1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 3 A Few Urgent Matters
As it happens, Liang Ziqiang's worries are no less than his father's. Even if he were to lie down on the bed, he would not be able to fall asleep.

The father leaned the big bamboo against his legs, looked at him and said:
"You know all the things that need money most urgently at home. I've been thinking about which one should be done first and which one can wait..."

Of course Liang Ziqiang still remembers the urgent matters his father mentioned.

First of all, the family didn’t even have a home of their own, so renting an empty house in the village was definitely not a long-term solution. It could be said that no one was in such urgent need of building a house as our family was.

Then there is the fishing boat. As the most important tool for making a living, it is a must for fishermen. It is not that the Liang family does not have a fishing boat, but the wooden boat is too old. It has been repaired countless times and can be called an antique. This is definitely not a trivial matter...

In addition, the village has a number of salt pans that were reclaimed from the sea, and they seem to be renting them out in 1983; the sugarcane fields behind the village are also being contracted out to the villagers. The contract fees for the salt pans and sugarcane fields all require money.

Of course, there is one more thing, which is my own personal matter.

As Liang Ziqiang recalled, his father was already expressing his thoughts:

"Let me tell you the truth. With the unexpected income you secured tonight, our family now has nearly two hundred dollars in savings.

I thought about it and decided to put the house building matter aside for now, as this amount of money was not even enough to make up a small fraction of the original amount.

As for that fishing boat, it has been through wind and waves for so many years, so it won’t be a big problem if it can just hold on for a while longer.

I thought that the daughter of Old Chen's family was indeed a good girl, and the marriage between you two had been discussed for more than a year, so it would not be a good idea to delay it any further.

These two hundred are just enough to pay a betrothal gift of one hundred and eighty-eight, so that you can marry her as soon as possible. The girl from the Chen family is not bad, if you don't marry her, there are many guys who want to marry her!

What I am worried about now is that the gift money of 188 is really a bit too much. Will the old Chen couple have any ideas? Otherwise, you can go to Huagu Village tomorrow and feel out the old Chen family..."

After listening to his father tell him everything he was thinking, Liang Ziqiang finally understood why his brows were so furrowed that they looked like knots.

Before his father could continue, Liang Ziqiang made a prompt decision and said:

"Dad, I understand everything. But my opinion is very simple. Let's put the issue of the betrothal gift aside for now. I don't need to rush to find out tomorrow."

"You think there's no hope?" Liang Defu's expression darkened.

"It's not that there's no hope, but..."

Liang Ziqiang suddenly felt that he had a thousand words to say but didn't know where to start.

Of course he would marry Chen Xiangbei.

Thinking of this woman, a strange feeling passed through my heart.

In his previous life, he was imprisoned before he could marry her.

When he was released, he became a hated man in the village. Everyone looked at him strangely, and even parents pointed at him as a negative example when they were disciplining their children...

The only thing he never expected was that the Chen family was still waiting for him.

Facing the gossips and rumors from others, Chen Xiangbei raised her chin and said something that could choke people to death:
"What's wrong with getting rid of harm for the people? Such a man is upright and reliable! If you love a thief, then go marry a thief. Anyway, I will marry him!"

Chen Xiangbei really insisted on marrying Liang Ziqiang. Later, she followed him to work outside and wandered around in the wind and rain.

The innocent girl was worn down by the days and nights and became an old wife by her side, and later she became ill due to overwork...

Wouldn't he want to marry a woman like this home as soon as possible?

However, at the moment, he could not afford to think about his relationship with Chen Xiangbei.

The lives of three loved ones are, no matter what, much more important than one's own emotional affairs.

In the same month that he was imprisoned, his father went out to sea to fish as usual. Together with his eldest brother Liang Tiancheng and his younger brother Liang Zifeng, the three of them drove the old wooden boat that should have been replaced long ago and sailed into the vast ocean.

After a sudden storm, the father and his two sons never returned.

When Liang Ziqiang was released two years later and returned to the village, his elder sister-in-law had remarried with her nephew. His younger sister Liang Lizhi was originally a simple-minded person, so she had to marry a disabled young man from another village.

In the once huge family, only the mother, Yuan Qiuying, was left, guarding these houses that did not belong to them, shedding tears.

