As they chatted, Wei Donglai heard his two sisters-in-law mention that they were going to the seaside with his mother that afternoon to prise oysters, and he wanted to tag along.
"You'd bother with such a handful of scraps?"
Wei Donglai couldn't be bothered to respond to his second sister-in-law's poisonous tongue. He asked his eldest sister-in-law to call him when she went to the seaside that afternoon.
Wei Donglai didn't intend to waste the morning, either. He planned to take a few fishing traps to the seaside and test the waters.
In any case, he had no intention of going to the meatpacking plant, but he couldn't go against his mother and father, either.
Making a living at sea was hard, but as Wei Donglai saw it, it was full of fun and the unknown.
But to gain his mother and mother's support, he had to show them he could make a living off the sea.
So for now, whether it was a fly's leg or a mosquito's meat, he wouldn't turn his nose up at it.
They already had fishing traps at home, so there was no need to buy new ones.
Wei Donglai dug three long fishing traps out of the room where the fishing gear was kept, then went straight to Li Laosan at the dock to have some small miscellaneous fish weighed out for bait before heading directly to the seaside.
Quite a few women were prising oysters at the seaside by then.
Keeping his distance, Wei Donglai looked around and found a spot on the rocks.
Not far away, a slender figure was crouched there, prising oysters off bit by bit. A sizeable pile of oyster shells had already accumulated beside her.
Wei Donglai recognized Xu Qingqing from behind, but he had no intention of going over to her.
He put some small fish in each trap.
Then he picked some snails off the rocks, smashed them with a stone, and tossed them into the traps.
Only then did he carefully climb down the rocks with the traps.
The tide hadn't gone out yet. Waves slapped against the rocks, splashing Wei Donglai all over.
Seeing that the water in front of him was fairly deep, Wei Donglai cast out a trap and watched it sink bit by bit until it was completely submerged, leaving only a plastic bottle floating on the surface to mark its position.
Wei Donglai continued along the edge of the rocks, lowering the remaining three traps one by one, each roughly thirty to forty meters apart.
After setting the traps, he went straight home, planning to collect them after prising oysters that afternoon.
Back home, Wei Donglai took advantage of the free time to tie four long wooden poles to the head and foot of the bed, then put up the mosquito net he had bought that morning.
Tonight, he wouldn't have to be a blood bag for mosquitoes in his sleep anymore.
Seeing that it was nearly noon, Wei Donglai sliced some pork belly and cooked it with fish balls and noodles for a simple meal.
He didn't know when his mother and sisters-in-law would come over, so he took the opportunity to lie down and doze for a while.
In a daze, he heard someone knocking at the door.
Wei Donglai rolled out of bed and ran to open the door, only to find that his mother and the others had already arrived.
"You said you were coming to prise oysters with us, and you still had time to sleep?"
Seeing how displeased his mother looked, Wei Donglai hurriedly smiled. "Mom, you hadn't arrived yet, so I just dozed off for a bit. Now that I've rested, I'll have the strength to work, won't I?"
"All you've got is an empty mouth that knows how to talk. Hurry up and come on."
"Coming!"
Wei Donglai quickly changed into rubber shoes. Remembering that he still had to collect the fishing traps later, he brought an extra plastic bucket.
Most buckets like these were left over from glue or paint, and once washed clean, they were quite handy for gathering seafood on the shore.
He also brought a straw hat and gloves, and after finding a hook for prising oysters, he followed behind his mother and the others toward the seaside.
Compared with the morning, more people had come to prise oysters that afternoon, though they were mostly women.
The men in the family generally didn't do this. Going out to fish or hauling cargo at the dock was better than prising oysters, whichever way one looked at it.
Wei Donglai was like a rare animal among this crowd of women, conspicuously out of place.
"Well, Donglai, you're here to prise oysters too? Will those scraps be enough for you to squander?"
"What? Not going to make your fortune at the card table anymore?"
