Leading two children, two dogs, and carrying the doghouse, the group returned home in a grand procession.
Upon entering, the first thing we did was give the two dogs a bath. The two kids had a blast playing with them. After the dogs finished their bath, it was time for the kids to get their own. They splashed around until they were completely soaked, and the two silly boys were laughing heartily.
They took a shower in the bathroom, and Xiao Hao was changed into Yu Yang's clothes. Luckily, they were about the same height, otherwise Xiao Hao would have been naked.
While the two of them ate fruit and watched TV in the main room, Chen Hong quickly prepared dinner.
She boiled a pot of mussels, boiled four salted duck eggs, pan-fried two golden drum fish, and prepared shredded cucumber, pickled carrot bits, minced garlic, sesame paste, and vinegar. Chen Hong also scooped out a small bowl of cold noodles.
Adding a child is like adding a whole table of people.
At the dinner table, one child enthusiastically served food to the other, while the other ate heartily and commented, "Yu Yang, your mussels are so fresh! Auntie's fish is so fragrant! The cold noodles are delicious! The salted duck egg yolks are so good! Yu Yang, you're so lucky! Your mom's cooking is amazing!"
"Is your mother a bad cook?" Yu Yang asked curiously.
"It's alright, but it's not as good as your mom's cooking. You'll see next time you try it." Xiao Hao started inviting her to dinner.
"Okay, how about tomorrow? I'll come to your house for dinner tomorrow night."
.
"Okay, I'll have my mom cook you a big meal tomorrow night. Bring Black Tiger and Glasses along too, let them come to my house and get acquainted with the place."
Chen Hong never interfered with the children's interactions. After a lively meal, Xiao Hao and Yu Yang fed the dog together. Chen Hong, with a flashlight in hand, and Yu Yang took Xiao Hao home.
Before leaving, Yu Yang packed up the blueberries and pears on the coffee table to give to Xiao Hao: "Mom, Xiao Hao loves our fruit, so take all of these with him."
Seeing her son's chubby little hands rummaging through the fruit plate, Chen Hong quickly stopped him, "Son, it's impolite to give away our leftovers. There's still some in the kitchen, Mom will get you some new ones."
After saying that, she went to the kitchen, took out a disposable lunchbox, retrieved a box of blueberries from her spatial storage, packed a dozen pears, and led the children to Xiao Hao's house.
After dropping Xiaohao off, the mother and son strolled leisurely under the village streetlights, holding hands and chatting as they headed home.
The sounds of men, women, and children talking came from the small courtyards by the roadside. Some people had their TVs on loudly. Chen Hong and Yu Yang heard Wang Baoqiang's simple and honest voice from "Soldiers Sortie," so the mother and son quickened their pace to go home and watch the show.
After her son fell asleep, Chen Hong cleaned the house inside and out. Taking advantage of the space, she washed the clothes that evening, found the shoes that she and her son had worn in the past few days, and scrubbed them under the light in the yard. She then hung the shoes on the clothesline to drain.
Chen Hong finished washing up early this morning, did yoga, and went to bed.
The next day, Chen Hong got up at dawn to feed the chickens and ducks, the dog, and picked eggplants, green beans, and peppers, filling two large baskets.
After making breakfast, I called Yu Yang to get up and eat. "Xiao Bao, after you finish eating, Mommy still needs to go to Shan Hai. Be a good boy at Grandpa's house and help him with some chores. Don't just play, okay?"
"Mom, are you going out to sea again today? Why don't you take a day off?"
"No, the weather forecast says a typhoon is coming soon. Before the typhoon hits, Mom needs to hurry up and go out to sea to earn money. Once the typhoon comes, we won't be able to go out to sea for at least four or five days. Then Mom will stay home and play with you for a few days."
After sending his son and dog to the old house, he unloaded two baskets of vegetables and gave them to Grandpa Yu Yang: "The typhoon is coming in a couple of days, so take advantage of the good weather to dry these vegetables and save them for winter!"
Chen Hong went to the village supermarket and bought five boxes of crushed ice and ten kilograms of live bait before heading out to sea. She specifically looked for uninhabited small reefs and islands to cast her line. Although it required skill, the catch was very plentiful.
When the tide was high, she would fish, and when the tide was low, she would climb onto the dangerous reefs to catch lobsters, crabs, conch shells, oysters, mussels (that's what they call them in Jinan, they're called "qingkou" in Jiaodong), and raw oysters. She even piled up several small mountains on the waterproof cloth that Chen Hong had spread on the ground.
They went out to sea for three consecutive days, and the catch they sold to Liu Laohu and his son each day reached several thousand yuan.
Even with Chen Hong leaving the most valuable fish in her spatial storage, Liu Laohu and his father have made a lot of money these past few days just from buying Chen Hong's fish catch. Even their family members greet them warmly from afar when they meet them in the village.
This put Chen Hong, who had felt a little guilty about having to find other sales channels, at ease. Luckily, she hadn't sold all her harvest to them, or something serious would have happened.
During this time, Chen Hong received several calls from Zhang Baiqiang, all wanting to buy her fish. Chen Hong declined, saying she was at sea and wouldn't be back. However, she did tell him she had reserved some fish for him and would definitely deliver them before the typhoon hit, which reassured the bald section chief.
That afternoon, the wind had started to pick up at sea. Chen Hong packed her things, weighed anchor, and immediately set sail home. At the dock, she unloaded the fish for Liu Laohu and his son, settled the bill, and loaded everything onto a tricycle to take home.
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