Chapter 377: Fishermen never come back empty-handed [Sorry, it’s late]

Lu Yang stared in amazement as a group of burly men walked away.

I thought to myself: Wow, what a group of tough guys.

Qian Youyou seemed to see through Lu Yang’s doubts. She walked over and explained in a low voice, “Don’t be fooled by the fact that they are all wearing camouflage uniforms. That’s just the personal preference of my dad and several uncles. It’s impossible for real soldiers who are still in service to appear here. So you can put away your little thoughts and don’t make a fuss about everything. Pay attention to your expression. My dad doesn’t like timid boys the most.”

Lu Yang curled his lips without commenting.

I thought to myself: Your dad doesn’t like timid boys, so why should he mind my business? I’m not his prospective son-in-law, so I don’t need to please him.

Then he thought to himself: Humph, you still say these men are not soldiers, they are not in the army, and they no longer count after they are discharged, right? Your father is really amazing, he actually raised such a group of evil spirits under the nose of the government.

But this is someone else’s family affair.

At most, Lu Yang would just think about it in his mind, but he would not say it out loud. He would not naively remind others to be careful of being liquidated. The Qian family is so powerful in Pengcheng that they even set up the Pengcheng Gang. Would it be possible if they didn’t have some backing and support?

Lu Yang said slowly and quietly: “You reminded me and wanted me to behave well in front of your father. Could it be that you are attracted to me? Unfortunately, I already have a wife, so you’d better give up this idea.”

This chick always dislikes him and finds fault with him, so he just wants to disgust her on purpose.

Qian Youyou rolled her eyes decisively: “Whatever you want.”

He snorted coldly.

Then he turned around, leaving Lu Yang with the back of his head.

The world has indeed become quiet.

Lu Yang smiled and looked at the girl’s twisting back and forth and said, “Let’s go, let’s go, hurry up and leave. Only when you leave can I boldly please your dad. Otherwise, if you stay here and see me trying to please your dad, how embarrassed will I be?”

Before Lu Yang was reborn, he was already quite old and could be considered an old man, so he knew very well what some old people were thinking.

By the time Qian Youyou was completely far away, she was no longer visible.

Lu Yang then slowly approached the lake.

At this time, the old man had already caught the fish, and he was accompanied by a burly, fat old man.

The fat old man’s surname is Li, and he is also the old man’s comrade-in-arms. He was previously pulled out and said that he had a son who wanted to marry Qian Youyou and become a son-in-law of the Qian family. It was this fat old man.

The fat old man also used to be a cook. He had met Grandpa Qian before when he was in the army. Although they were not in the same company, they had been to the same battlefield and fought against the Japanese in the same unit.

This is also a kind of comradeship!
When Mr. Qian was still able to walk, although the farm was very large, the people who came to eat there were all old comrades and acquaintances, so generally speaking, he did not accept reservations from strangers.

So Mr. Qian has always been the one cooking, occasionally bringing a few apprentices to help in the kitchen.

But since my legs and feet have become less flexible and I need to use a wheelchair, I have no choice but to give up my job as a chef with reluctance.

The person who inherited his job was the fat old man next to him.

The fat old man used to be the head chef in a small restaurant on the streets of Pengcheng. His son was his assistant and apprentice, and the boss was his brother.

But after working for a few years, the money they saved was only enough for their family to barely survive in Pengcheng.

Not to mention, I also have to find a city wife for my son.

Of course, if you lower your requirements and don’t buy a house in Shenzhen, but go back to your hometown, use the money you saved to build a beautiful little house there, and then marry a country girl, then there should be no problem at all.

But, are you willing?

Human desires are endless. When the fat old man’s son was in the countryside, he dreamed of marrying the widow Li next door. They had the same surname but different last names, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to sleep with her.

Later, when he came to Pengcheng and saw the colorful world outside, he was unwilling to go back, even though he was just helping his father in the kitchen and working as a chef’s apprentice.

I just want to stay here, stay in this world of pleasure, and then marry a beautiful wife from the city. I will bring her back to my hometown during the Spring Festival, and it will definitely make me proud.

Whenever he thought about it, he would wake up laughing even in his dreams.

However, it is not easy to live in a big city like Pengcheng. Although the housing prices in Pengcheng are cheap, only more than 1000 yuan, less than 2000 yuan per square meter for rough housing, how much money can ordinary people earn and save in a month?

Take his father and son as a typical example.

His father has been working as a cook for his uncle for 5 years.

