Just as she was about to poke her chopsticks inside, Ye Yaohua suddenly caught her hand. "How about letting me do this one?"
"Stay out of the way!" Ye Second Sister-in-Law snapped, elbowing him before poking inside and picking out the snail meat herself.
This time, Ye Second Sister-in-Law was full of hope, but after carefully digging through the entire piece of meat, she found nothing.
"I told you to let me do it..."
"And you would've found one? If you couldn't, would you conjure one up for me?"
"Honestly, you're blaming someone else for your own mistake..."
Their bickering gave Mother Ye a headache. They could turn even a perfectly good thing into an argument. "All right, all right. Since there's nothing, go do whatever you need to do. I have to cook."
Only then did everyone disperse to their own rooms. They still hadn't put away the money from selling their catch, having stayed in the main room watching the sea snails being opened. Besides, the value of the pearl they had found gave them plenty to discuss.
Ye Yaodong and his wife also talked about it as soon as they returned to their room.
"Second Sister-in-Law was so lucky. What a shame, though."
"Hers was pretty ordinary. It'd make a nice keepsake, or it could be set into a ring."
"If only we'd found it!"
Amused, Ye Yaodong ruffled her short hair. "Then we won't sell any sea snails we pick up from now on. We'll open them all for you to look for pearls."
"No, we can't do that either. The odds are too low. It feels like such a waste. Even those three today made my heart ache."
"Think about it. If you find a top-quality one, you'll make a fortune. Just think of your