I don't want Wu Julan to work too hard. I only receive ten guests a day, and I can earn about two or three hundred yuan. From time to time, I can sell a few conch ornaments, sometimes dozens, sometimes hundreds. I calculated the account, and after deducting the daily expenses and Wu Julan's salary, I could save three or four thousand a month, which was enough, and I no longer needed to do the business of the inn.

I was sitting at the faucet in the yard washing vegetables when my phone rang.

I wiped my hands, took the phone and saw that it was Zhou Buwen's call.

"Big head?"

"It's me! I heard Jiang Yisheng say that you are not in the inn business now, but have started the private kitchen business?"

"Yes! The private kitchen business is very good. I think the money I make is enough. If I don't want to be too tired, I won't do the inn business."

"Then are you still welcome to stay here?"

"Of course, anytime, when will you come?"

"I'll go when I'm done with the work at hand."

"Okay, wait for you to come."

"You do your own business, there are no weekends, you must rest when it's time to rest, don't be too tired! Go out for a walk when you have time, watch a movie, play a game or something, be kind to yourself."

"OK, all right!"

I hung up the phone, thought about it, and found that since Wu Julan came to my house, I have always squeezed him to make money for me, and I have never given him a vacation or taken him out to play. I immediately decided to correct my mistakes and give Wu Julan and myself a day off as soon as possible.

I called Jiang Yisheng and told him that I hadn't rested for a long time. I wanted to take Wu Julan out to sea and asked Jiang Yisheng if he wanted to go with him. Jiang Yisheng said without hesitation that we would go together, and promised that he would arrange everything and let me prepare something to eat.

On Saturday afternoon, at 4:30, when the sun had already set in the west and was no longer so scorching hot, Jiang Yi took Wu Julan and I out to the sea to watch the sunset and have dinner with the rented boat in full bloom.

After driving for more than an hour, we drove to the predetermined location. Jiang Yisheng stopped the boat, took out the snorkeling equipment prepared for Wu Julan, and asked, "Have you ever played this?"

"No." Wu Julan flipped through the flippers, snorkeling goggles and ventilator with interest.

"How is your watering?" Jiang Yisheng asked.

Wu Julan was stunned for a moment, then said slowly, "Very good."

"Can you dive to the bottom of a swimming pool with a depth of more than two meters?"

"can."

"That's no problem." Jiang Yisheng sat opposite Wu Julan, picked up his snorkeling goggles and snorkel, and demonstrated how to wear snorkeling equipment, "Snorkeling is very simple, and people who are good at water can learn it as soon as they learn. "

Wu Julan saw that I was sitting still, "Aren't you going to play?"

I shook my head, "I can't swim."

Jiang Yisheng sneered, "She fell into the sea once when she was a child and almost drowned. Since then, she has been so frightened that she can't learn how to swim. Datou and I worked hard to get her to wear it. Put on a life jacket and float in the water for a while. If you don't have a life jacket and you try to get her into the water, she'll think you want to murder her and fight to the death!"

I was a little embarrassed and defended: "There are many people who can't swim, and I'm not the only one!"

"There are many people who can't swim, but they are not the descendants of fishermen, nor do they have a great grandfather." Jiang Yisheng said to Wu Julan: "Until now, when old fishermen talk about who is good at swimming, She will also talk about the legend of her great grandfather. At that time, there were no tools, and it was said that he could dive more than 20 meters, but look at this unworthy descendant, he can't even learn to swim!"

I glared at Jiang Yisheng, and told him: "Don't go to catch lobsters, look at Wu Julan, it's his first time snorkeling." I told Wu Julan: "You follow Jiang Yisheng, don't dive too much to chase lobsters. Deep, safety first."

Jiang Yisheng checked Wu Julan's clothes, and after confirming that there was no problem, he took the lead and got off the boat, and Wu Julan followed him and got off the boat.

The two of them were swimming around the boat. Jiang Yisheng taught Wu Julan how to snorkel. I watched it for a while and found that Wu Julan was very good at snorkeling. He quickly learned it and felt relieved.

Jiang Yisheng overturned the boat again, and handed Wu Julan a pair of black gloves and a green net bag that could be hung on his body. Jiang Yisheng, wearing gloves and holding a net pocket, demonstrated, "When catching a lobster, go behind it so that it can't catch you. After catching it, first float to the surface, then put the lobster in the net pocket and hang it back on your waist, so that You can continue to catch the second one."

After Wu Julan expressed his understanding, Jiang Yisheng said, "Whether there are lobsters to eat at night depends on our character." After that, he took Wu Julan out of the boat and swam into the distance.

I took out my camera, and while taking pictures, I watched Wu Julan go up and down the sea with Jiang Yisheng.

In order to prevent sunburn or jellyfish stings, the snorkeling suit wraps the whole body tightly, only showing the neck and a section of the calf. Jiang Yisheng often plays at sea, and his skin is healthy bronze, but Wu Julan is fair. Thanks to his slender body and vigorous movements, he does not feel weak at all.

Wu Julan's luck was very good, and he caught three lobsters very quickly, but Jiang Yisheng found nothing. He joked to Wu Julan, "You really beat the master to death with a blind fist!"

Wu Julan smiled and said nothing. He capsized and threw the lobster, wielding its large pincers, into the tin bucket, and poured a lot of oysters from the green net pocket.

I picked up the prepared bath towel and handed it to him, "Wipe it down, be careful of catching a cold."

Wu Julan took the bath towel and wiped her hair and body.

I said to Jiang Yisheng, who was still soaking in the sea: "Three lobsters are enough to eat. Do you want to continue catching them?"

