1990, Reborn as a Beachcomber, From Rascal to Brilliant Guy

"Of course I earned that!"

Lin Shuisheng raised an eyebrow and looked directly at his father, Lin Yaoguang.

"Made money? You think this is some kind of ghost story? With your mediocre skills, how could you possibly earn that much money?"

Lin Yaoguang's eyes widened, and he pointed at the hundred-yuan bills, spitting as he spoke.

"Dad, the world is actually quite big."

"What do you mean?"

"It's nothing. I just want to say that, whether you believe it or not, I earned this money honestly and uprightly."

Lin Shuisheng shook his head, not uttering the phrase "sitting in a well and looking at the sky."

"Then tell me, how did you earn all this money?"

Lin Yaoguang stared at Lin Shuisheng with a somewhat unfriendly expression.

"Well, it all started with that basket of coconut snails..."

Soon, Lin Shuisheng briefly explained how he killed the snails to extract the pearls and how he went to the city to sell them.

The main omissions are about the bargaining process, and the story of how the conch shells could fetch a high price and how Lin Qiming was found as a buyer is said to be something he had just overheard.

"Do you think I'm easy to fool? Even if you're going to make something up, at least make it believable. That conch bead you mentioned is just a small stone. I'd find it uncomfortable to hold even if you gave it to me for free. Who would be so stupid as to spend tens of thousands to buy it?"

Lin Yaoguang clenched his fists tightly, his gaze towards Lin Shuisheng filled with murderous intent, and his face turned extremely ugly.

He had seen the pearls that came out of these coconut snails before.

Aside from its bright and beautiful appearance, it also has some textures and looks quite strange, just like the small pebbles you can grab a handful of on the beach.

Therefore, even if you beat him to death, he would never believe that someone would spend tens of thousands to buy such a small stone.

If that were the case, why would these fishermen even bother going out to sea to catch fish? They could just sell the stones they find on the beach!

Little did he know that the Melo beads he had seen were all irregularly shaped beads, which are called Baroque in the international jewelry industry and are considered to be of the lowest quality.

The Melo pearl that Lin Shuisheng sold to Lin Qiming was not only a relatively round egg shape, but also had very clear and smooth patterns, and its color was very rich, belonging to the top-grade orange-red.

Its value is worlds apart from the defective products Lin Yaoguang has seen.

Otherwise, Lin Qiming, who comes from a comprador family, wouldn't have been willing to spend such a high price to buy that Melo Pearl.

"That's right! Ah Shui, you need to know when to brag. Lots of people around here have seen those little stones taken from coconut snails. If they were really that valuable, you wouldn't be the one getting them!"

"Ah Shui, I advise you to confess quickly and you'll be treated leniently; if you resist, you'll be punished severely. Otherwise, when Dad gets angry, we won't dare to help you."

At this moment, Lin Haisheng and Lin Chaosheng all spoke up to persuade Lin Shuisheng, completely disregarding the conch shell.

Seeing this, Lin Shuisheng silently rolled his eyes, reached into his pocket, pulled out the property transaction contract, and held it up in front of them.

"If you don't believe me, look for yourselves. It's clearly written here that someone spent 15 yuan to buy a coconut conch pearl from me."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Chaosheng was the first to lean forward and look at each word carefully.

Then, Lin Haisheng and Lin Yaoguang, somewhat skeptical, stepped forward.

As for the others, they all stood on tiptoe curiously and kept looking around, but all they could see were the backs of the three people's heads.

"How was it? Did you see it clearly?"

After a while, Lin Shuisheng took back the contract and nodded to Lin Yaoguang, Lin Chaosheng, and Lin Haisheng.

However, at this moment they were all staring wide-eyed, standing there motionless, as if they had lost their souls.

Seeing this, Lin Shuisheng frowned slightly and waved his hand in front of their eyes a few times.

"Hey, are you guys alright?"

"That doesn't make sense! How could such a broken rock possibly sell for so much money?"

Lin Yaoguang shook his head, muttering to himself in a daze.

"Impossible, this is absolutely impossible, I must be seeing things..."

Lin Haisheng suddenly looked up at Lin Shuisheng, muttering to himself.

The next moment, before he could reach for the contract to examine it again, a loud shout rang in his ears, startling him.

"Hey, Juan, last year I brought back two coconut snails, and when you were taking the meat to cook, didn't you say you found a bead? Where did you put that bead?"

Lin Chao suddenly turned around, grabbed Li Chanjuan's arm, and looked at her anxiously, his eyes practically gleaming with greed.

"I...how could I possibly remember? It's been...it's been so long!"

Li Chanjuan was a little dazed after Lin Chaosheng yelled at her, and she stammered as she spoke.

"Oh dear! Think of something quickly, think of something right now!"

Lin Chaosheng's eyes narrowed, his brows furrowed, and he grabbed Li Chanjuan's arm and shook it vigorously a few times.

"Let me think about it, let me think about it..."

Seeing Lin Chaosheng's extreme anxiety, Li Chanjuan didn't dare to waste any time and immediately frowned and racked her brains for a solution.

Soon, her eyes lit up.

"I've got it now. I thought the bead was pretty, so I wanted to keep it for Atao to play with. He took it and played with his slingshot for a while, then said the bead broke."

"you..."

When Lin Chaosheng heard that his son had broken the beads, his breath hitched, his eyes widened, his lips trembled slightly, and he clutched his chest, staggering back a few steps.

Seeing that he was about to collapse, Li Chanjuan hurriedly stepped forward to support him, her voice slightly panicked.

"Ah Chao, are you alright? Don't scare me!"

Hearing her shout, the others came to their senses and gathered around.

"You...you spendthrift woman, that's over ten thousand! Over ten thousand, and you two kids just squandered it all! I...I really..."

Soon, Lin Chaosheng caught his breath, his hand trembling slightly, and pointed at Li Chanjuan with a pained expression.

As he spoke, he collapsed onto the ground, repeatedly pounding his chest with his fists.

"Ah Chao, you're alright now! I had no idea that bead was so valuable. If I had known, I would never have let Ah Tao play with it. Do you think I'm not upset right now?"

When Li Chanjuan saw that Lin Chaosheng was blaming her for everything, she immediately pointed at Lin Chaosheng and started cursing.

As she continued to curse, her eyes reddened, and tears streamed down her face.

"You know, that's over ten thousand! I usually mend fishing nets for people, and I only earn one or two dollars a day after working hard. Do you think I don't want to earn more money and live a more relaxed life?"