Chapter 141 - 150

The boatman jumped into the sea and swam to the surface a short while later.

Boss Guo asked, "How was it? What was there at the bottom?"

The boatman replied, "I didn't see anything, not even a single conch shell. They must have taken them all."Full novel: After transmigrating into the book, she became wealthy in the 1980s. — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠

He hadn't seen the cave; after all, the sea was vast, and the Zhou family's boat couldn't guarantee it would always stop above a cave.

And how could he have found it in less than a minute?

Boss Guo didn't believe there was nothing: "Search again! If there was nothing, they wouldn't have stayed here for so many days. Everyone go down and search!"

So several boatmen jumped in and dived to search the seabed.

One boatman did spot the cave, but it was too dark and too deep, looking terrifying, and he was almost out of breath, so he quickly swam back up.

He also had his own selfish motives; when Boss Guo asked if he had found anything, he concealed the cave.

Boss Guo himself had also gone into the water but found nothing, so he had to sail away.

***

When the Zhou family's fishing boat returned to the dock, it was almost six o'clock.

Golden sunlight streamed onto the bustling little dock, and the fishermen wore golden smiles, clearly indicating a good catch today.

Jiang Xia noticed that many boats had red snapper, suggesting the typhoon had brought them a good catch.

Their second net also yielded mostly red snapper.

Tian Caihua, however, was less pleased, her face darkening. "What bad luck! Everyone's catching red snapper; the price won't be high then."

Zhou Chengxin was annoyed: all she did was complain!

Four or five hundred pounds of red snapper—even at a low price, it would still be more than they usually made at sea!

Zhou's father glanced at her too: "Well, it's better than nothing!"

His eldest daughter-in-law was no good; Xia's attitude was much better—always smiling!

Zhou Chenglei asked the people on the next boat, and sure enough, the price for red snapper today was only one cent!

Normally, depending on size, they'd sell for one and a half to two cents.

Seeing so many red snapper, an idea formed in his mind, and he looked at Jiang Xia.

Jiang Xia understood immediately. She tugged at his sleeve, gesturing for him to lower his head, and then asked softly, "You want to buy red snapper to dry?"

Zhou Chenglei, head bowed, listened to her, his eyes lighting up with a smile. She understood him perfectly; a single glance was enough for her to grasp his thoughts. He took her hand, squeezed it, and nodded, "Yes."

Jiang Xia smiled, "Then let's buy it!"

The price was so much cheaper now; drying it and reselling it would definitely earn them more.

Zhou Chenglei squeezed her hand again, "Then I'll go ask others if they're selling. Our purchase price is one cent per pound higher than the wholesale price."

"Okay."

Then Jiang Xia went to ask Tian Caihua and Zhou Chengxin, "Brother, sister-in-law, are you taking these red snapper back to dry or selling them?"

Tian Caihua: "Of course, we'll sell them."

She also had to dry abalone, which was too much trouble; she didn't have time to dry these red snapper.

If she tried to dry both at the same time, she wouldn't be able to manage, and if one wasn't dried properly, she'd lose everything.

Unlike Jiang Xia, who had her in-laws helping her.

Thinking about it this way, Tian Caihua felt stupid again; she should have let her in-laws live with her in the first place.

Zhou Chengxin asked, "You and A-Lei want to dry fish? Then we'll take them back for you to dry."

Jiang Xia said, "Then we'll buy them all at 11 cents a pound."

Tian Caihua's eyes lit up; even a penny more per pound would mean a few more dollars!

Zhou Chengxin waved his hand, "No need, if you want to dry them, they're yours!"

Jiang Xia had caught so many fish today, worth fifty dollars already, the abalone was also worth a lot, and they even found red coral. Zhou Chengxin was already very satisfied, even feeling that today was the peak of his life!

Tian Caihua: "..."

Jiang Xia said, "Yes, I'll weigh them and then I'll calculate the price for you, brother."

Jiang Xia wouldn't take advantage of such a small thing; they had already separated the family, and it was better for brothers to keep clear accounts.

When Zhou's father heard Jiang Xia mention drying fish, a smile appeared on his face. Diligence leads to wealth, and his fourth son and his wife were so hardworking, not letting any money slip by; they would be rich sooner or later.

The father and sons carried load after load of fish off the boat, onto a cart, and took them home.

Zhou Chengxin sold the fish and other miscellaneous fish he caught that day, earning a total of 63 yuan.

The red snapper was also weighed, totaling 463 jin.

Jiang Xia returned home and gave Tian Caihua 51 yuan.

Tian Caihua beamed; her family had earned over 100 yuan that day, not even counting the abalone!

Zhou Chenglei bought over 1,500 jin of red snapper from the villagers, filling the yard with basket after basket of fish.

After the family finished eating, they joined the fifteen women Zhou's mother had invited to clean the fish.

Even Li Xiuxian wasn't spared; Zhou Chengsen dragged her along to clean the fish.

She was thoroughly annoyed; she, a teacher, was now cleaning fish with a bunch of village women!

However, Li Xiuxian wasn't one to show her emotions; she was annoyed, but she wouldn't reveal it.

At this moment, a village woman said, "Teacher Li, being a teacher is so good; the work is easy and clean, and you have so many holidays."

Her tone was both envious and respectful.

Li Xiuxian smiled and said, "Not at all! Teachers don't earn much. A day's fishing at sea can earn more than I do in a month."

The other women chimed in, "That's incomparable! Fishing at sea is risky; you're at the mercy of the weather! But Teacher Li is an intellectual; her earnings are easy and stable, and she'll have a government pension in the future."

"Yes! Being a teacher is the best! It's so easy! We're uneducated; we can only weave fishing nets and help people kill fish. We work ourselves to the bone

every day, and we only earn twenty or thirty yuan a month." "Teacher Li is so much better! She has two long holidays a year, one day off every week, and several days off during the busy farming season. She gets paid even without working; how easy is that? And she has a pension when she's old; she'll never have to worry about anything! How wonderful!"

...

Because Li Xiuxian was a teacher and her husband was a town official, the village women respected her greatly, calling her "Teacher Li" repeatedly, their words full of flattery and envy, which made her feel a little better.

She laughed, "Each has its own advantages! But I still need to remind the children at home to study hard. After graduating from university, they can get a good job, a better job than a teacher."

As she spoke, she couldn't help but glance at Jiang Xia, who was sitting there silently cleaning fish, thinking that she should take the opportunity to teach Yingying to study hard.

Otherwise, what good are powerful parents? People still have to rely on their own abilities to be respected.

Just like her fourth aunt, who came from such a good family, but didn't get into university, and after getting married, she could only be a village woman, cleaning fish every day!

Living in the village, who cares who her parents are?

Unlike herself, who has a respectable job, and when she goes out, who doesn't respectfully call her "Teacher Li"?

Who knows who Jiang Xia is?

That night, Li Xiuxian didn't clean many fish, but she talked a lot with the villagers.

After all the fish were killed and marinated, it was already 11 PM.

Zhou Chenglei took a shower and entered the room. Jiang Xia was keeping accounts.

She meticulously recorded the total cost of this batch of fish, the cost of hiring people to kill them, the time spent, and the cost of salting. She

even meticulously recorded the fish-killing speed of each person she hired that evening in a new notebook.

Zhou Chenglei, exuding a cool, refreshing aura, approached her. He glanced at her, then picked her up, placed her on his lap, and kissed her.

Jiang Xia leaned against his strong chest, clearly feeling the coolness of his skin—

the unique sensation after bathing in the cool well water.

They both spoke simultaneously: "I have an idea."

They both laughed.

Zhou Chenglei kissed the back of her neck again.

Jiang Xia turned to face him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and their eyes met, both filled with smiles.

Jiang Xia's eyes shone when she smiled, her gaze gentle, the curve of her lips beautiful as she smiled, her entire face exquisitely beautiful.

Zhou Chenglei couldn't resist giving her a light peck on the lips, their foreheads touching, nose to nose: "You go first."

"I want to buy fresh squid, eel, croaker, small yellow croaker, various small fish, and all kinds of dried fish from the villagers on a long-term basis..."

September was just around the corner, and the Lunar New Year was a few months away. Jiang Xia wanted to buy squid, eel, croaker, small yellow croaker, and various small fish to make various snacks, try selling them, and hopefully, they would sell well by the end of the year after opening up the market.

As for the dried fish, she simply wanted to wait until the end of the year when prices rose a bit and then resell them to make a profit.

Fishermen's households all dried some fish, but not much; most were miscellaneous dried fish.

Miscellaneous dried fish could also be bought; if everyone collected their miscellaneous dried fish and sorted them, they wouldn't be just miscellaneous dried fish anymore.

Jiang Xia believed that once she spread the word that his family would buy dried fish, everyone would start drying them.

Villagers don't usually dry fish, mainly because it's troublesome to sell it in the city. But if someone is willing to buy it, everyone will probably dry some, since dried fish is quite profitable.

Most importantly, autumn is coming soon, which is a good season for drying fish. It's not as troublesome as drying fish in summer, and at least the weather is cooler, so there's no need to worry about the fish spoiling.

The clear, crisp autumn weather makes everything dry quickly.

Jiang Xia shared her thoughts. "What do you think?"

Zhou Chenglei kissed her: "Okay."

"I need to buy some ingredients to make snacks, which might require a significant initial investment. Are you worried about losing money?"

"No, you won't lose money. "

"How do you know?"

