Chu Ye turned to look at him in confusion, and Mu Jiajun continued to explain, “When those two people saw that you were not around, they started to work dishonestly, and as a result, they were reported to me by the workers at the same table.”

Needless to say, Chu Ye nodded to show that he had no objection.

After dinner, the two took a short rest. In the afternoon, Mu Jiajun led people to a distant fish pond to salvage, while Chu Ye stayed at home and started working at the fish pond.

A large iron pot is set up as usual, and the fish balls floating in the ice water are scooped out and put back into the iron pot to cook. They are then taken out to dry the surface moisture and put into bags.

She was working here, and out of the corner of her eye she saw two sneaky figures approaching from a distance. The two men quickly walked up to Chu Ye and handed over their ID cards with a playful smile, “Boss, we are here to work.”

The two men smiled and saw Chu Ye scooping up the meatballs. They put their ID cards aside, which was Chu Ye’s approval, and then they started looking for a position to work.

“stop!”

After hearing the scolding, the two turned around in confusion, and the workers around heard the sound and looked over here curiously.

“You two are the ones who were reported for not working properly this morning, right? Take your ID cards away, I don’t want them.” After Chu Ye finished speaking, the two men became anxious and shouted, “Who said we didn’t work properly? Let him come out and confront us!”

After saying that, the two of them glanced around and their eyes fell heavily on the table where the report was made in the morning. The atmosphere was tense for a moment and no one wanted to stand up at this time. Everyone silently lowered their heads and did their work.

The two of them immediately turned around with satisfaction and looked at Chu Ye with a flattering smile, “Boss, we were too tired this morning and worked a little slowly. You must not listen to other people’s nonsense.”

After that, the two were about to sit down, but Chu Ye didn’t indulge them, “I can’t accommodate two big Buddhas here, please find another job.”

“You!” One of them was really annoyed after being humiliated twice in a row. The other one stretched out his hand to stop him, and then pleaded to Chu Ye in a low voice, “Boss, we were wrong this morning. Please give us another chance, and we will do our best.”

After saying that, he pulled the hem of the man next to him. The man snorted coldly and lowered his head to smile reluctantly.

The people around were silent, but they all pricked up their ears to eavesdrop on what was going on here. Chu Ye looked at their behavior coldly, unmoved. “I told you on the first day you came here that we have high salaries here, so you have to work hard and not cheat. You two broke the rules, so I can’t keep you here.”

“We just took a break, it shouldn’t be that serious, right?” one of them said unconvinced.

Chu Ye’s eyes were heavy, and he said loudly, “If everyone is like you, making mistakes but not taking them to heart, and thinking that it’s a small matter, then I don’t need to do this business anymore.”

These words were very ruthless. The man’s face changed. He knew that it would be useless to humble himself. He immediately cursed angrily, “Bah! Do you think I care about your job? You are just a fishmonger. Why are you so arrogant? I won’t do this job anymore!”

After saying that, he slammed the table, took his ID card and walked out angrily. The remaining person looked left and right, and finally gritted his teeth and ran away with his ID card.

After watching the excitement, the people around all buried their heads and went back to their work in silence.

Everything was as calm as if nothing had happened. After a while, Mu Jiajun and others came back. They put the last basket of frozen fish into the cold storage. After a short rest, they quickly started killing and chopping fish according to Chu Ye’s assignment in the morning.

Chu Ye told Mu Jiajun what had just happened, and they both agreed that they needed to be cautious these days to prevent these two people from doing anything desperate.

Today everyone’s hand speed is a few points faster than yesterday. At this rate, all the frozen fish can be made into fish balls in four days.

At seven o’clock, Chu Ye took out the ID cards to distribute wages. At the end, she was still very generous and asked everyone to take some fish heads and bones home to make soup. The workers were naturally overjoyed.

The next morning, Chu Ye rode her tricycle to a busy intersection in town. As soon as she parked the car, a group of people surrounded her. She was frightened by their behavior. She thought they were there to cause trouble, and she didn’t dare to move for a moment.

“Boss, why didn’t you come yesterday afternoon? I couldn’t find anyone to buy anything.” The first customer who spoke was the first customer who came yesterday, and he was holding a man in his hand.

After recognizing this man, Chu Ye relaxed a little. She then heard clearly that the people who came over wanted to buy fish balls. Then she calmed down and smiled apologetically, “I had something to do at home yesterday afternoon and couldn’t leave. Brother, I remember you bought two bags yesterday. Why did you buy another one today?”

“Hey,” the man waved his hand and pulled someone over to say, “I sent a bag to his house yesterday. I thought his wife was in confinement after giving birth, so I sent her some nutritious food.”

“I didn’t expect that the fish balls would be so tasty to her. She ate two big bowls last night. If my mother hadn’t stopped her, she would have wanted another bowl!” The man took over the conversation and finished what he was saying.

Chu Ye smiled easily when she heard that. Many people gathered around, many of whom had bought things yesterday, and there were also many unfamiliar faces. Although they were unfamiliar faces, Chu Ye knew that these people must have heard the promotion or were recommended by people around them, and came to wait for her today, otherwise they would not have rushed towards her with a purpose as soon as her tricycle stopped here.

