Liu Hehua led the two through the village to the riverbank and pointed to a rowboat at the ferry, saying, "That's my family's boat, and the man on it is my husband, Liu Zhuangshi."

A man in his thirties, tall and strong, was carrying things to the ferry. He was a rough-looking guy. When he saw Liu Hehua, he flashed a bright white smile and his eyes were full of joy. "Wife, come quick! Someone has ordered three jin of goods. I'll deliver them to him right away."

Rowboats are common; the ferry crossing in Wangjia Village uses this type of boat, which can seat about ten people. The Lu family also bought this type. However, Li Ji uses a covered boat to deliver milk. Covered boats were introduced from the south of Fenggu County and are not commonly seen in the county town.

Qin Xiaozhou walked over and realized that what they were carrying were kelp, large scallops, oysters, and abalone, each weighing five or six pounds, not much at all.

Her eyes lit up. "Brother Liu, I'll take the rest."

Liu Zhuangshi chuckled, "Girl, people from the mainland rarely eat these things. How about I send you two back to try?"

Fenggu County has abundant water, fish, and shrimp. Locals find seafood smelly and unpopular, so he and his wife rarely come here; this time they were just passing through.

Qin Xiaozhou hadn't been thinking about it at first, but now that he saw the scallops and oysters, he remembered the grilled vermicelli scallops with garlic sauce. He was so hungry that his mouth was watering. How could he miss such a good opportunity? "I can eat all of these, Brother Liu, just sell them to me."

“Young lady, if you can eat it and don’t mind the fishy smell, how could I not sell it to you?” Liu Zhuangshi laughed. “How are you going to take it back? I brought these things here in seawater, they’re quite heavy.”

Lu Yunfeng boarded the ship and inspected the goods. They weighed about thirty or forty pounds in total. "Brother Liu, we want all your goods. Please take us to Fenggu County."

Liu Hehua clapped her hands and made a decision, "Okay, the goods have all been sold, there's no rush to go anywhere, let's just go to the county town."

This was Qin Xiaozhou's first time taking a boat from Lijia Dam to the county town. The river was wide and smoother than the river in Wangjia Village. Liu Hehua was also a straightforward person. After learning that they were going to inquire about Li Yao, she started talking non-stop.

"Sigh, I first met Li Yao last autumn. She was thin and small, washing clothes by the river. The sun was scorching that day. She arrived early and took a shady spot under a willow tree. Then a woman in her forties came along. That woman was mean and demanded that Li Yao give up her spot. Li Yao didn't want to, so the woman scolded her for trying to climb the social ladder, saying that she was destined to be poor and marry a son, only to be treated like a slave and bear his children. Li Yao talked back and even pushed the woman. The woman lost her balance and fell into the river. Fortunately, she was pulled out and didn't drown. Later, a young man came along and immediately demanded that the engagement be called off for disrespecting his elders."

“Li Yao is a pitiful woman. Her mother didn’t treat her like a human being, and she was dumped at the altar. She couldn’t bear to live and jumped into the river. I’ve been on the boat with my husband for over ten years and I can swim, so I jumped in and saved her.” Liu Hehua couldn’t help but sigh and took Qin Xiaozhou’s hand. “At that time, she really wanted to die. I was afraid she wouldn’t be able to live, so I arranged a marriage for her with someone from the next county, far away from here.”

"At any time, suicide is a tragedy for loved ones and a delight for enemies. It's a pity that the girl was worse off than if she had no parents."

Qin Xiaozhou stared at the ripples on the river, momentarily at a loss as to who was right and who was wrong. It was true that Li Yang's mother was not easy to deal with, but she had never even met her, so such a judgment seemed inaccurate. Perhaps Li Yang's mother simply did not like Li Yao entering the family?

The four of them turned into the river in the county town and went all the way to the back door of the shop. Qin Xiaozhou announced to Lu Yan that she would eat the grilled scallops she had ordered online. Lu Yan didn't know what scallops were, but she trusted Qin Xiaozhou's cooking skills and was very happy. "Okay, okay, I want to eat a lot of them... Ugh, what is this? It smells so bad."

Liu Zhuangshi and Lu Yunfeng brought in the seafood, laughing heartily, "Little girls, this is what you're going to eat tonight."

Lu Yan covered her nose. "Sister-in-law, they all grow in water, so why don't the fish we eat have a strong fishy smell? And this water smells bad too. Luckily, we don't drink this kind of water."

The little girl's social circle was very small. She used to live in the village. It was a luxury for villagers to go to the county town to go shopping. Not many people had ever been to the prefectural city, let alone the East China Sea, which was hundreds of miles away. She had never even heard of it and had never seen the fresh seafood.

Qin Xiaozhou was also worried that the smell would affect the customers in the shop, so she put these things in the backyard and pushed Lu Yan to the front, saying, "Go play, I'll start cooking now."

Lu Yan hadn't had Qin Xiaozhou's cooking for a long time, and she missed it terribly. No one else could make it like that, so she happily shouted twice and ran to guard the counter.

Lu Yunfeng gave Liu Zhuangshi copper coins according to the market price. Liu Zhuangshi took the money and gave it to his wife. Liu Hehua took the money, exchanged a few pleasantries, and was about to leave when Qin Xiaozhou asked, "When will you come next time? Bring me some more of these things, as many scallops and oysters as you can."

"Why does the girl need so many?" Liu Zhuangshi asked in surprise as he tidied up the wooden buckets. "It takes more than twenty days to travel back and forth. I'll try my best to bring them to you."

If Qin Xiaozhou could take that much money by himself, then he wouldn't need to run around, which would save him a lot of trouble. Liu Hehua packed all the copper coins, and there was plenty of money, which showed that the Lu family and Qin Xiaozhou were sincere people. She readily agreed, "Okay, your sister is a good person. We will definitely come in twenty days."

After seeing the Liu couple off, Qin Xiaozhou began preparing dinner. It was a pity there was no barbecue grill, so she temporarily set up a fire in the yard, placed a few iron rods on it, and started grilling the large scallops.

These scallops had been kept in seawater for more than ten days. Although they were still alive, they were actually half-dead. Fortunately, they were fresh. After prying them open and removing the inedible parts, the rest were washed and put back into the scallops. They were then steamed with vermicelli, minced garlic, oysters, and abalone.

The aroma wafted out quickly, and Lu Yan, drawn by the scent, exclaimed, "Sister-in-law, it smells so good!"