Twenty minutes passed, and seven or eight children had scooped up hundreds of mussel shells of various sizes, but they had not found a single pearl when they opened them.

"Husband, I'm afraid you will really lose a lot of money today?" Meng Wan and Ying Shiyan both looked at the seashells all over the ground with a little disappointment and sighed as the waterfowl flew down to grab the mussel shells.

This is not quite what they imagined, when Chen Xu went back, he talked about the spectacular and lively scene of Wuzhong picking shellfish on the lake beach, and they were already full of passion and couldn't help but come to dig pearl shells, but they didn't think that the lake beach was not lively, not to mention, the probability of lake mussels producing pearls was too low, and they were all empty shells after being busy for a long time.

"It doesn't matter, although the probability of getting a pearl is relatively low, but it is not necessarily a loss, now we have got a pearl, it is considered to have recovered one-third of the capital, not to mention a rare trip, next time I come to Wuzhong and I don't know what time it is, today I will have a lively ......"

"Wow, Brother Xiaoxu, look, there are a lot of people over there!" Just as Chen Xu was speaking, Yu Ji's exclamation suddenly came, and everyone turned their heads, and sure enough, they saw a large group of teenagers behind the reeds cheering like a tide, and there were at least hundreds of black pressures.

"You have to talk ......"

A group of teenagers swept past Chen Xu and the others like wild dogs, and then dropped their clothes and scrambled to jump into the lake, and the black thin boy in the lead couldn't help but turn around and tell Chen Xu.

With the addition of this group of teenagers, in an instant, hundreds of feet of water on the shore of the lake was rolling, one after another shouting, large and small lake mussels like hail kept flying to the shore, a group of servants also all joined the team of collecting shells, even Qu Hai and a few other merchants also rolled up their sleeves and began to help open shellfish, the discarded shells attracted more water birds, and in an instant, the laughter, shouting, running and countless birds flying and chirping on the quiet lake beach filled the ears, and the sound vibrated for miles in a radius of miles.

"Look, what's going on on the beach over there? How can it be so lively? ”

"I don't know, let's go, row the boat over and have a look!"

"Go quickly, I'm afraid something is wrong......"

At this time, it was the morning, the weather was sunny, many fishing boats that were fishing on the lake were soon this lively scene, so they all rowed to this lake beach, and when they arrived, they found that it was just a group of children fishing for shellfish in the lake, and they lost interest in an instant, but some people couldn't help but ask more, and then they were excited not to fish and dig lotus roots, and excitedly yelled at a group of richly dressed people on the shore: "We also joined the shellfishing, I don't know if it counts?" ”

"Count~" The men and women on the shore of the lake instantly replied in unison.

"Oh~~"

A group of fishermen cheered excitedly, threw away their straw hats, abandoned their oars, turned over and jumped into the blue water and dived.

These boating fishermen are all adults, the youngest is fifteen or sixteen years old, because they often fish in the depths of the lake and pick lotus roots, far better than a group of children and teenagers who can only play in the mud by the lake, and they are embarrassed to come and compete, so almost all of them are fishing for shellfish in the deep water area more than ten zhang away from the shore of the lake, so they are at least seven or eight inches or more of the big shellfish, jingling bells and throwing them into the cabin, waiting for the fishing to be left nearby, then rowing the boat to the shore to trade with Chen Xu and others.

"Thirty-two in all, count the money with him!" The guards in charge of counting the mussel shells did not delay after counting, and directly ordered the servants to take out the coins and pay the bill.

"Wow, it's really a penny, if you want to get rich today, go and call all the people in the village!"

The fishermen who got the money were shocked and excitedly rowed into the lake again to continue fishing for mussels, while some people hurriedly pulled their legs and ran to the shore, wanting to bring back this once-in-a-lifetime news so that relatives and friends in the same village could make a fortune.

"Master Hou, I'm afraid that 10,000 yuan is not enough today!" The leader of the guards nervously guarded Chen Xu's side and wiped his cold sweat and said.

At this time, there are more and more fishing boats coming from all directions in the lake, and there are more adults and children on the shore, and in less than half an hour, at least six or seven hundred people have gathered on the shore of this lake to participate in the shellfish fishing, and the news is still spreading at a faster speed, and it seems that there is a noisy shouting and running sound from afar.

"It's okay, it's not enough to pick it up again, it's rare for a few concubines to come here, and they must let them have a good time......"

"Wow, pearls, pearls are out......"

A woman's voice suddenly sounded in the crowd, it turned out to be Meng Wan, Chen Xu walked over with a smile on his face, and found that a guard pried open a large lake mussel, and sure enough, a snow-white pearl the size of a small thumb was revealed, smooth and round, and shimmered in the sun with a charming halo.

"Husband, I've picked pearls too!" Meng Wan carefully dug out the pearl from the mussel meat, spread it in the palm of her hand, and excitedly raised it in front of Chen Xu to ask for credit.

"Not bad, not bad!" Chen Xu praised repeatedly.

"Concubine Hou's size is big enough, and the condition is good, and the jeweler buys it for at least three hundred yuan," several merchants from Wuhu Park who gathered to watch were full ......of praise.

