Time returns back to a moment ago!
“Xiao Er, how are the pearls on your side?”
“Boss, the few mussels I opened do not have any pearls bigger than 1.4. The biggest is only 1.3 cm.”
“Ok. 1.3 cm is good enough. Anything more than 1.4 cm is luck.”
The boss and his worker were chatting while harvesting the pearls. That darker worker passed a mussel he opened to his colleague to do the sorting. He then picked up a thick pearl mussel. This should be the mussel he opened before Dong Xuebing used BACK. Dong Xuebing immediately walked forward and stop him. “Wait…. Wait! Don’t open that first! How much is that mussel? I want it!”
The boss looks at Dong Xuebing and then look at that mussel. “You want this mussel?”
Dong Xuebing nodded: “I want that mussel. I will pick the rest later.”
The boss thought for a while and stopped working. He shook his head and said: “This mussel is quite fat. These types of mussels will produce good pearls. If you just want this mussel, I will not sell to you.” ‘Fat’ was their jargon. It means the thickness of the mussel. The thicker the mussel was, the bigger the pearl. “Xiao Er, carry on working.”
“Wait…….!” Dong Xuebing stopped him. “I offer 5,000 RMB.”
This was a reasonable price, but the boss still shook his head.
Dong Xuebing frowned and hesitated. “6,000. This is my highest offer!”
The darker worker looked at his boss. He felt this was a reasonable price. Even if one of the pearls inside was 1.1 cm, it could also not fetch 6,000 RMB. The value of 1.1cm pearls can never reach 6,000 RMB. But if they were fortunate and one of the pearls is bigger than 1.5 cm, than the value will multiply by almost 20 times. But the chances of pearls bigger than 1.4 cm were very low.
The boss was also thinking like this. He had breed pearl mussels for many years, and with his experience, he also could not tell the size of the pearls from the exterior. He knew that this young man was just guessing. He hesitated for a while and replied. “Fine. 6,000 RMB.” He would be a fool to give up this deal. If this young man buys his mussels at 6,000 RMB per piece, then it will reduce his cost. This was a good thing for him.
Dong Xuebing said: “I will be picking a few more. I will pay you after I picked the ones I want. Ok?” The boss nodded. “Ok. Do you want me to open the mussel for you now?”
“No need. I will bring it back and open myself. You all carry on.” Dong Xuebing will not let them see the pearls in the mussels. It will be too suspicious. He took the mussel from that darker worker and held it in his hands. Then, he happily asks for a net from the other worker for his mussel.
Dong Xuebing had gotten one of the pearls for his pearl necklace. But he still needs a few more pearls to form his necklace, and he only has 9 minutes left. Will his BACK be enough?
Just when Dong Xuebing was still thinking, he heard the farm boss shouted: “Ah. I got a big one!”
Dong Xuebing immediately moved over and saw the boss holding on to an opened greyish white colored mussel. The size of the pearl was about the same as the one he bought earlier. The boss took out his device and measured the pearl. 1.7 cm. This was a big pearl. A pearl of this size might not even appear in 100 mussels!
The boss laughed loudly. “I am damn lucky! This is a rare find!”
Dong Xuebing took a deep breath.
BACK!
There was a flash, and the surroundings changed slightly.
The boss of the farm smiles and looked at Dong Xuebing. “Ok. Do you want me to open the mussel for you now?”
It was the moment after Dong Xuebing bought the mussel. “No need. I will bring it back and open myself.” Dong Xuebing quickly put the mussel in his net and before the boss, and the worker continues working, he said. “Wait. That one. The mussel beside your leg. I want that too. This is also 6,000 RMB right?” Dong Xuebing points to that greyish white colored mussel.
The boss bends over and picks it up. “This?”
Dong Xueing replied: “Yes.” He took the mussel from him and put it into his net.
The boss was curious but did not say anything. He signaled to his worker, and they continue working.
20……
30……
The plastic pail was almost filled by pearls of various sizes.
Among these mussels, there were about four 1.4 and 1.5 cm pearls. But Dong Xuebing did not use BACK. Maybe it was because of some reasons, but three pearls were white in color. It was different from the golden pearls he bought. His target was to have a perfect pearl necklace. That’s why he gave up on those pearls. The other pearl was gold in color, and the size was 1.4 cm. But the shape was not perfect. It was not very round.
