Wu An followed Lao Xie to the shop.
As I passed by other shops, the vendors, if they weren't busy, would call out to greet me.
"Ah An, it's been so long since I've seen you at the village dock."
"What kind of seafood did you get your hands on?"
"How was the trip?"
"It's definitely not that great, otherwise why would he come here to find Lao Xie?" Lao Fang said this. He had a bit of a disagreement with this guy when selling fish, which led to the long-term cooperative relationship between Wu An and Lao Xie.
If we're talking about who at the docks is most unhappy with Wu An and Lao Xie, it's Lao Fang.
Old Fang was just making sarcastic remarks, not daring to actually cause trouble. After all, Wu An was not the same as before. Now his father was the acting village chief, and he had transformed into the son of the village head.
Wu An smiled and said, "It's not very good."
After taking only two steps, someone retorted to Lao Fang, "Lao Fang, you're really petty."
"If that handsome guy doesn't sell you his catch, isn't that your own fault?"
"If you ask me, handsome guy is really low-key. I saw Lao Xie hire three helpers. They've been busy for almost an hour since they left the shop. There must be a lot of fish here."
Old Xie smiled but didn't say anything.
Old Fang was in a terrible predicament. If Old Xie had said something, that would have been fine, but he was completely silent. He couldn't even find a way to get through to Old Xie with sarcastic remarks.
Old Xie didn't respond.
Having no other option, Lao Fang started arguing with the person who was criticizing him.
"Who are you pretending to be a good guy for? No matter how eloquently you speak, no one will hire you to take their goods. Old Xie is getting rich, and you, like me, can only be envious."
"Don't say that, I don't want to end up like you."
"Stop showing off. I don't believe you're not envious."
"Everyone gets conjunctivitis, but it shouldn't be this red. You should take a look in the mirror; your eyes are as red as a rabbit's."
Others chimed in.
"Old Xie was able to accept the goods because you turned away the big spender and let Old Xie take him."
"We only regret that we were too slow back then."
"Unlike some people, who are probably regretting it to the core now."
They started talking in short sentences.
Old Fang angrily returned to the shop and immediately pulled down the roller shutter.
Clearly, Lao Fang was less popular at the dock than the stray dogs passing by.
That's normal.
Why?
Back then, Wu An went astray and occasionally came to sell goods, and it was Lao Fang who took over. This behavior can be described as colluding with evil, and Lao Fang is clearly not a good person, being in cahoots with Wu An.
After his rebirth, Wu An naturally parted ways with people like Lao Fang, each going their own way.
At Lao Fang's age, if he didn't have the fate of being "reborn," his life would probably just end like this.
...
Neither Wu An nor Lao Xie paid any attention to Lao Fang, the clown. They went into the shop and sat down in the inner room. Wu An busied himself pouring tea, while Lao Xie wrote out the order. Wu An listened as he brewed the tea.
He had a general idea in mind, and it sounded fine. After Lao Xie finished writing the form, he took it and looked at it again to make sure there were no problems. Then he picked up the pen and signed it.
Yuan.
There were far fewer trips than the last one.
After deducting expenses and the share of wages given to Aqing and the others, he would only receive a little over 80,000 yuan in the end.
Wu An was somewhat dissatisfied with how little he had earned after two days of hard work.
He's become more carefree now.
Old Xie had cash in the shop, so he took it out of the safe and settled the payment.
Wu An drank a cup of tea, then got up to take his leave.
I greeted Lao Xie remotely. Lao Xie was very busy; the fish had been stored and needed to be sold as soon as possible, because the earlier they were sold, the higher the price would be.
Back on the ship.
Wu An divided the bill among himself.
Aqing, 11,000.
Mei Wu and Lao Fu both earned 5,600.
Of course, besides money, each person also received a basket of fish.
This is an old tradition. After a long and arduous voyage at sea, one should bring home some of the fish one has caught to eat. Old Fu initially said he didn't want any, since he had no children or boss. Wu An told him not to be so dramatic, asking if he had any nephews or nieces, or if he had chosen someone to take care of him in his old age.
When Old Fu heard him say that, he stopped refusing.
After dividing the money and the catch, Wu An saw that the fishing boats were neatly packed and chatted with Old Fu about the preparations for going out to sea tomorrow. It was the same as always, but they still needed to prepare as much ice as possible.
"Alright, go back and get some rest. We'll set off at dawn tomorrow. I reckon we'll be able to make one trip before the weather changes."
"Ah An, see you later."
See you tomorrow.
They said goodbye and went home.
Mei Wu didn't follow; he went straight home.
When Wu An arrived home, his elder brother was also there, busy in the chicken coop and duck pen.
Wu An divided the seafood he brought back, keeping some for himself, giving some to Gu Anran, and also giving some to Lao Meng and Lao Jiang. After dividing it up, Wu An looked at the divided catch and felt like he had forgotten something.
He touched his pocket and touched the pearls before remembering them. He walked over to his elder brother and said, "Brother, here, take this. You can give it to your sister-in-law later."
Wu Ping saw that it was a pearl: "Where did you get this?"
Wu An said, "I found it in the sea."
Wu Ping stared wide-eyed: "How come you always seem to encounter strange and wonderful things when you go out to sea?"
Wu An smiled.
Wu Ping shook his head: "This must be quite expensive. It would be better to exchange it for cash. I can use this to do favors..."
Wu An interrupted him: "Brother, what nonsense are you talking about?"
"Just say you bought it."
"Or maybe you picked up a seashell while walking on the beach and then opened it up."
"go."
After saying that, she pushed Wu Ping towards her sister-in-law.
Wu Ping had no choice but to walk over, turning back every few steps, and bend down to present the pearl to Mei Yueqin, who was helping to divide the catch.
Mei Yueqin glanced at it and her eyes widened instantly, almost turning into cross-eyed stares. She reached out and took the pearl, holding it in her palm to examine it. It looked even brighter than the pearl itself. After playing with it for a while, she finally remembered to ask, "This...where did this pearl come from?"
Wu Ping turned to look at Wu An.
Wu An whistled and looked up at the sky.
Wu Ping said, "A'an gave it to me."
Mei Yueqin looked at Wu An, smiled, and shook her head, saying, "An, I appreciate your kindness and I'm happy that I've spoiled you. However, I don't want these pearls. Now that you have a boyfriend, you can give the pearls to Anran later."
Wu An said, "I've prepared one for An Ran."
"Sister-in-law, please keep this for me."
"At worst, I'll find out the market price of pearls and then have my brother give me the money."
Mei Yueqin thought for a moment: "Like this..."
Wu Ping said, "I don't think that's quite appropriate."
Mei Yueqin angrily smacked Wu Ping: "Why did you have to be so talkative?"
Wu An sighed, wondering what was wrong with his elder brother today, that he had become so straightforward.
Unbeknownst to him, Wu Ping was also sighing inwardly. At his age, even a straight man should be sensible by now. His apparent lack of romantic understanding was all an act.
He was hiding when Wu An encouraged him and gave him even stronger encouragement.
Who could possibly handle that?
Judging from Mei Yueqin's happy appearance, she must be feeling quite energetic.
He couldn't say either.
Wu An is too young; he probably can't understand.
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