It was getting dark, and there were fewer and fewer people at the pier. Ji Huai simply stopped selling the remaining fish and packed up his things to go home.
Yin Cai and his daughter walked in front, and he followed behind carrying his fishing net. After taking off my water shoes, my trousers were quite wet and rolled up high and low. I wore a straw hat on my head. When I met acquaintances, I greeted them warmly.
"Have you gone to sea?" The other party looked at him like this and asked.
"That's right." Ji Huai was still a little shy.
"What good stuff did you catch?"
"As soon as I went out, of course I caught a lot of good stuff, and all of them were sold out. There were also a few mullet, which I took back and fried." Ji Huai took the fish out of the bucket and stuffed it into others.
Even though he is poor and lazy, he is still face-friendly and generous to outsiders.
The other party thanked me cheerfully and left with two mullets.
Yin Cai listened naturally from the front and was used to his appearance.
Walking all the way home, Yin Cai went to the kitchen to cook, took out a chopping board, put it on the floor, and was processing the salmon, preparing to braise it.
The crabs are still fresh, so she doesn't plan to add too many condiments and tries to keep the taste as delicious as possible. Steaming them with dipping sauce is also good.
Outside the kitchen.
Ji Huai was holding a cigarette in his mouth and was handling his fishing nets and packing up his props. When he saw Ji Ziqing wanted to boil water, he helped her lift the water pot.
Ji Ziqing went to pick vegetables. He pointed at the beans and said, "Pick some of that too and fry it."
She walked to the bean rack and started picking beans. What grows this season are cowpeas, also known as carob beans. They are long, vine-shaped and grow on a bean frame. The roots of the beans hang down, so they must be picked long and plumply.
Cowpeas grow quickly, and if they are not picked in time, they will become "old" and become soft and tasteless.
Ji Huai finished packing his things and went to take a shower, feeling sticky. In southern cities by the sea, there is no winter at all. He takes cold showers all year round.
After getting a bucket of water, I went in to take a shower. I took a two-and-a-half dollar old brand soap and washed it from head to toe, then poured water from top to bottom. It usually took less than ten minutes to finish.
When he came out, he helped Ji Ziqing pour out the hot water and carried it to the shed, "Go take a bath."
"Yeah." She returned quietly.
Before Ji Ziqing entered the room, she secretly glanced at Ji Huai. In the past, her father rarely came home, so she and her mother had to do everything. Her mother worked too hard, so she did everything she could to help her.
Dad has been at home these past few days. As long as he is here, he can do a lot of things. She doesn't want her dad to go out drinking every day. Isn't it good to be at home all the time
Ji Huai took a bath and wandered comfortably in the yard, looking at the tall buildings around him without having any thoughts. The reason why lazy people are lazy is that they have no needs or desires. If they have pursuits, they will not be lazy.
He felt that living in a high-rise building was like that, and he didn't care at all.
Yin Cai cooked the rice and the family of three was eating.
The crabs were placed in front of Ji Ziqing, with a pot of braised salmon in the middle. Because Ji Huai had a big appetite, Yin Cai cooked a whole fish.
During the period, Ji Ziqing's performance in this test was mentioned, and her Chinese language had deteriorated a bit. Yin Cai asked her to be more careful next time.
Ji Huai said while chewing on the fish head, "Study, if you can, just read. If you can't, forget it. Your dad doesn't read much, so why not live a good life?"
"Isn't it like you who doesn't study?" Yin Cai couldn't help but mock him.
"What's wrong with me? I can eat and sleep, and my life is not bad." He still had a sense of honeyed confidence.
Yin Cai was not angry at all, "The teachers said that Zi Qing is just a student. Why are you just messing with her? It's okay if you don't encourage her. Can you stop messing with her?"
"I don't mean anything else. What I mean is don't be stressed..." Ji Huai felt guilty at the end and quickly changed the subject and gave his daughter a piece of crab. "This crab meat is so fresh, eat more. Dad. I’ll leave it for you next time I go to sea.”
"Thank you, Dad." Ji Ziqing buried her head in eating crabs.
Yin Cai didn't bother to argue with him. Compared with Ji Huai's previous indifference, now he was willing to leave crabs for his daughter, which was an improvement.
