Chapter 51: If I can help, I'll lend a hand when the time comes

Gu Anran is quite pretty.

Even in loose long pants and a baggy long-sleeve shirt, her youthful beauty is hard to hide.

Besides admiring her beauty, Wu An feels more respect.

Gu Anran is probably a year younger than him, maybe not yet 20, just 19, already shouldering life's burdens.

No wonder in their previous life they had no interaction at all.

Gu Anran is striving to live, while he is wasting his life.

After waiting about ten minutes, Gu Anran arrived on a red pedal tricycle.

She parked the tricycle on the beach, got off holding a bottle of mineral water, and said, "You must be anxious waiting; here's this bottle of water."

Wu An was a bit surprised but not shy, took it and said, "Thanks, how did you know I was thirsty?"

Gu Anran laughed: "Digging for three hours, you must have sweated a lot."

"I saw you hadn't drunk water, so I guessed you'd be thirsty."

Wu An startled, pondering her words 'I saw you hadn't drunk water', he smiled and gulped down half the bottle.

Seeing Gu Anran carrying a water bucket, he hurried over to help.

He had a snake-skin bag and a water bucket; Gu Anran had two water buckets.

Don't let Gu Anran's frail appearance fool you—she's quite strong.

Carrying a water bucket uphill, she keeps pace with him without hesitation.

Lifting the snake-skin bag, Gu Anran also helped; each took one side and together they carried it to the roadside.

Gu Anran skillfully wiped sweat with the towel draped over her neck, then pulled a scale from the tricycle.

Wu An said, "You're quite well prepared."

Gu Anran smiled: "Borrowed from the neighbor."

Placing the snake-skin bag on it, the scale read exactly 70 catties.

The water bucket weighed 25 catties; Wu An kept 5 catties, together totaling 90 catties, which comes to 540 dollars.

Gu Anran opened her satchel; Wu An glanced inside and saw lots of loose change.

Gu Anran counted the money and handed it over: "You count."

Wu An took the money, slipped it into his pocket casually, and said, "No need."

"Goodbye."

Gu Anran smiled: "Goodbye."

Wu An nodded, picked up the bucket and headed back; he didn't notice Gu Anran circling back several times on her vehicle.

……

Back home, Wu An tidied up, took a cold shower, then glanced at the alarm clock: it was already 11:30 PM. Seeing the few hundred dollars on the table, he couldn't help but smile.

After just a little over four hours of work, he earned over five hundred; he still felt quite good.

If this wage got out, it would surely make city workers envious.

Speaking of making money, Gu Anran, who runs a stall, definitely earns more; these days, doing business well at a stall is quite profitable.

In his previous life, he also set up a stall at the night market.

But he was careless, not serious; business was mediocre, and a month's work earned less than delivering takeout.

Back then, the neighboring grilled squid vendor's business was booming; hearing gossip from peers, that brother, relying on selling iron-plate squid, managed to buy three apartments in the city.

That made him envy him to death.

But there was nothing to be done—he wasn't cut out for making money, and after a few months he switched to delivering takeout.

Seeing Gu Anran so readily buying razor clams today, her business must be doing well.

Such a hardworking girl earning money ended up forced to leave her hometown; he thought if he had the chance, he could lend a hand.

After all, helping Gu Anran is also helping his father.

Thinking about it, under the breeze of the electric fan, he gradually drifted into dreamland.

……

Next morning.

Wu An woke up, glanced at the alarm clock: it was already 7:30 AM.

He turned over, sat up leaning on the headboard, his whole body sore, but much better than the previous two days; his body gradually adapted to the high-intensity daily activity.

His lazy bones were slowly hardening.

This is probably what getting stronger feels like.

That's a good thing.

He glanced out the window; outside felt overcast.

He got out of bed and opened the door.

The sky was thick with dark clouds, looking like it would rain soon.

After washing up, he went into the kitchen; there was rice and flour, plus the razor clams left from yesterday, and he planned to make razor clam meat pancakes.

Clam meat pancakes.

Just thinking about it made him salivate involuntarily.

He blanched the razor clams, picked out the meat, tossed it straight into the flour mixture, added two eggs from home,

"Too bad there's no scallion."

Wu An muttered, heated the pan, brushed on oil, poured the batter around the edge, and soon a clam meat pancake sizzled out of the pan.

He made a dozen or so pancakes; biting into one was full of razor clam meat.

He hadn't finished one pancake when a light drizzle began to fall.

The rain grew heavier and heavier, falling faster and faster.

Around here by the sea, it's like that—let alone needing dark clouds to gather before it rains; often it's sunny one second and the next second rain could be falling on your head.

Of course, this kind of rain comes quickly and goes quickly; sometimes it can fall four or five times a day.

Wu An ate his biscuit, watching the rain, and actually found it quite interesting.

He glanced at the system.

Luck Value: 59 (15)

Speaking of the daily luck value, saying it's a lot isn't saying much, and saying it's a little isn't saying little.

Wu An finished breakfast, took out his phone to play a bit, then suddenly remembered he hadn't contacted Lao Mai, and quickly found the note Lao Mai had written.

He dialed the number written on it.

"Beep beep beep."

Wu An waited a while, feeling it might auto-hang up, when Lao Mai finally answered, shouting: "Hello, who's this?"

"Lao Mai, it's me."

"A An, you finally called me." Lao Mai's voice was loud, with wind and rain noise in the receiver: "Come to Zhen Dong Shuizha quickly, the grouper are biting."

Upon hearing that, Wu An said: "Since it's raining, I'm not going."

"What does fishing have to do with whether it's raining or not?" Lao Mai suddenly raised his voice a few degrees: "I'm not saying more, I've got a bite..."

The phone cut off abruptly.

Wu An shook his head, looked at the rain outside, went to the kitchen and found a relatively clean snake-skin bag, cut it open, and placed it on his head as a makeshift raincoat.

He left the door ajar and hurried straight to the small shop in the rain.

Honestly, it works better than a bought raincoat.

Arriving at the small shop, he greeted Lao Jiang and said: "I plan to fix up the old house; my dad said you have contacts for a construction crew."

Lao Jiang rummaged for a while and produced a yellowed business card.

Wu An dialed it.

Lao Jiang looked at his phone, eyes lighting up: "Xiaomi 2, just released not long ago."

"Tsk tsk, a prodigal's return is worth more than gold."

"Looks like even Goddess Mazu falls for this."

Wu An ignored it, waited a moment, the call connected, they chatted briefly, he stated his needs—installing a door, installing windows, repairing the roof, roughly giving the area—and they quoted 5000.

Wu An fell silent for two seconds.

He hadn't expected that just a simple repair would cost so much; his pocket held at most a little over a thousand.

He coughed twice and asked: "So when do you have time to come to my place for a look?"

The other party said: "With this rain, the earliest would be this afternoon."

"Xixi Village, right? I'll call you before I come."

Wu An acknowledged, ended the call, then called Lao Mai again, saying: "Lao Mai, aren't you leaving?"

Lao Mai replied: "Of course not, are you coming?"

Wu An said: "I think you're right; as a fishing guy, how could a little wind and rain stop me? I'll head over to find you right away."

Lao Mai doubted: "How did you change your mind?"

Wu An smiled: "Of course, because I like fishing."