Chapter 22: Much Easier on the Ears

Mu Chenze felt like he was being disliked again, and his mood instantly soured. “Can you stop bringing this up all the time? Isn’t that just hitting me where it hurts?”

Chu Xuan smiled apologetically. “My bad! I promise I won’t say it again. Don’t be mad, okay? Don’t punish yourself for my mistakes—only by staying happy every day can you live a long life!”

Hearing this, Mu Chenze found her words much more pleasing to the ear.

“That’s more like it.”

Chu Xuan gently urged, “So, can you finally tell me what you want me to agree to?”

Mu Chenze’s tone carried a warning. “From now on, you can only come to the shore during the day. No coming at night. If I find out, I’ll just find a new partner.”

Chu Xuan knew he was looking out for her. “Alright! I promise! By the way, how often do we split the money from selling the seafood? Every day or every month?”

“Every day is too much trouble, but every month is too long. How about every five days? From now on, any day on the calendar with a 5 or 0 in the date is our settlement day.”

“Sounds good, no problem.”

At this moment, Chu Xuan already saw Mu Chenze as the boss.

Whatever the boss says goes. Besides, the boss only wants thirty percent—she, the worker, gets seventy percent. Just thinking about it made her excited.

When they got near the dock, Mu Chenze handed the bucket of fish to Chu Xuan. “You go on your own.”

Chu Xuan teased, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll sell them too cheap?”

Mu Chenze replied seriously, “Not at all.”

With how money-crazy she was, there’s no way she’d let herself get ripped off.

He turned and left.

Chu Xuan struggled to carry the two buckets of fish over to Li Tong’s stall. “Boss Li, can I borrow your basin to sort these?”

Then she weighed them.

Li Tong immediately handed her a basin. “Sort them and weigh each type separately. I’ll make sure to give you a good price.”

“Alrighty.”

Chu Xuan quickly sorted the fish.

There were more sea bass, so she weighed those first.

Li Tong jotted down the weight as he spoke. “Forty-nine jin, six liang. I’ll round it up to fifty jin. I’ll pay you 1.5 yuan per jin, so that’s 75 yuan.”

Soon, Chu Xuan sorted out the filefish.

Li Tong weighed them. “Twenty-nine jin. I’ll round it to thirty jin. Seven cents per jin, so that’s 2.1 yuan.”

Hearing that price, Chu Xuan smiled wryly. These ugly fish really aren’t worth much these days! In a few decades, it’ll be a different story.

She didn’t have time to make dried fish snacks now, so she might as well just sell them.

She decided not to pick up any more filefish until her dried fish workshop was up and running.

She picked out six octopuses and six fist-sized swimming crabs. Li Tong hefted them in his hand and didn’t bother weighing. “I’ll give you 4.9 yuan for these two. Altogether, that’s 82 yuan.”

There was still a blackfish in the bucket, but Chu Xuan decided not to sell it—she’d save it to make lunch for the construction crew tomorrow.

Good food means better efficiency.

Before long, she had 82 yuan in her pocket and headed home with her fishing gear and the blackfish.

Once home, Chu Xuan took out the 82 yuan and handed it to her little brother, reminding him, “Keep track of this. Thirty percent of it goes to my partner.”

Chu Feng was about to ask who the partner was, but Chu Xuan cut him off. “Don’t ask who it is. Otherwise, they won’t work with me anymore.”

Chu Feng grinned. “Then I won’t ask. I’ll just be in charge of the money.”

Life was getting better and better. They were building a new house, eating well every day, sleeping soundly, going to school, and no longer had to go out to sea and suffer. It was almost like living in paradise.

At home, Chu Feng absolutely listened to his sister.

If she said go east, he’d never go west.

Chu Feng had left hot water in the kitchen. Chu Xuan grabbed her change of clothes and went in to wash up.

Chu Feng went back to his room to count, stash, and record the money.

That night, lying in bed, Chu Xuan couldn’t help but think that her little brother was doing really well these days, becoming more and more sensible. She hoped he wouldn’t take any wrong turns in the future.

The next morning, a tofu vendor happened to pass by. Chu Xuan bought two jin of tofu to make blackfish and tofu soup for lunch—just thinking about it made her mouth water.

Seventy cents per jin, so two jin cost 1.4 yuan.

If she had food coupons, it would’ve been cheaper—less than fifty cents per jin—but she didn’t have any left.

Last time she bought grain, she’d had to trade for the coupons.

Luckily, she had cash now and could afford the higher prices.

Around 9:30 a.m., Chu Xuan headed out with a bucket containing her fishing tools.

On the way, she stopped by Liu Zhaodi’s house and bought a big basket for thirty cents.

Liu Zhaodi had woven the basket from willow branches. She usually took them to the town market to sell for cash. The basket was half a meter tall, sturdy and durable.

Half an hour later, Liu Zhaodi took her second brother to the shore. She looked around the beach but didn’t see Chu Xuan.

She wondered, judging by the tools Chu Xuan brought earlier, she should be out here, so where was she?

By now, Chu Xuan had already taken the mountain path to the spot where she’d fished the night before.

She was faster today, and the tide hadn’t gone out yet in that area. Chu Xuan patiently waited for about ten minutes.

As the wet sand was exposed, clams and little sea snails started to appear.

The tide pools were still covered by seawater and hadn’t been revealed yet.

With nothing else to do, Chu Xuan set her basket and bucket aside and squatted down to pick clams and small sea snails.

There were a lot of turban snails today.

Though small, turban snails have tender, springy meat that’s fragrant and smooth.

Some people complain it’s hard to get the meat out, but that’s because they’re cooking them wrong.

You have to put them in cold water, then simmer on low heat. Once the water boils, cook for three more minutes, then turn off the heat and let them sit for five minutes.

That way, the meat won’t shrink into the shell, and you can easily pry it out with a toothpick.

After more than twenty minutes, Chu Xuan had filled a third of her basket. She stood up and stretched her sore body.

Leaving the basket where it was, she grabbed her bucket and tools and headed for the tide pools where she’d caught so many fish the night before.

On the way, she picked up six stranded green-scaled fish and three fist-sized swimming crabs and tossed them into her bucket.

When she reached the tide pools, she checked them one by one. There weren’t as many fish as last night, but there were two sea bass, each about six jin.

She filled her bucket with seawater and set it by the tide pool.

Before long, Chu Xuan scooped up one sea bass with her hand net and put it in the bucket.

As she went for the second, she suddenly heard a sound in the distance—like a fish tail slapping the sand.

She stopped what she was doing and looked up.

Whoa! Far off on the beach, a sea bass weighing over twenty jin was struggling to get back to the water.

She didn’t bother with the tide pool fish, grabbed her hand net, and sprinted toward the big sea bass.

Up close, she realized it looked just like the one she’d missed the other night.

Could it be the same one?

Looks like the fish goes to whoever catches it.

Chu Xuan happily slipped the net over the fish’s head and most of its body, then dragged it toward her basket.

The net was a bit small for such a big fish, but dragging it was no problem.

The fish was still alive and kept trying to break free.

But Chu Xuan wasn’t about to let it get away.

She and the fish made it to the basket.

She easily got the fish inside.

Chu Xuan went back to the tide pool and scooped up another sea bass. Just then, it started to rain.

She decided to call it a day.

Carrying her bucket, with the basket and fishing tools on her back, she took the mountain path toward the dock to sell her catch.

She’d only made it halfway down the path when a man’s voice called out behind her.

“What are you doing? If you want to pass, you’ll have to pay the toll!”"