In the past, Ji Huai would have to go for a walk in the village after eating. If he met those gangsters or gangsters, even if he only had twenty yuan in his pocket, he would have to go to the canteen in the village to buy a few bottles of beer and find a place to sit with them. While bragging while drinking, a pack of peanuts costing one yuan can be used as a side dish.
I haven’t gone for a walk at night recently. When Yin Cai came out of the shower, he saw him sitting on the floor in the house sorting out the banknotes he received today. They were stuffed into his pocket and crumpled into a ball, and he was spreading them out one by one.
Ji Ziqing sat next to him, lying on the bed doing homework.
The room was very small, and she had to walk around him to get to the bed. Yin Cai asked him to move away.
Ji Huai leaned against the cabinet, leaving a way for her. Yin Cai walked over and climbed onto the bed.
She sat on the bed and looked down, seeing clearly. Ji Huai already had a few red banknotes in his hand, and it looked like he had made a good profit today.
They live right by the sea, and the local economy is good compared to the entire province. Even if they work hard, they can earn at least two hundred dollars a day.
If there is only one reason for being poor, it is laziness. Ji Huai is not only lazy, but also good at eating and cooking.
Ji Huai sorted out the bills one by one and counted them quickly in his hand, "One, two, three, four, four hundred and five, five hundred, five hundred and two..."
When Ji Ziqing heard her father murmuring behind her back, she stopped doing her homework and turned to look at him.
Ji Huai had just finished counting, and there were five hundred and ninety-seven in total. Including the money collected online, it was about a thousand or so. Excluding gas money, you can make hundreds of net profits.
He counted again, saw his daughter looking at her, looked down at the money in her hand, took out two red bills and gave them to her, "Here."
Yin Cai was applying hand cream, saw his movements, and looked over.
Ji Ziqing did not answer immediately, but looked at her mother.
"Don't you have to pay for food at school? You have to pay it tomorrow." Yin Cai reminded her daughter.
Ji Huai must accept it immediately while he is in a good mood, otherwise he will say he has no money after spending it. She had to let him take it while he had money. If he didn't take the initiative to give it today, she would force him to give it.
Ji Ziqing reached out her hand.
"I'll give you another thirty yuan to buy some snacks." Ji Huai put another thirty yuan in front of her, stood up, and put the remaining money in his pocket.
There is no room for Yin Cai.
She got used to it and covered herself with a quilt to sleep. He gave two hundred and saved two hundred, which was enough.
Ji Ziqing looked at the thirty yuan on the bed, picked it up gently, put the twenty yuan in the piggy bank on the bedside, and put the remaining ten yuan in her schoolbag and closed the zipper.
The next day.
Ji Huai went to sea before dawn, and Yin Cai sent his daughter to school.
After sending Ji Ziqing to the school gate, she told her daughter, "You have to keep the money dad gives you from now on, otherwise your dad will spend it all. When you see him having money, you have to ask him to get it, do you understand?"
Ji Ziqing said nothing.
Seeing this, Yin Cai sighed again and asked his daughter to ask Ji Huai for money. She was afraid that it would be harder than climbing to the sky, so he added, "Forget it, I'll take it if he gives it to you."
"Yes." This time, Ji Ziqing nodded and said goodbye to her mother.
Yin Cai watched her daughter walk for a while, looked at the time, and quickly drove forward.
When Ji Ziqing stood at the gate, he looked back at her, grabbed her schoolbag strap with both hands, and walked to the classroom.
In the primary school in the small town, there are only two classes in each grade, namely Class 1 and Class 2.
Ji Ziqing walked into Class 1, and the bell rang just in time. The study committee member walked to the podium and took the lead in reading.
"The cockerel and the duck."
"The little rooster and the little duck hang out together..."
…
The sound of reading came from the class one after another. Ji Ziqing took out the textbook and read along.
When get out of class was about to end, the class teacher came in to collect the meal fee. After collecting the meal fee, he said to the students, "Starting from tomorrow, we will take turns asking the students to take charge of reading, starting from the student number. Tomorrow it will be Chen Xun, and the day after tomorrow it will be Ji Ziqing..."
