Tourmaline

Back on the deck, Ding Er brought over a deck chair for Ye Yuan to sit down in.

Ding Yi and the others began inspecting and repairing the fishing boat. With these two robots around, it was incredibly convenient. They could handle even the most tedious tasks.

"Mm, when I have the time, I definitely need to make a few more of these," Ye Yuan thought to himself.

This fishing trip had highlighted the problem of insufficient crew. Normally, a fishing boat going out would need at least a dozen people, but Ye Yuan only had four. Although his boat was very advanced and many tasks were automated, sorting the catch still required manual labor.

As he lay in the deck chair, a convoy approached in the distance. Leading it was an Audi, followed by several refrigerated trucks. The convoy stopped in the parking lot by the dock.

Several people got out of the Audi. Two of them were none other than Zhao Chuan, the Eldest Brother from Ye Yuan's dorm, and Zhang Wujin, the Second Brother.

They quickly spotted Ye Yuan on the deck.

Coming onto the fishing boat, Zhao Chuan pointed at the man behind him and introduced him to Ye Yuan: "This is the buddy I told you about on the phone. Wang Yueshan, he runs a seafood trading company in Blue Island. His dad and my old man are pretty close. We've basically grown up together. He's a year older than us, just call him Brother Shan."

Ye Yuan nodded and reached out to shake Wang Yueshan's hand.

"Good to meet you, Brother Shan. Sorry to make you come all this way."

"Don't say that, brother. I should be thanking you. This business isn't easy these days; good stock is hard to come by. Chuanzi told me you've got some real quality stuff here. When the time comes, don't forget your big brother here."

Ye Yuan exchanged a few polite words with Wang Yueshan before leading the group into the fish hold.

When Wang Yueshan saw that the hold was mostly filled with common seafood, he was a little disappointed. After all, what he really needed was access to high-end seafood. Still, this batch from Ye Yuan was top-grade, impressive in both quantity and quality.

Wang Yueshan offered a price of over 900,000 for the entire boatload of seafood, and Ye Yuan nodded in agreement. Then the workers Wang Yueshan had brought began moving the seafood from the boat to the trucks. Wang Yueshan would ship it directly from Blue Island to his family's hotels across the country.

The Eldest Brother told Ye Yuan that the broken jade he wanted had been acquired and was on its way. He had arrived early because of Wang Yueshan's matter.

Ye Yuan wanted to treat everyone to a meal, but Wang Yueshan politely declined. His reason was that he needed to get the seafood transported back immediately—this was his first deal in Blue Island City, and he couldn't afford to mess it up.

After Wang Yueshan left, Zhao Chuan and the Second Brother didn't feel like eating in Pinghai County either. Both of them were clamoring to go see Ye Yuan's island.

Fishing Bay Island was now in its initial stages of development. In just the few days Ye Yuan had been out at sea, the modern dock had been completed, and various factory buildings not far from the dock were under construction.

At the dock, Brother-in-law was supervising workers as they unloaded materials from a transport ship.

Ye Yuan led the two brothers over.

From Brother-in-law, he learned that the dormitories on the island were finished and were now undergoing final decoration. The villa for Ye Yuan's family was also complete and ready to move into. His sister and Niuniu had already moved in, and the small supermarket had closed down.

Since Brother-in-law had to travel back and forth between the county town and the island, and his sister was handling the company's finances—including keeping track of the quantities of many materials—the two of them had discussed it and decided that for the next few months, his sister would bring Niuniu to live on the island.

Ye Yuan told Brother-in-law to come home for dinner that evening, then led the two brothers back to his family's new villa.

From a distance, he could see their three-story standalone villa, built from natural stone. In front of the villa was a newly tilled vegetable garden, where his mother was watering the sprouting greens. Behind his mother, Niuniu was riding on Big Yellow, the dog's face drooping miserably while the little girl tugged at his ears with her small hands.

Big Yellow spotted Ye Yuan and suddenly looked like he'd found a savior, about to run over. But the little girl gave his ear a sharp yank, and he obediently settled down again.

