Back at his lodgings, Wei Donglai took out an empty bucket, put in a conger eel and a few octopuses, then added a black porgy.
"Sister Qing, take these home and cook them for the two children."
"No, no, I already owe you too much. I absolutely can't take them."
"I'll be unhappy if you don't take them."
"Even if you're unhappy, I still can't take them."
"Yiming, Momo, we're going home."
With that, Xu Qingqing took the two children, one older and one younger, by the hand and quickly left the courtyard.
Wei Donglai could only watch, feeling somewhat helpless.
Afterward, he kept the conger eel and some octopuses and carried everything else to Li Laosan at the dock to sell.
The two groupers from that evening were a decent size, and together with the two moray eels and the other assorted catch, they brought in 11 yuan and 5 mao.
Altogether, he now had a little over sixty yuan, but he still had a long way to go before he could buy a boat.
Wei Donglai had already made up his mind to get a six-meter wooden boat to make do with for now.
Then he could cast a hand net near shore, or set fish traps and longlines. Either way, it would be better than foraging along the shore every day like this.
A new small wooden boat should cost around 150 or 160 yuan.
As for how long it would take to get one, Wei Donglai had no idea. He could only do it as soon as possible.
He slept through the night without getting up to pee!
The next day, Wei Donglai got up quite early.
After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he went into the kitchen.
He opened the cupboard and found some leftovers from the day before.
Of the dishes He Dongliang had brought yesterday, there was about a small plate of char siu, pig's ears, and the like left.
Of the food Wei Donglai had made himself, only a little moray eel remained.
Not bad. There was only this little bit left; if there had been a pile of leftovers, he wouldn't have known what to do with them.
He cooked a bowl of noodles with the moray eel and enjoyed a good meal with the char siu and pig's ears.
He washed the redfish he had salted yesterday, then carried it out to the courtyard to dry.
Afterward, he took his fish traps to the seaside.
The traps had brought him quite a bit of income over the past two days, but this time he didn't use the same spot as yesterday.
He moved closer to an area with more reefs, found some oysters and mud snails, and smashed them with a stone before tossing them into the traps as bait.
Once he had set the traps, he went straight back.
Li Changfeng had brought quite a few chestnuts yesterday, around thirty jin.
Wei Donglai packed half of them into a woven plastic sack and carried it over to his mother's place.
As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw Aunt Xu chatting with his mother. At her feet were two ducks, two bottles of liquor, several jin of meat, and some brown sugar.
When Aunt Xu saw Wei Donglai, she hurried to her feet and took his hand warmly. "A Lai, I was just talking to your mother about you. I didn't expect you to come over."
"Auntie, was everything settled yesterday?"
Aunt Xu nodded. "It's all settled. The child is fine, and A Qing didn't blame us too much either. I originally offered two hundred yuan as compensation for the child, but A Qing wouldn't take that much and only accepted one hundred. She really is a good girl."
Wei Donglai thought that, sure enough, he had guessed right. What that silly woman had given him yesterday really had been everything she owned.
As for how much his cousin's wife offered and how much Xu Qingqing accepted, Wei Donglai had nothing to say. That was their own choice.
But Wei Donglai still had a few words of advice about those two reckless little brats.
"Auntie, luckily you ran into me this time, and I knew first aid. You can't let there be a next time. Kids may be naughty, but you can't gamble with someone's life."
Hearing this, Aunt Xu sighed. "Those two little brats of mine haven't been disciplined enough. They don't know when to stop at all. My two sons came home last night and gave them a sound thrashing. They still couldn't get out of bed this morning. I hope they'll remember the lesson after this."
Wei Donglai had nothing to say about whether he approved of corporal punishment. After all, that was how most parents in the countryside disciplined their children these days.
He had grown up the same way himself. Even now, if he disobeyed, wouldn't his father and mother still give him a beating?
"A Lai, thanks to you stepping in on time, a great disaster was averted. I don't have much worth giving you, but please accept these things as a token of my gratitude. Don't think they're too little."
"Auntie, there's no need to be so polite. I just happened to be there, so of course I had to help."
"A Lai, don't say that. It may be a small matter to you, but it's a big one to me. In any case, you must accept these things, or I won't be at ease."
"Auntie, there's really no need."
"No. If you won't accept them, I'll have no choice but to kowtow to you to show my thanks."
Seeing that Aunt Xu was really about to kneel, Wei Donglai rushed forward in a single stride and caught her hands.
"Auntie, what are you doing? Aren't you going to shorten my life by doing that?"
"Then will you accept these things or not?"
"Yes, I'll take them. Will that do?"
Faced with Aunt Xu's insistence on giving him the gifts, Wei Donglai could only feel helpless.
If he really let Aunt Xu kneel, people would probably poke his backbone until it broke.
"That's a good boy."
Only after Wei Donglai agreed to accept them did Aunt Xu smile in satisfaction.
"A Lai, Yue'e, I still have to stop by A Qing's place later, so I won't stay."
"If you ever run into any trouble and need my family's help, just say the word. We won't refuse."
"All right, all right, I'll remember that. Go on and take care of your business."
After seeing Aunt Xu off, Li Yue'e turned back and looked at the sack Wei Donglai had brought. "What have you got in there?"
"Some chestnuts. A Feng brought them over yesterday, so I hurried to bring you some, Mom. See? Your son is pretty filial, isn't he?"
Li Yue'e didn't look particularly pleased to hear that.
"You think a few chestnuts will satisfy your mother? If you're really filial, find me a daughter-in-law soon."
Wei Donglai felt a headache coming on. How had he never noticed before that his mother liked urging him to get married so much?
"Mom, it's not as if I can just find a daughter-in-law whenever I want. I can't exactly pick one up off the street and bring her back to you, can I?"
Li Yue'e gave him a sidelong glance. "If you're capable of picking one up, that's fine too."
"Mom, are you that eager to hold a grandson?"
"I'm not eager to hold a grandson. I'm afraid you'll stay a bachelor. Now that your reputation has improved a little, I'll ask a matchmaker to introduce someone to you."
"Where did all that come from? Mom, you should have faith in me. My reputation will only get better and better."
"Oh, spare me. I've lost all hope in you. If you don't find someone now, what good girl would jump into the fire pit that is your home later?"
Wei Donglai felt a pang in his heart.
Other people's daughters were good girls, while her son was a fire pit.
Well, well. She really was a true, sharp-tongued mother, wasn't she?
"If you say that, you'll break your son's heart."
"As long as it hasn't shattered. Stop putting on that maudlin act with me."
"I've got things to do, so I'll be going."
Unable to win an argument with Li Yue'e, Wei Donglai could only make an excuse to escape.
"You've barely said two words and you're already running off. Hurry up, take your things, and get lost."
Wei Donglai grinned cheekily. "Mom, what's mine is yours, isn't it? There's so much here. How could I eat it all myself?"
"Keep the liquor for Dad, and keep one of the ducks too. I only need to cut off a little meat, and I'll leave the brown sugar for you to drink with water."
"We still have brown sugar at home. Take this with you."
"All right, then I'll just cut off some meat."
Wei Donglai carried the meat into the kitchen and cut off about a jin. Then he quickly divided up the things outside and prepared to slip away.
"Pay some attention to what I told you. You're not getting any younger, so give me less to worry about."
"Got it!"
Wei Donglai waved, leaving his mother with a carefree view of his back.