Chapter 74: A New Discovery While Foraging by the Sea

Chu Xuan hadn’t expected things to be so coincidental.

Among Uncle Long’s associates, there was someone who specialized in buying up gold.

Fortunately, last time she’d disguised herself as a man when she sold the gold ingots.

As long as she didn’t say anything, the gold buyer wouldn’t know it was her.

About ten minutes later, one of Uncle Long’s men, named Xiao Huan, arrived.

After a brief introduction and explanation, Uncle Long handed Xiao Huan some paper and a pen.

Xiao Huan took them and tried to recall the old woman’s appearance. After all, he’d only done business with her twice this month, so she left a deep impression.

He started sketching.

Ten minutes later, a portrait of the old woman took shape.

Chu Xuan and Uncle Long took a look—it was definitely Feng Chunhua: inverted triangle eyes, a flat nose, a pointy chin…

Uncle Long understood the situation and gave Chu Xuan a look, signaling her not to speak yet.

Chu Xuan nodded to show she understood.

Uncle Long pointed to a room in the backyard. “Xiao Huan, let’s have a word in private out back.”

“Alright.”

Xiao Huan followed Uncle Long to the backyard.

Chu Xuan waited patiently in the shop.

About ten minutes later, Xiao Huan left.

Only then did Uncle Long tell Chu Xuan, “Feng Chunhua sold gold jewelry from one of Haishi’s oldest brands. She’s very likely connected to someone from Haishi. I’ve sent someone to tail her. You’ll have to be patient—she just got a lot of money, so she probably won’t make any moves for a while.”

“I understand.” Chu Xuan took twenty yuan out of her pocket. “This is a tip for your guy.”

She knew the rules—no one runs errands for free.

But Uncle Long refused. “Xiao Xuan, are you trying to embarrass me? I’m not doing this for you, but for your mom. Don’t forget, I owe your mom my life. Helping you once or twice isn’t enough to pay that back. Now get going, you’ve got things to do!”

A few minutes later, Uncle Long shooed Chu Xuan out of the shop with a laugh, stuffing a plucked rooster and a slab of pork belly into her hands.

Passing by the public phone, she called her mom.

No one answered.

But Chu Xuan wasn’t worried at all—her mom had been just fine in her previous life.

She headed to the edge of town to wait for the bus.

As luck would have it, she ran into Liu Dapeng driving his tractor again.

Before Chu Xuan could wave him down, he stopped on his own and made a welcoming gesture.

A minute later, Chu Xuan was in the driver’s seat, while Liu Dapeng stood at the back, one hand holding onto the seat, the other carrying the rooster and pork belly.

This scene was witnessed by Feng Chunhua, who was in town.

“She… she can drive a tractor?” Feng Chunhua was stunned.

Chu Xuan saw her too, but didn’t greet her—she just smirked and drove off.

It took Feng Chunhua a while to recover. She muttered, “When did that brat learn to drive a tractor? And Liu’s boy is being so polite to her—could he be interested in her?”

She wanted to spread the news, but remembered that Chu Zhi wasn’t married yet, and Chu Xuan had dirt on her, so she held back.

Ten minutes later, the tractor stopped near the village.

Chu Xuan jumped down and almost twisted her ankle, but managed to steady herself.

She took the rooster from Liu Dapeng, but didn’t rush to take the pork.

“Hold on.”

Chu Xuan tore off a raw chicken leg with her bare hands and handed it to Liu Dapeng. “This is for the ride.”

Liu Dapeng was so touched he forgot to say thank you.

Chu Xuan took the pork and waved goodbye.

It wasn’t until she was far away that Liu Dapeng realized he hadn’t thanked her. His family hadn’t eaten chicken in over half a year—the last time was when his uncle brought some for New Year’s…

Chu Xuan had no idea she’d scored more points with Liu Dapeng.

Back home, she chopped up the rooster herself and told Xiao Feng to make potato chicken stew and rice for lunch. The pork belly was mostly fat, so she’d render it into lard.

She also announced that she’d be working overtime today, so lunch was on her.

Gao Meijuan, Miao Dacui, Qin Mahua, and Fu Qing were used to eating chicken every couple of months, but Widow Niu, Liu Zhaodi, and Hua Daling hadn’t had any in over half a year. When they heard Chu Xuan’s announcement, they swallowed hard.

They couldn’t help but sigh—what a feast!

No one noticed that the rooster was missing a leg.

Chu Xuan packed salt, her foraging tools, and a wooden bucket into her basket and headed out.

She hadn’t gone far when she ran into Li Lin, Li Tong’s 16-year-old son, rushing over.

He collected stinky pufferfish, and Chu Xuan had helped him recover some losses before, so he admired her greatly.

“Sis Xuan, my dad just bought over 1,000 jin of fresh pufferfish. He sent me to ask if you can still take more?”

Chu Xuan’s family had already bought 2,000 jin that morning. Li Lin scratched his head awkwardly, worried he was causing her trouble.

Chu Xuan smiled. “I’ll take it. I’ll have Aunt Niu come pick it up. Tell your dad, today and tomorrow I’ll take as much as you have, but the day after tomorrow I’ll only take 2,000 jin, and after that I’m taking a break.”

Li Lin was about to say he could deliver it himself, but remembered his skinny arms and legs—he could only carry a few hundred jin at a time, while Aunt Niu could do it in one trip.

“Okay, I’ll go back now.”

Chu Xuan went home, gave Widow Niu some instructions, and set out again.

Half an hour later, Chu Xuan arrived at her secret foraging spot.

The tide had just gone out, but plenty of razor clam holes were already visible.

She was about to put down her basket and sprinkle salt when Mu Chenze’s voice sounded behind her. “Hey, you got here right on time!”

Chu Xuan had expected him, so she wasn’t surprised. She turned to look at him. “You here to help, or to supervise?”

Today he was dressed in a silk long-sleeve shirt and pants, with white handmade cloth shoes. His clothes fluttered in the breeze—if he had a sword, Chu Xuan would think he was about to ascend to immortality.

Mu Chenze smiled charmingly. “These clothes aren’t suitable for foraging, so I’m here to supervise—and show off. Don’t I look good? Silk would look good on you too. When you get down to 150 jin, I’ll give you a silk dress.”

Actually, he wasn’t showing off—he wanted to motivate Chu Xuan to keep exercising and losing weight.

Chu Xuan saw right through him, but didn’t call him out.

She knew he meant well.

“I’ll be waiting for that silk dress!”

“But don’t tell anyone about this, or people might get the wrong idea.”

“My lips are sealed.”

With that, Chu Xuan focused on sprinkling salt at the razor clam holes. Mu Chenze, as if by magic, produced a pair of tall rubber boots, quickly changed, rolled up his sleeves, and walked over to the razor clam holes.

As soon as a clam poked out, he’d grab it.

Chu Xuan teased, “Wearing such expensive clothes to forage—aren’t you fancy.”

“This isn’t being fancy—it’s called loving beauty. Unlike you, always in rough black clothes. You make so much money but never dress up. And you’re a girl—having short hair was fine, but why did you cut it into a man’s style at the start of the month?”

That reminded Chu Xuan—she’d cut her hair short because of the heat. And because she was overweight, she always wore black, thinking it made her look slimmer.

But so what if she was fat? She had the right to dress up too.

Tomorrow, she’d go to the tailor in town and order some fashionable, figure-flattering clothes.

“Thanks for the reminder.”

Just as she finished speaking, the razor clam she was about to grab was snatched away—but not by Mu Chenze’s hand…"