On August 20, the little boat A-Guang, Xiao Xiao, and A-Zheng had ordered together was officially ready for delivery.
They had someone pick an auspicious day three days later before telling everyone to come to the dock then and set off firecrackers.
Only then did their other three friends learn that they had bought a boat together. Their reactions varied.
Fatty was merely surprised. "When did you order it? How come we never heard you mention it?"
"Huh? Didn't we tell you?" Xiao Xiao and the other two looked at one another.
A-Guang spread his hands. "Whenever I have any spare time, I go help Dongzi with his work. I haven't had time to hang out with you guys. I thought you two had told them."
A-Zheng looked equally innocent. "No. With you away from home, we didn't have anywhere to get together either."
"Then we must've been too busy and forgotten."
A-Wei frowned in displeasure. "Some friends you are. You went in together on a boat without even telling us. Were you worried that more people would mean a smaller share of the money?"
A-Guang raised his eyebrows and looked at him in surprise. "Why would you think that? We only got the idea after borrowing Dongzi's Small Wooden Boat on the fifteenth and catching a thousand jin of Sea Wolf Fish. That gave us a taste of what we could make. We decided right then to put our earnings toward buying a boat together. We couldn't keep borrowing Dongzi's boat every day. He needs to set his nets too."
"Exactly," A-Zheng agreed. "It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and you guys weren't there."
That would have been better left unsaid. Even Rat grew unhappy at the mention of it. He had missed out on both big payouts. "You could've