Chapter 14: Hairtail

Chu Xuan launched into a rapid-fire lecture to brainwash Chu Feng. "Xiao Feng, what kind of beautiful dream are you dreaming? He is a swan in the heavens, and I am a toad on the ground. One must have self-awareness. Look at all this fat on my body and this chubby face of mine—how could I ever be worthy of him? I still feel guilty about that incident involving the design even now. Besides, I won't even consider marriage until you have become a man of substance."

Chu Feng was puzzled. "Why wait until I become a man of substance? When does that happen?"

"When you become a sensible man with a sense of responsibility, then you'll be a man of substance. As for why I'm waiting, it's because I'm your sister! An elder sister is like a mother! Now hurry up and eat your fish, and don't mention this again!"

In truth, Chu Xuan wanted to say: *If I considered marriage before you became a man of substance, I would only end up burdening your future in-laws.*

Outside the courtyard wall, Mu Chenze stopped listening.

He felt a surge of irritation. After a swan was tricked into a kiss by a toad, shouldn't the swan be happy that the toad wasn't planning to take responsibility?

Why did the swan seem to feel rejected by the toad?

***

After returning home, he ate a few hurried bites and went back to his bedroom.

Qin Mahua whispered to her husband, Mu Qinlao, "Dear, have you noticed that our second son hasn't been acting right these past two days?"

Mu Qinlao was a straightforward, easygoing man. He waved his hands dismissively. "I haven't noticed. The boy is as capable as ever now that he's back on the fishing boat."

Qin Mahua felt like she was talking to a brick wall. "Fine, I won't bother you!"

She ran off to chat with her eldest daughter-in-law, Fu Qing.

"Xiao Qing! I feel like the second son is off lately. Could it be that he's feeling depressed after being rejected by Chu Xuan? Should we find a matchmaker to introduce someone to him?"

Fu Qing also noticed that her brother-in-law had a poor appetite lately. "He might really be feeling down. Mother, maybe you should find a matchmaker tomorrow..."

"Why wait until tomorrow? I'll go tonight!"

A few minutes later, Qin Mahua grabbed a bag of gifts and a flashlight, heading toward Matchmaker Wang's house in a whirlwind of activity...

***

The next morning around six, Chu Xuan grabbed two buckets and other tools, preparing to go beachcombing.

Chu Feng walked out of his bedroom carrying a bowl of malt extract. "Sister, drink this first to line your stomach. By the time you get back, I'll have breakfast ready."

He had lost track of time reading last night and woke up late this morning, failing to prepare breakfast for his sister in advance.

Chu Qing took it gratefully and drank it down.

In her past life, she was always the one looking out for her younger brother; in this life, she finally got to experience his warmth.

Twenty minutes later, Chu Xuan reached the beach. The tide had receded significantly.

There were many people beachcombing, mostly picking up clams.

Even though clams weren't fetching high prices right now, it couldn't dampen the enthusiasm of the foragers.

However, Chu Xuan didn't rush to scramble for them. Instead, she went to an area with many reefs to try her luck.

Before long, she picked up a one-meter-long ribbonfish, weighing about seven or eight jin.

The ribbonfish had already expired, but fortunately, it was still quite fresh, with bright red gills.

This was a deep-sea fish; once brought to the surface, its internal organs would explode due to the pressure difference. Most ribbonfish people saw were already dead.

This was a type of seafood Chu Xuan could never tire of eating.

As she put the ribbonfish into her bucket, she couldn't help but think of the deliciousness of braised or deep-fried ribbonfish.

After flipping over a few rocks, she found a palm-sized swimming crab.

The crabs weren't fat this season, and since this one was missing a claw, it wouldn't fetch a good price. She decided to save it for Xiao Feng to satisfy his cravings; the boy had been eyeing swimming crabs for a long time.

She had to keep it.

She placed it in another bucket.

Since the crab still had one claw, she didn't want it to ruin the ribbonfish she was so looking forward to.

