"Yeah, it's only a little over 400 pounds, not much. I'm telling you big bosses, don't act like you've never seen anything like this before."
Seeing Ye Cheng's disdainful look, the three of them felt depressed.
Boss He gave a wry smile. "Brother, are we just inexperienced? You caught a school of mackerel the day before yesterday, snails yesterday, and prawns today. Can't you see schools of fish?"
“That’s right, no one can catch a school of fish every day. Duan Chunsheng from your village has been doing this for over 20 years, and he’s lucky if he catches one net a month,” Boss Gao interjected.
Oh, is it really that exaggerated?
Is my brother a bit too outstanding?
Ye Cheng originally wanted to say that he was lucky, but he immediately changed his tune, "No, three bosses, I went out very early this morning and cast many nets to get this harvest."
"Right, Xiao Hu, you must be tired today?" Ye Cheng winked at Xiao Hu.
Xiao Hu immediately realized what was going on, his face filled with the kind of sincerity only a fox would have.
"Yes, we're exhausted today. We did eight or nine nets in total."
Boss Lin and Boss Gao were starting to believe it and were about to say thank you for your hard work when they heard Boss He sneer.
"Second brother, you're making this up. Even Liu Cuihua from Liu Village can't make up as much as you. I clearly saw you go out to sea at 9 a.m. and you're back at 4 a.m. now. You pulled nine nets in seven hours, and that's plus the time for the round trip. You're kidding me."
The Liu Cuihua that Boss He mentioned was a basket weaver from Liu Village. She was very famous in the area and her baskets were so good that they were comparable to those of Liu Huangshu, who was related to her. So people in the area always joked about it.
"Damn it! Second brother, you lied to us again." Boss Lin blurted out, then immediately realized why he used the word "again".
Seeing that Boss He had seen through his lie, Ye Cheng gave an awkward laugh. "Ah, well, none of that matters. Look at the price. These are top-quality prawns, most of them are over 20 centimeters long. They're not the ordinary prawns you're talking about, Boss Lin."
"Second brother, I've noticed that you don't tell the truth at all these days." Boss Lin pointed at Ye Cheng speechlessly. "Everyone says I'm cunning, but you're even more so."
“I will pay 30 yuan per jin for those over 20 centimeters, and 15 yuan per jin for those under 20 centimeters.”
While Boss Lin was still berating Ye Cheng, Boss Gao had already started making offers.
The price was acceptable, but Ye Cheng looked at the other two, wondering if they could offer a higher price.
In the past, it was usually a competition among several people, but this time, only Boss Gao spoke up, and the other two remained silent.
"Hey, so the three of you are planning to split this order, right, PDD?"
"Second brother, we don't know what Pinduoduo is. Look at you, you're always fooling us poor people. We're not making any money. Give us a discount on this order, and we'll split it among the three of us," Boss He said.
"Yes, yes, you've deceived my feelings, so this is the price." Boss Lin was still resentful about being cheated.
Ye Cheng looked at the three of them helplessly, like a child who had been tricked and wanted to get justice.
They're all getting on in years, why are they still resorting to these tricks?
"Alright, alright, let's go with this price." Ye Cheng felt embarrassed, after all, he had been exposed for lying to his face, and besides, the price was fair.
Seeing that Ye Cheng agreed, the three of them quickly found someone to come and sort and weigh the items.
The total is 452 jin (224 catties), with 320 jin (114 catties) of large shrimp and 132 jin (61 catties) of small shrimp. The total cost is [amount missing].
Ye Cheng gave Xiao Hu 4,000 yuan and kept the rest for himself. In total, his savings reached 135,000 yuan.
After selling their goods, it was still early, so Ye Cheng took Xiao Hu to the shipyard at the dock and spent 1,500 yuan to modify a rope winch with a higher horsepower. According to the boss, it could pull up 500 jin (250 catties).
As for whether it can be pulled up, we'll have to wait and see tomorrow.
The installation doesn't take too long, just one night. After Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu paid, they went back to the village.
When we got back to the village, it was already 6 p.m., and everyone had finished eating dinner.
Xiao Hu has his parents to cook for him, but Ye Cheng is all alone and really doesn't want to eat instant noodles anymore.
I was thinking of going to Widow Zhang's place to mooch some noodles, but since she's a widow, I had to avoid suspicion. So I decided to go to my older brother's house and shamelessly ask my sister-in-law to cook for me.
Jiang Yunxiang had no problem with Ye Cheng coming to freeload.
"Ah Cheng, how about I cook a portion for you tonight and save it for when you come over unexpectedly?"
"Sister-in-law, there's no need for that. If I didn't come, it would be a waste. Anyway, I'm just a little annoyed because I ate too much instant noodles today. I usually just eat instant noodles."
"Eating too much instant noodles is bad for you, so be careful."
Ye Guowei said in a gruff voice that he no longer had to do manual labor and felt that he had gained some weight.
"Brother, you've got a belly now, you look like a rich landlord," Ye Cheng teased.
Ye Guowei patted his stomach, looking helpless.
"Yay! Daddy's a landlord, so Mommy's a landlady!" DouDou exclaimed happily.
"This child," Jiang Yunxiang patted her son's head, "is he the landlord's stupid son?"
"I'm not stupid. I can do mental arithmetic and get over 20."
"Yes, my DouDou isn't stupid."
After having dinner at his older brother's house, Ye Cheng strolled home. When he reached the village entrance, a group of elderly men and women were squatting there chatting.
Since they were all elders, Ye Cheng went up and offered them cigarettes, then squatted down and chatted with them.
The villagers mostly talked about the same things: the men talked about national affairs, economic development, the international situation, how the US was doing, how their lives were, and how the US was doing. Ye Cheng squatted to the side and listened.
The habit of bragging hasn't changed much over the decades; it's just that it's moved from the village entrance to the internet in recent years.
On online platforms, as long as you can boast, people will believe you. For example, you can say things like, "I've had dinner with the prime minister of an elephant country" or "I've met European royalty."
Damn it, no matter how outrageous it is, there are still a lot of people who believe it.
The older women were talking about everyday matters, but since there were many people today, they were all discussing things from the neighboring villages.
People love to hear gossip, like how one family's sow ran off to someone else's pigsty or whose husband was having an affair. Ye Cheng listened with great interest, occasionally chiming in with a witty remark, which made the older women almost consider him one of their own.
As they were talking, someone suddenly pointed to the road leading into the village and shouted.
"Why are there police cars here so late?"
police car?
Ye Cheng stood up with everyone and took a look. It was true. Although they couldn't see the car clearly, everyone recognized the police lights.
"Could something have happened?"
Has someone in the village committed a crime recently?
"I haven't heard of it. Maybe someone from outside committed a crime and the investigation has come to the village. That would be a big deal."
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