It was already midnight when they returned to where the boat was moored.
Luo Ren had rented a wheelchair from the hospital for Yan Hong Sha, but when getting in and out of the car, he still had to carry her. Yan Hong Sha was extremely uncooperative. While being carried by him, she held her hands high as if surrendering, making sure her voice reached Mu Dai: “I have no choice, I don’t want this either.”
Luo Ren was baffled and asked her, “What don’t you want?”
Yan Hong Sha snapped at him: “Don’t take advantage of me!”
Luo Ren gave her a look and simply dropped her—the first time onto the back seat of the car, the second time onto the bed in the cabin.
The first time she was dropped, Yan Hong Sha cried out in pain. The second time, she cried out even more dramatically, but in delight: “A boat, a boat! This is my first time sleeping on a boat!”
As she spoke, she lifted the mattress to peek underneath repeatedly, as if beds on boats were somehow different from beds elsewhere.
Yi Wansan coldly observed her for a while before saying, “Weirdo.”
There was a small shower stall on the boat. The two girls hastily showered and freshened up. The cabin room was given to the girls, while Luo Ren and Yi Wansan made do in the pilot house. They said they wouldn’t sail the boat at night but would head to the waters near Five Pearl Village early the next morning.
Upon hearing they were going to Five Pearl Village, Yan Hong Sha couldn’t sleep.
In the middle of the night, she propped herself up from her bed: “Mu Dai? Mu Dai?”
“Are you asleep? Make a sound at least.”
In the darkness, Mu Dai rolled her eyes: Don’t you know I’ve lost my voice?
She impatiently tapped the bed board twice.
Yan Hong Sha realized and began talking to herself.
—”What do you think grabbed me? Could it have been an old oyster, the one my uncle showed in his video?”
—”Do you think my uncle might be in trouble?”
Suddenly, she became overwhelmingly sad: “If my uncle is dead, my grandfather will cry his eyes blind.”
Mu Dai sighed, got up from her bed, and sat down on Yan Hong Sha’s bed. In the darkness, Yan Hong Sha’s eyes were glistening—she must be crying.
Unsure how to comfort her, Mu Dai could only imitate Luo Ren by gently stroking Yan Hong Sha’s hair.
Yan Hong Sha spoke again: “Do you think that old oyster has been harming people all along? Before this, could many people have fallen victim to it?”
Yes, if you counted all the fatal cases in Five Pearl Village.
But…
Suddenly, Mu Dai’s heart skipped a beat.
What about the time after Five Pearl Village was relocated? Could there have been other, isolated pearl divers who had gone into the water?
The next morning, the boat didn’t immediately set off for Five Pearl Village as planned.
While Mu Dai and the others were still asleep, Luo Ren had already driven to the city.
The previous night, he had talked at length with Yi Wansan. Both felt that if the old oyster was truly causing trouble, they couldn’t rashly go there; they needed some effective tools.
Not seeing Luo Ren, Mu Dai was somewhat dispirited. Yi Wansan bought porridge and vegetable pancakes from a nearby village. The seafood here was truly abundant—the porridge was salty, and with a lift of the chopsticks, you could scoop up small shrimp.
Mu Dai opened the vinegar-dressed white fungus from the night before and ate it with breakfast. After eating, she practiced making sounds. After a night’s rest, her throat was much better, and she could make “mmm” and “aah” sounds.
After breakfast, Mu Dai sat on the boarding ladder by the boat, often deliberately turning her head to look at the road, hoping Luo Ren’s car would appear soon.
During one of her turns, she happened to meet Yi Wansan’s gaze. Yi Wansan said, “He’s not back yet.”
Mu Dai responded with, “Hmph!”
“Hmph” was another sound she had mastered after “mmm” and “aah.”
Yi Wansan walked over: “I called Zhang Shu and told him about your situation.”
He added, “Your phone fell into the water, and Zhang Shu and the others couldn’t contact you. They were worried sick.”
