The Legend of the Fishermen of Sicily

Chapter 153 Since we've already gone, there's no reason for us to come back empty-handed.

Leo spent half a day researching at Andre's house.

He stayed outside for several hours and returned in the evening without bringing anything back.

Someone asked him what was going on and whether he had found the item.

Leo shook his head and said seriously, "It's difficult."

The next morning, Leo didn't go to the fish market because there wasn't much to sell.

Aesop inquired about the situation and heard the vivid description of how serious Leo's expression had been at the time...

His expression also turned serious.

It seems unlikely we'll find it this time.

In the morning, Aesop delivered his catch to a seafood stall in Syracuse.

The portly merchant was already waiting there. Before Aesop could finish unloading the goods, he anxiously asked Leo what was going on and whether he had brought back anything today.

Aesop told the truth and made his prediction.

The man paced anxiously in circles.

"Oh dear, it's all my fault for praising Leo too much to please the boss. I bragged about him being a silverfin hunter, a sea urchin finder, a Sicilian sponge warrior, a diving prodigy, and a hard-working genius. I even made a bold claim that there's nothing in the Mediterranean that Leo can't find! Today, my supplier contacted me, saying that a big foreign boss knows that Leo is helping them find something and asked me how things are going... What am I supposed to say?"

Aesop's lips twitched incessantly.

You just relay whatever I say... Are you a mouthpiece?

But how come you still have a supplier?

"You didn't contact that rich foreign boss?" Aesop asked.

The portly man had lost all interest in showing off: "How could I possibly have access to a foreign boss of this caliber? They're truly wealthy, I've heard they're internationally renowned! Don't worry about how many suppliers I have... Leo's name has already reached the ears of the real big boss! If he doesn't bring back anything tomorrow, our entire 'lineup' is finished!"

Aesop had finally managed to get in touch with this boss, and although he knew the chances were slim, he still comforted him, saying, "Leo said he'd look for two days. If he doesn't find it today, there's always tomorrow. Let's wait a little longer. I have faith in Leo."

"Leo said he'd search for two days. If he doesn't find it today, there's always tomorrow. Let's wait a bit longer. I have faith in Leo."

These words passed through countless mouths and reached a luxurious presidential suite two hours later.

The speaker was an old man with white hair, whose head was neatly combed and whose beard was meticulously groomed.

After he finished speaking, he looked at the translator and waited for the translator to relay the message to the person in the bedroom.

After the translator finished conveying the message, the playful sounds of the man and woman in the bedroom temporarily ceased, and a woman's voice came out: "Who is Leo? Why mention his name specifically?"

The translator relayed the message to the white-haired old man, who replied in Italian: "He's Sicily's newly minted silverfin hunter. He found all the previous sponges; there's nothing in the Mediterranean he can't find."

The translator relayed the message, and the woman's voice in the bedroom said with a laugh, "Italians' sense of superiority is disgusting. They think everything that grows on this land is the best in the world, and they try to sell me garbage every day. Now they even have to brag about a fisherman like this."

The translator remained calm, seemingly unfazed by the situation.

This was the most difficult customer he had ever encountered in his life; the only redeeming quality he had was his wealth.

But having money is enough...

He smiled at the white-haired old man and said, "Okay, I understand. I look forward to hearing from you tomorrow."

The door to the presidential suite was opened, and two handsome young men entered the bedroom. The sounds of playful banter resumed, and the white-haired old man wisely left.

the next day.

Marzamemi.

Leo is used to coming to the fish market early every day, but even Salvatore's stall was open today... and Leo still didn't show up.

Aesop's heart sank. He figured the situation was likely dire, and he was sure he still wouldn't find anything.

Just as she was thinking about how to reply to the pot-bellied man, Leo appeared pushing a small cart with several large boxes stacked on it.

Aesop stammered for a while, "Don't tell me... it's full of those snails?"

He never expected things to develop this way.

But everything that happens to Leo makes perfect sense.

Aesop began frantically calculating how many snails these boxes could hold.

I just don't know how big that snail is...

Leo shook his head: "Didn't find it."

Aesop experienced a rollercoaster of emotions, going from heaven to hell in a second.

Fortunately, he had already prepared himself for the possibility of not finding it. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and comforted Leo, saying, "If it were easy to find, the boss wouldn't have charged such a high price."

Leo said regretfully, "The kind of dye snail you want likes to grow in the seabed where sand and mud are mixed, but the places I went to before were all rocky areas. I went to the sandy and muddy area yesterday to look for it, but I'm not familiar with the area... I didn't see any trace of the snails all day."

Aesop had adjusted his mindset and patted Leo's arm: "It's okay, you've worked hard. I'll explain it to the boss properly."

He pointed to the box on the cart and asked, "So you brought back some other things while you were looking for bone snails?"

"Yes, we've already gone, there's no reason for us to come back empty-handed." Leo took down the top box and showed it to Aesop. "Try selling these things to the boss and ask him if he's interested."

