Chapter 6: Sea Hunting
"That's not the case." Aunt Wang, seeing that she had said so much, poked her head and said angrily, "I don't trust you, and I don't trust your mother either? Don't tell me that. I'll give you all the conchs I catch later, and I'll also promote them to you. If the tide is good, you can catch thirty or forty kilograms, no problem!"
"Thank you, Auntie." Su Jiaojiao gave her a big hug. Auntie Wang took the opportunity to pat her shoulder and said in a voice that they could both hear, "Jingjiao, don't do stupid things in the future. Do you know that if something happens to you, your mother will not be able to survive. Listen to what Auntie says. There are no hurdles in this world that cannot be overcome. It's not worth jumping into the river for such a small thing!"
"I understand!" Su Jiaojiao nodded vigorously, "I'll listen to my aunt."
The bright sea surface, the salty smell, the sea water has reached Su Jiaojiao's chest. She is not afraid of water, but she feels a little dizzy and a little suffocated. She grew up by the sea, but she can't swim and is a complete landlubber.
Although she later learned to swim, it was in a swimming pool and could not be compared with the unfathomable ocean.
When I looked up again, Aunt Wang had already walked away with the crowd.
There are not many conches in the shallow water, but the further you go in, the more you will find.
Chen Juan was shorter than her and didn't dare to follow the crowd deeper into the area.
She walked over from the shore, wading through the water, and wiped the water off her face: "Did you feel it?"
"Not yet!" Su Jiaojiao stepped on the bumpy seabed with her feet. The little experience she had in finding conchs was taught by Aunt Wang. She just stepped on the seabed little by little. As soon as she felt something strange under her feet, she would immediately use her feet to throw away the sand, find the conch, and then use a net bag to pick up the conch.
When the tide is high, an expert like Aunt Wang can lift 20 to 30 kilograms in one night.
So when summer comes, the sea is crowded with people.
Live by the mountain, eat by the mountain; live by the sea, eat by the sea.
"I found two." Chen Juan proudly showed her the plastic bag around her waist. Su Jiaojiao smiled and said, "Keep it up!"
As she was walking, her feet felt heavy. Su Jiaojiao quickly kicked away the sand and tentatively extended the net bag under her feet. She picked it up and saw that it was a small conch. She put it in her pocket with satisfaction and felt more and more that she had made the right decision. If she had caught conchs and sold them by herself, she would never have saved enough money for tuition.
When the tide came in, it was already midnight.
Su Jiaojiao only found five conches and two small crabs.
Aunt Wang and her friends walked out of the water laughing and returning with a full load.
The women who were close to Chen Guilan sold the conches to Su Jiaojiao without saying a word. They all believed in Chen Guilan and were surprised that Su Jiaojiao wanted to do business.
The incident of Su Jiaojiao jumping into the river caused a stir in the village. As if they had agreed on something, they kept silent about it. Instead, they enthusiastically told Su Jiaojiao, "Go to the morning market early to sell and take up space. Generally, restaurants charge more, so if you're lucky, you can sell them all in no time."
They have to work during the day and have no time to go to the city to sell, so they sell it at the beach to make some cash.
Moreover, the prices at the morning market are very transparent, generally around three yuan.
You can earn one yuan per pound.
"Okay, I'll go early." Su Jiaojiao agreed. After being busy for more than half an hour, she collected a full bucket of conchs, a total of forty kilograms. Chen Juan helped to keep accounts. She also had to work during the day and could not accompany Su Jiaojiao to the morning market.
Anyway, except Chen Guilan, everyone else in her family wanted to laugh at her.
No one cares about her.
It was already 1:30 in the morning when the two returned home. Tired and sleepy, the sisters fell asleep without saying a word. In their half-drowsy sleep, Su Jiaojiao was awakened by the crying coming from next door: "My dear child, where are you..."
It was my second aunt Xu Yue'e who was crying.
Chen Juan, who was sleeping next to her, had woken up a long time ago. Her shoulders were shaking and she tried her best to suppress herself. She didn't want to cry out loud.
Su Jiaojiao quietly held her hand and sighed.
