Chapter 94

By August 20th, the small boat that Ah Guang, Xiao Xiao, and A Zheng had partnered to order was officially delivered.

They found someone to pick a good day three days later before telling everyone, so they could go to the pier to set off firecrackers.

The other three friends only then found out that the three of them had partnered to buy a boat, and everyone's reactions were different.

Fatty just felt a bit surprised, "When did you order it? Why didn't I hear you mention it?"

"Ah? Didn't we say anything?" The three of them looked at each other.

Ah Guang spread his hands, "I go to help Dongzi work whenever I have free time; I don't have time to hang out with you guys. I thought you had already said something."

A Zheng also said innocently, "No, you weren't home, and we didn't have a place to gather either."

"That must be it—we were too busy and forgot to say it."

Uncle Awei frowned and said with dissatisfaction, "You guys are too disloyal. You didn't even say a word about partnering to buy a boat. Are you worried that the more people there are, the less money there is to split?"

Ah Guang raised his eyebrows and looked at him in surprise, "Why would you think that? We just mooched off Dongzi's small wooden boat on the 15th and tasted the sweetness after catching a thousand jin of sea wolf fish, which is why we got the idea. We discussed on the spot that the money we earned would be used to partner and buy a boat. We can't mooch off Dongzi's boat every day; he has to set his nets too."

A Zheng echoed, "Yeah, we decided on the spur of the moment, and you guys weren't there at the time."

It would have been better if they hadn't mentioned it; once they did, even Haozi wasn't happy, as he hadn't been there for the two times they split big money. "You could have told us in advance. If you don't tell us in advance, who is going to sit at home waiting for you all day?"

"Could we have predicted there would be a big catch? It's not like we didn't go to your house to call you; it's just that you weren't there." Xiao Xiao was also angry as he spoke. He was the one who suggested going on the 15th, and he had gone to everyone's house to call them. He hadn't intentionally left anyone out; it was their own fault.

A Zheng also looked at Uncle Awei with frustration, "On the morning of the 15th, our Xiao Xiao went to your house to call you. It was you who were called by your father to go up the mountain to move watermelons. Who can you blame for missing it yourself?"

Uncle Awei said righteously, "It's not about the money. If we didn't go, we didn't go, but you should have notified us when you bought the boat."

"Didn't I say, we were busy and forgot. Dongzi and I are tired like dogs every day; we just lie down as soon as we get home. We haven't gathered much lately, and it wasn't the delivery time yet, so we didn't specifically mention it." Ah Guang tried his best to explain. They were brothers of many years, and he didn't want to quarrel over such a small matter.

Xiao Xiao also said, "If you guys have ideas, you can also partner to buy a boat. What's the big deal?"

Uncle Awei sneered, "You say it easily. Buying a boat is a big deal; is it something you can just buy whenever you want?"

"Then stop talking crap! We are the type of people who say we'll buy it and then we do!"

A Zheng also got angry and spoke loudly, then continued, "A moment ago you said it wasn't about the money, but about not notifying you, and now you're saying buying a boat is a big deal and not something you can just buy. If we had told you in advance, it would have been useless anyway; you couldn't have made a decision immediately. So what would have been the use of telling you?"

Uncle Awei's face turned very ugly instantly. Haozi helped speak up, "If you had told us in advance, we could have considered whether to join, instead of waiting until the last minute when you've already bought it for us to find out."

Ah Guang said sarcastically, "If you have ideas, you can also partner to buy a boat. What's the big deal? It's just a small wooden boat. Do you think we need five people to partner? Do you think it's a big ship? We'd be laughed at. Even those iron-hulled boats don't have five people partnering."

"You guys just didn't treat us as brothers and excluded us directly..."

"Can we stop saying things that hurt our feelings? If it weren't for the two times we split money, those three could partner, and you two could partner too. The split between two people isn't much different from three. Or you could order a smaller boat."

Ye Yaodong was speechless when he heard them arguing over such a small matter. Partnering to buy a boat was no big deal; in the end, it was just because they hadn't gotten a share of the money.

Everyone had always been together, and they were all poor devils. No one was richer than anyone else. Suddenly, the brothers who hung out together had made a few fortunes without bringing them along, so they were feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Partnering to buy a boat was just a fuse.

They were still arguing that it wasn't about the money, seizing on the lack of prior notification as the issue. They didn't expose his psychology, just because they didn't want to tear off this fig leaf.

