Of that fish catch, the bonito and red eels were worth the most. The twelve bonito alone weighed over a hundred jin and sold for 43 yuan. With two baskets of turbot, the other mixed fish, and the catch from the pot trap nets, today's total came to over 122 yuan.
With a typhoon approaching, Ye Yaodong kept a fair amount of fish and shrimp. He and his father each took a share, intending to eat it over the next two days.
In weather like this, even cooked food could only keep for two days, and that was without stirring it. Otherwise, it would turn sour the very next day.
Fresh seafood would not even keep until the next day. With shrimp, for instance, their heads would have turned black by then.
They still needed a refrigerator at home!
Having earned a little money, Ye Yaodong started getting the itch again. It really was inconvenient without a refrigerator. Even having chilled watermelon in summer was difficult, and there was no way to chill mung bean soup either.
But a refrigerator was so big that bringing one home would be far too conspicuous. Besides, if his father, mother, the Old Lady, and his wife all came at him together, he felt he might not be able to hold his own.
After reform and opening-up, the former "old three items"-a bicycle, a watch, and a sewing machine-had gradually given way to the "new three items": a washing machine, a refrigerator, and a television.
Refrigerators in particular were not something ordinary people could afford. They cost even more than televisions and were very hard to buy. It was entirely a seller's market.
Even though an ordinary worker earned only forty or fifty yuan a month, demand still exceeded supply. Refrigerators were scarce in