Chapter 498: with translation of chapter title

Gao Qiangqi grabbed Wu An's arm and asked softly: "A An, you're leaving just like that?"

Wu An blinked: "Yeah, otherwise... what would I stay for?"

Gao Qiangqi coughed: "Knowing you brought back the White Butterfly Clam, I immediately contacted Boss Zheng; he said tomorrow... no, today he can come over."

"Or you could stay and see how things go."

Wu An smiled and said: "Qiang Ge, I know what you mean—just have me stay to keep an eye, to stop you and Boss Zheng teaming up to screw me over."

"I trust you."

"Whether we look or not, it doesn't matter."

This is indeed what he truly thinks; of course, saying it also involves some calculation—if Gao Qiangqi and Boss Zheng collude to screw him over and buy the Beautiful Joy Pearl cheaply, even if he watches the whole time, it would be pointless.

So it's better to raise his stance, lay things out plainly—won't let Gao Qiangqi see him as a fool, and can even earn some goodwill.

Gao Qiangqi heard him out, his eyes widened a bit, and he nodded solemnly: "Alright."

"I'll contact you then."

"Whether we make a move or not is up to you."

Wu An pointed at the motorcycle in the shed: "Qiang Ge, if you casually contact me in the afternoon, forget the morning—I need to catch up on sleep; even if there's a call, I might not answer."

"Oh, also need to trouble A Jin to drive us to the dock."

Gao Qiangqi nodded and had A Jin start the car.

They headed straight for the dock.

Lao Fu Tou had thought they'd still go out to sea today, so he didn't go home and just slept on the boat.

They called Lao Fu Tou to wake up.

Lao Fu Tou was half-asleep but got up quickly; this is also a "good habit" developed on the boat—sleep anytime, be ready to rise anytime.

Lao Fu Tou greeted: "You're back."

A Qing asked: "Old Fu, why don't you ask if we managed to open the Beautiful Joy Pearl?"

Lao Fu Tou smiled: "Did you get it out?"

A Qing boasted: "We got it out—my brother opened five in one go!"

Lao Fu Tou uttered an "oh": "Opened five... five?"

The last two words, he shouted, his voice cracking.

A Qing chuckled and nodded.

Mei Wu also nodded.

A Jin said: "Old Fu, you were called but didn't want to come; not seeing it with your own eyes, you've missed out big time."

Lao Fu Tou was dumbfounded.

Who would have thought that a random coconut snail scooped from the sea could yield a Beautiful Joy Pearl, and five at once!

He even wondered if he was still dreaming!

He furtively tugged his beard, winced, took a breath, and asked: "Where's the Beautiful Joy Pearl? Let me see."

Wu An handed it to him.

Lao Fu Tou, an old geezer, couldn't put it down, clicking his tongue in admiration, finally saying: "A An, don't rush to sell it."

It's not like the pearl from the White Butterfly Clam.

It can be considered a treasure of the sea; compared to this, the White Butterfly Clam's pearl is just cheap street trash.

Wu An nodded to show he understood.

Have Lao Fu Tou steer the boat.

They returned to the dock.

They had planned to go out to sea today, but the Beautiful Joy Pearl delayed them; basically they didn't sleep all night, and in this state, going out to sea is impossible.

Wu An said: "Get a good night's sleep; we'll go out to sea tonight."

Everyone naturally had no objection.

They returned to the dock.

Lao Fu Tou rode his bike, taking Mei Wu back to Shangwancun.

Wu An had ridden his bike to the dock, leaving it outside Lao Xie's shop; there was surveillance, the bike was very safe, Lao Xie hadn't opened yet, Wu An was about to ride off, but A Qing worried seeing him yawning nonstop.

Wu An didn't insist.

The little brother needs to perform; as the elder brother, you gotta give him a chance.

He had just ridden a couple steps.

Wu An retracted his earlier thought—this brat could make a bike fly; he was so exhausted that upon starting, he almost got flung off, scaring him into not daring to doze off again.

Arriving at the gate, he jumped off the bike and slapped A Qing on the back of the head.

A Qing: "Brother, what are you doing?"

Wu An: "Oh, sorry, my hand slipped."

Wu An was just about to open the door.

The door opened first.

Mei Yueqin saw Wu An standing at the door and exclaimed delightedly: "You're back!"

You didn't even call to let us know.

Have you eaten? Not yet, I'll go make something; it'll be ready soon.

Wu An quickly grabbed Mei Yueqin: "Sister-in-law, don't busy yourself yet."

Open your hand.

Let's see what this is.

He spoke, opened the box, and placed the biggest beautiful joy pearl in his sister-in-law's hand.

The sister-in-law lowered her head to look, and her gaze couldn't move.

"What is this?"

"It's also too beautiful, right?"

"It looks like a pearl..."

Wu An was about to speak when A Qing cut in, asking: "Sister-in-law, have you ever caught coconut snails while gathering at sea?"

Mei Yueqin nodded: "Who hasn't caught one? I've caught a six-catty one, and a single snail sold for nearly two hundred."

A Qing chuckled: "Oh dear, you've suffered a big loss."

"This pearl is called a beautiful joy pearl; it's what my brother fished out of a coconut snail."

"Six coconut snails yielded five."

Mei Yueqin was astonished, showing a "mistaken hundred million" expression: "Coconut snails can produce this?"

"I've sold several before; this isn't a big loss, it's a big gain."

"No one ever told me about this."

Wu An kicked A Qing, turned and said: "Sister-in-law, don't get excited; coconut snails can produce this pearl, but even ten thousand coconut snails might not yield a single beautiful joy pearl."

"The probability is very low."

"The coconut snails you sold before basically wouldn't have beautiful joy pearls."

This comfort is weird, but it's also a fact.

If someone actually got one and couldn't keep it quiet, they definitely couldn't hide it.

"Why?"

Ordinary families buy them to eat; such a big coconut snail isn't eaten alone but by the whole family. If one did produce a pearl, even if you tried to hide it, with so many mouths it would be hard to keep it completely secret.

Mei Yueqin doubted: "Don't comfort me; didn't A Qing say six coconut snails, you got five pearls?"

Wu An laughed and cried: "I..."

He also couldn't be bothered to explain.

He took out his phone, found the introduction and some news about the beautiful joy pearl, and had his sister-in-law look at it.

Mei Yueqin looked, then understood, gave a glare to the mischievous A Qing, looked again at the beautiful joy pearl in her hand, and said: "So this is actually valuable."

"The news says a beautiful joy pearl of over twenty carats sold for several million, in US dollars."

"I also don't know how many grams twenty-plus carats is."

"A An, this big, it's definitely worth a lot."

Wu An said: "Some news can't be fully trusted; several million US dollars probably wouldn't fetch that price, but it's still quite valuable, so keep it safe."

Mei Yueqin blinked, not feigning ignorance, and directly asked: "A An, are you giving this to me?"

Wu An nodded.

"I don't want it; you go sell it for money… Even if you don't sell it, you should give it to An Ran."

Speaking, he passed the beautiful joy pearl over.

Wu An stepped back, refusing to take it: "This is for you."

"I'm keeping the one for An Ran."

"Sister-in-law, let's not tug at each other."

Having said that.

He dodged Mei Yueqin and ran into the house.

Mei Yueqin blinked, then hurriedly chased after him to return the beautiful joy pearl.