"Fu San, we've taken all the fish. I'll send you the money through the post office when we get back. Next time you have such good fish, call me again!"
Several bosses signed several IOUs, but they didn't have enough money on them to pay for the fish, especially Boss Liu, who had spent three or four thousand on the fish!
Fu San had been dealing with them for several years, so he naturally trusted them.
Besides, they've already signed the agreement, so they're unlikely to renege on their debt.
At most, he would go to the bank in the afternoon, withdraw the money, and distribute it to Boss Fu!
The group drove their tricycles one after another towards the county and town. The villagers rarely saw so many tricycles, so they all stood on the road to watch the spectacle.
"Wow, Fu San has so many fish today! Several tricycles are completely full!"
"This isn't even the Fu family's business yet. I bet they've made a killing this time. It's all the same ocean, how come their shipping business is so powerful!"
An old woman whispered gossiping to the person next to her: "I think Fu Wan is just lucky to bring good fortune to her family. Look at how good her shipping business has been ever since she came back from her divorce! Even Fu Wan's eldest son, who was supposed to be dead, managed to escape death and come back alive!"
Look at the Shen family, they fell into ruin without her, and now a grown man is marrying a widow from our village, how shameless!
Several villagers agreed, but Niu Aihua, Qian Xiaohua's wife who lived not far from her house, was a little puzzled. "You know what, I haven't seen Widow Qian and her man these past two days, and I haven't seen her son either. He used to always steal my daughter's food."
Before anyone could respond to Niu Aihua's words, Ye Xiaocui pushed a wheelbarrow over with two full buckets of manure on it.
The weather was still a bit hot today, and the smell was simply divine.
Even the villagers, who were used to doing farm work, were now covering their noses.
"Old Master Fu, what are you doing pushing this pile of manure around like that?! It stinks horribly!"
Judging from the direction Ye Xiaocui and the others are heading, they don't seem to be going down to the ground!
Ye Xiaocui pushed a wheelbarrow while Jiang Chunlan carried a scoop of manure.
“Sigh, our village has produced a heartless person. I’ve been putting up with her family’s usual petty squabbles, but this time they’ve really gone too far. They almost caused my whole family to die in the sea. I can’t rest easy unless I throw some excrement at their front door!”
Some of the villagers who were at the dock last night immediately understood and started shouting, "Yes, we should go and smash their door, let them bully us!"
Some others, unaware of what had happened, looked anxious, asking, "What happened? What happened?!"
There are things they don't even know!
"Oh my, you guys don't know yet, yesterday..."
As everyone was discussing, someone with sharp eyes spotted several figures appearing at the village entrance. "Qian Xiaohua and the others are back!"
"Really! Look, isn't that Qian Xiaohua and her live-in son-in-law?!"
Fu Wan was just coming out of Fu San's house. Lin Qiuju's belly was getting bigger and bigger, and she was having trouble walking. She was worried about having no one to talk to, so she pulled Fu Wan over and chatted with her for a bit.
As it turned out, they ran into Qian Xiaohua and her family as soon as they came out.
What bad luck!
Fu Wan was about to turn around and leave when someone exclaimed, "Xiao Cui, you're really shrewish!"
With a whoosh, a strong stench quickly swept through Qian Xiaohua's house, even reaching Old Mrs. Shen who was lying inside.
Qian Xiaohua watched from afar as the group of people surrounded her front door. She pulled her son and squeezed inside, only to find her front door in complete disarray. She broke down completely.
"Fu Wanye and Xiao Cui! You two bitches!"
She slumped to the ground, looking utterly aggrieved, her face covered in tears and snot, completely disregarding her usual image.
"Fellow villagers, be the judge! Our family just wanted to go out and catch some seafood to earn some money to support our family. Who knew that Fu Wan's family would steal our octopus at sea, causing us to be robbed by pirates? Those damned pirates even took our boat!"
"Now they're bullying us like this while we're not home, I can't live like this anymore!"
"What? Fu Wan stole your octopus? That can't be right!"
