Ye Yaodong handed him the fishing rod and also threw him a small fish and a shrimp, telling him to use whatever he wanted as bait.
He waved his hands quickly, "No, no, I just came back from collecting traps, and there are fish in the bucket, so just take a small fish."
"Okay then." Ye Yaodong threw the small fish back into the bucket and threw the shrimps onto the deck.
Lin Laoliu took the fishing rod and said with a smile: "Then I will try it and return it to you after I catch one."
After that, he also imitated Ye Yaodong and scooped off a piece of fish meat, put on the bait, and threw it into the sea, saying: "I don't know if I'm lucky or not, what can I catch?"
"Just wait and see, there will always be fish to bite the bait."
Ye Yaodong propped up his chin and stared at the sea. It felt like four or five minutes had passed. When Lin Laoliu was hesitating whether to lift the rod to see if the bait had fallen, he saw a long object swimming in the sea.
Less than 3 seconds later, Lin Laoliu said happily: "Got it, got it."
He tried to lift it slowly, and found it was still quite heavy. He was somewhat surprised and pulled it harder.
"Big eel!"
Ye Yaodong shouted in surprise.
Lin Laoliu also said happily: "Wow! This one weighs seven or eight pounds, and it's thick and long."
"Uncle Lin, good luck."
"Haha, maybe it's because I'm new here and have more fish." He picked up the big eel and held it out to Ye Yaodong. "Put it back in the bucket! This big eel is pretty good."
"You caught it, or you can keep it? I just borrowed the fishing rod."
There were already a few good catches in the bucket, so he could just catch whatever he caught.
"No, no, as agreed, I will just lend you the fishing rod for a bit and give you the fish I catch."
"How can that be so embarrassing."
"What's the big deal? As an elder, how can I go back on my word and take this fish? Put it in the bucket quickly. Be careful not to get bitten by it. Such a big eel has very sharp teeth. Take the fishing rod by the way. I have to go back to eat."
Since that's what he said, he won't be polite.
"Thank you very much, uncle. Come to my house when you have time to visit the village."
"well… "
After saying hello, Lin Laoliu rowed the boat back. Xishan Village also had a very small pier, not as big as the one in their village, but it was also a place where people could dock and get on and off the shore.
After the others left, Ye Yaodong used fish meat to catch two more fish, and caught another Shadai and Shi Jiugong. He simply called it a day and went back.
It's noon, time to go back for lunch.
Today is the first day they start a new life, so they have to go home early.
He put away his fishing rod without any reluctance, and picked up the remaining shrimps on the deck and put them back into the bucket. They couldn't be wasted, and if he couldn't sell them, he could peel them and dry them in the sun.
As for the half fish he had caught, he threw it back into the sea, letting it return to dust and earth, returning to the embrace of the sea to make its final contribution.
Rowing in the small boat under the scorching sun, the wind from the sea blew away the heat from his body, making him feel very comfortable. There were also some small boats on the sea that were preparing to finish work and stop operating.
After he slowly brought the boat to the shore, he still kept the fishing rod on the boat. Anyone could make such a simple fishing rod, so there would not be anyone who would deliberately steal it.
After fixing the boat, he carried two large barrels of goods off the boat and sent them to the purchasing point. Tiger grouper is not common, but it is not that no one has caught it.
He had caught one three months ago, and this one was even bigger, weighing 2.3 jin. Ah Cai was very considerate and gave a good price, 4.5 yuan per jin.
Eels are 40 cents per pound, that one is 7.2 pounds, red snapper is 35 cents, I caught 4 and only got 3 pounds, and the price of Huangshan fish is based on size.
The one he caught weighing 1.2 jin was bought at 1.1 yuan, and the rest weighed only 6.7 jin, and were sold at 70 cents per jin.
Oh my god, if you think about it this way, he had a great harvest today!
They were all worth more than the goods in his trap, but the trap was only sold for fifteen yuan, and those blue crabs and red crabs were the biggest ones.
"Are there a lot of traps recently?" Acai handed him the list and asked with a smile.
"good."
He collected the order with a smile, and did not mention that half of the fish were caught by him. There was no need to explain everything to others, as long as he made money.
There was also a one-legged red crab in the bucket that he had specially kept, and he had also kept a few silly crabs. Today's harvest was quite good. He would take these worthless ones back to pickle salted fish and make hot and sour fish soup.
There were also some small fish and shrimps that they would take back to dry. When they moved, they didn't take anything else from the dried fish and shrimps at home. They really only took things from their own house.
Carrying two buckets, he was eager to go home and quickened his pace.
When he arrived at the door of his house, he saw his wife slapping the hand of the eldest brother who was trying to cheat, "Your father hasn't come back yet, why are you in such a hurry?"
"I'm hungry, Mom, when will Dad come back?"
"It's almost there. You've been running around all day, so you're not going to get hungry. Wait a little longer, it should be here soon."
Ye Chenghu pursed his lips and said, "Grandma always said don't wait for Dad, let's eat our own food and let Dad starve."
Ye Yaodong: This brat!
