It was a rainy day and drizzling . But the rain seems to be stopping soon .
Dong Xuebing alighted from Zhuji train station with a big Merry Supermarket bag . He was walking fast and keep adjusting his clothes . He felt very uncomfortable . The humidity at Zhuji was very high and cold . Dong Xuebing was used to the cold and dry weather in the North . He was walking along the road and quickly found a small restaurant by the roadside .
“Boss, give me the menu . ” Dong Xuebing sat down at an empty table .
“Coming . ” A fat middle-aged woman walked over with the menu .
Dong Xuebing picked two dishes and said: “Give me a local soup too . It’s too cold . ”
10 minutes later, all the dishes were served .
The soup was clam soup . Although Beijing people called these as clams, it was actually mussel . Pearl mussels . Other than a palm-size mussel, there was nothing else in the soup . Dong Xuebing was curious . He used his chopsticks to open the mussel . The mussel was full of peals . Dong Xuebing took a bite of the mussel flesh and then spit it out . It was too tough . How can anyone eat this shit?
The lady boss who was sitting at her counter saw him, and laughed . “That mussel is not for eating . You just drink the soup . ”
Dong Xuebing’s face was red with embarrassment . “What about the pearls?”
“Are you here for a holiday? You can pay people to string the pearls for you and bring it back as a souvenir . ”
“Oh, then this soup is also considered a form of pearl gambling?”
“You can say that . If you are lucky, you might be able to find some good pearls . You want me to serve another bowl of soup?”
“No . This is enough for me . ” Dong Xuebing knew this person was talking nonsense . He was reading up on pearl gambling on his more than 10 hours train ride . He knows that these mussels are low-grade mussels . One would be considered damn lucky if pearls worth 20 RMB were found in it . These mussels produce worthless pears . “Boss, can I ask you something? Do you know any pearl gambling places near here? How much will it cost to gamble pearl?”
The female boss looked at him: “There should be a pushcart two streets away from here . The price is about 200 to 300 . ”
Dong Xuebing replied: “Is there any places that sell better mussels? Like those 2,000 to 3,000 RMB types?”
“Oh, then you have to go to the Pearl breeding farms . But they don’t do pearl gambling there . They will open up the mussels themselves and then sell the pearls according to grades . Pearl gambling here is mainly small roadside stalls . The grades are not high . ”
Dong Xuebing chatted with the female boss for a while and got a better understanding of Zhuji’s pearl gambling .
The rain had stopped, and Dong Xuebing left the restaurant and got into a taxi .
The driver asked: “Where to?”
Dong Xuebing said: “Bring me to the nearest pearl breeding farm . ”
The driver sped up and asked: “You are from Beijing? Are you here for a holiday?”
“Yes . I am here to buy some pearl mussels to try my luck . ”
“Oh, you want to buy mussels . ” The driver thought for a while . “Then we should go towards the west . The two pearl farms nearby are not in season yet . Their mussels are not ready for harvest . The breeding farm on the west side might be further away . I was staying nearby the farm and saw them preparing to harvest the pearls a few days ago . ”
Dong Xuebing replied: “Ok . Let’s go to the west side then . Thank you . ”
About 20 minutes later, Dong Xuebing reached his destination . He paid the fare and quickly alight . He looked around and carried his bag tightly . His bag looks ordinary and old fashioned . But Dong Xuebing purpose picks this bag . There was a password box which contains 440,000 RMB, in the bag . Dong Xuebing was determined to raise 1 million on this trip . This was why he withdraws all his savings .
There were a few white-colored buildings in the distance . As Dong Xuebing got closer, he saw 5 to 6 breeding farms .
Dong Xuebing walked up to the metal gates . There was no one there, and he continued into the compound .
“Hey! What are you doing?” A man, covered in mud, stood up from the breeding farm . He shouted at Dong Xuebing: “Who allows you to enter?”
“I am here to buy pearls!” Dong Xuebing frowned as he looked at that man . “Where is the boss?”
“Buy pearls?” That man looked at Dong Xuebing from top to toe . “I am the boss here . What pearls do you want? Pearl powder?”
You are the boss of this farm? Dong Xuebing was surprised . He knew the owners of pearl farms were earning more than 1 million RMB annually . They should be either in suits and ties or at least look like a boss . But this person in front of Dong Xuebing looks like a hill billy . Even the roadside food seller in Beijing looks more like a boss than him .
