As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up -
Chapter 551 - 343 Open Pearl_2
Chapter 551: Chapter 343 Open Pearl_2
"Don’t worry, there are more White Butterfly Shells than you think. Didn’t I specifically buy two hundred-meter snorkels? You guys can just bite on them and stay active underwater for a long time."
"Besides, White Butterfly Shells are not only found here; there are two more spots, so what’s the rush."
Hearing Chu Mingcheng say this, Zhang Wei and Chen Yang finally felt somewhat relieved, as they too wanted to open some pearls to give to their women.
Having already bathed, they went to the beach to prepare dinner first.
Chu Mingcheng took out a few White Butterfly Shells for them to use as part of their dinner, then continued to dive and hunted an East Starfish weighing over ten kilos.
Once they had the fish, he went back to the boat to bathe and then came to the beach.
It went without saying that tonight’s dinner was rich—there was fish, crabs, and even garlic-roasted big clams.
However, after each of them tasted the Ganoderma Crab’s roe, they all simultaneously made a face that resembled an old man’s grimace.
"So bitter~"
"Too nasty~"
"And this thing sells for over six hundred per kilo?"
"But the crabmeat is so sweet and fragrant, it’s the tastiest crab I’ve ever had."
"The first bite of crab roe is bitter, but it gets sweeter afterwards; you get used to it actually, it’s not too bad."
Though that was said, in the end, everyone chose to clean off the roe and only eat the crabmeat.
It’s probably because the Ganoderma Crab often eats medicinal herbs, making its roe not only black but also taste like Chinese medicine, which really was hard to accept.
The Coconut Crab also received just an average rating among them. It had a distinctive oily scent characteristic of mountain crabs. Those accustomed to it were okay, but those who weren’t found it hard to enjoy.
Finally, the White Butterfly Shells received unanimous praise. The ones Chu Mingcheng provided and the ones they found themselves were smaller, thus the meat was more tender.
The only drawback was that the small ones had no pearls...
Dinner lasted until eight o’clock in the evening, after which everyone tidied up the trash, planning to take it to the boat the next day.
Under the star-filled night, Chu Mingcheng gathered the dry branches they had collected and started a big bonfire.
Everyone gathered around the bonfire, sitting and chatting leisurely.
Zhang Wei stared at the bonfire in front of him and suddenly said, "Speaking of which, aren’t there any wild chickens on this island? It would be great if we could catch one or two and roast them."
"These things can’t be touched back in our country, but now that we’re in international waters, isn’t it anything goes?"
Chen Yang heard this and retorted, "What are you thinking? How could there be wild chickens on a sea island? Maybe a few goats."
"How could there be goats on the island?" Zhang Youning immediately asked, puzzled.
The three men clearly understood what was implied and snickered.
"Yeah, how could there possibly be goats on the island? Only some magical grandpa has ever eaten them."
With casual chat and teasing, the conversation started with wild chickens and roamed to who knows where.
Unfortunately, the next day, the group didn’t find a goat tangled in vines or any trace of wild chickens.
On these remote islands in the Far Sea, birds and insects are common, but land animals are hard to come by.
Unless someone deliberately released them, but the island they were on was virtually uninhabited, so naturally, there was nothing there.
After packing up the tents, the group took all their belongings including the trash back to the Sea God.
Next, Chen Yang and Zhang Wei, along with their girlfriends, put on diving suits and took snorkels, while the women steered the rubber dinghy to search for White Butterfly Shells underwater.
Chu Mingcheng and Jiang Luoluo then brought over two small stools, a bucket, a small box, and two small knives, ready to open the dozens of White Butterfly Shells they had collected the day before.
Opening pearls was somewhat like opening mystery boxes, and both were quite enthusiastic about it.
Jiang Luoluo skillfully inserted the knife into the gap of the White Butterfly Shell, then cut twice, severing its muscle, and easily opened the shell.
"Ah Cheng, which part of the shell meat contains pearls?"
"This, just reach in and feel around, if you touch something, then there are pearls." Chu Mingcheng wasn’t sure which part of the shell meat they were in; he had always found them by feeling.
If the pearls were big enough, they were very noticeable to the touch, and sometimes he could even see them directly.
Small pearls might be hard to feel, but small pearls weren’t really valuable, so he didn’t care.
Hearing this, Jiang Luoluo started feeling around on the shell meat, but found nothing.
But she hadn’t given up yet and began slicing the White Butterfly Shell’s body with her knife to search.
