Chapter 114: Stay

As soon as Liu Dapeng saw Chu Xuan, he hurried over. “Chu Xuan, I’ve been meaning to thank you for saving me last time, but I was too embarrassed to come by empty-handed since I couldn’t afford a gift. Still, I owe you a favor, and I have to repay it. I can help out with work…”

Chu Xuan stayed silent.

Just as Liu Dapeng thought Chu Xuan was about to ask him to leave but felt awkward saying it, Chu Xuan spoke up seriously, “Go to town and buy two water jars, then come back to chop firewood and fetch water. The pay is two yuan, with overtime calculated separately. If you agree, get to work. If not, go home!”

Although Widow Niu is strong, even she can’t handle hauling water, chopping wood, and dragging fish for over a dozen hours straight.

She needed a helper to share the load so she wouldn’t get worn out.

Liu Dapeng quickly explained, “I came to help for free. I don’t want any pay.”

Chu Xuan put on a stern face. “If you don’t want pay, you can’t work at my house. Off you go!”

Liu Dapeng had no choice but to agree. “Alright! I’ll take the pay. I’ll go coordinate with the village to get a tractor and head to town for the water jars.”

“Come with me to get the money for the jars.”

“Okay.”

Liu Dapeng, who didn’t have any money, obediently took the cash and left.

By then, Widow Niu had already delivered two loads of firewood, and both water jars were filled to the brim.

When Widow Niu heard that Chu Xuan was going to pay Liu Dapeng, she wasn’t the least bit upset, since her own pay was based on how much work she did—the more she worked, the more she earned.

Even if ten more people came, it wouldn’t affect her income.

She was just a bit worried about the quality of the firewood. After more than ten days of rain, even though it was sunny now, the wood was still a bit damp.

She was airing it out in the yard.

“Xiao Xuan, I have a suggestion.”

“Aunt Niu, go ahead.”

Chu Xuan listened attentively.

Widow Niu pointed at the firewood in the yard. “This wood will only be as good as the old stuff once it’s dry, but there’s no way it’ll dry today. How about buying some dry firewood from the villagers first?”

Chu Xuan nodded in agreement. “I’ll go collect some now. But I still need you to keep chopping wood. For the next ten days, we’ll need to work overtime making dried fish. The more we can stockpile now, the better.”

Widow Niu readily agreed. “No problem.”

Chu Xuan went out again, walking around the village and calling out, “Buying dry firewood! Ten cents a load! Chu Xuan’s buying dry firewood! Ten cents…”

Soon after she got home, villagers started coming by to sell their firewood.

Most of it was well-stored and dry, though a few tried to pass off damp wood, which Chu Xuan promptly rejected.

In less than two hours, she’d collected over twenty loads of dry firewood.

When Widow Niu went to the foot of the mountain to chop wood, she ran into Qiu Zhi, Qi Hong’s father-in-law.

Qiu Zhi teased, “Chu Xuan’s buying dry firewood. Looks like you’re about to be out of a job, huh?”

Because of what happened with Qi Hong, the Qiu family couldn’t stand to see Chu Xuan—or anyone working with her—doing well.

Widow Niu waved her axe. “Chu Xuan told me to keep chopping, and she’ll keep paying me, overtime and all!”

She wanted Qiu Zhi to be jealous.

Serves him right for making snide remarks!

The day Qi Hong stole Chu Xuan’s fish, Widow Niu hadn’t been out. She only heard about it later. If she’d been there, she would’ve given Qi Hong a piece of her mind.

The Qiu family didn’t think Qi Hong had done anything wrong. In their eyes, anything that ended up in Qi Hong’s basket belonged to them, and it was Chu Xuan who’d “stolen” their fish.

Only the Qiu family could come up with such twisted logic.

Unable to out-argue Widow Niu, Qiu Zhi thought about getting physical, but he knew he couldn’t win—especially with Widow Niu holding an axe—so he slunk away.

But he was already scheming in his mind.

Before 4 p.m., Miao Dacui and Qin Mahua each brought two of their sisters-in-law from their maiden families for Chu Xuan to meet.

