"Do you know where they went?"
"At sea, where else can we go?"
“Go to that nameless island you went to yesterday. Wang Haisheng came back yesterday and said that you made more than 5,000 yuan. He said that it was full of abalone and sea cucumbers. The villagers went crazy and all went out to sea early this morning.”
Forehead...
Ye Lin scratched his head. "Is it really necessary? You guys don't have a system, why are you getting involved?"
"If my legs weren't so bad, I would have gone too. I could have made a fortune by picking up two abalones," Li the Cripple muttered.
"Alright, stop this nonsense and get me something."
"Alright, you've made some money and you're planning to buy some good food? You'll have to take good care of my voice from now on," Li the Cripple said with a smile.
Ye Cheng didn't say anything. "It's just a small shop like yours. If you don't take care of it, who else can you take care of?"
"Give me a case of Coke, and a case of beer too. Do you have instant noodles, ham sausages, and pickled cabbage flavor?"
"Yes, yes, we have everything. If you don't have it, I'll go get it for you." Li the Cripple readily agreed, limping as he fetched things from the house for Ye Cheng.
Do you have noodles or eggs?
"Yes, are you planning to cook for yourself?" Li the Cripple asked curiously.
"Yeah, there's no lunch left, I'll just have instant noodles when I get back."
"How about I make you a clam omelet?"
"Huh? You have this too?" Ye Cheng was a little surprised, as Li the Cripple didn't seem to sell this before.
Clam omelet is a favorite snack among people living by the sea. Ye Cheng had tried it when he traveled abroad before.
Clam meat is simply pan-fried with flour until golden brown. One bite reveals tender, juicy clam meat with a fresh, fragrant aroma that makes Ye Cheng's mouth water just thinking about it.
"Now that there are more tourists, sometimes some people want to eat this, so I prepared some."
"Sure, give me one, how much?"
"Six pieces."
"Damn, Li the Cripple, you're really ripping people off. You're charging 6 yuan for a clam omelet."
Based on the prices in 2002, this thing should have cost around 3-4 yuan. This guy is ripping people off.
Li the Cripple said with an upright expression, "Second Brother Ye, this is authentic clam omelet, no deception. If you want the 3-yuan one, that's just a tiny bit of meat, mostly flour. The 6-yuan one is all meat, you can't even see the flour."
Besides, second brother, what's your status now? Eating something that costs 3 yuan would be beneath you."
The way he said that made Ye Cheng feel embarrassed to even mention eating 3 yuan worth of food.
"Okay, okay, six yuan it is."
"Okay, sit down for a bit, I'll get it for you in the back."
Li the Cripple's shop was run by his own family; the back of the house contained his living quarters and kitchen.
Ye Cheng lit a cigarette out of boredom. After he finished smoking, Li the Cripple's clam omelet came out.
"Well, take a look, isn't it packed with ingredients?"
A plate of golden clam omelets, the ingredients were good, and an egg was added. Ye Cheng blew on it and took a bite.
Mmm, fresh clam meat, still tender and juicy, sprayed into Ye Cheng's mouth in one gulp.
A rich aroma rushed to Ye Cheng's palate and permeated his brain.
"Hmm, not bad. Cripple, your cooking is pretty good." Ye Cheng couldn't help but praise it. It tasted similar to what he had eaten when he traveled before, very delicious.
"That's right, it's got plenty of ingredients and tastes great, it's worth the 6 yuan."
"It's worth it. I'll be pretty full after eating this one."
After finishing his clam omelet, Ye Cheng wiped his mouth contentedly, pointed to the shelf, and said, "Give me two packs of Liqun cigarettes."
"Alright, the second son is really something, he's even smoking Liqun cigarettes now."
"Alright, give me some more eggs, noodles, and flour, and we'll pay for them all together."
"Let me calculate it for you. A case of beer is 30 yuan, a case of cola is 24 yuan, eggs are 5 yuan, noodles and flour are 8 yuan, two packs of Liqun cigarettes are 20 yuan, plus the 6 yuan for the clam omelet from earlier, that's 93 yuan in total." Li the Cripple deftly pressed the numbers on the calculator.
Looking at the huge pile of stuff, Ye Cheng couldn't help but sigh, "Money is the real money in this era."
Imagine what the future holds: if you go to the supermarket, you won't leave without spending three or five hundred yuan.
With so much stuff, and Li the Cripple's legs not being very strong, Ye Cheng rode Li the Cripple's tricycle to transport the things back himself.
Finally, there's something in this house. Looking at the fully stocked refrigerator, I feel much more at ease.
Seeing that it was almost time, Ye Cheng grabbed a bottle of soda and set off.
While you're young, you can still enjoy this "happy water" (a popular Chinese beverage), but you'll have to be more careful when you get older.
When they arrived at the village entrance, Xiao Hu was already waiting there.
"Brother, why did you take so long to get here?"
Ye Cheng glanced at him and said, "Why are you doing this so early? It's not like you're in a rush to be reborn."
Ye Cheng handed the shovel to Xiao Hu, and the two of them, carrying buckets and two snakeskin bags, headed towards the beach.
When they reached the beach, they were surprised to find that there were already several people there. The first one was the village chief Chen Jinhai, and there were Huang Hai, Duan Yong and Yuan Jiansheng.
"Brother, they're not here to see us, are they?"
Xiao Hu is a bit timid. He's not afraid of fighting, but he's afraid of the village chief.
Chen Jinhai was a local tyrant in Baiyun Village, wielding immense power. Moreover, the Chen family had relatives in Baiyun Village and several nearby villages, all of whom were interconnected.
For families like Xiao Hu's and Ye Cheng's, if Chen Jinhai wanted to deal with them, it would be a piece of cake.
Xiao Hu, a young man who had never seen much of the world, only knew that Chen Jinhai was the boss in the village, so he started to shrink back when he saw Chen Jinhai.
Ye Cheng didn't care; what kind of official was a village chief?
He had met many high-ranking officials before.
Ye Cheng, holding Xiao Hu's hand, walked over with neither arrogance nor servility, and greeted, "Hello, Village Chief."
After exchanging greetings, he took Xiao Hu's hand and walked towards the mudflats.
"Wait." Chen Jinhai suddenly spoke, and Duan Yong and Yuan Jiansheng blocked their way.
"Oh, what does this mean? We can't even go to the beach anymore?" Ye Cheng turned around and asked calmly.
“Yes, the beach belongs to all the villagers. You, Ye Lao Er, are also a villager, so of course you can go. However…” Chen Jinhai said with a wicked grin.
"But what?" Ye Cheng had a bad feeling, as did Duan Yong and the others, who all looked on with amusement.
"Didn't you and Duan Yong fight over territory yesterday?"
The village chief suddenly brought up yesterday's events, and Ye Cheng couldn't help but sneer. He really knew how to twist the facts. Was it a dispute over territory? That was outright robbery.
No matter what, I was acting in self-defense.
The village chief continued, "In order to prevent such incidents from happening again, after research by the village, we plan to divide the mudflats into zones for management, one for each household. In the future, everyone can go beachcombing in their respective zones, and the conflict will be resolved immediately."
Don't you think this is a good idea?
Looking at Chen Jinhai's smug face, Ye Cheng knew this was definitely not a good thing.
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