Chapter 80: Uncle and Nephew Meet
It’s September, the season when seafood is plump and delicious!
Baskets of seafood were unloaded on the shore. Many housewives and young people dressed as educated youth were standing by with baskets on their shoulders.
Unlike Shanghai where you need a fish ticket to buy fish, Chongming Island is surrounded by the sea, so the thing it has the most is seafood.
So the seafood here is not only fresh and free, but also very cheap.
The yellow croaker that sells for 60 to 80 cents per pound in the city is only 40 cents per pound here, so it’s better to pick the big ones.
The vast majority of the remaining fish are 20 to 30 cents per pound.
Big and fat swimming crabs only cost 50 cents per pound. The cheapest thing is various shellfish, which cost only a few cents per pound as if they were free.
Don't underestimate everyone's purchasing power. Although Chongming Island has underdeveloped transportation and no large factories, it is home to more than 100,000 educated youth who went to the countryside.
They were distributed in state-owned farms of all sizes on the island. Unlike other places, the educated youth here received a salary every month, mostly around 20 yuan.
Of course, their work was not easy. Every year after the busy farming seasons of spring ploughing, summer harvest, double harvest and autumn harvest, the educated youth had to be busy digging rivers and carrying mud.
There were no large-scale excavation equipment in this era, and the main strategy was to use human wave tactics.
The work is hard, so naturally you have to eat more to supplement your diet, otherwise your body won’t be able to endure it.
So every year at this time, people on the island start to get busy, and it doesn’t matter if they can’t keep the fish and shrimp they buy.
Just apply some salt and dry it, then stew it with cabbage or radish in winter, it will be delicious.
Seeing everyone scrambling for seafood, Lin Siqiao was shamelessly tempted.
Everything else was fine, but she was attracted by the baskets of tender yellow croaker, which were purely wild and pollution-free!
In later times, a fish weighing four to five kilograms would cost at least tens of thousands of dollars.
Lin Siqiao estimated that the price of a wild yellow flower weighing about eight kilograms would be at least double that.
However, Lin Siqiao's main purpose today was to visit relatives, so he couldn't buy a lot.
When she has free time later, she will take some time to visit some of the docks.
Lin Siqiao picked a larger one, weighing more than nine pounds.
She also bought several kilograms of swimming crabs and large shrimps that were longer than her palm. The boss was also generous enough to give her a lot of peeled scallops.
It was quite satisfying when I bought them, but when people on the dock gradually dispersed, Lin Siqiao realized that these things were really heavy to carry.
I heard from my uncle that transportation on the island is inconvenient, and the bus station is about half a kilometer away from the pier.
Except for a few large farms with buses running between them, there are no decent roads between most towns and villages.
Forget about taking the bus, it can't get in at all. Fortunately, there are many "second-class buses" near the pier.
Second-class carriages are modified bicycles used to carry passengers or cargo.
Don't worry about safety issues, these are all state-owned, and you will be given a voucher after paying.
Just as Lin Siqiao was thinking about finding a second-class car to take him there, a majestic male voice sounded behind him.
"You...are you Qiao Qiao?"
Lin Siqiao turned around, and when she saw Qiao Zhiping's face that looked very similar to Lin's mother, her eyes couldn't help but redden.
This is the body's instinct, and Lin Siqiao can't control it at all.
Qiao Zhiping was not sure at first, but after seeing Lin Siqiao's face clearly, he no longer had any doubts.
His niece is really pretty, and her eyes look just like his third sister's.
"Uncle, why are you here?"
Lin Siqiao remembered that her uncle had told her that after leaving the dock, she should follow the crowd to the Nanmen Bus Station and then take a bus to a place called Sanshahong.
He was waiting for him there.
"My uncle couldn't sit still, so he rode his bicycle to find you."
"Fortunately we didn't miss it."
When Qiao Zhiping saw Lin Siqiao carrying so many things, his face immediately became unhappy.
"You came to your uncle's house, what else did you bring?"
"I'm not afraid of tiring myself out."
Lin Siqiao smiled. She had heard these words from her grandmother and Grandma Lu.
