Freshwater Pearl Mussel

One of the children saw her, smiled, and said, "Good afternoon, Elder Sister Yixin."

Looking at the little girl smiling at her cutely, Duan Yixin smiled back and said, "Good afternoon, little sister."

The little girl overheard what happened to Duan Yixin this morning from her parents' conversation and asked while staring at Duan Yixin with her large eyes, "Elder Sister Yixin, are you feeling unwell?"

Hearing the worry in the little girl's tone, Duan Yixin raised her eyebrows slightly. She squatted down, looked at the little girl, and said with a smile, "I'm fine. Do we know each other, little sister?"

The little girl nodded and said, "Um. Elder Sister Yixin, you often play with us and share interesting things with us. Can't you really remember anything?"

As the little girl stared at her, other children stopped picking up firewood and came. Being stared at by five pairs of eyes at the same time, Duan Yixin felt a little bit guilty. 

She patted the little girl's head gently, nodded, and said softly, "Mhm. I'm sorry that your elder sister Yixin was gone."

The children looked at each other and then patted her hands. Duan Yixin smiled when she saw these children, who looked no more than seven years old, patting her with an expression that seemed to tell her that everything would be alright.

After a while, a boy who looked to be the oldest said, "Elder Sister Yixin, my name is Feng Yifeng, but you can call me Xiaofeng."

He patted the little girl's head and said, "This is Xixi."

Xiaofeng pointed to the other two boys and said, "This is Xiaodong and Pengpeng."

Before he could introduce the other little girl, she said, "My name is Li Xilei. Everyone calls me Xiaolei, and I am as strong as thunder!"

Duan Yixin looked at the children and thought they were like a bunch of cute little radishes. She smiled at the children and said, "Nice to meet you. My name is Duan Yixin."

Xiaolei laughed and said, "Elder Sister Yixin, we know your name."

After talking to the children for a while, she stood up and said, "Elder sister still has to collect firewood and find food. Let's chat again next time. Be careful on your way home."

The children looked at her worriedly but nodded and said goodbye. After separating from the children, Duan Yixin walked along the small path while picking up dry leaves and broken branches. After the bamboo basket was half filled with dried leaves and branches, she heard something and stopped on her track.

There was only silence there as no one was around. Duan Yixin stood there and focused her ears to hear the sound. After a while, she heard the sound of trickling water. She opened her eyes and walked in the direction of the water sound.

Five minutes later, the sound of water became louder, and she stopped. Looking around, she didn't see any paths other than the small path. After thinking about it, she decided to push away the bushes.

As soon as she emerged from the bushes, she saw a wide river with shallow water. As she neared the river, her eyes saw something. Duan Yixin was a little surprised when she looked at the big black mussels on the riverbed.

She put down the bamboo basket, bent down, and picked up a large black mussel. After taking a closer look, Duan Yixin was sure that this was really a freshwater pearl mussel.

In her original world, this kind of freshwater pearl mussel has become extinct due to pollution and human exploitation. The reason for the exploitation is that the natural pearls produced by this species of freshwater pearl mussel can be used to make cosmetics, medicines, and jewelry.

Due to the rarity of natural pearls, they are always sold at sky-high prices and are widely sought after by wealthy people. Duan Yixin looked at the river bed covered with countless freshwater pearl mussels and fell into silence.

After a moment of silence, she thought: 'Just looking at the number of freshwater pearl mussels in this section of the river, it seems that the people living in this area didn't know the use of pearls. If that's the case, then there should be no problem for me to harvest some pearls.'

After making her decision, she searched the warehouse and took out a set of surgery tools and a small plier. She carefully opened the mussels with the pliers and then looked inside. 

Looking into the clam, she saw many pearls of various shapes and colors. She then uses surgery clamps to carefully take out those pearls from the mussel without damaging the inside of the mussel.

Although this process takes more time than the usual practice of prying open and killing the mussels to harvest the pearls, Duan Yixin prefers this method of harvesting pearls. Because of her life experience in the original world, she knows how precious the life of every species is. Therefore, she will not kill unless necessary or forced by the situation.

It took more than twenty minutes to take out all the pearls from the mussel. Looking at the pearls in a wooden box taken out from the warehouse, Duan Yixin couldn't hide her smile. Judging from the size and number of pearls, it is estimated that this mussel is at least thirty to forty years old.

After making sure the mussel was unharmed, she returned it to the riverbed and took another mussel. When she finally filled the wooden box with pearls of different sizes and colors, Duan Yixin's stomach growled. She hadn't eaten lunch, and she felt like her front belly was sticking to her back.

Putting the box of pearls, a set of surgical tools, and the small pliers into the warehouse, she went to the river to wash her hands. While washing her hands, she saw many fish swimming in the river. There are also freshwater species, such as clams and shrimps.