Chapter 40: Cooperation

Chu Xuan had a feeling it was Mu Chenze.

That’s why she’d asked on purpose.

Ji Ping scratched his head, a bit helpless. “It’s Mu Chenze. He actually wanted to come find you himself, but… for some reason, his mother’s been tailing him these past couple of days, making things really awkward for him. Aside from asking me to pass on messages, he doesn’t have any better way.”

“What? His mother’s following him?” That was odd. Chu Xuan guessed, “Maybe he did something to make her worry, so she’s keeping an eye on him…”

As she said this, Chu Xuan suddenly realized—Mu Chenze probably didn’t want his mother to know he was getting close to her.

She’d schemed against Mu Chenze before, then turned down his marriage proposal. Could it be that because of this, the Mu family didn’t like him getting close to her?

No, that couldn’t be! The Mu family wasn’t that petty. There must be another reason.

She’d have to ask him when she got the chance.

So she changed the subject. “Ji Ping, could you tell me about the transportation arrangement?”

It was late, and Ji Ping wanted to finish Mu Chenze’s errand quickly so he could get home and rest.

He got straight to the point. “He wants to hire Lin Yong’s truck long-term to run to the city, and he’s asking if you want to team up. The fare is fifty yuan one way, and you’ll have to cover your own bus fare on the way back. The fifty yuan will be split 20-80. You pay 20%, he pays 80%, since he has more goods.”

Twenty percent was ten yuan—Chu Xuan could easily afford that, but it felt like she was getting too good a deal.

After thinking for a moment, Chu Xuan spoke up. “How about this: Right now I don’t have much cargo, so I’ll pay 20% of the fare. But if my goods go over 300 jin, I’ll pay 30%. Over 400 jin, I’ll pay 40%. If it’s over 500 jin, I’ll pay half…”

Ji Ping thought he’d misheard, rubbing his face to wake himself up. “Who actually offers to pay more on their own? You two should talk this over in person. The truck will pick you and your goods up at 1 a.m. tonight—be ready in advance.”

“Okay! Thank you!”

“No problem. Just remember to treat me to a meal when you start making money.”

“No problem. Once things settle down and business is on track, I’ll invite you and Mu Chenze over for dinner.”

“Sounds good.”

Ji Ping waved and left.

Chu Xuan headed home.

The truck arrangement must have been something Mu Chenze decided on tonight—otherwise, he would have brought it up when they came back together this morning.

In her previous life, Mu Chenze had also hired a truck, but not now—next year.

Was it her rebirth that made things happen earlier this time?

As Ji Ping passed by Mu Chenze’s house, he imitated three cat meows—the secret signal they’d agreed on.

That meant Chu Xuan had agreed.

Mu Chenze replied with two cat meows, meaning he got the message.

Hearing this, Ji Ping hurried his pace, afraid Qin Mahua would spot him.

At that moment, Qin Mahua, who had just lain down, muttered quietly, “Those stray cats outside are really creepy tonight. Sounds like they came into our yard. I’d better go check—don’t want them eating our seafood.”

She went out to check, made sure the cats were gone, and returned to bed.

She nudged her husband. “Why do you think our Xiao Ze suddenly decided to hire a truck to sell seafood in the city every day? Didn’t he used to go only every few days?”

Mu Qinlao had faith in their son. “He must have figured out a good route. Deep-sea fishing boats dock every day. Before, he only went every few days because he only knew one or two people on those boats. Now he knows more, so he can get deep-sea seafood every day. While the weather’s good, we should earn as much as we can. When typhoons and storms come, we can stay home.”

By then, they’d have money in hand, and could stock up on rice and flour—no worries about food or drink.

Qin Mahua thought it over. That made sense.

These past couple of days, she’d been following her second son and only noticed two things: he was working hard to earn money, and he went to hang out with Ji Ping.

Maybe she was just overthinking it.

She decided to give up on tailing her son…

At midnight sharp, Mu Chenze changed into his going-out clothes and headed straight for the dock.

Since he’d given her a heads-up, Qin Mahua heard the noise but didn’t get up—she just kept sleeping.

An hour later, the truck, loaded with deep-sea seafood and ice, pulled up outside Chu Xuan’s house.

Chu Feng and Chu Xuan had already packed over 200 jin of grilled fish fillets.

With experience from yesterday, they didn’t bring as many baskets and bins this time—they took up too much space.

Everything was wrapped in clean white cloth, then covered with a tarp.

The scale, weights, paper for wrapping fish fillets, mesh bags, and steamed buns were all packed in clean burlap sacks.

The back seat was much roomier this time.

After watching Chu Xuan get in, Chu Feng finally closed and bolted the door.

Once they were on the road, with Lin Yong present, Chu Xuan didn’t say much. After greeting everyone, she took the chance to catch up on sleep.

She’d only slept an hour and a half at home, but she could get another hour or so in the truck.

As they neared the city’s farmers’ market, Chu Xuan woke up.

She said to Mu Chenze, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, “I didn’t have time to prepare a late-night snack today—just brought some mixed-grain buns and grilled fish fillets. These are for you and Brother Lin.”

She pulled out a bulging cloth bundle from the sack and handed it to him.

He didn’t take it.

Lin Yong, feeling embarrassed, refused while driving. “I brought my own food, no need to give me yours. You keep it for yourself. I felt bad enough eating your egg pancakes yesterday, so today I brought salted duck eggs—one for each of us.”

Chu Xuan really had it tough.

No matter what, he wasn’t going to eat her food again today.

Just as Chu Xuan was about to insist, Mu Chenze spoke up, “Brother Lin, I’d feel bad eating her food too. I brought vegetable pancakes—one for each of us.”

Chu Xuan could tell both Mu Chenze and Lin Yong wanted to help her save money.

She was about to say more when the truck stopped outside the market.

To avoid Mu Chenze helping her rent a stall again, Chu Xuan hurried to get out. “I’ll go rent a stall—be right back.”

She ran all the way to the payment office.

Liu Chao happened to be on duty.

“Brother Liu, I’m here to rent a stall.”

She handed over fifty cents.

Liu Chao took it with a smile, quickly gave her a receipt, and lowered his voice on purpose. “I saved you a good spot—second one on the left as you enter. I’ll keep it for you from now on.”

This was the first time Chu Xuan realized things could work like this. “Thanks for looking out for me!”

She headed back to the truck.

She told the two in the truck that her stall was the second one.

The two of them helped carry the grilled fish fillets over.

Chu Xuan quickly untied the tarp and set up.

She opened three white cloth bundles—three different flavors—and laid out the grilled fish fillets.

Mu Chenze and Lin Yong left her a salted duck egg and a big vegetable pancake before heading off to make their deliveries.

They’d arrived early, so there weren’t many wholesalers yet.

But anyone who passed by Chu Xuan’s stall was drawn in by the aroma of the grilled fish fillets, and most bought some.

“I’ll take two jin of the spicy!”

“I want three jin of the sweet and salty!”

“Five jin! A bit of each flavor!”

Chu Xuan was busy weighing, wrapping, and collecting money when she suddenly felt a vicious, hostile glare. It flashed by in an instant.

She didn’t have time to look for the source.

She kept selling her grilled fish fillets.

More and more customers gathered.

Just as Chu Xuan was looking down at the scale, a woman in her fifties suddenly rushed over. “Don’t buy her fish fillets, everyone! They’re poisonous! I ate her grilled fish fillets and got sick—vomiting and diarrhea! That’s why I’m here to confront her!”"