After searching through the reef pile, she found two octopuses weighing about two or three jin each and tossed them into the bucket.

The reef pile here was quite large, and the seawater hadn't fully receded, but that didn't stop Chu Xuan from stepping on the rocks to find seafood.

Her gaze fell upon the seawater.

She saw many ribbonfish.

She was overjoyed!

In her past life, she had never picked up this many ribbonfish, nor had anyone else.

Could this school of ribbonfish be a gift from the heavens?

Her luck was truly incredible.

It was a freebie!

There was no one else around at the moment.

Ten minutes later, she had two full buckets of ribbonfish.

As for the swimming crab, surrounded by the dead ribbonfish, Chu Xuan didn't care at all whether it would cause any damage.

As she carried the two buckets toward the pier, she was met with many envious glances.

To pick up so many ribbonfish was a feat of its own.

Many beachcombers regretted not searching near the reefs; ribbonfish were worth much more than clams.

Upon reaching the pier, the quality of the ribbonfish was excellent. Li Tong, the fish buyer, recognized Chu Xuan immediately. He stepped forward briskly to help carry the buckets and weighed them: sixty-five jin and three liang in total.

Li Tong was astonished. This was the first time he had seen a beachcomber pick up so many ribbonfish; usually, it was only large batches sold by deep-sea fishing vessels.

As surprised as he was, he still had to settle the bill.

"Normally, I buy ribbonfish over eight liang for 1.3 yuan per jin. Yours are very large, almost all over one jin, so I'll give you a purchase price of 1.5 yuan per jin. How about it?"

Chu Xuan picked out the one-meter-long ribbonfish. "I'm not selling this one. I also have a swimming crab and octopuses that I'm keeping for myself. For the rest of the ribbonfish, I'll take a flat price of 100 yuan. Deal?"

Li Tong did the math silently. At 1.5 yuan per jin, 65.3 jin would be 97.95 yuan. By taking out the longest one, she would be losing about seven or eight jin, which was worth over ten yuan.

"I won't make any profit that way. How about this? A flat price of 90 yuan?"

Chu Xuan was not easily fooled. "No. A flat price of 95 yuan. Not a cent less, or I won't sell."

Li Tong glanced at the other fishmongers nearby who were looking eager to jump in, and he could only nod with a heavy heart. "Fine. You must sell your good goods to me in the future!"

"No problem."

In business, there always had to be room for haggling.

Satisfied with the price, Chu Xuan didn't bother looking for other buyers.

Li Tong counted out the ninety-five yuan and handed it to her.

Gossip-loving villagers saw this scene and went back to the village to spread the word.

When Chu Xuan returned to the village, she immediately heard the villagers' discussions.

"Ever since the family split, Chu Xuan's luck has been great."

"Indeed! They were in debt before the split, but now they have the ability to pay it off, and even her biological mother is sending money to help build a new house. Their lives will surely get better and better."

"That Feng Chunhua just lacked foresight..."

Chu Xuan didn't listen to the rest.

Twenty minutes later, as she reached her doorstep, she paused, her gaze falling on the long ribbonfish in her bucket.

She couldn't help but think: *Mu Chenze might find a two or three-jin mackerel unappealing, but surely he wouldn't mind a seven or eight-jin ribbonfish?*

*Should I give him the ribbonfish to repay part of the favor?*

*I owed him so much in my past life, and I owe him quite a bit in this one too...*

But she also craved this fish; in two lifetimes combined, she had never eaten such a long ribbonfish.

Just then, she saw a familiar figure passing by—it was Mu Chenze.

He hadn't gone out to sea with the boats today?

The moment she saw him, Chu Xuan's hand went to the ribbonfish. She lifted it up and blurted out, "Mu Chenze, I'll give you a big ribbonfish! It's seven or eight jin!"

She felt a pang of regret in her heart; she wouldn't get to enjoy the deliciousness of that big fish after all.