Oh, that’s right. So much had happened yesterday that she had forgotten about this.
Yi Wansan sat down and, after a moment, asked her: “How are things between you and Luo Ren?”
He and Cao Yanhua had witnessed Luo Ren referring to Mu Dai as his girlfriend, and they had also witnessed Mu Dai’s smug refusal: “Did I agree?”
But at that time, they all thought it was just a minor quarrel. Hadn’t Luo Ren gone to the bar for several consecutive days, giving tips as “penance”?
Mu Dai remained silent.
Yi Wansan said, “Don’t think I’m being too blunt, but I feel Luo Ren isn’t suitable for you.”
“Luo Ren is quite complicated. You don’t know what his world is really like. In other words, you can’t enter his space.”
Mu Dai bit her lip without speaking.
Didn’t she know this? She knew it; she had always known.
She had told her senior brother that she needed more experience, more life experiences to be better, and said she wanted someone with presence, someone who seemed cool, steady, and composed…
Because she felt that such a person would be suitable to be by Luo Ren’s side.
“Little Boss Lady, Luo Ren genuinely likes you—you’re likable. When I first met you, didn’t I also have inappropriate thoughts? Later, after you beat me up, I lost interest. But have you noticed that after reaching the point of liking you, Luo Ren finds it difficult to move forward? He’s much more restrained than before.”
Mu Dai listened quietly.
“From a man’s perspective, after liking someone, the next step is to consider whether to continue liking them seriously. In the past, on the road, I also liked a girl, but when it came to whether to continue, I thought, What kind of person am I?”
“You know, I’m just a con artist. I can’t afford to like a good girl. When considering social standing, I don’t even have a doorway to match. So I pretended not to understand, pretended not to be serious. She was heartbroken at the time, but she got better later. Once, I checked her social media and saw she was married with children, smiling so happily.”
“I bet Luo Ren is far more complicated than I. Last night, when discussing what to use against the old oyster, the things he mentioned, I really… never even thought of. He’s not from the same world as you. If you enter his world, who knows how much suffering you’ll endure, so… Ow!”
A slipper flew from an angle above, hitting him squarely on the head.
Yi Wansan’s rare serious conversation with her about relationship issues ended just like that.
Looking up, they saw Yan Hong Sha’s flushed face peeking out from the small window above: “Bullshit!”
The vent window was right above Yan Hong Sha’s bunk. She must have been lying there bored, sticking to the window for air, and happened to eavesdrop.
Yi Wansan reverted to his true nature, so angry that his hair seemed to stand on end: “You hit me with a shoe? Just you wait!”
He jumped up and headed toward the cabin.
Yan Hong Sha was fierce: “I’ll wait! It’s none of your business what others do!”
Mu Dai was exasperated, initially hoping Yi Wansan was just trying to frighten Yan Hong Sha. But when she heard Yan Hong Sha wailing inside, she knew something was wrong.
She was a bodyguard, after all.
Mu Dai took two steps in one stride into the cabin and couldn’t help but laugh and cry at what she saw.
Yi Wansan was truly ruthless. He had grabbed Yan Hong Sha’s foot and dragged her from the bed to the floor.
Mu Dai irritably chased Yi Wansan out, then carried Yan Hong Sha on her back, gradually helping her back onto the bed.
Yan Hong Sha was still fuming: “He’s dead meat. Yi Wansan, is it? I’m going to cut him in half—into two 6,500s.”
Suddenly, she widened her eyes at Mu Dai: “You should be wary of him! Why is a man so meddlesome about other people’s love affairs? Let me tell you, he has ulterior motives. Either he’s fallen for you or he’s fallen for Luo Ren. These days, men stealing men isn’t uncommon. You need to be vigilant.”
Mu Dai sighed inwardly, deciding to explain to her later that she had known Yi Wansan longer than Luo Ren. Although she was always critical of him, he was considered “one of their own” at the bar.
