Daily life of fishing and hunting in the 1980s

Chapter 391 The Big Buyer

Li's mother poured the washed cuttlefish eggs into an enamel basin, added some rice wine and stirred it, then evenly distributed the cuttlefish eggs in the basin, cracked a few eggs into it, and then put the enamel basin into a rice steamer to steam.

Grandma Chen carried a basket of radishes into the kitchen. "Ah Le's mother, Accountant Chen wants Ah Le to go to the brigade headquarters to answer the phone."

"It might be his mother-in-law calling. I asked Anan to answer it."

“It wasn’t Anan’s mother who called. Accountant Chen said it was a boss surnamed Lin from Tuxiaqiao who called.”

"I'll go call him." Li's mother wiped her hands and walked outside the small house. Li Changle dried her hair and came out. After hearing this, she hurriedly rode her bicycle to Accountant Chen's house.

“You went there by rocket, didn’t you! When people called looking for you, I told them you hadn’t come back from sea, but they said you were back and even came to the dock this morning to pick up a lot of fresh goods.”

"Sigh!" Li Changle said with a bitter face, "You almost didn't get to see me again."

"Pah! What nonsense are you spouting!" Accountant Chen slapped him and quickly said, "May everything be auspicious and prosperous!"

Li Changle told him with a smile, "Around this time yesterday, we encountered two black-bottomed boats... and several of their windshields were smashed, so we came back early."

Accountant Chen patted him on the shoulder and said, "They say that those who survive a great calamity are destined for good fortune. You're a lucky guy."

"I think so too!"

Just then, the phone rang. Li Changle picked it up, and Boss Lin's voice came through the receiver.

"Boss A-Le, my friend is back from Shanghai and asked me to ask you what varieties of mackerel heads you currently have the largest stock of?"

"Are there many eels, bluefin tuna, saury, herring, miscellaneous fish, and mackerel?"

"I'll take him to see you this afternoon."

Li Changle hesitated for a moment and then said, "Okay, what time are you coming? I'll have someone pick you up at the dock."

“Come over at two o’clock,” Boss Lin said, then added, “My friend originally wanted to go to the market, but I told him that your fish heads are of good quality, and even Phoenix Restaurant gets its supplies from you.”

He immediately became interested after hearing that. He needed a large quantity, and if your two families could cooperate, he alone would keep you very busy.

"Okay, I'll wait for you at the dock this afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Lin, thank you!" Li Changle thanked him politely and hung up the phone. He chatted with Accountant Chen for a few minutes, then rode his bicycle home for dinner.

When they arrived home, Brother Li and Brother Li Er were already up, and Chen Yongwei and the other two had also come over for dinner. They all sat together, eating and chatting.

When Brother Li and the others heard that Boss Lin had introduced a big buyer to come and see the turtle head, they were overjoyed. "Ah Le, why don't you stay home and I'll go out with your brothers and the others?"

"No need. The tide won't start rising until around 2:30. I arranged with Zhang Lao Er to deliver the ice at 2:00. You guys can fill the ice there, and I'll bring them to my house to see the goods. We'll talk about other things after they're satisfied."

Sister-in-law Li asked worriedly, "Ah Le, he's a big boss from Shanghai. Won't he look down on our goods?"

Li Changle wasn't worried at all. "Don't worry, I'm not bragging, but none of the vendors selling dried fish heads in the market can dry them as well as we can."

Zhou Ruonan took the bait and said, "My old neighbors, those really picky people, all buy dried fish heads from our store. I was worried that if they were satisfied, we wouldn't have enough to go around for them!"

Li's mother nodded repeatedly, "That's right, what's there to worry about? We just wash our food with seawater and dry it on a bamboo tray. Now we even pickle it with white wine. It's because he has no taste that he doesn't buy it."

"Eat!" Li Changle scooped a spoonful of steamed squid and egg into a bowl. "After I eat, I'll go to town and tell Ahao to go to Adong's house tomorrow to get the seafood. I've already left it there."

"I should go and tell them, otherwise they'll think you didn't keep your word!"

"Don't come empty-handed, bring some dried shrimp and fish heads," said Mr. Li.

"Okay!" Li Changle ate two large bowls of rice, put down the bowls, went back into the house to get money and distributed it to the three of them, and also gave a bonus of fifty yuan to Acheng and Ajie.

Wang Xincheng took the money, then thought for a moment and returned it to him, saying, "Uncle Ale, keep it with you for now, we'll give it to us when we get back."

“Mine too!” Wang Jie also gave him the money.

"Okay, come back and get it from me." Li Changle took the dried cuttlefish, dried eel, and two pounds of shrimp prepared by Zhou Ruonan. When he went out, he saw Li Xiaoyang and the others winking at him.

Then he remembered that he hadn't paid for the instant noodles. He turned around and greeted Zhou Ruonan. The children then happily went to guard the dried fish in the drying yard.

When Li Changle arrived in Panzhen, he went to the supply and marketing cooperative and happened to see him and that kid He Yaozu squatting at the door. As he rode his bicycle over, He Yaozu jumped up and pointed at him, "You, what are you doing here?"

"Ah Lok, you're back so soon?" He Zhenhao said, patting He Yaozu on the shoulder. "You're so disrespectful, call him Uncle Ah Lok!"

After hesitating for a while, He Yaozu said, "Uncle Ah Le."

"good!"

He Yaozu: "..."

Seeing He Zhenhao's constipated look, Li Changle was secretly delighted and handed him the dried fish and shrimp with a smile, saying, "These are homemade, have a taste."