If Chu Xuan approved, they’d stay to help with fish processing.

With memories from her past life, Chu Xuan knew these women were all skilled at cleaning fish.

“Aunt Qin, Aunt Miao, I trust you both. Anyone you recommend is good enough for me. The pay for cleaning fish is the same as yours. If there’s overtime, there’s overtime pay and meals. As for the steps and requirements, I’ll need you two to explain them to the others.”

Qin Mahua and Miao Dacui were delighted to hear this, patting their chests and promising to teach everyone well.

Gao Meijuan, Fu Qing, Hua Daling, and Liu Zhaodi soon arrived as well.

Not long after, Widow Niu came in with a cartload of skinned fish, and everyone got to work.

At first, ten people were cleaning fish and handling the livers, while Chu Xuan was in charge of washing and marinating the fish.

Chu Feng was tending the ovens.

Liu Dapeng kept chopping wood and fetching water.

Everyone had their role.

A little after six, Ji Ping delivered 2,000 jin of skinned fish.

With the 7,000 jin Widow Niu had hauled from Li Tong’s stall, there was a total of 9,000 jin.

Chu Xuan wasn’t worried about having too much—right now, the more skinned fish she could buy, the better.

But she told everyone they’d just process 7,000 jin tonight and leave the rest for tomorrow.

Even with ten people working together, they didn’t finish until 10:30 p.m., and after helping with the marinating, it was 11:30 before they were ready to leave.

Looking at all the tubs of marinated fish in the yard, everyone was exhausted but happy.

Chu Xuan paid everyone’s wages and overtime on the spot, reminding them to come back at 9 a.m. the next day.

She’d paid out over 230 yuan in wages and overtime just that day, but Chu Xuan didn’t mind at all.

After everyone left, Chu Xuan sent her little brother off to rest, while she kept working on roasting fish fillets.

Chu Feng felt bad for his sister, but he knew she was right—they couldn’t both stay up all night; they had to take turns resting.

At 5 a.m., he got up to take over watching the ovens.

Chu Xuan only slept two and a half hours before waking up.

Soon, Boss Yuan’s driver would arrive to pick up the roasted fish fillets, and she needed to help her brother with the packing.

At 8:30 a.m., Boss Yuan’s driver arrived and handed over 3,200 yuan. He was supposed to take 500 jin of roasted fish fillets, but seeing there was extra, and remembering Boss Yuan’s instructions, he sweet-talked Chu Xuan into letting him take 800 jin.

He also said that Boss Yuan was now selling in bulk outside the province, and the monthly 2,000 jin might not be enough. If Chu Xuan could supply more, he’d bring cash next time to reserve it in advance.

Chu Xuan hadn’t expected her roasted fish fillets to be selling so well outside the province.

Luckily, she’d arranged for Boss Hou to come pick up goods in the afternoon, so there was still time.

After Boss Yuan’s truck left, Chu Xuan and Chu Feng had a quick meal of steamed buns soaked in hot water and a salted duck egg each, then got back to work.

Before 9 a.m., everyone had arrived for their shift.

Widow Niu came with another cartload of skinned fish.

Around 10 a.m., Gao Meijuan paused her fish cleaning, saw how exhausted Chu Xuan looked, and insisted she go rest.

Chu Xuan really couldn’t keep going, so she handed over oven duty to Gao Meijuan and went to her room to catch up on sleep.

She slept until 2:30 p.m.

Everyone else kept working steadily, and 500 jin of roasted fish fillets were already packed and ready for Boss Hou’s truck.

Boss Yuan’s sales outside the province were booming, which made sense, but Chu Xuan couldn’t figure out why Boss Hou’s sales were just as high, since he only sold at the airport.

She decided to ask his driver about it when he arrived.

In the distance, she saw Mu Chenze walking over.

Even from afar, she could tell he didn’t look happy. What happened?

As he got closer, she could see the anger in his eyes. Chu Xuan took the initiative to ask, “Who got you so worked up?”"