Chapter 164 (1/2)

Chapter 164: 164

Yu Hai’s eldest uncle’s family didn’t have anyone who could fish, so they relied on about five mu’s worth of sandy land to make a living . Yu Xi and Yu Jiang also occasionally went into town to find work or to the docks to move cargo . Their family’s circ.u.mstances were not very comfortable . Earlier that morning, Yu Jiang had left home empty-handed, yet came back with more than a tael in his hands . . .

Yu Lichun and Yu Xi looked at him, flabbergasted . Apparently, they were waiting for him to explain .

Yu Jiang stammered somewhat emotionally, “This is from the seafood purchasing business today…”

“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” Yu Lichun was stunned for a bit before he burst out into rage . His beard stuck up in the air as he snarled, “Didn’t we agree that we will only take forty percent of the income ah? You . . . you took all of the money your elder brother earned? Quickly send it back!!”

Yu Xi also regarded his younger brother with disapproval, “Younger Brother, it’s not that I’m scolding you! But, when Dahai gave you money, you just took it? Did you not calculate it out yourself?”

“No, no!” In front of his father and older brother, Yu Jiang didn’t quite know what to say and felt a bit depressed . He did his best to explain what happened, “This money is forty percent of what was earned today, I even looked at the account book!” However, he left out that he didn’t quite understand what was written in the book, argh!

Yu Lichu and Yu Xi still didn’t quite believe him and asked, “So you’re telling us that today, in one day, they earned almost four taels? That’s not possible, right? How could buying gathered seafood be that profitable?”

Yu Jiang a.n.a.lyzed the situation for them, “Zhenxiu Restaurant set a price for Second Brother and his family’s labor . Do you know how much seafood they took in today? Over a thousand catties ah! On average, one catty is about thirty copper coins, so isn’t one thousand catties around thirty to forty taels? For the work of our two families, we got around three to four taels as our fee, so me taking at least one tael home isn’t a problem!”

After he heard his son calculate out everything, Yu Lichun finally was convinced . The money that his son had earned today equaled the amount that the whole family used to make in a month doing temporary work ah! When he started to think about the total income his son could make in one month and then in one year, he immediately became light-headed . If they continued with this and earned a whole year’s worth of money, they could buy more than ten mu of good land, or even buy a pretty good house in town . With a few more years of work, wouldn’t his family become one of the wealthiest families in Dongshan Village then?

Yu Lichun forcefully swallowed down his saliva and spoke in a trembling voice, “Jiang’er, in the future, you absolutely must remember your Brother Dahai’s benevolence . If we didn’t have him, then our family couldn’t even dream of making so much money in one day ah! You must work hard for him!”

“Father! Believe in me!! My older cousin is basically my biological second brother . Xiaocao and the kids are now my full-blooded nieces and nephews!!” In the past, when there wasn’t anything to be given in return, Yu Jiang was able to help Yu Hai’s family whenever they had difficulties . Now, it was a given since they were collaborating together in business!

Yu Lichun suddenly frowned and remarked, “Remember, you absolutely cannot broadcast this news outside! This will prevent your third uncle’s family from finding out and causing problems for Dahai’s family!”

Yu Jiang also realized that Second Brother asked him to help with that eye popping business and not Dashan and the others . This meant that Dahai trusted him explicitly . He absolutely could not cause trouble for Second Brother’s family!

Xiaocao had no idea what had just occurred at Eldest Granduncle’s house . She lifted her small bucket, which had her exclusive ‘fertilizer’ in it . Yu Hai was behind her with two buckets of water on a shoulder pole . From time to time, he would remind her to be careful where she was walking .

After they finished watering the fields, Yu Xiaocao walked around the watermelon fields . Under the prompting of the little divine stone, she discovered there were two watermelons that were already ripe . These two melons were large and round, and both of them weighed around twenty catties each . Their outer skins were a vivid green-blue and looked so fresh that one could pinch water out of them .

“Father! These two watermelons are ripe already . Let’s pick them and bring them back home to taste!” Yu Xiaocao took one off the vine and held it in her arms . She toddled over on the ground . When Yu Hai saw his daughter struggling, he hurriedly strode over in large strides and took the watermelon from his daughter’s hands .

The two watermelons, which didn’t weigh over forty catties altogether, were considered small weights to Yu Hai . He held one under each arm and took them to the edge of the field . He then softly spoke to Xiaocao, “I’ll send you home first and then come back to build the melon shed . ”

Watermelons, to the villagers of Dongshan Village and other neighboring villages, were considered to be very rare and strange objects . When they first planted them, they attracted a bunch of curious people who came over to look . Now that the melons in the field were on the eve of ripening, there needed to be someone in the fields watching over them . Yu Hai had already chopped some bamboo in preparation for building a melon shed .

“Father, do what you need to do now! In a moment, G.o.dfather will return and I can have him help us bring them back!” Yu Xiaocao watched from the side as her father swiftly built the shed . She would occasionally help with some smaller tasks and propose a few suggestions . Before noon, the outlines of the shed could already be seen .

Surely enough, Xiaocao’s prediction came true . After finis.h.i.+ng up some tasks at the docks, Fang Zizhen rushed back home on horseback . When he found out that his adopted daughter was helping build a wooden shack in the melon fields, he felt bad, ‘A little girl should be pampered in life, how could she possibly be doing such hard labor? That’s not okay, I need to go over there now to help!’

With the addition of another strong man, the melon shack, which would have taken two days to complete, was finished in less than a day . Yu Xiaocao also had her two fathers construct a bamboo bed in the shed as she was afraid that her father might become chilled while watching the melon fields .

That evening, Little s.h.i.+tou came back on his rest day and the whole family sat together in a circle to eat dinner . They prepared to share the first ripe watermelons amongst each other .

At this period, watermelons were not a common crop . The fruit was not only rare for the Yu Family, but even in the capital Fang Zizhen had also rarely eaten watermelon .