Chapter 101: On the Verge of Striking It Rich

September 16, 2023

Author: Zi Tao

Outside, it was pitch black—impossible to see what was out there.

But the smell of the sea was unmistakable.

It was a scent that lingered often in this area, but tonight it was especially strong.

Then came a series of crackling and clattering noises.

The door shook from the impact.

Wind and rain seeped in through the cracks, but Chu Xuan didn’t use the cotton she’d prepared to plug them.

After all, there was still a candle burning inside, and the windows were already shut. If she blocked the door as well, soon there wouldn’t be enough air in the room.

Suddenly, Chu Xuan remembered that on this very day in her previous life, the old house had been swept by a typhoon that brought in a haul of fish. Many villagers came to collect them, and by the time she and Feng Chunhua arrived after the storm eased, most of the fish were already gone.

Could it be that the noises just now were fish hitting the windows and doors?

Chu Xuan was tempted to risk a peek through the door, but another violent gust of wind and rain battered the house, the noise on the doors and windows growing even louder—a stark reminder to stay rational. In the face of natural disasters, humans were insignificant; safety came first.

Chu Feng huddled behind Chu Xuan in fear. “Sis, I’m scared.”

Chu Xuan comforted him softly, “Don’t be afraid. Maybe the heavens want to make us rich. Have you ever heard of typhoons bringing fish?”

The word “rich” instantly perked Chu Feng up. “I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never seen it.”

“If I’m right, there should be plenty of fish in our yard right now.”

“Should we go out and take a look?”

“Not scared anymore? Let’s wait until the wind and rain die down a bit tomorrow. No rush—the fish in our yard are ours. No one can take them.”

Chu Feng muttered to himself that opening the door during a typhoon was indeed very risky.

But he agreed out loud.

The two of them waited patiently.

With nothing else to do, they blew out the candle, stuffed most of the door cracks, and lay down to rest on either side of the kang table.

Having lived another lifetime, Chu Xuan knew that even after the typhoon passed, there would still be heavy rain, maybe even storms.

And there would be more typhoons coming—the weather would stay like this for over ten days.

They’d have to seize the opportunity to collect and sell fish.

At dawn the next morning, Chu Xuan got up from the kang.

She could hear that the wind outside had died down a lot, though the rain was still heavy.

She opened the door and saw the courtyard filled with seafood—some still alive, some already dead.

Spanish mackerel, ribbonfish, perch, blackfish, blue-scaled fish, noodlefish, sea cucumbers, abalone, starfish, octopus, mantis shrimp, prawns…

“Xiao Feng, get up! We’ve struck it rich!”

Chu Feng woke up instantly, jumped off the kang, and ran into the yard. “So much seafood! We really are rich!”

“I’m going to check outside the yard. If there’s more, we’ll pick those up first. No one can take what’s in our yard.”

“Okay. I’ll get the baskets and tubs…”

The siblings divided the work clearly.

Chu Xuan put on her raincoat and boots and walked to the gate.

The moment she opened the gate, she was stunned.

There was even more seafood outside the courtyard wall than inside.

“Xiao Feng, quick! Bring out everything we have that can hold seafood!”

Chu Xuan called out as she tossed the seafood near the gate into the yard.

She had to move fast and get all the seafood inside before the other villagers arrived.

Then she could borrow a cart and take it all to Li Tong’s house to sell.

When Chu Feng, dressed in a raincoat and carrying baskets and tubs, got outside the yard, he was momentarily dumbfounded by the sheer amount of seafood—he didn’t even know where to start.

Chu Xuan reminded him, “Start by tossing the ones at the gate into the yard. I’ll go to the side wall and collect more.”

“Got it!”

Chu Feng sprang into action.

Chu Xuan didn’t bother sorting—she just filled basket after basket, dumping them in the yard.

Then she went back out for more.

Even with raincoats and boots, they were both soaked through.

After more than two hours of hard work, they finally moved all the seafood from outside into the yard, closed the gate, and got ready to sort.

Some people braved the rain and headed for the beach, but no one noticed the seafood in Chu Xuan’s yard.

The siblings looked at the yard, now so full of seafood that only a narrow path remained, the piles over a meter high. They held hands, trembling with excitement.

“Sis, is this a gift from the heavens? I checked—other places only have a little seafood here and there, nothing like what we have.”

“It’s probably because of our location, and the fact that we rebuilt and raised the courtyard wall. That’s why most of the seafood brought by the typhoon got trapped here. After breakfast, let’s sort the seafood. Once we have enough for a cartload, I’ll go ask Li Tong if he’s buying today and borrow his cart.”

Li Tong definitely wouldn’t be at the dock today.

“Okay.”

They had a quick breakfast and got to work.

They had plenty of tubs and baskets at home, and used them all to sort and store the seafood.

After an hour or so, they’d sorted out a big tub of Spanish mackerel, two tubs of ribbonfish, a bucket of sea cucumbers, two buckets of abalone, a basket of octopus, two tubs of prawns, two baskets of blackfish…

Chu Feng stayed home to keep sorting while Chu Xuan braved the rain to go out.

The rain was still heavy, but Chu Xuan was full of energy.

She went to Li Tong’s house first and found out that Li Tong was eager to buy enough seafood to fill a truck and take it to the city to sell.

The city needed huge amounts of seafood every day, and there were probably plenty of out-of-town fish vendors waiting anxiously at the market.

With the storm raging, no boats dared to go out to sea.

Today’s seafood would definitely fetch a high price.

To save time, Li Tong called his son Li Lin to load the scale onto a cart, brought containers for the seafood, and went straight to Chu Xuan’s house to help sort. He also rented Lin Yong’s truck, which waited at Chu Xuan’s gate.

After more than two hours of sorting and weighing, they recorded the accounts and took away a truckload. Li Tong went with the truck.

There was still more than half the seafood left in the yard.

Li Lin hired another truck, and after a quick lunch, Chu Xuan and her brother kept sorting.

Around 3 p.m., they weighed everything again, and Li Lin took away another truckload.

Lin Yong’s truck returned, and Li Tong got off.

On the way back, he ran into Li Lin. The father and son chatted and learned that Chu Xuan’s seafood could fill at least half a truck more, so they headed straight over.

After collecting the rest of Chu Xuan’s seafood, they went home to keep buying from other villagers, who were waiting at their door with their own catches.

As for Chu Xuan’s payment, they agreed to settle up that evening.

It wasn’t long before the whole village heard that the typhoon had delivered a huge haul of seafood to Chu Xuan’s house.

After selling their own seafood, the villagers rushed to Wang Depin’s house.

They wanted to discuss getting land for new houses as close as possible to Chu Xuan’s place.

Because there were so many people, Wang Depin didn’t agree to everyone’s requests. He said they’d settle it after the typhoon season was over.

But the crowd wouldn’t let up—they insisted on a decision within three days.

Wang Depin had promised Chu Xuan to arrange for decent neighbors, and some of the people here today had a reputation for being opportunistic.

In the end, he managed to put them off by saying that land approval required higher-level authorization and would take over a month, especially for prime locations.

Meanwhile, Chu Xuan had changed into dry clothes and was drying her wet clothes by the stove.

Fetching water was hard in the storm, so she had to use it sparingly. She washed her clothes with rainwater and dried them for the next seafood haul.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Could it be Li Tong bringing the payment for the seafood? That seemed unlikely—wasn’t it too soon?

Chu Xuan hung her wet clothes on the line in the kitchen, grabbed an umbrella, and went to open the door…"