Chapter 335: Happier than Chinese New Year
Chapter 335: Happier than Chinese New Year
When Mr. Li got home, he saw that the table was set. There was a big pot of braised pork trotters, fried conch meat with celery, blanched nine-segment shrimps, braised abalone, chicken stewed with sea cucumber, stir-fried vegetables, and dried shrimp and winter melon slices.
"Grandpa, look, everything is delicious today." Several children sitting around Xiaofang's table said, staring at the soda bottles on the table.
"Be good, grandpa will go wash your face. You can eat first if you are hungry." Father Li walked towards the kitchen happily.
Sister Li Dasao and Sister Li Xiaoqing each came out with a stack of bowls. When they saw the sodas, they couldn't help but give Li Xiaoyang another blank look.
"The bigger it gets, the more outrageous it gets! A few dollars can buy several pounds of meat, what's the point of buying these things that won't fill you up?"
"They always blame me." Li Xiaoyang muttered, "It's not me who wants to buy so much. It's Uncle San who said to buy all of them as soda and bring them back for everyone to drink."
Li Changle came out and saw the aggrieved look on the little guy's face, and felt pity for him, "Sister-in-law, I asked you to buy it. It's a rare happy occasion, so let the children drink it to make them happy."
Mrs. Li nodded, thought for a moment, and said, "Ah Le, we all earned our money through hard work. Don't spoil them like this in the future. It's not good to get used to spending lavishly."
Ale and Anan are good in every way except that they spoil their children too much. It will be troublesome if they spoil the children.
"Okay!" Li Changle turned his head and looked at the children, "Did you hear me? You are not allowed to waste the wages you received today."
"Got it!" the child responded quickly.
"Be good!" Li Changle picked up a pair of chopsticks, "What flavor do you like to drink? Dad will open it for you."
"We've divided it up." Li Xiaozhou handed him the soda in front of him, "Dad, did you make a lot of money today?"
Li Changle stroked him and said, "It's not much. I just rewarded you for being so good."
Li Xiaohai pulled Li Changle and said, "Dad, you said before that you would buy us a big TV when you made money. When will you buy it?"
Li Xiaoyang and the others hurriedly said, "Uncle San, please buy it quickly, we want to see it too!"
"Uncle San, I want to see Ikkiu." Li Xiaomei pulled his collar and shook it back and forth, and the red hairband on her little bun also shook.
Li Xiaozhou squeezed to the front and grabbed the other side, "Dad, Ikkiu is so handsome"
"Okay, Ikkiu-kun looks good."
Li Changle pulled a handful of each person, and pointed to the nearly completed new house on the first floor in the front row with a smile, "Wait until the new house at home is built and you move in, I guarantee you'll have TV to watch."
Li Xiaoqing and her sisters' eyes lit up. "Really?"
Li Xiaoyang came up to him and said, "Uncle San, as a man, do you keep your word?"
"You little brat!" Li Changle knocked on everyone, "When have I ever broken my word?"
Li Xiaohai said hurriedly: "I testify that my father always keeps his word now."
"My eldest brother is still very obedient!" Li Changle rubbed his head, "Sit down and eat obediently, I'll open a soda for you."
"I can do it, too." Li Xiaoyang picked up a pair of chopsticks, put the tips of the chopsticks together under the bottle cap, and pried it hard. With a "bang", the bottle cap flew far away.
"Wow!" The boys gathered around him and said, "Xiaoyang is awesome, I want to learn from him."
Li Changle saw several children gathered together to learn how to open a bottle, so he turned around and went in to pick up the wine jar. When he entered the kitchen, he saw Zhou Ruonan using ginger slices and brown sugar to cook old wine.
"Anan, use the old wine that grandma bought to cook it."
"Hmm!" Zhou Ruonan took the jar of wine and said, "Mother dried all the sea cucumbers. More than 20 kilograms were put into sand pots and boiled with sea water. After they cooled down, they were dried over charcoal fire. They looked so big when they were fresh, but after shrinking, they became hard and shrunk several times."
Li Changle smiled and said, "The sea cucumbers we brought back are old. The younger ones shrink more. More than 20 kilograms of fresh sea cucumbers can only produce more than one kilogram of dried sea cucumbers at most."
"I think the shrinkage is about the same as that of a jellyfish head." Zhou Ruonan brought down the cooked old wine. "After you left, Ah Shui helped collect the traps and jars every day. I'll give you the money from the sales later."
"Okay, share the money with them after dinner."
"Yes!" Zhou Ruonan took down the wine pot. "The police station called the village and asked you to come back and visit when you are free. Uncle Adong said that they seem to want to buy fresh goods from you."
Li Changle nodded happily, "Okay, it wasn't a wasted trip last time."
"You two haven't finished cooking yet?" Grandma Chen walked in with a smile.
"Okay." Li Changle carried the wine pot and left the kitchen with her and Zhou Ruonan. He said to Li's mother, "Mother, don't rush to eat. Have a couple of cups to relieve your fatigue."
Mother Li smiled and nodded, "Let's drink a few glasses! Drinking on an empty stomach is bad for the stomach. Eat a small bowl of rice first and then drink."
"Okay, eat half a bowl of rice first to fill your stomach."
Mother Li then said to Father Li, "Dad, why did your eldest brother come to you just now?"
"He said there was a shipowner on the south coast who wanted to sell a big ship. He said Ah Le was very lucky and wanted to partner with us to buy a ship and take advantage of Ah Le's good luck."