Seeing this, Ye Yuan walked over and picked up Niuniu, finally rescuing Big Yellow from his torment. Freed, Big Yellow barked twice at Zhao Chuan and the other brother behind Ye Yuan, then bolted straight out of the villa to who knows where to go wild. Ever since eating the Spirit Opening Pill, Big Yellow often ran off outside, and the family didn't really bother to control him.

"Big doggy! Big doggy! Niuniu wants to ride the big doggy!"

Seeing Big Yellow escape, the little girl struggled in Ye Yuan's arms, trying to get down.

"Niuniu, be good. Let's go inside first. We'll ride the big doggy later, okay?"

Ye Yuan comforted the little girl, then introduced the Second Brother to his mother. Zhao Chuan had been to Ye Yuan's house before, so Mother Ye recognized him.

Seeing that guests had arrived, Mother Ye went to the kitchen to cook.

Carrying Niuniu, Ye Yuan led the two brothers into the villa. Even though this was Ye Yuan's first time entering the villa, he wasn't unfamiliar with the decor at all, since he had designed many parts of it himself.

Zhao Chuan's eyes went wide when he saw the 80cm Blood Red Dragonfish in the living room. "Brother, this fish of yours is absolutely top-tier. It's way better than the one Jia Hongyuan gave my old man."

This Blood Red Dragonfish was the one Ye Yuan had gotten from Zhao Chuan's sister, which he had handed over to Brother-in-law before leaving.

"You're not planning to serve this one to me and the Eldest Brother, are you? Not gonna lie, I've never eaten this kind of fish before," the Second Brother joked from the side.

"You're mean! Don't eat Red Red!"

Niuniu's distinctively childish voice rang out.

It made the Second Brother quite embarrassed.

The Eldest Brother and Ye Yuan burst out laughing. Ye Yuan suddenly remembered the Tourmaline he had fished up from the sea, so he called Ding Yi. Soon, Ding Yi delivered the Tourmaline.

Ye Yuan took out a 20cm pink Tourmaline and gave it to Niuniu. The little girl was absolutely delighted by such a sparkling, shiny object. She planted a loud smack of a kiss on Ye Yuan's cheek, then hugged the Tourmaline and went to find Grandmother.

Ye Yuan had two pieces left in his hand—one black, one azure blue. He placed them directly in front of Zhao Chuan.

"Eldest Brother, take a look. These should be worth a lot, right?"

Zhao Chuan stared at the azure blue piece of Tourmaline, not quite sure. He spoke to Ye Yuan with a doubtful tone: "This is Tourmaline? You got this from the sea too?"

"Mm."

Zhao Chuan carefully examined the Tourmaline, explaining its value to Ye Yuan and the Second Brother as he looked.

"Tourmaline, also known as electric stone, is a type of mixed gemstone. The crystals come in a wide variety of colors, reportedly up to fifteen compound shades. The main colors are colorless, rose-red, pink, red, blue, green, yellow, brown, and black. Among them, the most prized are the translucent, lustrous azure blue, bright rose-red, and the compound pink-and-green varieties. Because of its bright, varied colors and high transparency, Tourmaline has been deeply loved by people since ancient times. It is currently one of the colored gemstones second only to diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and Emeralds.

Tourmaline has a relatively short history of being used as a gemstone, but the beauty created by its rich, vibrant colors and high transparency won people's affection as soon as it appeared, earning it the title of 'the gemstone of a thousand charms.' During the Qing Dynasty, Tourmaline received unprecedented attention in China. In particular, the Empress Dowager Cixi, who held absolute power, was utterly infatuated with Tourmaline—a true Tourmaline fanatic. Legend has it that she always kept a piece of red Tourmaline under her pillow. Tourmaline was also regarded as a symbol of power, used as one of the materials for the official hats of first- and second-rank officials, as well as for making the court beads they wore."

PS: Thanks to brother 08a for the tip.