Chapter 39: Knock the shells for you
At four in the morning, the seafood market by the sea gradually became lively. Sailors on fishing boats were busy carrying goods and the many buyers came to purchase the freshest catch of the day.
The sea before dawn was all in greys and blues and the faint glow of the incoming sun separated the sky and the water. As time went by, the golden sunlight pierced through the thick clouds and illuminated the blue sea, reflecting on the waves like burning flames.
Among the modestly dressed middle-aged crowd, a man in his twenties seemed a little out of place.
Cheng Su was wearing very casual clothes today but his young face was particularly eye-catching and his temperament was just too different from the market’s vendors, making people take a second look at him.
“Young man, do you really want to buy so much?”
Cheng Su passed several stalls naturally and stopped in front of another. Without hesitation, he pointed to several kinds of seafood with his finger and asked the boss to pack them all and help him bring them to the car. The vendor was overjoyed but at the same time a little surprised; the person in front of him looked very young and he couldn’t help but wonder what his identity was; Cheng Su seemed to be able to tell at a glance which kinds of seafood were the best.
Cheng Su nodded and the vendor didn’t say anything else but asked someone to bring everything to the car, while Cheng Su stood by and watched them work lost in thought, shaking his head at the strange situation.
Why was he here? It all started yesterday.
***
A stone?
Cheng Su kept looking at the little rock Qiao Dai had handed him, with some doubts in his heart. He glanced at the little furry animal in the pool who reluctantly eyed the object in his hand like it was some kind of treasure.
Although Cheng Su didn’t know what was the meaning of this stone, just by looking at Qiao Dai, he didn’t express the confusion in his heart and instinctively weighted the pebble and something moved.
Cheng Su glanced down and noticed the small stone had suddenly broken into two. One half was lying quietly in his palm and the second fell into the water in a small “splash” before sinking to the bottom of the pool.
“I…”
Cheng Su wanted to explain this hadn’t been intentional but before he could say anything, he heard the rustling sound of water. When he raised his head, Qiao Dai had already swum to the other side of the pool and was staring at him either in fear or anger.
Her little treasure!
Her first heirloom had sunk in the Pacific Ocean when she had arrived here, but she had carefully selected the second treasure from many small stones on the roadside as soon as she had transmigrated. But now, it had been broken into two pieces and she couldn’t help but feel a little sad.
Her gaze closely followed the second half of her small rock that sank to the bottom of the pool and she was eager to sneak past the man and pick it up. But when she raised her eyes, the killer whale was staring at her on the edge and she instinctively shrank back and didn’t dare to move.
It was over. She must have made him angry, otherwise why would he have broken her treasure! She didn’t dare imagine the next scene and covered her eyes with regrets, too upset to open them again for a long time.
After a while, it seemed that there was no movement around her. Qiao Dai carefully removed her little paws and realized that the room was empty, except for the verdant scene in the courtyard she could see through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The scene was frozen in time; only a wet little sea otter floated on the surface of the water and the figure of the man could no longer be seen.
Qiao Dai blinked suspiciously. After waiting for many minutes, Cheng Su didn’t come back and she quickly swam down to pick up the second half of her treasure. She held it with her two small paws and looked at it with a painful expression.
Only one half left.
She quietly put the small stone away and sighed softly before lying on the surface depressed.
***
Light flashed across Cheng Su’s eyes. He instinctively put his hand into his pocket and touched the rough and uneven side of the stone he had broken yesterday with his fingertips. When he had later learned this ordinary little stone was the precious treasure of sea otters, he had felt that he had made a big mistake.
At this time, the vendor had finished helping bring all the seafood to Cheng Su’s car and the young man sat behind the wheel and drove away. When he returned home, Qiao Dai was still floating on the water and sleeping soundly. She seemed to smell the familiar smell of seafood in her dreams and the tip of her nose twitched before she opened her eyes drowsily.
Big shells!
She saw a lot of fresh shellfish suddenly appear on the shore. Every kind of shellfish! Qiao Dai felt she had returned to the Pacific and before she could even realize it, she had happily swum to the edge and grabbed a big shell. She dived back in the water and didn’t show her head until she reached the center of the pool, before lying on the water and getting ready for her meal. But when she remembered her little stone that only had one half left, her smile instantly froze on her face.
Would she be able to knock the shells open? She looked with worry at the small rock and knocked tentatively. As expected, the big shell didn’t open and no cracks appeared at all.
She really couldn’t open it! She held the stone with both hands and tried to use more force. The water splashed on the calm pool for a while, until a voice slowly sounded: “Come here.”
