The meeting between Liu and Huang

The pearls were almost uniform in size and shape, and each had a beautiful luster. Just by looking at them, he knew the quality was top-notch.

While he was happy with the quality and quantity of the pearls, he also felt worried. If he sold these pearls to Houzi, it would definitely rouse suspicion.

Even if he was sure Houzi wouldn't investigate their source, it might attract unwanted attention from other middlemen in the black market.

While lost in thought, his hands continued moving steadily and nimbly. In fifteen minutes, he harvested another mussel.

As for Chen Jianmin, this was his first time learning how to harvest pearls from a living mussel, so his movements were slower for fear of injuring or killing it accidentally.

It took him half an hour to harvest the pearls from one mussel. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he looked at the pearls in the bamboo basket and smiled.