pertwk Chapter 110 Ribbonfish
Chapter 110 Ribbonfish
Chapter 110 Ribbonfish
In early March, the wind at sea wasn't so strong.
The loquat tree is starting to sprout new leaves, a tender yellow color, which overlaps with the dark green old leaves from winter.
Ah Guang rearranged the broken seashells in a circle, pressing back the seashells that had been blown askew by the wind, and then spread a layer of straw on the tree roots.
Jiang Haiping squatted on the reef, calculating the accounts.
The centralized maintenance has been completed, and the last two planks in Hekou Village were put into the water yesterday.
He spread the ledger on his lap and used his fingernail to trace down the column for copper gasket inventory.
After the newly purchased twenty copper washers were put into storage, there was no shortage of them. The five that were borrowed from the secondhand shop have been returned. Ah Guang crossed out the entire line in the borrowing register with a red pen.
A batch of old sealing gaskets has been put into storage; they are the two boxes that Ding Fugui delivered, and all the paperwork is complete.
He turned the page about the copper gaskets to the page about credit.
The credit sheet hadn't had a new name added in a long time; the lines crossed out in red pen were piling up, and only the last one remained uncrossed. The sound of a bicycle chain echoed from the seawall at the gate of the courtyard.
Ding Haifeng rode his old bicycle back from the direction of Baishakou, with an old cardboard box tied to the back seat. The box was wrapped in plastic sheeting and the rope was tightly tied.
He parked the car next to the loquat tree and moved the cardboard boxes down onto the stone slab.
"It was delivered from a secondhand shop. It's not a used item." Ding Haifeng peeled off the plastic sheet.
The cardboard box contained ribbonfish, shimmering silver, each about two fingers wide.
The fish's gills were still bright red, and its eyes were shining; it had been caught this morning.
A small bag of dried shrimp, wrapped in old newspaper, was placed on top of the ribbonfish.
"The owner of the secondhand shop is surnamed Chen. He said that this batch of ribbonfish was caught by his own fishing boat."
Before the Lunar New Year, the service station's copper gaskets broke, and he helped borrow five in an emergency. When the service station returned them, they cleaned all the borrowed gaskets thoroughly, wrapped them in oil paper, and wrote the return date and the person who handled the transaction in the remarks column.
He said such things were rare at the docks. The service station was very organized, and he wanted to build a long-term relationship with them.
Ding Haifeng pulled out half an old newspaper from under the ribbonfish. On the newspaper, a few lines of words were written crookedly in pencil.
The gist is that we should send the ribbonfish and dried shrimp to the service station, and in the future, we will give priority to sending any old parts with complete disposal procedures to the service station.
Jiang Haiping squatted on the stone slab, looking at the half-finished old newspaper.
Next to the pencil writing was a circle with the character "陈" written inside, probably for use as a signature.
He folded the old newspaper and put it in his pocket, picked up a fish from the pile of ribbonfish, turned it over to look at its gills, and then put it back.
"Take the ribbonfish to the kitchen, Guang. Keep the dried shrimp for Old Sun." Jiang Haiping stood up.
Turn to the page on secondhand goods channels in the ledger and add a line next to it: Old Boss Chen of Secondhand Goods Shop, Baishakou.
In the future, the full name should be written when registering the source of old documents.
He closed the notebook and put it in his work pocket, his hand touching the half-old newspaper.
The old newspaper was filled with notes for almost a whole year, from Hong Laosan paying off half before the winter solstice, to Lao Chen paying off the rest before the new year, to the second group, to borrowing emergency copper gaskets, to the special study of fifteen points.
He stuffed the old newspapers into his pocket and leaned against the loquat tree trunk, watching Ding Haifeng carry the ribbonfish into the kitchen.
Lin Xiu'e was carrying an enamel basin out of the kitchen door, the basin containing freshly mixed tung oil putty.
After the centralized maintenance was over, she put the grouting tool bag back into the asbestos tile shed, wiped the chisel blade with cotton yarn dipped in tung oil, and closed the calipers and put them back in the box.
She always kept the two walnuts that Qiu Changhai gave her on top of her tool bag; she could feel two round, bulging bumps through the cloth.
She saw Ding Haifeng come in carrying ribbonfish, put the enamel basin on the stove, and take the cardboard box.
"The ribbonfish are fresh. I'll fry a few for lunch." Lin Xiu'e took out the ribbonfish one by one and arranged them on an enamel plate. The fish scales were silvery and stuck to her fingers.
She took out a salt shaker from under the stove. The shaker was still more than half full of coarse salt, which she had bought during the Chinese New Year.