After the class teacher finished speaking, he walked to Ji Ziqing and arranged some texts for her to read. She was so nervous that she was holding on to the corners of her school uniform with timid eyes.
"Don't be afraid, you will get used to it if you read more." The head teacher comforted her with a smile.
Ji Ziqing did not dare to refuse the teacher, her eyes kept wandering, and her body showed panic and fear.
Naturally, the head teacher also felt it. When he mentioned this when he returned to the office, the math teacher responded while drinking tea, "Ji Ziqing is a good student, but he is too timid and can't do the questions. Even if he doesn't understand, he still can't do it." I won’t ask.”
"Yeah, she's too introverted, so we need to let her read more." The head teacher sighed.
"Her brain works faster than Yang Hui's and her absorption ability is stronger, but Yang Hui is inquisitive and can catch up with her if she is more diligent. If this child maintains such a character, she will inevitably suffer a loss." The math teacher commented.
Yang Hui was Ji Ziqing's deskmate with a lively personality. The head teacher arranged for the two of them to sit together because he wanted the other person to lead Ji Ziqing around.
Inside the classroom.
Yang Huizheng came over and asked Ji Ziqing, "Why don't you go to the dance show? Everyone is going, but you are the only one not going."
There was only one dance institution in town, and the two happened to be in the same class.
"I don't want to go." Ji Ziqing lowered her head to read, her voice as quiet as a mosquito.
"Why don't you want to? It's so fun. I heard that there will be a performance. My parents want to go see it. It is held in the No. 1 Middle School in the city. Let's go and play together." Yang Hui pestered her, Keep talking.
"I don't want to go." Ji Ziqing tightened her grip on the pen and wrote with even more force.
"But… "
Yang Hui wanted to say something more, but a fat little man squeezed over and said in a loud voice, "Ji Ziqing's family has no money. Her family lives in a shabby house, so she has no money to go."
He was cousin Ji's son. His house was built several floors in front of Ji Huai's house. He often stood at the window and scolded Ji Ziqing for being in a daze.
"You're talking nonsense!" Ji Ziqing raised her head suddenly, clenched her fists, her neck turned red, and retorted at him.
"I'm not talking nonsense. Your family just doesn't have money. Your father is an alcoholic and a lazy man. Your house is about to collapse. My mother and grandmother said that your father is poor and lazy." Little Fatty was also unconvinced, "You Mom still makes useless things and sends you to dance and paint when you have no money. Your family is just poor. If you are poor, you still go to dance and paint. You just care about face. You deserve to be poor!"
Wuji's childhood words were filled with the greatest malice.
weekend.
The painting teacher won't have classes this week and has to study in the city. Yin Cai doesn't know what's wrong with her daughter and doesn't want to take dance classes.
She wanted to send her daughter there, but she said she didn't want to go and was extremely stubborn.
A part of Ji Ziqing's stubbornness followed Ji Huai. If she didn't want to do something, no matter what others said, it would be useless.
"Mom has to go to work. If you don't go, go to the store with your mother. Otherwise, who will cook for you?" Yin Cai packed her daughter's things and took her out.
Ji Ziqing lay on the bed and still didn't move.
She didn't want to go to the store, eat other people's food, and be commented on. Everyone knows that she has a miserable mother and a lazy and alcoholic father.
"What's wrong with your kid today? Mom is going to be late for work. Get up quickly." Yin Cai couldn't move her, thinking she was lazy, so he stretched out his hand to pull her up.
Ji Ziqing burst into tears with a "wow", her tears falling down, and she was out of breath from crying, "I don't want to go, I don't want to go..."
Yin Cai was startled and quickly squatted down to comfort her, "What's wrong? Tell mom what's wrong?"
Ji Ziqing kept crying.
Ji Huai was here today. When he heard his daughter's cry, he rushed in, "What's wrong? Why are you still crying?"
Ji Ziqing lay on the bed crying. No matter what the two of them said, she didn't make a sound.
The landlady called and urged Yin Cai to hurry over and open the door. The truck had arrived and the master was about to unload the goods. She coaxed her daughter for a long time, unable to do anything and extremely anxious.
"You go first. At worst, I won't go to sea today. I will take her out for dinner later." Ji Huai said.