"Your cooking is delicious, so your snacks will definitely be delicious too. Besides, even if you lose money, you can earn it back. Money is something you can always earn back, and it's not like it's gone forever. What's there to be afraid of?"

Jiang Xia: "..."

That makes so much sense; she couldn't find a word to refute it!

Jiang Xia asked again, "What about you? What were you about to say?"

"I want to rent a piece of sea area and set up some net cages to try raising fish in the sea."

Jiang Xia immediately perked up: "What kind of fish?"

"Didn't you bring back an article in a magazine you translated that introduced a successful case of red sea bream farming in an island nation? Plus, I've seen how others farmed them before. So I want to try raising red sea bream first, you know, snapper. I can also try a few different kinds of fish, red sea bream, large yellow croaker, grouper, etc. Whichever one succeeds, I'll raise that one. I think..."

Zhou Chenglei felt that it was only a matter of time before the government restricted fishing. After all, there were more and more fishing boats, and some fish in the sea were becoming increasingly scarce. Take large yellow croaker, for example; its numbers had clearly decreased in the past two years, and the price was getting higher and higher. Besides large yellow croaker, other fish were also showing a downward trend, so the future of seafood would probably be mainly based on aquaculture.

Even now, Zhou Chenglei knew that many fishermen in various places were trying to raise fish in the sea, and there were quite a few successful cases.

Of course, farmed fish won't be as expensive as wild fish, but the advantage lies in the sheer quantity.

Small profits add up, and with a large enough quantity, the profits will be greater.

Moreover, he wasn't just raising fish without fishing; he simply wanted to lease suitable fishing grounds first, gaining an early advantage, and simultaneously fishing and raising fish.

Zhou Chenglei also shared his plan to raise fish with Zhou Chengxin.

He held her, telling Jiang Xia all his thoughts.

"What do you think?"

Jiang Xia: "I think it's great, but don't just lease the fishing grounds for five years. The term can be longer, twenty or thirty years."

"Do you have any objections to working with your older brother?"

"No, your older brother is great. Right now, we take turns using our fishing boats, so we have no choice but to work together. Besides, when things get bigger, with your older brother helping with management, you can rest assured."

The last sentence held a deeper meaning for both of them.

Zhou Chenglei knew she would agree; she understood his ambition.

Some things don't need to be said; she understands. How fortunate he was that she understood!

He kissed her.

Her hands weren't idle either.

Jiang Xia trembled slightly, grasped his wrist, and pulled away: "It's too late, you're going out to sea tomorrow."

"I know."

He knew, but showed no sign of stopping.

Hadn't she said she wouldn't be going out to sea tomorrow?

The next day, Zhou Chenglei, Zhou's father, and Zhou Chengsen still went out to sea around 4:00 AM.

Jiang Xia didn't go out to sea. With so many fish to dry, Jiang Xia was worried that Zhou's mother wouldn't be able to manage, so she stayed home to help.

Since she wasn't going out to sea, she slept until 6:00 AM, ate breakfast, and then dried fish with Zhou's mother.

Zhou Ying got up early and sat on the swing under the grape trellis reading English. Jiang Xia heard her mispronunciations and corrected her.

Zhou Ying then read it aloud according to Jiang Xia's pronunciation.

Li Xiuxian couldn't stand it anymore after hearing Jiang Xia correct her several times. She hated people who pretended to know what they didn't and misled others. She said to her daughter, "Alright, you don't need to read anymore. Go and play with your older brother and Zhou Zhou!"

Zhou Ying happily went back to her room, put down her book, and went to play with her brother with Zhou Zhou.

Two thousand catties of dried fish filled the roof and yard of the house, and even then, they couldn't dry them all. They even filled the roof and yard of her great-grandmother's house. Zhou's mother took some more to dry at the new house before it was all finally dried.

After drying the fish and having lunch, Jiang Xia took her money and ration coupons and rode her bicycle to town to buy jars, oil, sesame seeds, and other seasonings. She also needed to buy fishing nets, fishing line, wire, and other things to make fish cages.

The jars could be delivered, but she had to carry everything else herself.

On her way back, her bicycle was laden with things. Passing the production team, someone called out to her, "Jiang Xia, there's a letter and a package for you."

These days, all letters and packages were sent to the production team.

Jiang Xia went in and took the letter and package. The letter was from Zhang Fuyan, and the package was from Jiang Dong—a large box.

Back home, Jiang Xia first opened Jiang Dong's package. Inside were some high school review materials, a letter, and several catties of wool yarn—some off-white, some gray, and some camel-colored.

Why send her wool yarn? She can't knit!

But Jiang Dong's letter asked her to knit him a scarf?

She can't

knit that either! I wonder if Zhou Chenglei can?

Jiang Xia looked at Zhang Fuyan's letter again, and then her eyes lit up.

Money's coming!

Li Xiuxian glanced at the high school review materials and looked at Jiang Xia in shock.

"Xia, you still want to take the college entrance exam?"

"Yes!" Jiang Xia glanced at her watch; it was four o'clock. She had to go to the dock, so she carried her package back to her room and put it away.

Li Xiuxian's feelings were complicated.

Seriously? She still wants to take the college entrance exam?

Isn't she afraid that if she fails, the entire Zhou family will be embarrassed because of her?

Li Xiuxian could already imagine her colleagues asking her when the results came out next year: "Did your sister-in-law pass? This is the fourth time, isn't it!" She

was so ashamed!

Didn't Zhou Chenglei care about her?

She's married now, why is she still taking the exam?

Jiang Xia saw the shock and disdain in Li Xiuxian's eyes, but what did it matter?

She didn't need to, and had no obligation to, care about other people's feelings!

Jiang Xia put her things down, came out, and went to the backyard to find Zhou's mother. "Mom, I'm going to the dock first!"

Zhou's mother was feeding the chickens. The chickens at home were fed twice a day, and the brood of fluffy chicks had grown quite a bit and were no longer as cute.

Zhou replied, "So early? You go ahead first, I'll go later."

"Okay,"

Jiang Xia replied and headed to the dock.

Zhang Fuyan's letter said that the dried fish Jiang Xia had given her last time was delicious, and her grandfather planned to buy 100 jin (50 kg) to give to everyone at his workplace cafeteria.

Her aunt's workplace cafeteria also planned to buy 150 jin (75 kg) of dried fish, and asked Jiang Xia to deliver it to the publishing house when she had time.

As for the dried fish that Zhang Fuyan's family and workplace wanted, she said to send it to the train station and ask the stationmaster to help arrange for it to be sent to Beijing; she had already made arrangements.

In addition, Zhang Fuyan also said that she would send some dried fish to the school cafeteria to see if everyone liked it.

Although she didn't say that she would order regularly in the future, that was the gist of it.

Jiang Xia didn't have high hopes for the school cafeteria. She'd never seen dried fish in her school cafeteria in her previous life, or perhaps she was too poor to afford it and always took the cheapest meals, so she hadn't noticed.

However, this incident reminded her that she could supply dried fish to the cafeteria of her mother's garment factory.

When Jiang Xia arrived at the dock, she met someone from the production team. The person greeted her loudly, "Jiang Xia, perfect timing! You have a call. He'll call back in ten minutes."

Jiang Xia thanked him and glanced at the dock. Only two fishing boats were docked, but several more could be seen returning to port in the distance.

She decided to wait for the call at the production team's location.

Ten minutes later, the phone rang on time. The person from the production team answered it first and then handed it to Jiang Xia.

Jiang Xia said "Hello," and Jiang Dong's excited voice came from the other end of the phone: "Sis, did you receive the package?"

"Yes, I received it. Why did you buy so much yarn?"

"Didn't you want to learn to knit sweaters? I bought more for you to practice. Remember, you have to knit the first scarf for me! You said that before!"

Jiang Xia breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that the original owner didn't know how to knit either, but was just learning.

“Okay, I’ll knit it after I learn how. I don’t have time now.”

Just then, Jiang Xia heard Ye Xian’s voice: “Jiang Dong, do you want a scarf? I can knit too. I’ll knit one for you. No need to bother Sister Jiang Xia. Sister Jiang Xia’s first scarf is definitely going to be knitted for her husband.”

Jiang Xia raised an eyebrow and asked, “Did you receive my letter?”

“You sent me a letter? Not yet! What did it say?”

Jiang Xia: “I want you to help me buy a camera. I’ll give you the money when you come back for the New Year or I’ll wire it to you.”

Jiang Dong immediately said, “What money? Why are you being so distant with me? I have money. I’ll buy it for you and send it to you as soon as I buy it. Sister, remember to do those college entrance exam materials I sent you carefully. Call me if you don’t know how to do any of the questions. I’ll be waiting for you in Beijing!”

Jiang Xia: “I know. Call me if you don’t have enough money. You don’t need to buy an expensive camera. Just buy the cheapest one. I just need it to take pictures as souvenirs.”

“Don’t worry! I have enough money. Didn’t I say I’ve already started earning money?” Jiang Dong said proudly.

The two exchanged a few more words and then hung up, since phone calls are expensive, and long-distance calls are even more expensive.

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Dong   from Beijing said to Ye Xian, "Wait for me a moment. I'll go back to my dorm to get some foreign exchange certificates, then we'll go out for dinner, and after dinner, we'll go to the Friendship Store."

Ye Xian was extremely surprised. What could she possibly need to buy at the Friendship Store, and why would she need foreign exchange certificates?

The Friendship Store sold only imported, high-end goods!

She had never even stepped foot inside the Friendship Store in her entire life.

