Feeding

The grain-drying ground was pitch-dark, so they needed flashlights to work.

Having the boy-girl twins tag along had its advantages: they could hold the flashlights.

The family followed the same method they had used that morning, crushing the shells with a stone roller, then putting everything in winnowing baskets and lifting them above their heads. Standing where the wind blew through, they separated the shells from the shrimp meat.

It took two full hours to finish shelling the remaining dried shrimp and pack them into burlap sacks.

They didn't waste the crushed shell fragments, either, but put them in a burlap sack. The shells from that morning had already filled a whole sack, enough to feed the chickens and ducks for a long time. They made excellent feed.

The twins took turns holding the flashlights. Whoever wasn't holding one ran all over the grain-drying ground, laughing even while running around alone. Who knew what they were so happy about? Even when it was time to go home, they were reluctant to leave.

Chen Haichao hefted the dried shrimp they had finished processing that evening and estimated that there were a little over forty jin, worth about eighty yuan.

That meant he had personally earned another forty yuan, equivalent to two months of Chen Sitian's wages.

If they could keep producing it over the long term, the money would come in fast. The family's standard of living would shoot straight up, and he could save a substantial sum himself.

"The day after tomorrow is the first of the lunar month. The tide will also go out pretty far tomorrow, so I'll go take a look at the shore then. It wouldn't be right for the whole family to run off to the shore during the New Year. Mom, you all get busy with the New Year's Eve dinner. I'll go have a look around the shore myself."

On the first of every lunar month, high tide came at noon and midnight, and low tide at six in the morning and six in the evening.

He wouldn't attract attention going to the shore alone. Otherwise, if the whole family skipped the New Year festivities to go hauling things out of the sea, who would believe there was nothing fishy going on?

Mother Chen looked at the dried shrimp on the handcart, her face lighting up with a smile. "That works. It's New Year's Eve and New Year's Day these next two days. It wouldn't be right for the whole family to spend the holiday soaking in the sea, and we don't want people getting suspicious. You go take a look and gather a little with your dad. We'll all go together again on the evening of the second, or else the brigade will start work again on the fifth."

"Mm."

The whole family's eagerness to make dried shrimp had reached its peak. They hardly wanted to celebrate the New Year, but they had to.

They didn't see a single soul on their way home. They wondered how the commotion at Wang Laosan's house had gone when everyone went to watch at nightfall, and whether Liu Chunlan had moved in.

They probably wouldn't find out until they woke up the next morning and stood at the door listening to the neighbors talk.

Everyone simply washed their faces and feet, then went straight back to their rooms to rest. Chen Haichao had to take advantage of the low tide and go to the shore at six the next morning, so he needed to sleep early too.

But Chen Xiaoqi was still in his bed!

He wriggled and crawled up beside Chen Haichao's head and said ingratiatingly, "Brother, can I go to the shore with you tomorrow?"

"No."

"I'll just watch from the shore. I absolutely won't touch a single drop of water."

Chen Haichao pressed down on his head and tucked him back under the covers. "Only if you can fall asleep before me and wake up before me."

Chen Xiaoqi immediately closed his eyes. "I'm going to sleep right now."

Peace and quiet at last. Now he could get a good night's sleep. He gave himself a pat on the back for his cleverness. Having to match wits and courage every night just to get to sleep was too hard.

It was now February 1980 by the Gregorian calendar, but according to tradition, it wouldn't truly be 1980 until after New Year's Eve.

Early on New Year's Eve, Father Chen stood at the door, holding up the couplets he had asked a gentleman to write when they changed the name. A small bowl of freshly cooked paste sat beside him.

"Abao, you're taller. You put them up."

Indeed, he was considered tall in the village. His dad was 1.6 meters, and his mom was 1.55. Both had been born sometime in the 1930s, and with too little food and clothing and poor nutrition, growing tall had been difficult. Yet his genes had mutated, and he, a child of the sixties, had grown to 175 centimeters.

With his dad directing him left one moment and right the next, his arms had grown sore by the time he finished putting up the New Year couplets on both sides of the door.

"Sure enough, once the couplets are up, everything looks festive in an instant. All this red makes it feel like New Year." Chen Haichao was very pleased with the result. Even the doorframe seemed to have taken on a fresh look.

"I'll help your mom slaughter a chicken first. Once you've eaten, go on to the shore without waiting for me. The tide has already started going out."

