Struggle Life in the 1970s

In the container filled with ice water are milky white fish balls of uniform size, floating on the water with their plump white bellies.

Chu Ye called for help to come over and spread a few tables flat on the ground, and then covered them with a layer of plastic cloth. He then built a simple stove on the open space behind the dormitory and placed the iron pots that had been collected in the morning on it.

Then add firewood to boil water. When the water is warm, take the fish balls out of the ice and put them into the pot, waiting for the fish balls to slowly cook through.

After a while, a strange fragrance wafted out of the pot. Chu Ye glanced over and saw several people moving their hands non-stop while looking over here.

Her eyes rolled, and she immediately ran back into the house and took out all the bowls, plates, chopsticks and spoons in the house. Because usually there were only her, Pan'er and Xiaoya here, there weren't many things, only nine bowls and plates in total.

But enough.

She simply added more firewood to the stove. After a while, the water boiled and round fish balls swam around on the water. She took a spoon and put two fish balls in each bowl. Then she carried the bowls, chopsticks and spoon and placed them in front of a table of workers.

There are two plump white meatballs in the bowl, the soup base is clear, there is a little oil on the soup surface, and the sweet and fresh seafood smell rushes into the nose. Even though there are skinned and boneless fish fillets on the table at this time, it cannot cover up the freshness.

Someone swallowed hard, his eyes glued to the bowl.

"Come here, everyone has worked hard today. These are the fish balls that are fresh out of the pot. Come and have a taste." Chu Ye smiled, and the sincere smile he showed to customers when he was setting up the stall showed on his face again.

Someone stared with eyes wide open in disbelief, pointed at the bowl and said, "Boss, is this for us?"

"Yes! Thank you for your hard work. This is specially made for you." After saying that, she looked at the people at other tables who were eagerly waiting. Before they could ask why she didn't have any, Chu Ye quickly explained, "I don't have many bowls here, so I can only treat everyone to fish balls at each table. Don't worry if you don't have any. I guarantee that everyone will have some."

Someone loudly said that the boss was generous, and then many people laughed and cheered. Some people praised the boss for being beautiful and kind, and some said that the boss would make a fortune this year. Chu Ye nodded and accepted it humbly.

No one was the first to pick up the fish balls on the table, and Chu Ye didn't care. She turned and went to the pot. Seeing her leave, a greedy person couldn't resist any longer, picked up the chopsticks, picked up a fish ball and put it into his mouth, chewing gently. Instantly, the fresh fragrance of the fish exploded in his mouth. In addition to the taste, the meat was also particularly elastic and chewy.

The man showed a look of satisfaction on his face. He had eaten up a fish ball in the blink of an eye. He couldn't wait to put the remaining one into his mouth. After finishing it, he still felt it was not enough, so he held the bowl and drank up all the soup.

When the people at the same table saw this, they started to try the food one by one. Then, they all widened their eyes and drank up the remaining fish balls and soup in no time.

"The way you eat is so weird, as if you have never eaten anything delicious before." The people at the next table saw them eating like wolves pouncing on their prey and felt quite disdainful.

"What do you know! You say the grapes are sour because you haven't eaten them. You'll know when you try them later." Someone rolled his eyes and retorted.

"Tsk! It's just fish balls? I want to see how delicious it is." The man refused to believe it and fought back stubbornly.

The people who had finished eating were too lazy to respond, and looked eagerly at Chu Ye who came to collect the dishes and chopsticks, "Boss, do you have more fish balls? Can you give me some more?"

"Yes, boss, these two are not enough."

"Boss, can you sell these fish balls to me? I want to take some home for my family to try after work."

"Boss, give them the next table first so they can have a taste of the food. They even dared to look down on us just now." Someone pointed a finger to complain.

"How could I look down on you? Stop talking nonsense here!" The man's face turned red and he immediately fought back.

Empty bowls and plates were piled up one after another. Chu Ye stood up straightened up after hearing this, with an apologetic smile on his face, "We have a fixed amount here, and it will be gone once we finish eating. I am also doing business. If you think it tastes good, I will prepare it for you at the employee price after work, and you can take it back for your family to try."

Chu Ye finished speaking and left with the dishes. She was going to wash them before serving them to the next table. After she left, the people at the table talked to each other and said that they would ask about the prices after work and buy some if they were suitable.

Soon, Chu Ye came to the table next to him with his bowl and chopsticks. The man who had just been shouting at others for their exaggerated eating manners, now swallowed unconsciously when he smelled the aroma. Seeing that everyone at the same table had started to eat, he also stretched his neck to pick up a fish ball, and gently bit it with his teeth. It seemed as if there was a spring in the fish ball, which bounced his teeth away. At the same time, the delicious taste flowed from his mouth into his stomach. This taste was more delicious than he had ever tasted in his life of eating fish.

Although the fish balls were extremely delicious, the people at the next table were staring at him closely, expecting his reaction. He thought of what he had just said, pretended to be deep, chewed carefully, and then muttered to himself, "It's just so-so."

"Tsk." The person at the next table showed disdain, having seen through his hypocrisy, but was too lazy to expose him, so he lowered his head and continued with the work in his hands.

Soon, everyone present had the fish balls. During this time, Mu Jiajun came back from outside with a group of strong men. They went to a distant fish pond in the afternoon, put the fish they caught into containers and put them into her tricycle, which they then pushed back.

These people unloaded the fish and moved them into the cold storage. Taking advantage of this gap, Chu Ye quickly filled the bowl with fish balls and handed it to these people with a smile.