She couldn't help but ask, "What does Sister Jiang Xia want you to buy?"

"A camera."

Ye Xian blurted out, "A camera? Aren't cameras very expensive? Aren't you going to take her money?"

Jiang Dong glanced at her, saying nonchalantly, "She's my sister, why should I take her money?"

From childhood to adulthood, his sister had given him all her pocket money, and his brother-in-law had never hesitated to buy him things or give him money.

"Your sister is married! She has her own family, her own lover, and you'll have your own family in the future. Even brothers should keep clear accounts!"

Ye Xian felt that Jiang Dong's attitude was very wrong.

He seemed to think it was perfectly natural for him to give his money to his sister!

But a married daughter is like water spilled from a cup!

Only women subsidize their maternal families and help their brothers; that's considered giving back. How can a maternal family constantly subsidize a married woman?

Jiang Xia is so heartless! She's married but still goes back to her maternal family to freeload and take advantage of her brother.

She has to change Jiang Dong's mindset; otherwise, after they get married, he'll keep subsidizing his sister—that's unacceptable!

Some classmates at school have cameras. She knows a cheap domestic camera costs around 200 yuan, and a more expensive one around 400 yuan; some imported cameras are even more expensive.

He still wants to buy one at the Friendship Store. Although she doesn't know how much cameras cost there, she knows he can't take it for less than 200 or 300 yuan.

Jiang Dong didn't say anything. His sister is still his sister even after she's married!

Ye Xian continued, "You've already spent over 100 yuan on a bunch of yarn for her. A camera is such an expensive thing; it's better to take her money from now on."

Jiang Dong still didn't say anything.

Seeing his displeasure, Ye Xian realized she had been too hasty and quickly said, "I was only saying this because I was worried you wouldn't have enough money. You're opening a shop now, don't you need money? Aren't you planning to partner with your senior brother on some research and development? What if you don't have enough money? If you have enough, you can buy Jiang Xia anything! When you earn more money in the future, you can buy Jiang Xia even better gifts, right?"

Jiang Dong felt a little better after hearing this: "I have enough money, don't worry."

Ye Xian then took his arm, her soft body pressed against his, and said gently, "Then hurry up and go to the dorm to get the tickets! We're going to the Friendship Store to buy Jiang Xia a camera. I'll wait for you here."

Jiang Dong stiffened, instinctively resisting, glancing around; there were still many classmates passing by!

"I'll go back to the dorm to get the tickets first." He quickly pulled his hand away and ran back to his dorm.

Ye Xian watched his departing figure, pursing her lips.

In his heart, she was still far inferior to his sister, wasn't she?

She had to make Jiang Dong fall in love with her, love him to death, and put her first!

Otherwise, if he kept buying things for his sister every few days, all the money he earned would be spent on Jiang Xia.

That was their future joint property!

How could she make him devoted to her and obedient to her?

At least her position in his heart had to surpass Jiang Xia's, right?

She was the person he would be closest to in the future!

Or was it because she wasn't his closest person yet, so in his heart, even his married sister was more important than her? Ye Xian made up her mind after thinking about this!

Jiang Dong hurriedly went back to his dormitory to get some foreign exchange certificates, ran to Ye Xian's side, and smiled, "Let's go!"

Ye Xian smiled gently, took his arm, and pressed close, almost unintentionally, brushing against him.

Jiang Dong's ears turned red. He pretended to wipe his sweat, pulled his arm back, and habitually glanced left and right. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no one was watching.

Then, he subtly distanced himself from Ye Xian, keeping an arm's width between them, to avoid getting too close and causing a bad reputation. He didn't want his father to break his legs if he found out.

Although they were so far apart, the chances of his father finding out were slim.

Ye Xian looked at Jiang Dong, who deliberately kept a certain distance, and didn't know whether to call him innocent and old-fashioned or just clueless.

But the more upright Jiang Dong was, the more Ye Xian thought he was good, the more she felt he was worthy of her life, and the more she wanted to win him over.

The more she wanted him to love her to death!

She knew her family background wasn't good, and Jiang's father didn't seem to like her much. She was afraid they wouldn't be able to stay together, and she was a little anxious.

Jiang Dong took Ye Xian to a restaurant for a meal first, and then they went to the mall.

Ye Xian didn't want to go to the Friendship Store at all; she had heard that things there were incredibly expensive.

She deliberately chose a restaurant close to the department store. After finishing their meal, she pointed to the department store in front of them and said, "Why don't we go to the department store first and look at the cameras there, and then go to the Friendship Store? When you buy a camera for Jiang Xia, shouldn't you carefully compare and choose one? It's not just about picking any random one, and sometimes the most expensive isn't necessarily the best."

Jiang Dong thought it made sense, since he really didn't know much about cameras.

So Jiang Dong went to two shopping malls, but didn't buy a camera immediately. Instead, he noted down a few cameras he liked, planning to ask his classmates which ones were good. Some of his classmates were always taking pictures with their cameras.

He didn't buy a camera, but he bought a Snow Lotus cashmere sweater for Jiang Xia and her mother. Then, remembering that Jiang Xia liked to eat Shanghai Meilin luncheon meat and read foreign novels, he also bought some snacks and a few English books.

When Ye Xian saw that he had bought two cashmere sweaters and so much food, she assumed that the food and one of the cashmere sweaters were for her. However, he rushed to the post office before it closed and mailed everything to Jiang Xia!

Ye Xian was furious!

Jiang Dong didn't think much of it. After all, he had taken Ye Xian with him, and when they were shopping, he asked her if there was anything she wanted to buy. She said no, that she was buying it for her sister first, so he believed her.

Moreover, Jiang Dong felt that since he and Ye Xian were both in Beijing and saw each other every day, he could buy her anything she needed or wanted once they had foreign exchange certificates. Usually, when Ye Xian asked him to go out, he always paid for whatever she bought, so Jiang Dong genuinely believed she didn't want anything.

Jiang Dong was not yet twenty years old and didn't understand that women often say one thing but mean another. After all, he was the youngest in his family, and the two women in his family had always been exceptionally good to him, granting his every wish. How could they say one thing but mean another?

He was like a sapling in a greenhouse, too well protected!

Of course, the most important thing was that he needed to save his money to buy a camera, and he also needed to invest in the project with his classmates. After finishing these two things, he would be out of money, and he would have nothing left except for food.

Since it was the beginning of the semester, the money he earned from the shop wouldn't be distributed until the end of next month. He decided that from now on, he wouldn't spend a single penny except for food!

He would also have to eat separately from Ye Xian, otherwise, sometimes Ye Xian would bring her and her roommates, and a meal could cost anywhere from a few yuan to over ten yuan, which he wouldn't be able to afford.

So, after leaving the post office, Ye Xian said she wanted to go to the mall to buy a dress and high heels for a speech, but Jiang Dong refused, saying he would buy them for her next month because he had no money.

Ye Xian was almost furious!

*** After hanging up the phone,

Jiang

Xia headed towards the dock.

Of course, she wouldn't take advantage of Jiang Dong; she would give him the money for the camera when he returned, or she would find another way to pay him back if he didn't want it.

When Jiang Xia arrived at the dock, two more fishing boats had already docked.

Jiang Xia glanced at the cargo on the other boats. Everyone had plenty of fish today, mostly red snapper, clearly still affected by the typhoon.

However, because there were so many red snapper, the purchase price had dropped by two cents.

Someone saw Jiang Xia and ran over to ask, "Xia, do you still buy red snapper?"

Jiang Xia seized the opportunity to say, "I'd like to buy some too, because my mom's garment factory canteen needs a batch of dried fish. But we bought too much yesterday, and I don't have anywhere to dry it today. We don't buy fresh red snapper, but if you have any dried fish, you can send it to my house. My family will buy dried fish year-round."

Just then, another person came over and asked, "Xia, my family caught quite a few red snapper today. We're taking them home to dry. Will you buy them?"

Jiang Xia smiled and said, "Of course! The garment factory has so many workers who need to eat, and they use up a lot of dried fish every day. I don't even have enough to send to the factory. So, not only red snapper, but any other dried fish you find, you can sell them to me!"

"Okay, then I won't sell these red snapper. I'll take them home to dry and sell them to you later! I also have some other dried fish. Do you want them? If so, I'll bring them to you later."

"Then I won't sell my fish today either. I'll dry them and sell them to you later!"

Jiang Xia replied with a smile, "Sure! You can send over as much dried fish as you have."

At this time, women came to the dock to wait for their fishing boats to return. Hearing the conversation, they all gathered around:

"You want some dried fish too? I have several dozen jin. Xia, do you want some?"

"Xia, I also have some dried fish and mackerel. Do you want some?"

"Xia, we have some too!"

...

Jiang Xia smiled and said, "Yes, but the dried fish must be from fresh fish, and dried thoroughly. It must not have any strange smell. We don't want any that aren't fresh!"

The villagers immediately replied, "Our dried fish is absolutely good; it's all from fresh fish. You can rest assured."

"Xia, I'll pick out the best for you, I guarantee you the finest!"

"Xia, you can rest assured. We're all neighbors; we wouldn't sell you anything bad. Your in-laws can tell at a glance whether the dried fish is good or not! We'll all give you the best dried fish." "Yes

..."

...

Everyone was happy to hear that Jiang Xia was buying dried fish, and they promised to bring out the best.

Every household with a boat going out to sea had some dried fish, but people didn't really like to eat it. They had more fresh fish than they could eat every day; who would want dried fish?

Dried fish was only eaten on days when they weren't at sea.

