Chapter 88 Dream
Chapter 88 Dream
Chen Yongwei entered the yard carrying a basket of vegetables and saw Li Xiaohai and his siblings sitting in a circle on the steps with their heads put together. When he went closer, he saw that the children were playing with wooden sticks.
Li Xiaohai looked up and saw him, "Uncle Awei, you're here!"
"Yes!" Chen Yongwei picked up the melon and handed it to the children, "Take it and share it."
"Thank you, Uncle Awei!"
"Thank you, Uncle Awei. Your melons are so sweet."
"There are still some vegetables in the garden. We haven't eaten them all these days. If you want to eat them, go to my garden and pick some!" Chen Yongwei looked around and saw that the adults were not there. "Where's your dad? Is he still taking a nap?"
"Yeah! I'll go help you shout!" Li Xiaohai ran into the house, "Dad, get up, Uncle Wei is here to bring corn and melons."
"Here I am!" Li Changle glanced at Zhou Ruonan, whose face was flushed. "Lie down for a while. I'm going to leave first."
"Hurry up, it's time for Awei to go into the house." Zhou Ruonan rolled her eyes at him in reproach and sat up.
"Hmm!" Li Changle didn't dare to act strangely. He quickly smoothed his hair, opened the door and walked out. Chen Yongwei then entered the house carrying a basket of vegetables.
"Brother, Ah Fa wants to ask if you are going to catch eels and lobsters later?"
"Has the monkey not left yet?" He saw the melons in the basket, picked up a melon, slapped it open and started to eat it.
"He just came back and said he had finished the work over there."
Chen Yongwei took out the melon and sticky corn and put them on the table. "He said the price of eels is not bad. Some people in the market are charging 1.2 cents per pound. He also said he wanted to join us in fishing!
"Brother, I don't think he's here for fun. Isn't being a bamboo craftsman quite popular? Why did he want to come back to fish in the sea?"
"A winnowing basket or dustpan can be used for many years. Plus, there are more plastic products nowadays. People buy them and think they are good to use. So naturally fewer people hire bamboo craftsmen."
"So that's what's going on." Chen Yongwei said, "Then are you going to go fishing for eels and crayfish?"
People living by the sea think that the lobster mud in the river pond has a strong fishy smell and the fish and shrimp in the river are not valuable, so only young people occasionally go and catch them and bring them back to eat.
Li Changle looked at the scorching sun outside and said, "Going there now is no different from drying abalones. If we want to go, we should wait until three or four o'clock, when the sun is overcast."
He thought that they hadn't played together for a long time, so going during the day wouldn't prevent them from going out to fish in the sea or have some fun in the evening.
"Then I'll go tell Ah Fa." Chen Yongwei was about to leave with the vegetable basket.
"Why are you in such a hurry? We haven't settled the bill yet!" Li Changle threw the melon rind into the basin beside him, stood up and wiped his mouth, "I'll go get the account book and the money. Let's settle the bill and divide the money. You take back the agreement you wrote last time."
"Yeah!" Chen Yongwei put down the vegetable basket and sat down.
Li Changle entered the room. Zhou Ruonan, who was combing her hair, glared at him with a red face, "Don't do this next time. It's so embarrassing in broad daylight."
"As the old saying goes, after the wedding candles have been lit and the wedding ceremony has been held, no one will say anything when you do things in broad daylight!" Li Changle smiled and pinched her earlobe. "It's normal for a couple to do things. If you act more naturally, who would notice?"
"I don't want to bother with you!" Zhou Ruonan handed him the account book and the money. "Go out first. I'll come back later."
"It's hard to tell." Li Changle said, and hurriedly walked out with the account book and money.
"The catch we sent to A-Dong's family was sold for 123 yuan, and we sold it for 196 yuan. After deducting Uncle Kun's five yuan and the forty-one yuan from the two of us, we still have 150 yuan left."
He paused for a moment and said, "Adding the 162 yuan that was sold before but not divided, the total is 435 yuan. We will divide the beads after we sell them."
Chen Yongwei rubbed his hands happily, "Wow, it's only been a short time and we've earned so much."
"If we send all those sea urchins to the restaurant, we'll need dozens more!"
"Adong's prices are considered fair in the area, and they still make so much profit. No wonder people say that those who do business are all profiteers."
"In their eyes, we sea diggers are doing a business with no capital investment!"
"..." Chen Yongwei felt that this was wrong, but he couldn't think of any rebuttal.
Li Changle picked up the money, counted out 174 yuan and put it in front of him, and said to him: "Now that you have money, I think you'd better take out some more money and increase your shares to 30%."
Chen Yongwei shook his head, "Brother, 20% is enough."
Zhou Ruonan, who came out of the house, also persuaded him after hearing this: "Awei, just listen to your brother and add some more money to make up to 30% of the shares. If you two work hard, you will earn the money back in no time..."
"Sister-in-law, I'm not afraid of losing money, I, I..." Chen Yongwei scratched his head, looked at the two of them with gratitude and said:
"I've only worked with my brother for a week, and I've already earned 20% of the shares. I still have some spare money. If I ask for more, I won't be able to work with him anymore."
Li Changle stopped trying to persuade him and patted him on the shoulder. "Okay, I understand what you mean. Let's work hard and strive to get the land approved to build a new house next year!" Chen Yongwei nodded heavily. "Yes! We will build the new house next door."
