NDHSD Chapter 20

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            ◎ Happy 20th Day: Fragrant Sauce Pancakes and Little Book Stall◎

Early the next day, Jiang Muyun rummaged through her wardrobe and found her old school uniform. Wearing a mask and a duckbill cap, she arrived in an alley next to her alma mater.

Today is Friday, during regular school hours, and the alley is quiet.

Jiang Muyun took a deep breath at the entrance of the alley, silently encouraging herself.

Starting early and finishing early, otherwise, when the students finish school at noon and the crowd grows, she's afraid of directly socializing with her younger sisters and brothers.

Jiang Muyun hasn't forgotten that she just graduated recently, and her name and photos are still posted on the bulletin board at school.

The middle and high schools are combined in this school. Jiang Muyun has been on the bulletin board since middle school, and only the photos are updated regularly.

Under her full name, Jiang Muyun, there is a motto she made up: "When you sincerely love knowledge, knowledge will definitely embrace you." This sentence once caused a craze among the students at her alma mater.

Jiang Muyun, who loves knowledge, now acknowledges that as she gets older, she cares more about face and regrets her previous behavior of pretending to be an intellectual.

Following the familiar alley, Jiang Muyun turned left and right until she reached a gate at the end of the alley. Seeing the gate open, she walked straight in.

From the outside, it looks like the yard of an ordinary household. It's only when you enter the house that you realize it's filled with rows of shelves displaying various brightly colored books.

The shop owner, who was still tidying things up, looked up and saw a student carrying a bag. Without asking why she wasn't in class, she simply greeted her familiarly, "The two rows here are 5 yuan each, the new ones over there are 9.8 yuan, the row behind is priced at twenty-five yuan each, and the selling books are ten yuan for three."

Jiang Muyun responded with a dull "hmm" and didn't even bother to look at the row of books priced at twenty-five yuan each. She went straight to the shelf with the five-yuan books.

The half-novel she pulled out had rough printing and quite a few typos. It was clearly a low-quality publication printed by a small workshop, and the author might not even receive full royalties.

Most of these are labeled with names like "X Nizi" or "X Dora" on the street stalls, so there's a slight chance it could be one of those novels.

Although the authors listed on the books themselves probably have no idea that they have written so many books.

As Jiang Muyun browsed through the rows, she felt a bit sentimental.

These were her youth.

These cheap street stall publications were her initiation into novels. Moreover, because most of them were sealed, it was impossible to see the content before payment. So, each time she opened them, it felt like opening a blind box, not knowing what was inside.

Later, with the popularity of smartphones and her increasingly picky taste due to increased reading volume, these street stall novels with unknown authors gradually disappeared from her life.

This time she came to this familiar alley hoping for a bit of luck.

Unexpectedly, this shop was still there.

Is this the same adolescence in different eras?

Jiang Muyun sighed, feeling old.

The five-yuan books were old books bought by the store at a price of ten yuan for three books, without plastic wrapping. As long as it wasn't excessive, it was allowed to flip through them before purchasing.

Jiang Muyun first excluded those clearly about campus themes.

108 high school students fall in love. This is not a youth campus novel, but a supernatural thriller novel.

She also excluded those with ancient backgrounds, as the male lead in the one she read was a domineering CEO.

And the last few books with titles like "Confession" and "Wedding" were also excluded, clearly focused on pre-marital romance rather than post-marriage life.

For those with character names appearing on the cover, she could also exclude them without wasting time.

With this filtering process, she could quickly search through the remaining books.

Jiang Muyun was so familiar with the content of that particular novel that she knew the typos and where they appeared on those dozens of pages.

As long as she flipped the book from the middle, she could tell at a glance if it was the one.

Jiang Muyun spent the whole morning flipping through the books in the store. Fortunately, there were no customers at the moment, and she was careful in her actions, so the shop owner didn't chase her away.

Unfortunately, even after she finished flipping through the two shelves, she still couldn't find the familiar content.

Or rather, she couldn't say that. Some parts were indeed familiar, such as the ones about playing with fire; the dialogues were practically identical.

Jiang Muyun sighed and had to try her luck by opening the blind box.

