"If a longline fishing line is too difficult to untangle, don't bother trying yourself; just ask someone else to help you untangle it."
Along the coast, there are many women who weave and mend nets for others to earn some extra money to supplement their household income. Ye Qingling used to do the same thing.
Ye Qingling glared at him: "No need to spend money? Is it because my mother and I can't work anymore, or do we have too much money to spend?"
"You don't appreciate my kindness. Wasn't I just feeling sorry for you?"
Feng Ye was utterly speechless.
Ye Qingling said coquettishly, "Now you know how to be considerate? Where were you before?"
Upon hearing this, Feng Ye was speechless and could only say, "Fine, fine, you win. You can do whatever you want."
After unloading the things from the cart, he helped kill the worthless small fish, while Ye Qingling cooked lunch in the kitchen.
He didn't kill the little green dragon for the time being; he'll keep it and save it for his father to eat when he comes home tonight.
Not long after, Xiao Chunxiu returned from the vegetable garden with some green peppers and eggplants. As soon as she entered the kitchen, she saw the three little green dragons she was raising. When she asked if they were kept for her own consumption, she immediately started cursing, scolding Feng Ye for being wasteful.
Ye Qingling watched Feng Ye being scolded with schadenfreude, without saying a word in his defense.
Feng Ye had no choice but to recount the story of the sea and the sale of goods again, and only then did Xiao Chunxiu give up.
Lunch consisted of a bowl of small mixed fish, a bowl of stone crab, a bowl of eggplant—typical dishes for people living by the sea—and a bowl of prawns.
Shrimp are not commonly seen on the dining tables of people living by the sea; they are usually only eaten during festivals or when entertaining guests.
That's how it is at the beach; if something has any value, the first thing people think of is selling it for money, not keeping it for themselves.
After lunch, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law patiently untied the longline fishing rod in the main room, straightened it out, coiled the main line back into the basket, and hung the hook on the edge of the basket.
This job isn't difficult, but it requires a lot of patience.
Obviously, Feng Ye wasn't that kind of person, so he went out to find A-Can and the Xiao brothers.
At Xiao Guowen's house, the four of them played cards all afternoon until the sun went down, at which point he leisurely went home.
Because he was looking forward to eating baby lobster, he did not stay at Xiao Guowen's house for dinner.
At that time, Feng Jiaqing and Feng Xuan also returned, and the fish traps that Feng Xuan had entrusted Feng Jiaqing to buy also returned, fifty in total.
I had barely settled down in the rocking chair when I saw Chen Fusheng carrying a basket into the yard.
"Uncle Fusheng, what brings you here? Come in, come in and sit down."
Feng Ye greeted his father and called out towards his room, "Dad, Uncle Fusheng is here."
When he returned, he didn't see Feng Jiaqing, but he knew that his father must be resting in the house.
Whenever Feng Jiaqing had nothing to do, he would take a short nap in his house before eating after a long day in town.
Feng Ye also got up from the rocking chair, found some tea leaves, grabbed a handful and threw them into the teapot. After pouring in boiling water from the thermos, he took it to the table and then took out a few cups.
It's not a holiday, so there's hardly anything at home to serve guests, but there is tea.
Sure enough, a short while later, Feng Jiaqing came out of the house and said cheerfully, "Afu is here. Come and sit down, have some tea."
Chen Fusheng smiled and said, "Brother Feng, I came here today specifically to thank A-Ye. If A-Ye hadn't brought my wife and me back to the village in time, my wife might be gone."
Feng Jiaqing asked in surprise, "I heard that Aying just had a fever? How could it be so serious?"
"He did have a fever, but it had reached 40 degrees Celsius. The doctor said it was fortunate that he was brought to the hospital in time. If it had been half a day or a day later, it would have been dangerous. Even if he could have been saved, his brain would definitely have been damaged."
Chen Fusheng shook his head, still feeling like he had survived a disaster.
Feng Jiaqing exclaimed, "It's already 40 degrees Celsius! I didn't know it was such a serious fever."
"I didn't know how to thank you properly, so I just bought a little something. It's just a small token of my appreciation."
As he spoke, Chen Fusheng placed the basket on the table and lifted the red cloth covering it.
The basket contained a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes, two bottles of Moutai liquor, a piece of pork belly, and some local specialty pastries.
It's a local custom to buy gifts to express gratitude when someone has done you a great favor; usually, a gift worth ten or twenty yuan is considered the most you can give.
But Chen Fusheng's basket of things cost more than two hundred yuan.
A carton of Zhonghua cigarettes costs over a hundred yuan, a bottle of Moutai costs forty or fifty yuan, and although pork is not expensive, only two yuan per jin, judging by the weight, it must weigh at least four or five jin, plus quite a few pastries.
In the countryside, this is already considered a generous gift, and even the most prestigious one.
Feng Jiaqing's eyes widened, and he hurriedly refused, "What are you doing? Aye was just helping out casually, why do you need to do this? This is such an expensive item, take it back immediately."
Feng Ye was also surprised by Chen Fusheng's generous gesture.
He lent a helping hand without expecting anything in return; it was based on international aid conventions, and besides, he was a familiar person from the village.
“Brother Feng, it’s only right. Ah Ye saved my wife and me. If I don’t thank him, the villagers will gossip about me behind my back.”
"There's no need for such an expensive gift. We're all from the same village, so it's only right that we lend a hand to each other. Besides, A-Ye didn't do anything. He was coming back anyway, he just brought you all along."
“It’s different. I’m the one who delayed A-Ye’s fishing trip. Otherwise, how could he have come back empty-handed? So you must accept these things. Consider them my token of appreciation or compensation for A-Ye.”
"No, no, no, I can't possibly accept something so valuable. Take it back, take it back quickly."
“These things are no match for my wife’s life, I have to accept them.”
"You really can't accept this, take it back quickly."
"You must accept it, don't refuse."
Chen Fusheng insisted on giving it to Feng Jiaqing, but Feng refused to accept it, and the two went back and forth like this.
Feng Ye watched helplessly from the sidelines.
That's how gift-giving is these days; people always have to back and forth about it before they'll pretend to be forced to accept it.
These days, even when giving children lucky money during the Lunar New Year, no matter how much the children want it, they know to decline first.
Unlike later generations, when children would actively ask for New Year's money.
Even among adults, if someone gives them a gift, they might at most say, "Why did you buy so much stuff? That's too much of a waste," and then simply accept it.
Feng Ye could only watch; he had no right to speak.
Although he has been married for several years and can be considered the head of the household, as long as his father is still alive, people will only go to his father for matters big and small, and not to him.
“Ah Fu, these things are far too valuable. How about this, I'll accept the pork and pastries, but you can take the cigarettes and alcohol back and return them.”
"No, that wouldn't be right. We must accept them all."
"We really can't accept it."
...
After several more rounds of competition, Feng Jiaqing was finally defeated and had to accept the offer with a look of utter helplessness.
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