Chapter 39: Pearls
Jiang Tangtang took the bamboo tube rice back to the donkey cart.
Although they had already had dinner, Jiang Tangtang planned to have some barbecue because he had caught so many clams during the day.
So after He Qiuniang and Hu Dangui finished their meal, they took their tools and continued to open the clams.
Seeing that He Hu was so young, Jiang Tangtang followed He Qiuniang to help, and gave the bamboo tube rice to He Hu.
This bamboo tube rice is made of glutinous rice and sausage. In fact, there is not much of it, so the servants don’t have any.
He Hu took the bamboo tube rice and hurriedly thanked Jiang Tangtang.
Jiang Tangtang was satisfied. This was the right attitude to have when eating her food!
They were nothing like those people from the second branch of the Lu family, who not only ate her food for free but also scolded her. She would never give them any food.
"Uh, what is this?" Jiang Tangtang was about to leave when He Qiuniang suddenly raised the clam shell in her hand and asked.
Jiang Tangtang was attracted by her voice, tilted her head to look, and immediately said happily: "This is Pearl!"
"Pearls?" He Qiuniang had heard of pearls before. She knew that many young ladies from wealthy families in the county used pearls to make jewelry, and that they were very expensive. However, she had never known that pearls grew in clam shells.
After realizing how precious the thing she was holding was, He Qiuniang was also excited and hurriedly handed the pearl to Jiang Tangtang.
"Since you discovered it, this pearl belongs to you!" Jiang Tangtang, who had seen artificially cultured pearls in modern times, did not care about this not-so-smooth, irregular pearl, but instead set his sights on the river clam.
Ordinary river clams do not produce pearls.
According to her observation, the river clam in He Qiuniang's hand is a cuming clam. In modern times, this type of river clam is mostly used in freshwater pearl farming.
He Qiuniang didn't expect Jiang Tangtang to let her keep such a valuable item. She subconsciously declined, "How can that be! This is against the rules!"
"What's wrong with this? Consider it a reward. Keep it safe!" Jiang Tangtang said, "Once we're settled, I'll make you a piece of jewelry when I have time."
"Thank you, ma'am! You are such a kind person!" He Qiuniang carefully put away the pearls and knelt on the ground to kowtow to Jiang Tangtang to express her gratitude.
"Don't thank me, just get up!" Jiang Tangtang said, "Try to recognize the appearance of this river clam. Pay attention to it when you open the shell later. If it looks like this one, don't open it yet and leave it alone for me."
Hearing that Jiang Tangtang had found pearls, the prisoners who had gone to pick up river clams during the day began to check the clams in their hands.
Chen was also examining the clams in her hand. However, after all her hard work, she didn't find a single pearl. Instead, she opened all the clams that she had saved for breakfast the next day.
Chen said unwillingly, "How come they can get pearls out of it, but we can't? Could it be that the clam shell they got the pearls out of is exactly the one Han Ge'er sent over?"
Lu Zhiyi was just about to avenge Jiang Tangtang for stealing her bamboo rice, so she immediately said, "Mom, I'll go over and take a look."
As he spoke, he walked towards the resting place of the Lu family's main house.
Seeing Lu Shiyan, Lu Zhiyi immediately sniffed, covered half of his face, lowered his head, and said aggrievedly: "Brother, I'm sorry, I thought the food in Han'er's hand was given by my grandmother, and I didn't know that my cousin didn't agree. If I knew that my cousin didn't agree, I wouldn't eat it. I won't eat it again next time, I'm sorry..."
Lu Shiyan said expressionlessly, "That wasn't meant for you to eat. It's good that you know you're wrong."
Lu Zhiyi raised his head in surprise and looked at Lu Shiyan in disbelief.
Isn’t the eldest cousin the one who follows rules the most?
At this time, shouldn't he scold Jiang for being ignorant and beating her for a mere bite of food?
Why is it different from what she thought?
Jiang Tangtang, who was standing aside watching the fun, couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Such a green tea girl, she still wanted to tease her and went to Lu Shiyan to complain about her. Unexpectedly, Lu Shiyan, a straight man, did not play by the rules at all.