40…….
50……
Almost an hour had passed. The boss threw away the mussel shells he was holding and said: “We have opened quite a lot. The white pearls’ quality is quite good. But how come 1.4 cm good quality golden pearl did not appear? Even if we are unlucky, at least one should appear by now.”
That worker said: “There are still a lot of mussels left. It should appear soon.”
The boss frowned and picked up a mussel and used his kitchen chopper to crack the shell open. He dug the flesh and then his eyes opened wide: “It’s here! Hah! I was just talking about this, and it really appeared!” The golden pearl was about 1.5 cm in size.
Dong Xuebing saw it and immediately wanted to shout BACK.
But when Dong Xuebing was about to shout, he heard the boss shouting excitedly: “Ah! There is one more. There is one more big one inside!” Dong Xuebing immediately paused and looked over. It was rare to find a big pearl inside, let alone two. The probability was too low!
“Hahaha…… This is also about 1.4 cm!”
Dong Xuebing saw the two flawless pearls and quickly shouts BACK!
The time was reversed.
“We have opened quite a lot. The white pearls’ quality is quite good. But how come 1.4 cm good quality golden pearl did not appear? Even if we are unlucky, at least one should appear by now.”
“There are still a lot of mussels left. It should appear soon.”
Dong Xuebing cleared his throat and walked over. He bent over and picked up the mussel before the boss. “Boss, I want this too. This is also 6,000?”
The boss looked at Dong Xuebing and nodded. He grabbed another pearl mussel and breaks It open. The pearls inside were ordinary golden pearls. What was wrong today? How come all the pearls are so average? Was there something wrong with my methods? Cannot be…… The previous batch also used the same method, and there were several high-grade pearls!
The following hour…….
BACK!
“Boss, I want this one.”
BACK!
“Give me this. Not that one. It’s this one. Yes……”
BACK!
“This is also 6,000? Fine. I will pay you later.”
Back!
“Ah! I want this too.”
Dong Xuebing used up 9 BACKs, and he only has 1 more BACK left. His net had 9 mussels. All the golden pearls in his mussels were between 1.4 cm to 1.7 cm. There were a total of 11 pearls in the mussels he chose. Two of the mussels had two pearls above 1.4 cm each. He only has one BACK left, and he was in no hurry to use it. He wants to wait for a big pearl above 1.7 cm or two big pearls in one mussel.
He waited…….
A 1.5 cm golden pearl appears. Dong Xuebing did not buy it.
A 1.6 cm golden pearl appears. Dong Xuebing still did not act.
A 1.3 cm and 1.5 cm pearls appeared in one mussel. Dong Xuebing hesitated for a moment but chose not to buy it.
This was also a good thing. He left some good pearls for the boss if not, the boss would get suspicious.
200 mussels…….
The boss and his workers had filled 4 pails of pearls. The worker went out and brought two more containers back. Of course, the good pearls were not mixed with other pearls in those plastic pails. Those were kept in a small bag.
It was already 2.40 pm in the afternoon. Dong Xuebing thought if he should just buy the next 1.6 cm pearl and leave that place when he heard the working shouting with excitement.
That darker complexion worker was shouting excitedly: “Boss! This mussel has 3 big pearls!”
“3?!” Dong Xuebing and the boss were stunned. “How big is it?”
“One of them is 1.6 cm, and the other two are 1.5 cm!” That worker raised the pearls for them to see. “They are all round and flawless!”
It was already rare to find a pearl above 1.5 cm, let alone 3. The boss put down his knife and wanted to go over to take a closer look. But suddenly he felt something in the opened mussel he was holding. He stopped and dug into the flesh of the mussel. A 1.5 cm pearl pop up. “Hah! This mussel is good too.”
Dong Xuebing saw this and got excited!
He immediately shouts BACK!
The scenes in front of him changed!
The next moment, Dong Xuebing was looking at the boss and worker holding their kitchen choppers, about to open the mussels.
Dong Xuebing face changes and quickly reach out: “Wait! Don’t open it first! Wait a minute!”
The boss and worker were interrupted. Both looked up at Dong Xuebing. “What is it?”
Just in time. “Ah…… This mussel and the one you are holding. Yes. I want these two.” Before both of them could say anything, Dong Xuebing reached over and took the mussels from them!
Alright!
