I See through Everything

"Here, give me a hand."

In a short while, his truckload of Egyptian Catfish was weighed: 462 kilograms in total.

"Let’s settle up."

"Including the previous eight loads, that’s a total of 4,068 kilograms. The payment is 12,204 yuan. Please check if there are any mistakes." The female buyer handed him a stack of receipts.

Jiang Dafu quickly looked them over. He then took out his small notebook, checked the numbers one by one, and did the math himself. Only after confirming the price was correct did he say, "No problem."

"Cash? Bank card? Or a mobile payment?"

"Cash, please!"

Moments later, a thick stack of bright red bills was placed in Jiang Dafu’s hands.

A man from his hometown quickly reminded him, "Dafu, count it carefully and put it away safely. Don’t lose it."

"I know, thanks." Jiang Dafu smiled and nodded, his hand clutching the money tightly. He was counting on this cash to make ends meet.

The male buyer shouted from a short distance away, "Move the empty tricycle out of the way..."

"Okay, okay." Jiang Dafu quickly drove his tricycle away. After leaving the feed factory gate, he pulled over to the side of the road not far off and recounted the money one more time before stuffing it all into his waist pouch.

After starting the engine again, the tricycle sped lightly toward Xinxiang.

The smile never left Jiang Dafu’s face the entire way.

He had dug two mu of fish ponds at his home. He estimated he could make about 30,000 yuan from this harvest. Plus, his one and a half mu of duckweed was almost ready to be harvested, which would bring in another sum of money.

After more than three months of hard work, he had earned nearly 20,000 yuan in profit after deducting his initial costs. This brought much-needed relief to Jiang Dafu’s previously tight family finances.

Good fortune lifts the spirits, so it was no wonder he was grinning all the way.

「He arrived at the Xinxiang intersection.」

"Uncle, did you sell your fish?"

Jiang Dafu stopped. He saw his eldest nephew, Wang Baorui, refueling at the gas station by the intersection and nodded with a smile. "Baorui, have you harvested your fish pond yet?"

"Don’t even mention it. I was planning to harvest today, but the tricycle got a flat tire on the way. I just got it fixed, so I came to get gas. I’ll just do it tomorrow!" Wang Baorui said with a look of resignation.

"One day won’t make a difference."

"Uncle, what’s the feed factory’s buying price?"

"Three yuan! I’ve already got the cash."

"That’s good. The kids are all in school, and the new term starts in September. This will help with the expenses."

"Just hang in there a few more years! Once Xiaofei and the others start working, you and Lijuan can take it a little easier."

Wang Baorui heard the gas station attendant calling him to pay and scratched his head. "Uncle, I gotta go pay. I’ll come visit you when I have time."

"Go on! I’m heading home to make dinner myself."

After watching Jiang Dafu drive away, Wang Baorui went to the gas station counter to pay, then drove his tricycle back to Jinting Village.

His home was on the west side of Jinting Village, near Xinxiang. As soon as he got back, he saw his mother, Jiang Hongmei, returning with his young son.

"Mom, where’s Lijuan?"

Jiang Hongmei held her grandson’s hand. "She said she was going to your father-in-law’s house to borrow a large net. She’ll be back soon."

"Xiaohu! Come here, let Dad give you a hug."

"No way... your stubble is too prickly..." his little son said, shrinking back.

Just then, Fang Lijuan pulled up to the door on her small electric scooter, scolding her second son who was riding on the back.

Wang Baorui helped his wife pull the fishing net off the footboard. "What’s wrong now?"

"This little brat! He never learns anything good, but he just had to go copy others and learn to swim—at the beach, of all places!" Fang Lijuan was furious.

Hearing this, Jiang Hongmei’s expression darkened. She had been about to advise her daughter-in-law not to be too harsh on the child, but now she lost the heart to say anything.

Wang Baorui’s face, however, turned as black as the bottom of a pot. He instantly dropped the net and whipped off his belt. "Wang Xiaolong, you get over here and kneel before the Earth God shrine."

"Dad! I won’t do it again..."

"Kneel!" Wang Baorui roared.

His second son, Wang Xiaolong, his face pale, tremblingly knelt before the Earth God shrine by the doorway.

Wang Baorui showed no mercy. He took the belt and grabbed his son’s palm.

WHACK!

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

"SOB... SOB... I won’t do it again..."

"If I don’t teach you a lesson, you’ll never learn what pain is!"

The reason for Wang Baorui’s extreme reaction was that when he was a child, he failed to watch over his two younger brothers. They ran off to swim at the beach and ended up drowning.

The incident traumatized his father, who, not long after, wandered onto a highway in a daze and was killed by a passing car. There were no surveillance cameras on the roads back then, and the case was never solved.

That was why, despite living by the sea, his family rarely went near it, hoping to avoid a repeat of the tragedy.

After striking his son’s palm more than ten times, Wang Baorui finally stopped. He said furiously, "If you ever dare go to the beach again, don’t even bother coming home. I’ll consider myself sonless."

As someone from the same village, Fang Lijuan of course knew about her husband’s family history. If not for that incident, her husband wouldn’t have had to drop out of high school.

People who live by the sea all year round sometimes hold a greater reverence for the ocean, because they have seen too many teenagers mercilessly swallowed by it.

"Alright, calm down. You still have to harvest the fish tomorrow. I’ll have a talk with Xiaolong in a bit." Jiang Hongmei pushed her son into the house. "Lijuan, you go start dinner."

In truth, the reason Wang Baorui had five children was out of fear that something might happen to him or his kids. He’d had them all in quick succession. This also put a great strain on their finances. If it weren’t for the compensation they received from the Jinting Bay real estate development project a few years ago, their family would be in an even more difficult situation.