With a gla.s.s of wine in hand, Li Du stood on the rocks looking west. The sun was setting, and the moon was rising. The wind blew like a knife, and the waves in the foamy water crashed on the rocks beneath his feet.

Li Du raised his gla.s.s. The wine was purple and crystal clear, but the water beneath his feet was clearer, free from pollution and impurities. Even the waves were transparent. Watching the sunset and tasting his wine, Li Du slowly sighed.

The moon was bright. It was cold in the evening and even colder late at night. Li Du and Sophie were in the bedroom, each in a separate bed. They were also each covered in a thick quilt under an electric blanket. Li Du looked over and saw Sophie"s quilt quivering slightly, and then he asked, "Hi, dear. Are you cold?"

Sophie exhaled and said, "Yes. You see, Ah Meow has his head tucked into his chest." On Li Du"s side, Ah Ow"s head was also under the quilt, but he had a lot of lung capacity and needed to breathe, so he stuck his nose out. His two nostrils were like a wheezing air pump. Along with the electric blanket, Ah Ow was in front of Li Du, and Ali was behind him, so he was not very cold. After all, a man"s body was more capable of producing heat.

Sophie only had a cat in her arms. Women were naturally cold, so naturally, she felt colder.

Li Du looked up and said, "I can"t see Ah Meow."

Sophie laughed and said, "Of course you can"t see him. He is in my quilt."

Li Du said, "Then let me see him? Oh, I see."

He quickly ran to Sophie"s bed with the quilt. Sophie looked at him in horror. "G.o.d, what are you doing?"

Li Du said shamelessly, "Didn"t you want me to come and see Ah Meow? I can"t see him from my bed."

Sophie pushed him and said with a red face, "Go back. Don"t think I don"t know what you want to do. I said we can"t sleep together."

Li Du innocently said, "What I want to do? I want to come and see Ah Meow. You told me to come and see him."

Sophie pushed Li Du away and said, "Don"t do that. You know I said that as a joke."

Li Du laid in bed like a scoundrel and said, "You know I can"t take a joke. Besides, it"s so cold, it"s warmer for us to sleep together."

Sophie insisted and pushed him hard. "Then I"ll show you Ah Meow. It"s not very cold." As she spoke, she put one arm into the quilt and pulled out the purring cat. Suddenly feeling cold after having been snuggly and warm, Ah Meow shuddered as he was lifted out. His fat face had a stunned expression. He opened his mouth and cried, "Meow!"

Sophie tossed her cat aside as if she were looking at a product and said, "See? All right, now go back." She tucked into the quilt again. Ah Meow was confused and wanted to protest, but he was afraid of being tossed out again.

Seeing Sophie"s resolute att.i.tude, Li Du had to use his last weapon. He shook and said, "It is cold, ah-a-choo!"

Sophie"s heart softened. It was really cold outside, so she put her arm down and said, "Then you come up and behave. We"ll all be in bed together, ok?"

"Okay."

"Well, isn"t it one side of the bed each? Why did you come to me? Get off, get off."

Li Du put his quilt on top and then pulled Ah Ow and Crispy Noodles into the quilt. He said, "Isn"t this warm? Hehe."

"Well, don"t move, don"t move, don"t, we"re not married..."

When he got up the next day, Hans looked vaguely at Li Du and Sophie and asked, "What were you doing upstairs last night?"

Sophie shrugged and said, "Ah? What did we do? We went to bed. I"m going to walk the kids."

Hans looked at him suspiciously. Li Du stared at him and said, "Why are you so gossipy? Don"t worry, we did not do what you thought we were doing. With this soundproof system? I must be mad!"

"What did I imagine?" Hans pursued him with a cheeky smile and was sure to gossip no matter what. Li Du ignored him and went to the sea to look for black opal, which was a big deal.

When it was time to get down to business, Hans was ready. After breakfast, the sea woman went into the water. When the sun rose a little higher, Hans and Li Du changed into their thick diving suits and jumped into the sea.

The water felt warmer than the air temperature on land, and as Hans led the way into the sea, it seemed to heat up, getting warmer and warmer. Hans turned to him and gestured. Li Du knew what he meant. Li Du nodded, because from the chart of ocean currents, there was no warm current pa.s.sing by.

Before long, a familiar scene emerged with images of colorful coral, colorful fish and shrimp, and a sea snake wriggling like a ribbon in the distance. Hans stopped in the water and pointed to the rocks ahead.

There were several sea snakes around the reef. Li Du examined the environment, looking for the gem according to his memory of the photo. He then released the little bug. Half of the gem was visible. It was a small stone, about the size of a bull"s eye. It was hard to find at such a distance with human eyes.

The little bug circled the gem near the reef. The stone was like a watercolor painting with a rainbow of colors. It was more intense and rich in color than the black opal found on land.

It was indeed a natural black opal, and Li Du identified it.

Then the little bug flew to the reef. Its body floated up and down, and not far from the front of this black opal, another black opal appeared! Seeing this, Li Du"s spirit was lifted. Two consecutive appearances of black opal was enough to prove that there should be a black opal vein there.

The little bug continued to fly, and Li Du found several more pieces of black opal, not only where the first black opal vein had been found, but also near a rich vein that had not yet been excavated.

The same might have been true of Lightning Ridge, except that after a lot of digging, the vein had been nearly hollowed out, making it difficult to find black opal now.

Li Du had found a new gem vein for the black opal market, a gem revolution!