After a careful selection by Jiang Muyun, she picked out several novels with a modern setting that seemed to have a touch of fantasy.

They were 《99 Escapes: Demonic CEO, Spare Me》《101 Divorces: Cold CEO Dominates Me》and《999 Confessions: Pure CEO Spoils Me》

Hmm, based on the frequency, the possibility of 108 treasures seems quite high.

Jiang Muyun successfully paid and left before the students arrived. As soon as she stepped out of the store, she discreetly placed the books in her bag and into her space.

It was lunchtime now, and Jiang Muyun followed the scent and arrived at the back gate of the school.

This high school is a key school in the province and provides student dormitories, with the majority of students here being day students who commute from nearby areas.

During lunchtime, in order to save time, most students casually eat something in the cafeteria or around the school, then return to their classrooms to rest for a while before continuing their studies.

Due to the stunning display of the school cafeteria, the open space outside the back gate of the school has basically become a gathering place for various small food stalls selling boxed meals, steamed buns, egg pancakes, and more. There are also quite a few larger stalls that set up tables and chairs and operate in the open air.

When Jiang Muyun was a student, her favorite was roast duck with fragrant sauce pancakes.

The stall for fragrant sauce pancakes was right next to the roast duck stall. Sometimes she would come early when there were fewer people and could even spend an extra yuan to ask the fragrant sauce pancake vendor to add an extra spoonful of sauce toon her roast duck.

The flavorful sauce of the pancakes mixed with the distinct grains of white rice put her in a constant state of "I'm full but I can still eat." At one point, her life's dream was to open a store selling fragrant sauce pancakes right at the entrance of the school.

Jiang Muyun bought a serving of roast duck with rice and luckily managed to get a freshly cooked sauce pancake. She even added a spoonful of sauce on top of the rice. Even when sitting on a plastic stool with her legs curled up, it didn't affect her appetite.

When Jiang Muyun finished her meal, there were already many students buying lunch, and the surrounding area was full of people. Even at her table, three unfamiliar female students sat, chatting about their exam results in the opening exams.

Jiang Muyun didn't delay much. After disposing her trash, she left through the back gate of the school, picked up a shared bike by the roadside, and rode to a nearby bookstore.

The bookstore mostly sold educational books, and Jiang Muyun spent quite a bit of effort before finding what she wanted.

She bought several volumes of maps and the legendary three must-have books for time-traveling.

The map books she bought covered a wide range, from the entire country of China and its neighboring countries to the provinces and cities in the south. They included tourist maps and detailed topographic maps.

It can be said that she bought all the types of maps available on the market, and they were all the latest versions.

Among them were several newly released road books focused on South City. These books were still in the pre-sale period in online stores, and she would have to wait for delivery even after the pre-sale period ended. Jiang Muyun was afraid of accidents, so she chose to buy them directly from the offline bookstore.

These road books recorded the obscure roads in and around South City in a more detailed manner than any other maps available on the market.

Although she had downloaded offline map packages from major navigation apps, there were times when it was inconvenient to take out electronic devices. In such situations, having physical maps on hand is important.

After settling the bill and checking the time, it was already half-past twelve, around the time when students finished their lunch.

She rode the bike back to the school's back gate and coincidentally met the sauce pancake vendor preparing to close up. Jiang Muyun hurriedly approached and asked if the vendor sold the sauce separately.

"Oh, it's you. Didn't you graduate? Why are you back again?" 

The vendor recognized Jiang Muyun quite well.

The young girl was about the same age as his daughter, and she had always been a regular customer. She often came with a bowl and asked for extra sauce. She spoke politely, had good grades, and her photos were frequently hung at the school gate. It was either congratulations for winning an award or ranking first in exams. She even came to bid farewell after the college entrance examination.

When Jiang Muyun came to eat earlier, the vendor also recognized her and specially added a generous spoonful of sauce. However, there were other students around at the time, so the vendor didn't have time to chat with her.

Jiang Muyun sighed, "I'm on summer break from university, just came back to visit. I've been thinking about your pancakes every day at school, couldn't enjoy the food there properly, so I thought of coming here to ask."

