Chapter 145: More Money Coming In

Ye Yaodong handed the fishing rod to him and tossed in a small fish and a shrimp each, letting him use whatever he wanted as bait.

He hurriedly waved his hand, "No need, no need. I just brought in the traps too, there's stuff in the bucket, just grab any small fry."

"Alright then." Ye Yaodong tossed the small fish back into the bucket and threw the shrimp onto the deck.

Lin Lin Laoliu took the fishing rod and said with a smile, "Then I'll give it a try, I'll return it to you after one cast."

After saying that, he mimicked Ye Yaodong by tearing off a piece of fish meat, baited the hook, then cast it into the sea, saying, "Wonder if I'll have any luck, what'll I catch?"

"Wait patiently, something will bite eventually."

Ye Yaodong rested his chin on his hand and stared at the sea surface. After what felt like four or five minutes, just as Lin Lin Laoliu was hesitating whether to lift the rod and check if the bait had fallen off, he saw a long, strip-shaped thing swimming by in the sea.

Before three seconds had passed, Lin Lin Laoliu happily said, "Got one, got one!"

He slowly tried lifting it once, found it was quite heavy, and with some surprise gave it another forceful pull.

"A big eel!"

Ye Yaodong cried out in delight.

Lin Lin Laoliu also said happily, "Goodness! This one's seven or eight catties, thick and long."

"Great luck, Uncle Lin."

"Haha, must be beginner's luck," he lifted the big eel up and held it out in front of Ye Yaodong, "Quick, put it back in the bucket! An eel this big is pretty good already."

"You caught it, why don't you keep it? I just lent you the rod."

There were already several good catches in the bucket, so he figured he'd let him have what he caught.

"No need, no need. We agreed, I just borrowed your rod to play for a bit, the fish I catch is yours."

"How could I accept that."

"What's there to it? I'm the elder here, would I go back on my word and pocket this fish? Hurry and put it in the bucket, be careful, don't let it bite you. An eel this big has vicious teeth. Take the rod back for me too, I need to head home for lunch."

Since he put it that way, he wouldn't stand on ceremony.

"Then thanks a lot, Uncle. Whenever you're free, come by the village and stop by our place."

"Sure, sure…"

After exchanging goodbyes, Lin Lin Laoliu rowed his boat back. Xishan Village also had a very small dock, not as good as theirs, but it could still moor and let people get on and off.

After the man left, Ye Yaodong used fish meat to fish two more casts, catching another stupid Shi Zilu, so he simply wrapped up and headed back too.

It was noon, time to hurry back for lunch.

Today was their first day setting up on their own, so he had to get home early no matter what.

Without a hint of reluctance, he packed up the fishing rod and gathered the leftover shrimp on the deck back into the bucket. No sense wasting them—if they couldn't be sold, he could still peel them and dry them into dried shrimp.

As for the fish he'd torn down to half, he casually tossed it back into the sea, letting dust return to dust, earth to earth, letting it return to the embrace of the ocean and make its final contribution.

Rowing the little boat under the blazing sun, the sea breeze scattered the heat on his body, making him feel wonderfully refreshed. Several other small boats on the sea were also preparing to wrap up and stop working.

After slowly bringing the boat ashore, he left the fishing rod on the boat as usual. Such a crude rod anyone could make, no one would bother stealing it.

Once the boat was secured, he carried two big buckets of catch off the boat and brought them to the buying station. Tiger groupers weren't common, but people had caught them before.

He'd caught one three months ago, but this one was even bigger—2 catties 3 taels. Ah Cai was decent enough to give him a good price, buying it at 4 yuan 5 mao per catty.

Eel was 4 mao per catty, that one was 7 catties 2 taels. Red snapper was 3 mao 5, he caught 4 of them totaling 3 catties. Yellow mountain fish were priced by size.

The one he caught at 1 catty 2 taels was bought at 1 yuan 1 mao, the rest were only six or seven taels each, at 7 mao per catty.

Oh my, counting it up like this, today's haul was amazing!

It already surpassed the value of his trap catch. The traps only sold for fifteen yuan, and the few green crabs and red-paste crabs were the main chunk.

"Lots of trap catches lately?" Ah Cai handed him the slip, asking with a smile.

"Not bad."

He took the slip with a grin, deliberately not mentioning that half the catch was from his rod. No need to explain everything to people, making money was enough.

In the bucket was a one-clawed red-paste crab he'd deliberately kept, and a few stupid fish he'd also held back. Today's haul was great, so these few worthless ones he'd bring home to salt into salted fish, or use for hot and sour fish slice soup.

There were also some small fish and shrimp to bring home for drying. When they moved, all the dried fish and dried shrimp they'd sun at home—they hadn't taken any of it, really only taking things from their own room.

Carrying the two buckets, his heart flew homeward, quickening his steps.

When he reached the doorstep, he saw his wife swatting away the eldest child's hand trying to sneak food, "Your dad isn't back yet, what's the rush?"

"I'm hungry, Mama, when's Dad coming back?"

"Soon. Who told you to run around all day? Of course you're hungry fast. Wait a bit longer, should be soon."

Ye Chenghu pouted, "Grandma used to always say don't wait for Dad, let's eat ours, let Dad go hungry."

Ye Yaodong: This stinky brat!

Lin Lin Xiuqing didn't know how to explain it to the kids, that their dad had changed for the better. After thinking, she said, "That was before, aren't we not living with them now?"

