Chen Haichao listened to the two girls at home chatting and laughing, his heart completely at peace. Money, money-he had to hurry up and make a fortune!
The others at the beach had already scooped up more than half another sack. When he arrived, he glanced at the conspicuous log and immediately joined them.
He also filled them in on what had been discussed at the production brigade's members' meeting, repeating what Chen Sidi had told him.
Chen Pandi was itching to hear more and regretted missing the spectacle herself. "I wonder if Widow Liu can still have children."
"Of course she can. She's only thirty-nine. Several older women in the village have had children. I was already forty-one when I gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. She could have two more without any trouble. Zhao Guilan's in luck."
Mother Chen was gloating. Her back and legs no longer ached, and neither did her hands.
"All right, why bother yourself with other people's business? Get back to work. The tide's nearly all the way out, and we haven't scooped up even half as much as last night."
After urging them on, Father Chen continued, "Once we're done scooping up shrimp, we'll call people over to move the log so it doesn't hold us up. It won't be easy to shift. Call a few extra people, or we definitely won't be able to budge it."
Mother Chen straightened up and looked over. "That'll take a lot of effort, won't it?"
"It must weigh several hundred jin. We'll see if we can lift it first. If we can't, we'll have to find a log to use as a roller and push it ashore."
More than half the sunken wood was now exposed above the water. It looked different from how it had under the flashlight at night: in daylight, it was brownish-black, with an oily sheen in the sun. One look was enough to tell it was good wood.
Chen Haichao said, "Once the tide's out, we can take our time with it. Let's scoop up as many shrimp as we can. We already got six or seven hundred jin last night. Let's add to that today and see if we can get around a thousand jin."
"Then would a thousand jin dry down to about a hundred jin?" Chen Pandi's eyes lit up. "At two yuan a jin, we could sell it for two hundred? We really are going to strike it rich."
He couldn't help laughing. "Selling it for two hundred counts as striking it rich?"
"How is two hundred yuan not striking it rich? That's more than our whole family makes working ourselves to the bone for half a year."
"Pandi's right. Our whole family works ourselves to the bone all year, and our work points only get us a little over three hundred yuan and some coupons. The rest goes into our mouths as grain. That three hundred-odd yuan has to last until the end of the following year, and with such a big family, there's hardly anything left over."
Mother Chen sighed as she spoke.
"You're all grown up now, and next year it'll be your turns to get married. When Haichao gets married, that'll really cost a lot. We should earn what we can now and save it all. There are still the two little ones to raise."
Father Chen nodded repeatedly. "Your mother's right. We should all be frugal. Next year, you girls will marry one after another and become part of other families. You'll be working for them and won't be able to do much to help this family."
"This time Haichao happened to come across that big truck, and these dried shrimp nobody wanted can sell for two hundred yuan. We won't have such good luck again. It's not like he can run into a big truck every day."
Chen Pandi said a little sheepishly, "Then I'll get married later and help the family for another year..."
"What nonsense. We've already kept you here until twenty-three. How could we keep you any longer? Other families' daughters marry at twenty. I'll look around for you while we have some free time before the New Year and find you a good man with a family that won't give you trouble. I kept you here until now because I knew married life wouldn't be as easy as living with your parents, and your younger brother and sister were still little..."
"Mom, I know all that. Being someone's daughter-in-law isn't easy. You can't talk back whenever you feel like it. I want to get married later too."
As they talked about marriage, Chen Haichao didn't say much more.
In any case, she had avoided the misfortune of her previous life. From here on, they could take their time looking and asking around. No matter what, he couldn't let her end up worse off than in her previous life.
They filled another sack to the brim, and the water receded to where the sunken wood lay. Chen Haichao put down his hand net.
He patted the sunken wood. "Dad, this weighs at least six or seven hundred jin. I'll go back and get help first. You keep following the tide and scoop up a little more. You should be about done by the time I bring everyone over."
"All right, hurry back and get them. Call a few extra people. Even seven or eight wouldn't be too many."