This school has tens of thousands of students, with new faces every year. There are not many people the vendor remembers, so it shows how much Jiang Muyun used to like these fragrant sauce pancakes.

The sauce is made by the vendor himself; it's like a secret recipe, and he definitely wouldn't sell it if someone else asked to buy it separately. But when Jiang Muyun asked, the vendor strangely felt it was quite normal.

Eating the sauce with rice is a way of eating that this young girl invented.

The vendor thought for a moment and asked how much she wanted to buy.

Jiang Muyun quickly calculated, "I should buy enough for a year. West City is far from South City, and train tickets are not cheap. I probably won't be able to come back often after this."

Jiang Muyun said pitifully, and the vendor's heart softened. He took out a bucket of sauce from under the cart and asked the vendor of the roast duck rice stall for a large food container. "This sauce can't be kept for too long. I'll give you a portion, no charge."

The roast duck rice portions are generous, and the food container is large. The amount of sauce in this portion is not small either. Jiang Muyun could finish a container of pancakes in a day.

Jiang Muyun couldn't resist the temptation, "Come on, boss! There's a refrigerator in my dormitory. I can store them in the freezer, and they won't spoil for three years. I crave this flavor every day at school, so please sell me a little more. And if you don't charge me, I'll feel embarrassed to accept them. You’re putting me in a difficult situation, you know?"

The boss was cornered by Jiang Muyun and ended up packing everything for her, except for the amount he needed to make the pancakes in the next two days.

While packing, the boss kept muttering, saying that the sauce used as the base could create a taste that was not too different. If she really wanted to eat it in the future, she should make some herself.

Jiang Muyun expressed her gratitude repeatedly, reached into her backpack behind her, took out a bundle of cloth, and shook it open. It turned out to be a large cloth bag with the logo of XX Supermarket printed on it.

The boss found it amusing to see her putting the lunch boxes into the cloth bag. "So you've prepared everything and just waited for me to close up, huh?"

Jiang Muyun smiled sweetly, "Well, it's because your pancakes are delicious, boss. Even after ten years, I won't forget this taste."

The boss was delighted by her flattery and even said to Jiang Muyun as he was about to leave, "Remember to study hard in the future."

Jiang Muyun nodded, waved her hand, and ran off with the cloth bag.

The boss chuckled and shook his head, calling out, "Walk slowly, don't fall."

Then he heard the sound of a notification on his phone, indicating a payment of 300 yuan.

The boss was taken aback, "This girl, she spends money recklessly."

But after all, it was an unexpected fortune, so the boss was quite happy. On his way home after closing the stall in the evening, he passed by a snack shop and used the money to buy a box of beef jerky that his daughter, who was in her third year of high school, had always liked but rarely had the chance to buy due to its high price.

The boss thought it was a way for his daughter to benefit from someone else's luck, hoping that she would achieve good results in this year's college entrance examination.

The boss felt he had received a pleasant surprise, and Jiang Muyun also felt it was an unexpected joy.

Although she had spent 300 yuan of her living expenses, she truly loved this fragrant sauce pancake and would remember it even after ten years.

Jiang Muyun returned home today with a full load, and every penny spent was worth it.

After comforting Little White, who had attended compulsory classes all day, and observing the eggs in the incubator for a while, Jiang Muyun solemnly took out the three fantasy novels marked "X River Annual Masterpiece" and "X Crystal Studio's Passionate Publication."

Success or failure lies in this moment.

***

Author’s note:

The rice mixed with sauce on the fragrant sauce pancake is really delicious!!!

And the three essential books for time-traveling/ordinary human survival in the apocalypse: "Barefoot Doctor's Manual," "Militia Training Manual," and "Friend of Dual-Use Talents for Military and Civilian Purposes."

***

Z's corner:

That is one suspicious novel 

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BTSFVI Chapter Sixty

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        Chapter 60 Rain Leakage and Power Outage (500 Monthly Ticket Plus Update)

After taking a shower, Ye Yaodong didn't put on any clothes. He sat by the window in his shorts.

"Have you picked them out? Let me see."

He helped her pick out the sand with rare tenderness and patience.

