CHAPTER 30: CHAPTER 30: BUYING FISH TRAPS

When Lin Qin announced the final amount, Lin Yi couldn’t recover for a long time and mumbled, "This is equivalent to the monthly salary of four or five workers."

Lin Qin cheerfully said, "Dad, you haven’t even counted what we earned yesterday! If you add it up, it’s more than two hundred.

Lin Yi snapped back to reality, his heart ablaze, "Girl, if we continue at this pace, buying land and building a house is not just a dream!"

At this moment, he was even more excited than Lin Qin.

To be honest, in his eyes, there was nothing wrong with Chen Wenjun, except for the biggest flaw: being poor! No fields, no land.

Now that his biggest concern was about to be resolved, how could he not be excited?

When a person’s mood improves, all ailments disappear. Lin Yi even felt he could walk on his own now.

Lin Qin dared not let him act recklessly and instructed the two kids to keep an eye on Lin Yi.

Chen Wenjun ate a bun with pickles and then slurped half a bowl of small snails to feel full. He was eager to check the fishing cage.

The fishing cage had been set for a day and a night, and he had no idea what the catch would be.

When the first cage was pulled out of the water, Chen Wenjun shook it while checking, and when it was up, the corners of his mouth almost reached the back of his ears.

"Look, are there at least two pounds of river shrimp in here?"

Lin Qin’s eyes lit up, "There must be! I bet there’s even more! Let’s pour it out and see."

Chen Wenjun handed the cage to her and went to check on the second one.

This was similar to the first; just the river shrimp from these two cages could add up to five pounds, along with some bamboo fish and small crucian carp, a few small snails, and several mid-sized river crabs.

Lin Qin busied herself with sorting; the small crabs had little meat, just right for the kids to play with.

The river shrimp went into one bucket, and the rest into another.

Lin Yi had set out six cages.

Except for one which didn’t yield much, the others did pretty well.

Those river shrimps weighed at least a dozen pounds.

They definitely needed to be sold quickly, before they could spoil.

It wasn’t even one o’clock yet.

Chen Wenjun hurriedly went ashore to sell the river shrimp.

Lin Qin continued fishing on the boat, following the baiting method Chen Wenjun taught her the previous day, and today’s catch was also impressive.

Chen Wenjun got home around three, and Lin Qin had already caught over a dozen fish.

He hurriedly handed the money from the shrimp sale to Lin Qin, "The river shrimp weighed thirteen pounds three ounces, rounded down to thirteen pounds, sold at one yuan nine cents a pound, for a total of twenty-five yuan. Eight bamboo fish sold for five yuan seventy-six cents, and I added three palm-sized crucian carps as freebies. Boss Zheng gave me thirty yuan five cents in total; you keep it. I’ll go set the fishing cage.

Boss Zheng said if we deliver before ten in the morning in the future, it would be even better. I’ll go to Uncle’s place to see if he has any extra cages to sell to me, and I’ll buy five or six more."

Nowadays, the fishing cages are all made by buying the wire and weaving the nets yourself.

Chen Wenjun didn’t have that much time, and Lin Qin didn’t know how to do it, so they had to buy them from others. The price wasn’t expensive, only around four or five yuan each.

After dinner.

Set the fishing cage.

Chen Wenjun rowed the boat to a Dang family’s house and quickly jumped over.

"Is Uncle home?"

With his shout, a woman in her forties came out, "Why do you have time to come over?"

The woman looked at Lin Qin on Chen Wenjun’s boat with a gossip-filled glance, "Is this your wife?"

Chen Wenjun nodded, showing eight teeth in a smile, "Yes! This is my wife, Lin Qin!"

"Well done, kid! You quietly married such a beautiful wife! Come over for dinner at my place tonight!" Zhou Shuifang said enthusiastically.

Chen Wenjun hurriedly refused. "Aunt, maybe another day! I just came to get a few fishing cages from Uncle and go back. The weather’s good for working out these days; I’ll come over when I’m not busy."

Zhou Shuifang couldn’t stop nodding, her eyes never leaving Lin Qin, "That’s simple! We have two new cages that were used only once, your uncle and Uncle Wenfa went to do deliveries, and they’re not around, the stuff’s unused, so I’ll give these to you first."

"They’re doing deliveries again? Isn’t it time for the raft launch!" Chen Wenjun frowned slightly.

Zhou Shuifang shook her head, "Raft launching requires a heavy rain. We’re not ready yet; they’re delivering tea. They say they’re going to Xiamen Bay, which will take several days. They can earn thirty or sixty for one round."

"That’s quite something." Chen Wenjun praised.

Zhou Shuifang evidently thought so too, grinning widely, "Wenjun! Now that you’ve married a wife, and Ping’an has someone to look after, you could join a boat for deliveries. It’s hard to make ends meet by just fishing," she added.

She was really worried that Lin Qin would find it tough and leave, forcing Chen Wenjun back to loneliness.

Chen Wenjun nodded perfunctorily, carefully examining the two cages before paying Zhou Shuifang, boarded his own boat, and left.

Once the boat was out of sight, Chen Wenjun finally breathed a sigh of relief, "Aunt Shuifang is great but really chatty. She could talk to you for a whole day!"

Lin Qin couldn’t help but chuckle.

She knew the Zhou Shuifang family well. In a previous life, when Zhou Shuifang learned there was a woman on Chen Wenjun’s boat, she came by and talked non-stop, even if Lin Qin stayed silent.

Lin Qin truly couldn’t handle how friendly she was.

Now with two extra fishing cages, Chen Wenjun put all his focus on this. If the nets were full every day, they could earn almost forty yuan, equal to a worker’s monthly salary.

With Lin Qin fishing and him using the nets to catch bamboo fish, they could sell for quite a sum. Conservatively, daily income wouldn’t fall below fifty yuan; saving like this, it wouldn’t take two months to have more than two thousand.

Then he would have the confidence to inquire about the cost of a deserted island at the land bureau.

With a promising future, the two were full of energy, almost waking up to sell fish, rushing to deliver the river shrimp and bamboo fish along with some unsellable big fish to Guoxing Restaurant before ten in the morning, returning to the boat to cook.

After lunch, they rested for an hour before starting the work again.

Lin Qin fished, Chen Wenjun set cages and caught fish, cooked in the evening, and after putting the kids to sleep, the two of them went night fishing for two more hours before calling it a day.

In their busyness, a month had quickly passed for Lin Yi, Lin Qin, and Liu Yaya living on the boat.

As the weather warmed, the children’s clothing needs arose, and Lin Qin initially considered saving money to cut Chen Ping’an’s hair herself.

But then she realized that they weren’t short of money for a haircut, so it was better to take the kids to a barber shop.

She just mentioned it to Chen Ping’an.

Chen Ping’an immediately shook his head in fear, "Aunt can cut my hair, or let Dad do it."

Lin Qin patted his head, laughing, "Your Dad cuts it like a bowl, which is too ugly, and Aunt doesn’t have the skills. Be good. Listen. We’ll go to a barber shop, and Aunt will also take you out for a bit and buy you something."

Beside them, Liu Yaya excitedly shouted, "I want to go too, I want to go too! Brother Ping’an, I’ll go with you!"