This is the third time I've heard that everyone loves her.
Although Qiao Zhiping said that, he still couldn't bear to take the things.
"You little brat, your uncle can't spend your money."
"If your uncle, your second uncle, and your grandparents knew about this, I don't know how they would scold me!"
"Take these back when you leave and keep them for yourself."
Lin Siqiao didn't argue with him. She just said, "I'll listen to whatever you say, but it's hard to say whether I can do it or not."
"Uncle, let's go back quickly."
"Well, let's go now."
After Qiao Zhiping tied up everything, he handed a cotton pad to Lin Siqiao.
"The roads here are mostly muddy and dirt. It rained a while ago, and the roads are full of potholes."
"Put this on the cushion and sit down later. Hold on to my clothes."
"Um."
Lin Siqiao nodded and sat on the back seat of the bicycle.
The first part of the journey was fine, and Lin Siqiao didn't feel bumpy while sitting.
After passing a place called Sanshahong, the road, which was originally quite wide, suddenly became narrow.
Its width is no different from a country road; in fact, it is a country road.
Because there are large tracts of rice fields on both sides of the road, the late rice will be harvested in more than half a month.
The uncle and nephew chatted along the way. Whenever they encountered a gap in the field or a stone slab on the drainage ditch, Qiao Zhiping would slow down the car for fear that his niece would fall.
It usually takes more than half an hour to drive there, but it took Qiao Zhiping almost an hour to get there by bike.
Before I reached the military family compound, I saw from afar a woman in dark blue cloth clothes, holding two children and standing at the door of the message room.
"Look, it's Daddy! Daddy brought my sister back."
"dad"
The two children ran over with their hands open, and Qiao Zhiping quickly braked the car.
"You two naughty kids, how many times have I told you not to rush up when daddy is riding his bike!"
Wang Xiaofei ran over breathlessly, grabbed the youngest's ear and started talking.
"You wiped your face last time, haven't you learned your lesson?"
"Mom, it hurts"
Qiao Yingjing's mouth trembled in pain, "Wuwuwu, I won't dare to do it again next time. Please let go, my ears are about to fall off."
"Xiao Fei, let go first."
"Let me introduce you to them."
Qiao Zhiping parked the bicycle and half-knelt down to support his two sons' shoulders.
"Xiao Qiao, these are your two naughty cousins."
"The eldest is Qiao Yingchen, 7 years old this year, and the second is Qiao Yingjing, 5 years old this year."
After that, he stood next to Wang Xiaofei and said, "This is your aunt. She used to be a beauty in the art troupe, and now she is the mother of my two children."
"Well, I didn't brag, did I?"
"Is your aunt-in-law pretty?"
"Yeah, it looks good." Lin Siqiao smiled with curved eyebrows, "Hello, auntie, I'm Siqiao."
This smile made Wang Xiaofei dazed, and he immediately stepped forward and held Lin Siqiao's hand.
"Don't listen to your uncle's nonsense."
"He can't stop talking unless he brags a little bit all day long."
Wang Xiaofei didn't bother to pay attention to him and turned around to kick each of his two sons.
"What's going on with you two?"
"You've been clamoring to see your sister since yesterday. Now that your sister is here, you're so happy that you forgot to call her?"
The two children finally reacted, blinking their big eyes and uttering soft voices.
"Hello, sister."
"Sister, you look so pretty when you smile"
Lin Siqiao smiled and touched their short hair. You know what, it's quite prickly.
"Here, this is for you."
Lin Siqiao took out a few candies from his pocket like a magic trick.
The two children's eyes visibly lit up. There is no child of this age who doesn't love candy.
However, they did not answer it, but turned to look at their parents.
"My sister gave it to you, so just take it."
"But you can't eat now, we'll have dinner later."
It was not until Wang Xiaofei spoke that the two children happily took it.
"Okay, got it."
"Thank you, sister."
Qiao Yingjing is a little smart boy, and it’s not enough to just thank him.
He walked up to Lin Siqiao and kissed her cheek twice, then put his little hand in hers.
"Come on, sister. I'll take you home."
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