Chapter 39: You Can’t Compete with Luck When Harvesting from the Sea

Was Chu Xuan afraid?

Not at all.

Because she knew Grandma Gao’s family all too well.

She hooked her arm through Gao Meijuan’s and replied cheerfully, “Of course I’m not afraid! I’m even thinking that once we grow bigger, I’ll talk to Grandpa Wang about opening a grilled fish snack factory. The whole village can invest, and so can we…”

Dreaming about the future.

Gao Meijuan was full of confidence. “I believe that day will come sooner or later! When it does, we’ll have Grandpa Wang rally the whole village to invest! Who knows, maybe we’ll help everyone get rich.”

With that, Gao Meijuan was even more motivated.

Chu Xuan then went to chat with Widow Wang for a while.

Mainly, she gave her the job of picking up 1,000 jin of skinless fish from Li Tong’s stall, with an extra dime of daily wages.

Widow Wang was thrilled to earn more, chopping firewood even faster.

A little after four in the afternoon, Ji Ping arrived with a cart, delivering 500 jin of skinless fish.

He quietly thanked Chu Xuan for the steamed buns.

After unloading the cart and helping himself to a big bowl of mung bean soup, he took his leave.

Chu Feng grabbed a stool and sat down, ready to start cleaning fish, but Chu Xuan stopped him.

“Xiao Feng, go inside and rest for a bit. I’ve got this.”

Her little brother had only slept four hours last night—she felt bad for him.

Chu Feng patted his chest. “I’m a man, I’m not afraid of hard work!”

“You’re still growing. Be good, go rest. Otherwise, I won’t give you any more work or pay you wages.”

She successfully persuaded Chu Feng to go rest.

Chu Xuan sat down and started cleaning fish. Half an hour later, Liu Zhaodi, Miao Dacui, and Wang Shasha arrived for work.

By a little after six, all the skinless fish were processed.

After paying everyone, Widow Niu, Wang Shasha, and Liu Zhaodi went home to rest, while Gao Meijuan and Miao Dacui stayed to watch the fire.

By now, Chu Feng had woken up and was in charge of marinating.

Chu Xuan wasn’t needed.

So she said goodbye, grabbed her tools for collecting seafood and a flashlight, and headed out.

It wasn’t dark yet, but she’d need the flashlight on the way back.

Since she’d promised Mu Chenze that she’d only go to that secret spot during the day, she wasn’t planning to go there today.

She headed for the village beach.

When she arrived, the tide was going out. The rocks weren’t fully exposed yet, so Chu Xuan didn’t rush over.

She picked up half a bucket of clams and turban snails before heading to the rocks…

There weren’t many people at the rocks today—maybe because there hadn’t been any good finds lately, so people stopped wasting their time.

But Chu Xuan wanted to try her luck.

She turned over a few rocks, finding only a couple of tiny crabs, no bigger than a fingernail, which she released.

She also spotted a little sand eel trying to burrow into the sand—just three centimeters long, barely enough for a bite, so she let it go.

These fish usually grow to six to ten centimeters, boneless and thornless, with tender, delicious meat.

Thinking of this, Chu Xuan suddenly craved sand eels, but since she was taking herbal medicine, she had to avoid them.

She kept walking and came to a small tidal pool.

Speak of the devil.

There was a whole school of sand eels inside. She couldn’t eat them herself, but she could take them home for her little brother.

She scooped up over a hundred with her net and put them in her bucket.

Most were six or seven centimeters long—fully grown.

She planned to coat them in batter and fry them at home.

She searched a bit more and found a small octopus, a cat’s eye snail, and a few small white clams.

No big finds, so Chu Xuan decided to head back. She looked out at the sea and shone her flashlight.

Just then, she spotted a ribbonfish that had just washed ashore.

She hurried over to check—it was fresh.

About eighty centimeters long and over ten centimeters wide.

Another delicious meal to bring home. Even if she couldn’t eat it herself, she still put it in her bucket.

As Chu Xuan was heading back with her bucket, she ran into Liu Zhaodi and Erleng picking clams on the beach.

