Chapter 31: He’s Here

“Isn’t it? Then what do you want?”

Seeing the confusion on Chu Xuan’s face, Mu Chenze had to give her a hint. “What did you promise me yesterday?”

“What did I promise?” Chu Xuan muttered to herself. After a moment, she finally realized and pulled a cloth bag of grilled fish slices from her basket. “Here! I already prepared it for you. I was going to give it to you after we finished collecting seafood.”

Mu Chenze took the bag, and as the aroma of grilled fish slices wafted up, a smile appeared on his face.

“You handle the seafood, okay!”

He had everything arranged perfectly for Chu Xuan.

He took off his old jacket, tossed it aside, hugged the bag of grilled fish slices, and stood on a reef, eating with great relish.

Chu Xuan didn’t mind at all. After all, their agreement didn’t include him helping her collect seafood.

She just buried her head and got to work.

She was focused on gathering some attractive-looking red conchs when Mu Chenze’s voice sounded behind her. “The fish bones are crispy, the meat is sweet and fragrant. Not bad. Did you see the Chinese doctor?”

Chu Xuan didn’t stop what she was doing, her back to him. “I did. Got some herbal medicine. Can I trouble you with something?”

“Tell me what it is first.”

Mu Chenze popped another piece of grilled fish into his mouth. He was a bit hungry, and this was perfect to tide him over. Honestly, it tasted even better than the fish slices his mother and sister-in-law made.

Chu Xuan turned to look at him.

She couldn’t help but marvel—he looked so striking standing on the reef, eating fish slices, like an immortal who’d descended to the mortal world.

Wait, she noticed his clothes had changed. That white silk shirt looked brand new.

Wearing such fancy clothes to collect seafood?

Was he here to work or just to take a stroll?

“When you go to the city next time, could you help me find out where to sell fish livers? Especially at Peng City Pharmaceutical Factory. The livers from filefish can be used to extract fish oil—I don’t want to just throw them away.”

“Making the most of everything, I see. I’ll ask around. If there’s someone willing to come and collect them, even better.”

As he spoke, Mu Chenze deliberately smoothed his shirt.

Only then did Chu Xuan realize—he was hinting at something. “Nice new shirt. Silk, right?”

Mu Chenze put on a cool, aloof act. “That’s right. Once you get your health back, I’ll reward you with one. Right now you’re too fat, too much fabric required.”

Chu Xuan facepalmed…

She couldn’t be bothered to reply and just went back to collecting seafood.

Today’s haul was pretty good.

In less than half an hour, she’d gathered six bass, over a hundred jin of red conchs, more than a dozen octopuses, eight sea cucumbers, over a dozen abalones the size of a child’s fist, more than thirty filefish, over twenty prawns, a dozen swimming crabs, most of a bucket of clams, and half a bucket of turret snails…

Mu Chenze put his old jacket back on and helped her carry everything ashore.

“These sea cucumbers are great quality. I’ll take the abalones, swimming crabs, and prawns too. One hundred yuan for the lot, deduct it from my share. I’ll be at the pier early tomorrow to buy deep-sea catch, then head to the city to sell seafood.”

He didn’t really need to explain so much.

In that moment, Chu Xuan was reminded of her previous life. After they got married, he’d said similar things to her.

Back then, she hadn’t even looked up, just replied coldly, “You don’t need to tell me. I don’t want to hear it. Just give me the money.”

This time, she would never say that.

Instead, she showed concern. “It gets chilly before dawn, and there’s a lot of ice in the truck. Make sure you dress warmly.”

Mu Chenze was clearly pleased, the corners of his mouth curving up. “I will. You really are a good buddy—always looking out for me.”

Chu Xuan replied heartily, “Of course! That’s what good buddies do!”

She didn’t mind at all that Mu Chenze saw her as ‘one of the guys.’

The tide was coming in. She glanced at the sea, a bit disappointed. Today was a spring tide, but the catch wasn’t as valuable as yesterday’s. Collecting seafood really was a matter of luck.

Yesterday’s big haul had raised her expectations—she needed to keep a level head.

