Chapter 25: Take a day off? Screw that!

Wu Yingwei saw A Qing acting like a thief, gave a cold snort and paid no attention.

Chen Gui, seeing this, laughed and said, "Old Wu, how come this kid is even more afraid of you than your second son is?"

Everyone followed along and laughed.

Wu Yingwei kept a stern face, ignored him, looked in the direction A Qing had run off, furrowed his brows slightly, and said, "A Gui, where would I get a second son?"

Chen Gui gave a thumbs up: "Old Wu, I've admired you since childhood."

Indeed, for work you can ignore anything.

You can bear to not have a second son, but your eldest son can't bear to.

Their brotherly relationship is really good.

I even saw your eldest son go to the old house today.

Others told him to say less.

Chen Gui said, "I'm speaking kindly; what can't be said?"

Everyone was somewhat speechless.

You're just short of drawing a real knife and stabbing Wu Yingwei.

On the surface it's praise, but actually it's stabbing a knife into Wu Yingwei's heart.

Wu Yingwei kept a stern face and remained silent.

Upon reaching the intersection, everyone went home separately; the Wu family lives behind the village. After Chen Gui returned home, only Wu Yingwei remained, walking forward with his hands behind his back.

Lao Meng was smoking at the doorway; seeing him return, he instinctively greeted, but before he could speak, he saw Wu Yingwei turn around and walk back.

"We're almost home—why are you going back again?"

"There's plenty of work to keep busy in the village."

"Going out early and returning late every day, you're busier than the Senior Leader."

"Living like this, the second son isn't turning out well; you also need to reflect on your own problems."

Lao Meng muttered, then lit another cigarette.

……

Wu Yingwei weaved through alleys all the way; with it being dark, he didn't meet a single person, arriving behind the coconut tree not far from the old house.

He saw Wu An and A Qing roasting by the door.

"Slow down, it's just been roasted—it's hot."

"It's fine, I'm not afraid of the heat, brother… hiss… good… delicious."

"Have a sip of beer to suppress it."

"Tsk… really refreshing."

"Brother, how are you so good at roasting? I feel you could set up a stall in town; business would surely be good."

"Haha, actually I have set up a stall before—try this one sprinkled with chili powder."

"Hiss… spicy… brother, where's the beer? My beer?"

"Hahaha, look at you—just a little chili powder, and I… holy shit… how is this so spicy."

"

"Brother, you're so spicy you're tearing up."

"I haven't, impossible, you're mistaken."

Wu An, shouting in anger and frustration, gulped a big mouthful of beer chilled with well water—it tasted damn good—and unintentionally glanced at the coconut tree behind, as if seeing a shadow.

Upon closer look, there was no shadow; it was just the coconut tree swaying slightly in the sea breeze.

A Qing asked, "Brother, what's wrong?"

Wu An shook his head and said, "My eyes are playing tricks; come, have a drink."

The two brothers clinked cups.

The two sat on the ground, no formalities, enjoying the sea breeze, drinking beer, eating seafood, feeling quite relaxed and comfortable.

A Qing ate an octopus and said, "Brother, this is too delicious."

"Think about it—yesterday at this time we were still hungry."

"Today we can have a seafood feast; I feel like I'm dreaming."

Wu An smiled and said, "As long as you're not afraid of gout, you can eat seafood feasts every day from now on."

A Qing gave a silly hehe laugh: "What's there to fear?"

"Brother, let's finish this bottle right away."

"Watch me show off one for you."

Watching A Qing act goofy, Wu An felt a bit drunk.

After eating their fill of seafood, waiting for A Qing to belch from the alcohol, Wu An said, "That's about enough; we still have to go out gathering at night, so we can't get drunk."

"I've grilled all the seafood; I'll have you take it later. If your mom hasn't slept yet, let her try it while it's hot."

"Also, I don't have an alarm clock here, so I'll wait for you to call me, and then we'll go to the tidal flats to gather."

A Qing nodded and helped tidy up.

There wasn't much to clean up; the charcoal was simply doused with water to extinguish it, and the iron net was soaked in a basin.

A Qing said, "Brother, we've made some money now; we ought to furnish the house."

Wu An casually replied, "No rush."

Now he has a whole load of trouble—Chen Long, lying in the hospital, hasn't let it go; the one dollar he compensated can't fill their appetite.

This isn't the most urgent; the high-interest loan is the trouble—we need to repay it first before anything else.

Hopefully tomorrow's Luck Value will be a bit higher.

……

On the other side.

Wu Yingwei returned home, Wu Ping and Mei Yueqin immediately came out of the house, Mei Yueqin greeted: "Dad, why did you come back so late today?"

Wu Ping tentatively asked: "Dad, there's seafood, want a drink?"

Wu Yingwei nodded, said: "Okay."

"You haven't eaten either?"

"I said, you should eat, no need to wait for me."

Wu Ping and Mei Yueqin exchanged a glance, the latter said: "Wash your hands first, the food is in the pot, just serve it and you can eat."

"We're not hungry either."

"Eating together as a family is what makes it tasty."

Wu Yingwei turned and went to wash his hands.

Seeing a big basin of seafood, Wu Yingwei's eyes flashed, but he didn't say anything.

Wu Ping asked: "Dad, this seafood is not bad, right?"

Wu Yingwei nodded: "Delicious, Mei Yueqin's cooking is as good as your mother's."

Wu Ping seized the moment: "Dad, actually these seafood..."

Wu Yingping waved his hand: "Chen Gui told me, said you went to Lao Wu today."

"Alright."

"Don't make it a habit."

"Eat, talk less during meals."

Wu Ping still wanted to say something, Mei Yueqin quickly shook her head to signal him not to say it.

……

Wu An heard A Qing's shout, opened his eyes, felt his heart pounding in his chest, paused a moment and asked: "A Qing, what time is it now?"

A Qing said: "About 1:30."

Wu An sat up, feeling sore all over.

After washing his face, he felt a bit clearer, thinking to himself, "Can't keep exhausting myself like this every day; I guess the tides also change each day."

In a few days, low tide will be around 3 or 4 a. m., then getting up won't be so difficult and unpleasant.

A Qing had already prepared the tools: tweezers, shovel, plus the Snake Skin Bag, and had brought over the cart.

Wu An picked up the tweezers, glanced at the system.

Luck Value: 43 (15).

Target: Foraging Tweezers (+).

Wu An took a look, his brows furrowed: "How come my luck only increased a little? On the first day it increased 22 points, but yesterday only increased 10 points."

"Could it be that the first day had a newbie bonus?"

He couldn't figure it out.

The system didn't give an answer either.

Everything he could only slowly figure out to find a pattern.

Moreover, his daily luck isn't great, not even as good as yesterday's.

Could the system be trying to make him rest a day this way?

Rest my ass.

"A Qing, let's go."

The two brothers picked up their buckets and headed straight for the beach; this time he deliberately detoured around Yellow Sand Beach to avoid being followed, but upon reaching the mudflat, they discovered several lamps there.

A Qing pointed and shouted: "Brother, someone is out foraging."

"This mudflat is public, anyone can come." Wu An stepped onto the mudflat, saying: "Today there's more water than yesterday."

"A Qing, let's stay together, don't wander off, keep an eye on each other."

A Qing scratched his head: "There's so much water, you can't even see the mud, what do we do?"

Wu An smiled: "It's all down to luck."