Jiang Xia then took the opportunity to mention that she was also buying fresh squid, small yellow croaker, and other small fish like shad. She told everyone that they could bring any fish they caught to her anytime; she would buy as many as they wanted, regardless of size—squid, small yellow croaker, and even eel!

The purchasing center wouldn't accept very small squid and small yellow croaker, as they were difficult to sell, meaning everyone would have to take them home to eat. However, every day when fishing at sea, there were always some very small fish that they couldn't finish. Hearing that Jiang Xia was buying them, everyone happily said they would bring them over.

So, when Zhou Chenglei returned from the sea, he saw Jiang Xia chatting and laughing with a group of women under the banyan tree.

The summer evening sun was still scorching, inevitably making people irritable, but her smile was like a gentle breeze, softening the mood of everyone at the dock.

At least, when Zhou Chenglei returned from the sea and saw her, saw her smile, all his fatigue vanished.

Mr. Zhou saw it too and couldn't help but smile: Haha, seeing everyone's beaming faces, I know their Wangcai must be bringing in a lot of wealth!

Zhou's father asked Zhou Chenglei with a smile, "Has your wife thought of another way to make money?"

Zhou Chenglei jumped off the boat: "It's probably collecting dried fish."

Collecting dried fish? Zhou's father thought about it and felt that collecting dried fish wasn't bad. They knew the Marquis and could resell it for a profit. Now that reform and opening up had begun, many traders were doing it openly, so reselling shouldn't be a problem anymore.

Wen Wan and Zhou Guohua's boat also docked at this time. Wen Wan saw Jiang Xia surrounded by villagers, her eyes flashing with surprise.

Wasn't Jiang Xia supposed to be someone who never interacted with the villagers?

What was going on today?

Why was everyone gathered around Jiang Xia, chatting and laughing?

She felt there must be something wrong and wanted to find out.

At this moment, Jiang Xia also saw her family's fishing boat return. She smiled and said to everyone, "If you have any fish, please send them to my house! My fishing boat is back, I have to go help."

After saying that, she smiled and walked quickly past the crowd towards Zhou Chenglei.

Zhou Chenglei saw Jiang Xia running towards him.

He quickly tied the rope to the post and strode forward to meet her.

Jiang Xia came to his side, peeked into her fishing boat, and seeing no fish, still smiled and said, "Why are you up so early today?"

Zhou Chenglei pulled her to his side, using his body to shield her from the fishermen carrying their catch as they passed by: "Don't walk so fast next time, there are many people at the dock, be careful not to get bumped by the fishermen carrying their catch."

Jiang Xia glanced at the people passing by, then moved closer to him so as not to obstruct others.

Zhou Chenglei then smelled her unique fragrance.

He put his hands on her shoulders, shielding her in front of him, and led her to the boat.

Jiang Xia boarded the boat, glanced at the remaining basket of miscellaneous fish and a large basket of small fish, and asked, "Did you sell the fish at the city dock?"

"Yes, we were lucky today. The fishing boat couldn't hold any more fish by 3 PM, so we went directly to the city dock to sell them."

Zhou Chenglei had caught the basket of small fish after hearing Jiang Xia mention wanting to make spicy small fish snacks, and he had netted them on the way back when they were leaping out of the water in groups.

Zhou Chengsen laughed, "We're really lucky today! I've been fishing at sea for so many years and I've never had such good luck!"

A fish weighing over 400 pounds! They actually managed to find it!

Zhou's father said irritably, "You're making a fuss over nothing. How many times have you gone fishing? You call this good luck?"

He's ignorant! He's seen this kind of thing many times since Wangcai started going out to sea!

Zhou Chengsen: "..."

His dad made it sound like he saw big fish all the time!

Jiang Xia smiled.

Zhou Chenglei pulled out a large wad of cash and handed it to Jiang Xia: "Keep this safe, I'll go unload the fish from the boat."

Jiang Xia took it, her eyes crinkling with delight: "So much? Is it a thousand?"

This wad must be over a thousand, right?

Seeing her greedy expression, Zhou Chenglei's eyes lit up with a smile: "Yes, a little over a thousand one hundred. It's mainly because we caught a 3-meter yellowfin tuna, weighing over four hundred jin."

Jiang Xia stuffed the money into her bag, a little regretful that they hadn't gone out to sea today: "A yellowfin tuna weighing over four hundred jin? I've never seen such a big yellowfin tuna before."

She wondered what the difference was between yellowfin and bluefin tuna.

Zhou Chengsen: "Don't even mention you, I've never seen one before either! The city docks are buzzing! Several restaurants are scrambling to get it!"

Zhou Chenglei: "Next time we encounter one, we'll bring it back to sell, and you'll see."

Zhou Chengsen: "..."

Next time?

As if there's always a next time? He felt like encountering such a big fish even once in a lifetime was already incredibly lucky.

Jiang Xia immediately waved her hand: "No need! Compared to the fish, I much prefer seeing a thick wad of cash!"

Bringing them back to sell would fetch a lower price.

Her eyes aren't worth that much!

Zhou Chenglei laughed.

Without needing to sell the fish, the two brothers unloaded the two baskets of fish from the boat and went home.

Wen Wan then disembarked and pulled aside a woman who had been surrounding Jiang Xia, asking, "Auntie, what were you all talking about? Did something happen in the village?"

"Nothing happened. Cheng Lei's wife said she wanted to buy dried fish, so everyone went to find out what kind of dried fish she wanted."

Wen Wan frowned. "Jiang Xia wants to buy dried fish? What does she want it for?"

Another woman carrying a basin of mixed fish passed by and overheard, saying, "Xia's mother is the manager of a garment factory! She's buying dried fish to deliver to her mother's canteen!"

"Yes, to the canteen. She buys it all year round! Ah, Lei really married a good wife. He'll make a lot of money just selling dried fish!"

"I used to think that marrying a city wife was useless, that she couldn't do any housework, but I think he married a treasure trove!"

"Jiang Xia looks like a lucky person. Look at her earlobes, so plump! Marrying a woman like that will bring prosperity to the family and husband."

"I saw it too, and her hands, hands that look like they belong to someone who enjoys a life of luxury. I just held her hand, and although it's small, it's so soft! Her palms are plump, with three raised mounds, like she owns a house and collects rent."

"And her nose, the tip is fleshy, she looks rich!"

The two women started discussing animatedly. And

that wasn't all, someone else overheard and chimed in, "And her chin..."

"Her eyebrows are beautiful too..."

Wen Wan seemed thoughtful. Selling dried fish to garment factories?

Probably more than that?

Wen Wan didn't know how Zhou Chenglei initially made his fortune in her past life, since she was married then and hadn't paid much attention to him.

She only knew that after his military service, he went fishing at sea, quickly bought a fishing boat, and rented several areas of sea with his older brother to raise fish and shrimp, eventually successfully cultivating abalone and pearl oysters.

She heard that pearl farms were incredibly profitable!

Could it be that Zhou Chenglei initially made his fortune selling dried fish?

Wen Wan got a little excited thinking about this. Whether it was selling dried fish or renting sea area, it was all about seizing the opportunity!

Especially renting sea area, the good areas were rented by Zhou Chenglei from the start, and later, when others wanted to follow suit, they had to choose even more distant areas!

Wen Wan grabbed Zhou Guohua's hand: "I have something to tell you!"

Zhou Guohua's face flushed when he saw Wen Wan take his hand: "What do you want to say?"

Wen Wan pulled Zhou Guohua away from the crowd before saying: "We'll buy dried fish too, we'll buy dried fish, we'll buy all the villagers' dried fish, and we'll sign contracts with them, so their dried fish can only be sold to us?"

Zhou Guohua was dumbfounded: "Buy dried fish? What does signing contracts mean? Is it necessary? Selling dried fish in the city is very troublesome."

"I dreamt that Zhou Chenglei made a lot of money buying and selling dried fish! Not only that, we're going to rent a stretch of sea to raise fish!"

Zhou Guohua was even more surprised: "Rent a stretch of sea to raise fish? Can those fish even survive? Besides, there are so many fish in the ocean, you can just catch them, why do you need to raise them?"

Wen Wan was almost driven mad by his shortsightedness. "There are fish in the ocean that you can't catch them all! Take large yellow croaker for example, haven't they become less common in the last two years? The most important thing is that I dreamt that Zhou Chenglei rented a large stretch of sea to raise fish and made a lot of money. There aren't many suitable areas for fish farming. If he rents it all, we won't have any left! Think about it!"

In her past life, she knew which stretch of sea the Zhou family had rented for fish farming, and she was determined to rent it first!

Zhou Guohua was stunned. Wen Wan's words made some sense, but his mind was a little slow to process them. He scratched his head, thought for a while, and finally said, "No, even if we rent the sea area, I don't know how to raise fish!"

What's the point of renting it?

Wen Wan urged, "You can learn if you don't know how. Quickly sell the fish, and I'll talk to your father about this!"

This matter should be done sooner rather than later.

She didn't know if Zhou Chenglei had thought about renting the sea area to raise fish yet. If he had, she calculated that it would be Zhou Chenglei's turn to go out to sea today and tomorrow, and he wouldn't have time to rent the sea. So if he had thought about it, he wouldn't have time to rent it until the day after tomorrow.

They had to rent it before Zhou Chenglei did.

Wen Wan wanted to follow the path Zhou Chenglei had taken in his previous life, leaving him with no way to go.

