My husband is too wild, I need to go home and find my mom.

Chapter 172 Opening a Pearl is Like Opening a Blind Box

While Linni was explaining the origins of pearls to everyone, the string of pale yellow pearls had already been passed around in the hands of all the women.

Aping returned the pearl bracelet to Linni and asked expectantly, "Was this beautiful bead called a pearl a gift from the Beast God to everyone?"

Linni nodded, then turned to Night, who was standing at the entrance of the tree hole, and said, "Night, go and find some seashells in that big river."

Night nodded: "Okay." Then she walked towards the river.

At this moment, Xuan emerged from the river: "Little Linni, there's no need to come down at night. Ling is already looking for seashells at the bottom of the river."

Linni smiled at him: "Then I'll trouble Ling to find one for each of the females."

Ling had already emerged from the riverbed carrying five or six seashells. He placed the seashells directly on the riverbank and said, "Okay, no problem." After saying that, he went back down into the river and quickly came out with a few more seashells. He placed those seashells, which were about the size of a vegetable basket, on the riverbank and then asked Lin Ni, "Is that enough?"

After saying that, Ling emerged from the river with her long snake tail and handed a particularly large seashell to Lin Ni, saying somewhat awkwardly, "Lin, this is for you. What do you want to do with it?"

Linni gave him a strange look. Why did his expression seem a little different today? Yao, who was standing next to her, said, "Lin probably wants everyone to see the origin of the pearl. Why don't you open it and show it to everyone?"

Ling looked at Lin Ni, and seeing her nod, she opened the seashell in front of everyone.

Linni told everyone, "Pearls are found inside these kinds of shells."

Aping and the other women gathered around, watching as Ling opened the seashell, then scratched the soft shell flesh a couple of times, pulling out a handful of light pink, round beads. Their shimmering, pearly color was incredibly beautiful, and everyone exclaimed in amazement, "Wow! It really is! So beautiful!"

A woman reached out to take it, but Ling dodged her and held out her hand to Lin Ni, saying, "Lin, here you go."

Lin Ni looked up at Ling again, puzzled. Seeing the slight tension on his face, she glanced at Yao, wanting to ask, "What's wrong with Ling?" They'd known each other for over a month now. Xuan and Ling had been with them ever since Lin Ni was attacked by the flying wandering beastmen, diligently helping out and doing their share of chores. But Ling rarely spoke to them; usually, Xuan would initiate the conversation, and he'd chime in. Why was he so proactively looking for seashells and offering her pearls today? If they'd only met today, she'd think he was trying to woo her, a single beastman. But hadn't he previously looked down on her?

Seeing that Ling had been holding her hand up, and Lin Ni remained silent, Yao could only say to Ling, "These pearls are quite beautiful, but they have a slightly fishy smell since they were just taken out. Go wash them clean before giving them to Lin."

Ling readily agreed, grabbed the pearl in one hand and the seashell in the other, and retreated back into the river.

After he left, Lin Ni came to her senses and said, "Ling, wait a moment."

Ling Gang had just put the shellfish meat into her mouth when she heard what Lin Ni said. She turned around and looked at her, but it was unclear whether she had swallowed the shellfish meat or spat it out. After traveling together for so long, everyone knew that Lin Ni couldn't stand seeing everyone eating raw meat so heartily.

Xuan then asked, "What's wrong?"

Linni said, "Wash the shell clean and bring it along too, don't throw it away."

Xuan nodded: "Okay." Then he glanced at Ling.

By this time, Ling had already swallowed the shell meat. He washed the pearls and the shell clean, and then presented the shell containing eight crystal-clear pink pearls to Lin Ni as if it were a precious treasure.

Linni reached out and took the eight perfectly round pink pearls, each the size of a marble, into her hand. She had to admit that the pearls were of excellent quality and beautiful color. She looked at them for a while, admiring them, before looking up at the women and saying, "You should all choose a shell and have your partner open it to take a look. There are several colors of pearls, so let's see what everyone's luck is."

The women happily thanked Linni and went to choose shells to open for pearls. It has to be said that opening pearls is like opening a blind box; the anticipation before opening, the tension during the process, and the pearls that come out are all quite captivating.

While everyone was happily opening pearls, Ling held up the empty seashell and asked, "Lin, what's the use of this shell?"

"Wait a minute." After the women finished opening the pearls and happily shared their feelings and achievements with their companions, Linni said to everyone, "The formation of pearls is not easy. I believe that the shells in this great river may not be enough to meet everyone's needs for pearls. However, I want to tell you that besides pearls, there are many other things that can also adorn us beautifully!"

Then she had Ling and Ye make various shell products from the shell. Anyway, they were both tough guys who could dig stone pots with stones, so polishing the shell was a piece of cake!

They spent the rest of the day by the river. They learned from Linni how to make combs, hairpins, forehead ornaments, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, bangles, armlets, and other jewelry. It was truly an eye-opening experience for them!

Their partners were all called to the riverbank to help. Only about a dozen men in the entire tribe could go down to the bottom of the water to look for seashells. These men who could go down to the bottom of the water were basically cold-blooded beastmen, such as snake beastmen and crocodile beastmen (it is very rare to see aquatic beastmen such as fish and turtles in the towering cliffs and overlapping mountains). This was the first time that these cold-blooded beastmen were so popular in the tribe.

Aruo said, "You cold-blooded orcs have finally come in handy!"

Linni: Cold-blooded orcs are really disliked!

By afternoon, the entire riverbank was practically teeming with orcs. Linni had never seen so many females before—even more than during the tiger-beast tribe's blessing ceremony. A group of women were excitedly discussing how to make themselves look even more beautiful. Aping had her partner sew the seashell fragments left over from making various ornaments onto her animal skin skirt, creating a short skirt covered in sequins that shimmered in the sunlight! She immediately put it on and walked around the riverbank, receiving unanimous praise. Then everyone started sewing sequins onto their own clothes.

Linni didn't sleep well last night, and by the afternoon she was so tired that she and her partner went back to the tree hole to rest.

Outside were mostly orcs from the Beast Carving Tribe, and since everyone had nothing else to do, Yao and the others followed Lin Ni up to the second level of the tree hollow. As for Xuan and Ling, they naturally found a secluded spot and sank to the bottom of the river.