Fisherman Fubao made his fortune by fishing

The eldest cousin Li Yanshou said with some embarrassment: "There is a donkey cart willing to provide the vehicle, but..."

Old Mrs. Cai understood and asked for the money.

The life-saving money given to the second brother and his wife was all the savings the family could take out. The eldest brother and his wife were not good at hiding money, so it was estimated that the eldest brother had only a few copper coins on him at this time.

This amount of money is not enough to cross the ice track to the island, let alone hire a car to go down to the village on a sunny day.

Old Mrs. Cai subconsciously touched the silver ingot hidden in her clothes, and her restless heart calmed down a little.

Fortunately, Yu Baoer discovered the stranded whale, otherwise their family’s situation would have taken ten or eight years to recover.

Old Mrs. Cai took out a cloth bag from the basket, which contained some of the copper coins she had just earned from selling whale meat. She counted out a hundred and handed them to the eldest brother.

"Boss, go hire a car. Let's go home before it gets dark."

Boss Li and his companions were all stunned and forgot to react for a moment.

What did they see just now? When Old Lady Cai took the money, she did not hide it from them. They saw it clearly.

There was a pile of copper coins in the bundle, shining so brightly that their eyes turned green. How could there be so many copper coins at home?

"Boss, what are you standing there for? Are you waiting for me, an old woman, to invite you in person?" Old Mrs. Cai pushed him and urged him to hire a car quickly.

The men were not stupid, and everyone knew that one should not show off their wealth. After they realized what was happening, Boss Li took the copper coin, carefully put it in his arms, and ran off to hire a car.

It's so hard to find someone who is willing to cross the sea. If he leaves, it will be hard to find him again.

The others also started to pack their bags quickly, but they didn't have much stuff.

But their family was poor, so Li Meir wrapped up the blood-stained rags carefully and took them back to use as diapers for her little cousin.

Li Yuer wanted to step forward to help, but was pushed away by Li Meir with a smile.

"My little ancestor, you still have a wound on your head. Just stand aside and it will be fine in a while."

Since she was not needed here, Li Yuer moved to Old Lady Cai's side, watching her wrap the child in a worn-out quilt, and said, "Grandma, should we go ask the doctor what medicine Dad and Mom need to get? The ice path is not easy to walk on, and it's not convenient to leave the island. Let's buy everything at once to save the trouble of going back and forth."

Without waiting for Mrs. Cai to speak, Li Lao Er said guiltily, "I don't need it. I'll be fine in two days. Go get some tonic medicine for the child's mother."

They had already separated, but this time the accident had used up all of their savings, and they lost their boat, so they will have to squeeze on the eldest brother's boat in the future.

He felt extremely guilty, but when he thought of his weak daughter-in-law and son, he had to be selfish for once. However, he didn't want to take advantage of them more, so he just wanted to get the medicine for his wife and son as soon as possible.

Old Mrs. Cai didn't say anything. She took out five hundred coins from her bag, a heavy bag, and stuffed it into Old Man Li's arms.

"Take Mei Zi and go get some herbs. Get as many as you need. I'll be watching over here."

Old man Li took the money and took his eldest granddaughter out to get medicine without hesitation.

Li Laoer was too late to stop it. He drooped his eyes and couldn't help but wet them.

The prescription cost a full four hundred coins, which made Li Yuer sigh. It seems that no matter which dynasty or era, seeing a doctor and taking medicine are always a huge expense.

Old man Li borrowed a discarded door panel from the clinic, and several people worked together to lift Old Man Li onto the donkey cart.

The donkey cart was very small, and it was almost full with Li Laoer and his wife half lying down.

Old Madam Cai asked Li Yu'er to take the carriage, but Li Yu'er refused. She whispered to Old Madam Cai, "Grandma, you should take the pole and basket with the silver in it. I am too young to watch over the things."

Thinking that all the Li family’s assets were now in her hands, Mrs. Cai finally got into the car.

Li Yu'er followed the others on foot. Before leaving, Li Yu'er took out the rags that Li Mei'er had put in her bag.

"Yu Baoer, put it back quickly. It will be useful if you keep it."

Li Meir has been with Old Lady Cai since she was a child. She has a cheerful personality, is hardworking and willing to endure hardships. She is a good girl who knows how to live and hates to see people waste things.

Li Yuer took out the fish knife from the basket and started cutting directly.

"Don't be anxious, listen to me."

"Tear--"

The rag cut easily.

"We're going to cross the ice track later, and the donkey's hooves will slip, so we have to wrap them with cloth."

The driver was a little impatient at first, seeing the two little girls wasting time and delaying the trip, but after hearing what Li Yuer said, he happily praised, "These little girls are smart."

The donkey was an important source of income for his family and was extremely valuable. If his family was not really short of money, he would not have been willing to let the donkey walk on the dangerous icy road.

Once a leg of an animal like a horse or a donkey is broken, it is basically useless.

The ice surface is slippery, especially the frozen sea surface, which is not as smooth as the river surface. Even people would slip when walking on it, let alone donkeys.