Qiao Dai raised her head and noticed Cheng Su was sitting down on the shore, holding a knife in one hand and an opened clam in the other. As soon as he looked up, he saw that Qiao Dai was still in the same spot and he raised his brows impatiently before urging: “Hurry up.”
“Oh. Oh, okay.” Qiao Dai came back to her senses but still felt confused in her heart.
“Here.”
Qiao Dai traded the big shell in her arms for Cheng Su’s clam and looked at his expression as she ate. He was sitting with a blank face as he kept opening the shells for her. His movements were a bit violent and he was a little bit awkward at first but was soon able to skillfully open all the shells and piled them up beside him.
Perhaps because she had a lingering fear of him breaking her little treasure yesterday, Qiao Dai didn’t dare get too close. Whenever she got a shell, she would quickly swim back to the middle of the pool until she finished eating, then come back to the edge to grab another one.
Cheng Su watched the sea otter swimming back and forth; he breathed deeply, stood up, and walked out.
Qiao Dai looked at his back as she touched her chubby belly with a guilty conscience. She must have eaten too much.
Cheng Su walked straight to the kitchen. He opened the cupboards and rummaged for a while until he found a Tupperware that could float on the water. He then returned to the pool and saw Qiao Dai trying to crack a shell open with the knife, her paws too small for such detailed work.
Cheng Su’s eyelid twitched and he walked back to the edge quickly. He took the knife from Qiao Dai and said: “Just let me do it.”
As he said, he pried open more shells and put them on the bowl before placing it on the water. He pushed it forward with the back of his hand and it slowly floated to Qiao Dai.
“Thank you.”
Qiao Dai happily lay on the water and beside her was a floating bowl full of opened shellfish. She just needed to stretch out a little paw and put them in her arms to eat and when she finished everything, she swam back to Cheng Su to have him fill another bowl.
Looking at him knocking open her food in silence and without any expression, Qiao Dai held the bowl in the water for a while and felt that this killer whale didn’t seem so fierce anymore.
“Don’t mention it.”
Cheng Su put the last seafood in her small bowl and met her sparkling eyes as soon as he raised his head. He pursed his lips and said: “I’ll send the bill to your phone, remember to settle it when you get back.”
With a sound, the big shell in Qiao Dai’s paws fell into the water. Cheng Su’s eyesight was sharp and his reflexes were quick and he stretched out his hand before it could sink, and looked at Qiao Dai’s dull face. He snorted and stuffed the shell back to her.
Qiao Dai remembered she had broken Cheng Su’s doorknob, which already was a lot of money. She took a deep breath and asked in a trembling voice: “How much?”
Although she hadn’t seen the bill yet, looking at the small mountain of eaten shells, she was suddenly struck by lightning. Sure enough, even cute little sea otters needed to pay people back; she had seen so many people feeding sea otters on TV, she had thought it was an unwritten rule!
“It’s not that expensive. If you make your debut, you can earn it back in the blink of an eye.”
Cheng Su showed her the amount and Qiao Dai almost fainted when she read she owed about 1000 yuan per catty. She stretched out her paw to calculate; so many zeroes! For her, who only had 500 yuan, this was an astronomical figure!
Oh my god, she had become a little sea otter with debts at such a young age!
Even if she had received a few resources already, she didn’t know how long it would take to get into her bank account. She was just a poor little sea otter and had no extra cash to pay back Cheng Su!
“I don’t have money, I will give it back over time, okay?”
As if to prove her sincerity, she looked around for a moment before asking: “Do you have a pen and paper?”
Cheng Su instinctively put his hand in his pocket and found a handkerchief and a pen and passed the things over, wanting to see what she would do.
Qiao Dai applied some ink to her paw, gently pressed it on the handkerchief and a small and beautiful paw print appeared on the fabric. Cheng Su was holding the handkerchief and when Qiao Dai stamped her paw, a warm touch was transferred to his palm through the slightly cold cloth, before spreading.
His arm suddenly felt a little numb. It was a very subtle sensation and Cheng Su couldn’t say whether he was uncomfortable or happy but he didn’t find it annoying. He looked at Qiao Dai’s bright eyes, wondering if he was actually the one in poor physical condition; otherwise, how could this weak little sea otter mess with him?
Staring at the unique paw print on the handkerchief, Cheng Su couldn’t help but hold his breath. He wanted to say something but as soon as he glanced at Qiao Dai again, he saw her trying to wash her ink-stained paw in the water in shock. She raised her head with horror on her face and murmured pitifully: “I can’t wash it off.”
Cheng Su: …
Sure enough, it was just a dumb little sea otter.