At this time, 3 workers walked over from the northwest farm . “Boss, everything is ready . Are we opening the mussels now?”
Dong Xuebing finally believed this person is the boss of this farm . He asked: “Do you sell pearl mussels here? How much are you selling?”
The boss shakes the mud off his gloves . “We don’t sell mussels . If you want to buy pearls, come back the day after tomorrow . We still have not open mussels . ”
What I wanted are unopened mussels . Dong Xuebing followed the boss and asked: “What color is this batch of mussels?”
That boss replied impatiently . “I already said we don’t sell the mussels . Get out of here!”
“If the color of this batch of the mussel is good, money is not a problem . ” Dong Xuebing does not like this boss’s attitude . He knew that he looks too young and doesn’t look like a wealthy person . That’s why he was treated this way . If it were a middle-aged man with a bulging tummy, the boss attitude would be different . Dong Xuebing looked at the boss and opened his bag to show the boss his password box . “Even if you don’t want to sell, there is no harm for me to take a look, right? As for the prices…… . We can discuss that later?”
That boss was surprised, and he frowned . “Come with me . ”
Dong Xuebing followed the boss . There were rows of buoys from the shore to the center of the lake . The buoys were close to each other and covered the whole area . Along the coast, there were two small boats . On the boats, there were nets of mussels . From the pile of mussels on the shore, those nets should be able to hold at least 100 mussels each . There were at least 1,000 mussels . These mussels were bigger than they one at the restaurant . He could tell that these freshwater pearl mussels were of better grades .
After they got closer, the boss told one of his worker: “Open up one and see . ”
That worker nodded and took out a smaller mussel from the net . He then picked up a kitchen chopper from the mud . He inserted the chopper into the small opening of the mussel and then twist it . Crack! The mussel was opened, and Dong Xuebing could see the mussel flesh and parts of a gold color pearl . The worker reached into the meat and dug out 9 pearls of different shapes and sizes . He placed the pearls in a plastic pail . Freshwater pearls are different from seawater pearls . Seawater mussels can only produce one or two pearls .
This was pearl gambling?! Dong Xuebing got excited . It was fascinating .
That boss walked over and took out the biggest pearl . He placed the pearl in a device to measure it . “Hmmm…… Not bad . ” This device was designed to measure the diameter of the pearl . There was a handle for the user to grip, and with one button, it will secure and measure the pearl . “Half of these can be used to make jewelry, and the remaining can be made into pearl powder . Xiao Er . We will open the mussels, and Xiao Liu will do the sorting . ”
Fullness, roundness, brightness, and size will determine the grade of the pearl . Although golden pearls were considered top grade pearls, the small pearls or out of shape pearls were also worthless . Just like the mussel that was just opened . More than half of the pearls in it cannot be used to make jewelry .
“Oh . ” The boss turns and looks at Dong Xuebing . “How many mussels do you want?”
Dong Xuebing smiles . “Let me look around first . ” Although these pearls were valuable, Dong Xuebing was not tempted . He was calculating in his mind . He had used 8 BACK at Zhou Guoan’s house that day and still have 2 times left . He had also saved up all his BACK these few days, and there were still 10 times left .
The boss and his worker start to open the mussels with choppers .
Crack! A palm-sized mussel was opened, and there were 11 white pearls in it . The value of an mussel was not based on the number of pearls . It depends on the size of the biggest pearl and whether if the pearl was round and bright . The biggest pearl will fetch the highest prices . That’s why this mussel was not considered good as the biggest pearl was less than 10mm .
Crack! Another one……
Another one……
The fifth one……
The eighth one……
10 minutes had passed, and many mussels were opened . Not a single pearl was more than 10mm!
It was not because this batch of mussels was not good . It was because it was rare to find pearls above the size of 10mm . It was like finding acicular in crystals .
The ninth mussel …… The biggest pearl was close to 1 . 3 cm .
Tenth mussel …… These were all tiny pearls .
On the 11th pearl……
“Eh! Boss! This pearl is big!” The worker shouted .
Dong Xuebing and the boss looks over . They saw the worker digging out a big golden pearl . “This pearl is at least 1 . 5 cm . The quality is good . ” The pearl was measured using the device . It was flawless . It was a top-grade golden pearl!
That boss smiles . “Good…… . Good……”
That’s it!
The prized pearl had finally appeared . Dong Xuebing immediately shouts BACK!
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