Chapter 319: An Act of Merit

As for the other skeletons, she couldn’t carry that many right now.

Yun Jiao didn’t dare to venture too deep. She circled the nearby area and found a chest wedged in a large hole in the deck.

She struggled to pull it up, but perhaps she used too much force, because it was accompanied by a loud RUMBLE.

The already precarious shipwreck became even more dangerous.

Countless fish darted out from inside the ship, fleeing for their lives.

Yun Jiao also made a hasty escape, dragging the large chest with her. Of course, she didn’t forget the skeleton that looked so wealthy.

By the time she got outside, the partial collapse of the ship had stirred up the surrounding water until it was murky.

Yun Jiao set the skeleton aside.

"Oops, sorry about that. I think I dropped some of your bones."

Setting the chest aside as well, Yun Jiao found a reef to sit on, cupping her chin in her small hands. She planned to wait for the commotion to die down before going back to see if she could find her new friend’s scattered bones.

Perhaps Yun Jiao looked exceptionally harmless at that moment, as several small, beautifully colored fish swam up to her.

A little red fish even gave her soft, chubby cheek a nibble.

Yun Jiao shook her head.

"That tickles. Don’t nibble on my face."

Suddenly, Yun Jiao spotted an adorable little creature.

It was a soft-bodied sea animal, mostly snow-white, with only two black appendages that looked like rabbit ears and a clump on its tail that resembled a sea anemone.

This was a sea hare, also known as a sea slug.

It was a tiny, soft, white ball, and it looked quite cute.

Yun Jiao gently touched it with her finger, and its body shrank away.

But soon, the little thing lifted the front part of its body. Its skirt-like foot explored its surroundings before finally landing on Yun Jiao’s small hand.

"Hehe, it’s so soft."

Yun Jiao played with it for a while before placing the little creature on a vividly colored blue ’stone’ nearby.

But it wasn’t a stone; it was a type of sponge.

One look at its color told you it was poisonous.

But this toxic thing was food for the cute, seemingly defenseless little sea hare.

That’s right, this sea hare was poisonous.

Without a trick or two up its sleeve, a little thing like this wouldn’t have survived in the sea.

The murky water around the shipwreck gradually cleared up again.

Yun Jiao swam over. Thankfully, the spot she had entered before hadn’t collapsed too severely.

She was even more careful this time, darting in to grab the bones and immediately getting out.

Returning to her skeleton friend, she stuffed all the bones into a net bag. Carrying the bones in one hand and the chest in the other, she returned to the surface.

She found a rather scenic island.

"This is as far as I can take you. I can’t bring you back home, or you’ll scare Dad and the others."

Yun Jiao earnestly negotiated with the skeleton, then took out the tools she had brought. With a small shovel, she began to dig a hole, huffing and puffing.

When it was deep enough, she placed the bones inside and covered them with dirt.

Yun Jiao clapped her hands. "There. I’m heading back now."

By the time she returned home, it was already getting late.

Dragging such a large chest back would be too conspicuous, so she hid it first.

She wasn’t in a hurry to open it.

Then, she leisurely made her way home.

"Dad, Mom, I’m home~"

After dinner, Yun Jiao finally took out the things she had brought back from the seafloor.

But she gave them a warning first. "I stripped all of this off a skeleton."

Upon hearing this, everyone who had been reaching for the glittering treasures abruptly changed course and pulled their hands back.

Yun Linhe said, "That was close."

"Seriously, you’ll just grab anything, won’t you?"

The items were nice, but the thought of them coming from a dead person felt a little strange.

Yun Jiao asked, "Would you have taken them instead?"

Everyone looked at each other.

They probably would have.

If something so shiny was right in front of you, not taking it would mean thinking about it forever.

Yun Jiao said, "I took his things, and in return, I brought him up from the bottom of the sea and buried him on a small island."

Hearing this, Yun Linhai and the others fell silent for a moment.

"That’s the right thing to do."

"Sigh, they always say fallen leaves return to their roots, and a proper burial brings peace. It must be so awful for those who die in shipwrecks to be stuck in the sea forever."

To be buried in the earth for peace was a hope carved into their very bones.

This was especially true for people from ancient times.

"So, what about these things?"

Yun Jiao said, "If you guys don’t want them, we can ask Grandpa Gu if he’ll buy them."

Yun Jiao’s voice was bright. "We’ll sell them for money and use it to repair the village temple and the ancestral hall."

It was a windfall anyway.

It wouldn’t hurt to spend it.

No one had expected Yun Jiao to have such an idea.

For a moment, they all looked at her with complicated expressions.

"Jiaojiao, how can you be so good?"

Wang Mei hugged Yun Jiao and couldn’t help but rub her little face.

The little girl was like a beautiful doll, remaining docile even as her face was being squished.

Yun Jiao said, "Because I have money."

She said smugly, "I wouldn’t sell the things I like. This stuff, I can sell."

The implication was that she didn’t really like these items all that much.

Mainly, the big gold chain and one of the rings didn’t suit her aesthetic.

Yun Jiao said, "If we fix the temple for the immortals and the hall for our ancestors, they’ll be happy and protect everyone."

Yun Linhai, a grown man, suddenly had tears welling up in his eyes.

He hugged his little girl and ruffled her hair vigorously a few times.

"How did my daughter get so good-hearted?"

Yun Jiao gave him a deadpan stare.

Her hair was now a bird’s nest.

Repairing the village temple and ancestral hall was something the village chief had to know about. The source of the money had to be declared; otherwise, if they suddenly produced such a large sum, it would definitely cause a lot of trouble.

So, these items had to be officially presented to the village chief.

But they couldn’t mention the shipwreck.

Yun Linhai put all the items into a bag, and then the two brothers took Yun Jiao to see the village chief.

"Village Chief, we need to talk to you about something."

The old village chief broke into a kindly smile the moment he saw Yun Jiao.

"What is it?"

Yun Linhai placed the bag directly on the table.

When he opened it, the village chief audibly gasped.

"This... all of this..."

"Chief, please calm down."

At his age, Yun Linhe was afraid he might get too excited and have trouble breathing, so he quickly helped pat his back.

"Where did you get all this!"

Yun Linhai said, "Jiaojiao found it in the sea. It was... on a body that had become a skeleton."

The village chief was speechless.

’Good heavens, Jiaojiao is one bold child.’

Yun Linhe explained, "She took these things, and she brought the remains out of the sea and buried them on an island. But Jiaojiao said to sell these things and use the money to repair our village temple and ancestral hall."

The village chief had been wondering why the two brothers would bring this to him instead of hiding it for themselves.

Hearing this, he shot up from his seat in excitement.

"Really?!"

Repairing the village temple and ancestral hall had always been his dream.

But without money, he could only watch as the temple and hall fell into disrepair.

"It’s true. The origin of these items is a bit... unfortunate. If we use them to repair the temple and hall, we can consider it as accumulating merit for that person."

In that case, this was the best possible use for these items.

The village chief paced back and forth to calm himself, then walked over to Jiaojiao. He took her small hand in his large, wrinkled, sun-darkened one, his voice choked with emotion.

"Thank you, Jiaojiao. The whole village owes you its thanks."

(I looked it up, and since 1983, there has been a policy in China that requires people to turn in found items like gold. Ancient artifacts from shipwrecks also cannot be salvaged without permission. But this is a novel and for the plot’s sake, so please don’t apply real-world logic.)