This is so cool!
Hearing Jiang Tangtang's laughter, Lu Zhiyi almost couldn't help but go up and fight with Jiang Tangtang.
She barely managed to suppress her anger and said to Jiang Tangtang, "Sister-in-law, I know you don't like me! But don't worry, since I gave you the clams, they are yours. The pearls inside are also yours. I won't ask you to take them back. Please don't treat me like this, okay?"
Jiang Tangtang sneered and said to Hu Yan beside him, "Go and get the clams that Han Ge'er just brought over and return them to her!"
The clams from the second house were full of silt and the sand had not been spit out to remove the fishy smell. How could she possibly eat them?
Moreover, the brothers Lu Shiyan and Lu Shili had picked up so many river clams that they couldn't even finish eating them themselves, so they didn't need her three or five clams.
After Hu Yan brought the clams over, Jiang Tangtang threw them at her feet and said, "See? This is the clams you sent us. We haven't even touched them yet. Don't claim the pearls as yours just because we opened them. You're really trying to take advantage of everything. You're shameless! Take your clams and get out of here!"
"That's not what I meant!" Lu Zhiyi looked at Lu Shiyan with a wronged look on his face and said, "Brother, I really didn't mean that. My cousin's wife misunderstood me."
Lu Shiyan still had a cold face. "I have ears, you don't need to explain. Jiang is right, we haven't touched your clams. Take them back quickly! Go back and take a good look at them to see if you can get any pearls out of them."
After saying that, Lu Shiyan ignored her and turned around to feed the donkey.
Jiang Tangtang was too lazy to pay attention to her.
She set up a barbecue grill, placed the chopped clams one by one on the red-hot charcoal fire, and brushed them with various barbecue seasonings.
A tempting aroma suddenly wafted from the simple barbecue grill.
Lu Zhiyi couldn't help swallowing his saliva. His feet seemed to be rooted and he couldn't move at all.
She walked over and said, "Sister-in-law, please lend me your fire to roast our clams!"
"I'm busy!" Jiang Tangtang rolled her eyes and refused bluntly, "If you want to roast it, go light a fire yourself."
Lu Zhiyi glared at Jiang Tangtang hatefully and was about to call her ugly, but when she got closer, she suddenly realized that Jiang Tangtang was completely different from what she remembered.
Her face has become much whiter and there is no spot on it, and she has also lost a lot of weight.
Although she still doesn't look beautiful now, she will definitely look good if she loses more weight.
This is so unfair!
Everyone else's skin was tanned and had spots on it, becoming uglier and uglier, but she was different. After being exiled, she became more beautiful.
So exile wasn't a hardship for her, but rather an opportunity to change herself?
Lu Zhiyi was filled with sourness, but he barely suppressed his anger and said, "You can't write two Lu characters with one stroke. Even if we split up, we are still the closest people in the world.
We will have to support each other when we are exiled! Why is the eldest cousin's wife so mean? Besides, I made the clam meat myself, and I didn't take advantage of you. "
"Bah!" Jiang Tangtang said, "Who would talk to a green tea family like you who are thicker-skinned than a city wall? Stop it!"
Lu Zhiyi wanted to continue to fight, but was quickly driven away by the officers who came after smelling the fragrance.
That night, Jiang Tangtang set up a barbecue stall for an hour and grilled all the river clams that He Qiuniang had prepared.
Of course, her hard work of preparing the barbecue ingredients and spending an hour preparing them was not in vain.
After the barbecue was finished, Liang Jiamin offered to lend her half of the donkey cart to store her things, and promised to allow her to go into the city to buy another carriage when they arrived at the next town.
A few officials also gave her some rabbit skins they had collected along the way, and kindly reminded her, "Although it doesn't usually snow in Yazhou in winter, it can still be quite cold when the wind blows. By the time you get to Yazhou, it will be the coldest time of the year. You should still buy some food, especially for the children."
Jiang Tangtang thanked the officials for their kindness and put away the rabbit skins.
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