Although Zhu'er was in floods of tears, she still remembered to take Li Ying and Lu Xunguang to the cellar to hide. She exhorted them repeatedly that no matter what happened, they must not make a single sound. Only in this way could they barely manage to stay alive.
How could Li Ying bear to watch this poor grandmother - granddaughter duo fall victim to this disaster?
She exchanged a glance with Lu Xunguang. Then, they stopped pretending and got straight to the point. "Zhu'er, since things have come to this, I won't hide it from you anymore. It was actually us who burned the pirates' ship."
If they hadn't done so, these cruel and blood - thirsty pirates wouldn't have returned to the fishing village a few days earlier to collect pearls.
Seeing Zhu'er looking stunned, Li Ying tightly held her hand, her eyes shining with determination.
"Miss Zhu'er, today's incident is, to some extent, caused by me. I've already come up with a way to bring all these water bandits to justice. But I need your cooperation. Are you willing to trust me and take a chance?"
Zhu'er was still a bit skeptical at first. But as the scolding voices of the pirates grew closer in the distance and some familiar families in the village began to cry out in despair, she finally steeled her heart.
She was doomed either way. So, she might as well take a chance!
While they were talking, the old woman had fetched a harpoon and was ready to fight to the death.
"Grandma, calm down. They outnumber us. Going head - on and fighting to the bitter end is definitely not a good strategy."
Li Ying spoke calmly, looking confident. Zhu'er and her grandmother were already at their wits' end, so they immediately regarded Li Ying as their backbone.
"Grandma, you just stay at home. When the pirates come to search later, don't show any sign of resistance. You must open the door warmly to welcome them."
"If they ask where Zhu'er is, you just say that Zhu'er didn't want to spoil the gentlemen's fun. Since it's their wedding night tonight, she went to the kitchen to prepare wine and dishes and will be back soon."
"Anyway, before Zhu'er and I come back from diving and fishing for seafood, you must keep these pirates calm and make them happy. Once they eat the food and drink the wine, we'll have a good chance of success."
Zhu'er didn't understand her intention and thought she was going to poison the food and wine.
Lu Xunguang, however, knew that the knockout drugs secretly given by Du Zhong would have no effect on these pirates at all.
But seeing her so confident, he kept silent and just clenched his fist tightly.
Li Ying quietly led Zhu'er out of the fishing village courtyard and headed straight for the coast.
Lu Xunguang had no experience in free - diving. Li Ying was worried about him, so she decided to go into the water with Zhu'er herself.
They tied a "safety rope" around their waists. If they sensed something wrong underwater, they would pull the rope, and Lu Xunguang on the boat would immediately pull them back onto the boat.
"A Ying, be careful."
Lu Xunguang frowned and stared fixedly at her, whispering the warning.
Zhu'er nervously rubbed her hands. The atmosphere in the air was quite solemn. Li Ying had to force a cheerful smile and said, "Brother Lu, my life is in your hands!"
Lu Xunguang nodded, feeling that the two hemp ropes in his hands were as heavy as a thousand pounds.
At the other end of the ropes was the love of his life. There mustn't be the slightest mistake.
Li Ying took a deep breath and carefully got into the water.
Zhu'er had learned swimming and deep - diving from the elders in the village since childhood. Moreover, since her eardrums had been punctured, her ability to withstand water pressure was much better than ordinary people.
Li Ying had been a frequent free - diver before she time - traveled. It didn't take them much effort to reach a reef flat on the seabed.
All kinds of sea anemones grew on the corals and reefs. Their soft tentacles swayed with the sea waves. There were also some big and small fish swimming nimbly back and forth.
If it weren't for the fact that they knew the pirates were rampaging in the fishing village on the shore, this rare beautiful scenery really deserved a good look.
But Zhu'er wasn't in the mood for that.
The pearls in the inshore area had already been picked clean by the villagers. Although she stared her eyes as big as copper bells, she still found nothing.
Li Ying, on the other hand, was unhurried. She picked a few mussels from the reefs.
When she saw a few black spiny balls lying in the corner, her eyes immediately lit up.
They were sea urchins!
She quickly gestured to Zhu'er and swept all these sea urchins into their bags.
Thinking that Zhu'er must be worried about her grandmother in the village, they also caught a few sea cucumbers. Estimating that there was enough for a feast, they hurriedly went ashore.
When they returned to the fishing village, they saw several pirates pushing the old woman around and scolding her to hand over Zhu'er.
Zhu'er didn't care about Li Ying anymore. She rushed forward in a few steps and hugged her grandmother tightly.
The pirates saw that there were actually some seafood like mussels scattered in the bamboo basket behind her. Only then did they finally believe the story of "going out to fish and prepare wine and dishes".
"What are you standing there for? Since you're back, hurry up and serve the wine and dishes. If you make us wait impatiently, we'll cut this old hag's head off!"
Zhu'er looked at the pirates' shining steel knives. She dared not show her anger but had to support her grandmother and carefully retreat into the kitchen.
While the two of them were dealing with the pirates in front, Li Ying had already taken Lu Xunguang and hidden in the kitchen. Now, she had taken a sharp knife and was prying open the shells of the sea urchins one by one.
Zhu'er watched as she skillfully removed the internal organs of the sea urchins and dug out pieces of golden, five - petal - like sea urchin roe. She couldn't help but be stunned.
Occasionally, the villagers had come across these strange "spiny balls". If one was pricked by the spines, no matter what method one used, it was impossible to pull them out.
The only way was to use the sole of a shoe to beat the wound hard to break the spines. It would take five or seven days for the wound to heal without medicine.
Although it wouldn't be life - threatening, it was really painful. So, the mermaids all avoided these things.
When Li Ying told her to catch them, Zhu'er thought she was going to use the spines as some powerful "hidden weapons". She never thought that they were going to be cooked as food. She was simply flabbergasted.
Li Ying saw her astonishment but just smiled.
"This is called a sea urchin. It's known as the gold of the sea. Whether eaten raw or cooked, it tastes extremely delicious. I guarantee that once those pirates take a bite, they'll be so intoxicated by the flavor."
She kept working with her hands and whispered to Zhu'er to explain the sweetness and deliciousness of raw sea urchin. Seeing a hint of longing in Zhu'er's eyes, she quickly said seriously, "Zhu'er, you mustn't taste these sea urchins today!"
Zhu'er thought she was afraid of spoiling the pirates' fun and didn't say much. She just nodded obediently.
By this time, Li Ying had already peeled all the sea urchins. She selected a few intact ones, arranged them on a plate as sashimi, and told Zhu'er to take them out.