"Keep an eye on her and call me if you need anything. I'll see if I can come back at noon." When Yin Cai received the call from the landlady again, he hurried out the door.
After Yin Cai left, Ji Huai sat by the bed and looked at his daughter.
When Ji Ziqing was a child, she would talk to Yin Cai about her innermost feelings. As she grew up, she became more and more introverted and liked to keep things to herself. However, he could roughly guess the reason.
He didn't say anything, but just stayed with her silently. After his daughter calmed down a little, he said, "Dad is going to go fishing at sea. Do you want to go with dad?"
The weather is very good today, there is no wind, and it is still very safe.
Ji Ziqing's head buried in the quilt shook vigorously.
"You haven't been to the sea yet. Do you want to go and have a look? The sea is beautiful. Go catch some crabs and let mom cook them for you." Ji Huai said seductively.
Ji Ziqing didn't refuse this time, but she didn't agree either.
"Your dad went to sea when he was a few years old. It's safe as long as it's safe. A few days ago, dad found a lot of mussels on an uninhabited island. After setting up the net, we'll dig up the mussels and sell them back, okay?" Ji Huai coaxed her.
Ji Ziqing sat up and looked at her father, her eyes were bright red, she kept looking at him and pursed her lips, "Dad, don't be so lazy in the future."
"Why is Dad so lazy? Dad got up very early today and had to go to sea. Isn't he worried about you, so he didn't go?" Ji Huai quibbled. After finishing his words, he saw his daughter looking at him, feeling guilty, "Let's go, let's go." , we went out to sea to fish and dig mussels."
Ji Ziqing was eventually tricked by Ji Huai into going to sea together.
She was also very curious about the sea. Because her family was poor, she didn't go anywhere to play. Ji Huai would go out to sea with his friends from time to time, and he wouldn't take the two of them with him. Relatives don't have much contact with their family, which feels unlucky.
Ji Huai first found a straw hat for Ji Ziqing, then went to the town to buy her a pair of small water shoes and a pair of small waders.
"We had lunch on the boat. What do you want to eat? Dad will buy it for you." Ji Huai walked around the town with his daughter and went to a small restaurant.
When Ji Ziqing bought something, she always looked at the price first. Ji Huai didn't let her choose in the end, and said to the meat seller, "Here are three big rice balls, a bowl of dried fish, and two chicken legs and two chicken wings. There are some in the refrigerator." What kind of drink? I want a bottle of beer and a bottle of lactic acid bacteria."
"Dad, don't drink." Ji Ziqing frowned, very angry, "You still have to drink when you go to sea!"
Ji Huai's expression was stern, "I don't want the beer anymore, I'll change it to Coke."
After paying the money, one person and one child carried their things and walked to the pier.
Ji Ziqing sat on the small broken boat, looked at her father, and then at the shore. She was still a little scared, "Does mom know? I will be worried if mom comes back and doesn't see her."
Ji Huai called Yin Cai in front of her and emphasized that he would not go too far and would be brought back safely.
Although Yin Cai was worried, he finally agreed. Even if Ji Huai was a bastard, he would still take care of his daughter. He has been at sea since he was a child, so he still has common sense.
The boat gradually left the coast. Ji Ziqing was scared at first, but later she was attracted by the sea. She lay on the bed and looked at the sea, with light shining from her eyes.
The sea she saw at the beach was different from the sea she saw now. She stretched out her hands and played with the water, with a little smile on her face.
Ji Huai's broken mobile phone was still playing a rustic love song. Ji Ziqing was taking photos with his mobile phone. The screen was so broken that it was difficult to see the real face in the photos, but she never tired of it.
"Let's put the crab pots in first." Ji Huai drove the boat not far from the coast and put three crab pots in.
The crab pot is a cylinder supported by iron rods and fishing nets. A box is placed in the middle with fish bait inside. The fishing net will leave a hole. Fish, crabs and shrimps are attracted by the smelly bait and cannot escape. .
Ji Huai finished placing the crab pot and said to her, "There will be crabs in it soon, and I will leave all the big crabs for you to eat."
Ji Ziqing looked at the crab pot that was put down, and continued to watch while lying on the boat.
Ji Huai changed direction and drove further away for a while before putting down the sticky net.