Chen Juan has a younger brother who was stolen from the county market when he was a little over one year old. His second uncle and second aunt searched frantically for him for a long time but couldn't find him. Xu Yue'e missed her son so much that she became crazy and often ran out to look for him. She had to be hospitalized every year to control her condition.
My second uncle Chen Guisheng farms, contracts an orchard, and sells tofu. He is a capable man in the village, but all the money he earns is spent on Xu Yue'e's medical treatment in the hospital. The family is also struggling, but he is still struggling to support it, and buys better medicine whenever he has money.
In her previous life, Su Jiaojiao had asked people to inquire about her little cousin, but unfortunately there was still no news.
Xu Yue'e lived in a daze, filled with longing and pain all day long.
Because of this incident, Chen Juan married in the village. Although she had never experienced the outside world, she at least fulfilled her filial duty and gained her own happiness. There is no absolute right or wrong in the world.
In her previous life, she had worked hard for many years, experienced ups and downs, and gone through the vicissitudes of life. Although she achieved some success later, she lost her dearest mother.
There are thousands of lights in the imperial capital, but not a single one can truly warm her heart.
After finally making it to dawn, Su Jiaojiao got up with red eyes.
Xu Yue'e cried intermittently all night long and fell asleep exhausted at dawn.
Chen Juan also didn't sleep well. She got up with red and swollen eyes and tried to make breakfast for her, but Su Jiaojiao refused: "I have to go. If I'm late, I won't be able to take up space."
A plastic bucket filled with 40 kilograms of conchs was strapped heavily to the back seat of the Golden Deer bicycle. Still worried, Chen Juan dragged over the seawater bucket she used to make tofu, scooped a few scoops of seawater into the bucket, and then found a piece of plastic film and wrapped it several times. She repeatedly told her daughter, "If you encounter a difficult path, get off and push the bucket, otherwise the conchs will fall out."
"I understand." Su Jiaojiao pushed her bicycle out the door.
Looking back at Chen Juan, who was even shorter than her, she felt an indescribable throbbing in her heart.
I remember that one year after Chen Juan got married in her previous life, she returned to the village to visit Chen Guisheng and Xu Yue'e. When she left, she gave the old couple some money. Xu Yue'e was unconscious and threw the money out of the window, scattering it all over the floor, saying that she would not sell the child.
Chen Guisheng went out to pick up the money and invited her to dinner, saying that Xu Yue'e did not mean it and asked her not to take it to heart.
That year, Chen Guilan was no longer with us. The family house had been sold by her father to Su Houde. After leaving Chen Guisheng's house, Su Jiaojiao had nowhere else to go. She sat alone in the car and cried bitterly. She returned to her hometown, but had no home to return to.
After returning home, she found a bucket of peanut oil in the trunk, which was also wrapped in layers of plastic film.
Chen Juan put it in for her secretly.
At that time, Chen Juan lived with her mother-in-law. There were many people in the family and the harvest was not good, so it was not convenient to send oil to her openly, and there was no time to tell her.
Chen Juan has been kind to her from beginning to end, and they are like true sisters.
Every family has its own problems.
It has been many years since I last touched this kind of bicycle. Let alone riding it, Su Jiaojiao found it difficult to push it and had no time to reminisce about the past.
In particular, there were 40 kilograms of conchs and 6 or 7 kilograms of sea water on the back seat.
As soon as she arrived at the village entrance, Su Jiaojiao broke out in a sweat. Thinking that there was still more than ten miles to go, she gritted her teeth and rode on. She rode a bicycle many times and was not unfamiliar with it.
What she was unfamiliar with was this big Golden Deer bicycle, which was sturdy and heavy.
Fortunately, it was morning and there were almost no cars on the road.
After riding shakily for half an hour, she finally entered the city.
There are obviously more cars in the city and more traffic lights.
What embarrassed Su Jiaojiao was that the frame of the Golden Deer was too high and her feet could not touch the ground. She had to jump off when she encountered a red light and also had to jump off when avoiding pedestrians. The closer to the morning market, the more people there were, and it was very inconvenient for her to jump on. She could only push the bicycle and move forward.
It was supposed to take her half an hour to walk to the morning market, but it took her more than an hour.
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