He nodded and got his tools ready first.

The village was already bustling early in the morning. Every household was slaughtering chickens and ducks and preparing that day's New Year's Eve dinner. Firecrackers went off now and then, and the smell of saltpeter hung in the air.

He had to say, he quite liked the smell. It was strangely pleasant, and that scent of saltpeter was part of the New Year atmosphere too.

Unlike the bustling village, the shore was deserted. Only seabirds circled overhead, apparently the same flock of cormorants, along with a flock of seagulls.

Chen Haichao shook out the two burlap sacks he had brought and set them aside. He rolled up his trouser legs, and when he judged the water level was about right, he gritted his teeth, steeled himself, and went in.

This is miserable. Making money is so hard!

Later, he would ask the brigade leader whether he could be allowed to contract the salt pans early while keeping his work points. It was diversified production and the development of a sideline, bringing in revenue for the brigade without interfering with his regular work.

The main job belonged to the collective; for sideline work, one relied on oneself.

The policies were growing more relaxed by the day. Someone had to be the first to eat crab and dare to try. Just because nobody was doing it now didn't mean it couldn't be done.

Besides, he would be making a legitimate inquiry, breaking no laws or rules.

Feeling the icy seawater cut to the bone, he made up his mind to ask the brigade leader as soon as he went ashore.

He had only been in the water for five minutes when a call rang out from the shore.

"Brother~ Brother~ I'm here~" Chen Xiaoqi stood on the shore, jumping up and down excitedly as he waved at him.

"This darn kid..." He frowned and started to go ashore to give him a few warnings.

Just then, two cormorants suddenly swooped at Chen Xiaoqi. He cried out in fright and immediately crouched down, hunching over to protect the bird's nest in his arms.

"Ahhh... don't peck me, don't peck me! Ow, ow, it hurts..."

Seeing that, Chen Haichao hurried ashore.

The cormorant chick in Chen Xiaoqi's arms also began to chirp.

The cormorants attacking Chen Xiaoqi suddenly stopped. They folded their wings and landed right at his feet. Still crouching with his back hunched, he didn't dare raise his head and kept calling for his brother in fear.

Chen Haichao breathed a sigh of relief, but the two cormorants continued to stare at Chen Xiaoqi like tigers eyeing their prey. When he approached, they turned their eyes on him.

"Xiao Qi."

Hearing him call, Chen Xiaoqi instantly felt safe. He immediately raised his head and ran over to him with the nest in his arms.

During the brief moment he took that step, the two seabirds beside him stretched out their necks again and chirped, and the chick in his nest called along with them.

Chen Haichao looked at the two cormorants, which seemed identical, then at the chick poking its head out of the nest in Chen Xiaoqi's arms. "Put the nest down and let's have a look. It looks like your little Xiao Ba's bird dad and bird mom have come."

"Huh?" Surprised, he nevertheless obediently put down the nest he had been holding tightly.

As soon as he put it down, the two cormorants came over and used their beaks to push aside the straw. Then they pecked all over the chick and even picked it up in their beaks.

"Ah! My little Xiao Ba!"

The chick struggled back into the nest and used its beak to pull straw over itself, chirping away.

Then one of the cormorants flew off again, leaving only one standing beside the nest?

The brothers couldn't make sense of what the three birds were doing.

Chen Haichao patted Chen Xiaoqi on the head. "Why did you bring the nest out here?"

"Xiao Liu wanted to take my bird, so I picked it up and sneaked out to find you. I also wanted to find some little fish for it to eat. It hasn't eaten yet."

"When Mom and Dad get old, I wonder if you'll be this attentive to them."

"When Mom gets old, I'll peel shrimp for her."

"What about Dad?"

"Xiao Liu will peel his."

Chen Haichao chuckled. "You two have divided the work up pretty clearly."

Just as he finished speaking, the cormorant that had flown away returned, dropping a pale large yellow croaker weighing about a jin beside the nest?

A large yellow croaker!

It eats pretty well!

"Your little Xiao Ba has its parents feeding it. You stay here and don't go near the water. If I see you going in, I'll break your legs."

Chen Xiaoqi nodded. Watching the big bird beside the nest, he edged to one side and cautiously sat down beside it.

Chen Haichao saw that the boy and the three birds seemed to be getting along peacefully, so he left them be. He still had the great task of catching shrimp to attend to.