Chapter 50
At the Pier
The ones who came this time were still the same as before, Zhang Shao and the four, but there was one more person among the four, Zhang Shao’s brother-in-law.
This time, the four of them enjoyed the spring breeze and were no longer downcast like when they last came.
The last time they went back to their village, the people there were waiting for the four of them to fail to sell and come back at a loss. When the four returned to the village, they not only sold the shells and seafood but also managed to make a lot of money.
Does someone buy their shellfish?!
Everyone in Zhang Shao’s village was shocked.
Each person made a tael of silver, and when the villagers heard about it, they were all shocked.
Zhang Shao’s future mother-in-law was still worried that Zhang Shao would lose all his wealth and owe debts when he went to the county to sell seafood. Although she didn’t treat her ger all that well, she was her ger anyway so she hoped that he would marry well.
When his mother-in-law came to get the news, she got a shock. Zhang Shao came back with a lot of silver and bought a lot of things. Zhang Shao saw his future mother-in-law and handed her the things he bought from the county. His future mother-in-law took them- all of which were novelties from the county town, she smiled from ear to ear under the envy of the other villagers.
The family members of the other three people rushed over and felt proud when they saw that their sons had returned safely and bought things for the family after earning money.
The village chief was alarmed, knowing that Zhang Shao’s sale of shellfish and seafood was a top priority in the village.
A tall and thin man who went with Zhang Shao told their story to the villagers. There were many twists and turns in his words, and the villagers were a bit frightened when they heard him speak. The village chief was nervous and stuck his cane on the ground as he asked the most important question, one every villager wanted to know. “What about after that? Does Boss Wei still want to buy shellfish and other sorts of seafood?”
Internally he grumbled, why didn’t this kid mention the main point?!
The villagers held their breath as they waited for Zhang Shao to answer this question even the other three who came with him looked at him.
Zhang Shao replied, “Boss Wei asked us to send another shipment of seafood there next time.”
As soon as Zhang Shao’s words came out, the villagers’ mouths opened as they made sounds and expressions that were full of joy, and their weather-beaten faces were full of smiles.
“Oh, nephew, next time you go, you should take my family’s boy with you, our two families are relatives.”
Zhang Shao’s second aunt squeezed into the crowd and now wants to use her seniority and relationship with Zhang Shao. She forgets or rather doesn’t want to think that she used to show her dislike for Zhang Shao because of his being unmarried and that she never treated him like he was her nephew. Whatever, that was it the past, now all she was worried about was the benefits she might reap from being his aunt so she thickened her face and tried to use their relationship.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Itjcu Vtjb’r oeaegf wbatfg-lc-ijk kjr cba tjqqs klat atlr jcv rtf kjr cba kliilcu ab rff j rqba yflcu ajxfc jkjs, “Tbe jgf j ojxf gfijalnf- sbe pera kjca ab ufa lc abemt klat tlw cbk atja atfgf kbeiv yf yfcfolar ab ufa, yea cbk la lr j yla ijaf!” Kegclcu ab Itjcu Vtjb, rtf rtbeafv fcaterljralmjiis, “Vbc-lc-ijk, ws ojwlis’r rbc lr sbeg ygbatfg-lc-ijk’r ojwlis, sbe tjnf ab ajxf tlw klat sbe.”
This was a direct attack, calling him her son-in-law.
With the consent and approval of his future mother-in-law, Zhang Shao felt that he was more happy now than when he was earning silver taels.
“My family… my family wants to sign up.”
“Don’t squeeze, don’t try to get ahead—my family was here first—”
“…my family can catch more seafood, you should take my family to-”
“The boat rented by others, why take you there…”
*
This kind of thing was left to the village chief to deal with.
Zhang Shao turned around and saw a ger standing not far away. His face was radiant and beautiful as he smiled a big smile directed at Zhang Shao. He was tall with a honey-colored complexion, his facial features were not as soft as one would find in a ger’s. On the contrary, he looked tough, but this was the ger that Zhang Shao wanted to return home to.
Zhang Shao walked up to a ger and said, “You’re hungry, let’s go home and I’ll cook for you.”
“Well, I miss the rice you cook.”
The two spoke the most ordinary words, but they clasped their palms, and went home holding hands.
Afterward, the village chief talked with Zhang Shao, and Zhang Shao immediately went out to buy the sea goods from the village.
The head of the village told the villagers about the matter but as usual, some villagers wanted to fish in troubled waters and wanted to go on their own, accompany Zhang Shao, and directly sell their seafood rather than going through a middleman. They wanted to share the rental fee with Zhang Shao in exchange for letting them accompany him.
It’s not some new idea, many others had the same when they heard of Zhang Shao’s success- they could accompany Zhang Shao on his boat to go to the county and then sell the seafood directly than sell it to Zhang Shao. They will make more money this way.
