Chapter 493: Asking for a Beating
Chapter 493: Asking for a Beating
Tian Caifen saw that someone had actually fallen for it and couldn't help but say, "Your two sea areas are far from our family's! Our sea area is in the sheltered bay, while yours is too windy and rough to raise fish!"
She had heard from Zhou Chengxin that not all sea areas were suitable for fish farming. Their sea area was prone to strong winds and waves, making it unsuitable for fish farming.
So, when the typhoon hit last time, their net cages were blown away without a trace.
Upon hearing this, the man immediately replied, "Never mind then!"
Sure enough, cheap things come at a cost. She almost fell for it!
Zhou Bing Qiang's wife was furious, "Good! How do you know that the sea area I rented is windy and rough? I know it's your family's doing!"
Tian Caifen was baffled, "What nonsense are you talking about? What did our family do? That sea area wasn't even sublet to you by us!"
Zhou Bing Qiang's wife rushed forward and grabbed Tian Caifen's hair, "You still dare not admit it! Compensate my family! Pay us five thousand yuan! You used your connections to switch the good sea area we rented! We rented it first!"
Tian Caifen also became angry. She had never lost a fight, and she grabbed the woman's hair, "I'll compensate you with a big fat nothing! Who switched your sea area? You're the one with a black heart, trying to frame others and find a scapegoat. Pah!"
And so, the two women had a fierce fight in the vegetable field!
Tian Caifen, young and strong, tall and mighty, almost pinned Zhou Bing Qiang's wife to the ground and choked her!
Fighting could lead to injuries and medical expenses, but choking wouldn't.
Bruises from choking would heal in a few days.
Tian Caifen was the kind of person who would agonize over giving her son a single dime for pocket money, so how could she possibly spare medical expenses?
Zhou Bing Qiang's wife was choked by Tian Caifen until she wailed in pain.
In the end, the production team leader came by and pulled them apart.
After this fight, there was no way Zhou Bing Qiang's family could sublet that sea area.
The villagers had been so deceitful, and when Zhou Bing Qiang returned from his early morning fishing trip, everyone looked at him differently.
After understanding the situation, Zhou Bing Qiang, who had always been most concerned about face and what others thought, felt like he had lost all his dignity for life!
Zhou Bing Qiang's wife believed that Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei had conspired with the fishery staff, causing them to rent an unsuitable sea area for fish farming. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
Having been beaten by Tian Caifen, she was still resentful and couldn't help but curse towards the Zhou family, "Your hearts are so vicious, be careful that your child is born without an anus! Even if it's born, you won't be able to raise..."
Zhou's mother was tending the fire, and the more she listened, the angrier she became. She stood up, still holding the smoking firewood stick, and rushed out.
Zhou Bing Qiang had just returned home and slapped her, "Is that enough? I told you it's got nothing to do with anyone else!"
Finally, there was some peace.
Zhou's mother returned home with the firewood stick to continue tending the fire.
Damn, they were asking for a beating!
In April, the rain poured down again.
Installing the net cages wasn't a one or two-day job, and during the Qingming Festival, the rain fell incessantly. With this weather, it rained every other day, and whenever it rained, it felt like it would never stop.
Due to the weather, the installation of the net cages and the construction of the house were significantly slowed down, and it was impossible to estimate when they would be completed.
The Sui Trade Fair was scheduled to start in mid-April, but with this weather, there was no telling when the net cages would be ready. Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia completely gave up on attending the fair and called Zhou Changchang and the others in advance to inform them that they wouldn't be going this time.
As Qingming Festival approached, Boss Yu decided to take his team back and wait until after Qingming to return if it stopped raining; otherwise, they would work for two days and rest for four or five, and the daily food and accommodation expenses for so many people were not a small amount.
The day before Qingming, Zhou's father returned from a long fishing trip at sea.
He brought back ten thousand catties of dried small fish.
Zhou Chenglei drove the tractor, transporting the dried small fish from the pier back home.
