Abalone Packaging

After carefully examining the cave, he found several "stones" in a corner that had already turned gray.

They looked very similar to the black stone in his hand, except the black one was full of luster while the gray ones were rather dull, as if some kind of energy had been drained from them.

He tried touching the gray stones, but the system showed no reaction. Putting them into his space did nothing either. It seemed his guess had been right—these stones had most likely been left behind after the sea snake absorbed the energy inside them.

In the end, Ye Yuan took one gray stone and two black stones, put them into his net bag, and swam out of the cave. After searching the surrounding waters for a while without finding anything else, he returned directly to the ship.

Fishing Bay Island. Ye Yuan had been back for several days.

Li Hui's sudden appearance surprised Ye Yuan a little.

"Why did you come back so quickly? Didn't I ask you to stay in Shangjing and take care of Uncle?"

"My mom is looking after him there. My dad had another examination these past few days, and they completely ruled out cancer. The doctor said he's just a little malnourished now. After resting for three to five days, he can be discharged."

Li Hui spoke with great vigor, completely shedding the exhaustion he had shown a few days ago.

"I've already taken care of what you asked me to do. Take a look."

As he spoke, Li Hui took a wooden box from the backpack behind him. The box was made of sandalwood, with a scene of Fishing Bay Island carved on the front. The words "Yuwan Seafood" were engraved in cursive script in the upper-left corner, while the serial number was in the lower-right corner.

This was what Ye Yuan had asked Li Hui to handle before leaving Shangjing.

Ye Yuan fell in love with the packaging at first sight and immediately decided to have Li Hui customize more boxes like it.

Li Hui shook his head with a bitter smile. "Large-scale customization probably won't be possible. Sandalwood is in short supply. I pulled some strings, and I can probably get around thirty boxes like this made. Each one will cost thirty thousand yuan."

Ye Yuan nodded to show that he understood.

Sandalwood was also called Azure Dragon wood. It was hard in texture, eternally fragrant, and richly varied in color. Legend said it could resist all poisons, remain uncorrupted for ages, and ward off evil, which was why it was also called sacred sandalwood.

It mainly grew in tropical regions and was highly resistant to decay. It was primarily used for carving, handicrafts, sports equipment, musical instruments, and the like.

Sandalwood could also be divided into several types: purple sandalwood, red sandalwood, green sandalwood, black sandalwood, and so on.

Purple sandalwood was what people commonly called small-leaf red sandalwood. It was mainly produced in India. Small-leaf red sandalwood had high density, small pores, stable wood properties, and was not prone to warping or cracking.

Its texture was hard, its grain fine, and it grew extremely slowly, forming only one growth ring every five years. It took more than eight hundred years to mature. It was the hardest of all woods and one of the most precious timbers in the world, as well as one of the three imperial woods used exclusively by ancient emperors.

Red sandalwood was mainly distributed throughout tropical America and Africa. It had a dense structure, pleasing color, beautiful grain, and a faint fragrance with a natural sheen. Many of its characteristics resembled red rosewood. It was relatively hard, wear-resistant, decay-resistant, and termite-resistant, making it especially suitable for furniture, flooring, carvings, and similar uses.

Green sandalwood generally referred to lignum vitae. This wood had fine, orderly grain, with dark greenish-brown or black heartwood and a faint sheen. It had only entered the country in recent years, so traditional classical furniture did not use this material. It was generally used for Buddhist prayer beads, Buddhist statues, and stationery.

Black sandalwood, also known as ebony, was exceptionally strong and hard, grew very slowly, and resisted decay. Ebony had jet-black or blackish-brown heartwood and nearly white sapwood, with interlocking grain, an extremely fine structure, and indistinct growth rings.

The packaging Li Hui gave Ye Yuan was made from red sandalwood. Though it was not the most expensive type of sandalwood, it was still far from cheap.

Ye Yuan directly transferred one million yuan to Li Hui and told him to purchase a batch of packaging.

