Xu Dasheng and Sigui rode their bicycles all night long, until the tires were flat. Despite working all night, the two showed no signs of fatigue, their eyes filled with longing for life.

Grateful faces flashed through their minds, and words of heartfelt thanks echoed in their ears...

When I got back after visiting the last store, it was already six in the morning.

Liao Fengmei got up early to prepare breakfast. Seeing Si Gui enter the room with a misty look on her face, she went to greet him with a worried expression.

"Sigui, are you done with your work? Are you hungry? Are you tired? Hurry up, Mom made seaweed wonton soup. Wash your hands, drink it, and go to bed."

Su Qingci stayed overnight at her uncle's house last night. Hearing the voices outside, she got up early.

When Si Gui saw Su Qingci come out, her face lit up with a bright smile. "Good morning, sis!"

Su Qingci greeted the two men while yawning, "Sigui Zhao, Uncle Dasheng, good morning, thank you for your hard work."

Xu Dasheng's eyes were unusually bright. "It's not hard work, not hard work at all. This night, I feel great running around. Uncle..." Xu Dasheng pounded his chest with his fist.

"No matter how hard or tiring it is, it's all worth it. I'm an uneducated man and I don't know what nice things to say, but I still have to thank you on behalf of everyone. Thank you for your great kindness. You saved dozens of families. You are..." Xu Dasheng raised his thumb to Su Qingci, his voice hoarse and unable to speak.

Si Gui handed her backpack to Su Qingci, saying, "Sister, here's your bag."

Su Qingci took the package and walked into the room. Soon she came out with two large oil paper packages, one large and one small, containing 10,000 and 3,000 dollars respectively. These were for Xu Dasheng and Qianfu.

"Uncle Dasheng, this is for you and Qianfu."

Xu Dasheng blushed, "No, no, no, I... I can't accept this. I should be thanking you for saving my life. How could I possibly take your money?"

Su Qingci advised, "Since it's money from that ship, everyone gets a share. Besides, if it weren't for your protection, Sigui might not have been able to wait for me."

"And then there's Qianfu. He patiently taught me how to steer on the ship. He told me that his family had used up all their savings to send him to the Ghana to be an apprentice. He worked for four years without receiving any wages. He also has younger siblings who are struggling financially."

"Besides, since you came along, the Ghana ship already owes you wages, which you deserve. Xiaoyu isn't feeling well either, so don't be polite. You know, my uncle's family will soon be going back to the mainland with me. The person my uncle is most worried about here is you, his brother. If you don't accept it, my uncle will feel uneasy."

Upon hearing Su Qingci's words, Xu Dasheng's face flushed. Thinking of his only daughter and mother, he said, "Well, then I'll shamelessly take advantage of you. But this is too much..."

Su Changzhi came out of the room. "Dasheng, it's not much. I still owe you several hundred yuan. I've been dragging this out for two years."

"If it weren't for your help these past two years, our family wouldn't be so peaceful, and it wouldn't be so easy for us to think about returning home."

“Although I didn’t say anything, I’ve always remembered it in my heart. I’ve seen how you’ve treated Sigui like your own son all these years.”

“After this, you can’t risk going out to sea with any fishing boats anymore. From now on, buy a bigger boat and just go around in the waters around here, so that Xiaoyu and Aunt Zeng won’t worry.”

Xu Dasheng gripped the heavy oil paper package in his hand and nodded heavily.

Previously, Su Changzhi owned a small boat, and he had always gone out to sea with Su Changzhi to fish. Later, Su Changzhi sold the small boat in order to buy an ocean-going vessel, and he had nowhere to go, so he could only take Sigui to board someone else's ship.

But when they desperately catch fish, they have to give away almost half of it to others. People get envious when they see that they have a large harvest, and they say things that are neither here nor there.

He accepted the idea of ​​sharing the fish, since he was on someone else's boat and the boat was also subject to damage. But hearing those nasty words repeatedly made him feel nauseous.

Even though he had already paid the rent to board the boat, the boatman's words made it sound like they had done him a great favor, that he owed all his catch to them, and that he had to be subservient and inferior to them. Sometimes when they went out to sea, Xu Dasheng disagreed with them and was even called an ingrate and ungrateful wretch.

He went to sea with the Ghana boat for two reasons: first, his family needed money and he desperately wanted his own small boat; second, he had fallen out with the boatman he had worked with before and had not yet found a suitable boatman.

"Fengmei, Fengmei, today you take Sixiang and Sijia to the school and secretly ask Teacher Ge what's needed to enroll there. You can bring some gifts and ask for clarification."

Su Changzhi couldn't wait a single day longer; he was eager to set off immediately.

"Once it's all set up, let's set off early, what do you think?"

Looking at her husband's expectant gaze, Liao Fengmei gritted her teeth and nodded, "Okay, I'll go after I finish eating."

"You're not feeling well, don't worry. We'll pack up the things at home when I get back."

After breakfast, Si Gui, who had been running around all night, went back to his room and slept like a log. Liao Fengmei, along with her two children and carrying a bag of dried fish, headed towards the school in town.

Su Changzhi stood unsteadily at the door, looking at the jujube tree in the yard, touching the faded door frame, a trace of reluctance welling up in his eyes.

Su Qingci followed behind Su Changzhi and asked in a deliberately casual tone.

"Uncle, are you a little reluctant to go back now?"

Su Changzhi sighed, "There is still some."

“Although this house is simple, it was built by the hands of me, Fengmei, my mother and I, who laid out the bricks and tiles ourselves.”

“I remember when I first came here, there was only a thatched hut. Fengmei said that her father had passed away a long time ago, and her mother raised her alone. The other uncles and aunts in the Liao family didn’t like them.”

"Back then, we were always worried about where our next meal would come from. If it rained and we couldn't go out, we could only cook a little bit of dried seaweed that we had stored away and eat it."

"They had finally saved up some money, hoping to replace the roof with tiles, but they ended up taking it all out to buy me medicine."

Even after so many years, Su Changzhi is still filled with gratitude every time he mentions his mother-in-law.

Su Qingci comforted him, "Uncle, once we get home, you can come back to visit Yunhai Village if you want to."

Su Changzhi turned his head, "Can you still come back for a visit?"

Su Qingci said firmly, "Yes, you can. Don't forget, we have a long-range ship."