As Aunt Guo brewed tea for her, she said, "That's right. Last time I went to your house, the door was locked. I asked your father-in-law, and he said you went out to sea to fish."
You and your son get along quite well. The old man even helps you take care of the kids, and you give him all sorts of nice things. The other day I saw your uncle showing off, which made him so angry that he scolded the two of them. He even came home and kept telling me about it. It was both infuriating and hilarious.
"Grandpa Yu Yang is a good man. My divorce from Yu Hai has nothing to do with him."
Yu Yang is very close to his grandfather and eats lunch with him every day. Today, I was thinking that I'm rarely home during the day, and since I finally have a day off, I wanted to cook him something nice to reward him. But the kid didn't want to; he insisted on eating lunch with his grandfather.
I was all alone at lunchtime, so I thought I'd come over to my aunt's for a meal and a chat.
"That's great! I'd love to chat with you too. I'm so tired of just staring at your uncle all day at home. The three of them aren't coming back for National Day, they're just waiting for you to come and visit!"
As Aunt Guo spoke, she looked at the things Chen Hong had brought. "Why did you bring so much stuff again? How many grains of rice can you eat when you come to eat? These strawberries are out of season. I haven't seen them for sale in a long time. Where did you buy these? They must be very expensive now! You should keep them for the children. Why bring them home?"
Chen Hong chuckled and said, "I went to the city yesterday afternoon to sell some fish, and I bought some on the way. Here you can eat them. This is the only thing that cost me a little money. The rest were all caught by me and didn't cost me any money."
“Okay, here it is. Let’s cook it and eat it. Your uncle is too old to go out to sea, so if he wants to eat it, he has to pay for it. People are really strange. When they don’t buy from others, they think it’s really expensive and end up spending a lot of money. But when they have something at home and want to sell it, they think it’s too cheap and they can’t sell it for much money.”
"Yes, people are contradictory. They don't cherish what they have, but they treasure what they don't have."
I chatted with Aunt Guo while making lunch. By the time the food was ready, Uncle Village Chief had already gone home from work.
As soon as I entered the courtyard, the village chief asked, "Did you have guests? What did you cook? It smells so good. I can smell the aroma of your cooking from outside."
Chen Hong and Aunt Guo greeted them at the door, saying, "You have such a good nose, you can't even hide a little food from me at home."
When the village chief saw Chen Hong, he said, "Chen Hong, you're here! I knew your aunt wouldn't cook anything nice since she doesn't have guests. Looks like I'm getting a treat from you today!"
Chen Hong laughed and said, "Look at what you're saying, Uncle. Everyone in the village knows that your aunt is the most generous to you. She buys you the best cigarettes and alcohol, and cooks the meals according to your taste."
"Exactly, I've been so kind, but you've been completely ungrateful. I'm not going to take care of you anymore. You'll have to figure out what you want to eat yourself."
Aunt Guo teased Uncle Village Chief: "Let's see if you're satisfied with today's meal. If you're not, then watch Chen Hong and I eat."
The village chief smiled as he looked at the dishes on the table: steamed grouper, steamed oysters, stir-fried mussels with chili, and stewed tofu.
"Oh dear, even the county magistrate can't afford these dishes. They must have been brought by Chen Hong."
Aunt Guo asked in bewilderment, "How did you know it was Chen Hong who brought it?"
Uncle Village Chief chuckled: "That old codger Yu Zhaohua was showing off to me, saying Chen Hong sent him grouper, shellfish, vegetables, and fruit. And now, Chen Hong has sent me some too." The two of them laughed heartily upon hearing this.
Chen Hong said, "Uncle, if you want to eat fish, wait for me at the pier around six or seven o'clock in the afternoon. As long as the weather is good, I usually go out to sea every day."
Every day after I come back and sell the fish, I have to go to the old house to pick up the kids. I don't have time to deliver them to you, so you'll have to pick them up at the dock yourselves. I'm quite good at fishing, and I can easily provide enough fish for our own consumption."
Aunt Guo quickly declined, saying, "That won't do. It's the fishing moratorium now, and the price is high. You should sell more to make more money! You have to spend money in every aspect of life."
“Eating a fish won’t interfere with my life. If you feel bad about it, please help me look after the kids so I can fish more at sea in peace. Then I’ll have everything I need.”
“You don’t need me to take care of the child at your father-in-law’s house. I would like to help you take care of Yu Yang, but if your father-in-law finds out, he will definitely come to your uncle’s house and argue with him.”
After chatting and laughing through lunch at the village chief's house, Chen Hong returned home to find that Yu Yang hadn't come back either, so she closed the door and took a nap.
I was sound asleep when my phone rang. Half asleep, I answered it and heard it was Zhang Baiqiang calling, asking if Chen Hong could still get seafood of the same quality as yesterday. The guests from Beijing were going back tomorrow, and Boss Wang wanted to get some high-end seafood for them to take back with them.
Chen Hong could only tell him that there were no more abalone as big as those from yesterday. She had basically plundered all the seabed abalone she had found yesterday. She might still be able to find some six-headed and ten-headed abalone, but not many.
There were only a few geoducks left, each weighing two or three pounds. I was originally planning to let them grow a bit more and catch more next year. I asked him to ask Mr. Wang if he wanted any.
If he wanted, she would go and catch some for him that afternoon. Five minutes later, Zhang Baiqiang called Chen Hong, telling her to hurry up and catch some, as Boss Wang was about to leave. He also asked Chen Hong to catch as many as possible.
After hanging up the phone, Chen Hong called Yu Yang's grandfather to tell him that she would be picking up the child late that night and asked him to take care of the child and feed him dinner. She also asked him to let Yu Yang sleep at the old house overnight if she was going out to sea too late. She said that a client had just placed an order and she was going out to sea that afternoon.
After settling the children in, Chen Hong packed her things, drove to the dock, boarded a boat, and set sail. After an hour, Chen Hong began looking for schools of fish nearby. Whenever she spotted a school, she would stop the boat, bait the area, and cast her line.
When fishing boats from nearby villages saw her fishing alone, they all gathered around with three fishing rods to watch her fish.
She kept fishing with her three rods, one after another, and everyone was dumbfounded. No wonder people said Chen Hong was a great fisherman!
That guy had three fishing rods in his hands, and he handled them so skillfully, without wasting a single moment, putting one down and picking up another. Aside from baiting and casting, he was constantly netting and unloading the fish; he was like a robot, his movements incredibly swift.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com