On the seashore of Heqing Town, where Li Sanjian lives, dozens of pearl diving boats are moored in a sheltered bay by the sea.

There is also a large incense case placed on the shore of the bay, on which candlesticks, incense burners, fruits and vegetables, meat and other offerings are placed, and hundreds of pearl divers are burning incense and praying, praying that God and the god of the sea will bless the pearl diving trip to go smoothly.

"Mazu bless, bless me and everything goes well."

"Worship the heavens, and stay away from evil waves and sea ghosts."

The pearl divers worshiped in the direction of the pearl pond.

The pearl divers are called the scorpioners or the scorpioners, the stingers take the boat as their home, and live on the sea, except for some family members who live on the shore, the scorpioners almost all live on the sea all year round, fishing, pearl diving, clam fishing and so on.

The imperial court organized them into households, established the long, and was under the jurisdiction of the Hebo Division, and the annual fishing tax was collected and taxed to the official, which was called "Shuhu".

Because Qiongtai is in the southernmost part of the Song Dynasty, and it is a place where Han and Li live together, the jurisdiction of the imperial court here is not so strict.

The Qiongtai pearl divers went to the pearl pond to dive pearls, and after collecting pearls, they could exchange the pearls for some daily necessities from the merchants, such as grain, cloth, wine, salt and other things.

At this time, hundreds of scorpioners are worshipping the god of the sea, and then they will go to the pearl pond to dive pearls, Li Sanjian's maternal grandfather Fu Gui and two uncles Fu Gui and Fu scales are among them.

"Daddy Fu, the sacrifice is over, can I go to the Pearl Pond?" After the sacrifice was over, an old man asked.

Fu Gui frowned and looked at the sea in the distance, waved his hand and said, "Let's go." ”

Because Fu Gui's family is a scorpion household, and Fu Gui has been picking pearls for decades, he is very experienced, and he is also more familiar with the climate change on the sea surface, so Fu Gui is the leader of the pearl diving crowd, and all the scorpioners are willing to obey his arrangement.

Then the thieves shouted the trumpet, drove the pearl diving boat, and set sail to the sea.

The pearl diving boat is different from ordinary fishing boats, which have a pointed bow, while pearling boats are round, and the hull of the pearl diving boat is wider than that of fishing boats, which seems to be a huge oval wooden basin.

There are also some pearling utensils such as cables, pottery jars, straw recommendations, wooden barrels, wooden basins, and pearling knives in the pearl diving boat.

The pearling ship piloted by Fu Gui was the largest of all ships.

"What? Jian'er, why are you here? ”

Not long after Fu Gui, Fu Mo, and Fu Liang drove the pearl diving boat away from the shore, Li Sanjian suddenly stretched his head out of the cabin and looked around.

Li Sanjian suddenly appeared, and immediately startled the Fu father and son, what did he do? A trip to pearl diving, it is not much different from going up the knife mountain and going down to the sea of fire, it is extremely dangerous, and the Fu father and son don't understand why this demented boy suddenly appeared on the pearl diving boat? You must know that this kid can't get on the boat on weekdays.

"Grandfather, second uncle, third uncle." Li Sanjian sneered: "I'm bored at home, I want to come out and take a look." ”

"Nonsense, it's nonsense." Fu Gui said angrily: "The sea route is treacherous, don't you know? If you have any accidents, how can I explain them to your mother? Well, by the way, does your mother know? ”

His daughter is a poor person, married Li Qing, gave birth to three sons, and then Li Qing and Li Sanjian's two brothers passed away one after another, Fu Erniang was in pain, at this time Li Sanjian is Fu Erniang's only hope in this world, if Li Sanjian has any accidents, Fu Guizhen does not know how his daughter can survive in this world.

"Mother went to the market, grandpa, I'm fine." Li Sanjian grabbed the boat and replied, "Mother... Mother doesn't know. ”

In fact, it is not that Li Sanjian is interested in going to sea, but Li Sanjian sees that Fu Erniang picks up some conch and clams on the beach every day to exchange for some grain, salt and other daily necessities at the market ten miles away.

Li Sanjian couldn't bear it, so he planned to follow Fu Gui and others to the sea to see if he could find some livelihood and share the hard days with Fu Erniang.

"You're such a fool." Fu Gui couldn't help but be angry: "You actually came here secretly, your mother knows about it, and she is going to complain about me again." ”

"Daddy, just let Jian'er follow, anyway, he won't go to the sea, there's no danger." Fu Gui was angry, so he hurriedly persuaded him.

Fu Gui looked at Li Sanjian, sighed and said to Fu Scale: "Scale, you take care of Jian'er, be careful, don't let him fall into the sea." ”

At this time, the pearl diving ship was already far away from the coast, and it was impossible to send Li Sanjian back, and even if it could be sent back, it might anger the sea god, and the sea god's guilt was not a joke.

"Don't worry, Daddy, Jian'er has been handed over to me." Fu Liang smiled and said to Li Sanjian: "Jian'er, you hurry up... ”

"No problem, no problem." Li Sanjian held the boat tightly and said with a smile: "The scenery here is unique, it's not in vain... ”

Before Li Sanjian's words fell, a big wave came, almost lifting Li Sanjian into the sea, fortunately Fu Liang grabbed Li Sanjian, but even so, Li Sanjian drank a few mouthfuls of seawater, and his whole body was drenched like a chicken in soup, his face was pale, and he was so choked by the sea that he couldn't speak for a while, and looked at Fu Gui and the others in horror and embarrassment...

