Struggle Life in the 1970s

The next day, she took another leave to visit Uncle Li in the hospital. Before leaving, she wanted to take the contract, but she felt that it was inappropriate to tell Han Zhao about this. She hesitated for a moment, and finally put it down.

Uncle Li's health was indeed as the doctor said. When the sun set and Chu Ye arrived at the ward, Uncle Li didn't even have the strength to raise his hands. He opened his cloudy eyes halfway, but there was a softness in them that was full of vicissitudes of life.

Chu Ye came gently to the bedside, and sat on a small stool with Han Zhao on the left and right. Uncle Li turned his head and swept his eyes across their faces, unable to see enough.

After a while, a nurse came in, greeted Han Zhao, gently lifted the thin blanket, and removed the thread stuck to Li Bo's body. All of a sudden, the instrument next to him made a sharp beep. The nurse remained expressionless and directly pressed the power button. Immediately, the beeping stopped and the room was silent.

The nurse picked up the loose threads, tucked in the corners of the quilt for Uncle Li, and walked out with the monitor. Chu Ye witnessed all this and had some bad thoughts in his mind.

Soon, the bad thoughts took shape and everything seemed like a dream. Han Zhao went to the doctor to complete the discharge procedures and rented a wheelchair and a car. He picked up Uncle Li and asked Chu Ye to help push the wheelchair downstairs. The three of them took the car and returned to the fish pond.

When the car stopped on the main road and could not go any further, Han Zhao looked at the uneven road surface, thought for a while, bent down, picked up Uncle Li and carried him horizontally, and walked towards the fish pond with steady steps. Seeing this, Chu Ye hurriedly pushed the wheelchair to catch up.

When they arrived in front of the small house, Han Zhao placed Uncle Li steadily on the wheelchair. The wheelchair faced the fish pond. The breeze blew gently, rippling the water surface, and the surrounding trees rustled.

Then he turned and went into the house, took out a thin blanket and gently covered Li Bo with it. Then he still felt it was not enough, so he ran to the back of the house to get out the awning and a bench. After doing all this, he motioned Chu Ye to sit down, and he sat next to Li Bo.

Chu Ye watched all this happen silently. The strange thing was that the uneasy thoughts in her heart disappeared at some point. After she knew what would happen next, she no longer felt sad and only wanted to send the person off for the last time.

Uncle Li quietly let Han Zhao do all this. Perhaps it was because he had returned to a familiar environment, the weakness he had in the hospital was no longer on his face. The rosy complexion returned to his cheeks, and his originally turbid eyes actually revealed a bit of brightness.

Chu Ye looked at him from the side, and suddenly remembered four words in her mind: last flicker of life. She turned her head to look at Han Zhao, and he seemed to sense something and looked over. Then he nodded imperceptibly, and Chu Ye's heart went cold.

Uncle Li didn't know about their little tricks. He just turned his head to look at Chu Ye, and then said, "...Xiao Chu, we have known each other for a short time, but I know that you are a good girl...No matter why you ran so far, you must be good in the future...Living a good life is better than anything else."

His tone was very light, but he made the words sound particularly firm. Chu Ye only felt a bitterness in her heart, as if a small hand was tightly grasping her heart, making it difficult for her to breathe. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she tried hard not to let them fall. Then she raised a bright smile on her face and nodded vigorously.

Uncle Li smiled, and his smile was like the dew on the leaves at dawn, fleeting. The breeze blew across the earth, blowing his half-white hair. He stretched out his hand, and his withered yellow fingers fell on Han Zhao's head and touched it gently.

"Although you are so old, you are still like a child in my heart." After saying that, he chuckled, and a sweet smile appeared on his face. His eyes were full of love, and his fingers fell on Han Zhao's cheek, pinching it gently, and continued, "When I die, you can do whatever you want with me. But... quit those bad habits in the future, I'm afraid that if something happens to you in the future, no one will clean up the mess for you."

"How can it be that scary?" Han Zhao retorted, his expression no longer as fierce as before, but with a little more warmth and a gentler demeanor.

"Why not?" Uncle Li also laughed, "Before... every time you came back and told me about gambling, I was worried that you would be beaten up and sent to prison one day. I thought I had to hold on, and if something happened to you, I could still cover for you."

His hand fell from his cheek to Han Zhao's shoulder. This shoulder used to be a small and thin piece. In the summer, when he wore a cartoon short-sleeved shirt, it looked like a branch with a piece of floral cloth hanging on it, swaying alone. At that time, when he squatted down to talk to him, it seemed that the tiny person could be knocked down with just one finger.

It's just that time passed too fast. This man had clearly grown up right under my nose, but in the blink of an eye, my palm couldn't even cover his shoulders.

“…Okay, you’ve grown up now, so don’t come back. Go to Hong Kong and find a proper job in the future…” Uncle Li’s voice became softer and softer, just like a candle burning to the last moment. Although it is still trying to emit brightness, this is the result of giving it its all. People can only watch as the candle flame runs out of wax and turns into a bean-sized light. In the end, even the bean-sized light cannot be maintained. With a “puff”, only a wisp of green smoke is left drifting away.