She pinched a small pinch of salt and sprinkled it on the ribbonfish. The silvery membrane on the fish skin shrank slightly when stimulated by the salt.
Ahai ran over from the workshop and squatted at the door of the kitchen to watch Lin Xiue fry ribbonfish.
The oil in the iron pot was lard rendered during the Lunar New Year, which had solidified into a white layer. A piece was scooped up with a spatula and put into the pot, where it slowly melted and sizzled.
As the ribbonfish pieces were put into the pot, the aroma of caramel wafted out through the cracks in the kitchen door.
Ah Hai sniffed twice.
"Where did the ribbonfish come from?"
"It was a gift from Mr. Chen, the owner of the secondhand shop," Ding Haifeng said, leaning against the kitchen door frame.
"A secondhand shop gives away fish?" Ah Hai tilted his head.
"When the service station returned the gaskets, they wiped each one clean, wrapped them in oil paper, and wrote the return date on them. People thought the service station was very organized." Jiang Haiping walked over from under the loquat tree and squatted on the stone steps at the entrance of the kitchen.
The aroma of the fried ribbonfish grew stronger and stronger. The skin of the ribbonfish slowly turned golden brown in the oil, with the edges slightly charred. Lin Xiu'e flipped it over with a spatula.
At lunchtime, a circle of enamel mugs was placed on the stone slab at the entrance of the kitchen.
The ribbonfish was pan-fried until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and each person was given two pieces.
Ah Hai picked up a piece of ribbonfish, blew on it a couple of times, took a bite, and gasped for breath from the heat.
Ah-Guang sat around the circle of broken seashells with a jar in his hand, using chopsticks to pick out the fish bones one by one and place them on the stone slab.
Ding Haisheng squatted at the entrance of the new workshop, placed the ribbonfish on the lid of an enamel mug, and ate it slowly.
Hong Xiaobing ran back from the dock, his trousers covered in dried seaweed. He took the ribbonfish Lin Xiu'e handed him, ate it in a few bites under the loquat tree, and buried the fish bones under the broken seashells as fertilizer.
Old Sun arrived at some unknown time.
He stood at the gate of the courtyard without coming in, carrying a cloth bag in his hand, and glanced towards the entrance of the kitchen.
Lin Xiu'e walked over with a plate of fried ribbonfish. He took it, picked up a piece, put it in his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and nodded.
He took two mint leaves out of his cloth bag and placed them on the stone slab at the entrance of the kitchen. He then took out the remaining dried shrimp from the cloth bag and placed them on the stove, along with the bag of dried shrimp that Old Chen had given him.
"Go back and feed the chickens." Old Sun turned and left, but after taking a couple of steps, he turned back and looked at the four basins of tung oil putty on the windowsill of the kitchen.
The wet cloth was covering everything tightly, and the basins were arranged neatly.
After finishing work in the afternoon, Lao Fang squatted at the workshop entrance wiping the third wooden sign.
The rag was rubbed back and forth on the words "Standardization Construction Pilot Unit" several times.
After wiping the three wooden plaques, he straightened up and draped the rag over the water ladle.
Jiang Haiping walked over from the worktable and placed the ledger on the root of the loquat tree.
He turned to the last name on the page for credit transactions that hadn't been crossed out.
"This is the last one."
Old Fang took the cigarette out of his mouth and squatted down to look at it.
The last name on the credit sheet was followed by a string of numbers, with the repayment date set for before the Lunar New Year, later changed to before the Qingming Festival.
He watched for a long time.
"It's not that this guy doesn't want to pay back. He just doesn't have the money. His boat was damaged by a typhoon last year and he's been repairing it ever since. He even borrowed money to fix the nets." Old Fang put his cigarette back in his mouth.
"I know." Jiang Haiping closed the ledger.
He reached into his pocket and touched the half-old newspaper, folding it neatly.
The first line of the old newspaper still says that Hong Laosan paid half before the winter solstice.
Old Hong returned the remaining 150 yuan three years ago, and Third Aunt's bracelet was redeemed.
He now runs a transport business on that fishing boat, and the correction letter from the supply and marketing cooperative is tucked into the transport cooperation directory. No one is pressuring him about the fake fertilizer anymore.
The service station won't rush me to pay this last bill before Qingming Festival.
But the names that weren't crossed out in the ledger are still there, visible every time you turn the page.
He leaned against the loquat tree trunk, watching several fishing boats heading back on the sea.
The sputtering sound of the diesel engine carried on the sea breeze, muffled, as if it were coming from a great distance.