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Chapter 30
After enjoying some delicious dumplings, they rested early — tomorrow morning, it was time to head out to sea again.
The next day, they set out early once more, but this time they didn’t harvest much; most of what they found hadn’t fully formed yet.
After all, this kind of thing wasn’t easy to form — otherwise, it wouldn’t be so rare. In just two days, the entire surrounding sea area had already been combed through.
Naturally, the sea spectacle from yesterday still amazed the villagers. They all marveled, clicking their tongues in awe. They saw the Song family return with loads of something, though no one could tell what it was.
“Did you hear? The Song family went to sea and got completely surrounded by fish. No one knows why.”
“I looked closely yesterday — it seemed like they were helping sea creatures clean barnacles and stuff. Those animals gave something in return, but I don’t know what.”
At this moment, an elder snorted and slowly said, “You young folks don’t recognize it — that’s normal. No one in these ten or so villages has seen it in decades. That’s ambergris. So much of it! The Song family’s going to get rich again.”
Only then did the crowd realize that helping big fish and sea turtles clean off barnacles would reward them with ambergris. Oh heavens — why hadn’t they discovered this?
“Exactly! They’re rich now. Look at them, building a fine house. Because of sweet potatoes, their fifth son became an official. By the time we all started planting them, sweet potatoes were everywhere and not worth much — and we couldn’t grow nearly as much as they could. Ordinary folks like us can’t compare.” The tone was already tinged with sourness.
Someone else added, “Yes, yes. They’re just lucky — they had a blessed little girl. Otherwise, how would the Song family keep getting richer and richer?”
In a small village where everyone lived similarly, if one household suddenly became wealthy, others would start getting jealous.
But if that household became so wealthy they couldn’t be caught up with in a lifetime, people would stop being jealous — and start trying to curry favor.
Though they were envious, everyone hurried back home to head out to sea and help sea creatures clean barnacles.
To the sea creatures, humans suddenly seemed friendly.
But with walnut-sized brains, they didn’t think too much. If they heard Song Tian’er tell them to look for something, they looked for it.
But they didn’t understand others. Some creatures didn’t know how to be grateful to humans. Some even used stingrays and jellyfish — and none of those humans received any ambergris.
Stingrays and jellyfish: “F*** your ancestors!”
The villagers were frustrated — they worked all day and only got some useless fish. What was the point? A net full of fish would’ve been better.
So why could the Song family do it and not them? Some concluded: it must be because of that blessed little girl.
News of the Song family obtaining large amounts of ambergris spread far and wide — dozens of miles around — and many tried to copy them. But none received any ambergris.
This was something the imperial court bought directly. Though it looked like a lot, it was light once dried — they got 300 jin of ambergris in total.
Ambergris sold for 200 taels of silver per jin, amounting to a total of 60,000 taels of silver. When the silver notes arrived, the entire family went silent.
This was a direct court purchase, supplied to nobles. For ordinary farming households, 60,000 taels was more than they could earn in several lifetimes.
Unlike selling sweet potatoes, the sale amount was known to all. The entire village was filled with envy and jealousy.
They hated that such luck hadn’t come to them.
The happiest of all was, of course, little Tianbao. She immediately went into her space to ask the big rooster to exchange her money for skills.
The deal was: 10,000 silver taels for one wishing fruit wish. Now with 60,000, she could redeem six wishes.
Following her original list, she used the six wishing fruits to make six wishes:
The big rooster promptly redeemed them. There was no need to store the money in her space — the Song family had already split households, so it all belonged to the fourth branch.
Song Futian and his wife Liu were simple, honest farmers. They hadn’t even spent the money from the earlier family division, and now they had so much more.
They felt very uneasy. While having money was good, they feared attracting the wrong kind of attention.
Fortunately, their fifth son was now the county magistrate, offering some deterrence. But desperate criminals didn’t fear the law.
Still, Tianbao had no fear now. With her world-class martial arts and immense strength, what outlaw could be her match?
Even without martial arts, she had guns, ammunition, and a clone army in her space — nothing in this era could contend with that.
But Tianbao wasn’t focused on fighting — she wanted to find her next business opportunity and earn more money.
“Sweet Tianbao, you’re only five, but you speak and act more clearly than your parents. This money is all yours.”
“Yes, you earned it — it’s all yours. Save it for your dowry.”
Marry? Tianbao never planned for that. She was immortal — but a husband and children wouldn’t be. She didn’t want to feel the pain of losing loved ones again. An immortal shouldn’t — and couldn’t — have attachments.
Though Tianbao earned the money, many families favoring sons would’ve given most of it to their boys. But the fourth couple didn’t think that way.
Tianbao thought for a moment and said, “Grandpa and my uncles helped too. I couldn’t have done this alone. Let’s give each family 5,000 taels.”
The fourth couple wasn’t stingy with family and knew they had helped. They nodded in agreement.
Aside from the fifth son, the other uncles and Grandpa had all helped, making four shares — 20,000 taels in total.
With 60,000 taels, minus 20,000, there were 40,000 left. Tian’er kept 1,000 taels for herself and gave the rest to her parents.
“Dad, Mom, take this money. We can now eat whatever we want, buy whatever we like — and this is just the beginning.” Tian’er was full of confidence.
If another family’s child said this, the parents would think she was just being cute. But when Tianbao said it, they truly believed her.
They knew she was blessed — with amazing luck and fortune. This family was bound to get better and better, so they nodded in agreement.
Tianbao kept 1,000 taels to see if there was a suitable business opportunity to make even more money and get more wishing fruits.
She had just redeemed six wishes. Aside from the first two, which weren’t useful yet, she wanted to try the others now.
“Dad, Mom, since we made so much money this time, let’s make a feast and invite Grandpa, uncles, and aunts over.”
Liu replied, “Yes, even though we’ve split households, everyone still dotes on you just the same. They always send you anything nice. Since we all worked together to earn this, we should gather everyone for a meal.”
Usually, whichever uncle’s family made something delicious, they’d bring some for Tianbao. She had all kinds of wooden toys, and the best clothes made with the best fabric.
Everyone treated her like their own child — and truly adored her.
But more importantly, Tianbao wanted to test her cooking. With many people and different tastes, she wanted to see what they thought of her dishes.