Chapter 153: The Unlucky One

October 19, 2023

Author: Zi Tao

When they were still a dozen meters from shore, Mu Chenze suddenly noticed a small wooden tag hanging from the fishing net, with Chu Zhi’s name carved on it.

He had no interest in taking Chu Zhi’s catch and immediately let go.

The fishing net drifted with the tide.

When Chu Xuan got to shore and saw what Mu Chenze did, she looked puzzled.

“Was the net too heavy for you to pull up?”

Mu Chenze replied, sounding thoroughly unlucky, “No, the net belongs to someone—Chu Zhi, that blockhead. I don’t want to touch his net. It’s bad luck.”

Chu Xuan hadn’t expected Chu Zhi to set his nets in this area. If he saw her swimming here with Mu Chenze, who knows what kind of nasty rumors he’d spread.

“He’ll definitely come to collect his net soon. You keep the swimming crabs—I’m heading off first.”

Mu Chenze wasn’t afraid of gossip about himself, but he didn’t want Chu Xuan to get dragged into it. “Alright, you go ahead. I’ll leave a bit later.”

Chu Xuan didn’t even bother changing clothes. She grabbed her foraging gear and hurried off, because she saw a fishing boat heading toward Mu Chenze’s location.

It was too far away to see who was on board.

The people on the boat couldn’t recognize her either.

But Chu Xuan guessed it was probably Chu Zhi’s boat.

Nothing good ever comes out of Chu Zhi’s mouth—she absolutely couldn’t let him see her.

Mu Chenze also spotted the boat and quickly got ashore, grabbing his basket and heading into the woods.

He found a secluded spot, changed into clean clothes, slung his basket over his shoulder, and returned to the shore. There, he saw a fishing boat hauling in a net.

It was Chu Zhi’s boat.

The net was the very one Mu Chenze had found and left alone.

Mu Chenze was a little curious about what was actually inside.

Chu Zhi noticed Mu Chenze but didn’t greet him, just grimaced and struggled to haul in the net.

When the net was almost on board, he discovered it was tangled around a massive boulder, as tall as a person.

Cursing, he tossed the net and the boulder back into the sea.

Mu Chenze couldn’t help but laugh out loud—thank goodness he hadn’t been tempted by Chu Zhi’s catch.

Chu Zhi followed the sound of laughter and glared at Mu Chenze. “I’m always unlucky when I go fishing. Don’t you dare laugh at me! Or I’ll hang around your family’s fishing boat every day and bring you bad luck too.”

Mu Chenze shrugged it off. “Go ahead, try bringing bad luck to my family’s boat! Anyway, I’m just in a good mood, that’s why I laughed. Wasn’t even laughing at you.”

Chu Zhi looked around. He thought he’d seen two men earlier, and from their clothes, neither was Mu Chenze. Now he suspected those two had swapped out his catch. “What are you doing here?”

“Just passing by. I’m collecting seafood all over the place—is that not allowed?”

“Of course it is. I’ve got some small fish here, want to buy them?”

“No thanks. Right now, I’m only buying sea cucumbers, abalone, swimming crabs, mantis shrimp, that sort of thing.” Mu Chenze took a swimming crab out of his basket—the shell was as big as an adult’s palm—and continued, “I only buy this quality. If you catch any, just send them straight to my house.”

“How much per jin?”

“Depends on size and weight. Ask me for the price after you catch some. I’ve got more seafood to collect, so I’m off.”

Mu Chenze turned to leave.

Chu Zhi quickly called after him, “Wait! Did you see two men around here just now?”

“What? Two men? Nope.”

Mu Chenze was surprised. It had clearly been him and Chu Xuan—how did they get mistaken for two men?

Then he thought of Chu Xuan’s hairstyle and sturdy build. From a distance, it was easy to make that mistake.

He was secretly relieved Chu Zhi had gotten it wrong. Otherwise, as soon as Chu Zhi got back to the dock, rumors about him and Chu Xuan would be flying everywhere.

Chu Zhi spat, “Those two must’ve stolen my catch and swapped it for a boulder. Even from a distance, I saw them swim ashore—one in black, one in a white shirt and blue pants. You really didn’t see them?”

