Chapter 193: Services I've Never Enjoyed
Chapter 193: Services I've Never Enjoyed
At this time, a car horn sounded outside. Li Changle knew that it was A Kun who came. He took the note and handed it to Zhou Ruonan, then hurried out to greet him.
Ah Kun smiled and got out of the car. "I came here on a sampan and heard that you encountered a school of silver pomfret. You must have caught a lot of big fish, right?"
"The best ones are reserved for you, and I won't give them to anyone else!"
"Good boy, I knew you were a kind person." A Kun patted him happily.
Li Changle led him towards the place where the boat was docked. As soon as they reached the bow, they saw Li Xiaoyang, who excitedly told Mrs. Li Da and Mrs. Li Er about the large sum of money she had made from selling her family's goods.
"Sister-in-law, turn on the headlights. Uncle Kun is here to see the fish."
"Oh!" Mrs. Li quickly turned on the headlamp and hung it on the top of the cabin. "It's all here. It still needs to be cooled!"
Li Changle lifted the old cotton wool covering the big fish and said, "Uncle Kun, look, this mackerel weighs 215 kilograms, and there are three red snappers weighing more than 20 kilograms.
There are also four swordfish weighing several dozen kilograms each, three tunas weighing over a hundred kilograms each, and these three baskets are all silver pomfret weighing more than two or three kilograms, blue crabs, and red eels. These are all good products for you."
"Fuck! This is the first time I've seen such a big mackerel!"
Ah Kun happily went forward to touch the swordfish, then the sharp mouth of the swordfish, and then touched all the fish, "Not bad, not bad, all good stuff!"
Li Changle smiled and said, "How could the one I left for you be any worse?"
"Good boy, you are loyal, Uncle Kun will not treat you unfairly!" Ah Kun pointed at the giant mackerel, swordfish and tuna and said:
"All three are 1.5 yuan each, red snapper is 10 yuan, silver pomfret over 2 catties is 1.8 yuan, and over 3 catties is 2.5 yuan per catty. The others are still the same price."
When Mrs. Li Da and Mrs. Li Er heard that the red snapper was priced at ten yuan per pound, they looked at each other in surprise and clasped their hands together in joy.
Li Changle nodded readily, "Okay, sister-in-law and sister-in-law, please move the fish to Adong's house to weigh it."
"Hey, hey!" Mrs. Li Da and Mrs. Li Er hurriedly lifted the bamboo basket and moved the fish to Adong's shop.
Seeing the two carrying the bamboo basket away, Ah Kun patted Li Changle and said, "Ah Le, uncle has something to say. Such heavy work cannot be left to two women. I will help you carry it over."
Li Changle raised his hand and said with a wry smile: "I pulled the net too much today and my hand is injured. I can't even hold the bowl."
Seeing that he couldn't even raise his hands high, A Kun glared at him and said, "You are not a stranger, why didn't you tell me earlier?" After that, he picked up the half basket of silver pomfret and walked towards the bow.
Li Changle quickly took out the headlamp to shine on him, "Uncle Kun, the springboard is not easy to walk on, be careful!"
"You underestimate your uncle Kun. I also came from a poor family. I used to carry a load of manure on my shoulders and walk on a half-foot wide ridge of the field, and I could still walk very fast."
"If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have noticed."
"You haven't worked for a few years, so you've become fat and white, so you can't tell." Ah Kun smiled and said, "Did I hear Ah Wei say the other day that Liu Ah Shui, that jerk, brought his gang to stop you on the way?"
"Don't be afraid, I can beat three of them alone..." Li Changle told him what happened.
Ah Kun smiled and glanced at him, "He is a real man, not a useless piece of paper!" Then he added, "Go there with confidence. I have told the man, and he won't dare to bother you again."
"Thank you for troubling you again!" Li Changle said gratefully.
"Why are you being so polite to me!" Ah Kun walked into the shop with a smile. Lao Chen came up to him and asked Ah San and Ah Qiu to help move the fish.
After moving the fish back and forth several times, they finally brought all the catches to Adong's house and weighed them.
The total weight of swordfish, king mackerel, and tuna was 667 kilograms, which was exactly 1,000 yuan after a 50-cent change. The three red snappers weighed 71 kilograms, which was 710 yuan.
Including two and a half baskets of silver pomfret and the blue crabs and eels, the total sales were two thousand two hundred and sixty, making a net profit of ten thousand five hundred a day.
A Kun gave the money, took the fish and shrimp that Li Changle had prepared for him, and drove away.
Li Changle thought that Zhou Ruonan and the others had been tired for several hours, so he said to her, "Anan, how about we freeze those small silver pomfret at Adong's house for one night, and then bring them back tomorrow morning?"
"No need. Take it back while it's fresh, kill it and marinate it overnight. It can be dried in the sun tomorrow morning."
"How long will it take you to get several hundred kilograms of fish?"
"A Le, the five of us can kill the fish in two or three hours at most." After saying this, Mrs. Li called Zhou Ruonan and the three sisters-in-law to carry the fish.
Mother Li and Grandma Chen were also busy helping to carry it.
A few people moved the remaining baskets of silver pomfret and a basket of mantis shrimp onto the cart, and walked back chatting and laughing.
Li Xiaotao thought about it and turned back to pull Mrs. Li, "Mother, we got rich today, so we don't have to eat sweet potato porridge every day, right?"
Li Changle looked at him with amusement, "What's wrong?"
Li Xiaotao rushed to say, "Today, the mountain man brought a lot of wood and spent all the money in the family. My mother said that we should tighten our belts and save money to build a new house."
Li Xiaoyang rolled his eyes at him, "Greedy cat, you are so shameless. I heard my mother say that she only eats porridge every day and that she would rather not have a new house but eat good food."
