“Third Brother, I brought your wife back!”
Carrying a bucket and panting from the walk, Cheng Yuanshu pushed open the courtyard gate. Seeing that Commander Tan and the others had already gotten up and come outside, she smiled somewhat shyly.
“Commander Tan, brothers, you’re all awake?”
“We heard you went gathering seafood. What did you find?”
Commander Tan and the others were all from inland regions and were extremely curious.
“My mom and I only picked up ordinary stuff. Third Sister-in-law had amazing luck. Today she found eight large mud crabs, four flower crabs, a whole bag of sea cucumbers, and two conger eels that together weigh six or seven jin.”
Cheng Yuanshu excitedly reported their harvest.
Standing behind the group on crutches, Cheng Yuanche’s eyes immediately settled on his wife as she entered. His gaze was full of warmth and amusement.
“Yinong, you’re incredible.”
“Yinong really is amazing,” Mother Cheng agreed. “She was fast and accurate. All the best catches ended up in her hands. The two of us combined couldn’t compete with a complete beginner.”
She brought over a wooden basin and emptied out her daughter-in-law’s catch.
“Oh wow, not bad at all.”
When Commander Tan and the others saw the large mud crabs, flower crabs, and eels hidden underneath, they all smiled.
“Yuanche, how much would these sell for?”
Since returning home, Cheng Yuanche had focused on recovering from his injury and hadn’t visited the docks much. Seafood prices changed daily, so he only knew rough estimates. The question naturally fell to his younger sister.
After Cheng Yuanshu explained the prices, Battalion Commander Lu nodded.
“That’s actually pretty good. If you go out at low tide twice a day and fill one or two buckets, you could easily earn three to five yuan. And if you’re lucky enough to find premium catches, you could earn even more.”
“It isn’t possible to go every day,” Cheng Yuanche explained.
“We get frequent typhoons and heavy rain here. During that kind of weather, nobody can go out to sea or gather seafood. You stay home and wait it out.”
“And it also depends on the tidal cycle. There are spring tides and neap tides. Only spring tides are really good for gathering seafood. During neap tides, there’s not much to find.”
Having grown up by the sea, Cheng Yuanche had followed his parents on seafood-gathering trips since he was three years old. He had practically grown up rolling around in mudflats.
Before joining the army, he had been highly skilled at both fishing and gathering seafood. Although he rarely did it now, those lessons remained deeply ingrained in him.
At that moment, the eldest sister-in-law, Li Shuangmei, emerged from the kitchen wearing an apron while preparing dinner.
Her eyes immediately lit up when she saw the catch.
“How did you manage to find so many mud crabs today?”
“All the crabs were found by Third Sister-in-law.”
Cheng Yuanshu sorted out the crabs and eels before emptying another cloth bag into a separate basket.
“Look at this. Third Sister-in-law also found more than twenty sea cucumbers, and they’re all large ones.”
“Wow!”
Li Shuangmei quickly inspected them.
“Little Sister-in-law, your luck is unbelievable.”
After examining the haul, she asked eagerly,
“Where exactly did you find them? I’ll go try my luck there tomorrow and see if I can pick up some leftovers.”
Qiu Yinong pointed vaguely toward the shoreline.
“I don’t actually know what that place is called.”
“Near the reef,” Mother Cheng answered while cleaning the seafood.
“The mud crabs and razor clams were found nearby too. It’s worth checking again tomorrow.”
Since Qiu Yinong didn’t know how to process seafood, she stood around briefly before changing out of her boots and washing her face.
Afterward, she walked over to Cheng Yuanche.
“Deputy Battalion Commander Cheng, about that—”
Before she could finish, Cheng Yuanche interrupted her.
“Yinong, call me by my name.”
“Oh, alright.”
Qiu Yinong smiled, showing her teeth.
“Back home, young men and women call each other *A-ge* and *A-mei* (older brother and younger sister). Even after marriage, many couples continue using those forms of address. Can I call you *Brother Che*?”
“Of course.”
Cheng Yuanche liked the title immediately. The smile at the corners of his mouth became impossible to suppress.