"Auntie show me~" Chen Xi kept pulling Meng Wan's arm on tiptoe, and Yu Ji and Shui Rou Ying Shiyan were also envious.

When you go out to play, it's just to have fun, and if there are unexpected gains, it's even happier.

Although these lake mussels are bought for a penny, there are still great expectations after all, just like the gambling stones of later generations, maybe when they will be able to open a rare pearl worth 10,000 gold, then all the money spent this time will be earned, or even luckier, open a rare lake pearl of great value, Chen Xu's seemingly playful activity will even make a lot of money.

Therefore, after the pearl of Meng Wan bloomed, whether it was the women, children and domestic servants who were strengthening the shellfish collection on the lake beach, or the teenagers and fishermen who fished for shellfish in the lake, the passion was instantly ignited again, and at this time, the nearby fishermen and even the people of Wuzhong County who kept hearing the news all joined in this unprecedented carnival.

But the so-called scarcity is expensive, and any precious item lies in its scarcity and rarity.

Although there are more and more people who come to fish for shellfish, by noon there have been tens of thousands of people to join this jubilant and lively shellfish fishing and money exchange activities, several piles of mussel shells on the shore of the lake are piled up like a hill, and Chen Xu's first 10,000 dollars have already been spent, in order not to break his word and fatten, halfway Chen Xu asked the guards to go to Huaxia Qian Zhuang to get 30,000 change, with more than ten baskets placed in a row on the lake beach for miles long to buy mussel shells, a group of women excitedly shuttled back and forth on the shore of the lake, However, it was busy until noon, and only a dozen pearls of various sizes were opened, and according to the estimation of some senior jewelers who came to see the excitement, the total value would not exceed 3,000 yuan.

"Master Hou, the money is running out again!" A servant steward ran over with sweat on his forehead to report it.

Chen Xu did not open shellfish at this time, but was sitting under a willow tree with several merchants in Wuhu Park to watch the lively scene and the scenery of Taihu Lake.

"Master Hou, a few concubines are also having fun today, and continuing to spend money is just cheap for these fishermen and boring people, and the gains outweigh the losses!" Lu Zhong said with a smile.

"Lu Gong said well, the autumn mussels have dived into the depths of the lake, fishing is not easy, the pearls are rarely seen, the best season for the pearl time is the tide in May, those mussels will be with the tide to the shore, looking at the moon and spitting water, when the moon rises in the evening is the best time for pearl diving......"

"Hou Ye will come back in the summer next year, and we will guarantee that Hou Ye will have a big harvest!"

"It's noon right now, and the Hou Ye and Concubine are also hungry, so it's time to go back to the hotel to eat, drink and rest!"

Qu Hai and others were persuaded by the side, Chen Xu also felt that it was almost over, and this entertainment that cost 40,000 yuan should also be over, otherwise he would have been playing until dark today, and he was afraid that he would not be able to resist if he took another 100,000 yuan, because at this time, there were still fishing boats coming from all directions on the lake, and there were constantly people on the shore who rode horses and ran away to join this gluttonous feast of shellfishing.

Although everyone doesn't know which big fool wants to spend money here to fish for shellfish and pearls, this kind of opportunity to make a fortune is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I'm sorry for this fool if he doesn't follow the one, two, three, five hundred.

Of course, there are also people who come to see the excitement and have different ideas, because only looking at the water is gentle, Ying Shi, Meng Wan and others, as well as the guards and servants who are guarding all the time, the people who spend money to buy shellfish today are absolutely noble, and most of these people have a good status, so they naturally disdain to jump into the lake and compete with a group of mud-legged people, but some people began to move other thoughts, got a few boats and a group of young adults who are proficient in water to go to the depths of the water to fish for shellfish.

Ordinary civilians only saw that fishing for lake mussels made some hard-earned money, but in the eyes of those who care, this is a good opportunity to get close to nobles.

Because there has long been a folk legend that the world-famous Marquis of Qinghe will come to the southeast to inspect.

And I heard that the wives and concubines of the Marquis of Qinghe are all stunning women of the first class in the world.

Especially the lively scene in front of him is very similar to the consistent style of the rumored Qinghe Marquis.

I heard that Qinghehou likes to be lively and crowded the most, and his favorite sentence is that it is better to be happy alone than to be happy.

In front of this situation, even people who have not been to Xianyang can see that there is a long-rumored shadow hidden behind this excitement.

"Tell me to stop buying the mussels after a moment, and let everyone spread the news to the fishermen who fish for shellfish!" Chen Xu stood up and stretched.

"Yes, Master Hou!"

As the servants and stewards left, soon the roars of the guards came from the mile-long beach, and the boys and fishermen who fished for shellfish on the beach and in the lake were all more restless and busy, some of them hurriedly carrying mussel shells ashore to trade, and some of them were still stepping up their search in the water, hoping to catch a few more at the last moment.

A moment of time passed in a flash, almost all the fishermen and teenagers churning in the lake went ashore, and the shore was densely filled with hundreds of large and small fishing boats, and some fishing boats far away from the shore saw everyone ashore, it was estimated that the interaction of buying lake mussels was coming to an end, so they also urged the fishermen who fished for shellfish to row to the shore.

Amid the sound of squeaking and swaying, the hustle and bustle of the lake began to calm down.