Chapter 908: Childâs Words Chapter 908: Childâs Words Editor: Atlas Studios As Tao Shengâs words were very straightforward, the children understood what he was saying.
Tiger Head tilted his head in confusion.
âIf you donât want their protection, you wonât have to pay the protection fee, right?â Tao Sheng smiled bitterly and looked at the few rich young masters, not knowing how to explain to them.
Having been in Lingnan before, Little Bear knew that there was something fishy about this so-called protection fee.
With a wave of his hand, he said, âNo problem.
Teach us how to beachcomb and weâll protect you.
We wonât charge you protection fees.â From the corner of his eye, Tao Sheng saw that the adult was still looking at them with a beam and was not angry or opposed to this.
He could not help but heave a sigh of relief.
The smile on his face widened, and he took the initiative to squat down to look at their wooden buckets.
He took out the things they had picked up and taught them to identify them one by one.
When Little Bear and the others were about to return to the city, they brought them along.
When they entered the city gate, Tao Sheng and the others saw that Boss Hai and the others really didnât come to them to collect protection fees.
They couldnât help but heave a sigh of relief and bid farewell to Little Bear and the others happily.
They still had to sell the things in the bucket, hoping to exchange them for a few coins and grains for survival.
As for the remaining stuff, they would keep the rest for themselves.
Compared to the past two years, such days were like heaven.
Tao Sheng was very satisfied.
Once they entered the city, Boss Hai couldnât do anything to them.
Boss Hai and his people only dared to be fierce outside of the city.
In the city, they didnât dare to do anything to them.
Boss Hai watched as the boys dragged the wooden buckets into the village and spat out the grass roots in his mouth without saying a word.
âBoss, do you want us to teach them a lesson?
Anyway, they still have to leave the city and go home.
To think they dare to resist us at such a young age.â Boss Hai smacked his underlingâs head and spat on his face.
âWhat do you know?
Tao Sheng is like his father.
Heâs scheming and loyal.
If he really catches the eye of those rich young masters, not only will it be a blessing for him, but itâll also be a blessing for us.
Pass the word that Iâll protect Tao Sheng and the other boys in the future.
Donât send anyone to collect protection fees from him again.â âHuh?
Big Brother, arenât we letting them off easy?â Boss Hai punched him again and said, âDo you really want to collect protection fees for the rest of your life?
The authorities only ignore the chaos on the beach now because the maritime ban has just been lifted and they have plenty on their plate.
In a year and a half, things will have stabilized and the fishermen will form gangs.
By then, do you still have the guts to collect protection fees?â This was also the reason why Boss Hai insisted on letting everyone fish and beachcomb.
Compared to collecting protection fees, this was the foundation of their survival.
They were fishermen, and now that they had come across such an excellent opportunity, they mustnât waste it.
At this moment, Qi Haoran had also just obtained Boss Haiâs information.
Fei Bai followed behind him and reported, âThis Boss Haiâs real name is Hai Wa.
Heâs 27 years old this year and is a fisherman from a small fishing village.
After Yu Cheng forbade them from fishing, they were made to move to a fishing village three miles inland.
The pirates often went ashore to plunder, so they moved to the Willow Tree Workshop in the city.
Hence, he went to different places doing hard labor.
Later on, after the Imperial Court lifted the maritime ban, he came here to beachcomb with everyone else.â Fei Bai said, âAs the maritime ban has just been lifted, the beach is very chaotic.
After the beachcombing ends, there are often people who band together to rob other people of the seafood they caught.
Hai Wa has also been robbed a few times, so he simply found a few people to form a gang and carved out a part of the beach which he now claims to be under his protection.
All those who beachcombed on this beach are protected by him, but the protection fee he charges is also very expensive.
If itâs a strong person, he will charge them 10%.
On the other hand, if they are old, weak, or a group of children like Tao Sheng and his friends, he will charge them 35%.
However, if it was one lone child, he would charge them 80%, but he will send them to the city gate or the fishing village.â Qi Haoran raised his brows.
âHe doesnât sound that wicked.â Reason being, if those weaker individuals were not protected by him, they would not even be able to keep 20% of their gains.
Fei Bai also nodded.
âBut Your Highness, even if heâs not too bad, itâs not appropriate to let the little masters interact with them.â Tao Sheng and Boss Hai likely werenât on bad terms.
Otherwise, when Tao Sheng separated from the young princes, he wouldnât have added, âEven though Boss Hai charges us protection fees, he does fulfill his duty of protection.â However, Qi Haoran said, âLet them be.
Donât tell me you want them to grow up overly sheltered?â Qi Haoran let them be.
After following them there twice, Mu Yangling also didnât bother with them anymore.
Seeing that the usually-doting parents were so assured, Fan Zijin had nothing to worry about.
Hence, the four children became closer with Tao Sheng and the other children.
Every morning, they would go beachcombing together before returning home to study and practice martial arts.
Whenever there were two days of rest, the kids would stay by the seaside for most of the day and follow Tao Sheng to look for all kinds of seafood.
The guards who followed the four of them had all trained to be good at swimming.
Little Bear pried out a sea cucumber from a reef and emerged from the water with a whoosh.
Raising the thing in his hand, he shouted, âLook what I found!â The three little ones merely took a glance and lost interest.
They continued to squat on the ground and watch a clam.
Tiger Head asked curiously, âDid the pearl really come out from here?â Tao Shengâs younger brother, Ping Lang, nodded fiercely and said, âThatâs what my grandfather said.
The pearl comes from the clam.â Tiger Headâs hand moved, and he was eager to pry it open and take a look.
Ping Lang continued, âBut considering this clam is too small, Iâm pretty certain there are no pearls inside.â âHow do you know?â Ping Lang stood up and gestured a big circle using his hands.
âPearls are only found in clams that are at least this big.â The three little ones lowered their heads and looked at the clam, which was only the size of a palm, lying quietly on the beach.
They pouted, disappointed that their anticipation had been in vain.
After a long silence, Little An asked, âIs this clam male or female?â Ping Lang was confused.
âThere are male and female clams?â âOf course.â Little An said with a straight face, âEverything in the world is divided into Yin and Yang.
If itâs a female, weâll find a male for it and raise it.
When it grows up in the future, it can give birth to pearls for us.
If itâs a male, weâll find a female for it.â Ping Langâs eyes lit up.
âYou can make this give birth to pearls just by pairing it with another clam?
Pearls are very expensive.
I want to raise them too.â âBut first, we have to know how to differentiate between the male and female version,â Little An said solemnly.
Little Lion said anxiously, âLetâs find more.
If we find many, thereâs bound to be male and female ones among them.
We can just raise them together.
Itâs a waste of time to differentiate between them.â Little An thought for a moment and felt that Little Lion was right, so he nodded and said, âAlright, letâs go find the clams.â However, Tiger Head had already started searching anxiously.
When Little Bear and Tao Sheng dragged over the wooden bucket to look for the four children and learned that they were looking for clams to farm pearls, they expressed great interest.
Little Bear said, âWhen we manage to farm the pearls, weâll make a pearl necklace for Mother.â However, Tao Sheng said, âIf we successfully farm pearls, wonât we be rich in the future?â âYouâre so dumb.
Why didnât it occur to you guys to raise clams in order to farm pearls?â Little Lion briefly felt contempt for them.
He randomly took two clams from their buckets for him.
âTake these back and raise them.
When they grow up, let them get married.
Then, they can give birth to pearls.â Tiger Head shouted, âSince Mother likes black pearls, weâve got to make sure they give birth to black pearls.â
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