As Lin Xiuqing looked at his serious expression, she felt a ripple of emotions stirring in her previously calm heart.

"Hiss~"

"Does it hurt? I'll be more gentle..." He said as he blew softly twice before continuing to pick out the grains of sand from her palm.

If it's not completely cleaned, the wound will still become infected after scabbing.

After a while, he examined it and said, "It should be clean. Take it easy for the next couple of days and rest more. It's convenient that we don't have much to do during this typhoon. Roll up your pants and let me have a look at your knee."

Lin Xiuqing followed suit, rolling up her pants and bending her knee to show him...

One of them was quiet while the other was focused, and a warm atmosphere filled the room.

Suddenly, a loud sound of the door being opened resounded!

"Mom, Dad, it's time to eat..."

The door was forcefully pushed open, hitting the wall and startling both of them. Ye Yaodong's hand holding the needle trembled for a moment, almost piercing her flesh.

He was infuriated and about to curse, but then he heard the little rascal blabbering, "Ah, Dad is so shameless, bare naked, no clothes, hugging Mom's feet..."

"Damn it, this little brat! Ye Chenghu, what nonsense are you talking about?!"

Furious and embarrassed, Ye Yaodong rushed out and lifted his eldest son, but before he could spank him a few times, he was stopped by the old lady.

"Why are you hitting him? Kids say whatever they see, what does he know?"

Phew~ Grandma's words...

With so many people present, he felt it necessary to explain a bit. Otherwise, they might mistakenly think he was overly eager.

"Ah Qing fell down outside earlier and scraped her knees and hands. There was some sand in the wounds, so I was using a needle to remove it. This little rascal has no filter in his mouth." He glared fiercely at his eldest son before returning to the room to put on his clothes.

Ye Chenghu felt a bit wronged as he touched his buttocks. "But I didn't say anything wrong..."

Lin Xiuqing also felt a bit embarrassed and quickly came out, giving her eldest son a glare. "Shut up and go eat! Where does a child like you get so many words?"

He pouted and followed the old lady to the dining table.

Among the adults in the house, except for Ye Huimei, they were all experienced individuals who understood the dynamics between couples. Regardless of whether what Ye Chenghu was shouting about was true or not, they pretended not to know and continued calmly serving and eating their food.

After Ye Yaodong sat down at the table, he saw a bowl of stir-fried sliced coconut snail, which instantly aroused his appetite. He took a piece first. Um~ fresh, spicy, crisp, and sweet. It was absolutely flavorful!

He casually picked up a piece and also scooped one for his wife. The couple shared a knowing smile in perfect harmony.

As they were halfway through their lunch, a hazy grayness enveloped the outside, giving the illusion of evening to those unaware.

"Turn on the lights! It's too dark!"

After finishing the meal, everyone couldn't go out and could only stay indoors. They could hear the howling sound of the wind outside, and they all felt uncertain, not knowing how long this typhoon would last.

Originally, they all thought it was just a small typhoon and that they wouldn't be heavily affected. However, they didn't expect the typhoon's path to directly head towards them.

Fortunately, there were vegetables in the backyard garden and preserved salted fish and dried fish at home. Even if they didn't go out for a few days, they wouldn't worry about not having anything to eat.

Yaodong lay bored on the bed, preparing to take a nap. Suddenly, he felt droplets of water falling on his stomach. He looked up and saw water droplets condensing on the mosquito net above his head.

"Is it leaking?"

The rain outside was getting heavier, and the water droplets were falling faster, making a pitter-patter sound. Yaodong quickly got up and prepared to go to the main room to get a basin to catch the water.

Suddenly, the lights in the main room went out, and the ignorant children exclaimed joyfully, "Ah, the power is out~ the power is out~"

"Don't make a fuss!" 

Mother Ye took out the candles she had prepared in advance and lit them. The room was filled with a faint glow. She tilted the candles, letting the wax drip onto the table, before placing the candles and securing them in place.

In this area, they have typhoons every year, and everyone is already accustomed to power outages whenever there is a typhoon.

Mother Ye lit several candles in a row. "Each of you take a candle and light it inside your rooms so it's not too dark." 