At the beginning, I was paid 200 per month. Later, when my uncle’s restaurant business improved a little, he increased my salary by 50. After that, he gradually increased it by 50. Until this year, my salary is less than 300.

And his mother is responsible for washing vegetables and dishes. At the beginning, she earned 80 or 90 yuan a month, and then it slowly increased to over 100 yuan. Now she can only earn a little over 150 yuan a month at most.

Even so, his uncle also said that he did this because of their relationship. Otherwise, for a dishwasher like this, if he just waved his hand on the street, people who came for an interview would line up in a long queue, and if he offered them a salary of a hundred yuan a month, there would be many people willing to work.

As for him?
At the beginning it’s just a bonus and you don’t get a penny. As the name suggests, a chef apprentice doesn’t charge you any money, which is good.

After all, starting from scratch and learning how to be a good cook requires wasting ingredients when it comes to cooking, right?

Rice, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, don’t we need to spend money on them?
In this situation, until he was able to cut meat skillfully and transformed from a useless chef apprentice to a kitchen helper who could help out in the kitchen and keep up with the progress, his uncle finally gave him a break and reluctantly agreed to give him 100 yuan pocket money a month.

And this is all the income their family of three has earned in Pengcheng in the past five years.

After deducting the money for rent, food, drink, and toilet expenses, and the money for seeing a doctor for occasional minor illnesses, how much can you save?
Think about it, the average housing price in Pengcheng is now fifteen hundred yuan per square meter. For example, to buy a 100-square-meter house with three bedrooms and one living room, the cost is 1500×100, which means that a house in Pengcheng will cost at least 15 yuan.

And this is just a rough house, it hasn’t been decorated yet.

Even the simplest whitewashing will cost some money, right?
Okay, let’s not count all these, and just count the 15, which is enough for their family of three to work for years without food or drink, if calculated based on this salary level.

Therefore, buying a house, staying in Pengcheng and getting married is a very desperate problem.

For those at the bottom of society.

However, at this desperate and most critical moment, an opportunity was presented to them.

A former comrade of the fat old man contacted him.

Their old squad leader, a native of Pengcheng, runs a small restaurant in the countryside. Now he can’t move his legs or feet anymore, and he’s in urgent need of a head chef, who must be a veteran who has worked as a cook in the army.

This requirement is very strict.

Coincidentally, the fat old man met all the requirements. At the beginning, he was a little hesitant and didn’t want to go because he didn’t know what this small restaurant was like. He wondered if he could earn as much as he did after going there.
Also, the eldest brother didn’t want to let him go. After all, where could he find a chef with such rich experience, who was one of his family members and whom he could trust and whose salary was not high?

What finally prompted him to go was that his son had a girlfriend who was a local in Pengcheng, and the girl required that his son must have a house in Pengcheng. Without a house, the marriage would be meaningless.

Marrying her meant suffering and hardship, and naturally the marriage ended in failure.

However, it also awakened the fat old man and made him finally realize the importance of money.

So, he decided to leave the comfort zone where he had worked for 5 years, and despite his elder brother’s attempts to keep him, he brought his wife and son to this “small” restaurant in the remote countryside.

After he got it, he realized how delicious it was.

If he used to work for his elder brother, be a chef in the kitchen, and support his family, that was living. But now, he was already living in heaven.

First of all, the scenery here is beautiful and the air is fresh, the environment is even better than when they were in the countryside.

If you want to enjoy the flowers, there are parks and rockery.

If you want to exercise, there are running tracks, sand pits, and horizontal bars. Everything the army has is here.

There are so many options for entertainment. Does fishing count? Does chess count? Badminton, table tennis, volleyball, basketball. If that doesn’t work, then watch a movie. There is a separate theater with independent sound systems, which can fully serve one person.

Secondly, the work was not much and it was much easier than working in the small restaurant before. Moreover, most of the people who came to eat were veterans who were used to the communal meals in the army. They were familiar with the taste of the food he cooked. Not only did no one find fault with it, but there was a lot of praise and compliments, which gradually made everyone a little lost.

So, when he came, he didn’t want to leave.

When Lu Yang approached the two old men, he did not deliberately lower the sound of his footsteps, so soon the two old men clearly sensed someone coming.

But their performances were somewhat different.

Old Master Qian had a nonchalant expression. His wheelchair had been stuck in a specially customized slot. Once his wheelchair was stuck in it, it was basically impossible to get out unless someone helped.

It was also to prevent him from getting carried away while fishing and sliding into the lake with his wheelchair.

