Chapter 28: Consider It a Debt Repayment

Lao Jiang shivered and sat up from the bed.

He cursed Wu An in his heart, saying he used to be only sneaky.

Now he actually should rob openly.

He turned on the light and shouted, "Wu Erzi, don't be foolish."

"Robbery is illegal."

"You all leave quickly; I can pretend you never came."

Wu An shouted irritably, "I'm here to buy something."

"Come buy two buckets of instant noodles."

"Open the door quickly."

At this moment, passing villagers glanced at the two of them, whispering as they passed, though it was unclear what bad gossip they were saying.

Lao Jiang quickly opened the door.

Actually, occasionally villagers come at midnight to buy things; after all, villagers need something, and the town is too far, so they buy from him.

When someone knocks at midnight, he also has to open the door.

Only because the knocker was Wu An did he feel scared.

Wu An set the bucket down on the floor, too lazy to argue with Lao Jiang, and said, "Give me a pack of instant noodles."

"Also give me that alarm clock."

"Hurry up."

Lao Jiang glanced warily at the two, noticed they were carrying a bucket, instinctively looked inside, and immediately came over: "So many green crabs."

"Just dug up?"

"This bucket is… damn, Crab Tiger, it's a Crab Tiger, right?"

He shouted excitedly.

Wu An tried to stop him but didn't have time, and said irritably, "Stop shouting crap."

"It's a Crab Tiger, you didn't see wrong."

"Go get the instant noodles, quickly!"

Lao Jiang turned his head three times, placed a five‑pack of braised beef noodle soup on the counter, stared at the Crab Tiger in the bucket, and said, "How do you sell this Crab Tiger?"

Wu An shook his head, "I don't know."

Lao Jiang's eyes shifted, and he said, "I'll trade you wine for it."

"One bottle of wine for one Crab Tiger."

Wu An thought for a moment, noting Father likes a couple of drinks, and said, "Alright, just these two bottles, I'll give you four, enough to stew some tofu."

Lao Jiang instantly beamed, "Good, good, good, I'll go fetch a basin."

While Lao Jiang walked away, A Qing whispered, "Brother, it seems we lost out."

Wu An smiled, "Lao Jiang may have profited, but we definitely didn't lose."

"The small shop entrance is our village's information hub; keeping good relations with Lao Jiang is absolutely all benefit and no harm."

"Besides, we haven't been short on sneaking around here before; Lao Jiang didn't hold it against us, and now we have a chance, so let's consider it a debt repayment."

A Qing nodded in realization.

Though he still didn't quite understand, his brother's words were certainly correct.

Wu An didn't take the wine, and said, "Today I'll have my brother fetch it."

He set the alarm clock, grabbed the instant noodles, and the two walked toward Lao Wu.

They returned to Lao Wu.

The alarm clock sat on the bedside; it was only 3:50 AM. They changed clothes, boiled water for noodles, chopped an Orchid Crab and a green crab missing a leg and an arm, three pipi shrimp, and some clams blanched, extracting the meat.

A plain, unadorned seafood instant noodle bowl was ready.

They ate the bowl, not missing a drop of the broth.

"Burp."

The two brothers simultaneously let out a satisfied belch, leaned against the wall without moving, and after a while Wu An got up, returned to the house, saw it was already 4:30, and shouted to A Qing to carry the bucket.

At this hour, the diligent street vendor should also be opening shop.

Wu An took a detour toward home; unsurprisingly, the front door was already open and the chimney was smoking.

Father was a village official; his position was neither huge nor tiny, but the responsibility was great, at least he thought so, treating village affairs as more important than anything.

This morning the wind and waves were stronger, so he definitely had to leave early to stroll along the coast.

As expected, it went as he anticipated.

Big brother was similar to Father; he taught in the village, a privately funded teacher, the only one of its kind, while the other teachers had become public.

It's not that big brother lacked ability, but because of Father.

Father was a good person in every way, but he feared gossip; there was a benchmark to transfer to public status, yet Father stubbornly said he needed to avoid suspicion, so big brother actually stopped.

Result.

A few years later, the village elementary school was closed, and big brother was consequently laid off, with no livelihood security; at that time, his sister‑in‑law had already cut ties with him, and he only learned of these things through A Qing's inquiries.

Wu Ping regarded teaching as his lifelong vocation; after he stopped teaching, he went fishing with villagers but earned nothing, so he had to work in town, and his sister‑in‑law's life naturally suffered.

Wu An pondered that he definitely had to help big brother, at least to ensure his sister‑in‑law's future days were comfortable and prosperous.

Therefore, the household opened its door very early each day; the sister‑in‑law could only rise at dawn to prepare breakfast, so the father‑son pair could fill their stomachs before attending to their work.

Looking at it that way, he was the only blemish in this family.

He cautiously looked toward the courtyard.

Wu Ping happened to come out of the house, saw him, and shouted with surprise, "A An, stop hiding."

"Dad isn't home, just left."

"Standing at the Gate for what, quickly go into the Courtyard."

Hearing the sound, Mei Yueqin came out of the kitchen, saw Wu An, and said, "Second son, you're here."

"It's so early, you're going to chase the sea, right?"

"Are you tired?"

"What is family, huh."

Facing brother and sister‑in‑law's caring gaze, Wu An felt warm inside and said, "It's fine, just got up early, actually didn't work long."

"Good luck today, caught some Crab Tiger, kept a few small ones for you."

"Also these green crabs, even a broken leg won't fetch money."

Wu Ping quickly shook his head; "No."

"These Elder expensive, you take them to sell for money."

"The house isn't short of food, don't bring them to the house later."

Mei Yueqin also nodded, "Your brother is right, selling for money is the most urgent."

Wu An found a basin by himself, still his washbasin, scooped out a few small Crab Tiger, then tossed two green crabs in, and said, "I'm leaving."

"By the way, brother, if you have time to go to the Shop, I stored two bottles of wine, you bring them back to Father."

"Don't tell Father I bought them, I'm afraid he'll smash them."

After saying that he left.

Mei Yueqin hurriedly said, "Why the hurry, eat after the meal before leaving."

Wu An replied that he had already eaten.

Wu Ping caught up still wanting to speak, heard a noise next door, Wu An walked farther, he shook his head and returned to the Courtyard, the couple stared at each other, Wu Ping gave a wry smile twice, "Second son has become so good, I'm still a bit unaccustomed."

Mei Yueqin laughed, "Virtue."

"Dad has lately kept saying his legs and feet aren't smooth, eating Crab Tiger would be a good supplement."

"Hurry brush your teeth, wash your face, come eat; didn't you say yesterday you wanted to go to School early?"

Wu Ping nodded.

……

Wu An and A Qing went again to A Qing's house, also left some seafood, and the two only then walked toward the Dock.

Passing a corner, they crossed paths with Chen Gui.

Earlier Wu An had scolded Chen Gui, the two quarreled intensely, but Wu Yingwei pulled a face and apologized to settle it; now meeting, their gazes averted, neither paid attention to the other.

Chen Gui saw the two carrying water buckets toward the Dock, his eyes rolled, "These two rascals are carrying buckets from the Village to the Dock, whose house are they going to chase the sea at?"

"Elder Wu isn't wandering by the sea, so stopping by the Dock is also reasonable, right?"

Chen Gui chuckled mischievously and walked toward Yellow Sand Beach.

Fearing he couldn't find anyone, he also called Wu Yingwei, saying the wind starts today, suggesting to go to the Dock to carry out the publicity work 'Big wind, big waves, do not chase the sea.'

Wu Yingwei, although puzzled why Chen Gui cared about the work, didn't think much, and gladly agreed to the suggestion.