She wanted to prevent him from becoming the richest man, and turn Jiang Xia's wishful thinking of becoming the richest man's wife into a pipe dream!

After Wen Wan told Zhou Bingqiang about this, Zhou Bingqiang hesitated.

Renting the sea to raise fish? He had never even considered it.

The ocean is so vast, and there are so many fish. Both fish and shrimp reproduce incredibly well; a single fish can have hundreds or even thousands of eggs, and hundreds or even thousands of eggs in its lifetime. Why bother raising them?

Wen Wan: "Uncle, I dreamt that Zhou Chenglei made his fortune through fish farming and became the richest man in the future."

Zhou Bingqiang: "..."

This hit Zhou Bingqiang's sore spot.

He now considers himself the richest man in the village, so how could he tolerate not being the richest man in the future? Instead, it would be Zhou Yongfu's son who became the richest man?

"Which sea area did you dreamt he rent?"

Wen Wan knew that in her past life, Zhou Chenglei rented several sea areas, not just near the village, but also in other coastal cities.

She knew that he later established a pearl farm in another city, which grew bigger and bigger, making a lot of money!

And that abalone farm too—she had seen countless people buying abalone wholesale from his farm in her past life, truckloads of fresh abalone being transported away in the city.

The abalone farm was in the sea area around the city; if she wasn't mistaken, it should be the sea area around the island where she found the red coral.

She didn't know about the pearl farm, but Wen Wan had heard that he initially tried pearl farming in their village area.

Wen Wan had dreamed before that Zhou Chenglei found a pearl oyster, but she had never seen him find it.

However, Wen Wan still suspected it was on that isolated island during his first voyage.

Wen Wan voiced her guess.

"This is just my guess, Uncle. If you think any area of ​​the sea is suitable for fish farming or abalone farming, you can rent it. My family doesn't have a boat, and our village is a bit far from the sea. We don't have the familiarity with the sea that you people who go out to sea year-round."

"I know where those two islands you mentioned are. I'll go to the production team tomorrow to ask how much to rent."

Wen Wan: "Uncle, what about dried fish? Do you buy dried fish?"

"Yes! Of course I do! But let's find out how much Zhou Yongfu charges per pound first before we buy."

The shortcut to success is to follow the methods of others.

Since she dreamed that Zhou Chenglei started his fortune and became the richest man this way, he naturally wanted to try it.

Zhou Bingqiang now completely believed in Wen Wan's dream.

She was right about the time the typhoon would arrive.

Zhou Chenglei was right about finding the red coral!

So Zhou Bingqiang believed her completely.

Wen Wan had such a remarkable skill, and Zhou Bingqiang could tell she was ambitious, fearing his youngest son wouldn't be able to keep her in the future.

It seemed he needed to talk to Wen's father about their marriage.

***

At the Zhou Family Home

, Zhou Chenglei returned home and saw a pile of fishing nets in the yard. These very fine-mesh "extermination nets" weren't sold at the village store. He looked at Jiang Xia: "Did you buy them in town?"

Jiang Xia nodded: "Yes, aren't you going to make net cages? I'm also going to make snacks, so I went to buy whatever I might need this afternoon."

Zhou Chenglei: "You went by bicycle?"

"Otherwise what?"

Zhou Chenglei said, "I'll buy it next time."

He was worried she might fall while riding her bicycle to buy so many things by herself.

"Aren't you busy going out to sea? It doesn't matter who buys it!" Jiang Xia replied, reaching into the basket of miscellaneous fish to grab a very ugly fish that looked like a stone. "What kind of fish is this? Are we having it tonight?"

Zhou Chenglei quickly grabbed her hand. "Don't touch it! The spines on its back are poisonous, but it's delicious. I'll handle it."

Stonefish are the most poisonous fish, but they've been a famous delicacy since ancient times. Their flesh is very tender, and they're also very nutritious, promoting saliva production, moisturizing the lungs, beautifying the skin, warming the middle, replenishing deficiency, and treating muscle and bone pain.

Zhou Chenglei had specially brought it back for Jiang Xia and his parents, thinking Jiang Xia had never eaten it before.

He put on gloves to handle the fish.

Jiang Xia ignored him and went to clean the basket of small fish and miscellaneous fish first.

In those days, there were many small fish like these in the sea. Most fishermen didn't specifically fish for them because they weren't expensive.

Zhou Chenglei didn't know their names either; everyone just called them "small fish," but he knew that in October, a certain type of small fish was in season in the waters of the neighboring province, and there were many in the sea. When the big ships returned, they could set out and catch a whole boatload.

Jiang Xia washed the fish and set them aside to drain, planning to process them after dinner.

Dinner was served quickly. After the family finished eating, someone brought over dried fish and other small fish.

The Zhou family was busy weighing and collecting the dried and fresh fish.

Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia worked in one group, Li Xiuxian and her husband in another, and Zhou's father and mother in yet another.

One person weighed the fish, and another counted them.

The dried fish were very cheap because they were fish that were either unsellable or so cheap that it was better not to sell them at all.

After listening to Zhou's father's opinion, Jiang Xia thought for a moment and decided to charge everyone one yuan per jin (

500g). This was the price they would get for selling in the city; in town, they could only get six or seven jiao (0.6-0.7 yuan) per jin, and even then, it would be difficult to sell. The bus fare to the city alone cost over one yuan, so unless they happened to have other things to take to the city to sell, no one wanted to go to the city to sell dried fish. They could earn that much by going out to sea and catching a net.

Jiang Xia bought fresh small fish for one jiao (0.1 yuan) per jin, and the villagers were very satisfied with the price.

That night, they collected three hundred jin of dried fish and over one hundred jin of fresh small fish.

After collecting the fish, the family busied themselves processing the fresh fish, drying them overnight.

Zhou's father went to bed early because he had been at sea all day and would be going out to sea again the next day; he was getting old and couldn't keep up with the younger people.

Zhou Chenglei, Jiang Xia, Zhou's mother, and Zhou Chengsen and his wife went to bed at one o'clock.

Li Xiuxian returned to her room with a dark face, completely exhausted. She had never been so tired before!

She said irritably, "I'm coming home first thing tomorrow morning!"

Zhou Chengsen replied, "Okay, I have to work tomorrow, can I not come home?"

Li Xiuxian rubbed her lower back, "I'm exhausted! Why should a teacher like me do this?"

Zhou Chengsen sneered, "You can't handle this? Fishing at sea is this tiring. Do you think the money my parents gave us to buy a house just fell from the sky? And part of it was sent back by A-Lei, who earned it with his life, it's even harder than fishing at sea!"

"You live comfortably in your new house in town, but you should also think about how they bought it. We're not living in houses, we're living on their blood and sweat!"

Li Xiuxian: "..."

"I just said I'm tired, I didn't quit, why are you being so mean? I've been working until this late too!"

Zhou Chengsen was also exhausted, turned over and went to sleep, too tired to argue with her anymore.

Fishing at sea is indeed tiring! It's dirty, smelly, tiring, and dangerous!

Otherwise, why would he have studied so hard since childhood, and continued to attend the Workers-Peasants-Soldiers University after working in the production team? He just didn't want to be a fisherman.

Jiang Xia was so tired her back was aching, and she lay on the bed, not wanting to move at all.

Zhou Chenglei felt sorry for her and massaged her to relax her: "Why don't you stop doing all this? It's too tiring."

Jiang Xia: "I plan to partner with someone and hire someone to do it, so it won't be this tiring in the future."

"With Zhou Yongguo's wife?"

"How did you know?"

Zhou Chenglei: "She's the only person you know in the village."

His sister-in-law and her, their paths are different and they can't work together.

Jiang Xia: "..."

That makes so much sense, and she had no words to refute it!

Jiang Xia had nothing to say, turned her head, closed her eyes, and quickly fell asleep under his gentle massage.

Zhou Chenglei glanced at her sleeping so fast, feeling a little sorry for her. He massaged her for a while longer before carefully turning her body so she wasn't sleeping on her stomach. Then he kissed her forehead before lying down to sleep.

The next day, Zhou Chenglei didn't wake up until five o'clock. In the dim light, he glanced at his lover sleeping peacefully beside him and gently kissed the top of her head.

Last night, she was probably too tired; she didn't change her sleeping position and didn't hug him.

He couldn't help but kiss the top of her head, not daring to kiss anywhere else for fear of waking her. He just watched her sleeping face for a while, his expression gentle, the corners of his mouth upturned, his eyes and brows full of smiles. He watched her like that for half a minute, then kissed her again, tucked the blanket in, covered her stomach, and carefully got out of bed.

He dressed very carefully, not daring to make the slightest sound, just like when he was on a mission. He opened and closed the door without making a sound.

Jiang Xia was completely unaware and didn't wake up until 6:30. Zhou Chenglei and his father had already gone out to sea. The whole family was awake, and everyone spoke in hushed tones, afraid of waking her.

When Zhou's mother saw her come out, she greeted her with a smile, and her movements became more relaxed as she worked.

Jiang Xia felt a little embarrassed.

Li Xiuxian glanced at Jiang Xia; she was truly blessed. Her husband had told everyone not to wake her, her mother-in-law made her breakfast, and she had a sea cucumber every day—the only one in the family to have it.

Li Xiuxian even considered bringing Zhou's mother to live in town. She had to teach classes, getting up early every morning to make breakfast, and then cooking lunch and dinner after school, plus laundry and mopping in the evenings.

If Zhou's mother were there, she wouldn't have to do any housework.

