Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982

When he returned home carrying the bucket, everyone was already at the table, getting ready to eat. Lin Xiuqing greeted him and was delighted to see the bucket full of yellow eels.

"Oh, so you went eel fishing? When I asked you earlier, you said you didn't know. It's great that you brought some tonight. It'll be a nice treat for everyone. Tomorrow, we'll be back to work again."

Father Ye glanced at him with disdain, "You're always indulging in these things. When I ask you to go to the field and harvest the rice, you’re always lazy."

Except when it comes to making money, his father rarely approves of him. Ye Yaodong chuckled nonchalantly, "Well, isn't this also a way to improve our meals? Eels are nutritious too!"

In a few decades, you won't even have any eels to fish! You'll have to buy farmed ones to eat.

The old lady chuckled and said, "Eels are great! It's been a while since we had them because we've been busy with work and fishing at sea. I was actually thinking of slaughtering a chicken in a few days to supplement your meals, but tonight we can enjoy the eels. We'll save the chicken for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Yaodong, wash your hands and come to the table. I'll cook this."

“Good."

Ye Yaodong looked at his father and asked, "Did you just come back from the sheltered harbor? Are the waves at sea rough? Can we go at night?"

"We can go. Your second brother went a few days ago, so tonight I’ll take you to give it a try. Let's go in order."

"Oh!"

He was mentally prepared anyway, so he wanted to see just how lucky he could be.

After dinner, he first took the receipt and went to Ah Cai's house with Lin Xiuqing to collect the money from today's fish sales. Then, on the way, he also went to Little Xiao's house and got two big grass carp, each weighing 3 catties, and three crucian carp to keep in the bucket. They would serve as meals for the workers tomorrow.

It had been several days since they went out to sea, and with so many people, the dried fish and salted fish they had stored earlier were almost used up.

Lin Xiuqing saw him walking around shirtless without clothes after showering. These past few days, she noticed that he had clearly gotten much darker from the sun. Unable to resist, she said, "I'll make some time tomorrow to buy some fabric and make you a set of clothes!"

"Huh? I'm fine like this. Why suddenly think of making clothes for me? You can make a couple for yourself instead. I don't mind. Why bother with new clothes?"

"You've been helping with work a lot lately and need to change clothes twice a day. Two sets of clothes aren't enough for you. Let me make another set for you.”

"Alright then, if you insist.”.

Indeed, having only two sets of clothes was not enough. A couple of days ago, during the typhoon, his clothes didn't dry, and he ended up with no clean clothes for the day, walking around the house in just shorts.

Previously, he would come and go early in the morning and return late at night, and Lin Xiuqing didn't bother much about whether he had clean clothes to change into. But now things are different. Whether he was working on the house or going out to sea, she couldn't let him be without clothes.

In truth, Ye Yaodong didn't really care much about what he wore. It was always Lin Xiuqing who took care of such matters. After all, he at least has two sets of clothes to change and wash.

"You should also get yourself a couple of new sets to wear. We've made some money recently."

"Why bother getting new clothes for no special occasion? It's a waste of money. I have three sets, which is enough to change. Grandma finished stewing the eels. Come out and have them while they're hot."

"Okay."

The table was already filled with bowls and chopsticks. Each person had a piece of eel in their bowl, except he had two pieces: one big and one slightly smaller.

The old lady was still by his side, urging him to eat quickly.

He nodded and picked up the smaller piece, starting from the head. He peeled off the belly, removed the entrails, and put the eel blood in the old lady's bowl while placing the meat in Lin Xiuqing's bowl.

"Go ahead and eat. I have an even bigger one in my bowl!"

"You eat it yourself, we already have enough."

"I also have one, bigger than all of yours. Just enjoy your meal. After finishing this, I'll go fishing again in a few days. There are plenty of eels in the fields."

The old lady accepted it with a smile, and Lin Xiuqing simply fed the children first. After all, it wasn't anything special, so there was no need to pass it around. The others at the table watched silently, eating without saying a word.

Eel blood is the essence of its entire body and highly nourishing. However, the children didn't like to eat blood, but they were forced to eat it by the adults. Who would eat an eel without eating the blood?

After enjoying a satisfying meal, everyone except Father Ye, who had to go out to sea and went to bed early, sat outside the door to cool off. Ye Yaodong tried to take a nap inside the house but couldn't fall asleep, so he also went outside to enjoy the breeze.

