Chapter 206 - Diving (2/2)
Yu Xiaocao comforted him, “Shitou, you are the one with the most prospect in our family. In the future, the one earning the most will be you! Think about it, no matter how much money we make, we’re still little ants that can be easily crushed in the eyes of those influential officials. If you study hard and become a big official in the future, wouldn’t you be able to shelter your older brother and sisters? You are now at the investment stage, so you will receive the returns in the future!”
Her reasoning allowed Little Shitou to stop thinking about running a small business after school. In order to not make Little Shitou feel left out, Xiaocao also helped him open a bank account and would deposit ten taels of silver into his bank account each month. Little Shitou knew that his second sister was the richest person in the family. She received dividends from Zhenxiu Restaurant and Zhou Family’s factories, and she also received rent from two of the shops in town. She was a wealthy little lady, so he didn’t refuse it.
After Xiaocao heard that there was a sharkskin diving suit at home, her heart felt itchy and she urged Xiaolian to take it out for her to try. Although Xiaocao had grown in the past year, her current height wasn’t much different from Xiaolian’s height last year. Xiaolian’s diving suit from last year was a perfect fit for her.
Xiaolian watched as her younger sister put the diving suit over her undergarments and then put her outer garment over it. Seeing how eager she was, she quickly tugged her and said, “Younger Sister, you haven’t learned to swim yet. Just stand by the edge of the water, don’t enter the water!”
Xiaocao smiled and said, “What’s so difficult about swimming? I’m so smart, so how can such a trifling matter stop me? You’ll see.”
Xiaolian didn’t feel relieved at all. After she bid her mother goodbye, she followed behind Xiaocao and Shanhu as the two of them chattered. The three of them arrived at a secluded place by the sea.
Zhou Shanhu looked around and saw that there was no one else around, so she took off her outer garment, plunged into the sea, and swam far away. Her swimming skills was not bad. After she wiped away the water on her face she waved her hand towards Xiaocao and shouted, “Xiaocao, don’t be afraid! The water isn’t deep here, you can descend into the water bit by bit!”
Yu Xiaocao took off her outer garment and stuffed it in Xiaolian’s hands. She smiled and said, “There won’t be any problems. You can watch over me by the shore. If something goes wrong, you can come in and fish me up!”
Xiaolian reluctantly sat by the reef on the shore as she watched her younger sister slowly descend into the sea. The sea right now was very gentle, and there were clear ripples on the surface of the blue sea. Although it was morning, the two girls didn’t feel cold at all while wearing their diving suits.
“Younger Sister, don’t go further in, you don’t know how to swim…” When Xiaolian saw that only Xiaocao’s head appeared on the surface of the water, she quickly stood up and shouted loudly towards Xiaocao. However, her voice came to an abrupt stop and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Xiaocao’s adept swimming style. Was her younger sister a genius? How was she able to learn without a teacher?
After having already swam a circle, Zhou Shanhu swan closer Xiaocao’s side for fear that an accident might occur since this was her first time in the water. But after she saw Xiaocao’s skilled dog-paddle, she smiled and said, “Xiaolian said that you don’t know how to swim. She’s worrying over nothing! Aren’t you pretty good at swimming? There aren’t many people here, so I think we should be able to find some abalone at the bottom of the sea. Let’s swim a little further before diving!”
Yu Xiaocao followed Zhou Shanhu as they swam further into the sea. Suddenly, Zhou Shanhu plunged into the sea and there wasn’t any movement from her after a long time. Xiaocao panicked and busily buried her head into the sea to figure out where Zhou Shanhu was. Although she could swim, she didn’t know how to dive. After fluttering about for a while, she still couldn’t dive in.
“Hahaha…” A burst of laughter could be heard, Xiaocao quickly lifted her head up. Zhou Shanhu had appeared not far from where she was. One of her hand was holding a dark sea cucumber, while she used her other hand to point her finger at her, laughing until tears was about to come out.
Yu Xiaocao swam to her side and splashed some seawater at her face. She angrily said, “What’s so funny? I just don’t know how to dive, teach me quickly!”
“Your appearance from before looked exactly like a drowning duck as you fluttered about. It was so funny! Haha…” Zhou Shanhu let out another burst of laughter.
Yu Xiaocao waited for her to finished laughing before she modestly asked her to teach her how to dive. Zhou Shanhu had good diving skills, and she was also a competent little teacher. Yu Xiaocao was also a fast learner, and soon mastered the trick to diving. With one plunge, she was able to reach all the way to the bottom of the sea.
Zhou Shanhu looked as if she had suffered a blow, “It’s true that ‘once a disciple has learned, the master will starve’! If you pick a high-quality abalone later, don’t forget to give me a bonus!” After she finished speaking, she held her breath and plunged into the water. The little girl’s diving skill was pretty good. This time, she went down for two to three minutes before she resurfaced again.
Yu Xiaocao waved her hand at Xiaolian, who was on the shore, and then she took a deep breath and dived down. The sea was clear and transparent and the reefs at the bottom of the sea was clearly visible. Occasionally, a multicolored fish would swim pass the reef, and a small sea crab was startled by her that it drilled itself into the sand. Xiaocao was amazed by this interesting scene. She lingered at the bottom of the water until she couldn’t hold her breath anymore. Then, she would push herself up and rush to the surface of the sea.