Hu Mingmei looked at her and said through gritted teeth, "Bai Nuo, you're still injured. How many times do I have to tell you?"
"Second Master Hu!" Bai Nuo said speechlessly, "My injury is on my back, not my leg, and my hand is almost healed!" Bai Nuo took off the gauze from his hand. His fingers had turned a little white due to the long period of bandaging. The swelling of his fingers had long since subsided, but they were still a little unnaturally pale, which is why they did not look like they had returned to normal.
"It's okay, the water is shallow. Wait for me here, I'll be right back!" Bai Nuo shook off Hu Mingmei's hand and nimbly went into the water.
Before long, Bai Nuo threw up a bunch of things that she and Hu Mingmei recognized—river clams.
Bai Nuo washed her hands and feet in the fishpond before coming up. Hu Mingmei pointed to the pile of things and asked, "What is this?"
Bai Nuo laughed as she picked up the river mussels and put them in the bucket. "What you want to know!" she said. Then she sat down on the grass, picked up a river mussel, and pried it open with a hammer. Looking at the bumps on the mussel meat, Bai Nuo laughed even harder. When the first pearl was squeezed out, Bai Nuo exclaimed, "My God!"
It was a large, full red pearl.
Bai Nuo kept squeezing, one pearl after another appearing in her hand. When she squeezed out the last pearl, Bai Nuo laughed so hard that she could hardly see her eyes.
It's out! It's out!
The pearls inside this clam were all red.
And every single one is in such good condition!
Bai Nuo seemed to see a pile of silver coins beckoning to her.
Hu Mingmei looked at the pearl bracelet on his wrist, then at the woman who was grinning like a greedy old woman. Only after Bai Nuo had opened a clam did he ask, "Is this where pearls come from?"
“Yes!” Bai Nuo stood up, placed a handful of pearls in front of Hu Mingmei, and asked as if showing off a treasure, “Isn’t it pretty? The ones you’re wearing, the ones sold in the store, are all made like this!”
“I opened one last time, and there was nothing there!” Hu Mingmei paused for a moment before saying, watching Bai Nuo open the river clam, and then thinking about how he had opened his own, Hu Mingmei realized how wrong he had been.
"You probably don't have one!" Bai Nuo replied casually, then exclaimed, "Wait a minute, where did you get this clam?"
So this thing is called a freshwater clam?
Hu Mingmei admitted without batting an eye, "I took it from your room. I saw you bring these things up, and when I came back to look for them the next day, I couldn't find them. Later, I found them in your room, so I opened one."
"I should have been wary of you!" Bai Nuo pouted. Sure enough, she couldn't reveal her secrets to this person, or she would have no secrets left.
"Then why are you telling me now?" Hu Mingmei asked.
“Lu Ying said you’re looking for this!” Bai Nuo repeated Lu Ying’s words. “This thing is very important to you?” Hu Mingmei is looking for it, and Zhang Wu is looking for it too. If these things will eventually be known to others, then she should let Hu Mingmei know first.
Hu Mingmei nodded. "The masters in the palace like this, and everyone is trying to find out where these things come from."
Bai Nuo was taken aback. "Zhang Wu really sent the pearls to the palace?"
Hu Mingmei nodded, then asked, "Do you have a lot of these things here?"
Bai Nuo shook her head. "No, it's just that only I know about it, and only I'm selling it. Didn't you see that they don't even know what it is?"
"These things are very important to me, how could I just tell others?" Bai Nuo said calmly, fiddling with the red pearl in her hand. The pearl hadn't been washed many times and was a little sticky.
"Then why did you tell me?" Hu Mingmei said. "You didn't have to tell me!"
"Because you're in a hurry! But I already had them. If I don't tell you, you won't be curious about where these things came from. It's better for me to tell you than to wait until you find out."
“These things all come from the mountains and fields, and there are many in the rivers. I am currently trying to raise them, but I don’t know if I can succeed. I will scoop up the river mussels, dig out the pearls from the ones with pearls, and eat the meat from the ones without pearls. However, not every river mussel has a pearl.”
Hu Mingmei really wanted to ask what would happen if he ran away with these things, but seeing Bai Nuo's calm expression, Hu Mingmei couldn't bring herself to ask.
This person didn't mind letting him know, not because she loved him and had no other choice, but because she wasn't afraid of losing him. Hu Mingmei suddenly understood why Bai Nuo told him, because even if he ran away with the things, she had a way to survive.
Other girls are all subservient to men and afraid of losing them, but his girl isn't afraid at all. Hu Mingmei suddenly felt melancholy.
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