Li Xiuxian couldn't help but say, "Mom, why don't you and Dad come back to town with us? If you do, I'll clean out a room. This old house is damp; I'm afraid you and Dad won't be able to stand it after a while."

Jiang Xia raised an eyebrow while eating breakfast. Their things were already packed, and they were leaving for town at seven. They hadn't mentioned it for days, only bringing it up after the luggage was packed—it seemed insincere, just talk, or perhaps a last-minute decision with some ulterior motive.

Jiang Xia didn't think much of it and remained silent.

Zhou Chengsen didn't think much of it. He wanted to take care of his parents, so he said, "Yes, Mom, do you want to come live with us in town?"

His mother picked a sack full of vegetables and corn for them to take back to town, smiling, "No, your father and I aren't used to living in town, and he has to go out to sea again. Be careful on your way back, and take these vegetables with you."

Her youngest son didn't have a house yet, and his child wasn't born. His mother just wanted to help him so the couple could build a house quickly and help them raise their child.

Zhou Chengsen didn't insist, and saying it after they left wasn't sincere enough. He said he'd come back for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and asked his mother to think it over. Then he took his wife and daughter back to town. He had to go to work today, and Zhou Ying started school tomorrow.

After breakfast, Jiang Xia and her mother took out the red snapper, abalone, and the small fish and miscellaneous fish from last night to dry. Then she went to her great-grandmother's house next door.

Her great-grandmother's family was also helping them dry the red snapper.

While drying fish, Jiang Xia told He Xinghuan about her plan to partner with her to make some snacks.

Great-grandmother's family didn't own a boat; the mother and daughter-in-law usually earned money by weaving fishing nets at home, while Zhou Yongguo and Great-grandfather helped build houses.

Weaving fishing nets earns about one yuan a day, and building houses for others earns two yuan a day.

However, few people can afford to build houses nowadays, so there isn't work every day.

Therefore, compared to families with boats to go out to sea to fish, Great-Grandma's family is considered relatively poor in the village.

That's why Jiang Xia approached He Xinghuan about partnering to make some snacks, and both Great-Grandma and He Xinghuan were very happy.

Jiang Xia smiled and said to He Xinghuan, "I really can't do it all by myself, so I'm planning to cooperate with you. I'll teach you how to make them, and after you learn, you'll train the people to make them, and I'll be responsible for selling them. Then we'll split the profits 50/50. What do you think?"

He Xinghuan felt a little embarrassed when she heard that they would split the profits 50/50, because she was only responsible for training the people; Jiang Xia could have simply asked her for help instead of partnering with her.

"Xia, I'll just take one salary, like the people we hired. You don't need to split it with me."

Great-Grandma understood that Jiang Xia was helping their family and agreed, "That's right! One salary is enough, no need to split it!"

Jiang Xia did intend to help Great-Grandma's family, but she also wanted to earn money. Her reason for partnering with her and splitting the profits 50/50 was reasonable.

She was going to university next year, so this would basically be He Xinghuan's responsibility.

If the profits were split too small, it wouldn't be appropriate and could easily lead to conflict in the long run.

She explained to the two of them, "I don't have much time to do this. From now on, you'll mainly be leading the team, including collecting fish, drying fish, and processing the finished products. I'll only be responsible for the initial investment and selling them. So, splitting the profits 50/50 is best for a long-term partnership."

He Xinghuan still felt that splitting it 50/50 was unnecessary; she only needed one salary.

Jiang Xia said, "How about this? I'll take 50% of the profits, you take 40%, and the remaining 10% will be distributed as bonuses to the hired workers. That way, the more you work, the more you earn, and everyone will be motivated to do it. If you're still hesitant, I'll have to find someone else to partner with."

Since she'd put it that way, He Xinghuan couldn't refuse.

He Xinghuan was quick to get started, asking, "So, should we start making honey-glazed sweet dried fish now?"

Jiang Xia replied, "The small fish haven't dried yet; we can only start making them tonight. But we can divide the mixed dried fish I collected yesterday now, and then I'll see which ones can be made."

So, Great-Grandma and He Xinghuan went to get the dried fish and divide them at home.

Jiang Xia didn't divide them; she'd pay them after they finished.

She still had to do translation work, so she went back to her job. Meanwhile,

Zhou's mother was at home making fish cages according to Zhou Chenglei's instructions.

These cages had to be very large; they would be placed on the seabed to raise fish, as they weren't available for sale outside.

Large-mesh cages would be made for larger fish, and small-mesh cages would be made for smaller fish.

As evening approached, Jiang Xia went to the dock to collect the goods.

There she saw Wen Wan collecting dried fish, the price two cents a pound higher than what she'd gotten yesterday.

A group of women surrounded her, vying to sign papers.

Wen Wan glanced at Jiang Xia and smiled. This morning, Zhou Guohua and Zhou Bingqiang had asked the production team and learned that to rent sea area, they needed to go to the Municipal Maritime Bureau, so they went there immediately.

She also knew that Zhou Chenglei had gone out to sea as usual this morning!

Haha, the sea area had already been rented!

The village women were still a little embarrassed when they saw Jiang Xia arrive, and didn't dare to look at her too much.

But Wen Wan said that Zhou Bingqiang's family would always charge two cents more for dried fish than the Zhou family, but on the condition that they sign an agreement promising to sell their dried fish only to Zhou Bingqiang's family.

The Zhou family wasn't explicitly named, but it was clearly Zhou Chenglei's family; only they were buying dried fish.

Always charging two cents more than Zhou Chenglei's family, who would sell to Jiang Xia?

It's not like they're losing money; no one would complain about having too much!

Jiang Xia glanced at them indifferently, not caring, and looked away.

She had come pushing a cart, and after pushing it aside, she sat on it and looked out at the sea, searching for her own boat among the many returning fishing boats.

Just then, someone approached Jiang Xia and said, "Xia, I'll still sell my dried fish to you, even if Zhou Bingqiang's dried fish is always two cents more expensive than yours. I don't mind, I'll only sell to you, so don't worry."

Jiang Xia raised an eyebrow. What did she mean by "Zhou Bingqiang's dried fish is always two cents more expensive than hers"?

This was clearly targeting her!

She never cared about healthy competition, but malicious competition was unacceptable!

It was fine for Wen Wan and Zhou Guohua to buy dried fish; the villagers were free to sell to whomever they wanted, and she couldn't interfere.

After all, buying and selling was a matter of personal freedom.

But deliberately targeting her and trying to annoy her was unacceptable!

Having been in the market since she was three, Jiang Xia had plenty of ways to deal with such malicious competition!

Jiang Xia smiled and replied, "Thank you, Auntie. We'll buy your dried fish whenever it arrives."

Jiang Xia recognized the woman; Zhou's mother had hired her to clean fish before. She and her daughter-in-law were very fast and hardworking, and very honest people.

Although Jiang Xia called her Second Aunt, she wasn't a blood relative. Most people in the village shared the surname Zhou, and since they all came from the same ancestral hall and shared the same ancestors, they addressed each other by their male relatives as "Aunt" or "Grandma."

For example, when Jiang Xia approached, some village children called her Fourth Aunt, Fourth Aunt, or Fourth Aunt-in-law, because Zhou Chenglei was the fourth among his siblings.

Second Aunt Lin said, "What are you thanking me for? I just don't like how they do things."

Jiang Xia smiled, "Second Aunt, I'll go take a look at their agreement. If you have any dried fish, please bring it to my house! Thank you!"

Second Aunt nodded, "Okay, your Second Uncle's boat is back, I'll go see it too."

She then walked away.

Jiang Xia then walked up to Wen Wan.

Wen Wan felt a little nervous when she saw Jiang Xia approaching, but then she thought that she hadn't done anything illegal or criminal, so why was she nervous? She relaxed.

She was simply buying dried fish; the fact that the price was two cents higher than hers was a way of helping the village—it was legal, reasonable, and a good deed, responding to the national call to get rich first and then help others get rich. If Jiang Xia dared to cause trouble, this time it would be her turn to report her to the production team and have her arrested!

So Wen Wan pretended not to see Jiang Xia and continued smiling as she instructed the villagers on how to sign.

Not only was Wen Wan nervous, but the villagers who had surrounded Jiang Xia yesterday were also a little nervous and embarrassed, after all, they had agreed to sell their dried fish to Jiang Xia yesterday.

Jiang Xia found it somewhat amusing to see everyone's awkward expressions, as if they wanted to hide away.

There's no need to be embarrassed!

They can sell their dried fish to whomever they want, and she won't blame them.

Everyone wants to earn more money, she understands.

It's like how the village's purchasing center offers lower prices, but the market price is higher, so they sometimes sell their fish at the city dock.

Buying and selling should be free and fair.

Competition should too.

Jiang Xia casually picked up an agreement.

Wen Wan immediately reached out to snatch it: "What are you trying to do?"

Jiang Xia dodged her hand, looked at the agreement calmly, and said, "You buy dried fish here, right? I'm just looking at the agreement. If the price is right, I'll sell my dried fish too!"

The surrounding villagers looked at Jiang Xia in disbelief.

Could this really be done?

She just bought several hundred kilograms of dried fish from them last night, and now she's selling it to Wen Wan? Doesn't that mean she's making several yuan in profit?

Jiang Xia ignored everyone's stares. She glanced at the agreement and smiled, saying, "If you sign this agreement, you'll always get to sell your dried fish for two cents more per pound than others, but you can only sell it to your family?"

Wen Wan's eyes flickered, and she snatched the agreement back. "I won't buy your dried fish! Don't cause trouble here!"

