Ye Yaodong agreed at once, but he did not want any just yet. Starting tomorrow, A-Cai would collect squid for him first; the fish could wait until they finished drying the squid.
The small workshop continued bustling with activity, though most of the work took place in the late afternoon and at night.
Once A-Cai finished collecting the catch, he immediately delivered it for cleaning. In the middle of the night, bulbs flickered around the workshop, with people moving back and forth cleaning and hanging up the squid.
Lin Xiuqing did not stay there all night either. She left her sister-in-law in charge. The people cleaning the squid were all relatives, and with so many of them keeping an eye on one another, she felt reassured and did not need to watch them constantly.
The surrounding area was brightly lit, and nobody foolish enough to cause trouble came near. At most, curious people gathered around to chat and ask how much they would be drying that day.
After the peak, they continued fishing for another four or five days. The daily catch dwindled with each passing day, and the squid season gradually drew to an end. They could only rely on trawl nets to catch a few things.
The quantities A-Cai delivered also gradually dropped considerably. That day, the total amount of squid purchased was only a little over two thousand jin, and Ye Yaodong told him outright that there was no need to collect any more.
He also asked A Qing to work out the accounts so they could settle all the payments within the next couple of days, since A-Cai needed to pay the villagers too.
A-Cai actually found it quite a shame. He had only been helping collect squid for a few days, and the season was