"Pick one yourself," Lucas said, his face calm. "Just pay before you open it."
"Yes," Joe nodded and quickly went to the ten-silver-coin barrel. He reached in and started rummaging, picking up several mussels to examine them.
In the end, besides their size, all the mussels looked more or less the same to him. He finally chose a relatively large one.
"Here are ten silver coins," Joe said, immediately paying after making his choice.
"There are tables and knives over there. You can open it there, or you can take it home to open," Lucas said, taking the silver coins and casually handing them to the fox-ear girl. Annie was in charge of the Pearl Pavilion.
"Alright," Joe said with a serious face and walked towards a table. Bryan and the other merchants crowded around, all staring at the mussel in Joe's hand.
"Master, does that one have a pearl?" Annie whispered, her brown eyes darting around.
"Who knows?" Lucas raised an eyebrow. The number of mussels in each barrel was different. Maybe some barrels didn't have a single pearl-bearing mussel, while others might have many. It all came down to luck.
"Master, someone drowned yesterday while harvesting the mussels," Annie said in a low voice. She looked at the mussels in the barrels; these were all harvested by a dozen or so people yesterday.
"Give his family triple the compensation," Lucas said seriously, his dark eyes narrowing. "And for the people harvesting the mussels, make sure you provide them with proper protection."
Harvesting mussels was dangerous work; a moment of carelessness could lead to drowning. Fortunately, they were collecting them near the banks of the Whispering River where the current wasn't too strong. Going to the center of the river was out of the question; anyone who went would die. The pay for harvesting was relatively high, so there were still people willing to risk it.
The discovery of the mussels was an accident to begin with. They had been found in the mud during the construction of the pontoon bridge.
"Yes," Annie replied solemnly.
"Mina, have someone find a stretch of the river where the water is calm. I have a use for it," Lucas instructed, turning his head to the cat-ear girl.
"Understood," Mina nodded in acknowledgement.
Lucas was planning to start artificial pearl cultivation. The demand for pearls would only grow in the future. Cultivating them artificially could better meet market demand, and the cultivated pearls would be larger, with controllable quantity and yield.
Most importantly, when they were later processed into jewelry, the price could be multiplied several times over. Pearls would become another powerful money-making tool for Sedona City. As for today's pearl gambling, it was just a little game to make some small change.
"Wow, he got it! He opened a pearl! There are five of them!" Bryan shouted, even more excited than Joe.
"They're beautiful," Joe said, his face blooming into a smile as he held the pearls. He never expected the mussel he chose would actually contain pearls.
"My Lord, I want to buy a ten-silver-coin mussel too!" Bryan immediately pushed through the crowd, ran to Lucas, stuffed ten silver coins into his hand, and then ran off to pick a mussel. "My Lord, I want to buy a one-silver-coin one!"
"I'll buy two for five hundred copper coins each!"
"..."
The fact that Joe had opened a pearl immediately enticed more than half the people present to start buying mussels. The temptation was just too great.
"Nothing! Ah? Why is there nothing? Damn it, damn it…"
"Mine is empty too! My luck can't be this bad, can it?"
"Hahahaha… I got one! I got one! Three pearls! Hahaha…"
"..."
Not everyone was as lucky as Joe, who had picked a winner on his first try. His luck was off the charts.
Lucas quietly watched the disappointed and overjoyed people, a light flashing in his dark eyes. One cut to heaven, one cut to hell—that was them.
"Master, they'll be alright, won't they?" Annie's fox ears perked up. She frowned, looking at the dejected people, worried they might do something extreme.
"It's fine. This is a normal phenomenon," Lucas said slowly. He thought of the gambling back on Earth, which was very similar to this. Greed knows no bounds; you can't blame anyone else.
"Master, what should we do with the small pearls?" Annie asked. The pearls they opened came in all sizes, and no one would usually buy the really small ones unless they were made into jewelry.
"Grind the small ones into powder. It can be used as medicine," Lucas chuckled.
"Huh? Pearls can be used as medicine?" Annie was astonished. Weren't pearls just for jewelry? What did they have to do with medicine?
"Pearl powder is very useful. It has the effects of calming the mind, clearing heat and detoxifying, promoting tissue regeneration and healing wounds, and moisturizing the skin to remove blemishes."
Lucas recalled the information he had looked up last night and continued reciting, "It can also be used for restlessness and insomnia, excessive dreaming and forgetfulness, anxiety, epileptic convulsions, ulcerated sores, canker sores, swollen gums, throat ulcers, skin spots, and so on."
The fox-ear girl and the cat-ear girl listened blankly to Lucas's recitation. They didn't understand most of it, but it sounded very impressive.
"In short, it has cosmetic effects," Lucas said, rolling his eyes.
"I understand," Annie said, her brown eyes wide. With that one sentence, she knew what to do.
"Let's go. We need to go back and prepare. The pontoon bridge will be tested tomorrow," Lucas said, starting to walk out.
"Yes," Mina immediately followed, leaving Annie to manage the shop for the time being.
Meanwhile, Lucy and Jones, who were hiding in the crowd, were also very interested in the pearls. It could be said that few women could resist their allure.
"I'll go buy two. We'll open them when we get back," Jones said, getting up and walking towards the ten-silver-coin barrel. She scooped up two mussels, paid, and then left with Lucy.
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