"Thanks, little brother."
"No need to thank me, big brother. I was just about to warn you, but before I knew it, you'd stepped right on it."
"It was my own fault. I was trying to save myself some effort. If I'd known, I would've carried it in two trips."
"Ow!"
The man was just about to pick up the things that had fallen to the ground, but as soon as he moved his foot, the pain was unbearable.
"Little brother, I think I've sprained my ankle. Could you help me pick these things up?"
"No problem."
With that, Wei Donglai began helping him gather the things from the ground.
A jumble of things lay scattered on the ground: old newspapers and books, along with oil lamps, horns, and all sorts of other odds and ends.
Wei Donglai waved to Li Changfeng. "A Feng, come give us a hand."
"Okay!"
The two crouched down and picked everything up bit by bit, then arranged it neatly in the cardboard box.
Suddenly, an object in front of Wei Donglai caught his eye. It was a small wooden box, apparently an old-fashioned official's traveling case.
It looked filthy and had probably been around for some years.
Wei Donglai picked up the box. It felt rather heavy in his hands, and after a quick look, he could tell it was probably made of Hainan huanghuali wood.
He had worked at a furniture factory for years in his previous life, so he still had enough of an eye for that.
After he had put everything in the box, the man with the sprained ankle spoke up again.
"Little brothers, sorry to trouble you, but could you help me carry this stuff to that tricycle?"
They looked in the direction he pointed and saw a tricycle about thirty meters ahead.
The two carried the things over, and Wei Donglai saw plenty of scrap cardboard, scrap iron, old books, newspapers, and the like on the vehicle.
Curious, he asked, "Big brother, are you from the scrap collection station?"
The man nodded and pointed at the alley.
"Yeah. The family that sold me the scrap just now lives on the fifth floor of the tenement at the entrance to this alley. I thought I'd bring it all down in one trip so I wouldn't have to go back up, but I ended up spraining my ankle."
Hearing that, Wei Donglai pointed to the wooden box he had just picked up and put in the cardboard box. "Big brother, I think that little box is pretty nice. Could you sell it to me?"
The man looked surprised. "You want it?"
Wei Donglai nodded. "Yeah. It'd be just right for storing some small things at home."
The man immediately looked unconcerned. "If you want it, just take it. That family gave it to me for free."
"I can't do that. Name a price, and I'll pay you."
The man waved a hand. "Little brother, if you hadn't caught me just now, I would've fallen. You even helped me pick everything up. How could I possibly charge you for it?"
With that, he pushed the box straight into Wei Donglai's hands.
Seeing that, Wei Donglai accepted it.
When he saw the man preparing to push the tricycle away, he was a little worried. "Big brother, with your ankle sprained, will you be able to get back all right?"
"It's nothing serious. Our scrap station isn't far from here, just a few hundred meters. I can push it over slowly."
"Then hop on. I'll just pedal you and the tricycle over."
"Thank you, little brother."
Wei Donglai handed the box to Li Changfeng.
"Wait here with Uncle Guowang. I'll be right back."
The place the man had mentioned really was only a few hundred meters away. Wei Donglai made the round trip in less than ten minutes.
Li Changfeng handed the box back to Wei Donglai and couldn't resist asking.
"A Lai, what do you want a beat-up box like this for?"
"Beat-up box? This is huanghuali."
"What use is it? Even if you gave it to me for firewood, I'd complain it wouldn't make much of a fire."
Wei Donglai wanted to chop him up. Burning huanghuali as firewood-how could he even think of it? Wasn't he afraid of heaven's punishment?
But on second thought, he froze.
In this day and age, huanghuali really wasn't worth much, so there was nothing wrong with what Li Changfeng had said.
A few years earlier, burning it as firewood wouldn't have been anything strange. It was only because Wei Donglai knew how outrageously expensive it would become in the future that he valued it so much.
Still, being lucky enough to come across it counted as a kind of fate. He would just treat it as putting something away for the future.
"That's you. Can't I like it?"
Li Changfeng was speechless. "It's so dirty, and you're treating it like a treasure."
Wei Donglai couldn't be bothered arguing with him. After hopping onto the tractor, he spoke.
