Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 26: Chapter 24 The Old Clam Produces a Pearl

“I’ve sent you the link to that post. I’ll wait for your response before noon tomorrow. It’d be best if you could find this person’s contact information; I have an urgent matter.”

Qin Shaoyou stared at the blurry photo on the computer screen, reluctant to take his eyes off of it.

“Okay,” Jin Chenyu hung up the phone and couldn’t help shaking his head.

This cousin of his was a research fanatic, with an almost obsessive enthusiasm for biological studies. He rarely called him, and Jin hadn’t expected that this call would be for such a strange reason.

Because she had to go to the Yellow River, Huo Sining had dinner early and took a bus to the cruise terminal.

This was the closest point to the Yellow River’s estuary, and as night fell, Huo Sining found a secluded corner to slip into the water secretly.

The estuary waters of the Yellow River were turbulent, but this was of little consequence to Huo Sining as she slowly sank to the riverbed.

This time Huo Sining’s target was the Huangjiang Knifefish. At this time of year, the knifefish had finished spawning and had begun their migration; they could only be seen near the estuary.

As Huo Sining wandered the river bottom, her eyes swept across the bed like a detector.

Though she felt no resistance from the water, staring in the river for so long was exhausting.

Fortunately, perseverance pays off. After several grueling hours of search, she finally observed a small group of Huangjiang Knifefish near a reef.

Huo Sining approached the group of knifefish and quickly scooped them up with the net in her hand.

There were about a dozen fish in total, but most were juveniles, weighing less than two ounces each.

If she were to unprincipledly scoop up even the small fish, the Huangjiang Knifefish might truly become extinct.

After carefully selecting, Huo Sining only kept five adult fish, releasing the rest back into the river.

Weighing them, Huo Sining estimated that the five knifefish were at least two pounds in total; her night’s effort was not in vain.

After stretching her limbs, she decided to head back. Suddenly, she noticed something unusual at the base of the reef, resembling something familiar to her.

“Clams?!”

Huo Sining expressed immense surprise. She hadn’t expected to find such a familiar creature at the river estuary and, feeling a sense of fondness, quickly approached to investigate.

But upon closer inspection, she realized she was mistaken. These weren’t the wild clams she had seen in Baiyun Reservoir; they were a completely different species of shellfish.

The one before her was around thirty to forty centimeters in diameter with an extremely thick shell. Judging by the growth lines on the shell, this clam was at least seven or eight years old. Its sheer size suggested it was quite heavy.

Huo Sining bent down and pried one from the reef, weighing it in her hands. Goodness, it was at least four or five pounds.

As she was about to throw the shellfish back, the Water-Repelling Pearl on her forehead began to pulsate violently.

Huo Sining was stunned. This wasn’t the first time the Water-Repelling Pearl had behaved like this.

Not long ago, when she had dived into the Yellow River to help Su Qingqing retrieve her engagement ring, the moment she stepped on a rock, the Pearl had flickered, and then she had discovered the ring beneath a large stone.

With this in mind, Huo Sining had a thought.

Could it be that the Water-Repelling Pearl was signaling that there was something unusual about this clam?

Frowning, Huo Sining wasn’t sure if there was really anything inside these clams, but instinctively, she felt she couldn’t pass up the chance.

She pried off all seven or eight clams from the reef, storing them in her net and then she followed the current back to the place where she had entered the water.

One advantage of a bustling city is that no matter how late it is, there are always cars around. Huo Sining didn’t get back to where she was staying until after three in the morning.

After taking the knifefish out of the small tank and placing them into a bucket, she infused them with some spiritual energy to restore their vigor, and then turned to examine the older ones she had brought back.

The dozens of river clams varied in size, but even the smallest were at least five years old.

Although Huo Sining didn’t understand why the Azure Pearls were flashing, she didn’t dwell on it.

What sort of oddities these fellows had, wouldn’t she know after cutting them open?

The bigger the clam, the more astonishing its biting force, so Huo Sining fetched a long kitchen knife and started prying at the smallest river clam along the seam of its shell.

To prevent the shell from closing back up, she had to jam a fork into the mouth of the clam while prying, and it took her the strength of nine oxen and two tigers to finally pop open the shell.

The moment she pried it open, Huo Sining was stunned.

There within the flesh of the shell, several variously sized and shaped sacs were exposed.

These sacs resembled the row of yellow eggs attached within a hen’s cut-open belly—some large, some small.

Huo Sining extended her hand to gently puncture one of the bulges, and out rolled a lustrous and translucent pearl.

There was nothing left for Huo Sining to wonder; these old clams were actually hiding a whole bunch of wild pearls!

“My goodness, these are pearls, and there are so many just in this one clam!”

Huo Sining was both amazed and excited, as this was the first time she had seen pearls hidden inside clamshells, in either her past or present life.

Without further ado, she grabbed a basin and began harvesting the pearls, big and small, and soon all the pearls from that one clam had been “dissected” out.

Seventeen pearls lay before her, making Huo Sining’s eyes sparkle.

She turned her attention to the remaining old clams, knowing they all concealed treasures inside.

Although it was indeed tiring to pry open the mouths of those old clams, Huo Sining didn’t feel fatigued at all; without resting, she hastily cut open the rest of the clams in one go.

Seeing those round bulging sacs, Huo Sining couldn’t help but gulp.

My goodness, this is real, right? It’s not a dream, is it?

Huo Sining instinctively reached out to tug at her own hair, ouch, the pain made her suck in a breath of cold air.

After collecting the pearls, dawn was breaking, and Huo Sining stared straight at the basin in her hands.

You’re kidding me, eight old clams yielded nearly two hundred pearls, big and small!

The two largest were as big as ping-pong balls, followed by seven or eight nearly the size of quail eggs, while most of the rest were around ten millimeters in diameter; of course, there were also some as small as soybeans, barely formed.

Despite the varying sizes of the pearls, each one shimmered brightly, shining with luster and brilliance.

What does it mean “to unintentionally plant willows and have them flourish”? Huo Sining felt this was it.

Looking at the basin nearly overflowing with pearls, she instantly thought that the Huangjiang Knifefish paled in comparison; she had spent an entire night catching just five fish, hardly enough to pick her teeth.

Even though Huo Sining didn’t know the market value of pearls, just by looking at the quality of the pearls in her hand, especially those two huge ones, she knew they were top-notch and would definitely fetch a good price if sold.

Clutching a large basin of pearls in her arms, Huo Sining couldn’t bear or dare to let go, while she thought about how to deal with them and considered visiting the Yellow River again. If she could scoop up more old clams, then she really would strike it rich!

The more she thought about it, the brighter the future seemed, and Huo Sining couldn’t help but giggle to herself until slowly, her thoughts faded and she fell asleep.