Chapter 39: Knock the shells for you
At four in the morning, the seafood market by the sea gradually became lively. Sailors on fishing boats were busy carrying goods and the many buyers came to purchase the freshest catch of the day.
The sea before dawn was all in greys and blues and the faint glow of the incoming sun separated the sky and the water. As time went by, the golden sunlight pierced through the thick clouds and illuminated the blue sea, reflecting on the waves like burning flames.
Among the modestly dressed middle-aged crowd, a man in his twenties seemed a little out of place.
Cheng Su was wearing very casual clothes today but his young face was particularly eye-catching and his temperament was just too different from the market’s vendors, making people take a second look at him.
“Young man, do you really want to buy so much?”
Cheng Su passed several stalls naturally and stopped in front of another. Without hesitation, he pointed to several kinds of seafood with his finger and asked the boss to pack them all and help him bring them to the car. The vendor was overjoyed but at the same time a little surprised; the person in front of him looked very young and he couldn’t help but wonder what his identity was; Cheng Su seemed to be able to tell at a glance which kinds of seafood were the best.
Cheng Su nodded and the vendor didn’t say anything else but asked someone to bring everything to the car, while Cheng Su stood by and watched them work lost in thought, shaking his head at the strange situation.
Why was he here? It all started yesterday.
***
A stone?
Cheng Su kept looking at the little rock Qiao Dai had handed him, with some doubts in his heart. He glanced at the little furry animal in the pool who reluctantly eyed the object in his hand like it was some kind of treasure.
Although Cheng Su didn’t know what was the meaning of this stone, just by looking at Qiao Dai, he didn’t express the confusion in his heart and instinctively weighted the pebble and something moved.
Cheng Su glanced down and noticed the small stone had suddenly broken into two. One half was lying quietly in his palm and the second fell into the water in a small “splash” before sinking to the bottom of the pool.
“I…”
Cheng Su wanted to explain this hadn’t been intentional but before he could say anything, he heard the rustling sound of water. When he raised his head, Qiao Dai had already swum to the other side of the pool and was staring at him either in fear or anger.
Her little treasure!
Her first heirloom had sunk in the Pacific Ocean when she had arrived here, but she had carefully selected the second treasure from many small stones on the roadside as soon as she had transmigrated. But now, it had been broken into two pieces and she couldn’t help but feel a little sad.
Her gaze closely followed the second half of her small rock that sank to the bottom of the pool and she was eager to sneak past the man and pick it up. But when she raised her eyes, the killer whale was staring at her on the edge and she instinctively shrank back and didn’t dare to move.
It was over. She must have made him angry, otherwise why would he have broken her treasure! She didn’t dare imagine the next scene and covered her eyes with regrets, too upset to open them again for a long time.
After a while, it seemed that there was no movement around her. Qiao Dai carefully removed her little paws and realized that the room was empty, except for the verdant scene in the courtyard she could see through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The scene was frozen in time; only a wet little sea otter floated on the surface of the water and the figure of the man could no longer be seen.
Qiao Dai blinked suspiciously. After waiting for many minutes, Cheng Su didn’t come back and she quickly swam down to pick up the second half of her treasure. She held it with her two small paws and looked at it with a painful expression.
Only one half left.
She quietly put the small stone away and sighed softly before lying on the surface depressed.
***
Light flashed across Cheng Su’s eyes. He instinctively put his hand into his pocket and touched the rough and uneven side of the stone he had broken yesterday with his fingertips. When he had later learned this ordinary little stone was the precious treasure of sea otters, he had felt that he had made a big mistake.
At this time, the vendor had finished helping bring all the seafood to Cheng Su’s car and the young man sat behind the wheel and drove away. When he returned home, Qiao Dai was still floating on the water and sleeping soundly. She seemed to smell the familiar smell of seafood in her dreams and the tip of her nose twitched before she opened her eyes drowsily.
Big shells!
She saw a lot of fresh shellfish suddenly appear on the shore. Every kind of shellfish! Qiao Dai felt she had returned to the Pacific and before she could even realize it, she had happily swum to the edge and grabbed a big shell. She dived back in the water and didn’t show her head until she reached the center of the pool, before lying on the water and getting ready for her meal. But when she remembered her little stone that only had one half left, her smile instantly froze on her face.
Would she be able to knock the shells open? She looked with worry at the small rock and knocked tentatively. As expected, the big shell didn’t open and no cracks appeared at all.
She really couldn’t open it! She held the stone with both hands and tried to use more force. The water splashed on the calm pool for a while, until a voice slowly sounded: “Come here.”
