Basically, all the natural black pearls produced each year are traded at auctions; what you can see on the market are artificial imitations.
"This was retrieved by President Zhuang, so let him handle it..."
"Yes...yes, if there are pearls in here, they belong to Boss Zhuang..."
"Mr. Zhuang, let's crack it open and see. If there really is a pearl inside, it must be quite large..."
After hearing Old Li's words, everyone was also a little unsure. It was normal for such a large clam to have a pearl inside; it all depended on Zhuang Rui's luck.
Cultural relics salvaged from Chinese waters do indeed belong to the state, but pearls are not cultural relics. If they are salvaged, they should belong to Zhuang Rui. Otherwise, Zhuang Rui would rather the giant clam stay on the seabed.
Chapter 1020 Black Pearl (Part 2)
"Heh, you didn't believe me when I said I saw pearls, fine, then I'll just smash them to death..."
Zhuang Rui knew that there were not only pearls here, but more than one. In addition to the pearl that was about the size of a pigeon egg, there were more than ten smaller pearls, but compared to the larger one, they were negligible.
"Alright, let's crack it open. We can have clam soup tonight..."
"Yes, let's see for ourselves and see if there are any pearls inside these giant clams..."
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, the crowd immediately became excited. Life at sea is actually quite boring, but hearing that there was something exciting to watch, the deck was immediately filled with people, and even Director Wu and Professor Meng squeezed over.
When Professor Meng saw Zhuang Rui ask the crew to fetch a hammer, he couldn't help but laugh and scold, "That brat, he's not doing his job properly..."
"Professor Meng, you can't say that. At the very least, President Zhuang was the first to discover the shipwreck wreckage, so he deserves the credit..."
Director Wu was in a good mood. The second group of divers had just surfaced, and according to their analysis, the location Zhuang Rui had surveyed was most likely the wreckage of a shipwreck, and there were quite a few of them.
This pleased Director Wu, who was in charge of the salvage operation. Even if he could have controlled Zhuang Rui, he would have turned a blind eye to Zhuang Rui's behavior.
"We don't know yet. We'll have to wait until their plan is finalized and the salvage operation begins..."
Professor Meng shook his head. As an archaeological expert, he believed in relying on physical evidence. This area had more than just the Awa Maru shipwreck; perhaps the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.
"Alright, we'll know the answer this afternoon. Professor Meng, do you think there's a pearl inside this giant clam?"
Director Wu smiled and changed the subject.
He had already relayed this message to the headquarters. Even if they only manage to salvage a piece of metal later, Director Wu would insist that the metal came from the Awa Maru.
Professor Meng looked at the large clam and said, "It's hard to say. The formation of natural pearls is largely a matter of chance. It's hard to say, hard to say..."
Natural pearls form when oysters are feeding on the seabed and their shells open. Sometimes, foreign objects, such as grains of sand, parasites, or small pebbles, are carried by the water flow and fall into the pearl's mantle.
When the mantle of a sea mussel or freshwater mussel is stimulated, it secretes nacre, which wraps around any foreign object that falls in, making it smooth and gradually forming a shiny and lustrous outer layer of the pearl sac.
Cultured pearls are made based on this principle, using a nucleus insertion technique to implant a round pearl into an oyster. After a period of cultivation, a pearl is formed.
Natural pearls are not always round. Sometimes they take on various irregular shapes depending on the material that falls into the shell. However, their color is much better than that of artificially implanted pearls.
As for the size of a pearl, it actually has little to do with the volume of the substance that fell into it, but rather with the number of years the pearl has been nurtured inside the oyster. The longer the time, the larger the pearl will be.
"Here it comes, the hammer is here..."
While everyone was discussing this, a crew member walked over carrying a large hammer in both hands. The handle alone was more than a meter long, and it looked like the kind of large hammer used to drive piles on construction sites.
"Goodness, this hammer is quite big..."
"I said, 'This thing must weigh at least 60 or 70 pounds! Who could possibly move it?'"
