"Fuck, who the hell kicked me?"
After pulling his face out of the mud, He Jiahao, whom Wei Donglai had kicked flat on his face, began cursing before he had even opened his eyes.
"I did, your grandpa."
Scraping a layer of mud off his face, He Jiahao saw who had kicked him. When he saw it was Wei Donglai, he immediately felt a little guilty.
"What are you going to do?"
"What do you think? I was up there working my ass off finding burrows and putting tobacco in them, while you came along behind me and took everything ready-made. You sure know how to pluck someone else's peaches."
Seeing that his trick had been exposed, He Jiahao continued making excuses.
"There's no name written on the mud eels' burrows. How was I supposed to know they were yours?"
Wei Donglai couldn't be bothered arguing with him. He walked straight over and grabbed his fish basket.
"That's mine."
He Jiahao clung tightly to the fish basket, clearly unwilling to give it up.
Wei Donglai made as if to kick him, and He Jiahao hastily raised both arms to shield himself.
Taking advantage of the moment he let go, Wei Donglai gave a slight tug and snatched the fish basket away.
Wei Donglai looked inside. There were three mud eels, and one was thick enough that he estimated it weighed at least two jin.
Not a bad haul.
"You can't snatch my things. I caught those."
Wei Donglai was so angry he laughed. "You caught them? I put tobacco in three burrows, and you dug up all three. You dare say you caught them?"
"I didn't catch anything in those two burrows of yours. I caught those two in other burrows."
Heh, he was a repeat offender, stealing from more than just Wei Donglai.
"Fuck, you're no good at it, but you steal anyway. You think you don't have to answer for it just because you didn't catch anything? Like hell I'm letting you get away with it."
With that, Wei Donglai kicked him.
"Stop hitting me, stop! Can't you just take the stuff?"
Only when He Jiahao's face was black and blue did Wei Donglai stop.
"If I catch you stealing my mud eels again, I'll break your legs."
"I promise there won't be a next time!"
He Jiahao waited a long while, and once he was sure Wei Donglai had left, he muttered resentfully to himself.
"Fuck, you'd better hope I don't run into you next time."
Those words had very limited bite when paired with a face not even a ghost would recognize.
Wei Donglai searched for another half hour. Not one of the next three burrows had been spared; someone had been through them all.
Seeing that, Wei Donglai couldn't be bothered to continue. Going on like this would be a pure waste of energy.
In this weather, there was hardly any air moving through the mangroves to begin with. With the high humidity and moisture rising into the air, it was suffocatingly stuffy.
All he might have gained from that half hour was a body drenched in sweat.
Outside the mangroves, it was still hot, but at least there was a breeze. With the air circulating, even breathing felt much easier.
On the mudflat, several elderly men were collecting their mudskipper traps, while two others were fishing for mudskippers with rods.
Before long, two of the men had finished collecting their traps and were heading back.
Wei Donglai went up to them and politely asked one of them a question.
"Uncle, could you sell me some of your mudskippers?"
He hadn't eaten them in a long time and was craving them a little.
"How much do you want?"
"Three jin would be enough."
"They're buying them at the dock for 1.3 yuan a jin now."
Wei Donglai knew the price of mudskippers had gone up, so he didn't quibble and had the man pick out two jin for him.
Although there was no scale, the man bought fish every day, and he could judge the weight fairly accurately just by hefting them.
Wei Donglai didn't fuss over it either. Whether he got one or two more or fewer was down to luck.
Once the fish were in the bucket, Wei Donglai immediately took out four yuan and handed it to the man.
Judging that Li Guowang and Li Changfeng would take a while longer to come out, he decided to wander around the mudflat.
He had no intention of catching mudskippers, but he could still pick up some scallops.
By the time Li Changfeng and his uncle came out of the mangroves, Wei Donglai had added more than twenty scallops to his bucket, all large, plump ones. He had also picked up quite a few spotted babylons along the way.
It made Wei Donglai marvel at how abundant the resources along the coast really were these days.
"Uncle Guowang, how was your catch today?"
Li Guowang shook his head and handed Wei Donglai the bucket to see for himself.
There were only two small, skinny mud eels in the bucket, and Wei Donglai reckoned they would have trouble reaching even one jin.
Li Changfeng hadn't done much better. He had only one, weighing around eight liang.
"A Lai, what about yours?"
As he spoke, he leaned over to check Wei Donglai's catch.
"Fuck, three mud eels, and one of them's so big! And mudskippers, scallops, and spotted babylons too. How did you get all these?"
Wei Donglai then told them what had just happened.
The two of them looked down on He Jiahao for what he had done, while also feeling a little envious that Wei Donglai had come away with three mud eels.
Li Changfeng in particular looked furious after hearing the story. "Fuck, two of my burrows had been dug up earlier. It might've been that bastard He Jiahao."
After hearing that, Wei Donglai rolled his eyes at him.
"Nice try, but even if this big mud eel really did come from your burrow, I'm not giving it back to you."
Li Changfeng didn't feel embarrassed at having his trick seen through. He chuckled. "If you won't give me a mud eel, how about some mudskippers?"
"Don't even think about it. There are only two jin of mudskippers, and I'm taking them home to eat. If you want some, come to my house tonight."
"Forget it, then. I have something to do tonight."
Li Changfeng turned his head, his eyes darting. "No mud eel, and you won't give me any mudskippers either. You can't be too stingy to spare some of these scallops, can you?"
Wei Donglai thoroughly despised the way he couldn't be satisfied unless he got something out of it.
Even so, he held out the bucket. "Pick them yourself."
Li Changfeng didn't stand on ceremony. He picked out seven or eight of the biggest scallops, and immediately felt much better.
On their way back, Li Changfeng moved closer to Wei Donglai.
"A Lai, are you coming back to catch mud eels tomorrow?"
Wei Donglai shook his head. "Judging by what happened today, I reckon there'll be even more people coming to catch mud eels tomorrow. I'm not planning to catch them anymore after this."
"Then I won't come tomorrow either."
Li Changfeng turned back to Li Guowang. "Second Uncle, what about you?"
"I'll see how things go for another couple of days."
Although his earnings were worlds apart from what they had been over the past few days, mud eels still fetched a high price.
Even catching just one small one would bring in two or three yuan a day, so Li Guowang was still reluctant to give it up.
"A Lai, what are you planning to do over the next couple of days?"
"Tomorrow I'm going to order a small wooden boat. In a few days, I'll try my luck offshore."
Li Changfeng looked surprised. "So soon? Have you saved up enough money?"
Wei Donglai nodded. "It should be about enough. I've sold quite a few mud eels these past few days."
"A Lai, hearing you say that makes me want to buy a boat and go out to sea with you."
"He's going out to sea, so you want to go too? Can you handle that kind of hardship?"
Li Changfeng was a little unhappy to hear Li Guowang say that.
"Second Uncle, can't you open your mouth without discouraging me? I finally worked up a little interest, and you can't even give me some support?"
"I'm telling you the reality of it. Think about your dad. Make sure you can handle that kind of hardship before you say things like that."
After thinking back for a moment, Li Changfeng immediately lost confidence, and his earlier excitement vanished in an instant.
Wei Donglai remembered that in his previous life, Li Changfeng seemed to have done fairly well in Guangzhou, and apparently even had a garment factory of his own.
So Wei Donglai smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "A Feng, you should just set your mind on going to Guangzhou. That's where you belong."