Mu Chenze saw what she was thinking and added, “Is collecting seafood getting in the way of your grilled fish business? You don’t have to come every day, don’t worry. I won’t find another partner. Just come whenever you have time.”

Chu Xuan quickly reassured him, “It’s not a problem. Collecting seafood is my main job. The grilled fish business is just on the side. Come on, let’s head to the pier.”

“Alright.”

They didn’t say anything else.

As they neared the pier, Mu Chenze took away the seafood he’d picked out.

Today’s catch wasn’t as eye-catching as yesterday’s, so Chu Xuan could sell it herself.

At Li Tong’s stall, Chu Xuan saw a mountain of red conchs.

Li Tong greeted her. “The price for red conchs has dropped—forty cents a jin.”

Chu Xuan understood. That’s just how seafood is—when there’s a glut, the price drops. Who knows, it might drop again tomorrow.

Luckily, the price of bass hadn’t dropped. It was still 1.5 yuan per jin. She had 49 jin and 6 liang, so he rounded it up to 50 jin and paid her 75 yuan.

Octopus was 30 jin, priced by size at fifty cents a jin, for a total of 15 yuan.

Turret snails, clams, and filefish weren’t worth much, so she just put them in her basket to take home.

Chu Xuan took the 90 yuan from Li Tong, counted it, and put it in her pocket.

She made a deal with Li Tong to buy more fresh filefish from him. Starting tomorrow, she’d come every day to pick up 1,000 jin, paying five cents more per jin than the market price.

That meant Li Tong could easily earn an extra five yuan a day.

After all, Mu Chenze’s family alone couldn’t supply enough, and Chu Xuan didn’t have time to wait at the pier for the fishing boats to come in.

With Li Tong as her connection, she’d never have to worry about running out of filefish.

She slung her basket on her back, picked up her empty willow basket, and got ready to head home.

Just then, she ran into Liu Zhaodi, who was carrying a bucket of seafood to sell.

Chu Xuan glanced at the bucket—there were a dozen or so filefish and half a bucket of clams.

Today, the price of filefish had already dropped to four cents a jin. Clams were even cheaper, two cents a jin.

Altogether, it wouldn’t even fetch one yuan.

Thinking of Liu Zhaodi’s family situation, Chu Xuan sincerely invited her, “My family needs someone to process filefish—one cent per jin. You need to remove the head and skin, but keep the liver. If anyone in your family is interested, you can come to my house tomorrow.”

With Liu Zhaodi’s speed, she could process 300 jin in three hours, no problem.

Liu Zhaodi did the math quickly—three yuan for three hours of work. In a month, that was three times a regular worker’s salary.

She looked at Chu Xuan gratefully. “Thank you! I’ll definitely come tomorrow morning.”

Chu Xuan smiled back and headed home.

The Liu family, for all their grudges, also knew how to repay kindness.

Helping them now could build good karma—maybe she’d need their help someday.

When Chu Xuan got home, she put down her things and told everyone about the 1,000-plus jin of filefish she’d be getting tomorrow, and that Liu Zhaodi would be coming to help.

Everyone agreed.

Liu Zhaodi was a hard worker. With her help, everyone was confident they could handle processing over 1,000 jin of filefish.

Last night, Chu Feng had learned how to marinate the fish in a sweet and salty flavor. Today, he marinated 120 jin himself. With the 30-plus jin Chu Xuan had already marinated, they had a total of 150 jin, split between two ovens.

Chu Feng had lit the fires early, so the ovens were nice and hot.

There was a lot more fish than last night, so the roasting time was longer. An hour later, the fish was ready.

Salty, sweet, and savory, with a golden color and great appearance.

By 9 p.m., all the filefish had been processed, cleaned, and marinated.

They made both spicy and sweet-spicy flavors.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

Gao Meijuan thought it was Wang Depin coming to pick her and her daughter up, so she volunteered to answer it.

But when she opened the door, Mu Chenze was standing outside.

“Uh…”

She quickly realized and called toward the kitchen, “Xiao Xuan, I think he’s here for you.”

Chu Xuan came out of the kitchen, and when she saw Mu Chenze, she was surprised. What’s he doing here so late?"