If the price hadn't been so high, eighty-eight copper coins, he would never have made this trip.

The donkey's hooves were wrapped tightly, and it was indeed much more stable when walking.

After passing the dock and getting on the bumpy ice road, the donkey did not slip because its hooves were wrapped with a thick layer of cotton cloth.

The sky was gloomy. The severe convective weather brought by the passing typhoon had not yet ended, and snow particles were falling again.

There was a rustling sound and it was cold and chilly.

The cold also had one advantage, which was that the sea surface was frozen solid. The donkey cart was small and could only hold three people. After they got on, the ice surface hardly changed, leaving only two shallow ruts on the surface snow.

This shows how thick and solid the ice is.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The driver didn't dare to drive fast, and the big black donkey, wrapped in a tattered quilt on its back, moved slowly.

After wandering around for a long time, we finally got on the dirt road to Rabbit Island.

Old man Li brought his children and grandchildren home first, unloaded a piece of the boat plank, and lifted Li Laoer from the donkey cart onto the boat.

The aunt who came to greet them carried her sister-in-law into the cabin.

After receiving the copper coin, the driver left happily.

This trip was worth it. Not only did I get a few days' worth of fare, but I also learned how to drive a donkey cart in the winter by wrapping the donkey's hooves with cloth.

"What should I do?" Old man Li was in a dilemma. He sold one boat and only had one boat left. How could he allocate the sleeping space for two families to live in it?

Old Mrs. Cai couldn't care less about this at the moment. Hiding the silver was the most important thing, so she locked the silver and the remaining copper coins into the dowry box.

Originally, there was silver and noodles there, but now it is empty. Fortunately, I got some silver and money this time to fill it up.

The feeling of an empty box makes people feel uneasy.

After locking up the money, she came out and said, "For now, we can only make do with each other. The men and women can go together. When spring comes, we will buy a boat."

"Buy a boat?" Li Laoer's eyes widened in disbelief, thinking he had heard wrongly, and immediately said, "Where can we get the money to buy a boat?"

Mrs. Cai took the hot water from her eldest daughter-in-law and felt relieved. She said, "You debt collector, forget about counting on you. Grandma's Yu Baoer is really smart! One of her is worth three of you!"

Old Mrs. Cai turned her gaze to her little granddaughter, her eyes full of satisfaction. This little granddaughter is really good. She is usually quiet, but is more capable than her son at critical moments.

She told the story of Li Yuer's discovery of whale meat and the sale of whale meat in the town's first restaurant.

"Is this true?" Li Meir's eyes narrowed into a crescent with joy. She stepped forward and put her arm around Li Yuer's shoulders, praising him, "Yu Baoer is really a treasure. This whale was stranded on the golden beach. Everyone in the village hibernated, and no one went there even on weekdays. If our Yu Baoer hadn't found it, no one would have known about it until next spring, and it would have just rotted away.

Li Erlang said with bright eyes: "So much whale meat can be sold for a lot of silver."

Everyone else was also very excited, and their depressed moods of the past few days suddenly became much brighter.

All ordinary people want in their life is a few pieces of silver and three meals a day.

Boss Li, who usually seldom spoke, said cheerfully, "It's still early, why don't I go get a basket now."

As he said that, he went to the kitchen to get the tools.

When Li Dalang saw that his father was going, he excitedly jumped out, and even the lazy Li Erlang followed him out.

Old Mrs. Cai wanted to call them back, but Old Man Li stopped her, "Old lady, let them go. If they can't see the whale, they probably won't be able to sleep tonight."

If we were to say who would be the happiest about the discovery of whale meat, it would be Li Laoer and his wife.

This time they have severely implicated the entire family, making them feel extremely guilty. Coupled with their poor health, they have been feeling heavy-hearted for days.

Li Laoer even had a bad idea. If he really became disabled in the future and could not go out to sea, and had to be supported by his mother, wife and children, he might as well just die and be done with it, so as not to drag down the whole family.

He knew exactly what was going on at home.

The eldest son, Li Yanshou, just turned fifteen this year and has already started paying the fish tax. The second son, Li Yan'an, will be fifteen after the Chinese New Year and will also have to pay the fish tax next year.

Li Meir turned fourteen the following year and would soon be coming of age.

The three children are all at the age of starting a family. The boys must have at least a boat, and the girls must have some dowry, otherwise they will not be able to gain a foothold in their husband’s family.

Li Meir is pretty, so Old Mrs. Cai plans to ask the village eldest daughter, who is married to a land family, to find a husband for her on land.

When something happened to her second granddaughter, she felt sorry for her eldest granddaughter and was afraid that she would not be able to get married on land.

My parents’ family is too poor and the dowry is too little, so I definitely can’t ask for a high-end marriage.

Old Mrs. Cai originally thought that she would take off her silver headdress and divide the property among her two granddaughters after they got married. In addition, since her granddaughters looked like their grandfather and were as pretty as flower buds, it would not be difficult for them to find an ordinary family on land.