Struggle Life in the 1970s

Chu Ye went back to have lunch at noon, and after a short nap, she continued to catch fish from the fish pond. Due to the busy business in the morning, she brought nearly fifteen fish this time and almost couldn't ride her bicycle.

She bought this bicycle from Han Zhao. She tied a large water tank to the back seat of the bicycle. Every day she would catch the fish and put them in the box. She would then add a small amount of water and ride the bicycle quickly to the stall, take down the water tank and put the fish into the tank.

It only takes her more than twenty minutes to ride her bike from the fish pond to the stall, and the fish will not die in a short time. Chu Ye goes back and forth between the two places every day.

Now she put the fish into the box and turned to go to the back of the house. After she bought this place, she opened up a small vegetable plot here and planted some vegetable seeds. The lettuce she planted in the past few days has grown vigorously. She thought about it, plucked a few lettuces, put them in a bag, and took them to the seafood market.

There were not so many people in the afternoon, but I don't know if someone promoted Chu Ye's stall, there were still many people coming to buy the cheap fish. Chu Ye still had a smile on her face. After weighing the fish, she would wipe off the change if she could. If she couldn't, after she processed the fish, she would take a bag and put a head of lettuce in it as a free gift.

"Hey, our fish is cut, please take it. Also, this is the lettuce I'm sending you. I grow them myself, so you can eat them without worry. This is an activity we have today, National Day." Every time she said this with a smile, the customers were surprised, then smiled and took the food with a thank you, praising the boss for being kind and good at business.

Aunt Qiao also learned from her lesson in the morning, and this time she came over long before mealtime. As soon as Chu Ye stood in front of the stall, her eyes lit up and she called out enthusiastically.

"Aunt Qiao, you came so early today. It seems that you are ready to show off your skills tonight?" Chu Ye stood up and greeted her warmly across the stall.

Aunt Qiao was also happy to hear her voice. She smiled and replied, "I'm not early. I came here once in the morning, but you had sold out and closed the stall." Aunt Qiao spread her hands and said, "I can't help it. My little grandson kept clamoring for fish. So I hurried out after noon, fearing that I would be late and sell out again."

Chu Ye kept smiling. After hearing these words that were not complaints, she explained, "I didn't expect so many people to come this morning. I didn't prepare enough fish. If I had known you were coming, I would have left one for you."

"Haha, little girl, every time you talk to me, you always coax me. I like to buy fish from you. Okay, this one then." When Aunt Qiao replied, she had already chosen the fish she wanted. Chu Ye responded and took out the fish neatly. She quickly put the cleaned fish pieces into the bag. She didn't hand it over in a hurry, but took another bag and put two lettuces in it, and finally handed them to Aunt Qiao together.

"Aunt, this is the lettuce I grew myself. I'm going to give it to you to try. I didn't grow much, so please don't despise it."

"Oh my, look at what you said. You brought vegetables to your aunt and she was so happy, how could she dislike it?" Aunt Qiao took another look at the things in the bag, and the smile on her mouth seemed to be frozen on her face. "You grow really good vegetables. You are such a capable girl." She gave a thumbs up, and Chu Ye accepted the compliment with a smile on her face.

At this time, another customer came over. Aunt Qiao was tactful and said hello before taking her things home. Chu Ye was also busy with a new round of transactions.

During the National Day holidays, the market had a good flow of people and Chu Ye was very busy. On the seventh day, she counted the money she had earned, a total of 62.3 yuan. Excluding the 12.40 yuan she promised to give to Han Zhao, she planned to save the rest of the money and buy better equipment step by step in the future.

So after closing the stall that day, she went home and deliberately passed by Uncle Li's former residence. This was originally Han Zhao's house. After Uncle Li passed away, he did not sell the house and move to Hong Kong. Instead, he moved a lot of furniture and moved into the third floor. He stayed at home all day and no one knew what he was tinkering with.

Chu Ye handed him the dividends. Han Zhao looked at the pitiful two five-dollar bills, two one-dollar bills, and a fifty-cent bill in her hand and fell into deep thought.

"The stall business was good during the National Day. This is a dividend for you as a celebration." Chu Ye still had a smile on his face and treated Han Zhao like a customer. However, this statement was not wrong. Han Zhao was a shareholder and he also promised to help when the business was in crisis, so he should be treated well.

Han Zhao moved his gaze from her palm to her face. Seeing her brilliant and even somewhat weird smile, he moved his gaze away as if his eyes hurt, and then looked at her palm again.

"Do you know that the money you have is not even enough for me to buy a can of candy?" Han Zhao was wearing a gray shirt with a golden palm leaf print today, which looked much better than the red shirt before. At this moment, he had his arms around his chest and leaned against the door frame. He did not move, and his face was calm. Although his tone was cold, one could tell that it was different from when they first met.