Jiang Yisheng said, "Of course! What's the point of eating what other people caught? When I catch a bigger one, I'll let Brother Wu catch it!" After he finished speaking, he waved at us and swam into the distance.

Wu Julan sat beside me, leaned against the cabin, and stretched his long legs comfortably.

Without a word, he handed me an oyster, not too big or too small.

I held it in my hand, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Although it is said that fresh oysters taste delicious raw, I have never been used to eating them."

Wu Julan took the oyster back from my hand without saying a word.

He cracked open the oyster shell crisply and ate the oyster ròu into his mouth. Then, he grabbed my hand, spit out a black pearl from his mouth, and gently fell into my palm.

I was dumbfounded and asked dumbly, "For me?"

Wu Julan turned her head and stared blankly at the end of the sea and sky, "I remember you girls like this kind of boring stuff."

I stared at the little thing in the palm of my hand—a small black pearl shaped like a drop of water. In this era when artificial pearls have been flooded, they are not valuable, but Wu Julan personally picked them from the sea and gave them to me.

Thinking of what he did in one go, I asked, "Did you know that this oyster has pearls in it?"

Wu Julan glanced at me lightly, "Otherwise, why do you think I singled out this oyster?"

I was so annoyed that if I would have eaten raw oysters just now, I would have been surprised to eat the pearls myself and spit them out in surprise. However, thinking of the feeling of Wu Julan spitting out pearls just now, I think this is better.

I held the pearl tightly in my palm, "Thank you!"

Wu Julan said lightly, "It's just something I picked up!"

I'm a little helpless, other men are like "I have paid a lot for you, come and thank me", but he is better, always put on a "I didn't do anything, you must not be moved" look.

However, he forgot that I was a girl who grew up by the sea, and knew deeply that the softest oysters are wrapped in the hardest shells, and the most beautiful pearls are hidden in the deepest.

I was playing with the black pearl when Wu Julan suddenly asked, "What happened when you fell into the sea when you were young?"

There was nothing to hide, I said quickly: "It happened when I was seven years old. My parents were getting divorced. Grandpa wanted to save their feelings and asked them to go back to the island to live for a few days. My mother is different from my stepmother. She respected my grandfather very much, but not my father. Our family of three returned to the island. Grandpa deliberately drove a boat and took my father, mother and me to go out to sea to play. I remember that the weather was very good that day, the sky was blue, and there was no trace of it. The wind was blowing, and the sea was as flat as a mirror. Grandpa hid in the cabin to rest, I was thrashing in the sea, and my parents were sitting on the side of the boat watching me. I could swim at that time."

I smiled bitterly, "As a result, they were talking, and they started arguing again. I had a leg cramp and suddenly choked on water, but they were so noisy that no one noticed me, so I drowned. What happened later, I don't know anything except that I almost drowned, and it was my grandfather who saved me. My parents decided to divorce the day I woke up. Thank God, I finally don't have to listen to their quarrel anymore.

Wu Julan looked at me silently.

I shrugged and said with a smile, "It would be a lie to say that I didn't feel bad at all, but to say that I still feel bad until now would be too pretentious! After so many years, my mother has a new family, a new My child, Dad has a new family, a new child, and I have a life of my own, and all the past is just the past!"

Jiang Yisheng's shout suddenly came, "I caught a really big lobster!"

Wu Julan and I both followed the sound. Jiang Yisheng was paddling the water with one hand and holding a large lobster aloft with the other.

I waved to him, indicating that we've all seen it.

Wu Julan said thoughtlessly, "I'll serve you grilled oysters later."

I held the black pearl in my palm, smiled and nodded.

With the light of the setting sun, we had a very sumptuous seafood dinner.

When got home, it was almost nine o'clock, and it was dark.

For the bottle of red wine that Jiang Yisheng brought, Jiang Yisheng took into account the fact that he was going to sail the boat, so he just tasted it, Wu Julan only took a few sips, and I drank most of it. I was drunk, and the road in the old street was bumpy. I walked staggeringly and looked very dangerous. Wu Julan had to hold my arm.

Jiang Yisheng's house arrived first. After he waved goodbye to us with a smile, he closed the courtyard door.

Wu Julan supported me and continued to walk forward.

Before the two of them reached the gate of the courtyard, Wu Julan suddenly stopped. I asked inexplicably, "Didn't you bring the key? I have it in my bag."

Wu Julan pushed me to the corner of the courtyard wall, and said in a low voice, "Hide here and don't move." After speaking, he ran a few steps, borrowed some force from the slightly raised stone on the wall, and went straight from the top of the wall. Turned into the yard.

My lingering sense of alcohol disappeared immediately, and I stared at the courtyard wall of my house, as if I had never seen it before. Is the two and a half meter high courtyard wall so easy to turn over?

A person suddenly opened the courtyard door and rushed out of the courtyard. In the darkness, something flew out and smashed onto the plaque of the "Conch Small Stack" hanging under the eaves. The plaque fell and hit the man on the head. He shook it, fell softly to the ground, and passed out.

I was stunned, and suddenly thought that Wu Julan was inside... I rushed over immediately, stepped on the broken plaque, tripped and stumbled, and fell into the yard.

"Xiaoluo?" Wu Julan's worried voice.

"I'm fine!"

I hurriedly got up from the ground and looked up to see a burly man fighting with Wu Julan in the courtyard. Wu Julan punched with bare hands, but the man held a dagger with a cold light in his hand, and stabbed it fiercely, almost every time it swiped Wu Julan's body, making me jump in shock.