Jiang Xia laughed, "Even if you wanted to, I wouldn't dare sell it to you. This agreement is completely unfair. Although it says the price will always be two cents more per pound, signing it means you can only sell your dried fish to them, and there's no time limit—is it indefinite? Also, the agreement doesn't say you'll definitely buy their dried fish. If you stop buying, can they sell it to other families? If they can, won't they be stuck with it? Stuck with it indefinitely!"

The agreement sounds good now, since two cents is still money and can buy something.

But ten years later, two cents won't be money at all; even a dollar won't be picked up if it falls on the ground.

Honestly, a price increase of two cents per pound only amounts to two yuan more for a hundred pounds. Even now, in Jiang Xia's view, it makes little difference!

After all, for the villagers, getting a hundred pounds of dried fish a day is already considered good, since it's not a transaction by the ton.

So, while this agreement seems to be for the benefit of the villagers, it's actually a trap!

But for the villagers selling fish, it's different. Every cent is money, and every extra cent is a bonus, which is why they're rushing to sign the agreement—it's clearly a good thing!

However, such an ambiguous agreement has no legal effect.

Jiang Xia doesn't know if Wen Wan knows this, or if she does and is just using it to fool the uninformed villagers, making them afraid not to sell their dried fish to her because of the agreement.

But Jiang Xia only knows that Wen Wan is deliberately targeting their family.

Jiang Xia continued, "And in the last two years, have you all felt that life has improved a bit? Have your wages increased a bit? I believe that life will only get better in the future, wages will continue to rise, and the prices of many things will also increase! So it's unreasonable to always be two cents more expensive than others. Who knows, in ten or eight years, two cents might be worthless! Shouldn't the pricing be adjusted according to the year and market prices? For example, two cents more per pound in the first two years, two jiao more per pound in the third and fourth years, one yuan or fifty jiao more in the fifth and sixth years, or something like that. Always two cents more? Isn't 'always' too far-fetched? Hehe..."

Jiang Xia chuckled twice, then put down the agreement and walked away leisurely.

Leaving behind a group of women, some who understood nine aspects and others who didn't, looking at each other.

Jiang Xia's words seemed to make some sense!

Isn't 'always' too far-fetched?

What if Zhou Bingqiang's family stops buying dried fish in the future? After signing this agreement, will they still be able to sell to others?

Some people quickly responded, "Forget it, I won't sign this agreement."

One person took the lead, and immediately everyone echoed, "What Xia said just now seems to make sense, then I won't sign either!"

"Forget it, two cents a pound more isn't much, I won't sign either."

...

And so, one by one, those who hadn't signed the agreement left!

Even those who had signed changed their minds, quickly pulling back their copies: "Forget it! Forget it, I won't sign either!"

"Then I won't sign either! Something doesn't sound right!"

...

Instantly, villagers left, some rushing to tear up the agreements.

Chaos ensued!

Wen Wan couldn't stop them at all.

"Don't believe her, she's just afraid you won't sell your dried fish to her! Don't you think I'm charging you two cents more for your dried fish now? Even two cents is still more! You're not going to make money?..."

But no matter what Wen Wan said, no one signed.

Forever was really too far away!

Jiang Xia looked back and then ignored it.

People are easily swayed by small gains, making them prone to impulsive actions driven by greed. However, once they sober up, they often regret their decisions and back down.

Wen Wan only needed to verbally agree that their price for dried fish would always be two cents higher than hers, but she went overboard with an agreement demanding sales only to them, with no time limit, trying to bind everyone indefinitely.

What's the difference between that and selling oneself?

If you want others to sell themselves, you should at least consider whether that two cents is enough! Greed

knows no bounds; in less than fifteen minutes, everyone surrounding Wen Wan had left.

Wen Wan stared at the scattered scraps of paper, her eyes red with anger!

Jiang Xia had gone too far!

These villagers were so stupid, so easily manipulated by her.

Wasn't a two-cent-per-pound price always higher? Wasn't that letting them earn more?

Why did she act like a con artist?

A bunch of fools who didn't know how to take advantage of a bargain!

Zhou Bingqiang was the same; he didn't dare to draft a proper sales agreement, saying he was worried about not being able to sell the dried fish.

If he couldn't sell them, of course he wouldn't buy anymore.

But he didn't want the villagers to sell their dried fish to Zhou Chenglei, so he made this agreement, and now it's turned out like this!

He's furious!

Just then, Zhou Guohua returned. He happily went to the dock to find Wen Wan, but was surprised to see the mess on the ground. Wen Wan was tidying up the agreement on the table, tears welling up in her eyes.

He quickly ran over: "Wan, what's wrong? Were you bullied?"

Wen Wan's eyes were red with anger. She looked up at him, but managed to hold back her anger and asked, "No, did you rent the sea area?"

Her biggest concern now was whether he had rented the sea area!

As long as he had rented the sea area, it wouldn't matter if the villagers didn't sell their dried fish to them.

Zhou Guohua saw that Wen Wan's eyes were red and felt a little sorry for her, but still said, "The application has already been submitted. My dad knows someone there, and that person said they'll take care of it for us! We just need to get some more documents and materials tomorrow."

Zhou Guohua didn't mention that they only found out today that Zhou Chenglei had submitted the application yesterday afternoon.

It didn't matter, though, because his father knew people there. He'd even brought a generous gift for him, and the person said they'd only submitted the application; it hadn't been approved yet, and the permits weren't complete. He could guarantee they'd get those two sea areas approved.

So they simply filled out the same application as Zhou Chenglei.

Zhou Guohua asked again, "What happened? Who tore up the agreement? Who bullied you?"

Wen Wan was relieved. She said, "Jiang Xia sabotaged it. Many villagers had signed the agreement, but Jiang Xia made some alarmist remarks, making them think I was lying to them. Then everyone rushed to tear up the agreement. I guess they won't sell us the dried fish anymore!"

Zhou Guohua was furious. "That's outrageous! She can keep her dried fish, we can keep ours. Why is she sabotaging us? I'm going to ask her why she's sabotaging us!"

Zhou Guohua stormed towards Jiang Xia.

Seeing the Zhou family's boat return, Wen Wan quickly pulled him back, saying, "Forget it, let's insist on paying two cents more. Someone will eventually sell it to us. Don't bother with her."

Zhou Guohua was no match for Zhou Chenglei; rushing in to cause trouble for Jiang Xia would be self-torture.

Zhou Guohua still listened to Wen Wan; she stopped him, and he didn't go forward.

Wen Wan then asked him what information he needed.

Zhou Guohua explained everything to her one by one.

He now realized that raising fish in the sea wasn't so easy; it wasn't something you could just do on a whim. You needed to get several permits, and he had to go get them tomorrow.

***

The sunset was gentle, and Zhou Chenglei saw a gentle figure on the dock from afar. As soon as the boat docked, he jumped off and came to her side.

Jiang Xia smiled and said, "Back so early today?"

Zhou Chenglei adjusted her straw hat: "Have you been waiting long? You don't need to come so early next time; the sun is strong."

Jiang Xia replied, "I've been translating at home all day, so I came out to see the sea and give my eyes a rest."

Zhou Chenglei didn't say anything more. Overusing your eyes does require looking into the distance or at green trees, and sitting all day isn't good either.

He took out a wad of cash and gave it to Jiang Xia.

It didn't look as much as yesterday, but it should be four or five hundred yuan. Jiang Xia took it with a smile and glanced at the boat again. It was about the same as yesterday, only two baskets of small fish.

"You went to the city dock to sell fish again today?"

"I found a swarm of shrimp today, so I went to the city to sell

them. We'll have big shrimp tonight. Have you ever tried black tiger shrimp?" He caught several nets of black tiger shrimp today, each one as long as his palm. He sold them directly to a restaurant and got a high price.

Jiang Xia's eyes lit up. She loved shrimp. "Then hurry up and unload the fish, let's go home."

Zhou's father had already carried a basket of fish and shrimp off the boat.

Zhou Chenglei went back to the boat, picked up the remaining load of small fish, got off the boat, and put it on a cart. He said to Jiang Xia, "I'll go to the production team to get a certificate and then get the paperwork done tomorrow. You and Dad go home first."

"Okay." Jiang Xia replied and pushed the cart home with Zhou's father.

When they got home, Zhou's mother smiled and said, "You're back. Dinner is ready."

There were just too many dried fish to collect, and they also had to cook dinner. Zhou's mother hadn't had time to go to the dock for the past two days.

Father Zhou handed half a bucket of shrimp to Mother Zhou: "Wait for Lei. He went to the production team to get a permit. You can boil these shrimp and we'll eat them tonight."

Mother Zhou had heard from Father Zhou last night that her youngest son wanted to contract the sea area to raise fish, so she didn't ask what kind of permit he needed. She smiled and took the bucket of shrimp to boil them.

They were willing to bring back such big shrimp to eat; today's harvest must be good!

Zhou Chenglei returned quickly. After dinner, the family started collecting dried fish and fresh fish, which then needed to be dried.

Fortunately, the small fish dried relatively easily, and the wind was strong today, so they dried quickly after a day; otherwise, there wouldn't have been anywhere to dry them.

Great-Grandma's family also came to help.

Not many people delivered fish today, and both families finished by ten o'clock.

After showering, Zhou Chenglei returned to the room and saw Jiang Xia looking through the certificates. Seeing him return, she asked, "What certificates are we getting tomorrow?"

