Chapter 366: Just Wait and See

Chapter 366: Just Wait and See

Chapter 366: Just Wait and See

At this time, there were still more than 20 women busying around by the big pit on the beach. Father Li and several uncles who were chopping dried fish kept reminding everyone to scrape and clean the black film, and everyone agreed with a smile.

"A-Tang, I heard that the dry goods store jointly opened by your eldest brother and eldest sister is about to close down. Your third child is still bringing back so many fresh goods to dry in the sun, can he sell them?"

"Who knows about that kid? He does whatever he wants and won't listen to what we say." Father Li pretended to complain, "He brought it back. We can only help him. We can't just watch it rot and stink!"

"A-Tang, 20 to 30 people are helping with the work, and the daily wages are several dozen yuan. If they can't make money, will you still let them do it?"

"That's right, you lied to us! I think you were having a lot of fun doing it!"

"Ah Sheng, you all know what kind of person that brat was before. Now he is willing to work hard. We can only support him regardless of whether he makes money or loses money. What if he can sell it?"

"Yeah, it's better to find a way to make money than to go to town and hang out with those hooligans."

"Yes, we can also earn some money for retirement." Ah Sheng said with a smile, "A Tang, in the future, instead of chopping yellow croaker, chop other dried fish heads, and we will help you do it too."

"The daily wage for chopping conger eels and squid is only two dollars. If you are willing, I will call you when the time comes."

"I'm willing. There aren't many yellow croakers, so we'll help you cut them up."

The wage is two yuan a day, and if you work ten days a month, you can earn twenty or thirty yuan without having to worry about your family affairs. How can you not be willing to do it?

Li Changle walked with his son to the intersection and saw dozens of large water vats placed on the beach. Brother Li, Li Daxiao and a few laborers had already loaded some of the large vats, which had been cleaned and dried for half a day, onto a flatbed truck and tied them up.

"Ah Le, you ride the tricycle back and we'll pull the cart."

"Okay!" Li Changle patted his eldest son, "Take my brother and follow dad."

"We're going to watch Grandpa kill fish!"

"The waves are high, don't go playing near the water."

"Got it!" The two brothers ran away hand in hand.

Li Changle and his companions pulled the cart home. The bricklayers and carpenters hired by the family had already eaten and were resting on the dam. When they saw them returning with the large vats, they came to help move them into the house.

After the big vats were moved, the fish jerky that had been killed and cleaned at the beach was brought back and dried on the dam and on the drying racks.

The wind was a bit strong, and the dried squid, eels and cuttlefish hanging on the drying rack were swaying in the wind, but this made them dry faster.

Li Changle took a look at the dried fish heads that were drying in the sun and felt that the dried fish heads dried in this season were the best. The wind was strong and the sun was not too hot, so the dried fish heads were bright white in color and had a strong flavor.

"Uncle San, we have so many dried fish heads drying in the sun. Can we sell them?" Li Xiaoyang, who was helping to turn over the dried fish heads, asked worriedly.

Li Changle smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't lose your wife."

"I don't want a wife." Li Xiaoyang said with disgust, "The money you gave to my father, he gave it to my mother when he got home. After handing over the money, he even had to ask her for money to buy cigarettes. The most annoying thing is that he still gets nagged by my mother."

"Don't be so stubborn. When you are eighteen or nineteen years old, you will be crying and shouting for a wife."

"Hmph! I won't! Just wait and see if you don't believe me." Li Xiaoyang turned around arrogantly.

"Stinky boy." Li Changle smiled and kicked him on the butt, then walked towards the kitchen.

"A Le!" Brother Li called him and pointed to the dam where the dried fish heads were dried. "Right now, no one has approved this vacant land for building a house, so we can still dry several thousand kilograms of fresh food.

After others have bought it, we can use the dam in front of our house and the open space in the backyard to dry one or two thousand catties of dried fish heads, but if we dry four or five thousand catties at the same time, it will be too crowded. "

Li Changle looked around and thought for a while. "I'll go ask Uncle Adong if he wants to sell the vacant land at the door. If he wants to sell it, we'll buy it.

Get some bricks to build a wall, buy some cement and oyster ash to harden it, and it will be easier to manage. "

Nanshan'ao is a flat land surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the southeast sea on one side. The foundation of Li Changle and his brothers is in the valley, close to the mountain.

Apart from the Jin brothers who had obtained the land for construction but had not yet started construction, during this period two other families with many children also obtained land for construction at the intersection.

At present, there is a row of vacant land belonging to five households in front of them. During this period, they mostly dry the dried fish in this area and on the western hillside.

"The land next to yours cost 500, and there are five families' foundations in front of it. If we calculate it at 500, it will cost 2,500 yuan to buy it."

Brother Li frowned and looked at him, "Do you think it's worthwhile to buy a piece of land for a drying yard for 2,500 yuan?"

"How can such a large piece of land not be worthwhile? There are not many residential plots in the village. I am also worried that if we buy all of them, the village will not agree!"

Brother Li thought about the situation in the village and couldn't help but feel a little anxious. "Then go ask Uncle Dong after dinner."

"Let's ask my father first if anyone has approved this piece of land."

The two returned to the house, where the food had already been served. The family had been busy in the past few days, so the old lady brought some rations over and they ate together at Li's house.

Grandma Chen smiled and said, "Peel the shrimps this afternoon, wash and dry the salted yellow croakers in the big vat tomorrow, and dry this batch of dried fish heads, and then there's nothing else to do."

Li's mother took over and said, "Yes, the ships have returned to the harbor to avoid the storm. If we wait for two more days, there will be no work to do."

