Lianjia Village, Hu Family.
Today, Hu Si'er sold all the octopus and earned a little over a qian of silver. On the way back, he bought some coarse cloth and cotton in Pingyang County, telling his wife to buy a new outfit for the child and sew more cotton into her own cotton-padded jacket.
"Wife, I'm home."
When Hu Si'er saw the candle left for him in the thatched hut and the food his wife had heated up on the stove for him, he felt a warm glow in his heart, and the cold seemed to lessen by a third.
"How was today? Did you sell everything?"
Hu Si's wife saw what he was carrying and said...
"Yes, I met a kind lady who sold them all."
"That's good, then I can get a piece of meat for Dad and send it over for the New Year."
The Hu family had already split up, and Hu's father still lived in the eldest son's house. His brothers would visit him during holidays, bringing some gifts. The entire Hu family made a living by fishing. Hu Si'er, in particular, would have a boat full of octopus as soon as he boarded it, so Hu's father gave him a few acres of land so he could barely make ends meet.
Ah Cai and his companion traveled faster than Hu Si'er. The mules at Fengyue Tower were well-fed and ran fast, while Hu Si'er and his group were delayed by shopping along the way.
As soon as it got dark, Ah Cai and his companion arrived at Lianjia Village.
Starting from the village entrance, they inquired about where Hu Si'er lived, and after some questioning, they arrived at his doorstep.
————Knock knock knock
Is Hu Si'er home?
Hu Si'er and his wife had just finished dinner when they heard someone knocking on the door. Hu Si'er thought to himself: It's getting dark, who could be looking for him at this hour?
Who is it?
"I'm Ah Cai, a waiter at the brothel. We met this afternoon."
Upon hearing that it was Ah Cai, Hu Si'er quickly went to open the door for him.
"Please come in, please come in."
Hu Si'er welcomed the two into her home.
"Wife, make me a pot of hot water."
When guests came to visit, there wasn't any tea to brew, so Hu Si's wife made two bowls of sweet soup and served them up.
"Brother Cai, it's freezing cold outside, why are you in such a hurry to find me?"
Ah Cai was also worried about his family, but he also had to do what the shopkeeper had asked him to do.
"Brother, I'll get straight to the point. How many octopuses can you catch in a day? We buy them regularly."
Hu Si'er swallowed hard. This was like a huge pie falling from the sky onto him. Normally, nobody would eat octopus.
"ah?"
He was a little taken aback; there were people who collected this stuff long-term?
"You're buying long-term?"
"Yeah, how much can you supply in a day, bro?"
"About 30 kilograms a day?"
That day, he hitched a ride on the village's fishing boat, which was a large boat that could catch more than 50 jin (25 kg) in one net. If he used the small boat at home in the afternoon, he could catch more than 30 jin (15 kg) a day without any problem.
That's not enough.
Aunt Wang probably uses more than 30 jin a day. This stuff shrinks a lot. She also has to make it herself in the building. How much more than 50 jin a day?
Hu Si'er asked
"How many kilograms do you consume a day, brother?"
"Let's order fifty jin first," Ah Cai thought, wanting to be conservative and add more if necessary.
Fifty catties a day, that's one qian of silver a day! His brothers never earned a single qian of silver a day.
Hu Si had been completely out of his mind by drinking fifty kilograms a day. His wife was watching anxiously from the side. This damn man always messes up at crucial moments.
Hu Si's wife opened her mouth and said
"Okay, fifty kilograms a day, no problem."
Let his man take his brothers along. On average, each family can earn dozens of copper coins a day. In this freezing winter, who can earn dozens of copper coins a day?
"Young man, how long do we need to book?"
Hu Si's daughter-in-law was afraid. What if they didn't want the fish after they caught it? Then her sisters-in-law would complain about her husband again.
"I'll order for three days first, and I'll pick it up every three days."
He also needs to see what the product looks like; if it's good, he can continue buying from him.
"Alright! You can stay here tonight, brother. Tomorrow I'll take a few of my buddies fishing, and you can see what the catch is like."
Ah Cai nodded. It was already dark, and it was really unsafe to head back now.
After settling the two men in at home, Hu Si'er asked his wife to invite a few of his brothers over.
"What?! Someone ordered 50 jin of ribbonfish a day?"
"Yes, brother, hurry up and come home with me, Master Ding is still at home."
When the eldest brother of the Hu family heard about this, he thought it was a swindler from outside and quickly called his second and third brothers to rush to Hu Si'er's house.
"This is my older brother, Hu Da. We'll just get on our family's fishing boat tomorrow."
Hu Da, dressed in a brown cotton-padded jacket and cotton-padded shoes, came over, still wearing his shoes on the cuffs. Seeing Ah Cai and the other man's attire and the loose silver on the table, he began to believe it.
"Young man, are you really looking for octopus? And not any other kind of fish?"
Ah Cai waved his hand.
"Brother, I want octopus, I really love this!"
Ah Cai thought to himself: Don't ask me anymore, it really is this thing. You guys make it taste terrible, but my little miss makes it so delicious. Hurry up and get it for me! I still have to go home and sleep with my wife. If I make a squid pancake before bed and have a couple of ounces of braised pork belly, wouldn't that be heavenly?
"Alright! I'll take a few of them to sea tomorrow."
Ah Cai nodded and took Da Shan to sleep in the next room.
I heard they went to sea quite early. We need to catch up on our sleep first. It would be inconsiderate if they were still sleeping when everyone else came back tomorrow.
Inside the main house, Hu Da patted Hu Si'er on the shoulder.
"I never expected this, brother, you've actually run into a benefactor!"
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com