Zhou Chenglei picked her up: "Aquaculture Certificate, Aquatic Wildlife Domestication and Breeding Permit, Aquatic Life Special Transportation Permit, Aquatic Life Management and Utilization Permit..."

Zhou Chenglei rattled off a list of certificates. Jiang Xia then asked, "Do we also need to apply for sea area permits at the Maritime Safety Administration?"

"I submitted the application yesterday afternoon. I was the first one in our city to apply. They said that as long as we have all the necessary documents, it will be approved immediately."

The Maritime Safety Administration is near the city's dock, which is very convenient. So yesterday afternoon, while he was selling fish, he had his father sell the fish while he went to apply for the sea area lease. He was too busy last night, and Jiang Xia fell asleep immediately, so he hadn't had a chance to tell her about it.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia said, "Then let's go to bed early tonight. There are so many certificates to process tomorrow, let's go get them early."

"Okay." Zhou Chenglei picked her up and put her on the bed. Seeing the sleepiness in her eyes, he didn't want to take her, and the two fell asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning, after breakfast, the two rode their bicycles to the city.

At this time, the sun hadn't risen yet, and the roads were mostly

deserted. Zhou Chenglei rode quite fast, trying to get as far as possible before sunrise to avoid the heat of Jiangxia.

Then, halfway there, they encountered Zhou Guohua riding a bicycle with Wen Wan on the back.

Zhou Chenglei quickly overtook them.

Wen Wan couldn't help but urge, "...Hurry! Don't let them overtake us!"

Upon hearing Wen Wan's words, Zhou Guohua subconsciously sped up, pedaling furiously! He was

fast!

But Zhou Chenglei's speed was also increasing, because the road ahead was an uphill section, a long slope, so he pedaled even faster.

Only by accelerating could he make it up the slope in one go.

Jiang Xia saw Zhou Guohua desperately chasing after them, seemingly trying to catch up, and found his clenched-teeth, hard-pumping bicycle a bit amusing, so she kept looking back.

Zhou Chenglei felt Jiang Xia's hand around his waist pulling him back; she must have been looking back at something, so he glanced back.

Then he saw Zhou Guohua's figure desperately chasing after them.

Zhou Chenglei scoffed.

Perfect, he hadn't had time to teach him a lesson these past two days, and he'd run into this mess himself, huh?

Then he'd have to mess with him!

Having already reached the top of the slope, on the downhill section, Zhou Chenglei, who could have gone even faster, slowed down a little.

Zhou Guohua pedaled furiously, accelerating on the downhill section and finally closing the gap a little.

Wen Wan felt a surge of excitement.

Both of them saw hope.

Just as he was about to catch up with Zhou Chenglei, Zhou Chenglei saw another uphill section ahead and sped up.

Zhou Guohua watched as Zhou Chenglei fell further and further behind.

Unwilling to give up, he also increased his speed.

After Zhou Chenglei pulled ahead for a while, he slowed down, and when Zhou Guohua finally caught up, he widened the gap again.

Zhou Guohua couldn't stand Zhou Chenglei's provocation, nor did he want to lose to Wen Wan, so he desperately chased after him!

After only a few rounds,

he could no longer catch up!

His legs felt like lead, completely exhausted, and he couldn't pedal anymore!

He stopped, panting heavily!

Wen Wan watched the departing figure anxiously: "What's wrong? Can't pedal anymore? They're getting further and further away! What if they're also going to get their documents processed?"

Zhou Guohua, panting, said: "I really can't pedal anymore, let me rest for a while!"

Wen Wan: "..."

Useless!

She watched the bicycle disappear from sight, clenching her fists.

After waiting for a while, Zhou Guohua felt he had recovered and continued forward.

But after pedaling for a while, he couldn't pedal anymore and needed to rest again.

In the end, Wen Wan gave him a ride on her bicycle for a while, and he gave her a ride for a while, the two of them carrying each other until they could neither pedal anymore and could only push the bicycle forward.

However, they were lucky. After pushing for a short while, they encountered a tractor going to the city. Zhou Guohua gave the driver ten yuan for the fare, and the driver readily agreed to take them to the city.

Wen Wan was too tired to speak. It was the first day of school, and she was already half a day late, so she went straight back to her school.

Outside the school gate, Wen Wan said to Zhou Guohua, "We absolutely have to rent the sea area, or I'll break up with you, and we won't be dating anymore."

So useless! She couldn't

beat Zhou Chenglei in strength, nor in brains.

If it weren't for his family's wealth, which could help her stop Zhou Chenglei from becoming the richest man, and if he weren't so obedient to her, she wouldn't have tolerated him at all!

"Don't worry, we'll definitely rent the sea area; that person has already agreed. After we rent the sea area, shall we go get our marriage certificate?"

Wen Wan nodded: "Yes."

Zhou Bingqiang went to propose to her father last night, and when her father heard that Zhou Bingqiang was offering a dowry of two thousand yuan, he immediately agreed and accepted the dowry!

Completely disregarding her consent, they just wanted to marry her off as soon as possible and get this money to build a new house.

However, two thousand yuan was indeed a lot of money, the same as when Zhou Chenglei married Jiang Xia!

Wen Wan had no choice now; she didn't have the ability to leave that family, nor the money to move out. The only way to escape that family was to get married.

Wen Wan had thought it over. Zhou Guohua was far better than the divorced man from her previous life.

First, Zhou Guohua was obedient, and his family was wealthy, considered the richest in the village. In her previous life, after his marriage, Zhou Bingqiang even bought him an apartment in town, which would be worth tens of millions in the future. Later, they also bought a shop in the city, which would rent out for over ten thousand yuan a month in modern times. He was a man with a house, a boat, and a shop, someone who would never have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of his life.

Secondly, she needed Zhou Guohua to hinder Zhou Chenglei's path to wealth. If they didn't get married, and Zhou Guohua became rich through her ideas, wouldn't she be at a disadvantage? If they were married, it would be joint property, and she could get half in a divorce.

She and Zhou Guohua agreed to get their marriage certificate first, without a wedding banquet or living together, and to wait until she graduated from university.

Anyway, in this day and age, in the village, getting married wasn't just about getting a marriage certificate; it was about having a wedding banquet.

"Hurry up and get the certificate! Once we've rented the sea area, we'll get the certificate."

Zhou Guohua smiled: "Okay, I'll go get the certificate first. Wait for my good news."

"When you're done, come find me. I'll be waiting for you at the school gate at 4:30."

"Okay." Zhou Guohua quickly rode his bicycle straight to the Maritime Affairs Hall at the dock.

When Zhou Guohua arrived at the Maritime Affairs Hall, Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei had just arrived as well.

Because his household registration hadn't been transferred back yet, he used Jiangxia's household registration to obtain the certificate. They went to the street office where his Jiangxia household registration was located to get a certificate, which they would need later to apply for the aquaculture license.

Zhou Chenglei handed his application form receipt to the staff member and asked if his sea area leasing application, submitted the day before yesterday, had been approved.

The person, without looking up, said, "It wasn't approved. The sea area you applied for has already been applied for by someone else. You'll have to choose another sea area."

At this moment, Zhou Guohua also walked in. Zhou Guohua asked with a smile, "Comrade, was my sea area leasing application approved?"

The person glanced at Zhou Guohua and smiled, "Wait a moment, the leader is out in a meeting. The application hasn't been stamped yet. I'll take it to him and stamp it when he comes back from the meeting, and that will be fine."

The leader had been away on a business trip for the past two days and only returned today. He went to a meeting as soon as he got back, so he hadn't had time to take the application form to him for stamping.

Zhou Guohua smiled and replied, "Okay, thank you for your trouble."

After saying that, Zhou Guohua glanced at Zhou Chenglei.

Zhou Chenglei's eyes narrowed, his tone icy: "Oh? Who applied? The comrade who helped me with my application that day said I was the first in the city to apply for a fish farm in the sea."

The staff member retorted irritably, "So many people apply every day, how could you possibly be the first in the city? You were just the first one there that day!"

Just then, the woman who had helped Zhou Chenglei with his application came out. Zhou Chenglei saw her and said, "Comrade, the day before yesterday when I applied for a fish farm in the sea, didn't you say I was the first in the city to apply?"

The woman glanced at her colleague: "Yes, I did say that. What's wrong? Wasn't he the first?"

The staff member who had helped Zhou Guohua pointed at Zhou Guohua: "Of course not! This comrade was there earlier than them."

The woman apologized to Zhou Chenglei, avoiding his eyes: "I'm sorry, comrade, I must have misremembered."

Zhou Guohua couldn't help but give Zhou Chenglei a slightly smug look.

Then Jiang Xia saw Zhou Chenglei's face darken.

His expression was murderous.

It was something she had never seen before.

"Are you sure?"

His tone was extremely calm.

The staff member assisting Zhou Guohua immediately said, "Of course! Fill out a new application and apply for a different sea area! You've applied for the same area twice!"

Zhou Chenglei grabbed Jiang Xia's hand and started walking inside.

Seeing this, the staff member immediately ran out to stop them: "What are you doing? Where do you think you're going? This isn't a place for you to wander around!"

Zhou Chenglei pulled Jiang Xia straight inside, giving him a cold look: "I'm just going to visit your superior."

The staff member's expression changed: "I'm warning you, don't cause trouble here! This isn't a place for you to cause trouble! Behave yourself! Otherwise, don't even think about applying for a sea area for fish farming!"

At this moment, several people walked in from outside. The leader frowned upon seeing this: "What's going on?"