Li Xiangdong stepped out of the house and saw that the sea and the dim sky in the distance merged into one gray expanse.

The temperature has dropped quite a bit; it's chilly.

There were already quite a few people on the shore, carrying buckets and bending down to pick up the seafood that had been swept ashore by the waves and the storm.

There are many seashells on the beach, which have even formed a small seashell dam that is tens of meters long.

Everyone took shovels and threw them into the sacks one shovelful at a time, and soon they had filled several sacks to the brim.

Some people are more meticulous and specifically pick out the shell meat inside, discarding the empty shells.

Li Jinyin also brought back a lot of live scallops and conches.

When the scallops were thrown into the basin, their two shells kept opening and closing, and they actually kept swimming in the water.

Li Xiangdong was amazed. "The scallops can move!"

Li Jinyin wiped the sweat from her face, "Yes, I can! I can run really fast!"

As the two were talking, the children returned, surrounding Li Ping.

Li Ping, surrounded in the center, was holding a large yellow conch shell with regular black and brown stripes in his arms.

Li Ping excitedly ran towards Li Xiangdong, "Brother, brother, look what I found! It's huge!"

This giant conch shell looks to be the size of a football.

Li Xiangdong exclaimed in surprise, "Ah! This is a coconut snail! Where did you find it?"

Li Ping said with a grin, "It was in a crevice between the rocks by the sea! I said it was a conch shell, but Jiabao insisted it was a rock! When I went in to take a look, it turned out to be a huge conch shell!"

Li Jiabao was particularly frustrated. He sighed, "If only I had taken a second look at it from the beginning."

However, seeing that other people hadn't found such large coconut snails made me feel a little better.

Although the others did not have as many gains as Li Ping, they still reaped a considerable harvest of starfish, long-legged octopuses, blue crabs, sea cucumbers, and razor clams.

Today's lunch was very plentiful.

Li Jinyin and Zhan Qing cooked octopus in soy sauce, stir-fried sea cucumber with chives, steamed meatloaf with cuttlefish eggs, stir-fried razor clams with chili, and steamed a large pot of blue crabs and cockles.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

After the meal, everyone gathered together to look at the coconut snails that Li Ping had picked up.

Grandpa Li exclaimed in surprise, "I've never seen such a big coconut snail in all my life!"

Li Jinyin also said, "This coconut snail can definitely sell for a lot of money. The snail meat slices inside are crisp and delicious, and restaurants outside especially love to buy them."

Li Ping, of course, couldn't bear to eat his own coconut snail.

Li Jiabao sniffed and made sarcastic remarks, "If you don't eat it, the snail meat will rot inside, and then your whole coconut snail will smell bad!"

Li Ping thought about it and realized that Jia Bao's words made sense, so he could only agree in the end.

Li Jinyin helped to lift the snail meat out with a weight. While they were doing this, two orange-red beads, about the size of a thumb, suddenly fell out of the snail shell and shimmered with a ceramic-like luster!

"Wow! There are even beads in here!"

Li Jiabao was the first to pick up the two beads that had fallen to the ground and were rolling around.

Li Ping quickly came over to take a look.

Li Xiangdong knew this kind of bead was called Melo pearl, also known as "dragon pearl," "fire dragon pearl," or "flame pearl," which is a type of pearl without a nacreous layer structure.

Melo beads come in irregular shapes, as well as oval and egg shapes, and in several colors including orange-red, orange-yellow, yellow, yellowish-brown, and near-white. They also have flame-like patterns inside.

It only appears in coconut snails in Southeast Asian waters and cannot be artificially cultivated, so it is extremely valuable for collection.

Currently, there are approximately 200 Melo beads worldwide.

The two stones that Li Ping harvested were large and round, and without any flaws. If they were sold outside, they would definitely fetch a lot of money.

Considering that Fifth Sister once found pearls inside a clam, it has to be said that Fifth Sister seems to be exceptionally lucky in this regard.

Li Ping snatched the two Melo beads from Li Jiabao's hand, admiring them more and more as he looked at them, grinning from ear to ear.

Everyone congratulated Li Ping.

Zhan Qing said enviously, "These two Melo beads are so beautiful, they must be worth a lot of money! Last year, Sanmao sold a Melo bead for 1,000 yuan."

"That's so expensive!"

Li Ping's eyes darted around, and he considered selling it, but then he thought that he already had quite a bit of money in his own little stash.

never mind!

"I don't want to sell it. I want to keep it as a souvenir. It's so meaningful!"

After she said that, neither Li Xiangdong nor the others had any objections.

Of course, Li Jiabao really wanted a share, since he was the one who discovered the coconut snail first.

But Li Ping wouldn't give it to him, and he didn't dare to insist.

Zhan Qing was dumbfounded.

He never expected that such a large sum of money would be decided by this teenage girl in front of him.

He looked at Li Xiangdong with great surprise, only to see Li Xiangdong looking at Li Ping with an exceptionally loving gaze.

Zhan Qing tried to hold back, but couldn't.

"These beads are so valuable, and you just let this little girl play with them?"

That's incredible!

Li Xiangdong glanced at Zhan Qing, and his words were no longer as casual as before.

"Xiaoping found it herself, so how to deal with it is up to her to decide!"

Even if Zhan Qing didn't understand, he still knew how to read people's expressions.

Seeing that Li Xiangdong's face was expressionless, he wisely stopped talking.

But I still felt awkward.

In the village, let alone such valuable pearls, even if you find a few blue crabs, you would take them home and give them to the adults to sell to supplement the family income.

However, he had heard before that Li Xiangdong was very rich, and that the money for Li Jinyin to buy the boat was given by Li Xiangdong.

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