Ye Yaodong finally spoke up and said, "There's a leak in my room. The bed planks are all wet. Everyone, go back inside and check. Get a basin to catch the water, or you won't be able to sleep tonight."

"If your bed is wet and it's difficult to sleep at night, bring the child over to sleep with us."

He nodded.

There is a basin on the bed; it is really not easy for a family of four to lie down.

As a result, it wasn't just one spot on the bed that was leaking; even the table and cabinet in the room were being dripped by the rain. Ye Yaodong had to get up again to fetch a basin, but there was no basin available. Since there was water leaking everywhere in the house, he had no choice but to use a soup bowl to catch the water.

The raindrops falling on the ground were left unattended, as it was just a dusty floor, and it wouldn't matter if there was water flowing.

That's how it is with these old houses. Whenever there's heavy rain, every household will experience leaks.

Yaodong lay back down, hands behind his head, listening to the sound of raindrops falling into the basin. He couldn't fall asleep either. It was only afternoon, and it would be difficult to endure until dawn tomorrow. He decided to go out to the main room and see what everyone was doing.

Listening for any movement, several children ran into their mother's room to play. Yaodong approached Lin Xiuqing, who was still weaving nets and said, "Stop weaving. The lighting is not good; it's harmful to your eyes."

Eldest Sister-in-law Ye teased, "Yaodong is becoming more and more considerate. He helped you pick out the sand grains, and now he even worries about your eyes being strained from weaving nets."

Lin Xiuqing felt a bit embarrassed by her teasing and replied, "Hehe~ It's not too dark; I can still see."

Forget it if she doesn't listen.

Ye Yaopeng sat bored at the table, propping his chin up. Being used to being busy, suddenly having nothing to do made him feel uncomfortable. He suggested, "Sitting here doing nothing is quite boring. How about the three of us brothers play cards? Let's light up a few more candles."

"Sure, let's ask if Second Brother wants to play.”

"He's inside his room. I'll go get him.”

They had just played two rounds when Father Ye also felt an itch to join them.

As a result, a constant stream of frustrated noises from Ye Yaodong could be heard inside the house, "Damn it, Dad, do you even know how to play? We're on the same team; I'm your partner. Why did you play a 6 and let Big Brother pass?"

"I have 3, 3, 4, 6, and 7 in my hand. If I don't play the 6, what should I play?"

"Darn it, what a lousy card. Well, you can still play a pair and let me take over. You go first!"

"How am I supposed to know what cards you have in your hand?"

Ye Yaodong was cursing and talking about his father being a pig teammate...

Father Ye was also fed up with him and said, "Change partners; I don't want to be on your team anymore!"

And so, throughout the afternoon, Father Ye kept changing partners. He switched from playing with the youngest to playing with the eldest and finally ended up partnering with the second son, who didn't mind his lousy hand and smelly cards.

But Second Sister-in-law Ye became anxious because partnering Father Ye meant they were constantly losing money…

After playing the whole afternoon, of course it was Ye Yaodong and Eldest Brother Ye who won the money.

Ye Yaodong flicked the bills in his hand and handed them to Lin Xiuqing. "Take it, more money coming in!"

Lin Xiuqing took it with a smile.

Father Ye muttered unwillingly, "Let's continue after dinner!"

"Continue with your nonsense! Instead of wasting time, why don't you make more bamboo mats for drying fish? We don't have enough..." Mother Ye scolded, and Father Ye didn't dare to utter a word.

(end of this chapter)

***

Z's corner:

I almost wanted to post this later because I'm so tired but I'm powering through it as best as I can! ᕙ(⪰.⪯)ᕗ It's actually because yesterday was the first day of my new job. And the plot twist is that it's not the spa therapist position I talked about last time.

Me and my mom started to worry a bit about it's requirement for me to hand in my high school degree and pay a big sum foe just uniforms before even getting the job. So I decided to take the safe route and work at my mom's workplace. Is physically demanding and the pay is less but meh, it's a temporary job anyways until I get a better one.

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BTSFVI Chapter Fifty Nine

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        Chapter 59 Making Money Again

"How come this coconut snail only has the shell? Where's the meat?" Mother Ye also helped with sorting.

