Fisherman Fubao made his fortune by fishing

Li Yuer came to his senses a little more and roughly understood that it was about Zhenzhu.

When she gave it away, she had thought of various possibilities, and returning the pearl to the owner was the least likely possibility.

She didn't expect that the village chief was so upright that he would bring his grandson to return the money in person.

I couldn't help but sigh in my heart: Are people of this era too simple? Or are the fishermen of Rabbit Island very simple? Or is it just that the village chief is more upright?

Li Yuer said stubbornly: "Uncle Jiu, this is a matter between us children. We have agreed that you adults cannot interfere and break the agreement between us."

Fu Tou'er looked at Li Yu'er with a little more admiration and pride.

Li Yuer briefly explained the incident to the elders and said that he had kept four of them, and everyone who saw them could have a share.

After hearing this, Mr. and Mrs. Li did not feel reluctant to part with Pearl, nor did they blame their granddaughter.

Over the years, the village chief (= clan leader) has helped their family a lot, especially when something happened this time. If it weren't for the village chief running errands and making connections to quickly sell the boat, the second son and his wife would probably have been in trouble.

Such a great favor cannot be replaced by anything of great value.

Old Man Li said from the bottom of his heart: "Brother Jiu, since this is a matter between children, we adults should not get involved."

"How can this be possible? This is a pearl! A pearl!" The village chief objected: "Such a pearl can be sold for at least one tael of silver. How can a child make the decision on such a big matter?"

Old Mrs. Cai continued to persuade her, "Our Yu Bao'er didn't find this by herself, and she didn't dig out the clams either. She was just lucky and got the pearls. Anyone who sees something unexpected should get a share, so don't refuse."

The village chief wanted to say something, but was pushed and shoved away by Old Man Li.

Fu Tou'er, who was being led by the village chief, turned around and made a face at Li Yu'er.

After a while, Grandpa Qi and Grandma Qi also came, and the same thing happened.

That night, when Dabao showed off the pearl, the old couple were very happy, thinking that it was the spirits of their son and daughter-in-law in heaven who were blessing their family.

They are both old and can no longer work at sea. Dabao is mentally handicapped and needs help. His wife goes to sea alone and gets less.

I spent a lot of money on the funeral for my son and his wife. Because the bodies were not found, I spent a lot of money to hire a monk to summon the souls.

But they only have this one son, so they can't let him become a lonely ghost and die in the end, right?

With my grandson being like this, he will have to spend more on betrothal gifts than ordinary families when he looks for a wife in the future, and every penny of this will be money.

But when they heard that the pearl was exchanged for "stinky dog ​​shit" from Li Lao's eleventh granddaughter, they felt uncomfortable.

Firstly, they knew that something had happened to Li Laoshi's family, and that the second son and his wife could not get out of bed. Secondly, they were short of money.

The old couple tossed and turned in bed all night, and when dawn came, with dark circles under their eyes, they decided to return the pearl.

The ancients believed in fate and karma. If it was when the Eleventh's family was fine, they would have stolen the pearl. Now they are waiting for money to save their lives. If they committed murder and the retribution fell on their grandson, what would be the point of these two old men living?

When Grandpa Qi and Grandma Qi came to the Li family to return the pearl, they were asked to leave by Old Man Li and his wife using the same reason they used to reject the village chief.

This time, Li Yu'er did not come out. She felt a little guilty. What she exchanged were pearls worth only a few taels of silver, but what she got in return from Dabao was ambergris worth a thousand gold coins.

She thought to herself that if she had the chance in the future, she would definitely quietly pay back the debt.

After lunch, Yougen and Honghong’s parents also came. They were younger, just in their thirties.

Both of the elders in the Wang family are gone. Their ancestors settled in the poor and isolated Rabbit Island to escape the war.

Yougen's parents, Wang Dagang and Bai Yue'e, are both capable and work very hard at sea. They are young and strong, and the couple work together to get a good harvest. They live a good life on the upper reaches of Rabbit Island.

The couple did not want to offend the largest clan in Tuwozi Village, the Li family, easily because of a pearl, fearing that they would be ostracized in the future.

When Li Laoer got into trouble, it was the young and strong Wang Dagang who carried him back.

Wang Dagang has a handsome face, a tall stature, and a smiling face.

"Uncle Qi, I'm sorry. The two children are ignorant and dare to exchange everything. As soon as I heard about this, I sent it back to you."

Yougen and Honghong didn't come and were sulking at home.

Old man Li waved his hands and said, "The children found this thing together. It is only natural that whoever sees it should have a share. We don't want this. You can take it back."

A few people declined again, but were finally asked to leave by Old Man Li.

The only ones who didn't come to Huanzhu were Doubao and Shuicao's family.

Doubao's grandfather is also Li Laohan's cousin, and he is the fourth oldest in terms of seniority. When Li Laohan was young, he was quite lazy, and he married a wife who was just like her, a big mouth, who loved to gossip about other people's affairs, was stingy and calculating, and loved to take advantage of others.

However, their children are not like them, they are honest and simple, and their grandchildren are also more down-to-earth and easy to get along with.

Li Yuer's fourth grandfather and fourth grandmother were not only lazy, but also favored sons over daughters. They raised their grandson like a fat bean bun and their granddaughter like a skinny waterweed. The names were very appropriate.

After knowing where the pearl came from, it was hidden away, how could it be returned?

They even agreed that if Lao Shiyi came to ask for it, they would say that Shuicao lost the pearl because he was too playful.

If Old Lady Cai made a scene, she would pretend to be dead or faint. In short, she could not return the money.

Of course, they were terrified, but there was no sign of Mr. Li and his wife.

