59 years after its opening, people are still in Nanluoguxiang.

'Or give me money.'

The idea just came to his mind, but he suppressed it again.

Giving money is a bad thing, because the money will definitely be taken away by their parents.

I suffered the pain of "Mom is keeping it for you" for many years when I was a child, so how could I let these little ones suffer the same pain?

Moreover, exchanging for candy and buying with money are two different things.

Chen Feng looked at the candies in the space, and there were still some.

"Forget it, just give me candy."

"Come on, come on, everyone line up."

Chen Feng came out with a large wooden basin, which was used by the Zhou family to wash fish in the past.

"Let's make it clear first. For the small conch, you only get one candy. For this one, you get two. For the big conch, you get three."

"Is that ok? If not, you can take it back and cook it yourself."

"I want to change."

"I want to change too!"

The little ones all clamored to exchange for candy. Compared with the boiled conch meat that they were tired of eating, they liked the delicious gummy candy more.

Chen Feng looked at his grandfather.

"Grandpa, can I change it?"

He was worried that someone in the village would report him and accuse him of illegal trading.

Grandpa smiled and said, "It's okay, let's exchange it. We are exchanging sugar for conchs to eat. We are doing a loss-making business, and the commune can't blame us."

Chen Feng exchanged for two large buckets of conchs by giving one candy for a small conch (less than 5 cm), two candies for a medium conch, and three candies for a large conch.

A piece of candy costs less than a penny, but fishermen are reluctant to spend money on it.

In the big yard, all the little ones had a piece of candy in their mouths. They were all smiling happily, happily enjoying what was probably the second time they had candy since they were born.

Several adults took their children away, and soon Chen Feng heard crying.

As expected, they encountered the sad story of "Mom keeps the candy for you".

"I don't want the conch anymore. Remember, don't give me any more conchs."

"So what do you want?" asked an older boy.

Chen Feng smiled and shook his head, saying, "No, I won't change it. You have already taken all my candies. It's useless to change them again. I don't have any candies left."

The group of children were suddenly extremely disappointed.

"Then can you change it next time you come?"

"We'll talk about it next time. Let's go back."

"No, if I go back, my mother will take my candy away."

"Mine too. I bought three candies with firewood, but I only ate one. The rest were taken away. I must finish them this time before I go back."

Chen Feng almost died of laughter.

My mother is as fierce as a tiger.

These clever little guys won’t go home until they finish all the candy.

Sugar is a good thing in the countryside. Brown sugar has even become a tonic for pregnant women and is popular among farmers.

Therefore, most of the soft candies that Chen Feng bought, which were originally intended to be kept in the space as snacks for Chen Hao, Chen Li, and his two little cousins ​​at any time, have now become a happy time for the children in Zhoujiagou.

But happiness is always short-lived.

When other parents heard that their sons (daughters) had exchanged conches for candies, they all came to look for the person.

For a moment, the children in the yard ran around everywhere.

"Xiao Hei, run! Your mother is catching up with you!"

Zhou Dinghai was shouting in the yard, almost shouting "Come on!"

"Dinghai, come back and do your job. Wash the conch clean." Zhou Jing said bluntly.

Children in rural areas have a hard life. They go to the fields to pick up rice ears at the age of three or four, learn to make fire at the age of five or six, cut grass for pigs after school at the age of seven or eight, and even pick up pig manure everywhere.

Unlike Chen Hao, after finishing his homework after school, he basically lets himself go.

"coming."

Zhou Fubo was washing the small yellow croaker, while his parents divided the work of processing the small yellow croaker, one removed the scales and fins, and the other removed the internal organs.

"Wait, uncle, don't touch the conch, I'll do it myself!"

When Chen Feng saw Zhou Jing preparing to open the conch, he quickly spoke up to stop him.

Just kidding, with my uncle's luck, there is definitely not a single pearl.

It is said that only out of about 5 conches can people get a usable pearl after removing the meat, which is one in a million.

Only 2000 to 3000 conch pearls are found in the world each year, and only about 400 to 900 of them become treasure-grade conch pearls, which shows how rare they are.

Conch pearls are praised as the Rolls-Royce of pearls. One conch pearl is enough to buy a house!

In later times, the price of conch pearls ranged from US$6000 to US$ per carat.

It comes in many varieties and has many pleasant names: Melo beads, flame beads, Conch beads, etc.

And a deafening name: King of Pearls!

"Fubo, Dinghai, it's done, bring it into the room."

Chen Feng asked his two cousins ​​to carry the wooden basin into the kitchen.

His grandparents and others didn't quite understand, but they let him do whatever he wanted.

Chen Feng held the largest conch shell, pointed it toward the gate, and said, "God bless me and let me get a pearl. The bigger the better."

Seeing this, the two cousins ​​also picked up a large conch and held it in their hands.

Zhou Fubo knelt down respectfully and said, "May the Dragon King bless me, may our ancestors bless me, may Sun Wukong bless me, and may my cousin find the pearl."

Zhou Dinghai followed suit and repeated it.

"Pfft, you guys are really bold!"

Zhou Jing was drinking water from a ladle. Seeing the serious looks on his two sons' faces, he burst out laughing.

"Don't laugh!"

Grandpa stared at him and said, "Twelve years ago, someone in Tianjin ate a conch and found a pearl. A foreigner bought it for 1000 dollars."

Zhou Jing smiled and said, "Dad, you also said it was twelve years ago."

"We eat thousands of conchs in our village every year, if not 10,000."

"Who has eaten pearls out of conch shells in all these years?"

Grandpa snorted coldly: "There are not many lucky people in our village, but Xiaofeng is different, he can definitely do it."

Zhou Jing said with a smile: "Dad, how about we make a bet? If Xiaofeng gets the pearl, I'll buy you a pack of cigarettes with a cigarette holder. If he doesn't, we'll have conch meat tonight and you take out that bottle of wine."

"Not much, I just want one cup!"

Grandpa glanced at him and said, "If you want to be filial for once, I will accept it with pleasure."

There are several ways to open a conch. The more elegant way is to cut the conch shell with a knife, the more brutal way is to smash it open directly, and the more extravagant way is to wash it and cook it.

Chen Feng chose a somewhat brutal method. He washed it first and then smashed it open with a small wooden hammer.

As for the conches he played with, he only kept the biggest one.

"fat!"

The conch shell broke.

He flipped the conch meat with chopsticks.

First one, no!

Zhou Fubo immediately took the conch meat and broken shells off the chopping board.

Zhou Dinghai put the second smaller one on.

The gavel in Chen Feng's hand fell with moderate force.

"Ah!"

The second one, still no!

The third one, still no!

Chen Feng struck the conch shell slowly and leisurely, just like striking a wooden fish. His two cousins ​​took it away and handed it over in an orderly manner.

When the ninth conch was broken, Chen Feng was about to crack it, but then stopped.

"Fubo, Dinghai, go guard the door and don't let anyone in."

"Oh."

The two cousins ​​obediently went out to be door gods.

After driving out the two little guys who might leak the information, Chen Feng took action.

There is no way. According to regulations, anything that swims in the sea, is fished out of the water, or is buried in the soil, as long as it is a special item and very valuable, it must be handed in.