Three rows of sticky nets were still put up today, and Ji Ziqing stepped forward to help. She was not very good at it. Ji Huai also slowed down to let her participate.
After placing three rows of sticky nets, Ji Huai looked at her.
The little face under the straw hat was also looking at him. The sun on the boat was shining. When she moved a little, sweat started to flow from her forehead and the tip of her nose, and her little face turned red.
There was little communication at ordinary times, and the father and daughter started to stare at each other.
"Let's go dig mussels." Ji Huai said while standing at the stern of the boat, holding the engine.
Ji Ziqing: "Mom likes to eat mussels."
"Then dig more and go back."
"Um."
…
The scientific name of the green-mouthed snail is the green-mouthed mussel. The shell is very large and emerald green. It lives on the shallow seabed or on rocky reefs all year round. Its meat is delicious.
The most important thing is that this kind of shellfish does not contain sand and tastes good.
Ji Huai passed by this uninhabited island a few days ago and found green-lipped clams growing densely on the rocky ground, row after row, and the small uninhabited island was everywhere.
There are also artificially cultured mussels, and when the price is high, they can reach more than 30 kilograms. This thing is very heavy, and the big mussels are as long as more than half of his hand.
Ji Huai stopped the boat, asked Ji Ziqing to put on gloves, and gave her a bucket and an iron hook.
He stood on the rock and pointed down at a row of emerald green mussels growing on the rock. "Do you know how to dig? Take the tip of the iron hook and lift it up. If you dig out one, it will be easy to dig. ."
"Be careful, don't fall."
The uninhabited island was small and rocky, he told his daughter.
Ji Ziqing's small figure was moving, and Ji Huai brought her to a slightly flat area. There were also a row of mussels growing underneath, all closely together.
As far as the eye can see, there are rows after rows, long horizontally, long vertically, long staggered, and there are a lot of them under the rock.
Ji Ziqing squatted on the rock, clumsily digging out the mussels with an iron hook. Just like Ji Huai said, he could tilt them up with a hard knock.
Sometimes there were several in a row, so she reached out to pick them up, separated them one by one, and threw them into the bucket.
For her, the experience was novel. Although she lives by the sea, her mother has no time. She gets off work very late every day, so catching the sea is a luxury for her.
She wiped the sweat while digging, working very hard.
Ji Huai's hands and feet were much more flexible than hers. He kept lifting the iron hook and threw handful after handful into the bucket. After digging at one place, he carried the bucket to the next place.
He saves all the places that are easy to dig, and specializes in digging under rocks or in slightly steep places.
After filling a bucket, he carried the bucket back to the boat, poured out the mussels in the bucket, and came back to dig again with the empty bucket.
After he dug two buckets, Ji Ziqing dug out only half of the bucket. She was sweating a lot. He asked his daughter to stop, "It's time to eat, dig again after eating."
Ji Ziqing was actually hungry, so Ji Huai helped her carry the bucket back to the boat, poured out the mussels, and put the bucket aside.
The uninhabited island was very small, the waves kept hitting the rocks, and there was no dry place. The two returned to the boat to sit down and take out the meals they bought in the morning.
He could wash his hands with sea water by leaning down. Ji Huai gave his daughter a rice ball and laid out the food.
Ji Ziqing has been busy all morning. She is so hungry that she eats faster than usual. Ji Huai gives her the chicken wings and when she finishes eating, he will give her a chicken drumstick.
"I can't finish it," she said.
Ji Huai put the chicken drumstick on his end and gave her the remaining chicken wing.
Ji Ziqing ate two chicken wings and finished a big rice ball.
He bought three rice balls, one for each person. He looked at his daughter and took out the remaining big rice balls, "Eat another half?"
She shook her head.
"Eat more, we have to collect the nets in the afternoon." Ji Huai broke off a small half of a rice ball and gave it to her, asking her to eat more dried fish.
Ji Ziqing didn't refuse anymore. She ate a lot of food and her stomach was full.
After eating and resting for a while, he continued to dig mussels. However, not long after digging, Ji Huai asked Ji Ziqing to quickly get on the boat to collect the net and go back, otherwise it would be too late to sell.
She looked at the many mussels left and felt reluctant to part with them.