"In the bucket, take a look and see if it’s there, let's stir-fry them for lunch."

"It's already been opened, but there's nothing inside?" Mother Ye asked casually. The chances were too low, and she didn't believe that a random one would yield a precious pearl.

"Um!"

He spoke without hesitation, while Lin Xiuqing couldn't help but sneak a glance at him, feeling a bit guilty.

He winked at her and said, “You go take a shower first to prevent catching a cold. Mom and the others are here."

She understood his meaning and nodded in agreement. She went back to the room and hid the precious bead, fearing that it might slip away. On her way back, she kept holding onto her pocket, afraid of losing it.

There was one crab without big claws, another with little meat, some miscellaneous fish, small fish, shrimp, and stone crabs left. The rest of the valuable ones were picked out by Mother Ye and placed in a bucket for him.

"While it's not raining much right now, you should go and come back quickly. Remember to wear a raincoat."

At a glance, Ye Yaodong saw the antique raincoat hanging in the corridor. He didn't mind using it. It's much more convenient than an umbrella and won't get blown away.

Once he stepped out carrying two buckets, the women in the house began to clean the fish and cook, while also replenishing water for the clams and sprinkling some coarse salt to keep them fresh.

Normally, the village is filled with the atmosphere of daily life. Every household, whether through the front or back doors, would have women sitting and weaving nets. However, today, every house had tightly closed doors and windows, and there was not a single person on the road.

When Ye Yaodong arrived at Ah Cai's house, he found him sharpening his knife and preparing to clean fish at the back door while shirtless. As soon as he heard someone approaching, he came out holding the knife.

"What are you doing, Brother Cai? I'm here to deliver goods, not to rob you. Did you really need to come out with a knife in such an aggressive manner?"

"Ah? Haha~" Ah Cai awkwardly glanced at the knife in his hand and explained, "I was just cleaning fish. Why did you come during a typhoon? Your father wouldn't go out to sea during a typhoon, would he? That's risking his life!"

"No, no. These are just things I picked up on the beach right after the tide receded."

"Oh? You're clever. You even know that there are good things to pick up during a typhoon with big waves. Let me see what good stuff you've got there," he said as he tucked the kitchen knife behind his waist and leaned over to take a look into the bucket.

"Not bad! Are these five or six blue crabs? They're quite big. And underneath, is that a moray eel? What else is there? Oh my... what is this? Is it a sea bass? It looks like a sea bass," Ah Cai was also amazed by the patterns on the fish and crouched down to take a closer look.

Ye Yaodong felt somewhat proud in his heart. Ah Cai was amazed by just one sea bass. If he knew that Ye Yaodong also found a Meile bead with a diameter of over 2 centimeters, his jaw would probably drop in astonishment.

"Give me a price! How much will you pay for it?"

He kicked the bucket, startling the sea bass inside. Its tail swayed, splashing seawater onto Ah Cai's face. Ah Cai wasn't annoyed; he simply wiped his face with his hand.

"This fish is rare around here. We might occasionally find it at the Yujing Port. Let's weigh it first." 

Ye Yaodong nodded and followed him into the house, carrying the bucket.

It's not easy to weigh a live fish on a scale, but fortunately, he had a bucket at home. He quickly placed the fish on the scale, took the measurement, and promptly returned it to the bucket.

"It weighs 1 jin and 8 liang. How about I give you a straight 8 yuan for it?"

"You won't even offer 5 yuan per jin? Add a little more, can't you? Even when you sell it to wealthier bosses, you can double the price. We're from the same village, and you still rip me off?"

"Nonsense! Who's trying to rip you off? Who would buy it at double the price? Do you think money is so easy to earn?”

"Pfft, there are plenty of knowledgeable bosses in our town. For wealthy people, a few tens of yuan is nothing compared to the cost of their meal. They only care about getting quality goods; money is secondary to them. I've seen someone spend hundreds on a bottle of wine at the Hongsheng Hotel in town, with total expenses reaching thousands in just one night. Don't try to deceive me!"

