but no ham sausage; Wu An felt it wasn't right, so he chopped all the small green dragons in the basin in half and threw them into the pot to cook together.

He had originally planned to take these small green dragons home, but thought it unnecessary; now there's plenty of seafood at home, and he doesn't lack this bit of small green dragon.

But the big guys worked until two a. m., needing to eat something good to replenish.

Each had a bowl of genuine small green dragon seafood instant noodles; A Qing took a bite of egg, then a bite of small green dragon, and said, "Brother, look—I'm eating shrimp and egg alternately; is this the legendary 'shrimp and egg'?"

Wu An didn't engage in nonsense with him, merely nodded slightly, and had to admit, this lobster ramen was indeed not bad.

He hadn't had it in a long time.

He really missed it.

People say instant noodles lack nutrition, but that's because they haven't added anything.

Had enough to eat and drink.

He heard a 'bang', and the coconut snail's shell fell off.

Wu An hurried over, touched the snail meat but felt nothing, then picked up the shell and looked—still nothing.

A Qing also came over and asked, 'Brother, nothing?'

Wu An nodded.

A Qing sounded disappointed: 'Looks like this Beautiful Joy Pearl is hard to come by—you can't even get one.'

Mei Wu walked over and said, 'That's for sure.'

"I just checked—there are only about two hundred Beautiful Joy Pearls in the whole world. Think how many coconut snails must be eaten to yield so few; it shows the odds are terrifyingly low."

A Qing sighed.

Gao Qiangqi chuckled and said, 'That's normal—I've handled many coconut snails over the years and never got a Beautiful Joy Pearl.'

Just then.

The second coconut snail shell also fell off.

Wu An went to check.

There was still nothing inside the meat; he kicked the shell with his foot, heard a sound, lowered his head and looked closely—a yellow little pearl rolled out of the shell.

Wu An froze.

Everyone else stared wide-eyed—even Gao Qiangqi was dazed.

Wu An hurriedly squatted, picked up the little pearl, rinsed it in water, then spread it out in his palm under the light to examine it closely.

A Qing and the others also came over to look.

The pearl was smooth and round, rounder than the White Butterfly Clam's pearl, a bit smaller than that pearl, entirely orange-yellow, and very beautiful.

He examined it closely; inside there was no signature pattern of the Seven Dragon Pearls.

It was a Beautiful Joy Pearl.

It wasn't a Seven Dragon Pearl.

Gao Qiangqi was somewhat restrained and didn't crowd in to look, but A Jin and A Qing, lacking self-awareness, stared for a while without making room; he couldn't help saying, 'A An, hand it over so I can take a look.'

Wu An handed the Beautiful Joy Pearl to him to look at.

Gao Qiangqi quickly cupped his hands to catch it, saying, 'A An, be careful—this is a stone floor; if it breaks, you'll feel the loss.'

Wu An said, 'Brother Qiang, it's just a pearl.'

Gao Qiangqi glared and said, 'This is a Beautiful Joy Pearl!'

"Several tens of thousands each!"

"I've never seen one before—tut tut, indeed it lives up to its reputation."