"Mama, hungry, rice…"

Seeing her youngest also calling out, she could only pat their heads, "Alright then, Mama will serve you rice first, eat while you wait…"

"I'm back."

"Dad, you're finally back, I'm starving to death!"

"Daddy, huggy~" Ye Ye Chengyang nimbly climbed down from the stool and rushed over, habitually hugging his leg!

Ye Yaodong scooped him up, set him on the stool, then looked at Lin Lin Xiuqing, "Next time I'm late getting back, don't wait for me, just go ahead and eat. If there's no food left over, just cook some noodles then, anything to fill the belly."

She said with a smile, "I just thought since it's the first day, the whole family should eat together? Go wash your hands."

"Mm."

A simple meal of three dishes and one soup.

Steamed salted fish, scrambled eggs with dried shrimp, stir-fried small greens, and salted vegetable potato soup.

The small greens he did know—they grew them themselves. The little vegetable patch he'd cleared in the back yard had grown into a lush green patch, ready to be plucked and eaten.

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"The other dishes—did your mother bring them over?"

Thinking this in his heart, he asked it out loud just the same.

Lin Lin Xiuqing replied, "Yes, not long after you left the house, Mother came over carrying a big basket of dried goods and potatoes, told me to split them with Ye Ye Dasao and Ye Ye Ersao, and said to come get more once we've finished eating them."

"Oh, then we can skip buying vegetables. Eat up."

"Mother also said there's not much rice left at home, and Father and the eldest brother have gone out to sea. She wants you and Ye Ye Erge to go in the afternoon when you're free, pack four sacks of rice from the granary and send them to the mill to be processed. The rice that comes out, each family gets one sack. Keep the rice bran too—once her hen goes broody and hatches chicks, we'll each get a few, and we can use them to feed the chickens."

Ye Yaodong listened to the chatter by his ear, nodding as he ate. "I'll go right after I finish eating."

"No rush."

After Lin Lin Xiuqing put a big piece of shrimp scrambled with egg into his bowl, she immediately put a few small pieces into their eldest son's bowl as well. The little son in her arms couldn't wait to be fed and started clamoring, "Want it, want it…"

"I know, I'll give you some."

After stuffing a piece of shrimp into his mouth, he finally quieted down.

"Eat slowly, there's still more…"

Ye Yaodong watched the interaction between the mother and her two children, his eyes full of a smile.

"You eat too. He's already this big—just give him a spoon and let him dig in on his own. You don't have to feed him like this, right?"

"How could he eat properly like that? I can only eat in peace after these two have eaten their fill and gotten down from the table."

"Alright then."

Once the two children had finished eating and gotten down from the table, Lin Lin Xiuqing picked up the half-eaten rice from her little son and continued eating. Ye Yaodong hurriedly poured the last bit of shrimp scrambled with egg into her bowl.

"That's too much…"

"Eat it all up!"

After drinking a few sips of soup, he gathered up the bowls and chopsticks, then took the cleaver and cutting board to go kill the fish.

Lin Lin Xiuqing watched him working and sped up her own eating, getting ready to go help.

The husband and wife—one killing fish, the other peeling small shrimp—finished the work in no time.

"There's still a one-clawed red-roe crab in the other bucket. After dinner tonight, I'll go to the pharmacy to buy a few roots of codonopsis and some goji berries, then stew it for the two kids."

"Mm, okay."

Speaking of this, Ye Yaodong suddenly remembered—after coming back he had washed his hands and eaten, and had forgotten to give her the invoice to keep.

Lin Lin Xiuqing looked at the prices on the invoice. She wasn't surprised anymore, didn't ask questions—she'd gone numb. She'd gotten used to the fact that Hui could always earn so much money. All she had to do was count the money and save it well.

"After I finished collecting the catch from the fish traps today, I went fishing for a while as well. The haul was pretty good—I caught a two-pound-two tiger grouper."

"Ah, no wonder you made so much money."

"Mm, save it well. There'll be plenty of places to spend money in the future."

This didn't need him to say—she understood it herself.

"Dongzi? You ready? Let's go to the old house to load the rice together."

It was Ye Ye Yaohua who, hearing voices at the back door, had come out to call him.

"Ready."

He'd just finished killing the fish and washing his hands—what was left could be left for her to handle.

Their village didn't have a rice mill workshop, so they needed to push a cartload of rice to East Bridge Village, where there was one.

When they arrived, the person ahead of them had just finished processing, so it was their turn without having to queue.

The two brothers hoisted a sack of rice and poured it into the opening at the very top of the mill. Ye Yaodong held a sack at the rice outlet, and once everything was ready, the workshop owner started up the machine.

In no time, the grinding wheel began to move, abrading the outer husk of the rice and removing the pale brown shell layer. Grain after grain of Bai Huahua white rice poured out of the opening with a rushing sound, flowing into the sack.

The freshly milled rice was piping hot—white, pretty, and nice to the touch. Ye Yaodong kept reaching his hand out to catch some, and once his palm was full, he'd flip it over and toss it back into the sack, then repeat the motion.

After one sack was done processing, he lifted it and estimated that about a hundred jin of rice would yield roughly sixty or seventy jin of milled rice. The processing fee was 1 mao; if you didn't want the rice bran, they'd knock off 1 fen.

They definitely wanted it—their mother had specifically told them to bring the rice bran home to feed the chickens.

By the time all four sacks of rice had been milled, an hour had already passed.

The two brothers paid the processing fee, then pushed the milled rice back to divide it up.