Lin Xiuqing didn't know how to explain to the children that their father had become a better person. She thought for a moment and said, "That was in the past. Don't we live with them now?"
"Mom, I'm hungry, food..."
Seeing her youngest son also crying, she could only pat them on the head and said, "Okay, Mom will serve you some food first, eat while you wait..."
"I'm back."
"Dad, you're finally back. I was starving to death!"
"Dad, give me a hug~" Ye Chengyang swiftly climbed down the stool and rushed over, hugging his legs as usual!
Ye Yaodong lifted him up and put him on a stool, then looked at Lin Xiuqing, "Next time if I come back late, don't wait for me, just eat. If there is no food left, just cook some noodles to fill your stomach."
She smiled and said, "It's the first day, so we can eat together as a family. Go wash your hands."
"Um."
Just three simple dishes and a soup.
Steamed salted fish, scrambled eggs with shrimp, stir-fried green vegetables, and pickled vegetable and potato soup.
He did know about the green vegetables, as they were grown by themselves. The small vegetable patch he had opened in the backyard had already grown lush green and could be picked and eaten.
Were the other dishes brought by his mother
He thought so in his mind and asked the question.
Lin Xiuqing replied, "Yes, not long after you left, mother came over with a large basket of dried goods and potatoes, and asked me to share them with my eldest and second sisters-in-law, and told us to get more after we finished eating."
"Oh, then you don't have to buy food, just eat now."
"Mom also said that there is not much rice left at home because Dad and eldest brother went out to sea. She asked you and second brother to fill four sacks with rice from the barn and send them to the workshop for threshing when you are free in the afternoon. Each family will get one sack of threshed rice. You should also collect the rice bran yourself. When her hens start brooding and hatch chicks, we will each get a few. We can use them to feed the chickens when the time comes."
Ye Yaodong listened to the chatter in his ear and nodded while eating, "I'll go after I finish my meal."
"Not in a hurry."
Lin Xiuqing picked up a large piece of fried egg with shrimp for him, and then put a few small pieces into the bowl of her eldest son. However, the youngest son in her arms couldn't wait for her to feed him, and kept shouting, "I want it, I want it..."
"Got it. I'll give it to you."
He only calmed down after a piece of shrimp was stuffed into his mouth.
"Eat slowly, there's more..."
Ye Yaodong looked at the interaction between the mother and her two children, his eyes full of smiles.
"You should eat too. He's already this big. Just give him a spoon and let him eat it himself. There's no need to feed him like this, right?"
"How can we eat properly? I can only eat in peace after these two have finished their meal and left the table."
"All right."
After the two children finished eating and left the table, Lin Xiuqing took the half-eaten meal of her younger son and continued eating. Ye Yaodong quickly poured the remaining scrambled eggs with shrimp into her bowl.
"Too much… "
"Eat it up!"
After drinking a few sips of soup, he almost put away all the bowls, then took the kitchen knife and chopping board to kill the fish.
Lin Xiuqing watched him work and quickened her eating pace, preparing to help.
The couple, one killing the fish and the other peeling the shrimps, finished the work in a short while.
"There is also a one-legged red crab in the other bucket. After dinner, go to the drugstore and buy some codonopsis and wolfberries and stew them for the two children."
"okay."
At this point, Ye Yaodong remembered that he washed his hands and had his meal right after returning, and had forgotten to give her the cargo list.
Lin Xiuqing looked at the prices on the list, she was no longer surprised, nor did she ask. She was numb and used to him always making a lot of money. She just focused on counting the money and saving it.
"Today, after I finished collecting the traps, I went fishing for a while. The catch was pretty good. I caught a 2-jin 2-jin tiger grouper."
"Ah, no wonder it sold for so much money."
"Well, save it well. You will need money a lot in the future."
She understood this without him saying anything.
"Dongzi? Are you okay? Let's go to the old house to load rice."
It was Ye Yaohua who heard the voices at the back door and came out to call him.
"alright."
I had just finished killing the fish and washing my hands, so I let her take care of the rest.
There was no rice mill workshop in their village, so they had to push a cart of rice to Dongqiao Village, where there was a rice mill workshop.
When they got there, the person before them had just finished processing, so it was their turn without having to wait in line.
The two brothers carried a bag of rice and poured it into the rice mill from the top opening. Ye Yaodong took a sack and covered the rice outlet. After everything was ready, the owner of the workshop started the rice mill.
After a while, the grinding wheel started to move, grinding the outer skin of the rice and removing the light brown layer of the shell. Grains of white rice flowed out from the opening and into the sack.
The freshly milled rice was hot, white, beautiful and pleasant to the touch. Ye Yaodong would reach out his hand from time to time to receive it. When his palm was full, he would turn it over, throw it back into the bag, and then repeat the action.
After processing a bag, he lifted it up and estimated that one hundred kilograms of paddy rice would produce about sixty to seventy kilograms of rice. He charged 10 cents for the processing fee. If the rice bran was not required, he could charge 1 cent less.
They definitely wanted this, and their mother even told them to take the rice bran home to feed the chickens.
It took an hour to finish milling all four bags of rice.
The two brothers paid their wages and pushed the milled rice back to divide it.