I’m the Farmgirl You Can’t Mess With
Chapter 948 - Chapter 948 Lack of Money

Chapter 948: Lack of Money Chapter 948: Lack of Money Editor: Atlas Studios Little Bear took the sandrock from the old man’s hand and scraped the shell of another clam, but the clam did not react at all.

The old man took it and held his hand.

After changing the direction, he gently scratched it twice.

The clamshell slowly openedaEUR| It was not difficult to open the clamshell.

Even the children of the fishermen in Hepu knew how to do it because they had been harvesting pearls for generations.

They had learned this ability from the moment they learned how to swim.

In the past, they had also killed clams to obtain pearls, like people in other regions do.

However, later on they stopped due to two reasons.

Firstly, it was the fact that there was a less than one in 1,000 chance of finding a pearl in a clam.

Those clams had died too unjustly, and the number of clams in the sea had decreased drastically with each generation.

Secondly, the Tang dynasty had started to ban the harvesting of pearls among the commoners.

Under this new rule, they could not bring the clams to the shore to harvest the pearls, and could only do so on the boat or in the water.

Perhaps they could still open the clams on the boat.

But in the water, to begin with, it was difficult for people to breathe.

In addition to having to withstand the water pressure, how could they dare to use too much strength?

Therefore, the method of opening the clamshell was gradually perfected.

This was a method that their ancestors had risked their lives to come up with.

Fishermen did not keep such things a secret from each other.

As a result, all the fishermen and even the children in Hepu knew how to do it.

However, it was only limited to that area.

Towards outsiders, they were very cautious and did not let word spread of this.

However, only adults would consider these problems.

The children felt that this was as normal as eating and drinking, so they were surprised that the young masters didn’t know how to open the clams.

Little Bear didn’t notice their thoughts.

After learning for a while, he realized that he still couldn’t open the clam shell, so he didn’t feel conflicted anymore.

He calculated in his heart.

There were a total of 24 people in the three families, and they all had this ability.

Since it was so simple for them to open the clam shell, planting the seeds shouldn’t be difficult.

Hence, it didn’t matter if they could do it themselves or not.

Little Bear discussed with his three younger brothers.

“We’ll have someone section off an area in the sea bed, start seeding it, and keep the seeded ones in that area.

They just need to scrape them a bit to open the clamshells, so the process should be very fast, probably done in four to five days.” As long as they could plant the clams, all that was left was to ensure that the clams had enough food.

Little An volunteered, “Cousins and I will go find round sand.” Little Bear nodded.

Everyone divided the work.

The four of them retrieved their red packet money received during the New Year and asked the fishermen to help divide up the space.

They also asked them to help scoop up the clams.

The three families only had to sit on the beach and scrape open the clam shells and throw the sand in.

Someone else would be responsible for throwing the sea clams back into the sea.

On the other hand, Little An used copper coins to hire a group of children to help collect suitable sand.

As for what kind of sand was suitable, different people had different opinions.

For example, Tiger Head felt that round and big gravel were the best.

He rationalized that this way, the pearls would also end up big and round.

However, Little Lion felt that round and small gravel were better.

This way, the clams could grind out the pearls faster.

The two children only looked for their preferred type of gravel, while Little An gathered some of all kinds.

He remembered Fourth Aunt had mentioned that the pearls were produced because the clams were stimulated by foreign objects and secreted pearls as a means to wrap around and grind those foreign objects.

Therefore, Little An found some with sharp edges.

He felt that this way, the clams would secrete more pearl substance.

However, the gravel chosen by the three children had one common characteristic, which was that it was larger than most of the sand on the beach.

They were proceeding at a much faster speed than Little Bear had estimatedaEUR”it only took them three days to finish filling the clams.

When they were down to the final net of clams, the four children decided to do various experiments.

For instance, they stuffed many small gravels into one clam.

For other clams, they stuffed a big and round one into one clam, or a sharp and big one into one clam, or even stuffed other random things into one clam.

Tiger Head even broke the shell of the clam while trying to stuff things into its mouth.

In short, they tried stuffing all sorts of random things into the clams for this final batch.

Then, this net of clams was specially placed into a small space with a net, separated from the rest.

Little Bear asked them to pay more attention to the clams there, because this net was equivalent to their “experimental field”.

Sea clams were creatures that could easily survive.

As long as the sea was not polluted and there was enough food, they could live well.

Therefore, no sea clams died for five days after they were planted.

Elated, the three children went to play in peace.

Recently, they had been obsessed with making music boxes and planned to do it themselves.

Since Heizi and the others were already on their way and might arrive in a few days, they decided to try it themselves first.

If they succeeded in making it, they could show it off to their friends.

Meanwhile, Little Bear was busy getting sponsors, having calculated the cost of making the music box.

It was not high, but it was not low either.

Other than using his money on his academies, most of his remaining money was invested in the aqua farm.

He still had to spend it himself, so he had no money left.

And the aqua farm still required money.

Little Bear first went to his parents and explained to them the future development direction and bright future of the aqua farm, telling them they would definitely not regret investing in it.

In the end, Qi Haoran gave Little Bear 20 taels of silver.

Not as an investment, but out of a father’s support for his son’s career.

Little Bear was very happy, this being the first sponsorship he had received.

He told his father that when the lobsters and crabs in his sea farm grew up, he would definitely treat him to a table of seafood.

Mu Yangling gave Little Bear 100 taels, which also meant that she was not investing.

“Since the aqua farm was created by you children, it’s not a good idea for an adult like me to have a share of the business.

However, I’m not giving you this 100 taels for nothing.

It’s a loan.” Little Bear’s originally happy face stiffened.

With his head lowered, he asked, “Mother, how much do we owe you so far?” “Oh, you’re in a worse state than the rest.

Including this loan, you now owe me 168 taels.

Tiger Head and Little Lion saved a lot when they were young, so they don’t owe me anything for the time being.

However, they don’t have much savings left with me.

Little An is slightly better off than you, owing me 29 taels.

However, his father is very rich.” Mu Yangling gave her son a look that said, “You know.” Little Bear was shocked.

“Little An returned 125 taels after the new year?” He knew that Little An owed 150 taels of silver previously, which was more than he owed his mother.

How did he manage to return so much money in such a short period of time?

Sighing, Mu Yangling said, “Little An received too much red packet money during the New Year.

He returned more than half of his loan in one go and even said that he would be able to finish repaying the remaining amount when the music box is made.” Little Bear became nervous.

When that happened, wouldn’t he be the only one in debt again?

Thinking of the profits of the music box, Little Bear immediately went back to write to Little Treasure to attempt to rope him in.

If they could make music boxes, they could probably earn ten times the profits for each music box.

This would be a huge income.

Of course, they were a tad tight on funds at the moment.

Little Treasure read the letter while looking at his second, third, and fourth brothers, who were playing on the carpet.

After slowly putting the letter away, he asked the palace maids and eunuchs serving in the hall to leave.

He squatted in front of his three brothers and took out the music box he had received for the new year.

He unscrewed it, and music sounded, immediately attracting the gazes of the three children.

Little Treasure revealed an angel-like smile and bewitched them.

“Brothers, do you like this toy?” The Second Prince nodded repeatedly.

The Third Prince and the Fourth Prince, who were more than a year old, reached out to grab it.

Little Treasure quickly moved aside and smiled at his three younger brothers.

“Then can Big Brother borrow some money from you?

Some time later, I’ll give each of you a prettier music box.”