Chapter 64: Small Fish Causing a Commotion

Wu An nodded. Lao Xie runs a purchasing stall, busy all day at the dock dealing with fishermen, so his information is definitely reliable.

Lao Xie narrowed his eyes and said, "I haven't heard of anyone selling a fishing boat. What size are you planning to buy?"

Wu An thought and said, "It shouldn't be too small, right?"

"It needs to be the kind that can go to offshore uninhabited islands, capable of longline fishing, crab pots, and cast nets, about seven to eight meters, or maybe ten meters?"

"What do you think?"

Lao Xie said, "Then you might as well go all out and just buy a trawler, about ten meters, which would probably cost over two hundred thousand."

"That's expensive!"

Wu An pondered a bit; he figured he'd need to work for about a month to save enough.

"You mean the price of a new boat?"

Lao Xie nodded and said, "That's for sure."

"For specifics, you need to check with the shipyard."

"You want to buy a boat… you haven't been making little money lately."

Wu An saw Lao Xie's expression and knew what he was thinking; he smiled and said, "I've been busy in town lately, so I went nearby to sell goods."

"You know, I've been watched by the villagers lately."

"Wherever I go, the villagers follow."

Lao Xie suddenly understood and said, "These people just like to join the fun; I haven't seen villagers coming to sell goods more than before."

"Nobody has your luck."

"I think hardly anyone goes to the tidal flats to gather seafood anymore."

Wu An smiled and said, "Then please keep an eye out; if you hear anyone selling a fishing boat, contact me anytime."

Lao Xie nodded.

After chatting a bit more, Wu An said goodbye, found A Qing, who had already bought vegetables, then bought two strips of pork belly, plus cooking staples, spending 200 yuan; the two returned home laden with bags.

Wu An went into the kitchen to work.

A Qing wasn't idle either; he went home to pull out the tables and chairs.

Just after finishing two dishes, he heard someone speaking at the doorway; the voice sounded like his father, so Wu An came out of the kitchen and saw it really was his father.

Wu Yingwei looked at Wu An, sweating profusely, his habitual frown easing slightly, and said, "I'll come take a look."

"This also counts as village work."

"You do your thing."

Wu An nodded, didn't say much more, and went back to the kitchen to work.

A Qing arrived; Wu Yingwei helped pull the table off the cart, just as he was about to leave, A Qing hurriedly called out, "Uncle, stay for a meal."

Wu Yingwei thought it over, nodded, and said, "That works."

"……" A Qing felt awkward; he was just being polite.

Wu An was quite pleased.

His cooking skills were honed while making a living outside, learned from online videos, and differ from his hometown's taste—mildly numbing and mildly spicy.

A Qing kept praising it after eating.

Wu Yingwei ate until he was sweating profusely, having two bowls of rice.

After the workers finished eating, they each sought a shady spot to rest; the doorway led to a grove with many banana and coconut trees, casting wide shade.

Lying there, the sea breeze blows, and one can soon fall asleep peacefully.

Wu An and A Qing, having nothing else to do, ran off to fish.

Since they only had five Luck Points, he didn't add more, giving each of their fishing rods two Luck Points; the amount of Luck only affects how fast they get a bite.

First, see what the fish are biting.

If it's good, it's not too late to keep adding Luck Points.

The two put on their straw hats, fully equipped, came to the big reef, cast their lines with bait, waited a moment, and after a bite, it was easy to reel in.

Looking up, it was a Stone Nine Public, too small to sell.

A Qing also got a bite; pulling up, it was a small mud fierce fish—this fish is poisonous and smelly, but quite tasty, and people around here like to eat it.

But the caught fish were too small to eat, let alone sell.

The two exchanged a glance and threw the fish back.

They fished again.

The fish were biting well, and they soon got a bite.

The result was still small fish when they pulled them up.

A Qing couldn't take it anymore and said, "Brother, today the small fish are swarming the nest."

"How about we change spots?"

Wu An wiped the sweat from his face, waved his hand, and the sweat fell like rain onto the reef, hissing and steaming; under the blazing sun, the temperature on the reef is estimated to be hot enough to scorch an egg outright, let alone UV rays—definitely absurdly strong.

Wu An nodded.

The two moved to another big reef and cast their lines with bait.

The result was still small fish swarming the nest.

If they were just ordinary fishing enthusiasts, catching fish with a linked rod would be fun.

But they aren't.

They're here to make money.

A Qing was extremely depressed, and on top of that, their Luck Points were exhausted—even a small Stone Nine Public didn't bite.

Wu An shook his head: "Forget it, no fishing today."

Let's go back and rest.

A Qing didn't say anything.

Being a bit tired or hot is fine, but not catching any fish is really unpleasant.

After tidying up the fishing gear, the two of them returned to Lao Wu.

They drew well water, ladled it over their heads; the well water was icy cold, making the whole person instantly feel extremely cool.

Several workers seeing this were extremely envious.

It's the young people who can't even stand the freshly drawn well water.

After taking a shower, Wu An and A Qing took out a cool mat from the house and also found a cool shady spot under a tree to lie down.

Foreman Li curiously asked: "Did you catch any fish?"

A Qing shook his head: "We caught quite a few fish, but they were all too small, so I and my brother threw them all back."

Foreman Li said: "You shouldn't throw them back; small fish wrapped in flour and fried are really fragrant."

A Qing smiled: "My brother won't allow it."

"Being poor and particular." Foreman Li pursed his lips, saying: "I think you young people are just too ambitious."

Wu An was playing a game on his phone, his fingers busy nonstop, basically having no time to speak.

After a while, he felt sleepy.

Putting down the phone, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

On the other side.

Mei Yueqin and Wu Ping went to visit relatives.

The wife's family is quite far, over ten li from Xixi Village; on foot it would take half a day. After borrowing Lao Meng's tricycle, they finally made it back to the wife's home, bringing quite a lot of things.

Besides the two fish, they also bought a lot of nutritional supplements; the elder uncle's family has two kids, so they bought yogurt and a big snack gift pack, and also bought a razor for the younger brother-in-law Xiao Wu.

Arriving at the gate, the door was ajar; Mei Yueqin pushed it open, Wu Ping drove the car into the courtyard, hurriedly greeted them— the elderly couple were both at home, busy sorting the salted fish.

Their method of curing salted fish is an old tradition.

"Since you've come, why bring so much old stuff?" Elder Mei Donghai, seeing the items in the cart, hurriedly stopped Wu Ping from unloading, saying: "Don't take them out; just bring them back when you leave."

The old woman also came over and said: "Exactly, the family isn't well-off; why waste money?"

This is not just polite talk.

The elderly couple truly think highly of Wu Ping as their son-in-law; although the Wu family is poor and Wu Ping isn't very capable, they are not the type to despise poverty and favor wealth.

The elderly couple both attended school back then, so they are cultured; they also respect cultured people, and they highly approve of the work of the Wu father and son. That's why Mei Yueqin can support Wu Ping so much, silently contributing to the Wu family.

Every time Mei Yueqin comes to visit relatives, the elderly couple always try to help out.

Over time,

On the contrary, Wu Ping feels embarrassed and rarely accompanies Mei Yueqin on visits to relatives.

But today is different.