Ye Yaodong counted on his fingers. There were only a few days left.
"The wind's been blowing nonstop lately. Who knows when we'll get decent weather?"
"As long as it doesn't rain. Rainy days are miserable and damp, and the roads turn to mud. We can't even go out. More importantly, we can't dry fish. Otherwise, even if you couldn't go out to sea, you could buy a few thousand jin in the city and bring them back to dry. We could still make money that way."
"Mm, I know. Watch the children. I'll go outside and see if Mother's finished cleaning the fish. I forgot to tell her to save a basket."
Nobody had been out to sea lately, so nobody had fresh fish to eat. Saving a basket to share with the neighbors or friends and relatives would help strengthen their relationships. It wasn't worth much anyway.
Bombay duck were soft and looked rather small, but once cut crosswise and dried, the pieces didn't look small at all. The little ones were especially easy to clean, too.
He pulled out a basket of Bombay duck from the pile in the corner, picked up a few at random, and squeezed them. They were still very fresh, springy rather than limp.
"What are you doing? If you've got nothing to do, bring out a kitchen knife and help clean these. There are so many, and they're so small. Who knows how long this will take?"
"Aren't these little ones easy to clean? Much easier than those slimy toadfish."
"But there are so many."
"In a bit. I'll take some of these to give away first."
"You spent money buying them, and now you're giving them away? Got so much money it's burning a hole in your pocket? It's not as