“Then should I call you *Sister Yi*? Or *Sister Nong*?”
Qiu Yinong: “…Either is fine. Call me whatever you like. Using my name directly is fine too.”
Cheng Yuanche felt her name itself was the most beautiful option.
It sounded poetic.
“Yinong, what were you about to say?”
“I heard from Yuanshu that mud crabs, sea cucumbers, and eels are considered excellent seafood and are popular even in big restaurants. Instead of selling them, why don’t we let Commander Tan and the others take them back to the army tomorrow?”
Since she had caught everything herself, the haul was worth more than ten yuan altogether.
However, Cheng Yuanche felt somewhat embarrassed about using her catch as a gift.
“Yinong, let’s sell these instead. I’ve already arranged for fishing boats to save some premium seafood for us. They often catch mud crabs and large fish.”
“Oh, I see.”
Since he had already made arrangements, Qiu Yinong didn’t insist.
“Then sell the larger mud crabs. Keep the smaller ones and the flower crabs for us to eat. You can choose some good sea cucumbers for Commander Tan and the others, and sell the rest.”
“Sea cucumbers are very nourishing. Keep some for yourself and try them too.”
There hadn’t been any sea cucumbers at the wedding banquet. They weren’t commonly found here, and Cheng Yuanche wanted her to enjoy some and build up her health.
Qiu Yinong thought about it and shook her head.
“There aren’t that many to begin with. Don’t sell them. Give some to Commander Tan and the others, and keep the rest for the family.”
She glanced at him.
“You’re still recovering from an injury. Your father’s health doesn’t seem very good either. Second Sister-in-law is still breastfeeding. The family should divide them among yourselves and use them to improve your health.”
“Yinong, you still owe your aunt’s family two thousand yuan. Our family also has over four thousand yuan in debt. The burden is heavy. We should sell whatever we can. Every cent helps.”
Just thinking about the huge debt gave Cheng Yuanche a headache.
Speaking of debt, Qiu Yinong suddenly remembered something.
“This morning Sister Yuan Yi mentioned that your family’s boat sank. What exactly happened?”
“My father spent years at sea and worked himself too hard. His rheumatism is severe now, and he can no longer earn much money.”
“My two older brothers have fished their whole lives. We originally only had a small wooden boat that could stay near shore, so our earnings were limited.”
“They’re young and ambitious, so the whole family discussed it and decided to buy a larger vessel that could travel farther offshore.”
“The boat was purchased from a shipyard in the city. It was over ten meters long and cost more than ten thousand yuan.”
“My parents emptied their savings. The three brothers contributed everything we had. We still had to borrow another four thousand yuan from relatives and friends.”
“Then everything went wrong.”
“On only its second voyage, the hull’s weld seams cracked and started taking on water. There also seemed to be a problem with the engine, but before we could inspect it properly, the boat sank.”
“Fortunately, my uncle’s boat happened to be nearby. Otherwise, my two brothers might never have made it back.”
“Later we went to the shipyard, but they kept shifting responsibility and refused to admit fault. The lawsuit has dragged on until now. The representatives and management at the shipyard won’t even meet with us anymore.”
These days, Cheng Yuanche had been running around on his injured leg trying to deal with the matter.
The shipyard’s attitude had infuriated him.
“All my savings from the past several years are gone. Even the bride price for our wedding was borrowed from Battalion Commander Lu and the others.”
He glanced toward Commander Tan.
“Commander Tan came today specifically to ask about our situation. I just told him about the boat. He suggested gathering more solid evidence and identifying key people involved. Then he’ll ask a relative who works at the provincial level to help us.”
“That would be a tremendous favor to owe.”
Qiu Yinong understood social obligations very well.
No matter the era, money was easy to repay.
Debts of gratitude were the hardest.
Cheng Yuanche tugged at the corner of his mouth and pointed at his injured leg.
“I got this injury while saving Commander Tan’s nephew.”
“He would have died if I hadn’t.”
“Oh.”
Qiu Yinong immediately understood.
The Tan family wasn’t simply helping out of kindness.
They were repaying a life-saving debt.