Tomorrow was Qingming Festival, and today also happened to be Saturday. Zhou Chengsen and his wife, Li Xiuxian, thought that Zhou Fu would be home, so they both returned.
Zhou Chengsen and Li Xiuxian were helping to unload the dried small fish from the tractor.
Every day, they were still processing small squid, and one room was already filled with packaged squid.
The old house couldn't accommodate 100,000 catties of dried fish.
Jiang Xia asked Zhou Chengsen, "Second Brother, why don't you and Second Sister-in-law move to the new house? We can use this room to store the dried fish."
Li Xiuxian turned to look at Zhou Chengsen, her eyes filled with anticipation.
For the past half a month, they had been sleeping in separate rooms in town, so today should be a chance to ease the tension! She even took the initiative to help with the fish!
Zhou Chengsen also knew that since the old house was being used as a small workshop, it wasn't suitable for living.
Due to the weather conditions during this period, they could only go out to sea intermittently. However, after changing shifts, they could earn several hundred yuan each night from the squid fishing, and they had already saved up several thousand yuan. With just a difference of two thousand yuan, they would have enough to build a house. He nodded, "Alright."
Li Xiuxian breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "Then I'll clean up the room first."
There wasn't much to tidy up in the room; she just had to dismantle the beds, take the clothes from the wardrobe, and some miscellaneous items from the desk, and move them to the guest room in the new house.
After tidying up their belongings, Zhou Chengsen cleaned the room thoroughly. He found some bricks and placed them on the floor, then laid wooden boards on top to prevent moisture. He then moved the dried fish from the living room to the room.
Zhou Chenglei and Zhou Mu had already moved the dried fish from the tractor into the living room.
Li Xiuxian was also very enthusiastic about moving the fish, not complaining about the hard work at all.
The tractor made five or six trips to bring back all the dried fish.
With 100,000 catties of dried fish, the old house had one empty room for storage, but even the room where Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia originally lived couldn't accommodate all of it.
The rest had to be moved to the garage of the new house, and the car could only be parked in the backyard.
After several people finished moving the 100,000 catties of dried fish, Li Xiuxian felt her arms shaking involuntarily.
She was truly exhausted!
But for the sake of easing the tension between the couple, she endured it even though her hands were shaking from fatigue.
When it was time to cook, Li Xiuxian still got up to prepare the meal.
Zhou Fu had returned from a long sea voyage, and the brothers would surely eat together.
Tian Caifen still assigned the dirtiest tasks to Li Xiuxian, "Second Younger Sister, I caught a chicken. You go and slaughter it!"
Li Xiuxian really disliked Tian Caifen, but for the sake of easing the tension with Zhou Chengsen, she endured it and smiled, "Okay!"
She prepared some saltwater and a kitchen knife, then called out to Zhou Chengsen, "Ah Sen, come here and help me hold the chicken's feet while I slaughter it."
Zhou Chengsen walked over and picked up the chicken, which was tied by its feet.
He stepped on the chicken's feet, holding its wings and head with one hand, then plucked some fine feathers from its neck. He extended his hand to Li Xiuxian, "Give me the knife, you go and slaughter the fish!"
Li Xiuxian quickly handed him the knife and went to get another knife to slaughter the fish.
In fact, she didn't like slaughtering fish either, as the fishy smell would linger on her hands after cleaning them. But slaughtering chickens was also smelly.
Zhou Chengsen efficiently slaughtered the chicken, and the chicken blood mixed with saltwater in a bowl quickly coagulated.
Jiang Xia was cutting potato shreds on the kitchen counter.
Tian Caifen was cooking white boiled shrimp. After putting the shrimp in the pot, she walked over to Jiang Xia and started washing vegetables in the sink.
Looking at the hardworking Li Xiuxian outside, she whispered to Jiang Xia, "Li Xiuxian has changed today. Why is she so diligent?"
(End of Chapter)
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