She was about to say hello when Erleng beat her to it. “Hi, Sister Xuan! Thank you!”

Chu Xuan was momentarily confused. Thank her for what?

Liu Zhaodi quickly whispered, “This kid ate the meat buns you gave us and hasn’t forgotten your kindness. He even said he wants to come help at your house tomorrow and absolutely won’t take any wages.”

She was too embarrassed to say that he’d be happy just to be fed.

Chu Xuan grinned. “Erleng, if you come help at my house tomorrow, you’ll definitely get paid.”

Erleng shook his head. “No need for wages, just feed me.”

Skipping a meal at home meant more food for his mom and Sanleng.

Chu Xuan understood what he was thinking. “Alright! I’ll feed you!”

Erleng spun around in delight.

Chu Xuan looked into the distance. “The tide’s coming in—let’s hurry home!”

“Okay!”

Liu Zhaodi held Erleng’s hand in one hand and carried the bucket in the other.

Chu Xuan glanced at it—only about half a bucket of clams.

Liu Zhaodi hadn’t had much luck harvesting from the sea lately!

It was as if Liu Zhaodi could read Chu Xuan’s mind. As they walked toward the shore, she said, “Sister Xuan, to be honest, that time Chu Feng took our seafood was the best haul I’ve had in years. Our family can’t survive just by harvesting from the sea. If it weren’t for you hiring me, I wouldn’t have had money to buy pork and eggs for my family these past few days…”

Chu Xuan clenched her fist in encouragement. “Let’s work hard together—life will only get better!”

Liu Zhaodi and her brother copied her, shouting, “Let’s work hard together! Life will get better and better!”

Chu Xuan couldn’t help but sigh. Compared to Liu Zhaodi, her own luck at sea was really something else.

After a bit more chatting, they reached the shore and went their separate ways.

When Chu Xuan got home, Chu Feng ran out to check her haul.

When he saw the big ribbonfish, he couldn’t help exclaiming, “Sis, you’re amazing! You caught another big ribbonfish. I was just craving some today.”

Chu Xuan said heartily, “We’ll have a feast tonight!”

Miao Dacui was tending the fire in the kitchen, while Gao Meijuan had already gone home to rest.

When Miao Dacui heard, she quickly said, “Save it for Xiao Feng to build up his strength. I’ll just have some mixed-grain buns.”

They’d had a late lunch, so Chu Xuan hadn’t been hungry when she went out, and dinner was pushed back.

Now was the perfect time to cook.

No matter what Miao Dacui said, Chu Xuan just went ahead and made dinner.

She saved the clams and turban snails for tomorrow.

While cooking, Chu Feng helped Chu Xuan heat up her herbal medicine, which she drank without so much as a frown.

Miao Dacui watched in admiration.

In less than an hour, braised ribbonfish, battered and fried sand eels and octopus, white flour dumpling soup, and a plate of stir-fried pork with greens were all ready.

Chu Feng had specially bought two taels of pork, knowing his sister couldn’t eat seafood while on her medicine.

Chu Xuan filled a bowl with braised ribbonfish and fried sand eels and sent Chu Feng to deliver it to Grandma Gao.

Miao Dacui protested, “No need! We eat at your place every day—we can’t keep taking advantage…”

But Chu Xuan blocked her way, so she had no chance to stop Chu Feng and had to give up.

After dinner, the last batch of grilled fish snacks was just coming out of the oven.

Once everything was cleaned up, Chu Xuan and Miao Dacui headed out together.

She wasn’t just walking Miao Dacui home—she was going to find Grandpa Wang to arrange for a tractor.

Halfway there, she spotted a familiar figure.

It was Ji Ping.

Ji Ping didn’t avoid Miao Dacui and said directly, “Chu Xuan, are you planning to take a tractor to the city? That’s too slow! I have a friend who asked me to talk to you about transportation.”

Miao Dacui didn’t know much about transportation, so she kept quiet. She also knew Ji Ping was a good guy, so she tactfully headed home, leaving the two of them space to talk.

Chu Xuan quietly asked Ji Ping, “Which friend asked you to talk to me? Why didn’t he come himself?”"