"That's right, don't hurt yourself before you can even crack the clam open. Let's get a smaller one..."
Some onlookers went up and weighed the hammer. Although they could lift it, they found it impossible to raise it above their heads. Without the strength of several hundred kilograms in their arms, they really couldn't use this object.
"This one will do, anything smaller might be too difficult to break..."
When you tap the shell of this clam, it makes a metallic clanging sound, indicating that the shell is not thin; even a small hammer probably wouldn't be able to break it open.
"Everyone, step back a little, step back a little more..."
Zhuang Rui stepped forward and picked up the hammer with both hands. He didn't want to show off too much, otherwise, with the weight of the hammer, Zhuang Rui could have easily swung it around with one hand.
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, the crowd scattered in all directions, leaving a space of five or six square meters in the middle, their eyes fixed on Zhuang Rui, who was holding a hammer.
"Teach... Aww!"
Just as Zhuang Rui raised the hammer high, intending to smash it down, Jin Gang suddenly squeezed in from somewhere, stretched out his long arm, and grabbed the iron head of the hammer from behind Zhuang Rui.
Caught off guard, Zhuang Rui was pulled back by the giant and nearly fell. When he turned around and saw the big guy, he couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time.
"Damn it, what are you doing? King Kong, let go of Feng Dian..."
"Awooo!"
Jin Gang released his long arm, pounded his chest, and started gesturing and shouting at Zhuang Rui, reaching out to snatch the hammer from Zhuang Rui's hand.
"Alright, go play somewhere else. You can't smash this thing..."
Zhuang Rui pushed King Kong's hand away. Inside was a priceless black pearl. If King Kong were to smash it with his hammer, Zhuang Rui would be devastated.
"Go away, or if you don't behave, the Thunder God will come after you tonight..."
Zhuang Rui gave the stubborn King Kong a stern warning. This big guy was terrified by lightning yesterday, and upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, he immediately covered his head and squatted down to the side, causing the onlookers to burst into laughter.
He swung the sledgehammer again, raising it high with tremendous force, drawing an arc in the air before striking the giant clam's shell with a resounding thud.
"Pfft! Ugh, what's that taste?"
Because Zhuang Rui moved too fast, the large iron hammer did not pause at all after contacting the clam shell, and directly smashed the shell to pieces, with the hammer sinking into the clam.
However, a mouthful of slightly salty seawater splashed out from the crack in the clam's body and landed right in Zhuang Rui's mouth. The clam meat was delicious, but the taste of an unprocessed clam was extremely unpleasant, causing Zhuang Rui to frown and spit out saliva repeatedly.
"Damn it, you think I can't handle you, buddy?"
Zhuang Rui took the water handed to him by someone, rinsed his mouth, took a deep breath, and then raised the large iron hammer again, swinging it high and smashing it down again.
Zhuang Rui chose to drop the hammer on the four sides of the clam, but he didn't touch the central area where the pearl is formed.
After being struck more than ten times, the tightly closed clam was shattered. The white clam meat twitched for a while before finally becoming still.
Zhuang Rui's actions left the onlookers dumbfounded. No one could have imagined that Zhuang Rui, who didn't look very strong, could throw so many punches in one go. Even the workers who swung hammers all year round on the construction site were far inferior to him.
"Mr. Zhuang, let me do it. The clam meat is tightly attached to the shell; most people can't record it properly. Let's not waste it..."
After Zhuang Rui stopped, Old Li jumped out. Looking at the snow-white and tender clam meat, his mouth seemed to be watering. Ordinary clams can only be stir-fried, but clams this big are extremely rare.
This large clam is different from the small shellfish that can also be called clams. While the clam meat and shell are tightly connected, the clam meat will automatically separate when boiled in water and must be separated with a knife.
Zhuang Rui nodded and said, "Okay, you do it, but be careful not to hurt your hands..."