"Everyone should have a good rest for a few days." Li Changle said as he looked at Zhou Ruonan who had become quite tanned. Suddenly he remembered the two stone fishes and said, "Second brother, where are the two stone fishes?"

"Uncle Kun took it and gave me 1.5 yuan per pound." Brother Li said happily, "He said if he gets it again in the future, he will send it to you."

"Fuck, it's better than the price of yellow croaker. If we can't go out to sea these days, let's go to the reef to fish for stonefish." "Brother, the reef beach where we caught the big blue grouper last time is easy to fish."

Mother Li smiled and said, "Awei, the eighth day of the Lunar New Year is just a few days away. Don't go fishing at the beach these days. You should stay at home and take good care of yourself."

Chen Yongwei smiled innocently, "Aunt, Ah Chan knows that I am dark-skinned, so she doesn't mind me."

Grandma Chen also laughed, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes pressed together intimately, "A-Le is still the best, no matter how much sun you get, you won't get tanned."

Li Changle looked very proud. "I heard from them that stonefish soup is good for the skin. When we catch some stonefish, we'll make you some beauty soup!"

Li Xiaoqing asked curiously: "Uncle San, what is beauty soup?"

"It's a soup that's good for your skin and will make it whiter."

Father Li looked at him with amusement, "You are just bragging. People in fishing villages have drunk fish soup since they were young. It's still black as it should be!"

Mrs. Li said with a smile: "That's right, even the meat is cooked with fish soup."

"Look, Awei isn't afraid of the dark when he's looking for a date, so we old-timers are even less afraid."

"That's right. It's better to sell the stone fish which costs RMB 1.5 per pound and buy meat." Mother Li said while giving Li Changle a sidelong look.

"Forget about it. I wanted to stew it for your health, but you didn't want it."

I don’t know the value of it. I’ll wait until the new house is built and each family starts cooking. Then I’ll catch some and cook them for my son Anan.

"Uncle San, can drinking fish soup really help you get fairer skin? Does it taste good?"

Li Changle nodded with a smile, "It tastes good. Wait until uncle catches it and stews it for you to eat, and you'll know."

When Li Xiaomei and Li Xiaotao heard that there was something delicious, they quickly said, "Uncle San, I want to drink!"

Li Xiaozhou was unwilling to lag behind, "Dad, I want to drink too."

"Okay, when daddy catches the stone fish, I'll stew it for you!"

Seeing that he had been talking for a long time but didn't mention the land purchase, Brother Li said, "Ah Le, you should talk to Dad and the others about the land."

"Which piece of land?"

"It's the one in front of the new house's door!" Li Changle told a few people.

After hearing this, everyone thought it was a bit expensive, and they were also worried that the foundation would be taken away by someone else and they would not be able to dry it in the future.

After discussing it for a while, they finally decided to go and ask first. If the village wanted to sell it, they would buy it. If not, they would have to think of other ways.

After the family had finished their meal, Li's mother and her friends took out the swimming crabs with their claws and legs cut off, cleaned them and pickled the crabs with red paste.

Several children were sitting at the door chewing the sugarcanes sent by their uncles and aunts.

Father Li said to Li Changle and the others, "Go to sleep for two hours, then get up and help collect the dried cuttlefish and put them into the tank."

Brother Li shook his head. "I'm not sleepy yet. The yellow croaker maw has been soaked for a while now. Let's cut it out and dry it in the sun first."

"That's fine!" Father Li and a few others walked towards the empty house together.

Li Changle leaned on a bamboo chair and lazily watched Zhou Ruonan and the others as they cleaned the white crabs and stacked them in a ceramic jar layer by layer with salt.

Pickled crabs are made with fat and roe-filled live crabs, a layer of sea salt and a layer of crabs, and are neatly stacked in a ceramic jar with their mouths facing upwards.

After arranging the crabs, pour the diluted salt water into the ceramic jar until the crabs are covered, cover them with steaming bamboo strips, and then press a stone to marinate them.

When two dots resembling eyes appear on the front part of the crab shell, the crab is ready to be pickled.

The pickled crab is covered with red paste and the meat is crystal clear. After taking it out, drain the water, cut it into small pieces, and eat it with ginger vinegar juice. It tastes very delicious.

Although the pickled crabs are pickled, they are still raw. People with poor stomachs may suffer from diarrhea if they eat them, so it is best to eat less.

Zhou Ruonan stacked a layer of white crabs and turned to look at him, "What are you doing there? Call Xiao Hai and Xiao Tao back and take them back to the house to get some sleep, so they don't fall asleep in class!"

"Oh!" Zhang Dejin came over with a list just as Li Changle stood up. "Ah Le, take some time to go to the Qian family and see if they have any small pine trees as thick as a bowl. Buy some and bring them back to build a drying rack. Pine wood is not afraid of water, sun or rain."

"Yes, I saw them sawing it and using it as firewood the last time I was in the mountains."

Li Changle thought of the iron frames that were welded into a herringbone frame to dry dried fish in the sun in the future. "Brother-in-law, please tell the carpenter to make the drying rack in a herringbone shape. This way, it will be more wind-resistant."

"Okay, I'll tell them."

Li Changle thought of the land in front of the house and now he had to buy wood. He couldn't sit still and said to Zhou Ruonan, "I'll go to Uncle Adong's house."

Zhou Ruonan looked at him distressedly, "Why don't you go get some sleep?"

Li Changle felt warm in his heart, "I'll go and ask hello, and then come back to sleep."

(End of this chapter)