Hearing his second brother say this, Ruan Shaolin stepped forward and naturally took the young man's hand, shaking it with his own. "Yes, brother, judging from your appearance, you must know how to fish. I wonder if you have any seafood at home that you'd like to exchange?" The moment Ruan Shaolin grabbed the young man's hand, he sensed his unease.
"What are you doing? No, no, I don't have any at home, and I don't have any in the village. You'd better leave our village right now!" The young man got angry when Ruan Shaolin grabbed him like that. He shook off Ruan Shaolin's hand with great force and shouted at them to leave.
Several villagers passing by heard him suddenly speak loudly and assumed the newcomer was looking for trouble. They rushed over to them, immediately pulling the young man to their side and separating him from Ruan Shaoke and Ruan Shaolin. "Qiang, what happened? Who are they?" the older villager asked the young man behind him, looking at them.
"Don't misunderstand, don't misunderstand, we didn't do anything! My brother and I just wanted to find someone in the village to trade some seafood to take back for a treat, but this guy, for some reason, suddenly started talking so loudly, saying there was no seafood in the village and telling us to leave quickly. Then, you guys came over. Really, we really didn't do anything to this guy. If you don't believe me, you can ask him." Ruan Shaolin explained what had just happened when he saw people coming over.
As he explained, Ruan Shaoke looked around the village and saw that because of their situation, more people were coming over, including the target.
After spotting the people, Ruan Shaoke simply pulled Ruan Shaolin, who was still explaining to them, back to the present. "Hey, comrade, look, it's all a misunderstanding. My brother and I just wanted to trade some seafood. Could you tell us which family in the village has fresh seafood? We'll trade and leave right away. It's getting late, and everyone needs to eat. We can't let our time affect everyone, can we?" As Ruan Shaoke spoke, he glanced at the crowd that had already arrived.
With Ruan Shaoke's hint, Ruan Shaolin also found the target of this mission in the crowd.
"Yeah, does anyone have any fresh seafood? My brother and I just want to trade some seafood for a treat, that's all. We'll leave after we trade. Hey, sir, do you have any?"
Ruan Shaolin, seemingly casually pointing in the crowd, accurately pointed to that person.
"Yes, Uncle Ya, didn't your son Qiang bring back a big net full of fish and shrimp this morning? We can trade with them," the man standing next to him chimed in after seeing who Ruan Shaolin was pointing to. He had seen it; his son Qiang had brought back a large bucket of fish and shrimp that morning. He had wanted Qiang to give him some, but the man was too stingy and refused. Now that someone was offering to trade, he wanted to just say it outright. "Fine, if they won't give it to me, fine. I'll host a riot after they trade, and they'll get what's coming to them."
When the others heard him say this, they thought it was feasible, but their thoughts were different from his. Uncle Ya's family was struggling financially and had been living off fish and shrimp for years. Now, Qiang was already in his mid-twenties, and his family was too poor to even get married. If they could exchange these seafood for some money, their lives would be a little better. So, they all chimed in, urging them to trade with the Ruan brothers.
At this moment, Ruan Shaoke and Ruan Shaolin didn't say anything. They just listened quietly to the villagers' advice and observed their surroundings, hoping that someone would stand up for the mute uncle and his family and tell them to find another family to exchange with, or lead the way to let them leave quickly.
Hearing the villagers' persistent persuasion, the mute uncle and his son were left stuck on the platform, unable to move forward or backward. In the end, they had no choice. Everyone in the village knew about their family's situation, and no one would believe them if they said they didn't need anything. If he had known it would turn out like this, he wouldn't have pretended to be so poor.
In the end, he could only agree to take them home to exchange the money. On their way to his house, the man who had spoken up earlier didn't leave; instead, he followed them home. Not content with just seeing it himself, he also called on the others to follow. He figured that to report his family for speculation and profiteering, he needed witnesses; his own observation alone wasn't enough.
At this time, it was almost lunchtime. Some people thought that their meals were already ready at home, so they didn't go. However, some people who liked to watch the excitement didn't care about that and went along anyway.
When they arrived at their house, A-Qiang just wanted to end it all as soon as possible, because he had already seen something in his father's eyes.
So, as soon as he entered, he eagerly brought out the seafood he had caught that morning, then put the good, large, and live seafood into another bucket and placed it in front of them, saying, "That's all we have. Seafood isn't worth much here, so pay what you think is appropriate."
This time, Ruan Shaolin didn't cause any trouble. He took out a dollar and a grain coupon from his pocket and handed them to A-Qiang. "Is this enough?"
Seeing that they gave him the money directly, A-Qiang's suspicions lessened a bit. After taking the money, he said, "That's enough," and then said to the villagers who were watching the commotion, "It's getting late, uncles, aunts and uncles, hurry back and cook and eat!" He said this seemingly to the villagers, but in reality, he was speaking to Ruan Shaolin and his brother.
Having understood the meaning behind his words, they didn't linger. The task was already completed, so they picked up their buckets and headed out of the village.
Seeing that the commotion had died down, the villagers dispersed and went home. The man who had been thinking of reporting them also happily went home, planning to eat first and then go to the police station to report them.
After everyone had left, Uncle Ya told A-Qiang to quickly pack his things, as they couldn't stay there any longer and needed to leave immediately.
“Father, I think they really came to exchange seafood. Should we wait a little longer?” He had been watching Ruan Shaolin and the others when they left, and he saw that they really did carry seafood out of the village. He wondered if his father’s guess was wrong.
"We can't wait any longer. Even if they're not here to arrest us, so much time has passed and no one has returned. They've most likely already gone inside. For our own safety, we have to leave now, no matter what."
After saying that, Uncle Ya didn't explain much to A-Qiang and started packing the treasures he had collected over the years into a box. Seeing this, A-Qiang could only quickly pack his clothes and the money he had earned over the years and then follow behind his father.
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