Chapter 19

A Qing explained: "Lao Xie, there's nothing we can do, we're out of time, you don't know, at that moment the crabs were coming in nests, I and my brother couldn't even pick them up fast enough, where would we have time to tie them up."

Lao Xie suddenly understood.

After carefully examining these crabs, he found few missing claws or legs, then he breathed a sigh of relief and said cheerfully: "Is it really true?"

A Qing pointed to several basins of crabs still crawling and said: "Could this be fake?"

Lao Xie gave a thumbs up.

The two laughed heartily.

This pretense, they complemented each other.

Elder Chen and the other vendors couldn't laugh anymore; the razor clams weren't that many, saying they were padding the numbers was correct, but they still had a sack of crabs.

They were so jealous they were about to fall ill.

Especially Elder Chen.

That felt awful, his heart felt blocked.

If yesterday he hadn't fallen out with Wu An, then now the razor clam king and these crabs would all be his.

Thinking of this, his heart felt like it was dripping blood.

Throb, throb, it should all be throbbing!

Wu An saw some crabs still crawling and said: "Stop fooling around, lend me some rubber bands, I'll tie them up now."

Lao Xie hesitated.

As everyone knows, rubber bands also count toward weight.

Now bearing the weight, it was actually most economical for him, but Elder Chen and the others were still eyeing him covetously nearby; he didn't want to thus have a grudge with Wu An.

After fetching the rubber bands, the three squatted on the ground together to tie up the crabs.

Elder Chen and the others all dispersed.

There were no more leaks to pick up, nothing worth seeing.

As they walked away, the other vendors teased Elder Chen: "Elder Chen, these goods should have been yours."

"Yeah, we used to not want these two rascals' goods, only you would take them."

"After taking in 'stolen goods' for so long, they bring in good stuff, and you don't want it anymore."

"Elder Chen, you're impressive, you can still laugh about this, I admire you."

Everyone are competitors.

Given a chance to ruin Elder Chen's reputation, who would let this good opportunity pass?

If Elder Chen took in less seafood, they could take in a bit more.

Elder Chen was indeed laughing, but smiling was uglier than crying; what could he do? He could only pretend to be strong!

Their words were like salt, ruthlessly rubbed into his wound.

He still had to put on a tough front: "What's the big deal."

"I think this business won't last long."

"Don't believe me? Just watch."

……

After being busy for over an hour, mainly Wu An and A Qing were busy, Lao Xie opened the stall to do business, from time to time villagers came to sell seafood and customers came to buy seafood.

But everyone who came had to cue Wu An.

"Boss, you can't find anyone to help?"

"How could you find these two rascals."

"I'll quietly tell you, these two are notorious for stealing chickens and dogs in the village..."

Wu An's face darkened.

Damn!

Didn't we agree to keep it quiet?

"You're saying it so loudly, even if I plug my ears I can still hear what you mean!"

After tying up all the crabs and orchid crabs, Wu An felt his fingers cramping.

He suddenly stood up.

Instantly his vision went black and he quickly sat down again.

After a while, he and A Qing helped each other up, hands on his waist, turning his upper body a few circles before feeling somewhat better.

Lao Xie came over, handed two bottles of water and a bag of steaming buns: "Hard work, hard work."

"You must not have eaten after working all night."

"Have a bite first."

A Qing didn't have time to say thanks, grabbed a bun and stuffed it into his mouth.

He was indeed hungry.

Wu An told him to go wash his hands.

A Qing, with a bun stuffed in his mouth, hurriedly ran to wash his hands.

Wu An hadn't eaten, "short of hand, short of mouth," he said: "Lao Xie, let's hear the price first."

Lao Xie said: "The razor clam king, I said, 20 per jin."

"This kind of shrimp 24 per jin, that kind of zebra-pattern shrimp 48 per jin."

"The market price for crabs is average now, not yet the best time to eat them, so the price is 115 per jin."

"By Mid-Autumn Festival, I can offer 180 per jin."

"The price of orchid crabs fluctuates more; right now I can only offer 70 per jin."

Wu An was at a loss; he had no reference for the price.

He didn't answer right away, but said, "Lao Xie, to be honest, I don't really understand this market either."

"We're not doing a one‑time deal; we'll be dealing with each other for a long time."

"As long as you don't cheat me."

"As for me, I can sell all my future catch to you."

Upon hearing that, Lao Xie slapped his thigh and said, "Since you put it that way, I, as your elder brother, have to open my heart to you."

"Then like this, I'll add five yuan to the price I just quoted."

"If it goes any higher, I'll have hardly any profit."

Wu An nodded and said, "Okay, I trust you."

"We'll keep each other's secrets."

"I won't reveal the quote you gave me, and you shouldn't reveal how much money I made selling here."

Lao Xie nodded.

He couldn't have asked for more.

Weighing.

Throughout the process, some passing customers were drawn to stop by the green crab and zebra‑skin shrimp, and with the added gimmick of being freshly caught wild, even before Lao Xie had tallied the total, customers were already asking for the price.

Retail certainly calls for a markup; though it's only natural, facing Wu An, Lao Xie could only deflect and say to wait a moment.

Lao Xie worked the calculator with a steady rhythm and finally came up with a total of 9,848 yuan.

Seeing the total, Lao Xie couldn't help but click his tongue in admiration, saying, "Impressive."

"Keep it up."

"But don't go wild just because you got the money."

In less than twenty‑four hours, the two of them had sold over ten thousand yuan worth of seafood here—a profit that would make any fisherman who goes out to sea green with envy.

He went back inside to get the money.

Wu An and A Qing also followed him into the shop, waiting by the inner door; after a while Lao Xie finally came out, and A Qing shouted, "Why are you so slow?"

Lao Xie said, "With that much money, I have to count it out."

A Qing complained, "You can't even count money properly—how do you run a business?"

"……" Lao Xie had nothing to say in reply, and handed over the counted money.

Upon seeing the thick stack of cash, A Qing exclaimed, "How can there be so much!"

Lao Xie: "Go ahead and count."

A Qing quickly shook his head: "There's too much money—I can't count it all."

Lao Xie burst out laughing.

Wu An took the money and began to count.

There were ninety‑nine bills, which is 9,900 yuan; Lao Xie voluntarily made up the change, and without standing on ceremony, he stuffed the money into his pocket, greeted Lao Xie who was still haggling with a customer, and walked off.

A Qing was still unhappy and said he wanted to hear what price Lao Xie was quoting to other customers.

Wu An urged him to hurry up and leave.

Knowing that much still isn't enough to give himself trouble.

A Qing grabbed the handcart and, as they walked, said, "Brother, he deliberately waited until we left to give the quote—he's definitely trying to cheat us."

"Next time we'll set up a stall at the dock and sell ourselves."

Wu An yawned and asked, "Aren't you tired?"

A Qing: "I am."

Wu An: "That's serious."

"Setting up a stall would be easy, but there are costs; if these shrimp and crab die, we'd need to keep them fresh, right?"

"What if we can't sell them?"

"It would be better to sell them to Lao Xie and company; even though they'd take a cut, at least it's hassle‑free."

"If you feel you've been ripped off, we can just go buy in town next time."

A Qing blinked and said, "Brother, didn't you tell Lao Xie we'd always sell our seafood to him from now on?"

Wu An coughed and said, "I did say that."

"But Lao Xie cheated us first."

"Then I won't sell to him—that's only right."

A Qing suddenly understood: "I get it, I get it."

The two brothers walked on chatting and laughing, but they hadn't taken two steps before Wu An was scolded.