Chapter 35

Jiāng Wǎn fainted, and the old village chief quickly instructed his daughter-in-law to carry her back to the Yīn family’s house.  

Her mother was a doctor, so it was better to consult her than anyone else. However, before Yīn Huáixī could return home, Jiāng Wǎn regained consciousness on her own.  

When she woke up, she appeared weak and sickly, which greatly alarmed Yīn Níng. The old village chief offered a few comforting words before heading home to summon Hutou grandparents to the house.  

This was the first time the village chief had called for the parents after Mother Hutou had caused trouble in the village for such a long time. It was unclear what was said, but when the elderly couple left, their faces were dark. Neighbors near Hutou’s house later said that the entire family had argued fiercely that night.  

The next day, Mother Hutou came over to apologize, but she didn’t meet anyone.  

This was because Jiāng Wǎn had a fever and her head was spinning.  

Having eaten well and regained some strength, she had relaxed her guard. However, a swim in the water, a gust of wind, and a bit of running made her sick again.  

Her mother had gone to the city early in the morning to get medicine, while her uncle and aunt were sent to the coast to collect sea urchins. Only her cousin remained at home to take care of her.  

She was too scared to let her cousin open the door for Mother Hutou, who was so fierce.  

Jiāng Wǎn had been sick for four or five days at home before finally feeling better. She had eaten three whole chickens, and her face not only hadn’t gotten thinner but had become rosier.  

She had been worried about the compensation for the clothes that Mother Hutou had demanded, but with her illness, Mother Hutou no longer dared to mention it, and everything appeared calm on the surface.  

“Wanwan, that young master from the city, Mr. Fù, said we should stop bringing sea urchins starting tomorrow.”  

“It’s fine. If they don’t want them, then don’t bring them. It’s normal to get tired of eating them after a few days.”  

Jiāng Wǎn hadn’t really planned to make sea urchins a long-term business. After all, the sea urchins kept moving, and who knew if there would be more clusters of them after they finished gathering the ones near the village.  

“Here, this is the money from the sea urchins we sold today.”  

Yīn Huáishān pulled out a small string of copper coins and handed them to Jiāng Wǎn.  

“He said not to bring sea urchins anymore, but if you happen to find any rare or unusual sea creatures, you can send them to the Fù residence on Chángqiū Street in the city. Just say it’s for Mr. Fù’s third son, and the doorman will accept them.”  

“This Mr. Fù really loves to eat.”  

Jiāng Wǎn smiled as she took the string of copper coins and silently calculated her little stash of money.  

Now, all the household money was managed by her mother. Before, they had a bit more than six taels of silver, but she had spent 300 wen on medicine. Still, after Mr. Fù bought sea urchins for four days, the family had earned around 800 wen. After organizing everything, she had saved up over seven taels.  

She hid the seven full taels in a small hole, not planning to touch it for now. The remaining 270 wen was set aside for buying grain and meat, as well as for starting up a small business.  

The mint water was only a brief experiment, but since the flow of people on the village road wasn’t stable, they stopped selling it. Jiāng Wǎn was now thinking of starting a business related to conch meat.  

There were so many conchs in the village. After the tide receded, one could easily find a stone reef and harvest a handful of them. Of course, most of the conchs weren’t the big ones like sea oysters but smaller ones like spicy conchs and mud snails.  

Spicy conchs, being small, had little meat, and there was a risk of poisoning after eating them. The villagers preferred to eat clams instead.  

Jiāng Wǎn had many recipes for making delicious dishes with conch meat, and even without chili peppers, they could be tasty. There were many food stalls in the city, and she wanted to try her hand at it.  

When she mentioned this idea, there were both supporters and opponents in the family.  

Because she was still too young, only her mother would support her unconditionally. Her uncle and aunt thought she was being too naive.  

If the villagers wouldn’t eat conchs, how could the city folks possibly do so? They couldn’t imagine how conchs could make money.  

“Don’t worry, big brother and sister-in-law, Wanwan won’t be doing the business alone. I’ll be keeping an eye on her, and you two can also watch, so there won’t be any problems.”  

“Father, mother, I think cousin’s idea is already quite impressive. We just need to bring back more conchs. We’ve already bought the seasonings, and even if we don’t sell them, we can eat them ourselves. After all, we’ve eaten them before.”  

Yīn Níng had always thought her cousin’s talkative nature was suited for business, and now that her cousin had a plan, she was of course going to support her.  

At home, three out of five people were in favor, so the couple lost the debate.  

They weren’t angry, though. Since they had decided to go ahead with it, they would do their best to make it work and hopefully earn some money. So, the next day, when the tide receded, the whole family went to the shore to gather sea creatures. This time, they didn’t look for other seafood but focused on bringing back bucket after bucket of small conchs.  

When the tide came back in, the Yīn family’s yard was already filled with piles of conchs.  

Jiāng Wǎn and her cousin began sorting them out.  

Among the conchs were smaller ones, as well as some larger sea oysters and tower conchs. The tower-shaped conchs, besides being visually appealing, also had very sweet and tender meat. Jiāng Wǎn planned to collect some of the shells to string them together and make a beautiful curtain.  

The yard echoed with the clinking sounds of conchs colliding with each other.  

As Jiāng Wǎn was picking through a large pile, she was about to stand up and stretch when she suddenly noticed a conch in the pile with a slightly brighter color and a different shell.  

She had a vague impression of it and wanted to name it, but for a moment, the name escaped her.  

“Cousin, what are you looking at?”  

Yīn Níng instinctively reached out to grab the conch, but Jiāng Wǎn’s hand was faster, stopping her.  

Why stop her?  

Jiāng Wǎn asked herself, and the answer was clear: it was dangerous. She immediately remembered all the details about this conch.  

This unusual conch, known as the chicken-heart conch in modern times, was one of the most poisonous creatures in the ocean, ranking among the top ten for toxicity.  

It was said that a single drop of its venom could kill ten people, and it would even attack on its own.

They didn’t dare to touch it with their hands. Instead, they turned to a shovel to lift it up and showed it to the family, making sure everyone remembered its appearance so that they would never touch it with their hands in the future.

It wasn’t clear whether this conch was brought back by someone from the family, but fortunately, no one had been bitten. If they had been, she would have been in serious trouble.

Once she confirmed that everyone had memorized its appearance, Jiāng Wǎn threw it directly into the stove and burned it to ashes. That was the safest option.

After this little incident, the two sisters were no longer careless. They poured out all the previously sorted conchs and carefully checked them again, fearing that something else might be dangerous.

All the small conchs they had selected were soaked in water to let the sand come out, and only after the sand was fully expelled would Jiāng Wǎn take over and begin her work.

To give her uncle and aunt more confidence, Jiāng Wǎn took charge of the cooking for lunch.

Yīn Níng said she wanted to learn how to cook from her cousin, and happily went to the stove to light the fire.

“Cousin, what delicious dish are you making for lunch?”

Jiāng Wǎn thought for a moment. There were plenty of eggs at home, and some flour, so she could make egg pancakes to change things up. Additionally, there were some clams that had already expelled their sand, which she could stir-fry, and she could also make some mung bean porridge. This lunch wouldn’t be bad at all.