There were two fish stalls in the market—one bustling with customers, the other quiet and deserted.
“How much for a pound of blackfish?”
Shen Jiaojiao chose the stall with fewer customers. The fish at both stalls looked similar, but the popular one already had several people waiting. She didn’t want to queue.
“One yuan.”
The boss was in his late twenties, with fair skin and dressed in a white T-shirt and blue jeans—a handsome young man, though his outfit didn’t look like that of a fish seller at all.
The man spoke weakly, not even shifting in his chair. He seemed less like the stall owner and more like a disgruntled employee trying to sabotage the business.
“I’ll take this one. Kill it, please.”
Shen Jiaojiao picked a blackfish weighing about two or three pounds, planning to make sour cabbage fish for dinner.
Jiang Fan slowly scooped the fish. The blackfish was slippery and fierce, escaping his net several times before leaping out of the tank, its tail slapping noisily against the ground.
It took a full five minutes for the man to finally catch the fish, and then he began to clean it with clumsy, unskilled movements that made Shen Jiaojiao’s eyes burn with frustration.
Now she understood why this stall had so few customers. With such a lazy and inept worker, no wonder business was poor.
Blackfish are tenacious. Jiang Fan hacked at it several times, blood splattering everywhere, but the fish kept thrashing. His white T-shirt and face were stained with blood, making the scene look like a crime scene.
“Ah… damn it, why won’t you die already?”
Jiang Fan was going mad. Fish blood had splashed into his mouth, tasting foul and fishy, making him nauseous.
“Done. Three yuan and fifty cents.”
After hastily cleaning the fish and tossing it into a bag, Jiang Fan handed it to Shen Jiaojiao with a sour tone. He was sick of killing fish and wanted nothing more to do with this miserable stall.
He had taken over this stall just two months ago, losing money every month. He couldn’t even sell it off. It felt like marrying a woman who couldn’t bear children but ate voraciously—consuming resources without yielding results, leaving him utterly frustrated.
“Boss, I’m making sour cabbage fish. You need to slice it for me.”
Shen Jiaojiao frowned. Slicing fish was a basic skill for running a fish stall. Was this guy here as a joke?
“Can’t do it. Slice it yourself at home.”
Jiang Fan replied bluntly. He truly didn’t know how to slice fish—he hadn’t even mastered killing them properly.
“I’ll do it myself.”
Shen Jiaojiao sighed. She nudged the boss aside, sat down, and began slicing the fish. The heavy knife felt weightless in her hands as she sliced faster and faster, arranging the snow-white fish fillets neatly and evenly on the cutting board like blooming flowers.
Jiang Fan’s eyes widened in amazement. This was a master!
Even if he practiced for another ten years, he could never achieve such knife skills.
Xiao Yueyue’s eyes also grew brighter, her hands mimicking the motions. If she tried slicing, it wouldn’t look as good as her mother’s, but with enough practice, she could make hers just as beautiful.
Shen Jiaojiao’s fish-slicing attracted quite a few customers. A beautiful woman skillfully slicing fish by hand became a stunning sight in the market, and many couldn’t help but stop to admire her.
“Those fish slices look perfect. I’ll take one, too.”
Others were tempted by the beautifully sliced fish and started buying.
Jiang Fan was still in a daze, completely unresponsive. Xiao Yueyue, quick-witted, stepped in to scoop the fish. She was much more agile than Jiang Fan, catching each fish effortlessly. With a firm throw to the ground, she stunned them, making it easy to weigh them on the scale without any fuss.Xiao Yueyue learned it from the neighboring stall, mastering it on her own.
“Two jin and one liang, one yuan per jin, that’s two yuan and one jiao.”
Not only was Xiao Yueyue quick with her movements, but she was even faster at calculations and spoke with remarkable clarity. Customers couldn’t stop praising her.
“This child is amazing. Boss, is she your daughter?”
“Your wife and child are much better at business than you.”
The customers assumed Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Fan were a married couple and couldn’t help but tease them.
Jiang Fan looked embarrassed and quickly explained, “No, they’re here to buy fish too. I don’t know how to fillet fish, so she’s doing it herself.”
He didn’t even know which way the door to his mother-in-law’s house opened.
Jiang Fan stole a glance at Shen Jiaojiao, his face instantly flushing and his heart racing. If this girl were willing to be his wife, he wouldn’tt mind becoming an instant father.
Getting such a beautiful, sweet-talking, and capable daughter out of nowhere—what a bargain!
This beautiful woman must have some affection for him, right? Otherwise, why would she take the initiative to help him with his business?
Killing fish was smelly and dirty work. Most girls wouldn’t want to do it, and even he found it unpleasant. Yet, this beautiful woman jumped right in without a word of complaint. Besides love, he couldn’t think of any other reason.
After all, he was handsome and well-liked by everyone. Perhaps this beautiful woman had fallen in love with him at first sight and was now rescuing him from his troubles.
In just a few minutes, Jiang Fan had already imagined an entire love story in his mind. His heart beat even faster, thumping loudly. His gaze toward Shen Jiaojiao grew more fervent, and he looked at Xiao Yueyue with newfound affection.
If nothing unexpected happened, this adorable little girl would be his daughter from now on.
Shen Jiaojiao deftly killed the fish, while Xiao Yueyue scooped them up, weighed them, and collected the money. The mother-daughter duo worked seamlessly together, leaving Jiang Fan with nothing to do on the sidelines, feeling like an outsider.
“Sister, you’re planning to braise the crucian carp, right? Let me score it for you so it absorbs the flavors better.”
The middle-aged woman buying the fish was overjoyed, grinning from ear to ear. Usually, people called her “auntie” or “ma’am,” but this was the first time someone had addressed her as “sister.”
“Sister, if you like it, come back and buy more next time. Fish is high in protein, nutritious, and won’t make you gain weight. It’s great for women’s beauty and skin. Sister, your skin is so lovely—you must eat fish often.”
While skillfully killing the fish, Shen Jiaojiao sweet-talked the customers, making them all smile. They didn’t even bother haggling over a jiao or two, leaving satisfied with their cleaned fish.
The once-quiet fish stall was suddenly packed with people, pushing Jiang Fan to the outskirts.
Shen Jiaojiao wasn’t just sweet-talking and efficient at killing fish—she also tailored her work to the customers’ needs, hitting the mark with every fish. In less than an hour, the fish in the basin were almost sold out.
Jiang Fan rubbed his hands excitedly. In the two months he’d been selling fish, he had never sold out completely. The leftover fish were always sold at a loss to restaurants. Today was the first time he had sold so many.
This mother-daughter pair had sold more in an hour than he usually did in a whole day. Heaven was truly kind, sending him such a beautiful and capable wife and a lovely, talented daughter just when he was at his lowest.
No wonder, whenever his parents scolded him for being useless and disappointing, his grandmother would argue back, saying he was born with provisions. Even if he lay around all day, he wouldn’t starve because he was blessed. When he was hungry, heaven would send him food.
He used to doubt the old lady’s words, but now he believed them.
After all, hadn’t his capable wife and daughter arrived? He wouldn’t have to worry about food for the rest of his life!Jiang Fan took a deep breath, even tugging at the hem of his clothes, forcing what he thought was a charming smile as he walked toward Shen Jiaojiao and her mother. He cleared his throat, “Well, my name is Jiang Fan, I’m 27 years old, single…”
“You there, come over and settle the bill. My daughter and I have killed so many fish and brought you so much business. A fifty-fifty split of the profits—you have no objections, right?”
Shen Jiaojiao spoke almost at the same time as him, like a bucket of ice water drenching Jiang Fan to the bone in an instant.