That would be a tragedy.

I’ve seen people baiting bait for fishing, but I’ve never seen people baiting bait with their own fish.

He also noticed Lu Yang coming, but he didn’t look back. He was fishing, staring at the float on the table with a very focused expression, pretending not to hear Lu Yang’s footsteps.

To describe it in two words, it is “professional”, no, it should be “calm”.

In comparison, the fat old man is less professional and less calm.

There is something wrong with this person.

It seemed as if he had a big grievance with Lu Yang. As soon as Lu Yang came over, he stared at Lu Yang fiercely.

“Boy, you scared my fish away.”

Lu Yang knew that he was wronged, but he did not explain. Instead, he smiled and said, “A fish that can be scared away is not a fish that is destined to be with you. It is destined not to be on the table at noon today. Old sir, your skills are not good enough. You need to learn more from Mr. Qian. Look, isn’t this a fish that has been caught?”

What a coincidence.

As soon as Lu Yang finished speaking, a fish took the bait on Mr. Qian’s side, and he caught it with every cast.

A beautiful grass carp was hooked, which was estimated to be at least two or three pounds and was so fat that it made people drool.

“Ha ha ha ha……”

Mr. Qian laughed: “Everyone is in for a treat at noon today. Look at the scales and gills. It’s a wild dace. A dace this big is delicious, much better than tilapia.”

As he spoke, he held the fish high up and showed it to everyone.

After waiting, they threw the fish into the fish basket while panting.

He had difficulty walking and was old, and he had just finished hauling a giant dace from the river, so he was a little tired and was ready to take a rest.

Putting down the fishing rod, he turned to Lu Yang and said, “Xiao Lu, right? How about you give it a try?”

Just try it.

Lu Yang was not panicking. He was also a fisherman before his reincarnation. He had many failures, but he had also mastered the skills.

It’s definitely better than the fat old guy next to him.

Lu Yang stepped forward and took the pole.

The fat old man angrily said to him, “What are you looking at me with? How about a competition?”

Lu Yang looked at Mr. Qian “innocently”.

Old Master Qian frowned and said, “Since Old Man Li wants to compete, then you can compete with him. If you lose, I won’t blame you. If you win, forget it. When my people come back later, I will ask them to tell you everything they have found out for free.”

Lu Yang just found out that he had to pay for gathering information.

Didn’t that girl Qian Youyou just say that her dad doesn’t like timid boys?

It seems I have to be quick.

Lu Yang then said confidently: “Okay, let’s compete to see who catches the fish first.”

He skillfully began to put the bait on the fishhook and then threw it into the lake where Mr. Qian had already laid the bait.

The difficulty of fishing lies in finding fish biting their lips in the nest. If they do, it will be easier to catch the rod. If they don’t bite, it proves that there are no fish in the nest under the lake.

Sure enough, within two or three minutes, a fish took the bait on Lu Yang’s side and he was about to catch the fish.

Someone was anxious, “Wait, this doesn’t count. This is Lao Qian’s nest. What does it have to do with you?”

Just as he finished speaking, Lu Yang had already hooked a tilapia weighing two or three pounds. This thing is now threatening to cause flooding in the waters of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Lu Yang took the hook off the fish and put it into the fish basket, then looked at Mr. Qian next to him innocently: “Doesn’t it count?”

Old Qian frowned again, and he was already beginning to feel unhappy.

He knew Old Man Li’s intentions very well, but using fishing to embarrass the young man seemed too narrow-minded.

However, this young man is quite good, very calm, and it can be seen at first glance that he is an expert in fishing.

He thought for a moment, raised his head and blinked at Lu Yang, saying, “How about you try again? Change the nest. This time, it’s not about who can catch the fish first, but whoever catches the most fish before my daughter comes to call for dinner will win. How do you think?”

This game is so obviously biased towards Lu Yang.

If Lu Yang still didn’t agree, he would be a fool, so he blinked at Mr. Qian and said readily, “Okay, no problem, let’s compete. I’m just afraid that someone will cheat again if they lose.”

Someone was named and said unhappily: “Whoever loses this time and regrets it will be a puppy.”

He just didn’t believe that he would really lose to this young man.

Mr. Qian also laughed and said, “Okay, then I will be your referee.”

This young man was becoming more and more to his liking.

ps: I accidentally fell asleep before posting and forgot to send the manuscript. As compensation, I will add another chapter tomorrow during the day.

(End of this chapter)