Dawn had barely begun to break, and the village was quiet. With a rare day off, people could sleep in, and since it was winter, hardly anyone was up so early.
Chen Haichao ran all the way to the beach without seeing many people. He only caught whiffs of stink from the people carrying manure in the early morning.
The early bird gets the worm, and the early riser gets a whiff of shit...
The tide had yet to ebb and was at its peak. Fish and shrimp in the sea occasionally leaped out of the water as the waves surged in.
Marine resources were plentiful these days. There was no overfishing, and the seawater was unpolluted, with no chemical wastewater being discharged into it. Even along the shore, fish, shrimp, and crabs were abundant.
He gazed out to sea. About a hundred meters off to his right, something black appeared and disappeared in the water. When the waves surged in, they submerged the wood; when they receded, it emerged again.
Good, it was still there. His eyesight was 5.3 now, so he couldn't have mistaken it.
In about another hour, he could get into the water to scoop up fish and shrimp. He'd have to wait until the water receded to the wood before asking people to help carry it back, but there was no hurry.
The tide surged up to his feet and retreated. The wind was strong in winter, and the waves were bigger too.
Even his breath came out as white mist. Chen Haichao breathed into his palms to warm his fingers, pulled the collar of his padded coat together, and headed back.
There were more people on the way back. They were country folk accustomed to hard work, unused to sleeping in even on a day off.
"...does the commune members' meeting start at eight?"
"That's still more than an hour away. I can hardly wait."
"Tell me about it. What a show it was last night."
"Who'd have thought Liu Chunlan, a thirty-nine-year-old widow, could marry a strapping young man of twenty-one? She really came out ahead..."
People were already talking about last night first thing in the morning. It seemed to have made quite an impression.
When he got home, both his older sisters were already up, helping lay out the little shrimp to dry.
"Where's Dad?"
"There were too many, so we needed more bamboo drying trays. We'd already borrowed all the ones at Eldest Uncle's place, so Dad's gone to borrow some from other people. He said he'd also borrow some from the production team later," Chen Pandi said.
Her hands kept moving as she spread the little shrimp heaped together across the bamboo tray.
The weather had been good lately, and winter was dry. They could let the shrimp air-dry in the morning and evening and dry in the sun during the day, turning them evenly in between. With so many shrimp, it was no small undertaking.
Three days would be about enough to dry the shrimp and get their shells off. The main thing was that the shrimp were small and dried easily, and the winter weather was dry too.
Once the tide went out, they could go scoop up another batch. There was no need to go through the trouble tonight; even if they brought more back and dried them, they wouldn't be ready in time to sell.
If they wanted to stock up, they could go out during the day as the tide was about to recede and gather a little to set aside. Going at night was too much trouble: it was freezing cold and the wind was strong.
Everything they earned was hard-earned working people's money.
Chen Haichao helped them lay the shrimp out to dry. "The tide will start going out again soon. After we eat, let's go to the beach and scoop up some more. If we run out of room to dry them, we'll take them to the village threshing ground."
"Dad just said the same thing. He said there was no more room to dry them outside the house."
Chen Sidi, the fourth child, said quietly, "Eldest Aunt just asked why we were drying so much shelled shrimp. She said we'd already dried quite a lot over the past two days, hadn't we? We said we were drying extra to send to Eldest Sister and Second Sister. Eldest Aunt even said Mom was silly, that it made no sense for a whole family, young and old, to work themselves to the bone supporting their sons-in-law's families."
Chen Pandi, the third child, leaned her head closer too and lowered her voice. "I just asked Mom if we should tell Eldest Aunt beforehand, so she wouldn't blame us later for not telling them in advance. Mom said there was no need. Too many people mean too many mouths, and with so many people in the village watching, it'd be good enough to let them know at the last minute so they could sell theirs too."
"Mm, listen to Mom. I can understand telling her, but we don't even know for sure if the big truck will really come. We don't know them, either. It doesn't matter if our own family ends up working for nothing, but if we drag them into it and they work for nothing too, they'll blame us. If we tell them at the last minute, it's best if they can sell theirs, and if they can't, they won't lose anything. Tell Eldest Aunt not to tell the sisters-in-law, either."
Chen Pandi agreed. "You're right. We aren't sure ourselves, so how could we ask other people to go to all that trouble?"
Chen Sidi added, "If we go back to the beach to scoop up shrimp later, we'll miss the excitement in the village again. Didn't they say the commune members' meeting was at eight?"
"What's there to see? We already saw the biggest show last night, and we know how it ended. If you're curious how those two get criticized, go over to the threshing ground and listen at eight," Chen Haichao said unconcernedly.