"... in the future... get married and have children... tell me... I will feel at ease." The moment the words fell, Li Bo's hand slipped from Han Zhao's shoulder and fell heavily, powerlessly.

Suddenly, the world around them spun, and the two people beside them were in disbelief. The wind blew quietly, blowing away the last bit of reluctance in Chu Ye's heart. She finally bent down and fell on her knees, crying softly. For a long while, she looked sideways, and there was no emotion on Han Zhao's face. He just reached out and pulled up the thin blanket on Li Bo's body, then held Li Bo's hand hanging by his side and gently placed it on his cheek, and then his eyes were red.

Uncle Li's funeral was very simple. He had no wife or children in his life, and Han Zhao was the only relative left by his side. At most, there was Chu Ye, a friend he had known for only a short time. So the two of them handled Uncle Li's funeral, and Han Zhao took Uncle Li's ashes back to the house where he lived.

It was at this time that Chu Ye realized that the house in town that Uncle Li was talking about was actually a gift from Han Zhao to him.

Uncle Li has a whole big house, but he only lives in a small room on the first floor. There are many things piled in the room, but it is not messy and the floor is very clean. Han Zhao remained calm, put the urn on the table, casually opened the drawer, and then stood there in a daze.

In the drawer, there were piles of banknotes. Some of the bundles contained one-dollar and five-dollar notes, and another bundle contained hundred-dollar bills. There were even some Hong Kong dollars mixed in. It seemed like the living expenses he gave him every once in a while. Han Zhao flipped through it again and saw a piece of paper under the table. He picked it up and it said - to Han Zhao.

In the hospital, the old man never mentioned saving money for him. The memories of the past came back to him. He always kept running outside to explore the bigger world, while the old man always stayed in this small town and greeted him with a smile when he came back. He shared with the old man how much money he made, but he never cared and only told himself to be careful when he was outside. He was stunned in place as if he was struck by lightning, his mouth was so dry that he couldn't speak, and there was something floating in his heart that he couldn't catch.

After a long while, just when Chu Ye was hesitating whether to leave, Han Zhao turned around and said, "Let's talk about the contract."

When Chu Ye came out of the building, the sun was setting in the west. She stood on the street, as if she was covered with a layer of golden light. She rubbed her cheeks, still unable to believe that she had only spent 600 yuan to buy the fish pond.
Although, there is one more shareholder.

Today is the end of the month. She went back to the factory, packed her luggage, and after settling this month's salary, she reluctantly said goodbye to Pan'er and Xiaoya.

Han Zhao was waiting at the door on his bicycle. He changed into a colorful shirt. When he saw Chu Ye coming out, he walked up to her and tied her luggage on the back seat. Then he said hello and left.

That's right. From today on, she will officially move into the room with the fish pond, and Han Zhao has already cleared out the things in the room. That day, the two of them discussed and signed a new contract: Chu Ye purchased the fish pond at a low price, and Han Zhao invested in it with materials, and 20% of the profits in the future would be given to Han Zhao.

It sounds a bit disadvantageous, but Han Zhao said that he would only share the profits. If the fish pond made a loss, he would unconditionally subsidize the funds to support Chu Ye, and he would also provide help in the early stages of Chu Ye's business. Chu Ye thought about it and agreed.

As a result, Chu Ye's seafood business started to flourish at the beginning of September.

She and Han Zhao first put the fish from the two ponds together. It must be said that thanks to the remaining prestige of Boss Han, no one dared to come here to fish openly in the past three or four years, so there are still a lot of fish here, enough for Chu Ye to sell for a while.

After clearing out a clean fish pond, she purchased equipment to improve the water quality. At the same time, according to the address she had inquired about long ago, she bought a large number of sea bass fry and feed, and put all the fry into the fish pond.

In addition, she couldn't do nothing during the months when the fry were growing up. She went to the seafood market, found a vacant space, put up a sign, and caught fish from the pond before dawn every morning. Then she brought the live fish to the market. She placed two glass water tanks in front of the stall with air pumps in them. When she put the fish into the water tanks, the fish were still swimming around in it alive.

The beginning of any business is always accompanied by misfortune. During the whole month of September, almost no one visited Chu Ye's stall. She was too young and a stranger. What she sold was not sea fish, but some ordinary carp. People did not buy it. Even if some people were curious, they would only stop in front of the stall for a moment and then leave with a pout.

Chu Ye was not in a hurry. When there were no customers, she would practice her knife skills. She would cut a fish in the morning and another fish in the afternoon every day. She would carefully gut the fish, remove the scales and internal organs, and then slice the fish into thin slices or cut it into large pieces for marinating. Every noon and evening, when the market was crowded with people buying food, she would mark the processed fish meat as being at a special price. After a long time, some people would buy it at a bargain price.

Chu Ye packed up the fish that couldn't be sold and took them home. He threw the live fish into the fish pond and continued to fish the next day. He used the cut fish meat to make dinner in a rice cooker. If the fish didn't want to eat it, he would give it to Han Zhao on his way home from get off work. Han Zhao was so annoyed by the sight of fish meat that he now feels annoyed.

(End of this chapter)