At around ten, the two hungover drunkards finally showed up.
"Yesterday you were shouting about catching mud dragons, but look at the time. The tide's already coming in, so how the hell are we supposed to catch any?"
Wei Donglai was at a loss for words over how late the two had arrived.
Li Changfeng looked sheepish. "It's your fault for getting us drunk last night. Otherwise, we'd have gotten up ages ago."
"Tell me about it. My mom gave me a good scolding as soon as I got up this morning."
"Me too. I threw up on the bed last night, and my mom nearly nagged me to death when she washed the sheets today."
"So it's my fault, then? Where's that spirit you had yesterday when you said you'd drink me under the table? Want another round tonight?"
At that, Li Changfeng immediately backed down. "A Lai, I was wrong. I overslept."
Seeing his good attitude, Wei Donglai nodded in satisfaction.
He Dongliang asked from the side, "So are we still going to your second uncle's house now?"
"Let's go after lunch. We'll ask my second uncle for advice this afternoon and see what we need to get ready. We can prepare everything in advance and get started tomorrow."
At noon, the two ate at Wei Donglai's. He served the leftover spicy snails and mussels from the past few days, along with the black porgy left over from yesterday, and used the meat he had brought back today to make minced pork and eggplant.
When they saw Wei Donglai getting ready to open some liquor again,
the two grabbed his hand, nearly calling him Dad.
"A Lai, give us a chance to recover."
"We really aren't drinking at noon. We couldn't get any down anyway."
"Come on, you only drank that little last night, and you're already done for?"
The two felt aggrieved. This was blatant mockery.
But after yesterday's battle, they had figured out that Wei Donglai could now hold an ocean of liquor.
Even with two against one, he had still been sober enough to take them home.
It would be embarrassing if word got out.
The two had already made up their minds: whenever they shared a table with Wei Donglai in the future, they would never compete with him in drinking.
So even as Wei Donglai mocked them, they pretended not to hear. What else could they do when they couldn't outdrink him?
When it was time to back down, they would never put up a front.
"A Liang, try this eggplant. It's really good."
"Is it? Let me try."
"Mm, it really is delicious. This minced pork and eggplant has reached the height of perfection. It's so much better than what we make at our restaurant."
"All right, stop praising it, you two. If you're not drinking, you're not drinking. Just hurry up and eat."
After eating their fill, the three set off together for Li Changfeng's third uncle's house.
"A Feng, you said yesterday you had a way to win your second uncle over. What was it?"
"My second uncle loves a drink."
As soon as he said that, the other two understood.
When the three came out of the store, they had two bottles of liquor in their hands, Jiujiang Double Distilled again. Wei Donglai had also bought two packs of Qianmen cigarettes and some brown sugar.
Wei Donglai paid the bill, leaving the other two a little embarrassed.
But when they heard that he had made a small fortune over the past few days, that little bit of embarrassment immediately vanished like smoke in the wind.
Li Guowang, Li Changfeng's second uncle, lived on the south side of the village. His house was easy to recognize: it was the one with a tractor out front.
At that moment, Li Guowang was leisurely drinking tea in the courtyard. He was a little surprised to see the three of them arrive.
"Second Uncle, my friends and I came to see you."
"You brat, you never come to the temple unless you need something. Go on, what do you want from me?"
"Second Uncle, can't I come see you without needing something? The three of us bought these two bottles of Jiujiang Double Distilled especially for you."
Li Guowang's eyes lit up at the sight of the two bottles, but he didn't take them.
"Come on, what is it? If you don't tell me, I won't feel right accepting this liquor."
"It's nothing major, really. We want you to teach us how to catch mud dragons, Second Uncle."
"That's all?"
"That's all."
"That's nothing. All right, I'll take the liquor."
Wei Donglai also held out the two packs of Qianmen. "Uncle Guowang, there are two packs of cigarettes and some brown sugar here too. Just a little token from us."
"You boys, why spend money on this stuff?"
Though that was what he said, it was clear that Li Guowang was quite pleased with what the three had brought, especially the two bottles of liquor, which had struck a chord with him.
"We probably can't catch any today. Tomorrow morning, I'll take the three of you to the mudflats by the mangroves to try your luck."
"Uncle, is there anything we need to prepare?"
"Not much. We might not have enough mud dragon forks, so I'll just make a few more this afternoon."
"Oh, right. You'd each better bring a mud sled tomorrow. The mudflats over there are hard to walk on, and it'll be much easier to get around with a sled."
"Okay."
The three nodded in agreement.
"Come to think of it, how did you three boys come up with the idea of catching mud dragons?"
Li Changfeng explained, "A Liang told us the restaurants in town are paying four yuan fifty for mud dragons now."
"How much?" Li Guowang's eyes widened.
"Four yuan fifty."
"That bastard He Yougui! I sold him mud dragons for just three yuan seventy yesterday. No wonder he told me to catch more lately. Turns out the price has gone up."
Wei Donglai remembered the He Yougui that Li Guowang was talking about. He also ran a fish-buying stall at the dock, and he had chimed in when Wei Donglai sold the grouper last time.
Clearly, He Yougui had taken advantage of the information gap and hadn't told Uncle Guowang that the price of mud dragons had risen.
"Second Uncle, don't be angry. Just don't sell them to him the next time you catch any."
"Like hell I'll sell to him. Next time, I'll drive the tractor into town and sell them myself. The difference is eighty cents a jin. That's enough fuel money for several round trips."
"Good thing you told me the price, or I really would've lost out big later."
Sometimes there was nothing to be done about being cut off from information.
In this era, how many traders had made their fortunes off information gaps?
After Li Guowang had lamented for a while, his anger had mostly subsided.
With the afternoon free, Li Guowang prepared to forge two more mud dragon forks. He had two, but that obviously wasn't enough for four people.
Li Guowang first found a length of rebar and heated the tip until it was red-hot. He hammered it flat, sawed it open, then heated it red-hot and hammered it again, forming a semicircular fork head with a gap of about five or six centimeters.
This was also called the crossbar.
Next, Li Guowang welded two very short iron points to the center of the crossbar. These were called the teeth and were used to hold the mud dragon in place.
Finally, he welded two pieces of thick iron, each about seven or eight centimeters long, where the crossbar and teeth met. He then heated them red-hot and bent them downward, forming the final part, the hook.
The hook was used to catch hold of the mud dragon.
With his explanation, the three gained a clear understanding of the tool.
"As for the rest, tomorrow I'll show you on the spot how to apply the mixture and how to identify mud dragon holes."
When Li Changfeng heard him mention applying a mixture, he was surprised. "Second Uncle, you need a mixture to catch mud dragons? What kind?"
"Shredded tobacco and chili peppers."
"What kind of mixture is that?"
"It's used to choke the mud dragons."
"Does that work?"
At that, Li Guowang grew somewhat displeased. "I've been catching mud dragons for over ten years. Don't I know better than you whether it works?"
"Second Uncle, why are you so angry? I was just curious."
"All right, enough of this pointless chatter. Go do whatever you need to do. Just come over around eight tomorrow morning."
"Second Uncle, we'll be going, then. We'll come back for you tomorrow morning."