"Haha" Fu Liang couldn't help laughing when he saw this: "Hey, I said Jian'er, look at your little body, Jian'er, come here, grab your third uncle." ”

Fu Liang is only nineteen years old this year, only six years older than Li Sanjian, and he has just become an adult, but Fu Liang has been sailing at sea for a long time, the water is excellent, and his body is also extremely thick.

Standing on the ship, it's like an iron tower.

Even if Li Sanjian was swept into the sea by the waves, Fu Liang was sure to quickly scoop him up from the sea.

Li Sanjian was helpless, holding the boat gang with one hand and tightly grasping the belt of Fu Scales with the other.

So much more stable ...

Fu Gui glanced at Li Sanjian, shook his head, and continued to direct the pearl diving boat to sail towards the pearl pool.

Dozens of pearl diving boats soon arrived at a pearl pond, and the lizards anchored above the sea.

Then the group was divided into two groups, one group went to the sea to pick up mother-of-pearl, and the other group was responsible for driving the boat and responding.

The people who are responsible for going to the sea to pick up pearl pearl are all young and strong, excellent water people, all naked, carrying a sharp pearl diving knife, holding a pearl diving basket with a small belly, before entering the water, take a deep breath a few times, and finally hold a breath, jump into the sea, sink to the bottom of the sea dozens of feet, open your eyes wide, looking for the pearl in the bottom of the sea, in the rock crevices of the seabed.

Each of the pearl divers had a rope wrapped around their waists, one end of which was in the hands of the people on board, and the experienced lizards on the boat held the rope tightly in both hands, staring closely at the rope exposed above the sea, and at the slightest movement, they had to immediately pull the rope together with the others and pull the pearl diver out of the sea.

Fu Gui tightly held the rope that tied the scales of the talisman, his eyes widened, and he didn't dare to take his eyes off the rope for half a minute.

Fu Gui also paid attention to the surface of the sea, once a trace of blood floated up, it indicated that Fu Liang and the others had encountered danger at the bottom of the sea, and even died.

Although a lot of protection has been done, but the pearl diving is still extremely dangerous, if the pearl diver miscalculates or the person pulling the boat reacts slowly, then the pearl diver will suffocate to death underwater, it will be seven orifices bleeding, and the death will be miserable.

In addition to breathing, there are many unknown dangers on the seabed, such as sharks, strange fish, poisonous sea snakes, poisonous jellyfish and other underwater creatures. Li Sanjian's uncle died at the bottom of the sea in this way, and his body was not even found.

There is also the temperature of the seabed, it is summer, the temperature of the seabed is still very low, if you pick pearls in winter, the pearl diver may be frozen to death at the bottom of the sea.

The pearl diver is completely a pearl with his life...

It turned out that this was the case for pearl diving, Li Sanjian sat in the cabin, also holding the rope tightly, looking at the sea, and secretly said in his heart, this kind of pearl picked at the cost of his life should be able to sell for a good price, right? Pick at least once, and you will be able to eat and drink without worry during the age of one.

"There's movement!" While Li Sanjian was speculating wildly, Fu Mo shouted loudly.

"Do it!" Fu Gui shouted, pulling the rope with both hands, and everyone on the pearl diving boat pulled the rope together, and even Li Sanjian used the strength to eat milk...

The other pearling boats were pulling the ropes at the same time.

In a moment's effort, Li Sanjian's third uncle, Fu Scale, was pulled out of the sea.

"In stock! In stock! The scales floating on the surface of the sea shouted excitedly as they held up the pearl basket.

"Get on board." Fu Gui said loudly.

After being pulled onto the boat, Fu Scale yelled a few times and fainted, the purpose of the yelling was to exhale the turbid breath in his chest, because he held his breath for too long, so Fu Scale fainted, and at the same time, someone might never wake up again.

Fu Gui, who was extremely experienced, hurriedly covered a boiled quilt on Fu Scale's body to prevent him from being frozen.

Fu Scale's body was strong, and he woke up after half a moment, and pointed to the pearl basket with a smile and said, "Daddy, there are still a lot of goods, and there is a big one, the child has never seen such a big one." ”

"Say less." Fu Gui smiled and said, "I don't know what the other ships are harvesting?" ”

"There must have been quite a few, and the boy heard the other brothers on the boat start cheering." Fu Mole said.

"Black Pearl! Black Pearl! One of the lizards who prying open the mother-of-pearl suddenly made a few noises.

"What?" Hearing this, Fu Gui hurriedly went over and took a black pearl the size of a walnut and said with tears: "Auspicious from the sky, auspicious from the sky!" ”

Legend has it that black pearls are the tears of mother-of-pearl, which have been precipitated over countless years and are extremely rare.

Fu Gui has picked pearls all his life, and this is the first time he has seen black pearls.

Fu Gui then glanced at Li Sanjian.

Could it be that he brought such auspiciousness? Fu Gui said secretly in his heart.