Chapter 65: The Blue Whale That Understood Humans

She cursed herself for being an idiot.

After thinking for more than ten minutes, she finally remembered the labor-saving knot that Mu Chenze had taught her in her previous life.

She took out the shovel from her basket, mainly to use its wooden handle, and tied the rope around it using the method she recalled.

She tested it—it really was easier and didn’t hurt her hands.

Half an hour later, exhausted and aching all over, she finally managed to get the blue whale back into the sea.

The blue whale didn’t rush to leave. Instead, it obediently waited for Chu Xuan to untie the ropes from its body.

As she untied the knots, Chu Xuan praised it, “You really understand people. So smart!”

Once the ropes were completely removed, Chu Xuan patted its side. “Go back to the ocean! Don’t come near the shore again.”

The blue whale seemed to understand, swimming off into the distance.

Just as Chu Xuan was about to lose sight of it, the whale suddenly swam back toward her.

It repeated this a few times before finally swimming away for good.

By now, Chu Xuan’s clothes were soaked through by seawater, but she didn’t regret saving the whale at all.

Seeing the tide coming in, Chu Xuan hurried back.

With her basket on her back, she walked along the mountain path. As the mountain wind blew, she couldn’t stop sneezing—“Achoo, achoo…”

Even though it was summer, the mountain wind was still cool. But for Chu Xuan, who was drenched from head to toe, it wasn’t cool—it was cold.

She was lightly dressed, and her wet clothes clung to her body, making her look rather indecent from the front.

Chu Xuan moved her basket to the front to cover herself a bit.

When she reached the dock, she headed straight for Li Tong’s stall.

Even when selling her catch, she kept the basket in front of her.

Seeing Chu Xuan’s bedraggled state, Li Tong couldn’t help but advise, “Are you risking your life just to catch seafood?”

He thought she’d gone into the sea to fish.

Chu Xuan didn’t explain much and just urged, “Hurry up and weigh it! I’ve got a lot to do today. Time’s tight.”

Li Tong didn’t say anything more, quickly weighing, calculating, and paying her.

Ten king razor clams sold for 10 yuan.

Blackfish was 2 yuan per jin today. She had 11 jin and 9 liang, rounded up to 12 jin—24 yuan.

Bass, 12 jin at 1.5 yuan per jin—18 yuan.

Three large sea cucumbers and some abalone, a flat 50 yuan.

In total, 102 yuan.

The price of seafood changed daily. Chu Xuan was used to it. She took the 102 yuan and headed home.

After walking in the sun, her clothes were almost dry by the time she got home.

Still, Chu Xuan didn’t let her guard down, because she was shivering with cold even in the heat.

Luckily, there was hot water in the stove. She carried it to her room for a bath.

After washing up and changing into clean clothes, she went to the kitchen, ready to make ginger soup, only to find her little brother had already thoughtfully made some.

She sipped it, blowing on it to cool, and drank it down.

After sweating a bit, she finally felt better.

It was already close to noon.

Her plan to go to the county to sell grilled fish jerky at noon was dashed.

She decided to just cook lunch at home. Her little brother had already bought and washed the vegetables and pork.

Chu Xuan just needed to stir-fry.

She cooked for three people.

Only Miao Dacui stayed to watch the grill; everyone else went home for lunch and a nap, planning to return after 4 p.m. when Ji Ping delivered the filefish.

Since Miao Dacui was working overtime at noon, she could go home early in the evening to rest. At that time, Gao Meijuan would come to watch the grill.

Usually, the two of them took turns.

After lunch, Chu Xuan felt sleepy and had to go to her room for a nap.

She fell asleep as soon as she lay down.

She woke up after two.

Chu Xuan strongly suspected there was something in her herbal medicine that made her drowsy. She could sleep better and got sleepy more easily than before.

She washed her face to wake up, said goodbye to her little brother and Miao Dacui, shouldered thirty jin of grilled fish jerky, put the scale, clean paper, and net bags into a burlap sack, and headed out.

She took a horse cart to town, then transferred to another ride to the county.

By a little after three, the county market had already dispersed. If Chu Xuan wanted to sell her thirty jin of grilled fish jerky, she’d have to walk the streets and hawk her goods.

Even so, Chu Xuan wanted to give it a try—everything is hard at the beginning.

She first went near the flour factory’s staff dormitory and called out, “Come buy grilled fish jerky! Once you try it, you’ll want more! Come and get it…”

Sure enough, her shouting attracted quite a few workers’ families.

She set her basket and burlap sack on a big stone under the old locust tree.

“Freshly grilled fish jerky, everyone come and have a taste! Three flavors—numbing spicy, fragrant spicy, and sweet-salty. Guaranteed to leave you wanting more.”

As she spoke, she used clean paper to offer small pieces for everyone to sample.

After tasting, everyone agreed it was delicious.

But they were shocked by the price—2.3 yuan per jin.

A few women discussed, “I bought grilled fish jerky before for 1 yuan a jin, but it wasn’t as tasty as this. Still, this is too expensive! It’s more than double!”

“I think so too. Maybe just buy a little to satisfy a craving.”

“Let’s try bargaining, see if she’ll lower the price.”

…

Chu Xuan warmly joined in, “Let me explain—my fish jerky is made with fresh fish caught the same day. The 1-yuan-a-jin stuff definitely isn’t made from fresh fish. It takes over ten jin of live fish to make just one jin of jerky! Do you know how much a jin of fish costs? And that’s after removing the head, guts, and skin—all labor costs. Plus, there’s the cost of spices, firewood, and transport. I have to make a little profit, right?”

Actually, with Chu Xuan’s method, ten jin of fresh fish made one and a half jin of jerky.

She exaggerated to highlight the high cost.

One woman covered her mouth and laughed, “You make a good point, but still, can’t you give us a little discount?”

Chu Xuan had set the price at 2.3 yuan a jin to leave room for bargaining.

“Alright, I’ll make a little less today since it’s my first time in the county, opening day special. Retail is 2.2 yuan a jin. If you buy five jin or more, it’s 2.15 yuan a jin.”

The woman kept bargaining, “Forget all that—just make it 2.1 yuan a jin for everyone, and we’ll all buy some.”

Chu Xuan insisted, “2.15 yuan, that’s as low as I can go. Please let me make a little.”

Just then, a stylish woman in her forties, carrying a black handbag, walked over. “Can I have a taste?”

Chu Xuan smiled politely, “Of course, you can try all three flavors.”

She handed the woman samples of each flavor with clean paper.

The woman tasted each one.

“This is the flavor! My husband Lao Li went on a business trip to another city and brought back three small packs of grilled fish jerky, all three flavors. My kid loved it and keeps asking for more! Are you really selling this for 2.15 yuan a jin?”

Chu Xuan smiled, “Yes.”

“I’ll take some of each flavor—five jin. No, make it ten! I’ll give some to my family too.” The woman took out 21.5 yuan and handed it to Chu Xuan, urging, “Hurry up! My kid’s waiting.”

“Coming right up!”

Chu Xuan pocketed the money and quickly packed three bags of jerky, weighing out ten jin and adding a little extra.

The woman happily took the net bags and was about to leave.

Chu Xuan was curious. “Ma’am, could you tell me how much your family paid per jin for the grilled fish jerky from out of town?”

She had a hunch—it was probably Boss Yuan who had bought her jerky wholesale, repackaged it, and sold it in stores outside the city.

From now on, updates will be posted at midnight."