Chapter 115: Conger Eels
Han Ruochen did not bother with Aunt Gossip and her son; she walked past the two of them.
"Ruochen, why are you this good?" questioned Tong Zhaodi with a sigh. She was walking ahead of Han Ruochen, and yet she didn’t see the turbots. Three turbots, though they were not anything rare, were worth three hundred yuan. This was really good for someone who didn’t earn much.
Han Ruochen did not say anything. She had the sea scanning system with her; of course, she could easily find the rare and expensive seafood with ease. Fortunately, her sea scanning system was working on the reef just fine. She thought that the sea scanning system might not work as clearly as it did on the mudflat.
Her eyesight and strength were also getting better and better; thus, things were getting easier with each passing day. With her range increased by twenty-five meters, she could easily see through the ground and water. And even when she arrived at the rocky reef, she found out that her vision was not at all hindered.
"Zhaodi, let’s go and take a look there." Han Ruochen pointed at a spot that was a hundred metres away from where they were standing.
"Sure," Tong Zhaodi trusted Han Ruochen 100% and immediately followed her with the bucket. Tong Zhaodi, however, was the only one who trusted Han Ruochen. The rest of the villagers, however, didn’t trust Han Ruochen. They looked at the large rock that seemed like it was nothing good or special.
Besides, it was too far from the shore. How could there be anything good?
When Han Ruochen saw that no one followed her, she sighed in relief. This time, she was worried that if people from the village had followed her, there was a good chance that the treasures on the rock would have been taken away from her. Tong Zhaodi noticed that Han Ruochen was a bit nervous and couldn’t help but wonder what was on the large rock that Han Ruochen was so worried about being followed. But she didn’t show anything on her face and followed Han Ruochen silently.
"There seems to be something moving there," said Tong Zhaodi.
"Shh," Han Ruochen placed a finger on her lips and said to her, "Don’t speak too loudly. If someone hears us, then it will be twice as troublesome."
She did not want to share this good thing with anyone else, but if someone were to hear Tong Zhaodi, then there was a very good chance that they would come looking for the things behind the rock. That would be quite a bit of trouble. So, she shushed Tong Zhaodi right away lest she attract the attention of the villagers.
Tong Zhaodi also understood the importance of her silence at that very moment. She pursed her lips and didn’t say another word. And as she peered behind the rocks, she realised that there was something that she had never seen before. She raised her head and looked at Han Ruochen before asking in a low voice, "What are these, Sister Ruochen? I don’t think that this is anything good. Look at how weird these things look."
"Don’t worry. I know what I am doing." Han Ruochen grinned at the woman, and when she saw that Tong Zhaodi was looking at her with confusion in her eyes, she explained in a delighted voice, "This thing is called elephant trunk clam. Just one of these could be sold for a hundred yuan or one hundred twenty yuan, and if we can find a high-end restaurant to sell it, then I am sure I can sell these babies for more than six hundred yuan per clam."
"Is this thing really that expensive?" Tong Zhaodi asked in shock.
"Thats right. It’s really expensive, as long as we can collect enough of these, I will be able to sell them for a pretty price."
As she spoke, Han Ruochen started to pick up the elephant trunk clams that were scattered all over the shore. When Tong Zhaodi saw that Han Ruochen was already moving around to pick up the elephant trunk clams, she didn’t waste anymore time. She, too, hurried to help her, and soon the two women were able to pick up the thirty or so jin of elephant trunk clams and place them in the buckets.
After they were done, Han Ruochen felt like her back was about to crack. She slowly stretched her back and then rolled her shoulders to ease the tension in her shoulders. She closed her eyes and arched her arms over her head before saying to Tong Zhaodi, "Be careful, if you cannot pick them up then there is no need to push yourself."
"It’s alright." Tong Zhaodi waved her hand off and said in a low voice, "I am used to picking even heavier loads; this is nothing compared to that, so don’t worry."
Since she had already said that it was alright, naturally, Han Ruochen wouldn’t demoralise her. She then walked around the corner and detected the thing that was causing her alarm to go off once again. Her eyes widened as she looked at the thing that was thrashing in the small puddle. Dear her. She never expected that there would be a time when she would run into a conger eel.
Han Ruochen had heard a lot about these eels from her grandmother. Her grandfather used to catch these eels with bare hands, and one could often hear the brave tales that her grandmother told her about her grandfather. However, while Han Ruochen was not scared of this thing, she didn’t dare to grab it with her bare hands. She reached out and instead took out a pair of pliers.
The last time someone was not careful with these conger eels, they ended up losing a finger, and Han Ruochen loved her second life way too much to lose a finger.
She took in a long breath and then raised the pliers in her hands before shoving it right under the water beneath the crack of the rock.