The village head immediately refused, saying that if they had the ability then they could rent a boat by themselves and go to the county, but if they don’t have this ability then they should just sell seafood to Zhang Shao. The village chief is not stupid, how many others have done the same as Zhang Shao did but how come only he succeeded, it was because what mattered was the customer that Zhang Shao already secured in the county.
…
On the day of their departure, almost everyone in the village came.
The seafood was purchased on the same day they planned to sail, and the seafood was moved onto the ship frame by frame. This hard work made the villagers extremely happy.
“Zhang Shao…do you accept this thing?”
An old man in ragged clothes, gray hair, and a wrinkled face carried a basket to Zhang Shao with difficulty.
“Uncle.”
This old man is the poorest household in the village. He and his elderly ger are the only ones in the family, and the two of them live a difficult life with their young grandson. Seeing that the old man’s basket was full of black seafood, all of which were unknown, Zhang Shao was stumped.
Zhang Shao’s silence made the old man’s hopeful eyes cloudy and dull which showed how weary he was. He was too old to fish in the sea. The black seafood was found when the waves pushed it onto the beaches. It accumulated every day so he dug a hole at home and raised the with sea water he painstakingly gathered and hoped that it could be sold on the ship. No matter how much it can be sold for, even for just a few copper coins, it would be the hope for him, his wife, and his grandchild to survive.
Zhang Shao recalled Wei Cheng’s words so he said, “Uncle, I’ll show it to Boss Wei but there is no guarantee that Boss Wei will accept this type of seafood.”
The old man’s cloudy eyes became moist as he trembled slightly with excitement, and there was a gleam of light in his eyes. The situation of the old man is indeed unbearable to see, but everyone’s life is difficult, they are fighting for their lives at sea every day for their livelihood, and they are also almost always hungry.
They struggled against the wind and rain, and the wind and waves at sea were their livelihoods and their enemy. This was their life, this was the sorrow of their fishing village.
Before Zhang Shao left, he gave the old man a few copper coins.
The boat left their fishing village with much fanfare and with the hope of their village in it.
This time, they came to the county town with the original four people, and there was one more person, Zhang Shao’s brother-in-law, Zhang Shao had gone to his ger’s house and picked his brother-in-law to come with them. The other three didn’t have any opinion because of both emotion and reason, after all, it was Zhang Shao who first took the risk and brought them money.
Zhang Shao’s boat carried the whole village’s hope to survive in the future—
Everyone in the fishing village was watching, it would be good enough for them if they could eat enough and make a living on the boat. They didn’t know that this boat trip would change their lives in the future. In the future, there would be big boats and their livelihoods would be secure… Life will no longer be so difficult and they won’t have to struggle so much with the wind and rain.
—
At the pier.
Wei Hu brought people to receive the seafood.
“My master asked me to bring you a message, he asked you to come with me.”
Wei Hu shouted imposingly but didn’t say anything else, with a bluffing face like a bandit.
The five people, together with Zhang Shao, were stunned and their smiles froze.
Did something bad happen—?!
Wei Cheng’s original words: Ask Zhang Shao to come to me and we will discuss the contract with them.
Wei Hu is a stickler to orders but he likes doing things rather than talking about them- he can just lead these people to his master and let his master tell them what he needs to tell them, there is no need to waste too many words.
Among the five people, apart from Zhang Shao who had a a solemn face, the other three were uneasy, and his brother-in-law who had met a man like Wei Hu trembled in fear.
Several people followed Wei Hu to the grocery store in the suburbs. The seafood was delivered directly to the open space in front of the workshop, and there were already workers waiting to start processing this seafood.
Wei Hu asked people to wait in the open space before he went to find his master.
As soon as Wei Hu left with his oppressive momentum, Zhang Shao and the others gathered around and guessed what had happened, all of their guesses were bad and negative, and it didn’t take long for their faces to turn pale with fright.
Wei Hu walked briskly to the lobby of the grocery store and completed the task without being bitten by a crab. He happily went to report to his master, but he didn’t know that his bluffing style scared people.
Wei Cheng was sitting under the eaves at the entrance of the grocery store, with a coffee table on his left and a cup of tea set on the table.
There are several tables under the big tree outside the door, these were the ones that were used to recruit workers.
The news was released yesterday that the grocery store will recruit shopkeepers this afternoon.
Uncle Mao is in charge of arranging their work and choosing some people.
Wei Cheng sat and waited for Zhang Shao and the others to come.
“Master, the matter is settled, Zhang Shao is waiting in front of the grocery store.”
Wei Cheng got up and walked towards the workshop, with Wei Hu following him closely behind.
“Hello, Boss Wei!”
When Zhang Shao and the others saw Wei Cheng appearing, they immediately stepped forward and shouted respectfully. Zhang Shao’s brother-in-law followed and shouted, his voice was slow and abrupt compared to the others. Zhang Shao found that Wei Cheng was different from when he saw him before, his noble aura was more evident, and several people felt oppressed and became more respectful when they talked to him.
“Zhang Shao, thank you for taking this trip.”
Thanks for the chapter!! 🌸
Thank You for the new chapter (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