Li Hui did not rest and immediately went to handle the matter. With Li Hui's help, Ye Yuan felt much more relaxed.

Just then, Ye Yuan's phone rang. Brother-in-law's anxious voice came through. "Xiao Yuan, hurry! Come to Pinghai Hospital! Your dad was beaten up!"

When Ye Yuan heard that, his mind buzzed. His father was no longer young. Being beaten badly enough to end up in the hospital was no small matter. "How is he?"

"He's being treated right now. Hurry over." Brother-in-law hung up after saying that.

Ye Yuan ran to the dock and jumped straight onto the Water Controller. Several crew members were washing the deck, and Ye Yuan immediately called Ding Yi over, telling him to head for Pinghai County at top speed.

Standing on the deck, he stared at the seawater ahead, his hands clenched tight and an unprecedented chill flashing through his eyes.

"My dad had better be all right. Otherwise, I'll make whoever hit him understand what it means to wish you were dead."

Ye Yuan arrived at the hospital very quickly. In the ward, his father had thick layers of gauze wrapped around his head and was already asleep in the hospital bed.

His sister was caring for him by the bedside, while Brother-in-law stood to one side holding Niuniu. One side of Niuniu's face was swollen high, and her red eyes made it obvious that she had just been crying.

Seeing that his father was temporarily all right, Ye Yuan pulled Brother-in-law out of the ward.

"What did the doctor say?"

"It's nothing serious, just a mild concussion. There was a lot of blood coming from his head at first, so everyone got scared."

"Tell me exactly what happened." Ye Yuan's tone was icy.

"Ah... it was originally just a small matter. I never expected it to turn out like this..." Brother-in-law explained what had happened.

It all began with Niuniu. Everyone in the family had been busy recently, so his sister and Brother-in-law had sent Niuniu to kindergarten.

His father happened to come into the county today. Since his sister and Brother-in-law could not get away, they asked his father to pick Niuniu up. Who would have thought that when he got there, he saw Niuniu being bullied by a little boy? His father refused to let it go and grabbed the boy, insisting on finding the boy's parents. The little boy was frightened and burst into tears.

Just then, the little boy's father arrived to pick him up. Seeing his son being held by an old man and crying, he did not ask what had happened. He went right up and hit Ye Yuan's father, knocking him to the ground before kicking him in the head several times.

The kindergarten immediately called the police and notified his sister and Brother-in-law.

By the time Brother-in-law and the others arrived, the police were already at the scene. The man who had hit him had left, and his father had been sent to the hospital.

Brother-in-law told him everything he knew.

"What did the police say? He could just leave after beating someone up?" Ye Yuan's voice had become freezing cold.

"What else could they say? The other side claimed Dad had tried to kidnap his son, and he caught him doing it. They said it was all a misunderstanding, and they would cover all the medical expenses." Brother-in-law spoke angrily.

Ye Yuan looked at the injury on Niuniu's face. "What happened to Niuniu? That doesn't look like something another child did."

It would have been better if Ye Yuan had not asked. The moment he did, Niuniu burst into tears with a wail. As she cried, she spoke in a wronged voice. "He hit Grandpa. Niuniu went to bite him, and then he slapped Niuniu. It hurt so much... Uncle... Uncle... Niuniu doesn't want to go to kindergarten anymore... Uncle, take Niuniu back to the island. Niuniu will be good... Niuniu won't cause Uncle any trouble..." Niuniu tearfully described how she had been hit.

Heart aching, Ye Yuan took Niuniu from Brother-in-law's arms and stroked her face. Looking at the little girl's badly swollen cheek, then thinking of his father lying in the ward with his head wrapped in gauze, a nameless flame began burning in Ye Yuan's heart.

PS: Thanks to brother 08a for the reward, and thanks to everyone for your continued support. Today is the last day of the app popularity recommendation. This week's results have not been very good, and starting tomorrow it will be a web page hot recommendation. Fingertip is a newcomer and does not know which recommendation is better, so I want to thank all the friends who have always supported me. Thank you all.