Ah Cai stared wide-eyed and said indignantly, "Well, the hotel makes a profit too. It's normal for them to mark up the prices several times when they turn ingredients into dishes, right? How much can I, a fishmonger, really earn?"

"I won't argue with you. Let's settle for twelve yuan, and I'll sell it to you!"

"What? You're asking for too much! It's too expensive! I'll be at a loss..."

"Then I'll take it to Ah Gui's place..." Another purchase point at the pier.

"Hey, hey, hey! Wait, wait! You young people are so impulsive. I haven't finished speaking yet, and you're already leaving. Ten yuan, at most ten yuan... Alright, alright... then twelve... twelve..."

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes, annoyed by the prolonged negotiation. After all the dilly-dallying, they ended up settling on the price he suggested. He knew that Ah Cai was a cunning and shrewd businessman who couldn’t miss out on making a good profit.

This fish is priced at several tens of yuan in hotels; there's no way he could be making a loss.

The remaining blue crabs and fish are priced fairly; they are settled based on the regular purchase price.

This time it was only about twenty-something yuan, and Ah Cai didn’t say that it would be settled in a few days; he simply counted the money and handed it over to him.

"Got it; all settled now."

"Thanks a lot!"

"Not a problem; feel free to bring more good stuff next time. This typhoon weather is really troublesome. I still have to take it to the small fish tank at the pier and keep it there..."

Ye Yaodong unbuttoned the buttons of his raincoat, securely placed the money, and hurriedly headed home. Although there was a faint morning sun earlier, now the strong wind had picked up, and the raindrops hitting his face felt somewhat painful. It was truly dreadful weather.

After returning home, the aroma of food filled the house, and it was rare for the whole family to gather together leisurely.

Upon seeing him return, Father Ye quickly put down the tobacco he was rolling in his hands and asked, "How much did you sell that sea bass for?"

"Twelve yuan!"

“So much?”

"Well, I randomly quoted a price just to test him, but I didn't expect him to agree." 

Even Father Ye's father was speechless. Could it really be done like that?

As Mother Ye wielded her spatula, stir-frying the ingredients, she also took the opportunity to ask with concern, "How much did you make in total from selling all the goods?"

"Twenty-five yuan and eighty cents!"

"Not bad, not bad. Just by going out for a stroll, you earned this much. It's equivalent to what others would make spending a whole day out at sea."

Second Sister-in-law Ye couldn't help but say, "Yaodong has been really lucky recently. Every time he goes out for a walk, he can make a lot of money. He has earned hundreds of yuan, right?"

That sour taste in her words made him want to roll his eyes.

"Um, I've been lucky lately. I'll go take a shower first."

"Yaodong, use hot water for your shower. You got caught in the rain, so you shouldn't take a cold shower, or you'll catch a cold." The old lady was sitting in front of the stove, happily tending the fire, and she handed him a hot water basin with a smile.

"Ok."

Although he preferred taking cold showers, he still had to listen to the old lady's advice.

As it was raining outside, he had to bring the water inside to take a bath. In the meantime, he handed the money to his wife. However, as soon as he entered the room, he saw her sitting by the window, picking her palm with a needle.

"What's wrong? Did sand get inside?"

"Um, yeah."

"Let me pick it for you!"

"You go take a bath first; don't catch a cold.”

"Oh, this is the money from selling the goods. You keep it. There are also 80 cents left; I left it for myself."

Lin Xiuqing took the money and counted it, then exclaimed with surprise, "You sold it for so much?"

"The main reason is that the sea bass was expensive, and those few blue crabs were plump. One of them weighed two jin, while the other fishes were much cheaper.”

"That's great! We only went out for half a morning, and we already have such a bountiful harvest. We've hit the jackpot!"

"Mm, did you stash away the Meile bead properly?"

"Don't worry, I've hidden it safely."

(end of this chapter)

***

Z's corner:

Ah Dong: Then I'll take it to Ah Gui's place...

Ah Cai: You have another man?! ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д`ﾟ)ﾟ｡Don't betray me~ or else... ( ♡▽♡)っ🔪

I wish I had Ah Dong's bargaining skills (⁎˃ᆺ˂) All I do is ask for the price then leave if it's too expensive.

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