When he was in primary school, the teacher asked about his ideals, and only Liang Ziqiang said that his ideal was to be a fisherman, which caused a lot of laughter. But he really loved this and was only good at it.

However, after experiencing great changes, his mother made him swear that he would never go out to sea again, even if he had to beg for food, he would never be a fisherman. Later, he left his hometown with his wife and mother, wandered around, did all kinds of hard work, but never fished again.

The tragedy of the father and his two children was mainly caused by the weather, but they were not the only family that went out to sea at that time.

The villagers later analyzed and guessed that the boat was too old and could not withstand the storm, and sank somewhere on the seabed.

Just now, Liang Ziqiang had been dawdling and not going to sleep because he was thinking about how to avoid the impending disaster.

Although he had successfully escaped from prison, he still felt very uncomfortable. As long as the accident at sea was not resolved in advance, he would not be able to sleep peacefully.

I was wondering how to start talking to my father, so it might as well be the topic at hand.

Liang Ziqiang suppressed his turbulent thoughts, sorted out his words, and finally found a barely acceptable explanation. He looked outside the door and said:
"Dad, let's go out and talk."

Liang Defu realized that he was afraid of waking up the people sleeping at home, so he walked out of the house carrying the bamboo tube.

The two sat down under a tree outside the house, and Liang Ziqiang said:
"Dad, let me tell you what I think, and don't laugh at me.

The custom passed down by our ancestors in our fishing village is "marriage on water". A few years ago, my sister-in-law married here, but the villagers laughed at her, saying that it was just a broken and old boat, and they just painted it and took her home to get married..."

Liang Defu paused. This was indeed true. He had heard the gossips of the gossiping women in the village before.

Liang Ziqiang took the opportunity to continue:
“I don’t want Chen Xiangbei to be laughed at like my elder sister-in-law after I marry here, saying that I was picked up by an old broken boat on my wedding day.

If you have enough money, you might as well buy a new boat first and get rid of that antique. We can talk about the gift later.

Besides, with a new boat, we can go out to sea again and catch more fish, so won’t we be able to earn back the money for the bride price soon? "

Liang Defu was a little surprised when he heard this. He was silent for a moment, then looked at his son and said:

"According to you, we should use the two hundred dollars to buy a boat first?"

Liang Ziqiang nodded heavily and asked hopefully:

"enough?"

Liang Defu is still so honest:
"not enough."

"..." Liang Ziqiang was a little disappointed. "How much is left? I don't know much about ships."

The main reason was that it had been so long that he still remembered some prices, but he really couldn't remember the price of the wooden boat back then.

"If it's new, it'll cost a little over three hundred. It's a little bigger than this antique at home, but not much bigger."

"It's just a difference of a hundred dollars!" Liang Ziqiang found that there was still hope if he tried harder.

"Oh, by the way, Dad, you know the weather in August changes faster than the weather in the sky, and it's even harder to predict what's happening on the sea. Why don't you just not go out to sea this month and just go fishing at the beach. Sometimes you can get quite a good catch!"

Buying a boat was just a first-hand preparation, Liang Ziqiang decided, and at the same time he must prevent his father from going out to sea on that terrible day. It would be best if he didn't go out to sea in the near future.

However, it was hard to come up with an answer. As soon as he said it, Liang Ziqiang himself felt that it was not convincing.

Sure enough, Liang Defu knocked on the big bamboo:

"Just now your brother was praising you for being smart, but now you are confused again? You are telling me not to go out to sea for a whole month, as someone who lives by the sea? How can picking up those scraps from the sea be compared to going out to sea? What you said is too ridiculous!

Okay, you don't have to order us to go out to sea. I think what you said about buying a boat makes sense. I'll go and ask around in the next few days."

After saying that, he stood up, patted his butt, and pushed the door open and went straight into the house.

Liang Ziqiang was frustrated and had no other options. It seemed that he had to keep thinking of a solution!

Fortunately, he never forgot that day. August 1983, 8, was the day when his father was caught in a storm at sea and buried at the bottom of the sea.

If we still can’t think of an effective solution during those few days, we will never let them go out to sea, even if we use clubs to knock the three of them unconscious and tie them up at home.

(End of this chapter)