"Bah! This family is more calculating than abacus beads. Don't listen to them. If we form a partnership with them, we will lose everything, while they will make a fortune."
"I know. I told him that even if they gave money to my family, I wouldn't dare to accept it. We just need to be polite on the surface and not let others laugh at us."
"It's better to stay away from people who are good at calculating."
Father Li took the meal that Sister Li had prepared and said, "No more talking, let's eat!"
Stir-fried snails with celery, braised abalone, stewed chicken with sea cucumber, and braised pork trotters are just a few of the main dishes that the whole family enjoyed until their mouths were drooling.
After dinner, the children went to play hide-and-seek with Jin Pengfei, and they were happier than during the Chinese New Year. Zhou Ruonan and her sisters-in-law cleaned up the mess, while Li Changle and the others went back to the kitchen to divide the money.
During the days they were away, the fish caught with traps and jars were sold for three hundred and seventy-five. The harvest was not as good as when they were there, but it was still pretty good.
Li Changle and Li Erge took out bundles of banknotes from their bags and placed them on the table.
Looking at the brand new unity on the table, Li's mother, Li's father, eldest brother Li and the old lady all reached out to touch it.
Grandma Chen happily pulled Li's mother and said, "I've lived to such an old age and can still see so much money. This life is worth it."
Li's mother was so excited that she just nodded. "I've lived for most of my life, and this is the first time I've seen so much money."
Li Changle said with a smile: "Grandma, mother, this is only tens of thousands of yuan. There will be another big ship coming back next year. By then, we can work with both ships and make a lot of money."
Mother Li looked at the father and son, who had become much darker and thinner, and said distressedly, "You can't make enough money, so don't work too hard."
Grandma Chen also said: "Yes, health is more important. It's not worth it to get too tired."
Father Li laughed and said, "You don't know how easy it is to fish on a big boat because you have never been on one... It's not like before, when you worked so hard for a whole year and could only earn a few coins."
"You know what's going on in your mind, just don't put your health at risk."
"I know, mother!" Li Changle took out the bill of lading and said to the others, "Adong's family sold 19226 yuan, Uncle Kun got 15158 yuan, a jellyfish head for yuan, and the money for a hairtail fish has not been settled yet.
These three sums of money, plus the money from the sale of the fish caught in the traps and jars in the past few days, minus the bonus given to Ah Cheng, total 34939 yuan. Let's divide this money first, and then divide the money from the hairtail."
After hearing this, Chen Yongwei said, "Brother, Uncle Tang hasn't given the bonus yet?"
Father Li smiled and waved his hand, "No, I'll just help you for a while, why do I need to take money?"
"Captain, you've worked for us, so we can't not pay you!" Li Changle said as he took out a bunch of banknotes, counted out two hundred yuan and handed it to Father Li, "Dad, this is your bonus. I'll pay you your wages at the end of the year."
Father Li rubbed his hands happily, "Why do we need so much?"
Grandma Chen said cheerfully, "Tang, just take what the children give you. If you come along, we will feel more at ease at home."
Brother Li smiled and nodded, "Yes, with my father on board to help us steer the boat, we feel much more at ease."
"Take it. The children are honoring you."
Mother Li's face was full of wrinkles from smiling. Her three sons earned more than 20,000 yuan in one trip. The family's dry goods business was getting better and better. The money for building a house had been prepared long ago. Their lives would be prosperous from now on!
Father Li then took the money and said to the others, "Don't share the money from the sale of the catfish and hairtail. When the weather gets better, we will need to buy diesel, ice, meat and vegetables when we go out to sea!"
"This time I spent more than 3,300 yuan on diesel and ice. I also said that Ah Le prepared too much. Fortunately, I prepared a lot. I dared to let go when I encountered a big school of fish."
"Next time you go out to sea, you must prepare enough fuel and food in advance. It's best to prepare a week's worth of fuel and food."
"You are the boss and you have the final say."
"That's right. You have the final say on the ship, and I, an old man, dare not disobey you."
Everybody burst into laughter.
"No more talking, let's get down to business and share the money!"
Li Changle smiled and calculated, "There are 34739 left now. Big brother, second brother, and Awei each have 6947% of the shares, so they will get 8 yuan. The rest is mine."
Brother Li joked, "Ah Le, why don't you count your pile? If it's not enough, we won't give you any more!"
"No, if there are too many, I will have to share them out, which is not worth it!"
Father Li patted him and said, "What a clever boy!"
"That's it, three monkeys!"
Everyone started laughing again.
Zhou Ruonan and her sisters-in-law, who had packed up, also gathered around the eight-immortal table. Seeing a pile of banknotes in front of each person, Mrs. Li asked excitedly, "So much was distributed in one trip?"
"Yes!" Li Changle put the money into the bag and handed it to Zhou Ruonan, "Boss, the money is yours!"
Zhou Ruonan held the heavy bag and glared at him angrily, "You are talking nonsense again!"
Brother Li and Brother Li also smiled and handed the money to their wives, "Housewife, take the money!"
"Look, we are the housekeepers, not the heads of the household." Mrs. Li happily put the money in her apron and was about to go back to the house.
"Sister-in-law, hide your money and come here. I have something good to show you."
"I know. There are still a few yellow snails that haven't been opened yet. You want to open the beads and show them to us."
"It's not beads. Take the money back quickly and hide it. Go to A-Le's room to check things, so that the children won't see it when they come back and make a fuss."
"Oh oh!" The two sisters-in-law hurriedly took the money home and hid it.
(End of this chapter)