Some people in the crowd couldn't stand it anymore.
"What do you mean by 'should' or 'shouldn'? We're a widow and her orphan, and it's so miserable. The new man is no use to us, and we're being bullied by others..."
"Enough! If you keep talking nonsense, I'll throw a spoonful of manure not on the door, but right on your head!"
Jiang Chunlan couldn't listen anymore; the more they talked, the more outrageous it became. Not to mention, some of the easily swayed villagers had already started looking at them with condemnation.
Fu Wan sneered, then walked up to Qian Xiaohua and squatted down. Qian Xiaohua was startled, not expecting that Fu Wan would dare to get so close to her.
"What...what are you going to do?"
"You be the judge!"
Fu Wan gave her a meaningful smile.
It seems that yesterday they only told the villagers to be careful of pirates at sea, but they didn't tell everyone in detail how they encountered pirates.
Before Qian Xiaohua could understand what Fu Wan meant, Fu Wan spoke up.
"Aunt Qian, you said we stole your octopus. Tell everyone, how did you catch that octopus?"
"Of course it's inside the bamboo tube!"
Everyone was puzzled. Why were they talking about bamboo tubes again? Wasn't this about octopuses?
"Widow Qian, are you mistaken? What does this have to do with bamboo tubes? You can't use fishing nets to catch fish!"
Someone kindly reminded her, but Qian Xiaohua didn't think anything of it, giving them a look that said, "You guys have never seen anything like this before."
"Those bamboo tubes that are fished out of the sea are full of octopuses. I can fill more than half a bucket in no time!"
"But Aunt Qian, where did you get that bamboo tube?"
When asked this question, Fu Yaozu answered first: "Of course, it was my uncle and my new dad who got it!"
Fu Wan chuckled, "These bamboo tubes were cut from bamboo that my dad and brother went up the mountain to cut, and then they polished them one by one when they got home. You said your family fished them out, but that's because my family threw them in!"
Now everyone understood. So this was how Widow Qian meant when she said she was stealing her octopus.
Qian Xiaohua was somewhat unconvinced, "Whatever's in the sea belongs to whoever catches it!"
Several older people nearby were displeased upon hearing this, especially Grandpa Fu, who scoffed out loud.
"What are you saying? There are so many fish traps at sea. According to you, if you pull them all up, they're all yours? And if you scoop up other people's fishing nets, are they yours too?"
"That's right, Widow Qian, that's not a very nice thing to say!"
Qian Xiaohua was indignant. How could she possibly win an argument with so many people? Shen Dongsheng, on the other hand, stood by silently like an outsider.
"Are you dead? How can they bully me like this?!"
Shen Dongsheng's mouth twitched twice, but he couldn't utter the last word.
He had lost the energy he had when he first arrived in Fu Family Village. After a day and a night of running around, he was so exhausted that all he wanted to do was go back and lie down to rest.
Fu Wan had long anticipated Shen Dongsheng's cowardly nature. Just then, Fu Ming and Ye Lin, wondering why Fu Wan hadn't returned yet, came looking for her.
As soon as they arrived, they heard Qian Xiaohua throwing a tantrum.
Fu Ming didn't tolerate her at all; he would open his mouth and roast them mercilessly.
"Don't be shameless! Heaven is watching. You stole my family's bamboo tubes and destroyed my family's octopus at sea. Even the Goddess Mazu couldn't stand it, which is why you encountered pirates."
"Who knew you were more venomous than wasps, actually bringing that gang of pirates to rob my ship! Luckily, I'm good at fighting, and I ran into the patrolling soldiers, otherwise my whole family would have been killed!"
These words brought everyone to their senses. Yes, it's not about who cries and who's right. This woman almost caused someone's family to be ruined.
Now, everyone took several steps back in fear, wishing they could stay far away from Qian Xiaohua's family, afraid that they might be scammed by this person one day.
However, some people were curious, "Ah Wan, how do you make those bamboo tubes? Can you teach us?"
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