Mu Chenze was now wearing a blue shirt and black pants—Chu Zhi would never suspect it was him.

“Nope. I only saw you when I got here.”

Chu Zhi was certain. “The guy in the white shirt was carrying a basket—he definitely took my seafood.”

Mu Chenze was stunned by Chu Zhi’s logic.

“Well, if you think so, you’d better hurry ashore and chase after them!”

“I will! I don’t believe I can’t catch up!”

Chu Zhi really did bring his boat to shore, but as he jumped off, he missed his footing and fell into the water with a splash.

Luckily, he could swim, so he wasn’t in any danger.

Soaked to the bone, he climbed back onto the boat and went to the cabin to change.

By the time he came out, Mu Chenze was long gone.

After thinking it over, he realized too much time had passed and it was unlikely he’d catch up, so he gave up the chase.

Before heading back to the dock, he cast another net in the area.

He didn’t notice Mu Chenze had doubled back.

Mu Chenze watched Chu Zhi’s boat sail away, deep in thought.

A little after five in the afternoon, Mu Chenze, just back from the city, brought the payment to settle accounts at Chu Xuan’s house.

After deducting the share for dried fish sales and the seafood they’d gathered, the total payment for the past two days came to 800 yuan.

Chu Xuan saw the red veins in Mu Chenze’s eyes and felt a pang of concern. “Are you working so hard because you’re short on money? I can lend you some if you need it.”

Mu Chenze smiled calmly. “Actually, I’m not short on money. I just want to earn more, that’s all. I can handle it for now. If my body can’t take it anymore, I’ll rest. But I do need to warn you—Chu Zhi has started setting nets near our secret foraging spot. You might run into him if you go swimming or gathering seafood there.”

Chu Xuan replied without hesitation, “Then I just won’t go swimming for now. Honestly, I don’t want him to know I’m learning to swim.”

“I’ll find a way to make him move his nets elsewhere soon.”

“You have my full support!”

Otherwise, Chu Zhi would soon discover those dozen or so tide pools. Once he realized how good they were, he’d keep coming back.

The next day, Chu Xuan still went to the secret spot.

On the beach and in the tide pools, there were only clams and tiny crabs—not worth much.

By chance, she saw Chu Zhi’s boat stranded on the sand.

Chu Zhi was sitting on the bow, not the least bit worried.

He was just waiting for the tide to come in.

Chu Xuan ignored him, put on her sunhat, and bent down to collect clams. She filled more than half her basket before getting ready to leave.

Chu Zhi clicked his tongue. “Chu Xuan, you really don’t mind the trouble, do you? There are so many clams on the village beach, but you just have to come all the way out here to pick them. Isn’t it a hassle to carry them back?”

“I like it! If you can come here, why can’t I?”

With that, Chu Xuan slung her basket over her shoulder and headed for the shore.

But she didn’t leave right away.

She wanted to see Chu Zhi haul in his net.

Chu Zhi saw through her plan and deliberately didn’t pull in the net.

Chu Xuan gave up waiting and left with her basket.

On the way back, she caught four sea ducks and found over twenty sea duck eggs.

She felt the trip had been worth it.

Chu Zhi wasn’t so lucky.

When he pulled up his net, it had a huge tear in it, and he didn’t catch a single fish—just three swimming crabs, each the size of a fist, scuttling around the boat as if mocking him.

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of September. Boss Yuan had taken all the dried fish he’d ordered, Boss Hou hadn’t placed any new orders, and Dan Anquan came to pick up another thousand jin of dried fish.

During this time, Chu Xuan occasionally went to the secret spot, but it was Chu Zhi who went there every day to set his nets—and every time, his nets came up with holes.

On September 30th, Chu Zhi finally moved to a different area to fish.

A little after 8 p.m., Mu Chenze came to Chu Xuan’s house to pick up dried fish, in a very good mood.

“Chu Xuan, starting tomorrow, you can go back to swimming there. Chu Zhi won’t be coming anymore.”

Chu Xuan looked curious. “How did you manage that?”"