He Zhenhao took it and handed it to He Yaozu, saying happily, "Come on, let's go inside and sit for a while!"

"I have to go out to sea this afternoon, I need to rush back to get ice." "You just got back and you're leaving again?"

"There was a slight mishap this time, so I came back early. I've prepared all the fresh seafood for your wedding banquet. It's at Chen's Seafood Shop at the dock. I've already spoken to them. You can pick it up whenever you need it."

"Okay, I'll give you the money right now!"

"Why are you telling me this? You old bachelor, it's not easy for someone to take over, I can afford to give you some fresh goods."

"Get lost, I'm not old at all, I'm still a flower bud." Before He Zhenhao could finish speaking, He Yaozu pulled him inside. "Uncle Hao, tell your friend that I want to go fishing with him on the boat."

"You're the one fishing, I'd rather see the fish catch you!" He Zhenhao kicked him in the butt. "Get lost!"

He Yaozu walked away, rubbing his buttocks, while He Zhenhao walked out laughing, saying, "You little rascal, you want to go fishing at sea with me."

Li Changle laughed and said, "He can't handle it."

“How do you know I can’t handle it?” Ho Yiu-cho shouted, craning his neck. “Do you dare let me go on the ship and work for a few days?”

Li Changle waved his hand at him, "Young man, trying to provoke us won't work."

"You can't judge a book by its cover." He Yaozu turned and left.

He Zhenhao shook his head with a smile, "Kids these days are even harder to teach than we were back then."

"You talk like you're so great!" Li Changle rolled her eyes at him. "I'll try my best to get back the day after tomorrow. If I don't make it, I'll have your sister-in-law come over for your wedding."

"No, you must come to the wedding with your sister-in-law and bring Xiao Hai and Xiao Zhou along too."

"Okay!" Li Changle agreed with a smile. "I still need to get some ice, so I'll head back first."

"May the winds blow smoothly and may you catch plenty of fish!" He Zhenhao smiled and saw him off a few steps.

……

Not long after Li Changle left, Uncle Li San arrived at Nanshan Ao with a gloomy face.

Seeing his appearance, Li's father hurried over to him, "What's wrong? What happened?"

Uncle Li said in a low voice with a stern face, "Yuqing came back and said that Jiang Yongxiang, that bastard, has someone outside."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Li's face immediately darkened, and he quickly brought him a chair. "When did this happen? Where is that woman from?"

"Who knows when it happened?" Uncle Li said angrily. "I heard Yuqing tell her mother that the two of them started having an affair when she was pregnant with her second son. The woman even worked at their factory."

Jiang Yongxiang swore at the time that he would break off his relationship with that woman. Yesterday, she bought some meat, steamed it, and made it into balls. Thinking that he was at work and hadn't come back, she painstakingly delivered it to the machinery factory for him to eat.

When they got there, they found out that everyone was off work. Yuqing waited until it was completely dark before Jiang Yongxiang came home. When asked why he was home so late, he said he was working overtime at the factory.

Yuqing said she went to the factory to look for him, and the factory said he was off duty yesterday. After hearing this, Jiang Yongxiang said, "Since you already know, there are two paths. One is to continue like this, taking half of his salary home every month."

One of her demands was a divorce; she told him not to expect him to give her a single penny anymore. She also said Yuqing was uneducated and she couldn't talk to her, then went back to live at the factory.

"Damn it!" Father Li jumped up in anger. "Let's go, call A'an and A'ping, and go to the factory to find Jiang Yongxiang."

Uncle Li was even angrier after hearing this, "That brat would rather die than let us go, she's worried that she'll ruin his reputation and get him fired from the factory."

Mr. Li's eyes widened in disbelief. "They're already divorcing her, and she's afraid of being fired from the factory? Is her brain made of tofu?"

“The second child is only two and a half years old, and the eldest is only in first grade. What will happen to the two children if they get divorced?” Uncle Li kept smoking. “Her mother’s idea is to call Jiang Yongxiang over and ask him if he said those things in anger.”

“When Yuqing was pregnant with the second child, she had already hooked up with him. She even called him over and asked him if he was just saying things out of anger. I think you are clearly pretending to be ignorant.”

"What can we do? That brat doesn't want a divorce. She says she takes half of her salary home every month, and she and the child can manage."

Mr. Li glared at him angrily, "You agree to this too?"

Uncle Li said angrily, "What can I do if I'm the only one who disagrees? I've been talking for a long time, and both mother and daughter have said that although the man surnamed Jiang has a bad reputation, he has never laid a hand on Yuqing in all these years of marriage."

Rather than divorce, where she and her child would be looked down upon, she'd rather take twenty or thirty yuan a month from Jiang Yongxiang and raise her child alone.

"In the end, it's just that the child is pitiful. The problem is that now he's openly living with his mistress, not with Yuqing." Thinking of his two children, Mr. Li didn't know what to say. "What do Changqing and Aping say?"

“Changqing went to help someone haul bricks early this morning. We haven’t told Aping yet.” Uncle Li looked at him. “Second Brother, you also agree to a divorce?”

Li's father said, "How can I make a decision about such a thing? If it were my son, Ah Xi, I would take Ah Ping and the others to the machinery factory and make a scene with that Jiang guy. We would break up and the whole family would rather starve than suffer such humiliation."

Now that online prices are better, Ah Si can earn seven or eight cents a day at home, which adds up to more than twenty yuan a month. Yu Qing is quick and can easily earn twenty or thirty yuan. If you can earn it yourself, why should you ask for a handout and suffer in silence?

(End of this chapter)