Chapter 11: Sea Cucumbers

On this day in her previous life, Chu Feng had gone out to sea with the crew, but hadn’t stolen the Liu family’s seafood. In this life, though, he had.

Chu Xuan knew she had to handle this matter properly—she absolutely couldn’t let the Liu family hold a grudge.

“Zhaodi, this blackfish is an apology from our family. I didn’t spend any money on it—I just picked it up by the shore. I’m really sorry about what happened today! I promise I’ll keep a closer eye on Chu Feng from now on. If he dares to steal again, I’ll personally take him to the security team to be dealt with.”

With that, she walked straight into the Liu family’s yard, put the fish into an empty wooden bucket inside the door, and Chu Feng followed behind her, dumping the rest of the seafood into an empty basin nearby.

Liu Zhaodi didn’t manage to voice her refusal again. She felt that Chu Xuan seemed different from before, so she decided to accept the blackfish and let the matter drop.

She watched as the Chu siblings left.

Once outside, Chu Xuan finally let out a long sigh of relief. The bad blood from today should be settled now.

Chu Feng, eager to please, took the iron bucket from her hands, grinning ingratiatingly. “Sis, there’s still a blackfish and some clams in here. Should I take them to the dock to sell for some cash, or should we keep them to eat?”

Seeing how shameless her little brother was, Chu Xuan said bluntly, “Go home and write a self-criticism. You’re not done until I’m satisfied!”

Chu Feng’s smile froze. He barely knew any characters—how was he supposed to write a self-criticism?

“Sis, just let me off this time! Don’t make me write it—just give me a beating when we get home! You know I didn’t go to school for long.”

“You have to write it. If you can’t write the characters, use pinyin!”

Chu Xuan’s tone brooked no argument.

Chu Feng didn’t dare bargain anymore.

When they got home, Chu Feng put the iron bucket in the kitchen, then went to his room to try to write the self-criticism.

Chu Xuan stood in the yard, looking toward her brother’s room, wondering what kind of trouble he’d get into next.

Before long, Aunt Hua came in carrying a basket, beaming. “Xiao Xuan, I’m here to trade for the blackfish.”

Chu Xuan teased, “Aunt Hua, are you celebrating something? You looked so pained on the beach just now, but now you’re all smiles, coming to trade for fish?”

Aunt Hua didn’t hide anything. “Because during the argument today, Feng Chunhua had to admit defeat.”

Feng Chunhua was famous for never backing down. Getting her to admit defeat was no small feat.

“Aunt Hua, how did you manage to out-argue her?”

As soon as she asked, Aunt Hua’s expression turned a bit awkward. “That’s not something I can talk about. Just pour out the dried scallops for me first.”

Chu Xuan took the bamboo basket, went into the kitchen, poured the dried scallops into her own basket, and checked them—they looked good.

She put the blackfish into Aunt Hua’s basket and came back out.

Handing it over, she asked, “Did you find out some secret about Feng Chunhua?”

It was just a casual question, but Aunt Hua quickly waved her hands. “No, no, nothing like that. I have to hurry to my mother’s house—gotta go!”

She grabbed her basket and hurried off.

That reaction made Chu Xuan even more certain Aunt Hua knew something.

No rush—she’d get it out of her eventually.

Chu Xuan sniffed herself and caught a strong fishy smell, so she immediately started boiling water for a bath.

The big wooden tub she’d just bought finally came in handy.

Space was tight at home, so she blocked the kitchen door and washed up in there.

After her bath, she washed her clothes as well. It was only when she went to hang them up that she realized she hadn’t strung up a clothesline.

She went into her room, found an old shirt, tore it into strips, tied them together, and strung up a line in the yard.

After hanging up the clothes, she spread out a new bamboo mat, wiped it down with a clean rag, then took another new mat and went into her brother’s room.

Her brother was scratching his head in frustration—on the paper, all he’d managed to write was the pinyin for “self-criticism” and the character for “book.”

She tossed the mat onto the kang bed, shoved the rag into his hand, and said, “Make your own bed, wipe it down, and wash the rag when you’re done. Also, if you don’t finish your self-criticism tonight, you’re not allowed to sleep!”

Chu Feng sighed and nodded in resignation.

Chu Xuan added, “The tide will go out around six tomorrow morning. I’ll get up early to forage at the beach. You stay home and make breakfast.”

Chu Feng really wanted to go with her, but since he’d just gotten into trouble and hadn’t finished his self-criticism, he could only nod and agree without saying more.

Chu Xuan was tired and went to her room to rest.

At a little past 5:30 the next morning, Chu Xuan woke up.

She felt for the pocket inside her clothes—the four hundred-plus yuan was still there.

She couldn’t afford to be careless. The courtyard wall was low—any adult could climb over it—and the doors and windows were flimsy…

She washed up quickly, changed into old clothes, woke her brother to keep an eye on the house, and set out with her foraging gear.

She arrived at the beach just as the tide was going out.

There were plenty of clams.

Of course, there were plenty of other people foraging too.

Whoever was quicker got more.

Because Chu Xuan was overweight, she couldn’t keep bending over for long before she was exhausted.

She regretted not bringing her brother along, but since they’d just bought a lot of things, someone had to stay home to watch the house, so she let it go.

She decided to stop picking clams and instead followed the receding tide, hoping to find something good.

After searching for a while, she really did find a treasure.

She picked up a sea cucumber about fifteen centimeters long.

Ten minutes later, she found three more, each about ten centimeters long.

She picked them all up and put them in her bucket.

Half an hour later, she reached a rocky area and found an octopus curled up there.

It looked to weigh over ten jin (about 5 kg).

Chu Xuan quickly grabbed it and put it in her bucket, covering the sea cucumbers.

She turned over a few more rocks and found two more octopuses, each about five or six jin.

The tide was still going out, and she was reluctant to leave just yet.

Half an hour later, she found three more sea cucumbers, each about fifteen centimeters long, and hid them under the octopuses.

Sea cucumbers were valuable—she wanted to get rich quietly.

This time, she didn’t go any farther.

Otherwise, if the tide came back in, she might not make it out in time.

On her way back, she picked up some clams, which left her exhausted.

She really needed to take care of her health and exercise more.

The old Chinese medicine doctor from the county hospital who’d helped her in her previous life was away visiting family and wouldn’t be back for a few days.

Chu Xuan carried her iron bucket toward the dock, where many people sold seafood, but only two or three buyers.

When she got there, seafood vendor Li Tong immediately noticed the big octopus and sea cucumbers in her bucket.

He whispered, “I’ll buy all your seafood for a flat price—one hundred sixty yuan.”

Chu Xuan quietly interrupted, “I’ll keep the clams for myself. The sea cucumbers and octopuses are top quality. Lately, there’s been a lot of seafood at the dock, but no sea cucumbers. Since you want a flat price, make it two hundred yuan. I’ll sell you good stuff in the future, too.”

Li Tong hesitated for a moment, then smiled and took out the money. “Alright! But you have to sell me your good stuff from now on!”

If his relatives hadn’t specifically asked him to buy sea cucumbers for entertaining important guests, he wouldn’t have agreed so readily.

He counted out twenty ten-yuan notes and handed them to Chu Xuan.

Chu Xuan counted them again to make sure, then handed over the goods.

Over twenty minutes later, she reached her house and tried the door—it was bolted from the inside.

She knocked.

“Xiao Feng, open the door.”

All she heard in response was a muffled whimper.

Chu Xuan climbed over the wall into the yard.

She found Chu Feng with his hands tied to the window in his room, a rag stuffed in his mouth…"