Li Xiaoqing: "Yes, I don't know who it resembles, it's so delicious!"
Brother Li and his wife also found it strange. They wondered who their youngest child looked like to be so delicious.
"Aren't you greedy?" Li Xiaotao said dissatisfiedly, "Sister and brother are the smartest. Every time they want to eat something delicious, they send me to tell mother, and every time I get scolded!"
"Who told you not to have a brain?" "Okay, stop arguing!" Li's mother patted her grandson happily, "With the money from the sale today, we will have enough money to build a new house for you in the future, and you won't have to eat sweet potato porridge every day."
"Great!" Li Xiaotao suddenly remembered today's wages, "Uncle San, you haven't given us that one dollar yet!"
"I'll give it to you when I get home." Li Changle looked at the fish in the bamboo basket and felt that these children were good at their job. "If you help grandma and the others kill and wash fish at night, your uncle will give you an extra fifty cents."
Li Xiaoyang rushed to say: "Okay, when we get home, you give us the money first, and then we will help you!"
Mrs. Li smiled and glared at him, "You don't need your uncle to give it to you. Mother will give it to you when we get back!"
Li Xiaoyang objected without hesitation, "No, we want Uncle San to give it to us. You always break your promises."
"You little rascal, are you thinking of eating firewood?" Mrs. Li scolded him in an angry tone, and pulled the cart forward with great energy.
"Mother, make a few bowls tomorrow and go to the master's temple to worship!"
Mother Li nodded and said, "I'll go buy tofu, meat and vegetables tomorrow morning!"
Grandma Chen hurriedly said, "Ale's mother, when you go, call me and I will go with you."
"OK!"
The group walked happily to the alley at the entrance of the village, and saw someone walking towards them hurriedly with a flashlight.
When he got closer, he saw clearly that it was Xu Xianmei and Li Ashui. Li's father hurriedly asked, "Ashui, it's so late, where are you going?"
"Let's go to the dock to see if my dad has landed?" Li Changshui said, looking at Li Changle, "Brother, have you seen my dad?"
"Uncle went to the town's dock to sell his catch. There were many people going out to sea today, so he might have been delayed, right?"
Li Changle didn't expect that Li Asi hadn't returned home yet. Could it be that he really went to the town to find someone for a massage?
"You bastard, you're still eager to bring such a small catch to the town to sell!" Xu Xianmei said angrily, turned around and walked back.
Father Li was unhappy after hearing this. "Ah Si, how can you talk like that? You've been married here for decades, and you don't know that we fishermen have many taboos?"
Mother Li curled her lips and said, "Other women go to the dock to wait when the sun goes down.
Some people only think of looking for someone when it’s almost 10 o’clock. If something really happens, it’s too late.”
"Bah! You really live by the sea, but you're so nosy!" Xu Xianmei spat in anger and turned away.
Li Changshui said to his father embarrassedly: "Second uncle, second aunt, don't bother with my mother."
Father Li nodded, "Second uncle won't argue with her!"
"Ah Shui!" Li Changle took two steps forward, "Fourth Uncle had a good catch today. He caught one or two thousand catties of silver pomfret."
"Ah!" Li Changshui looked at him in surprise, "Did you encounter a large school of fish today?"
"Yes!" Li Changle said, pointing to the bamboo basket on the cart, "Take a few back and pickle them later."
Li Changshui looked at the bamboo basket and said, "Brother, no need. My sister and I made a lot of money from fishing today, and we still have two fresh products left at home."
As they were talking, the group arrived outside the Li family's yard. Dahuang and Awang came out to greet them enthusiastically, wagging their tails and circling around the children.
Li's mother forced Li Changshui, who was helping to carry things, to pack a few pomfret before letting him go.
"There's some hot water in the pot for bathing. Go back and scoop some water for bathing. We're going to kill the fish."
Mother-in-law Zhou Ruonan, daughter-in-law and Grandma Chen said something to a few people and started working with headlamps.
Li Changle divided the money he got today among Brother Li and the other two, and they all went home to take a bath and apply some activating oil.
When he walked into the kitchen and lifted the lid of the pot, he found that the bath water in the pot had already turned into boiling water. Li Changle took a ladle and scooped a ladle of water, only to find that he couldn't scoop it at all. He poured out half of it and then reluctantly picked it up.
He poured cold water into the pot and said to himself, "I won't have the energy to work tomorrow, so I'll go to Lucheng to pick up my son. If my eldest son were at home, why would I have to be so pitiful?"
"Uncle San, my father asked me to help you get a bath." Li Xiaoyang came in skipping.
"Okay, okay!" Li Changle, who was planning to ask his wife for help, was overjoyed and quickly gave him the ladle. "My concern for you is not in vain. Now your nephew can help your uncle."
"That's right!" Li Xiaoyang helped him prepare the bath water, "Uncle San, do you want me to rub your back? I always rub my father's back every time he comes home."
"Oh~ My eldest brother is the one who knows how to enjoy life!" Li Changle looked at his nephew with a smile, "When your brothers Xiaohai and Xiaozhou come back, you must teach them well and set a good example."
"You still want me to teach my younger brother. My mother said I came here to collect my debts and that Xiaohai came here to repay her gratitude. She wished Xiaohai was ours!"
"Who made you so stubborn? You act without thinking!"
"My father said that I look like my uncle, not like anyone in our family!" Li Xiaoyang lifted the bucket and put it at the back door, then ran to get a small stool. "Uncle San, please sit down. I'll help you rub your back!"
"Okay!" Li Changle sat on the bench in shorts, enjoying a service he had never enjoyed before.
(End of this chapter)