The result was obvious; if she couldn’t feel it, it probably wasn’t there.
Therefore, she had no choice but to take out all the meat from the shells and place them in a bucket with some crushed ice upside down.
This shell meat couldn’t be wasted, it was excellent whether used as fish bait or to supplement the pets’ meals.
As for the outer shells, they were collected as well, as they could be used to make jewelry.
Chu Mingcheng also opened one, and without even needing to feel it, a prominent bulge appeared in their view.
"Wow, you’re so lucky to find one right after opening it?" Jiang Luoluo was amazed, how big could the pearl be with such a big bulge?
"Hehe, I’ve always been quite lucky." Chu Mingcheng was a bit surprised himself; he hadn’t specifically chosen a large White Butterfly Shell, just randomly grabbed one palm-sized, and unexpectedly found such a big pearl inside.
Then he squeezed hard, and a pure, white, shiny, and round pearl appeared in their view, almost the size of the one that was initially one centimeter in diameter.
"This one is good, almost as big as the first one, if we can find more this size, we’ll quickly have enough for a string."
"I guess it will be tough; I think we’ll have to match sizes," Jiang Luoluo was not very optimistic.
If it were so easy to find, then the White Butterfly Shell pearls wouldn’t be so expensive, probably as cheap as freshwater pearls.
Indeed, as Jiang Luoluo said, it was difficult to encounter pearls as large as this one.
Finding dozens of White Butterfly Shells wasn’t easy, but opening them was very fast.
In less than half an hour, the two of them had opened sixty or seventy White Butterfly Shells entirely.
However, these dozens of White Butterfly Shells eventually yielded only seven high-quality and very round pearls, almost one in ten, a considerably high probability of getting good pearls.
But none were one centimeter in diameter after that first.
However, there were quite a few pearls around six to seven millimeters; among the remaining ones, four were that big.
Jiang Luoluo carefully stored the pearls, then picked up a stiff brush to start cleaning the White Butterfly Shells.
The White Butterfly Shell shells were very dirty with a layer of dirt on them, they needed to be thoroughly cleaned and then left to dry.
Next, they needed to be polished with sandpaper until shiny; this was a meticulous task, and of course, with so many shells, it wasn’t possible to turn them all into jewelry.
These items could not be taken back to the country, as their origin was unclear.
Mainly because they didn’t know anyone who cultivated White Butterfly Shells, otherwise getting a certificate wouldn’t be an issue.
Then, Chu Mingcheng put on his diving suit again and continued to dive into the water to look for White Butterfly Shells.
This time, he swam to a farther distance; this marine area indeed had many White Butterfly Shells, enough for them to collect for a while.
For two consecutive days, the Sea God stayed in the same place, with Chu Mingcheng and others collecting a lot of White Butterfly Shells every day.
As for the shells of the White Butterfly Shells, the vast majority were left on the island.
The three women had all processed their saved shells simply, apparently planning to make jewelry themselves slowly in the future.
When it comes to crafting, women seem to have a natural interest.
As for the pearls, Chu Mingcheng had found the most so far, as his diving ability was stronger, allowing him to go deeper.
He now had thirty-seven pearls of various sizes, the largest being 1.2 centimeters in diameter.
Most of them were 6.5~7.5 millimeters, totaling twenty-one pearls, while there were currently only five one-centimeter pearls.
Chu Mingcheng had looked up online about the approximate requirements for the quantity of pearls in a necklace; he wanted to make a necklace consisting of three different sizes of pearls.
But the required number of pearls was extremely high, with about sixty-five pearls of 5.5~6.5 millimeters needed.
Approximately fifty-five 7.5~8.5 millimeters,
and forty-five 9.5~10.5 millimeters were needed.
In total, about one hundred and fifty pearls were needed; this was a very challenging task, and Chu Mingcheng just wanted to give it a try.
Normally, if the quantity of one-centimeter pearls met the requirements, then the smaller ones would definitely be sufficient.
But this was just his highest standard; naturally, there were a second and a third plan, which required fewer pearls.
Currently, the shallow water area in front of the island beach had almost run out of large White Butterfly Shells; there were still more in deeper waters, but Chu Mingcheng couldn’t dive to the deep water in front of everyone for now.
Since he had two other target locations, he started up the Sea God and headed to the next area.
If the number of pearls wasn’t sufficient this time, he would definitely go out to sea alone later to continue plundering the deep waters’ White Butterfly Shells.
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