Ye Yaodong found it funny, while Father Ye was left speechless.
Lin Xiuqing smiled and comforted them. "It's all right. A few hundred jin will only give you a few dozen jin once dried. That's not all that much. We've dried far more than you have. You can keep it for yourselves, or give some to friends and relatives. That would be nice too."
"So much of it-how could we bear to give it away? Even fresh, it was worth a dozen yuan or more."
"Your parents live in the mountains, so they'd appreciate some. Our parents live right here in the village. Who'd care about a bit of dried fish? What family doesn't have some stored away? There's no need to give them any."
"Ah, if only we hadn't listened to those rumors. It might be cheap, but getting another dozen yuan or so would've been nice. Now we're stuck with it and can only eat it ourselves..."
"Oh dear, how are we supposed to eat several dozen jin? Every bite will break my heart. Usually we just dry a few jin of the unwanted stuff to eat casually, but this could've brought in some money..."
"At least we can divide it among the brothers. It won't be that much each..."
The family listened to the women at the gate chattering away in distress without joining in. They had yet to sell all their own stock. How could they take in theirs now?
Besides, if the weather was good enough to go out to sea tomorrow, they could start drying more. Their own catch cost them nothing to buy, making it a better deal.
In any case, Ye Yaodong was not worried about being unable to sell their dried fish. At most, it would take some time.
Time was