Yan Hong Sha was still fuming: “Restraint! What’s wrong with restraint? Hasn’t he heard that liking is unrestrained, but loving is ‘restrained’?”
Mu Dai felt as if a heartstring had been gently plucked.
Yan Hong Sha continued to fixate on “restraint”: “Restraint is the spirit we should promote now. Restraint means wanting to be responsible. No restraint means deceiving you into bed, then running away after. That’s what’s terrifying! You can’t even cry properly!”
Mu Dai burst into laughter.
After laughing, she suddenly realized that after “mmm,” “aah,” and “hmph,” she could now also use the sound “ha” quite naturally.
Luo Ren returned around the afternoon. Besides carrying his luggage bag from the car, he also brought a new bag.
Everyone gathered in the cabin.
Opening the bag, he first took out a stainless steel chain net, extremely heavy. Lifting it up and down produced a clattering sound as the chains collided.
Mu Dai thought this made sense. To catch such an old oyster, they would need a chain net like this.
But what would they do with it once caught?
It was truly perplexing. Never mind, they would figure it out after catching it.
Next, he took out a waterproof underwater filming device attached to a rope that could be lowered to depths of over 200 meters.
Luo Ren said, “Actually, what I used before was called a ‘Water Eye,’ which was more advanced than this. It meant that a person on shore could control it, and the Water Eye would extend like an eyeball underwater, helping you see things on the seabed. But there’s no such equipment here, so we’ll temporarily use this instead. The images might be blurrier.”
Water Eye…
Mu Dai and Yi Wansan exchanged glances, then quickly looked away.
There was also a rod that resembled an electric baton, but its shaft was like a spiked mace. When the switch was pressed, the barbed rod at the end rotated at high speed.
Luo Ren said, “This has two uses. If the oyster shell doesn’t open, this acts as an electric drill. I’ve tested the pointed drill bit, and it has no problem with thin iron plates. If the oyster shell opens…”
He looked at Yan Hong Sha: “In case someone gets clamped again, we can insert it directly into the oyster shell.”
Though just a few words, they conjured vivid images. Thinking of the grinding drill entering flesh, Mu Dai felt a chill.
But Yi Wansan’s feelings were different from hers. Yi Wansan blamed the old oyster for his parents’ deaths and felt this punishment wasn’t enough. He took the device, saying, “I’ll carry this.”
He also asked Luo Ren, “Is this sold directly somewhere?”
“Disassembled several electrical components and assembled them.”
Yi Wansan made an “oh” sound, then turned to look at Mu Dai, but this time she wasn’t looking at him. She was tilting her head, lost in thought.
Yan Hong Sha only prayed that her uncle was merely out of contact and hadn’t encountered the old oyster underwater. But if misfortune had truly struck, they should use the barbed rod to puncture thirty or so holes in the old oyster.
The motor roared, and the boat set off toward the waters of Five Pearl Village. Thinking back to the previous day when they nearly perished in those waters, and now returning fully armed, there was a satisfying feeling of revenge.
Luo Ren first stabilized the direction, taught Yi Wansan, then handed over the rudder to him. He adjusted the “Water Eye” and computer imaging on the side. Suddenly noticing Mu Dai standing nearby, he seemed to remember something: “Oh right, I have something for you.”
He took out a small deerskin pouch from his pocket, clearly having been used for a long time, its surface worn smooth.
Mu Dai took it, looking at Luo Ren questioningly.
Luo Ren urged her: “Open it.”
She opened it and reached inside, touching what felt like a chain. Mu Dai held the chain and slowly pulled it out.
Hanging from the chain was a titanium survival whistle with a rough, stone-washed texture. Though designed to be small and portable, it was made for a man. Turning it over, the back of the whistle was engraved with “L.R.”
The initials of Luo Ren’s name.
Beside the whistle hung a small, flat, round white pearl. Held up to the sun, the pearl seemed to shimmer with a thread of golden light.
Luo Ren said, “A person who can’t speak must have a whistle. In case you fall into the water, I’ll know how to fish you out.”