"Uncle Guowang, sorry for the wait."
"It's fine. It hasn't been long at all."
Li Guowang then drove the two of them back to the village on the tractor.
After they got home, Wei Donglai bought Li Guowang two packs of Qianmen cigarettes and a bottle of liquor at the little shop on the east side of the village.
Although Li Guowang tried every way he could to refuse, Wei Donglai insisted on giving them to him.
Li Guowang could be polite about it, but Wei Donglai couldn't be thoughtless.
Of the four who had caught mud eels that day, he had made the most, and Uncle Guowang had driven the tractor both ways. He couldn't possibly offer nothing in return.
After arranging to go catch mud eels with the two again tomorrow, Wei Donglai carried the little wooden box back to the old house.
The little Hainan huanghuali box really was filthy. Perhaps that was why its owner hadn't wanted it.
But for that very reason, Wei Donglai had been able to come across it.
Getting the box completely clean would probably take quite a bit of work.
Fortunately, Wei Donglai wasn't in a hurry. He could work on it slowly when he had time.
After putting the box in the inner room, he went to the seaside to collect his fish traps.
There really was nothing good this time. There were no groupers or dogfish, and the only thing halfway decent was a tiger moray. But it wasn't a white-spotted one, so Wei Donglai couldn't be bothered keeping it and went straight to the pier to sell it.
Together with the other odds and ends, everything sold for 2 yuan and 3 mao. It was his smallest haul since he had started setting fish traps.
Even so, Wei Donglai thought he should keep setting them.
It was naturally good to make ten-odd yuan, but he wouldn't turn his nose up at one or two yuan either. After all, little by little, it would add up.
Once he had a small wooden boat and could go offshore, he would set his fish traps out at sea. His chances of a good catch there ought to be much better than around the reefs.
For the next few days, Wei Donglai planned to focus entirely on catching mud eels and give up sea fishing and everything else.
He intended to take advantage of the good price for mud eels while it lasted and try to save enough to buy a small wooden boat. Then he would feel confident enough to tell his parents about his plans.
He was determined not to accept the job at the meatpacking plant. Leaving aside the fixed wage of a few dozen yuan a month, he figured the sight of all that cutting and butchering, with blood on every stroke of the knife, would get on his nerves.
Early the next morning, Wei Donglai set his fish traps and went over to Li Guowang's place.
Yesterday's haul had left Li Changfeng full of energy.
After forty or fifty minutes, the three set off for the mangroves with a wheelbarrow.
As before, they each found their own spots to put down shredded tobacco and look for burrows.
More than two hours later, the three saw that the tide was about to rise, so they began gathering to call it a day.
Li Changfeng did a little better than yesterday, catching three.
Of course, that was only in terms of numbers. By weight, he actually hadn't caught much more than yesterday.
None of his three mud eels weighed a full jin; together, they came to about 1.8 or 1.9 jin.
Li Guowang was the steady type. He caught five again today, including one weighing about a jin and a half, so he had clearly done a little better than yesterday.
As for Wei Donglai, his beginner's luck seemed to have run out. He caught only four today, all very small, with even the biggest weighing less than a jin.
The two didn't have Li Guowang drive the tractor to town today.
Li Changfeng's father had a bicycle. After weighing their catches at home, the three put all the mud eels into one bucket.
Then the two young men rode the bicycle to town.
When they arrived at the restaurant, Manager Gong gave them a warm welcome. After the bill was totaled, Wei Donglai's catch sold for 11 yuan and 3 mao, quite a bit less than yesterday.
He now had more than ninety yuan altogether, close to a hundred, and was getting closer to his goal of buying a small boat.
Over the next three days, Wei Donglai's luck seemed to pick up again.
On the first day, he caught six and sold them for 24 yuan and 3 mao.
On the second day, he caught five, but two of them weighed nearly two jin each, so they sold for 33 yuan and 2 mao.
On the third day, he caught seven, but they were all small. Only one weighed over a jin, and several weighed less than half a jin, so they sold for only 19 yuan and 7 mao.
As for the fish traps, the haul over those three days was something else: everything sold for a total of 5 yuan and 4 mao.
Just as the three were ready to keep up their efforts, something unexpected happened.