"I'll call a few more of my friends over too, and bring a couple of logs to use as rollers."
"Good. This is good wood. We should definitely bring it back. It would make a nice cabinet for your wedding."
"Let's get it home first."
Chen Haichao didn't immediately argue. Talking about any of that now was pointless.
He took the opportunity to push the freshly filled sack of shrimp home with him, arriving just in time to hand it to Chen Sidi to process.
It was nearly noon. The sun was high, and the rising temperature had taken the edge off the cold. The beach gleamed gold in the sunlight.
The village was different from its deserted state that morning, too, as if it had fully awakened. Firecrackers went off intermittently amid the clamor of children and the sounds of children being scolded and beaten.
He pushed the handcart along, calling for people to make way. The village roads were narrow, after all.
Along the way, he ran into quite a few acquaintances who greeted him.
He also met several childhood friends. The village was small, and now that they didn't have to work, they all had time on their hands.
This time, it was Xiaoqiang, Li Zhengjun, and Lin Jianhui.
"What are you busy with now? What have you got on that whole cart?"
"How come we didn't see you at the threshing ground this morning? We looked everywhere for you. You're not hiding from your brothers, are you?"
Chen Haichao said irritably, "It's just a few packs of cigarettes. Would I really hide from you over that? You're here at the right time. I need your help with something."
"Catching adulterers again?" Lin Jianhui asked excitedly. "You didn't call me along yesterday. That was really lousy of you. You called those two but not me. With all that excitement, I was the last one to get there. I only saw the second half and missed the beginning."
"If there's a next time, I'll call you."
"There aren't that many worn-out shoes around."
"There may not be that many worn-out shoes, but there's work to do. All three of you, come help."
"You need help again? Why do you have so much going on?" Li Zhengjun looked at the sack on the cart, thinking they were being asked to help deal with whatever was inside.
"It's something that'll make us rich. Hurry up and follow me. I'm going back to get my eldest uncle and cousins too."
Li Zhengjun asked curiously, "What kind of moneymaking business? Is it for real?"
Xiaoqiang chimed in, "Just don't let it be a capitalist tail that needs cutting off. That's not allowed. Those two had to make self-criticisms in front of the whole village this morning. They lost all their face."
"Relax, I'm the regular army!"
Li Zhengjun laughed and cursed, "Get lost."
"Fart dog!"
"Fuck!"
Talking and laughing, the group arrived at Chen Haichao's house. He had his friends carry the sack from the cart around to the back door.
His eldest uncle happened to be sitting by the door, smoking a water pipe and basking in the sun. When he saw him, he smiled and said, "So many people carrying one sack? How heavy is it?"
"I needed their help with something, so they came along. Uncle, are you free? I wanted to ask you, Brother Haiyang, and the others for a hand."
"What do you need help with? I'll go call them."
"We found a huge log by the sea. It isn't damaged; it's all sound. Dad said it would be just right for making a table and chairs. It's pretty heavy, well over a few hundred jin, so we need a few extra hands."
"A log found by the sea is still sound? It hasn't cracked or rotted from soaking?"
"No, it's all sound. Otherwise, I wouldn't ask everyone to help carry it back. Go call my cousins. My friends and I will borrow a couple of logs from the production brigade to use as rollers. We probably won't be able to lift it."
"All right. Go borrow the rollers, and I'll get the others and head to the beach first."
Uncle Chen immediately got up to call his sons.
Chen Haichao also went inside to get people.
His friends had carried the sack to the back door but hadn't come back out. They were squatting beside Chen Sidi, helping her wash the shrimp and even trying to ingratiate themselves with her!
"Let's go. If you want to wash them, you can wash all you like when we get back. We'll save the whole sack for you."
"What else do we have to do?" Xiaoqiang protested.
Chen Haichao went over and hooked an arm around his neck, pulling him along. "You thought I called you over just to carry a sack? Dream on. Come on, let's take care of the proper business first. When we get back, you can wash all of them, and we can even leave them for you to dry."
"Is your sister coming along too?"
"Fuck your mother."