Chapter 400: The Family Dinner
Chapter 400: The Family Dinner
Many people are aware that owning a large ship can be lucrative, with fishing vessels having their methods of earning and cargo ships having theirs.
Knowing is one thing, but not many can afford it.
Li Xiuxian felt a pang of heartache. Her family's fishing boat had been purchased a month ago, but they had only ventured out to sea once, earning a meager amount.
This month, either no one was available to take her parents out to sea, or cold fronts prevented them from sailing.
Today, the weather had warmed up significantly. Perhaps they could set sail after the Winter Solstice?
If they didn't go out in the first month of the year, they should take advantage of the warmer weather now and not let their fishing boat rust away!
"Dad, are we going out to sea the day after tomorrow? Why don't you take my dad and brother on our boat? You just need to familiarize them with it!"
The entire family turned to Li Xiuxian, while Zhou Chengsen's face darkened. "No need!"
Zhou Fu was taken aback and reacted slowly, quickly assuring, "No problem, I'll take care of it. I'll bring your in-laws along at that time."
They were all his sons; it wouldn't be right to help one and not the other.
Though it's challenging to treat everyone equally.
However, now that the younger son and the older son are both doing well, it's only right to help the second son as well.
But why hasn't the second daughter-in-law's family familiarized themselves with the sea area after all this time?
Are they that difficult to guide?
Zhou Chengsen spoke up, "Dad, there's no need. You should rest at home for a few days. The evening after tomorrow, I'll take Xiao Xian and them out to sea to get familiarized. My father-in-law and the others can't wake up early, so we'll go out in the evening."
Shouldn't his father, who has been at sea for so many days, get some rest?
It's unbelievable that she would even suggest otherwise.
Zhou Chenglei didn't want to burden his father: "I'll take them out early the day after tomorrow and familiarize them for two days."
Li Xiuxian pursed her lips. Why not take them now? Previously, when she asked him to take them, he made them wait, and even then, he was reluctant to set sail a bit later!
Otherwise, would her family's boat have been left unused for a month?
Zhou Chengsen refused, "No need. I'll take them in the evening, and it won't interfere with your plans. Anyway, there are more fish at night with the use of lights."
Usually, his father and the others would wake up before four, and by five, they would already be sailing out to sea. By seven, they could start hauling in the first net.
His father-in-law and the others wouldn't appear until after seven-thirty, which meant losing the time for one net of fish.
Missing one net of fish meant losing that much earnings. Especially for someone like Ah Lei, who is skilled in fishing, earning over a hundred or even several hundred yuan per net!
Could they afford to delay?
Li Xiuxian and the Li family didn't think it was a big deal to wait a little longer, assuming others wouldn't mind waiting.
But who would compensate for the loss of waiting longer?
Zhou Chengsen knew that Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia still owed the shipyard over 600,000 yuan in outstanding payments.
Who knew how much pressure that was?
If he owed that much, he would be anxious and unable to sleep.
Currently, Jiang Xia was pregnant with triplets, and Ah Lei couldn't venture far out to sea to make money, so they could only fish in coastal waters.
The difference in earnings between coastal and offshore fishing was significant!
Sometimes, when dealing with people, one should not only see the good in others but also be aware of their difficulties.
As brothers, if you can't help, then at least don't be a hindrance.
After all, there aren't many days to go out to sea.
In December, due to cold fronts, they couldn't go out to sea for more than half a month.
January also had the most cold fronts, so being able to go out to sea for ten or fifteen days would be considered good.
They wouldn't go out in the first month of the lunar year.
In the following months of February, March, April, and May, there would be a lot of rainfall, and the days suitable for sailing would be few.
Then, from July to September, typhoons would be frequent, and the days suitable for sailing would also be scarce!
So, it wasn't that easy.
Moreover, helping is a matter of kindness, and not helping is a matter of principle.