Aesop looked over and saw that there was only one lonely seashell in the box, which was frighteningly large.

Leo explained to him, "This thing is called the Jiangyao clam. It secretes byssal silk, which was called sea silk or shell silk in ancient times. It can be spun into thread and woven into clothing. Ancient pharaohs loved this stuff..."

After explaining this, Leo carefully closed the lid and picked up the second box.

This time, the contents were even more unbelievable: the huge box contained only two tiny things that looked like flower petals.

"This is a pteropod mollusc, sometimes called a sea butterfly, sometimes a sea angel, because it has a pair of wing-like wings. Don't look at them; they're invisible to the naked eye. After special treatment, they can be painted or sculpted."

Artifacts were so prized that nobles in ancient Rome would fight to the death to collect them.

'

Leo continued with the third box. Compared to the first two, this one was much more normal, containing seven or eight snails: "I didn't find any bone snails that could be used to make dye, but I found the Mediterranean conch shells that the ancient Greeks used to make currency and amulets. The ancient Greeks especially liked them, believing they could bring wealth..."

'

"This is a queen conch shell. See the flame pattern on it? Many pieces of jewelry are based on it. Ancient European royalty used it to make brooches and even crown embellishments..."

'

After Leo finished recounting the seven boxes, he asked Aesop, who was completely bewildered, "Did you remember them? It's okay if you can't remember the names, but you must remember all the ancient stories I told you."

Aesop calmed himself down and asked Leo, "Did you find all of this in the last two days?"

Leo pointed to Rosalia behind him.

Aesop was listening so intently that he didn't even notice when Rosalia arrived.

"And the same goes for these boxes Rosalia brought over." Leo urged Aesop to continue listening to his explanation. "I told you, even though we didn't find the bone snail, we've already gone, so there's no reason to come back empty-handed. Hurry up and write this down so you can properly promote it to the boss later."

What Leo brought was too niche and too exotic.

Aesop dared not take it, especially after hearing the stories he told.

He never imagined in his life that one day he would be telling long historical stories to customers while selling seafood.

Is this what we should be doing?

But Leo is a fisherman who doesn't follow the usual path.

To work with Leo, Aesop had to gradually adapt to Leo's rhythm and rules.

Aesop couldn't remember everything, so he wrote down the names and stories of these marine creatures one by one, like a clumsy student.

Upon returning to Syracuse, he would immediately contact his employer and have Leo wait for his message at the coffee shop.

Leo had been relatively anxious and apprehensive while waiting for phone calls at coffee shops several times before, because those calls were related to the tasks issued by the system.

This time, he was relatively calm while waiting for the call, because he knew that the mysterious boss would definitely like these things.

Because all of these can be "packaged" into stories.

If you're just looking for information about bone snails at Andrei's house, you can finish reading it in ten minutes.

"Leo spent the whole morning going through information to select guests based on the preferences of this mysterious boss."

The experience of searching for sponges last time proved that looking for a specific creature in the ocean is like finding a needle in a haystack, and the idiom couldn't be more apt.

If it weren't for good luck in discovering the hidden things and accidentally entering the secret garden, even if Leo had been given two more months, he would have had a hard time finding Sponge's whereabouts.

How much easier is it to find a bony snail than to find a sponge?

So Leo's search this time actually involves several hundred kinds of marine plants and animals, focusing on areas that the mysterious boss might care about, such as story and rarity.

In 1995, the general population of Sicily had a low level of education and had not seen much of the world.

But Leo traveled back in time; what marketing tactics hasn't he seen?

The only uncertainty now is how much these things can sell for.

Because even among stories, there are good and bad stories.

Several of the things Leo brought back today weren't actually that rare, it's just that no one had ever used them to create anything interesting.

It's like kale.

Before it became a hit, very few people knew about it, and even those who did only knew of it as animal feed or scraps from Western cuisine.

In summary, I don't know them, I don't eat them, and I don't care about them.

But one day, it suddenly became synonymous with health, and milk tea shops would be embarrassed to stay open if they didn't offer drinks related to kale.

Logically, Aesop should have replied by 10 a.m. at the latest.

But this time, even after lunch, we still hadn't received any news from Syracuse.

Leo couldn't sit still in the coffee shop. He paced back and forth in the small square in front of the coffee shop, looking in the direction of the village entrance and thinking... Even if he drove back and forth to deliver the letter, he should be back by now, right?

Guess what?

This time, they really did drive to deliver the letter.

A convoy of luxury cars drove in from the direction of the village entrance; each car was the kind that could buy a new fishing boat.

The convoy drove all the way to the square in front of the cathedral. Several men and women in formal attire got out of the lead and last cars and dispersed to the surrounding areas of the village, not knowing what they were doing.

After a while, the rear door of the middle car opened, and two sunshades were placed on it at the same time.

A pair of bright red high heels stepped onto the mottled stone pavement, and then an extremely lazy voice rang out: "It's been a long time since I've been to the countryside. It seems like the last time was before the development of Lourmaran."

>