But the fourth grandmother herself became ill due to the shock and had to lie in bed for ten days or half a month before she recovered.

Li Yuer later heard that most of the people who got the pearls sold them. The most expensive ones were Futou'er and Dabao's pearls, each of which was sold for three taels of silver, while Doubao and Shuicao's pearls were sold for two taels of silver.

When other villagers heard about this, they were very excited for a long time. Some of them followed suit and went to the beach to dig clams. When they got home and boiled them in hot water, they found nothing but clam meat with an earthy smell.

The clams on the seashore are not pearl-producing clams, and the one Li Yuer and his friends found was just a coincidence.

Soon, the heat passed and the villagers stopped wasting time.

Yougen and Honghong's pink pearls are relatively rare. Honghong was reluctant to sell them, and her eyes were crying like a little rabbit. Wang Dagang's family was doing well, and the couple did not favor boys over girls, so they finally decided not to sell them and keep them for their daughter as a dowry.

One or two taels of silver is enough for a poor fisherman to save for most of his life. After deducting daily necessities from their earnings, the rest is used to help their children start their own families and careers.

It is similar to modern society. Parents work hard for most of their lives, and when their children get married and buy a house, most of their life savings are gone.

This is for people with good conditions. Those who are poorer can only buy houses with loans and become mortgage slaves for life.

How much will be left in the end?

After selling the pearls, the village head and his wife secretly went to their daughter's home. After returning, the village head's wife cried for several times and regretted marrying her daughter far away.

The village chief also sighed, thinking that marrying to a land-dweller was a good thing, but he didn't expect that marrying an islander would make life smoother.

In the next few days, the women of the Li family began to sew new clothes for the whole family for the New Year. Li Erlang and Li Meir hid in the secret cave during the day and made oil lamps under various excuses.

Although the oil lamp had been exposed, if the Li family members really saw the exquisite oil lamp, they would definitely guess that the oil lamp was very valuable, and it would be difficult to hide the private money.

Li Yuer always made excuses to be lazy, but Li Erlang and Li Meir, whose enthusiasm was ignited by the silver, did not care and they worked enthusiastically.

"There's not enough isinglass," said Li Meir.

Not much isinglass was produced initially, and now the porcelain jars are almost empty, so we need to replenish them urgently.

But all the fishing floats at home have been used up by them.

Li Yuer suggested: "You can collect it from your friends. Fish balls are not very tasty. If you spend money on copper wrenches, I'm sure someone will be willing to pay for them."

"What if they ask us what we do?" Li Erlang worried.

Li Yuer smiled and said, "Just tell them that it's a folk remedy given by the doctor, eating fish glue to nourish the body. You'd better ask the children directly. I guess most of them won't tell their families about it."

There are too many fish in the sea, and fishermen basically throw away the internal organs after eating the fish. They prepare dried fish for the winter. Occasionally, frugal old people will keep the fish bladders, and even if the fish bladders are gone, they won’t care much.

Li Yuer believed that there must be some smart kid who took the fish bubbles from home to exchange for copper coins and didn't tell the adults that he kept them for himself.

As Li Yuer had expected, many children sold fish bubbles to Li Meir and others at the price of one cent per pound.

Nowadays, the one or two copper coins that children earn during festivals are taken away by adults. Naturally, most of them are reluctant to hand over the copper coins they earn themselves.

Now that the fish bubbles were ready, Li Meir’s fish maw was soon supplied and production continued.

Li Yuer took advantage of his young age and went out to play with his friends, and ran into the Diaoer Cave on the east side of Qiantan.

Diaoer Cave is not as light-transmitting as Shandong Province to the west, but it has good ventilation and is very dry, making it perfect for drying things in the shade.

Ambergris is a precious and rare natural fragrance.

It is mostly dark gray or black in appearance and is a solid waxy combustible substance. It is also called "gray amber" for its unique sweet earthy aroma.

Ambergris is actually the dried product of the intestinal secretions of sperm whales. The ambergris discharged into the sea by sperm whales is initially light black.

Under the influence of sea water over the years, it gradually turns gray or light gray, and the color becomes lighter and lighter, and some are even white.

It can be used directly as a fragrance or as a fixative.

Usually, spice companies grade the ambergris, grind it into powder, dissolve it in alcohol in a certain proportion, and prepare an ambergris solution of a certain concentration for preparing perfume.

According to legend, just a little bit of fixative made from ambergris can make the aroma of perfume more stable and continue to evaporate slowly.

Ambergris is not like some ordinary floral spices. Its fragrance is more elegant, but it lasts much longer than other spices. According to legend, clothes stained with ambergris will retain their fragrance for half a month.

Therefore, ambergris is expensive and is as valuable as gold.

In later generations, people were able to synthesize ambergris artificially, but in this dynasty, ambergris was still an extremely precious and rare treasure.

Li Yuer loved perfumery in her previous life. She had studied ambergris, but she had no chance to obtain such a precious spice.

But the method of preparing ambergris that she remembered in her mind was enough for her to prepare top-quality ambergris.

In fact, the most luxurious way to use ambergris is to dry it directly in the sun or in the shade in the most primitive and simple way, which is 100% pure.

Because of the limited tools on hand, she temporarily plans to dry the ambergris directly and preserve it.

She dug out the ambergris buried underground and placed it on rocks where light and air were available to dry.

Then, he took out the bamboo tube he brought from Li's house, and used thick whale skin to make a piston that was slightly thinner than the bamboo tube. He fixed the piston on a tree stick and put it into the bamboo tube. He then used a red-hot iron nail to make a small hole at the top of the other end of the bamboo tube, inserted a small piece of reed stem, and glued it shut with fish glue.

A simple air pump is ready.