At this moment, three or four people have already asked how to sell it, and some have directly picked up a plastic bag, took out two dollars and fifty cents and stuffed it into Chu Ye’s hands. “Don’t worry, everyone, there are a lot of fish balls, if not enough, I will go to load more. Our fish balls have healthy ingredients, and can be eaten by the elderly, children, and people who need to nourish themselves. There are thirty fish balls in a plastic bag, weighing about one pound, and a bag costs two dollars and fifty cents.” She said, took out a bag from the car, and handed it to the man who was going to buy it back home for his wife to eat.

“Hey, one bag is not enough, right? My wife ate almost half a bag of meatballs in one meal last night.” The man took it, took out the money, and hesitated whether to buy two bags directly.

“No need, brother. I’ve been selling meatballs in town these days. You can come to me for more when you’re done. If you buy too much at once, I’m afraid you won’t be able to finish them and they will go bad at home, wasting money.” Chu Ye’s words were sincere. The man thought about it and felt that it made sense. He paid the money with a smile and squeezed out of the crowd with his companions.

The fish balls in the back compartment were quickly sold out. Chu Ye hummed a little tune and went home to restock. Then he rode his tricycle to the hospital entrance to sell them.

For several days, Chu Ye was busy all the time. She shuttled through the streets and alleys, thinking of ways to make up a rhyme to sell fish balls.

Her fish balls became popular in the small town overnight. Many people would ask which streets Chu Ye would pass by every day, and would wait by the roadside in advance. When they heard Chu Ye’s loud shout, they would impatiently gather in front of the tricycle, holding money like little flags fluttering in the wind, waiting to buy.

The cold wave that has not been seen in more than a decade has finally subsided, and the temperature has gradually risen in the past few days. However, just yesterday, all the frozen fish were made into fish balls and stored in the cold storage. After settling the workers’ wages yesterday, Chu Ye and Mu Jiajun were busy putting the fish heads and bones on the wooden boards to dry.

When Pan’er and Xiaoya came back with their luggage, they saw that the originally empty fish pond was now filled with tables, which were filled with fish heads, internal organs, etc. It was horrifying to see.

Thinking back to the extreme weather of the previous few days, the two suddenly realized something. They were so scared that they could hardly hold their luggage and hurriedly knocked on the door, but no one responded.

At this time, Chu Ye and Mu Jiajun were selling fish balls outside. When the fish balls in the back compartment were sold out, they came back to restock, and then they saw two people sitting under the eaves, looking pitiful.

“Pan’er! Xiaoya! You two are back so soon!” Chu Ye’s eyes flashed with surprise. He quickly got down from the edge of the tricycle and ran towards them.

The two girls, who were originally frowning, looked up quickly when they heard the call, then quickly stood up and shouted “Sister Chu”. The three girls soon hugged each other.

“I’m sorry, Sister Chu. I wanted to come back earlier when I heard that a cold wave was coming, but the traffic was stopped and was not reopened until today.” After Pan’er’s joy, her face was full of guilt. Looking at these fish heads and bones, she didn’t dare to think about what Chu Ye had experienced in the past few days?
“I’m Sister Chu too. I’m sorry.” Xiaoya lowered her head, her voice choked with sobs.

The two of them had already checked the fish pond, and found that only 20% to 30% of the original fish were left, all of which were black carp and crabs. Only a few of the valuable sea bass were left.

Before Chu Ye could say anything, Pan Er continued to comfort her, “It’s okay, Sister Chu. I’ve saved all the salary you gave me at home. I’ll write to my family tomorrow and ask them to send the money over. Sister, take the money and we’ll make a comeback!”

“Yes! Sister Chu, we will stay with you and let’s start over.” Xiaoya echoed.

The two of them felt sad, but they also knew that the one who would be the saddest in this kind of thing would definitely be Sister Chu. They had to cheer up and not fall behind.

Chu Ye touched their heads, feeling deeply moved. In order to stop them from thinking too much, he immediately explained, “What are you thinking about? We are not that miserable yet. As long as we buy all the fish balls this time, we can still make a small profit!”

“what?”

“What fish balls?”

The more the two listened, the less they understood. Chu Ye called Mu Jiajun, who was far away, to come over and sit down, and then he took the two of them aside and told them everything that had happened during this period in detail.

“So we’re through with the crisis?”

“Great! Then sister, we will sell fish balls with you!”

After the two little girls understood what had happened, smiles appeared on their faces again. After the joy, they looked at Mu Jiajun, who was standing beside Chu Ye silently but his eyes were always on him.

“So this is my brother-in-law?” Pan’er’s words were earth-shattering, and Chu Ye was so stunned that he dared not say a word for a moment, and his cheeks flushed.

Mu Jiajun, on the other hand, smiled even more. He nodded calmly and said calmly, “Thank you for accompanying Xiaoye. It was our first meeting and we were in such a rush that I didn’t prepare any gifts. I will give them to you in a few days.”

“Thank you, brother-in-law.” Xiaoya was very considerate.

“Great! Thank you, brother-in-law!” Pan’er climbed up the pole and laughed happily. After she finished speaking, she winked at Chu Ye. Chu Ye pinched her chubby face with amusement.

(End of this chapter)