I am chasing a rough man in the 80s
Chapter 303 Brother Ting can also fail

Chapter 303: Chapter 303 Brother Ting can also fail

Yu Jingting indeed had a pair of nimble hands.

As Suizi directed him to open the clams, he quickly got them open, and upon seeing the numerous objects inside, he didn’t react immediately.

"They’re pearls. Take them out and put them in the basin. Mom, don’t we still have a bag of sawdust?"

Wang Cuihua was stupefied; this was the first time she had witnessed the birth of a pearl.

"So this smelly thing is a pearl - what do you want the sawdust for?"

"The pearls need to be polished. First, they should be soaked in clean water, then rubbed with a mixture of sawdust and saltwater to remove the surface calcium carbonate. Then, they need to be rinsed with clean water and soaked again in solvent."

Come daylight, she would find a place to get the solvent. It shouldn’t be too difficult as cosmetic factories usually have it.

"Where did you get these?"

Wang Cuihua pulled some tissue paper out of her pocket to stuff up her nose, offering some to Suizi as well.

"I have no idea what my mom is up to - she might have traveled to a pearl farming site in the south and had someone bring these back."

Although pearl farming in the country had only just started a few years ago, it was already pretty developed in the south.

The quality of pearls produced there had gradually matured from junk to jewelry-grade.

It wouldn’t be long before the country shifted from an importer to an exporter of pearls.

Recalling this snippet of history, Suizi decided to share it with Wang Cuihua and her son.

The first clam was quickly emptied, revealing dozens of pearls, including some larger, round ones. Judging from their size, the clam had to be at least two years old. The quality was pretty good.

"This is different from what I imagined. It isn’t shiny at all." Wang Cuihua felt the pearls looked a bit dull.

They weren’t that attractive, and they still smelled awful...

"It’s normal for them to not be shiny before polishing. After that, their luster will become apparent. It seems my mom did a great job this time – she must’ve visited a mature clam field."

Possibly even a demonstration base, which is typically off-limits to ordinary people, let alone taking things from there - was her mom doing this well now?

Even now, Suizi believed this was a surprise from Chen Lijun.

Yu Jingting kept his head down and worked diligently as he watched the two women, their noses stuffed with tissue, enjoying the fruits of his labor.

All he could do was channel his frustration into getting the next clam open.

"Why is this one so much smaller?"

Wang Cuihua noticed that the clams varied in sizes and shapes.

"Different species."

Yu Jingting stood up to go to the toilet, missing an important part of Suizi’s explanation to Wang Cuihua.

"I think the smaller ones are Seawater Pearls? They’re usually rounder as they are nucleated farmed. However, each clam usually only produces one or two of them and they come in a wider range of colors."

When Yu Jingting came back, he opened the smaller ones. Inside, there was indeed only one perfectly round pearl, a beautiful peacock green.

Wang Cuihua was amazed. The family gathered around until late at night, opening clam after clam to reveal a small basin full of pearls, fully experiencing the joy of mystery boxes.

After a simple wash, they sorted the pearls by size and shape.

Suizi thought to set aside the jewelry-grade pearls and sort the ones of average quality separately. The latter could be ground into pearl powder later.

The yield was surprisingly high. These were genuinely good pearls, not the rubbish ones used to scam people in live video streams.

Yu Jingting was sent by the two women to bury the clams. Upon his return, he saw the two women chattering gleefully around the basin, excitedly discussing their plans with a greedy look in their eyes.

"This one would make a nice pendant. It’s beautiful."

"This golden one would make wonderful earrings for mom. It’s so affluent."

The two women exchanged a glance and then laughed. Yu Jingting squinted at them, completely clueless about their strange sense of humor.

"Why don’t you two just hang pearls all over your bodies?" Yu Jingting snidely commented.

His comment earned him a disdainful look from both his mother and wife.

"Keep your opinions to yourself and go take a shower. Use extra soap; you smell terrible!"

Yu Jingting felt even more upset. He was the one who had put in all the hard work!

These two women, when they got into their vanity moods, didn’t even think about who had worked hard to retrieve the pearls for them.

Suizi had originally planned to kiss him on the cheek while Wang Cuihua wasn’t watching, but when she got close, she pinched her nose and backed off.

"You should...go clean yourself up."

"Ha, women!"

Yu Jingting left in a huff, leaving only a sullen and lonely silhouette.

Unfortunately for him, Suizi had no chance to pay attention; she was deeply engaged in a discussion with her mother-in-law.

The next day was the weekend when everyone got a break from work.

By the time Suizi got up out of bed, Yu Jingting had already left the house.

He came back after breakfast, carrying a bag of a white crystalline substance.

It was exactly what Suizi needed for polishing.

Being pregnant, she couldn’t handle this material, so he would do it.

The man, who had been overlooked all night, finally felt like the head of the household again.

One moment, he was asking Suizi to rub his shoulders; the next, he was asking her to steep tea for him.

Then, with his tea done, acting all high and mighty, crossing his legs and behaving like a big shot landlord.

"Why is this water so hot?"

Wang Cuihua had had enough and slapped him on the back of the head.

"You sunbathe and you become radiant? Now hurry up and get to work, pronto!"

The tea was passed to Wang Cuihua.

Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, one holding a teacup, the other a milk cup, supervised Yu Jingting.

Yu Jingting, cast as the mighty landlord, didn’t last for three minutes before being demoted to labourer once more, dutifully doing work for the women of the house.

The pearls had to soak for half the day, and the two money-crazy women popped in every so often to check on them.

Yu Jingting even thought that the two women’s eyes were glinting green.

His wife wasn’t so materialistic before - indeed, being around her mother, she learned all her bad habits.

In Suizi’s previous life, she had seen and enjoyed everything, and pearls, not being especially precious, were easily obtainable. So, they weren’t a great novelty.

But it’s different in this life.

These are pearls that she dug out herself, and extracted - um, well, directed her own man to extract. The joy was utterly different.

Especially since life is so materially impoverished these days, having a pot of pearls brought happiness that money in later ages couldn’t possibly buy.

"My mother is getting better and better at surprising me, I like it very much. Once I go to work tomorrow, I must call her to say thanks."

"Yes, indeed, we should show our gratitude—Hey, this one looks good; what should we make for your mother?" Wang Cuihua asked, still immersed in the pleasure of feeling wealthy.

Yu Jingting tugged at the corners of his mouth, his eyes full of smugness.

Thankfully, he had good foresight.

That morning, when he went out to fetch the polishing powder, he had called his mother-in-law and gotten their stories straight.

"Wife, there’s a saying that describes doing something so well that there’s not a single flaw. How does it go?"

"Perfect to the point of having no holes to pick, or consummate in all respects."

"Hmm, that’s me alright." Yu Jingting said, particularly pleased with himself.

However, the street-smart man who never messed up messed up this time.

The next day, Suizi called Chen Lijun and after some pleasantries, got to the point.

"Mom, where did you get these pearl oysters?"

Chen Lijun, who was well-prepared, nonchalantly mentioned a place she had found out about, a freshwater pearl farm in their country.

Silence fell on the other end of the line.

"Suizi?" Chen Lijun thought Suizi had lost the call.

Little did she know, Suizi was in utter shock at this end - there was a major flaw in her mother’s words!

These pearl oysters...they weren’t from her mother?