"That's what you said, dividends! You're disgusted by the money I give you." Chu Ye curled her lips, and the smile on her face faded a little. Although she wanted to say that Uncle Li told you to eat less candy, she held back, thinking that these words were too hurtful, and swallowed them back.

"Who would have thought that the man who made a name for himself with his lofty words would come here with just a dozen dollars? Oh...last month, my dividend was two dollars and ten cents." Han Zhao also curled his lips, obviously looking down on this little money. In order to prevent Chu Ye from bothering him again because of a few dollars or a few cents, he simply said, "You can write down my monthly dividends and give it to me once every six months...once a year is also fine."

"Okay, then do you need to check the account book every month?"

"No, if you are someone who would play such tricks, I won't sell the fish pond to you." Han Zhao waved his hand in relief. Just before closing the door, he seemed to want to play a prank on someone. Through the narrow crack of the door, the corners of his mouth widened, like a cat teasing a mouse, and he said sinisterly, "If you dare to lie to me, Brother Han will lead hundreds of hooligans to trample your stall to pieces, then sell all the fish and pluck out your vegetable patch."

After saying that, the door slammed shut in front of Chu Ye's face. Chu Ye: ...
Do you want to be so childish?
The traffic during the National Day was only a flash in the pan. After a few days, Chu Ye's business dropped a lot again. But the good thing is that she has promoted the characteristics of her store and its reputation for good service. Many of the customers who come now are the ones accumulated during the National Day. All in all, although business is average now, she has a stable customer base.

"Xiao Chu, give me a fish." An old man standing in front of the stall shouted.

Chu Ye looked up and called out with a smile, "Uncle Wang, you haven't been here for several days."

“Hey,” the man called Uncle Wang waved his hands, looking miserable, “I went to see my grandchildren some time ago. Two half-grown kids, they tormented my old bones every day. If I don’t come back, my old waist will break.”

Although Uncle Wang was complaining, his tone was relaxed and he had a smile on his face, as if this was a sweet burden.

Chu Ye smiled and said something to comfort them while fishing. "Children who are half grown are just making trouble. You are their grandfather. The children like you and naturally want to stay with you."

After saying that, she raised the net bag and said, "Uncle, how do you think this one is? I remember that you and aunt were the only ones at home, and you couldn't eat too much."

"Hey, this one! It's just the right size, so I don't have to choose." Uncle Wang smiled so hard that his eyebrows trembled. "I just like to buy fish from you. To be honest, your aunt and I don't like this kind of fish, but we like the soup made from it. It's delicious!"

"As long as you like it, many people come here and say that they like to buy a fish and make tofu fish soup, which they can eat a big bowl of with rice." After Chu Ye finished speaking to Uncle Wang, she lowered her head to process the fish in her hands. During this time, Uncle Wang chatted with her about some family matters, and Chu Ye responded one by one, not letting the words fall on the table.

"Okay, Uncle Wang, our fish is ready." Chu Ye held the plastic bag in both hands and handed it over, and Uncle Wang also handed back the counted money.

Then, he said hello with a smile and turned to leave, but was pushed aside by a brute force. He staggered back several steps. The ground was slippery, and finally his arm just touched the stall next to him before he stopped.

Seeing this, Chu Ye hurriedly walked out, came forward, raised his arm and held Wang Bo steadily.

Before the two of them could calm down, a rough male voice rang out, "Great! You actually sold me this kind of stinky fish! See if it's still edible!" The man in the black vest threw a plastic bag on the chopping board with such force that the plastic bag burst in an instant, and fish pieces flew out of it. The chopping board was also moved, and the fish in the fish tank were frightened and ran around in the water for a while.

Chu Ye supported Wang Bo and looked over when he heard the voice. The man had dark skin, broad shoulders and a round waist, with large tattoos on both arms. At this moment, his eyes were wide open and he looked terrifying.

Because of the man's loud voice, many people gathered around him. No one understood the situation and no one spoke for a while.

Chu Ye frowned slightly. She first helped the very angry Uncle Wang to sit aside. Uncle Wang wanted to curse just now, but was persuaded by Chu Ye. After doing all this, she walked calmly to the back of the stall and picked up the fish pieces that were thrown to the ground because of the man's force.

She picked up the fish heads one by one. The fish eyes were gray and lifeless, and they did not look fresh at all.

The crowd around them was getting bigger and bigger, and some people who didn't know what was going on started to chatter. Chu Ye faced the crowd, calmed himself down, pointed at the fish on the chopping board, and asked the big man with tattoos, "Did you come to the wrong place? I don't sell this fish."

"What do you mean!" The man with tattooed arms rushed forward and slammed his hands on the stall, making a loud noise. His face was filled with anger, as if he wanted to eat someone. "I bought it from you! Besides you, who else sells carp here?"

There were discussions all around, and someone bravely came closer, took a look, and shook his head, "It doesn't look very fresh."

One word stirred up a thousand waves.

(End of this chapter)