Chapter 10: Selling Fish

The older woman blinked.

She covered her pot, leaned in, and asked, “That sounds great, but where did you get fish in the dead of winter? Did you buy them? It’s New Year’s Day, so the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and the fish market aren’t even open.”

Xie Zhao said, “I caught them myself.”

He explained, “I set the fish traps myself and waited a long time. It’s freezing out, so I really suffered for it.”

As he spoke, he jerked his chin toward the inpatient building and smiled. “My wife just gave birth and needs to nourish her body. Otherwise, who would jump into the river in this freezing weather?”

Oh!

The older woman’s expression immediately changed as she looked at Xie Zhao.

This young man was fair-skinned, handsome, and tall. He looked exceptionally good, but she never expected him to be married already!

And he doted on his wife so much!

“Fish must be hard to catch in the winter, right? You really cherish your wife!”

The older woman sighed with admiration.

Seeing her eyes glued to his clay stove, Xie Zhao understood. He drew out his words as if in deep thought, then turned to look at her. Before he even spoke, a warm, sincere smile spread across his face.

“Auntie, the fish were indeed hard to catch, but I definitely have more than enough for my wife!”

He said, “Looking at the chicken soup you’re brewing, I assume someone in your family had surgery and needs to recover? Crucian carp soup is the best for that. I have a few extra fish here. If you want, I can sell you two. What do you think?”

Sell her two?

The older woman’s eyes lit up.

Her husband had taken a fall before the New Year and injured his bones. The doctor said that due to his advanced age, there was no other way but to rest and recover.

So she had been brewing chicken soup and stewing bone broth every other day to feed him, but she always worried it wasn’t enough. The moment she saw the crucian carp soup Xie Zhao was making, her mind began to race.

Well.

These were wild-caught!

Caught by hand, they were bound to be nutritious!

Fish were incredibly hard to come by in the dead of winter. If she didn’t buy them now, she wouldn’t know where else to find any.

Once the thought crossed her mind, she stopped hesitating and asked, “How much are you selling them for per catty?”

Xie Zhao smiled and said, “Auntie, I’m mostly keeping them for myself and only selling the extras. If you want them, how about two yuan a catty?”

Two yuan a catty.

These days, even fatty pork was only one yuan and eighty cents a catty.

Still, it was winter, so this price was reasonable for crucian carp.

The older woman did not hesitate long. She nodded and readily agreed.

“Deal! Catch two for me right now! If my old man likes the taste, I’ll want two more tomorrow!”

Xie Zhao was just as quick to agree.

He glanced at his own crucian carp soup, which was bubbling and steaming, having simmered for quite some time.

He poured the soup into an enamel mug and said to the older woman with a smile, “I’ll go grab them for you right now!”

Carrying the soup back to the ward, he found Lin Muyu getting out of bed to walk.

In truth, aside from a severe deficiency in qi and blood, she had no other injuries.

Xie Zhao placed the soup on the bedside table and looked at her. “Remember to drink this in a bit. Leave the mug for me to wash when I get back. You absolutely must not touch cold water.”

Lin Muyu pursed her lips and gave a gentle nod.

Xie Zhao scooped a few fish out of the bucket, added a bit of water, and turned to walk back out.

…

In the pavilion.

Seeing Xie Zhao approach, the older woman immediately beamed.

“Here, take a look. They’re all freshly caught!”

Xie Zhao said with a smile.

He lifted the basin in his hands toward her.

Inside were four crucian carp and five other miscellaneous fish he had brought along.

Every single one of them was full of life. As the water sloshed, they thrashed their tails, splashing water all over the ground.

The older woman’s eyes lit up.

“Oh! These are great! Very even in size!”

She praised them sincerely.

Xie Zhao placed the basin in front of her and smiled. “You’re my first customer, so you get first pick!”

Showing no hesitation, the older woman selected the two largest and plumpest fish and put them into her own basin.

“How are we going to weigh them?”

she asked, “We don’t have a scale with us.”

Xie Zhao simply reached in and grabbed the fish.

He hefted them, swapped one out, and then placed them into her basin. He smiled at her and said, “These two fish weigh a total of three catties and six taels^[1]. If you don’t believe me, you can weigh them at the noodle shop at the very end of the alley. I’ll charge you for three and a half catties!”

In his past life, after Xie Zhao left Shishui Village, he had wandered from place to place.

Humans were stubborn creatures.

He had no fields, no land, and no one cared about him, yet he did not want to die.

So he kept doing small businesses just to scrape by. Later, as his business grew and his pockets filled with money, he finally gained the confidence to return home in glory to make amends to his parents.

He had even harbored a tiny shred of hope to find Lin Muyu and see how she was doing.

Whether she had… married.

Unfortunately.

By the time he returned to his hometown, his eldest brother was dead, his younger sister had married far away, his father had died of illness, his mother had cried herself blind, and Lin Muyu had long since vanished without a trace.

That day, the sun was setting.

Filled with joy and carrying a load of gifts, he walked to the small courtyard he had been too afraid to touch in his memories.

Withered vines, old trees, evening crows^[2]; desolation covered the ground.

He pushed open the door, and the smell of decay mingled with a terrifying silence rushed over him.

The moment he stepped inside, he saw a black-and-white photo hanging on the wall.

Tian Xiufen, blind and sick, lay on the bed, silent and still.

Hearing the noise, she slowly and with great difficulty propped herself up, asking, “Who is it?”

Who?

Who else could it be?

He didn’t dare reply. He hurriedly left all his money behind and fled in panic.

From then on, he could only find roundabout ways to have people send money to Tian Xiufen, never having the face to return.

In his past life, everyone praised Xie Zhao’s knack for estimating weight by hand.

But only he knew.

These skills were built on lessons paid for with his own blood and tears.

Now that he was reborn and using it again, he felt an indescribable mix of complexity and relief.

The older woman looked at the fish in the basin with skepticism. After a moment of thought, she said, “I’ll go weigh them, but if they’re short, you make up the difference!”

Xie Zhao smiled confidently. “They’ll only be over, not under! Don’t you worry!”

Only then did the older woman carry her basin away.

Meanwhile, on his side.

When Xie Zhao placed his washbasin down in the pavilion, quite a few people looked over.

A few middle-aged women who were cooking poked their heads out to look, immediately spotting the fish in Xie Zhao’s basin.

Wow!

It was the dead of winter, and heavy snow was falling outside.

If you added a block of tofu and a handful of chopped green onions to a boiling pot of this hot fish soup, the aroma would be out of this world!

Hospitalized patients with poor health and weak appetites would find it the perfect change of pace after getting tired of their usual food!

“Are you selling all of these fish?”

A middle-aged woman asked, her eyes shining. “This grass carp would taste amazing braised in brown sauce!”

Xie Zhao nodded.

He smiled and called out, “Yes, they’re all the same price: two yuan a catty!”

That was just how business went.

People loved a crowd.

Besides, with fish being such a rare commodity in the dead of winter, nothing could be better than having a fish head hot pot.

“Give me one! It’s the New Year, and we’ve had way too much chicken and duck. I haven’t eaten fish in ages!”

“I want one too! I’ll buy some tofu tomorrow to stew with it. It’s bound to taste delicious!”

“And me! Don’t take them all! Someone in my family just had a baby too!”