Chapter 7 Home

Chapter 7 Home

Chapter 7 Going Home
"It's a very hidden place. I discovered it by accident. No one can find it without me leading the way." Li Changle told the two elders about the situation in the cave.

After hearing this, Father Li hurriedly said, "You didn't tell your friends, did you? I tell you, there are few true friends in the world, so don't say anything you shouldn't."

Li's mother also looked at him with a worried look on her face. "Ah Le, you already have two children. You should be more careful. What Wang Mazi said outside was very unpleasant."

"I know that Wang Mazi took advantage of me and told everyone that I was a fool..." Li Changle thought of herself in her previous life, who forgot her last name after being flattered by others. She felt so embarrassed that her ears started to burn.

"I am the father of two children after all. I was careless before and just messed around, causing you to worry. I won't do that anymore in the future."

Now he just wanted to make money while it was good these days, as much as possible, and also bring A Niang and A Nan to the hospital for a physical check-up, to prevent them from dying early like in their previous life.

After hearing this, Father Li felt that it was his own accident that had touched him, and even wondered why he didn't let the five-step snake bite him earlier, maybe A-Le would wake up sooner.

"You are smart and lucky, but don't think about making a lot of money by running errands with brother-in-law Wang Mazi. That is not a legitimate business. Don't think he is doing well now, he will be caught by the Maritime Administration sooner or later."

Li Changle said solemnly: "Don't worry, I won't think about it anymore. I will go fishing with you in the future."

Mother Li looked at him. Although she still didn't quite believe it in her heart, she had doted on her son for more than 20 years after all. This was the first time she had heard him say such words in all these years. She was so happy that she kept wiping her tears with a patched handkerchief.

"Buddha bless you, my Ah Le has finally come to his senses..."

Li Changle looked at his delighted parents, feeling upset, and fled out of the ward with the net bag in his hand.

After walking out, I stood outside listening to the relaxed voices inside, and walked out happily. Thinking that my father would no longer suffer the pain of his previous life in this life, I was so happy that I was bubbling with joy, and even my steps became a lot lighter.

After leaving the hospital, I noticed that there were a lot of food stalls on the sidewalk outside. I was busy going in to see the doctor to ask about my condition, so I didn't notice it.

When I saw a man selling rice cake rolls, my stomach started to growl. I had climbed over mountains and crossed the sea early in the morning, carrying dozens of kilograms of fish to sell. The two wheat cakes I had eaten in the morning were long gone.

"Boss, give me a pancake roll!"

"OK!"

The boss picked up a piece of pancake skin, put shredded egg, rice flour, mushrooms, green bean sprouts, dried tofu, and cabbage, rolled it into a tube, put it on the frying pan, fried it until both sides were browned, wrapped it in brown paper and handed it to him, "A dime!"

What a bargain! Li Changle paid the money, took a bite of the thick rice cake tube with both hands, and wolfed it down. The dough was oily, fragrant and crispy, and the various delicious ingredients wrapped in the dough were released in the mouth.

The rice cakes these days are still the best, cheap and delicious!

Thinking that his parents might not have had breakfast yet, he added, "Two more!"

"Okay!" The boss started working quickly.

He turned his head and saw that there were stalls selling fried rice cakes, fried glutinous rice cakes, chopped bean flour, ginger eggs... a long string of small stalls all selling food. Some people came with lunch boxes and porcelain jars to buy food and take it home to eat. Unfortunately, he didn't bring a lunch box or porcelain jar, so he could only watch.

At this time, an old man holding a winnowing basket and carrying a backpack kept shouting, "Ginger candy, ginger candy for sale!"

Li Changle walked over, took a look at the ginger juice in the high-temperature bottle, picked up the ginger candy in the brown paper bag and asked, "How much are the ginger candy and ginger juice?"

"Ginger candy is one cent and two pieces, one pack is ten cents, there are twenty-one pieces, and ginger juice is thirty cents a bottle."

Li Changle took out a dollar and said, "Give me a bottle of ginger juice and 50 cents of ginger candy. Divide them into four packages and keep one package for yourself." It's so cheap, I'll keep one package for my parents, one for my two bastards, and one for my eldest and second brothers' children.
"Okay!" The ginger candy seller took four paper bags, wrapped the candy in them, tied the ginger juice and ginger candy with a hemp rope and handed them to him, "Here you go!"

Li Changle nodded, holding the heavy candy in his hand, thinking that in the future, two bags of ginger candy as heavy as this would cost at least thirty yuan. He felt again that things these days were not valuable, but money was really valuable.

The man selling rice rolls had also finished rolling them. He returned to the ward with the rice rolls and ginger candies, and saw the two old people each holding a wheat roll and chewing on it.

"Dad, Mom, I bought some biscuit rolls, they taste pretty good."

Mother Li took it distressedly and said, "We have food here, why did you spend that money?"

"The doctor said that Dad needs to eat better to recover faster." Li Changle put ginger candy and ginger juice on the table. "I'm still waiting for Dad to come back and go into the cave with me to pick oysters!"

When Li's mother and father saw that he bought so much, they wanted to say something to him, but they were also worried that their son, who had just recovered a little, would rebel.

"Your two sisters-in-law took so many chicken and duck eggs. They are very nutritious. It's not easy to make money. Don't spend it recklessly. When you go back, give the remaining money to An Nan."

"I know! Then remember to cook them and eat them!" Li Changle carried the ginger candy out of the hospital, walked to the side of the road, hailed a minibus, stopped all the way to Baishatou, got off at the entrance of the village, and walked back excitedly.

The paddy fields on both sides of the bumpy gravel dirt road are planted with late rice. In another ten or twenty years, these rice fields will all be turned into buildings and small Western-style houses.

At the entrance of the village, there are several two- or three-story brick and tile buildings that are considered tall and imposing in this day and age. Going further back, there are rows of orderly arranged stone houses all the way to the foot of Yantou Mountain.

Baishatou Village is located on the seaside, and the rocks can withstand the moisture and typhoons from the sea.

In the old days, almost every family built their houses with stones, and the tiles on the roofs were weighed down with broken stones to prevent the roofs from being blown away by strong winds and heavy rains when typhoons came.

In addition, in the past, pirates and Japanese pirates were often encountered along the coast, and houses built with stone could serve as a good defense.

The Li family had four stone houses. After the three of them got married, they built a house next to it for cooking.

In June, the alleys were cooler, and many women gathered in the alleys to mend fishing nets, winking and whispering to each other from time to time.

Seeing him coming, several women immediately gathered together and whispered to each other, turning their heads to glance at him from time to time while talking.

Li Changle understood that they were talking about how he had found a great bargain.

There was no way. The village was so small, and with the power of the Village Information Department, if someone lost a chicken, the news would spread throughout the village in less than half a day, not to mention the rare thing that a second-rate guy like him could sell a chicken for hundreds of dollars.

Li Changle was too lazy to talk to them. He turned into an empty alley and strode towards his home at the foot of Yantou Mountain.

From a distance he could see his youngest son Li Xiaozhou, who had curly hair just like him, riding a broom as if it were a horse in the alley beside his house.

The eldest son, Li Xiaohai, sat obediently on a stool and helped his mother wind the shuttle thread.

Zhou Ruonan held the ruler in her left hand and the shuttle in her right hand as she weaved a net. Seeing her skillful approach reminded me that she didn't know how to weave a net when she first went to the countryside. It was only after she got married that she learned how to weave and mend various fishing nets from her mother.

"Dad, you're back!" When Li Xiaozhou saw him coming back, he dropped the broom and ran towards him.

(End of this chapter)