Qiao Dai raised her head and noticed Cheng Su was sitting down on the shore, holding a knife in one hand and an opened clam in the other. As soon as he looked up, he saw that Qiao Dai was still in the same spot and he raised his brows impatiently before urging: “Hurry up.”
“Oh. Oh, okay.” Qiao Dai came back to her senses but still felt confused in her heart.
“Here.”
Qiao Dai traded the big shell in her arms for Cheng Su’s clam and looked at his expression as she ate. He was sitting with a blank face as he kept opening the shells for her. His movements were a bit violent and he was a little bit awkward at first but was soon able to skillfully open all the shells and piled them up beside him.
Perhaps because she had a lingering fear of him breaking her little treasure yesterday, Qiao Dai didn’t dare get too close. Whenever she got a shell, she would quickly swim back to the middle of the pool until she finished eating, then come back to the edge to grab another one.
Cheng Su watched the sea otter swimming back and forth; he breathed deeply, stood up, and walked out.
Qiao Dai looked at his back as she touched her chubby belly with a guilty conscience. She must have eaten too much.
Cheng Su walked straight to the kitchen. He opened the cupboards and rummaged for a while until he found a Tupperware that could float on the water. He then returned to the pool and saw Qiao Dai trying to crack a shell open with the knife, her paws too small for such detailed work.
Cheng Su’s eyelid twitched and he walked back to the edge quickly. He took the knife from Qiao Dai and said: “Just let me do it.”
As he said, he pried open more shells and put them on the bowl before placing it on the water. He pushed it forward with the back of his hand and it slowly floated to Qiao Dai.
“Thank you.”
Qiao Dai happily lay on the water and beside her was a floating bowl full of opened shellfish. She just needed to stretch out a little paw and put them in her arms to eat and when she finished everything, she swam back to Cheng Su to have him fill another bowl.
Looking at him knocking open her food in silence and without any expression, Qiao Dai held the bowl in the water for a while and felt that this killer whale didn’t seem so fierce anymore.
“Don’t mention it.”
Cheng Su put the last seafood in her small bowl and met her sparkling eyes as soon as he raised his head. He pursed his lips and said: “I’ll send the bill to your phone, remember to settle it when you get back.”
With a sound, the big shell in Qiao Dai’s paws fell into the water. Cheng Su’s eyesight was sharp and his reflexes were quick and he stretched out his hand before it could sink, and looked at Qiao Dai’s dull face. He snorted and stuffed the shell back to her.
Qiao Dai remembered she had broken Cheng Su’s doorknob, which already was a lot of money. She took a deep breath and asked in a trembling voice: “How much?”
Although she hadn’t seen the bill yet, looking at the small mountain of eaten shells, she was suddenly struck by lightning. Sure enough, even cute little sea otters needed to pay people back; she had seen so many people feeding sea otters on TV, she had thought it was an unwritten rule!
“It’s not that expensive. If you make your debut, you can earn it back in the blink of an eye.”
Cheng Su showed her the amount and Qiao Dai almost fainted when she read she owed about 1000 yuan per catty. She stretched out her paw to calculate; so many zeroes! For her, who only had 500 yuan, this was an astronomical figure!
Oh my god, she had become a little sea otter with debts at such a young age!
Even if she had received a few resources already, she didn’t know how long it would take to get into her bank account. She was just a poor little sea otter and had no extra cash to pay back Cheng Su!
“I don’t have money, I will give it back over time, okay?”
As if to prove her sincerity, she looked around for a moment before asking: “Do you have a pen and paper?”
Cheng Su instinctively put his hand in his pocket and found a handkerchief and a pen and passed the things over, wanting to see what she would do.
Qiao Dai applied some ink to her paw, gently pressed it on the handkerchief and a small and beautiful paw print appeared on the fabric. Cheng Su was holding the handkerchief and when Qiao Dai stamped her paw, a warm touch was transferred to his palm through the slightly cold cloth, before spreading.
His arm suddenly felt a little numb. It was a very subtle sensation and Cheng Su couldn’t say whether he was uncomfortable or happy but he didn’t find it annoying. He looked at Qiao Dai’s bright eyes, wondering if he was actually the one in poor physical condition; otherwise, how could this weak little sea otter mess with him?
Staring at the unique paw print on the handkerchief, Cheng Su couldn’t help but hold his breath. He wanted to say something but as soon as he glanced at Qiao Dai again, he saw her trying to wash her ink-stained paw in the water in shock. She raised her head with horror on her face and murmured pitifully: “I can’t wash it off.”
Cheng Su: …
Sure enough, it was just a dumb little sea otter.