The speakers were Sister-in-law Yang and Sister-in-law Hu from the village. They usually liked gossiping about people behind their backs, and when they saw Wei Donglai, they couldn't help tossing out a few teasing remarks.
Wei Donglai couldn't be bothered with them, but Li Yue'e wasn't about to let them get away with it. "What, are you old hens hatching duck eggs? So fond of meddling in other people's business. My son isn't prising oysters from your place, so why do you have to flap your gums? If you can't speak like a human being, keep your mouth shut."
"I'm telling the truth. Why are you getting angry?"
"If I don't say anything to you, your mouth's like it has a hook in it, always itching to make a nasty remark. If I do, suddenly it's all my fault. If you don't want to be cursed at, hold yourself back. Don't open your mouth and spray nonsense everywhere like you've smeared it with laxative."
Wei Donglai didn't dare judge his mother's fighting strength, but against these two village women, she was clearly on a different level.
He felt as though his mother had only just warmed up, and those two old women were already struggling to fend her off.
Their two old faces had turned black as thunder.
"I can't outtalk you. I'll stop, all right?"
"If you do wrong, accept your punishment; if you're getting beaten, stand at attention. If you knew you couldn't outtalk me, you shouldn't have opened your mouth in the first place."
The two village women didn't dare talk back again. If this went on, even if they didn't die of exhaustion, they would probably be angered to death.
The two of them lowered their heads in disgrace, as silent as could be.
After Li Yue'e and the others walked away, Sister-in-law Yang began complaining to the people nearby. "What kind of person is she? She's a complete shrew. We only said a couple of things about her son. Did she have to be so nasty?"
Sister-in-law Hu hurriedly chimed in. "Exactly, exactly. Once she opens her mouth, she's like a machine gun. Who would dare talk to her in the future?"
The two of them clearly lacked self-awareness, but the other village women knew perfectly well what was what.
Though Li Yue'e had a sharp tongue in the village, she wasn't the sort to go looking for trouble.
Her youngest son might not have had much of a reputation, but as for her own character, who in the village wouldn't give her a thumbs-up?
Those two, on the other hand, each loved gossiping behind people's backs more than the other, and each had even less character than the other.
They didn't know how the two had the nerve to complain to them.
The people nearby listened to the two of them and didn't indulge them either. "Would you be happy if someone said those things about your son? You can't keep your mouths shut, yet you still think you're in the right, and now you're yapping behind her back. Have some shame."
With that, she picked up her bag and walked farther away, lest she be infected by the poisonous fumes coming off those two.
The other village women followed her example, keeping well away and refusing to talk to the pair.
For a moment, the two of them were terribly embarrassed.
"Mom, you're amazing."
Li Yue'e was already immune to Wei Donglai's compliments, and a look of disdain appeared on her face.
"You've got the nerve to say that? If you weren't such a disappointment, would I have had to quarrel with them? If you don't start making me proud, don't tell people I'm your mother when you go out."
"Come on, Mom, how did this land on my head again? I didn't do anything to upset you."
"You didn't upset me, but then why were they saying bad things about you? How come no one says bad things about your eldest and second brothers?"
Forget it. Mom's still angry. I can't afford to provoke her.
Wei Donglai zipped his mouth shut of his own accord.
He was the family's weakest link, the first target outsiders attacked.
Though with a defender of his mother's caliber, outside enemies had a hard time breaking through.
His mother's defense also had a splash-damage effect, however, and every time it landed squarely on his head.
Seeing his second sister-in-law holding back a laugh, Wei Donglai shot him a fierce glare.
Those fish balls had been wasted on her. She hadn't even put in a good word for him.
Chen Fengying wasn't about to do anything so foolish. Whoever provoked her mother-in-law while she was angry would suffer, and she didn't want to get caught in the splash damage.
As for his eldest sister-in-law, Xue Li, never mind helping him. Whenever her mother-in-law was angry, she held her breath, not daring to breathe too loudly.