"Never mind, then. Work comes first. I can hear about it from someone later."
Chen Pandi said with a laugh, "The real show will start after those two get their marriage certificate and Widow Liu officially moves into Wang Zhiwen's house. I guarantee there'll be more excitement than anyone can watch every day."
"Hahaha, true."
"What are you all so happy about? Hurry inside and help," Mother Chen called to them from the house. "The last pot of shrimp is done, so we can cook the rice now. The fish in this basin has finished curing too. Take it and wash it, then put it out to dry."
"Coming," the two sisters quickly answered, heading inside.
They had timed it just right. As soon as they finished laying out the last big pot of cooked shrimp, it was time to make breakfast.
As soon as Chen Xiaoliu got up, she saw Chen Xiaoqi playing with the big crab on a lead by the door. She went over and shouted, "Dad, I want to play with the big crab too!"
Father Chen's eyes crinkled with amusement, but before he could speak, Chen Xiaoqi protested, "I found it at the beach yesterday. It's mine."
"Why were you allowed to go to the beach? Dad and Mom said yesterday that we couldn't go. You're going to get a beating."
Father Chen played along. "Mm, he's already been beaten."
If he didn't say that, the two would start comparing again: why did he have one and I didn't, why could he go and I couldn't...
Saying he'd already been beaten was different. Neither of them wanted a beating.
A grin spread across Chen Xiaoliu's young face, and she nodded in relief. "That's good, then!"
Father Chen secretly shushed Chen Xiaoqi, who snickered and kept grinning foolishly without saying a word.
The two little rascals found a vegetable leaf somewhere and put it in the crab's claw for it to grip. Then they brought it to the crab's mouth, trying to feed it the leaf, and giggled.
By the time they finished breakfast, the tide was just starting to go out again. The tools they had used the night before were still neatly put away in the corner, so they took them along.
After telling the two little ones to watch the house, the family headed for the beach again, full of energy.
"Where's your whole family going?"
"With all those hand nets, are you going to the beach to scoop up fish?"
"You're working so hard? It's a rare early holiday. Aren't you going to rest at home?"
Father Chen answered everyone with a smile. "Since we're off work, we thought we'd go to the beach, scoop up some fish and shrimp, and dry them to send to our two daughters."
Mother Chen smiled too. "This is about the only time all year we have a little free time..."
Once they were away from the crowd, Chen Haichao teased with a laugh, "I bet matchmakers will wear out our doorstep over the next couple of days. The girls have such good parents-in-law to offer, and both daughters are pretty and hardworking."
Chen Pandi and Chen Sidi couldn't help laughing.
Mother Chen laughed at his flattery. "Naturally. When have your two sisters ever come back without me sending them home with extra things?"
"Keep a good eye out these next couple of days. It's time Third and Fourth found good families and got engaged too. We can't keep putting it off," Father Chen reminded her.
"I know. Aren't I looking now? Who knew that Wang Zhiwen they introduced yesterday would turn out to be so unreliable? If he'd been dependable, Pandi would have been getting married after the New Year."
"Keep looking and ask around. We have to find someone with good character who can build a life with her. There's no rushing it."
"Do you need to tell me that?"
As soon as they reached the beach, Father Chen looked out at the black wood poking above the seawater. The tide had gone down, leaving more of it exposed than when Chen Haichao had seen it earlier. It was quite noticeable.
"When the tide goes out to the wood, go call your eldest uncle and cousins over to help."
"All right," Chen Haichao answered. "Let's get in the water and start working first."
Mother Chen looked down and rolled up her pant legs as she stepped into the water. "Once we've filled a bag, take it back to cook and dry first. The sooner we dry them, the sooner they'll be ready. Otherwise, if we carry everything back at once, it'll take half the day to cook it all in one pot."
Chen Sidi's eyes shone, and she raised her hand, her face full of hope. "Me, me, me! I'll go home and help cook and dry them. Are we taking them to the threshing ground to dry?"
"You want to go back and watch the excitement, don't you?" Mother Chen saw through her at once. "Then I'll leave it to you later. While you're at it, ask the brigade leader to lend us the production team's bamboo drying trays."
"Got it." Her voice was positively bouncing with excitement.
P.S.: An extra chapter to ask for monthly votes! Normally I shouldn't post extra chapters while the book is still new, so the word count doesn't go over the limit and knock it off the rankings early. But since it's the beginning of the month, I decided to add one anyway. There'll definitely be a mass release when it goes premium!