However, as soon as he stepped outside, he heard a group of women chatting.

"How much did you sell that big fish for this afternoon? Wasn't it around 100 jin?"

"Could it sell for tens of yuan?"

"I heard from Ah Cai's wife that they sold that fish for 40 yuan!"

"Wow, my goodness, it's worth that much?"

At this time, rural women wouldn't know much about being discreet with wealth. When they gather together, they either gossip or compare with each other. Mother Ye, with a smile on her face, directly spoke out, "It's not that much, just a little over 30 yuan. We sold some other goods together, that's why it's this much."

"Ah Dong has been doing well recently, catching mackerels and groupers, and now he found a fish called 'Tail-something'... He's truly making a fortune."

"It's the Yellowtail! It's the first time such a big fish has appeared on our beach. Ah Dong is really lucky..."

Ye Yaodong leaned back on the chair and lazily said, "It's not that I'm lucky, it's Ah Qing who's lucky. She was the one who discovered it. I just helped carry it. The money all went into her pocket. I'm just a laborer."

The neighbor aunt next to them laughed heartily, "You’re husband and wife, what you have is hers, and what she has is yours, right?"

"That's right, why do you say you're working for Ah Qing?"

"Sigh~"

Ye Yaodong sighed, then stood up, took out a pack of Friendship brand cigarettes from his pocket, and threw it on the chair. He turned both of his pockets inside out and shook them, revealing a five-cent coin and a two-cent coin in his hand.

"You see that? My pockets are empty, only seven cents. The money from selling fish is all hers. Aren't I just working for her?"

Lin Xiuqing smiled sheepishly and glanced at him, saying, "You have the nerve to show off..."

Mother Ye couldn't help but laugh and scold, "You're fine as long as you have cigarettes to smoke. Why do you need to keep money in your pocket? If you have money, you'll just spend it all. The household money should be managed by your wife. Having a little pocket money is enough. A pack of Friendship cigarettes costs four or five cents. It will last you a few days."

"Sigh, when I was young, my mother controlled me. After getting married, my wife took over. When I grow old, I might have to consider my son and daughter-in-law's opinions. Life, oh~"

He sat back down and started rocking on the rocking chair again!

This statement received agreement from some of the uncles around him. "That's true, aren't we always being controlled? Even when we want to have a drink, we're constantly nagged."

"Yeah, and we're even criticized... Not just because of the strong smell of cigarettes, but also because of my loud snoring. It's so annoying..."

"You old chain smoker, coughing all the time and still want to smoke..."

Not long after, there were more scolding voices from the aunties around...

Having successfully changed the subject, Ye Yaodong resumed his leisurely rocking. He didn't like people prying into his financial situation, trying to figure out how much money he had made recently.

Just as he was enjoying himself, rocking on the rocking chair, he had no idea which bastard came over and pushed the back of his chair, causing him to fall to the ground!

"Ah, damn it! Who did that..."

"Hahaha~"

Furious, Ye Yaodong got up and glared at the group of mischievous kids not far away, some of whom were from his own family and some were from the neighbors'.

They were really troublemakers!

"Third Uncle, it's Ye Chenghu. He lost a bet to us..."

"You little bastard, don't run away–"

"Ah, Dad~ It's them, it's them! They said you wouldn't get angry. Ah Hai also said you always play around with them like this every day, just joking. You surely won't hit me..."

"Ah... I was wrong, Mom~ Mom~ Help! My life is in danger! Dad is going to kill me!"

(end of this chapter)

***

During the National Day, I was particularly busy. I would be occupied until midnight every day before I could take a breather. Then, I would type away until 2 AM before I couldn't bear it any longer and had to sleep. I didn't have time to check the backend during the day, only sparing a few glances before bedtime. But before I slept, I carefully looked through it and discovered that many readers had left tips. I am especially grateful for your support!

I have read through each vote and tip message one by one.

Everyone can read the in the morning. Staying up late is not good, and the author also needs to wake up at six in the morning to be busy. During the day, I will find some spare time to write a little.

***

Welp, I disappeared for 1 month-ish. I'm in a kinda unstable stage of my life where I don't have a job and impulsively moved to another city :D. This is Zulfa on her 5th day in a new city with her dwindling bank account everybody ⸮´༎ຶ﹏´༎ຶ?

Anw enjoy the chapter!

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