"Okay!" Li Changle picked up the account book. "We have divided the money from the sale. Now I will tell you how much we spent. The boat cost 350, the tricycle 140, and the boat repair and modification cost a total of 300."
"I bought the wires and frames for the ground traps and crab nets, as well as the cans, fishing ropes, and steel wires. It cost a total of 149 yuan. Oh, and there's also 6 yuan for my sister-in-law's wages. The total is..."
"Brother, you haven't calculated the wages for my sister-in-law yet. My uncle and aunt also helped..."
"We gave it to them, but they didn't want it. They said they would be satisfied if we just worked hard." Zhou Ruonan said with a smile, "They don't want mine either. Just consider it as supporting your business."
She also likes the honest and simple Chen Yongwei, and is at ease with Li Changle being with him.
Chen Yongwei nodded repeatedly, "Sister-in-law, tell Uncle Tang that my brother is now more diligent and hardworking than me!"
"Yes, I want to do it myself now, without them chasing me with whips." Li Changle patted the money on the table and looked at the two people with a smug look on his face, "How can I earn this much money without the two old men chasing me with whips?"
Zhou Ruonan looked at him with amusement, "Okay, okay, you are awesome, okay!"
"That's right!" Chen Yongwei curled his lips, "What's so great about that? Earning money to support a wife and children is what a man should do."
"Hey~" Li Changle glared at him, "Fence-sitter, which country are you from?"
"Of course we are from the same country as you!" Chen Yongwei laughed, "Brother, settle the account quickly, I will take the money back to my grandma and make her happy."
Li Changle thought about the fabric, "You bought fabric for your grandma, did she scold you?"
"She first scolded me for not being in a hurry to lose money after making a little money. Later, she held the cloth in front of the shrine and muttered that her hard work over the years was not in vain, and she finally waited until I became sensible. She also said that when I got married, she would separate from me and live alone."
Chen Yongwei still feels bitter when he thinks about it now, "Brother, why are most of the elderly here unable to work when they get old?
When you need your children to take care of you, will you be like an old dog that no one wants in the village, living alone in a small hut in the corner of the house?"
Zhou Ruonan felt uncomfortable after hearing this. Thinking of her lonely mother, she became more unwilling to forgive her unscrupulous brother and sister-in-law.
"It's mainly because we're too poor, right? If you had the ability, your grandma wouldn't have lived that kind of life." Li Changle looked at Zhou Ruonan, who was hanging her head and keeping silent, and thought of her mother-in-law who was alone in Lucheng.
"Yes! I will work hard and not let my grandma live that kind of life."
"Let's do the math, let's do the math!" Li Changle picked up the account book. "The total cost of buying a boat, repairing it, and buying household items is 945 yuan. You have two shares, which is exactly 189 yuan. After deducting the 150 yuan you gave, you still need to pay 39 yuan."
"Okay!" Chen Yongwei counted out thirty-nine happily, "This share of money is quite auspicious!"
"Good luck. I hope we can exchange our small boat for a big boat soon." Li Changle asked Zhou Ruonan to write the contract, then turned to look at Chen Yongwei and said:
"When the boat comes back, we will also have to pay the workers for going out to sea. My father said that the monthly wages for a small boat are 50 yuan. We should also pay them the same. What do you think?"
"Brother, you are the captain of the ship, and your wages are higher than those of the boatmen."
"You are still a shareholder! When we change to a bigger ship, I will get the salary of the ship captain then." Li Changle picked up the palm-leaf fan and fanned himself a few times. He didn't even have the money to buy a fan.
First fix the small boat, build a new house, change to a bigger boat, buy an electric fan, a TV, a bicycle... then there will be hope.
"I heard that the boats of the people on the south bank are more than 10 to 20 meters long, and their machinery and equipment are much more advanced than our fishing boats, and they cost several thousand!"
"I heard them say in town last time that the ships in Taiwan are as big as a hundred meters long and twenty meters wide, with a deadweight of one to two thousand tons. They have generators, cold storage, fresh water machines, fishing net collection equipment, and everything we can think of."
When Li Changle thought of Chen Dong's big ship, his heart began to heat up.
"Fuck~" Chen Yongwei's eyes sparkled with envy, "Brother, I can't even think about this. If I could buy a boat with a load capacity of 100 tons and go to a few large fishing grounds in my lifetime, I would be satisfied."
"If you ask us to raise it higher, we can also drive the entire thousand-ton ship." Li Changle waved the palm-leaf fan loudly, as if this could blow all the money into the house.
"Don't listen to your brother's nonsense. He didn't get the nickname Braggart for nothing."
"Wife, this is my dream. People need dreams to be motivated to make money."
"Okay, okay, I wish you can set sail towards your dream!" Zhou Ruonan said, smiling as she handed the stock slip to Chen Yongwei, "Take it back and keep it safe for grandma."
"Yeah!" Chen Yongwei happily wrapped the money and the bill together, "Brother, don't forget to go fishing for eels at three o'clock!"
"got it!"
Li Changle handed the remaining money to Zhou Ruonan, "Wife, there is still one hundred yuan left. Return it to A-niang. We also have a boat and a tricycle. We are a family with property now."
Zhou Ruonan smiled and whispered, "Not only that, there are also dozens of ground traps, crab nets, and a few beads!"
(End of this chapter)