The cracks in these clam shells are quite sharp, and you can easily cut your hand if you're not careful. When Zhuang Rui was a child, he used to catch river clams in Yunlong Lake in Pengcheng, and he often got his hands cut by the clam shells.
"Hehe, Mr. Zhuang, don't worry, we used to make a living this way..."
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Old Li's face lit up with a smile. He jogged to the restaurant, borrowed a knife and two plastic buckets, and then, once at the clam's edge, began to dissect it with practiced skill.
Old Li wasn't bragging. His movements were very skillful. He placed one hand on the clam's shell and reached inside with the other. He didn't even use his eyes; he relied entirely on his senses to separate the clam meat from the shell bit by bit.
This clam weighed over 200 pounds, and even after removing the shell, the meat inside weighed 60 to 70 pounds. Before long, half of the clam meat had been extracted and filled a whole shovel.
"Honey, where are the pearls you mentioned?"
Qin Xuanbing held Zhuang Rui's hand tightly, watching Old Li take out the clam meat. However, to her disappointment, not a single pearl appeared even after the plastic bucket was filled.
"Hehe, miss, please don't worry. Pearls are usually adsorbed inside the outer membrane, we'll get rid of it soon..."
Before Zhuang Rui could answer, Old Li laughed. As he spoke, his hands were busy scraping and twisting from the half-open clam, and a whole piece of snow-white, tender clam meat was taken out.
"Mr. Zhuang, this is the outer membrane. Whether there are pearls or not depends on the first cut..."
Old Li did a great job, carefully removing the entire part that contained the pearl and showing it to Zhuang Rui.
Smelling the fishy smell, Zhuang Rui quickly waved his hand and said, "Alright, Lao Li, just untie me..."
"Okay!"
Seeing everyone staring at him, Old Li felt a little smug. He placed his thumb on the handle of the knife, made a circular motion around his palm, and then cut open the clam meat, which weighed seven or eight pounds.
"This...this..."
After cutting open the clam meat, Old Li suddenly stopped, looking down at the piece of clam meat, muttering something to himself.
"Old Li, do you have any pearls? Show them to us quickly..."
"Yeah, what are you doing blocking the way? Aren't you going to say something...?"
"Hey? Old Li, what's with that expression? What's that thing inside?"
When Old Li looked up, everyone noticed an indescribable expression on his weathered face, weathered by the sea breeze.
Chapter 1021 Black Pearl (Part 2)
“Precious…Pearl…”
Old Li's face, which was neither crying nor laughing, twitched as he uttered a sentence that left everyone speechless.
"Old Li, I know there are pearls inside, but what are you doing?"
"Exactly, could there be some treasure inside that scared you to death?"
"Alright, move aside, let everyone see what's going on..."
The onlookers became increasingly curious. After all, Old Li was a boss, making several decades' worth of income each year. Why would he make such an expression just because he saw a pearl?
"No...don't move, nobody move, Mr. Zhuang goes first..."
When Old Li saw the crowd gathering around, he suddenly did something unexpected. He disregarded the fishy smell of the clam meat and hugged it tightly to his chest.
"Mr. Zhuang, this... I'm entrusting this item to you now, please take good care of it..."
Upon seeing Zhuang Rui step forward, Old Li, as if throwing away a hot potato, stuffed the piece of clam meat containing the pearl into Zhuang Rui's arms. However, everyone could still see a trace of reluctance on Old Li's face.
Old Li was afraid that if he kept the item, someone else would snatch it away. With so many people around, if he lost a small one, he could afford to pay for it. But if he lost the big pearl, even if he went bankrupt, Old Li couldn't afford to pay for it.
"Sigh, is it really that serious..."
Zhuang Rui took the clam meat, feeling somewhat annoyed. The clam meat was very juicy, which soaked his shirt and even dripped down to his shorts.
Luckily, Zhuang Rui had just come up from the water wearing only shorts and a vest, otherwise his perfectly good clothes would have been ruined.