They all knew it clearly in their hearts; they were just afraid that if they brought it out into the open, it would become too ugly, and they wouldn't even be able to be brothers anymore.

Fatty was also frowning as he listened from the side. His family didn't work at sea, so he was quite indifferent. Besides, he was the one who had taken the initiative to say he wasn't going at the time, so he didn't have any unbalanced psychology.

But he also understood the discomfort in Uncle Awei and Haozi's hearts, because he hadn't gotten a share of the money either time, and he was actually a bit frustrated...

However, there was really no need to have a falling out over this!

After Ye Yaodong spoke, he also held back Xiao Xiao and A Zheng, who wanted to retort, and mediated, "Yeah, you two can also partner to order a slightly smaller boat. If two people partner, there will only be two people to split the earnings. A small boat only needs two people to operate; more people are useless and will only get in the way, making it hard to even cast the net. The extra people can only sit and watch, and there's just one more person to split the money."

Uncle Awei's face looked better after hearing this.

"That's right, that's the logic," Ye Yaodong breathed a sigh of relief. "A small boat with 5 people holding shares, and then when you go out to sea to work, the 5 of you are on a small wooden boat with 4 people sitting and watching? One person casting the net? At most, one or two more come to help pull when hauling the net. Is this what you want?"

Haozi looked at this one and then that one, and patted Uncle Awei, "Dongzi is right. A small wooden boat with three people is already considered too many; it's normal they didn't tell us."

Haozi's words were originally meant to be comforting, but they tasted a bit different in Uncle Awei's ears. He snorted coldly, "Yeah, they've already discussed it. It doesn't matter whether they tell us or not; anyway, we're not important to them!"

After saying this, he directly shook off Haozi's hand and turned to walk out.

"Hey, Uncle Awei? Uncle Awei!" Haozi looked at the others and chased after him.

Fatty watched the two leave and scratched his head in frustration, "Sigh, everything was fine, why did they start arguing?"

Ah Guang was also in a bad mood. He had originally specifically called everyone to notify them that they would be bringing the boat back in three days and to let everyone go to the pier to set off firecrackers. As a result, a perfectly good happy event had turned into a quarrel.

"Saying it's not about the money—actually, it's just because they missed out both times and didn't get a share of the money, while we have the money to buy a boat. They're feeling unhappy and are deliberately losing their temper and looking for trouble with us."

"It's obvious; who can't see it? We're just giving him some face," A Zheng said disdainfully.

"What can you do if you didn't get a share of the money? It's just because he didn't catch up himself; it's not like everyone didn't call him."

Having watched the farce, Ye Yaodong was also very helpless, "Sigh, forget it. Say less. Let Uncle Awei calm down for a few days, relax, and he'll be fine once he thinks it through."

"That might be a bit difficult!" Ah Guang sat down and said, supporting his chin.

Between friends, the most feared thing is getting involved with money. If it's distributed evenly and everyone has a good temperament and is open-minded, that's happy.

But what's feared is the appearance of someone who easily gets into a dead end and can't turn their brain around; that's difficult.

"Forget about him. We'll go get the boat the day after tomorrow morning. We'll probably arrive at the pier by ten o'clock at the latest. They said in the morning... what time was it again?"

Xiao Xiao scratched his head, forgetting the time. He looked at Ah Guang and Xiao Xiao, and these two were also a bit confused. He waved his hand, "Hey, anyway, 8 to 10 o'clock is auspicious!"

"Got it. I'll call Fatty when the time comes, buy firecrackers, and go to the pier at 8 o'clock to wait for you guys, so we don't miss it."

【Honestly, I've been using Wild Fruit Reading to catch up on books lately. It has many sources and the reading voices are great. It works on both Android and Apple.】

Ah Guang smiled and said, "When your boat was launched, we didn't know it was yours alone, and we didn't buy firecrackers for you..."

"What's the big deal? It wasn't a new boat anyway, just sailing it casually for now. When I make a fortune and change to a big ship, I'll definitely call you guys to set off firecrackers for me!"

"Easy, easy! Based on how diligent you've been lately, God will definitely let you make a fortune!"

"Hehe, let's all make a fortune together!"

The five of them stayed behind to chat and laugh, and the unpleasant matter from just now was temporarily put aside.