"Hey, brothers, are you all tired? Take a break and eat something first." Chu Ye smiled sincerely.

"Oh, boss, you're so polite!" "Thank you, thank you!" The few people didn't hesitate to take the bowls and started eating. They had been busy for a long time, catching fish in the fish pond and loading and unloading cargo. They were already starving, and this bowl of fish balls came just in time.

Mu Jiajun was the last one to receive the bowl. After Chu Ye handed the bowl to him, he saw that his face was flushed and wiped the sweat off his face with heartache.

Although Mu Jiajun was also extremely hungry, he still had a smile on his face and comforted Chu Ye softly, telling her not to worry, "These fish balls smell so good, have you eaten them?" Mu Jiajun held the bowl and was not in a hurry to eat.

"Not yet. When it's done, I'll let you guys try it first. I'm not in a hurry to eat it." Chu Ye said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Hearing this, Mu Jiajun nodded slightly. He picked up the fish ball and blew on it gently. When it was no longer so hot, he slowly moved the chopsticks to Chu Ye's lips, "Then you try it first."

Chu Ye was stunned, then he curved his eyebrows, lowered his head, bit off the fish ball from the chopsticks, and chewed it in his mouth.

Mu Jiajun picked up his chopsticks again after seeing her eating. After eating one, he put down his chopsticks and praised the taste.

"This will definitely be popular if we sell it elsewhere." Mu Jiajun gave a thumbs up.

"But Jiajun, do we have to take it to other places? I saw these workers in the afternoon also liked the taste very much." Chu Ye expressed his idea of ​​giving everyone fish balls for free in the afternoon.

"This is the first time I've made fish balls, and I can't quite grasp the taste. I didn't expect that everyone liked them after they were made. I thought if I could sell them here, there would be no need to take them to other places." After all, who would go to sell them elsewhere? How to get there was a problem.

Mu Jiajun listened carefully and gave a suggestion, "Before, I said to take it to other places because I thought that there are many frozen fish sold at low prices here recently. It is not easy for us to sell fish balls at a high price here. But if we can sell them here, it will save a lot of trouble."

Chu Ye also nodded in agreement. Mu Jiajun thought about it and added, "We can sell it nearby in the next few days and see how well it sells before deciding whether to go to other places later."

"Okay." Chu Ye nodded in agreement.

After Mu Jiajun and these strong men finished eating the fish balls and wiped their mouths, they hurried out again. Chu Ye cleaned up the mess, added water to the pot again, and when the water was warm, he put the fish balls back in. After the fish balls were cooked, he took them out and spread them flat on the table. After they cooled down and the moisture on the surface was dried, he took a plastic bag, put about thirty fish balls per pound into it, and then sealed it and put it aside.

Before she knew it, the sky gradually darkened again. Chu Ye looked at the time. It was almost seven o'clock. She took out two stacks of ID cards and placed them on the table in front of the room. She walked into the house and took out a stack of change.

When the clock pointed to seven o'clock, before Chu Ye could shout, someone came running over to ask about his salary. Chu Ye did not waste time and directly asked the person whether he was doing a full day's work or half a day's work. After getting the answer, he asked his name. Finally, Chu Ye found one of the ID cards from a stack of ID cards and handed it over along with two yuan.

"Here, this is your half-day's salary."

"Oh, thank you! The boss really didn't lie to me. He said the settlement would be made on the same day and I actually paid you." The man showed surprise and quickly left with the money.

The workers quickly surrounded the table where Chu Ye was sitting. When Mu Jiajun and his group came back, the strong men also hurried over. Seeing this, Mu Jiajun washed his hands, and when he saw that he couldn't squeeze in, he found a place to sit down and rest.

People received the money happily, and the smiles seemed to be embroidered on their faces and became an eternal picture. A small number of people took the money and left, while most people stood aside. Now that the money was almost distributed, someone shouted, "Boss, didn't you say that we could buy fish balls at a lower price?"

"Yes, boss, how much are these fish balls?"

"We've been waiting here for a long time. Please tell me the price."

People were asking questions, and there were many chattering voices. Chu Ye nodded to signal everyone to be quiet. After settling the last two transactions in her hand, she said, "I won't say more about the quality of these fish balls. They are all handmade by us, without any fake ingredients. When making fish balls from fish, the fish heads and bones are removed, and the only part left to be made into fish balls is the essence, so the price is definitely not that cheap."

After this was said, people were silent for a moment. Some turned around and left, while others asked, "What's the price if it's not that cheap?"

"Yes! Tell me the price first."

"There are thirty fish balls in a bag, which is almost one pound. A bag costs two dollars and fifty cents. Those who buy today can get an extra fifty cents discount! Two dollars in total! Take the fish balls home!" Chu Ye raised his voice, and after he finished speaking, different voices appeared in the crowd.

This price is not cheap. A pound of sea bass is only more than two yuan per pound. The price of these fish balls is almost as high as that of sea bass! Sea bass is so expensive that people don’t eat it every day.

More and more people turned around and went home, but there were also some people who hesitated and wavered, wavering between buying and not buying.

Seeing so many people turning around and leaving, Chu Ye did not change his expression. Instead, he called them with a smile and said in a friendly tone, "If you value those fish heads and bones, you might as well take some home to make soup and nourish your family."

The people who were about to leave had both joy and shyness on their faces. Seeing Chu Ye's encouraging eyes, some of them came up to the container containing the fish heads and started picking them up. Gradually, more and more people came over. After all, it would be great to miss out on such a good deal.

(End of this chapter)