Zhou Chengsen looked at Li Xiuxian with a hint of coldness in his eyes. "Since your father and older brother can't wake up early, we'll change to going out in the evening when more fish come out to feed."
To prevent her from constantly causing trouble, Zhou Chengsen decided to take them out in the evening.
Do you really think going out to sea to fish is easy? It's either a day trip or a night's work.
Every penny is hard-earned!
Li Xiuxian could only say, "Okay, then I'll talk to my dad about it at dinner. Didn't you say you'd take everyone out for a meal at a restaurant on the Winter Solstice? Let's invite my dad and them tomorrow! You didn't treat them to a meal last time."
"Alright," Zhou Chengsen had mentioned going out for a meal with his family on the Winter Solstice when he was looking at sofas in the city last time.
He told his mother about it when he got back.
Inviting your father-in-law and mother-in-law is no problem. We can split into two tables; one table won't be enough anyway."
This time, Zhou Fu brought back not only money but also over five thousand catties of dried male fish and small dried fish, which he had purchased from local fishermen.
In addition to the dried male fish, the large ship also brought back ten thousand catties of fresh fish.
So after dinner, the entire family and Great-Grandmother's family started drying the small fish.
They worked until midnight, only managing to dry half of the fish, with the rest still in the ship's cold storage.
Both the old and new houses were filled with drying fish, as were the homes of the eldest son and Great-Grandmother.
The next morning, the family continued drying the small fish.
Fenyi also came to help and brought her younger daughter along.
Jiang Xia earned a high salary of 150 yuan per month, but she didn't have much work to do each day.
Her daily tasks included collecting and drying the fish, and dividing them up, with the busiest times being when she was frying the small fish.
But even then, they didn't fry the fish every day.
She felt a bit embarrassed earning such a high salary.
Today, seeing that it was a bit busy, she brought her daughter along to help, hoping to get more work done.
Li Xiuxian was surprised to see Fenyi helping in the courtyard early in the morning and exclaimed, "Fenyi, is Yamei here so early?"
Fenyi's daughter was named Zhou Pan, and the villagers called her Yamei.
She couldn't hear, but when she saw everyone looking at her, she smiled.
Fenyi laughed and said, "Yes, she's here to help Xia and Ahuan with the small fish."
Li Xiuxian's expression changed slightly.
Last time, Jiang Xia said she wasn't going to hire anyone!
But now she's hired an outsider!
Li Xiuxian walked off with a straight face to get breakfast from the kitchen. After eating, she said to Zhou Chengsen, who was busy drying the fish, "I'll go back and tell my dad that we're going into town for lunch today. Keep an eye on Yingying!"
After saying this, she left on her bicycle and was gone for the entire morning, only returning at eleven o'clock.
By then, all the small fish had been dried.
With no more space at home, they dried the fish on the large ship, in the village's rice-drying ground, and on the beach they had purchased.
It was Sunday, and the children were on holiday. Jiang Xia gave ten yuan to Zhou Wenguang and asked him to find a few friends to help watch over the fish.
They would flip the fish from time to time.
With the good weather and strong winds, these tiny baby fish would be dried in just two days.
Great-Grandmother and Great-Grandfather didn't need to go to the convenience store today; one was at the beach, and the other was watching over the rice-drying ground.
The elderly couple was worried that the children might not be reliable.
But earning one yuan was a lot for the children, so they were all very enthusiastic.
They hoped that if they did a good job this time, they would be asked to help again next time there was such a good opportunity.
At noon, Zhou Chenglei drove the tractor, taking the family into town for a meal.
The Zhou family was already quite large, and the Li family was also big.
So they split into two tables.
Li Xiuxian's elder sister-in-law came to the Zhou family's table with a glass of wine and said with a smile, "I'd like to propose a toast to everyone. Thank you, in-laws, for taking such good care of Ahuan all these years."
The family stood up, raised their glasses, and laughed as they exchanged pleasantries with her.
Then she came to Jiang Xia's side.
(End of Chapter)
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