next day
As soon as the sky was getting light, someone knocked on the door of the village chief's house.
The village chief came out from the inner room wearing a coat. When he opened the door, he saw Ye Xin standing at the door with a few pheasants in his hands.
Village Chief Hai frowned slightly, not understanding what Ye Xin was doing so early in the morning.
"Miss Ye, what are you doing?"
Ye Xin raised her head and smiled, "Village Chief, I'm here to say goodbye to you."
"Goodbye! Are you leaving after just one day?" Village Chief Hai's eyes were full of doubts. The girl said the day before that she wanted to rest for a while, but she was leaving on the third day. Could something have happened?
Ye Xin nodded and put down the two big fat chickens in her hands. "Yes, I'm leaving now. I just caught these chickens in the mountains. Thank you for taking care of me these past two days."
After trying to persuade her to stay, the village chief saw that Ye Xin was determined to leave, so he didn't say anything more. "Miss Ye, take this silver back. We agreed to provide you with food, but you left after just one meal. It's not right for us to take so much silver."
He took out the silver from his sleeve and returned it to Ye Xin intact.
Ye Xin raised her hand and grabbed Village Chief Hai's wrist, refusing the silver. "Village Chief, I said I'd give it to you, and if you give it back to me, I'll be angry."
Village chief Hai, a fisherman who has been fishing all year round, was actually handcuffed by a little girl in front of him. His old face turned red and he couldn't loosen his hands at all.
He held on for a while, but the numbness in his wrist made him unbearable, so he could only use his other hand to take back the silver. "Alright, alright, Miss Ye, if you don't let go, my old bones are going to break."
Seeing this, Ye Xin slowly let go of his hand and said, "Village Chief, it's getting late. I won't bother you any more. We'll see each other again if we're lucky enough!"
"That's right." She paused and looked back at the village chief. "If you want to completely abandon Haijia Village, don't hang up that plaque. Who would have a spotless plaque for an uninhabited village? It's lucky you met me this time. If someone else had seen it, you'd be in trouble."
"I'm not interested in what happened in your village. But seeing how miserable Hailan is, I'm giving you another piece of advice. Children also have the right to know the truth. The longer you hide it from them, the more likely it is that something bad will happen in the future."
"They're not young anymore. They shouldn't be living in the lies you've woven. If you're truly worried about something, you should tell them. After all, you're old, Village Chief. The future of this village belongs to the next generation."
After Ye Xin finished speaking, she no longer looked at the village chief's dazed expression. She waved to Hai Lan who was hiding inside, then turned around and stepped onto the dangerous sea.
......
Old News of Hoi Ka Village
Village Chief Hai is the 25th village chief of Haijia Village. He is also the 25th generation descendant of their Hai family.
Almost twenty years had passed since he took over as village chief. Throughout these years, he had faithfully followed his father's instructions, determined to defend the village with all his might. The mistakes his ancestors had made must not be repeated in his hands.
Their Haijia Village is surrounded by mountains on three sides and the sea on one side, and is located on the edge of the Endless Sea.
Because of its inherent geographical advantages, the village not only has more abundant fish than other sea areas, but even the most common mountain products are fresher than those in other places.
At that time, the village was visited by merchants from all over the country every year. They would travel thousands of miles to come here just to bring back a small basket of special salted fish.
The specialty of their Haijia Village not only sells well in the secular world, but was also once popular in the spiritual world.
Back then, every household in Haijia Village would pickle salted fish passed down from their ancestors. This salted fish was different from the common salted fish. It was a small silver fish unique to the Endless Sea. The fish was born without scales, with only silvery-white skin covering its body.
They feed on algae and shellfish, and their meat is tender and rich in flavor. They can be stewed without adding any seasoning or grilled without adding any soybean oil. They have their own salty and fragrant flavor. Their own oil secretion is several times more than that of ordinary fish.
This fish is delicious, but it's not easy to preserve. It can't survive long without seawater. As long as it's not in that sea area, the water in its body will slowly evaporate, turning it into a white dried fish.
At first, the villagers felt sorry when they found out that the dried fish had almost no meat at all, and it tasted like hard bones when chewed.
Later, the second village chief's mother accidentally discovered that as long as the dried fish was marinated in a specially prepared sauce, smoked dry over a high fire, and dried in the sun for a month, the taste would be no worse than that of live whitebait, and might even be better.
The village chief at that time was also a capable man. After learning about this skill and knowing how much benefit it would bring to the village, he asked his mother and contributed the recipe free of charge.
The villagers lived up to expectations. In just a few years, they were selling their salted fish to places both large and small. By the time the 20th generation of village chief took office, their salted fish craftsmanship had become famous far and wide, and the demand exceeded supply.
Originally, the village chief did not have much ambition and just wanted to pass on the ancestral craft as usual, but this happened because he was too soft-hearted.
A family in the village was dissatisfied with the fact that they could only catch silverfish for a few months each year, so they became greedy for the small silverfish that had not yet grown up. Before the fishing season came, they secretly went to the sea area where there were silverfish and set up fishing nets.
At the beginning, they felt a little guilty, but after a few times, they found that the salted fish they made was no different from before, so they gradually let go.
Later, what they had done was finally discovered by the villagers. The villagers were extremely angry and went to the village chief's house to demand an explanation.
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